My Favorite Jazz Album of All Time ~ Sketches of Spain

I listened to this album a lot as a kid, and when I had the opportunity to actually visit Spain it was the first thing I thought to bring. Below is a clip of a live performance, although I don’t know who the trumpeter is (it’s not Miles Davis, I know