5 Songs for Shitty Days

Now I don't like to use this blog as a platform for my whining (that's what xanga was for), but as far as days go, today scrapes dangerously close to the bottom. I sometimes believe that optimism is one of my strong points--don't tell me otherwise, I'll be saddened--but it's hard to keep your head up on a day when all this goes down:

1) Woke up 15 minutes late and had to rush to prep for my commute
2) Realized 30 minutes into the drive that I had forgotten my laptop and made the decision to turn back for it
3) Was burdened the entire day with stomach pains from that lingering virus
4) Took 1 hr 30 min to drive from Beverly Hills to downtown
5) Fought downtown traffic to arrive an hour after Panda Express had closed
6) Found that the Honor Fraser Gallery was closed after planning to see the KAWS exhibition for weeks
7) Arrived at Starbucks needing to use wi-fi just after it closed; Sat outside hoping to get a free signal, but couldn't connect
8) Driving aimlessly around looking for a Coffee Bean only to find one without any parking in a 2 mile radius
9) Having to steal wi-fi from some random apartment I was parked outside of
10) Looking for the Kogi BBQ truck on twitter only to find out it had closed just minutes prior

I tell you this not so that you take pity on me. Trust me, I've given enough of that to myself today. I tell you this because I'm laughing at it. Yeah it sucked and yeah I would like do-overs on basically everything, but to tell you the truth, I don't know if I would gain any more if the day had gone perfectly. Change my perspective and I see a pretty not-bad day at work topped off with a tour of the city with a friend that will not be seeing the city for a while. As for all the stuff I missed, that'll be there for tomorrow's adventure.

In case you might need them, 5 songs for shitty days like this one...
1) Modest Mouse - Float On (The View also works here)


2) Emiliana Torrini - Today Has Been Okay


3) The Shirelles - Mama Said


4) The Weepies - Can't Let Go


5) Phantom Planet - Lonely Day

Charles the Hamilton

(Photo courtesy Marco P.S.'s flickr)

Earlier this week, I posted videos of Complex Magazine's Leaders of the New Cool, including one up-and-comer named Charles Hamilton. He's an irreverent rapper with geeky tendencies that I really like. He moves flawlessly from samples of classic Sonic the Hedgehog to Modest Mouse, and it all makes sense in the Hamiltonian logic of things. If Kanye and Common drafted the blueprints for the new face of hip-hop, Charles Hamilton is laying down the foundation.

Download his mixtape Sonic the Hamilton here. [Standout track: Fans Are Cool]

Twitter on Nightline

I've been on Twitter since last summer when some of my coworkers at BroadSpire mentioned that they'd been doing it from their iPhones. Being abroad for a bit, I had neglected to update my account, and having my texting capabilities limited didn't help either. (I'm oh so sorry.)

Since starting my work at takepart.com, I have been on twitter quite a lot and have become slightly obsessed. I've even attempted to start the twitter-fever with my colleagues at KSPC. We run a social-political talk radio program that I think is very relevant to the twitter world, so why not try to amass a following and get feedback along the way. When pitching the idea to my fellow staff members who didn't understand the twitter phenomenon, I was met with some perplexed looks. And my attempts to explain exactly what twitter is were feeble at best.

In the clip above (found via twitter, of course), it seems that even its founders struggle with that problem...

Do you hear what I hear?

Created by Train Horns

So this is probably just a bunch of internet nonsense, but I find it pretty cool. The embedded audio test above plays a high pitched noise that can generally only be heard by people under 25 years of age. Can you hear it?

Doctor Manhattan

Here's a cool short of the technology that went into the filming/animating of Doctor Manhattan of The Watchmen in all his CGI-glory.

Must Try Kimchi Quesadillas

Last week, I mentioned my sudden urge for Korean BBQ after overhearing a couple of coworkers discussing Korean food they picked up from a truck outside of the office in Beverly Hills. Today, I see that the impetus for my own Korean food craving has actually made it to The New York Times. Here's something I've gotta try...

The mobile restaurant is called Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go. The Los Angeles-based lunch truck is really stretching the limits of California fusion cuisine by mixing traditional Korean flavors with Mexican stand-bys. Their menu includes everything from spicy pork tacos to kimchi quesadillas. It may sound strange, but judging from the omg-this-is-so-good histrionics I heard from my coworkers, it's definitely worth the try.

Kogi is also one of the most high tech lunch wagon operations out there apparently. They notify die-hard fans of their location as they move from spot to spot via their twitter account, and maintain a blog chronicling the development of the company. Korean-Mexican fusion via twitter? What a brave new world this is...

KAWS exhibit opens in LA

From the line of fanboys I saw snaking around the corner of the Honor Fraser gallery Friday, KAWS's west coast gallery premiere was a resounding success. I was planning on making it to the opening to see the artist among his work, but the line was way too long even two hours after the doors had opened. Perhaps next week...

Read what The Los Angeles Times had to say about 'The Long Way Home' here.

Leaders of the New Cool

Last fall, Complex Magazine profiled 5 of the freshest acts on the hip hop scene in an impressive feature entitled "Leaders of the New Cool." We're talking the absolute best in music, style and attitude. In the blowing up hopster movement (think hipster meets hip hop), these are the new heavyweights:

1) The Cool Kids


2) Charles Hamilton (expect more on him later)


3) Wale


4) The Knux


5) B.O.B.

Battle of the Box

As an owner of a 2008 Scion xB, I'm quite fascinated by cars that push the limit on design. The new Nissan Cube may be the heir apparent to the xB design aesthetic. Although I concede that the new Cube may make the xB look pedestrian, I'm wondering how it holds up under the closer scrutiny. So, I've decided to compare the specs and let you decide which car rules in the battle of the box.

First up, the Scion xB (via Popular Mechanics):
+MSRP: $16,600
+158 horsepower
+MPG: 22 City; 28 Hwy
+2.4 liter engine
+Seats 5


Now, the Nissan Cube (via Nissan News):
+MSRP: $13,300
+122 horsepower
+MPG: 30 Hwy
+1.8 liter engine
+Seats 5

Korean BBQ @ Beul Dae Po

(Photo courtesy Cathy K. on Yelp)

I met up with a friend last night after work, and after hearing some of my co-workers discussing the Korean BBQ they got from the truck outside our office on Thursday, I had a hankering for some of that greasy stuff. So, I turned to Yelp (a very cool resource I started using this summer when looking for places to get pizza downtown).

The place we chose was Beul Dae Po in Koreatown.

Walking into the place was bit intimidating. The decor in the restaurant I think is supposed to be reminiscent of your run-of-the-mill BBQ stand in Korea. The walls were done in corrugated metal roofing, smoke pretty much filled the entire hall and at each of the tables metal piping fueled gas grills. All the signs were in Korean. The television was set to Korean TV. Everyone around us was chatting in Korean. (Mind you, neither I nor my friend know a word of the language). We were greeted upon entry by a Korean woman who immediately addressed us in Korean; I'm presuming she asked us how many people were dining. I put two fingers up and she sat us.

We ended up ordering (mostly by pointing at the menu in a sorta confused way) one plate of beef brisket and another of pork ribs. And it must've been our lucky day...we got a free plate of marinated pig intestines--apparently a house specialty. Took a little bit for them to get the food to our table, but once it did it was fantastic. We grilled our own food at the table, badly charring some of the beef slices and under-cooking others. With the three dipping sauces (one sweet, one salty and one like spicy gyoza sauce), the meat was great. The intestines, I must say, were a bit difficult to deal with at first because of the thick, gritty goop on the inside, but I guess they grew on me.

And although I still smell like Korean restaurant, I am already thinking about going back. Next time, I think I'll take one of those phrasebooks with me just in case.

Yankee Gal

Yankee Gal from Yankee Team on Vimeo.
Awesome animation clip. I would tell you more, but I don't speak French. Here's what Fubiz had to say about it:

Voici un court métrage d’animation 3D, réalisé en 2008, par quatre personnes de l’école Supinfocom. Il met en scène les dernières pensées d’un pilote juste avant le crash de son avion. A la clé : animation 2D/3D et effets spéciaux à découvrir dans la suite.

Scrobbling the Fifth

(From Stringbot's Flickr, Creative Commons)
Call it betrayal by scrobbling. I was shocked to read this evening that last.fm (one of my favorite music resources on the web) may have given over member profile information to the RIAA to help identify individual users with pirated music. According to TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld, last.fm, which has been acquired by CBS, was approached by the RIAA after hundreds of thousands of its users began scrobbling (that's listening and tagging) pirated tracks from the leaked U2 album. Last.fm allegedly turned over thousands of its users' profile information to authorities who plan to use that information to track down fans listening to the tracks. It sounds like an invasion of privacy to me, but it is not legally so. Here's what I found while perusing the site's Terms of Use:

Except as otherwise described in our Privacy Policy or other agreement on the Website at which you provide Your Upload Information, Your Upload Information will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary and we will not be liable for any use or disclosure to anyone, including but not limited to claimed intellectual property owners.

DownloadSquad's Jay Hathaway quickly struck down the accusations. Although he did confirm that last.fm reserves its right to hand over such information, no data was actually handed over to authorities in this case. In a forum post written soon after the TechCrunch post was published, last.fm site admins said, "Of course we work with the major labels and provide them with broad statistics, as we would with any other label, but we'd never personally identify our users to a third party - that goes against everything we stand for. As far as I'm concerned Techcrunch have made this whole story up."

Even though I believe Jay Hathaway has put this particular flare-up to bed, the case brings up some interesting questions about last.fm and its users' rights. Being a subsidiary of CBS, itself a company that has faced issues with pirated intellectual property in the past, last.fm may one day be obliged to hand over user information. And although I doubt that it would result in penalties for the average scrobbler, I am of the opinion that such a move would violate my personal rights. As an avid user of the site (see my my last.fm profile), I am disconcerted and disappointed by this news.

Any thoughts?

KAWS in LA

(via hypebeast)
Pop artist KAWS was featured last Sunday on CBS News as he slowly turns his pseudonym into a household name. I'm a big fan of his work with Kanye West and N*E*R*D, not to mention his take on the Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants.

KAWS's first showing LA starts this Saturday at the Honor Fraser Gallery on La Cienega. I'm hoping to make it down there to see it all unveiled.

Welcome to the Heartbreak

KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.
(via hypebeast)
This is Kanye's newest clip. It's amazing what he has been able to pull off with distorted pixels and chaos. Takes a couple of views to truly get it, but once you realize the genius behind the marriage of images and music, it's mind-boggling. (Don't readjust your computer: The medium is the message.)

One of these days...

(via Autoblog)
I'm a big fan of things I can't afford--call it a symptom of my American upbringing. The Bentley Continental, set to be unveiled at next week's Geneva Motor Show, is one of those things.

The newest incarnation of the Continental packs more horsepower than the British company's current top-performer. And it runs on bio-feul!

American History & the Amazing Spider-Man

Marvel Comics has been working on a number of presidential issues of its legendary Spider-Man series of late.

(via hypebeast)

Last month, Spider-Man #583 hit store shelves in advance of Barack Obama's inauguration and was a runaway success among comic collectors and Obama-philes alike. The first edition is already a hot commodity on eBay after selling out of stores almost instantly.

(via hypebeast)

To commemorate President's Day 2009, Marvel has also memorialized Abraham Lincoln in issue no. 583 of "Gettysburg Distress." And if seeing the 16th president immortalized in the pages of Spider-Man isn't enough, Marvel is offering the issue free to those who sign up for a copy at marvel.com.

LG Arena Unveiled at Mobile World Congress

(via Wired's Blog)
LG is preparing to launch a new flagship device, the Arena, that it hopes will compete directly with the iPhone. The device made its industry debut at the Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona. The phone integrates an interesting new 3-D user interface and has a number of Apple-esque widgets built into the system. Here's hoping Verizon picks up on this model.

Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman

Joaquin loaded on Late Night. Letterman's handling of the situation is pure genius.

BEFORE - 2006:

AFTER - 2009:

Shameless Plug

I'm part of a bi-weekly student radio production on KSPC 88.7 FM Claremont called Uproot. Our staff basically covers a wide variety of local, national and international issues from a progressive, youthful point of view. We go live from 5 to 7 PM PST. If you're in the area, you can catch it on your FM dial, if not, you can always stream KSPC from your computer. Thanks!

Jaguar C-XC Concept

(via Kanye's Blog)

Concept car designer Phillip Dean unveils his vision of a hydrogen-powered Jag with obvious aerodynamic features. Note that there's a single pane of glass stretching from the car's hood to rear window. Not very practical, but damn it's beautiful.

VISVIM in Cuba. Spring/Summer 2009 Preview.

(Via CadmusFamily)

WikiTrivia

(via Red Ferret) Programmers Alex Ksikes and Philipp Lenssen have created a new online tool called WikiTrvia that takes information directly from Wikipedia and compiles trivia questions on a variety of topics (music, movies, literature, computers, etc). Like I needed another reason to procrastinate...

Pepsi Rides the Obama Bandwagon

Saw this add for Pepsi on TV yesterday. The Superbowl ad is presumably meant to dovetail with the cola company's latest billboard campaign that focuses heavily on the call for change inspired by the Obama campaign (see Current's take on it). Featuring video of rapper-turned-social activist Will.i.am rapping over Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young', the commercial succeeds in defining a new generation of social activism driven by optimismmm.

Zen and the Art of Kanye West

Kanye visits Big Boy's Neighborhood from qdeezy on Vimeo.

Through tragedy and an ever-expanding musical repertoire, Kanye West's avant garde approach to art and design has turned the one-time Chicago beat-maker into a global ambassador for hip hop. Although I'm a big fan of his music, it's his outlook on life and the state of things that I really respect. Watch this clip of Kanye discussing life, those gay rumors and the Chris Brown-Rihanna blow up.

Refocusing This VariationBlog

I started this blog last August with the intent of creating a no-frills travel blog, but now that I'm back I am forced to answer the nagging question "what's next?" Since returning to Claremont after a long hiatus in Edinburgh and then on Maui, I have thought considerably about what direction VariationBlog should take. It seems that the most successful blogs have a focus: Hypebeast has street culture; Daily Kos, its liberal critique; Wired, it's tech fodder. And although I'm a close follower of all three, I've realized that I as an individual am not one single subject. Thus, I've concluded that in order to correctly represent me, VariationBlog must be a sum of my parts, a conglomeration of what I find interesting, topical and important. We'll see how it goes from here. (Photo Credit)

Mourning and Mortality

Less than an hour ago, I found out that a close relative died last week in a fatal accident back in Hawaii. The news is unexpected. It's sad and unsettling. And I don't know what to make of it all.

Earlier today, before I got that call, I was thinking randomly about the unpredictability of life, how everything that we live through and everywhere that we find ourselves is nothing like what we've envisioned. And in this time of confusion and grief, this contemplation resounds louder than ever before.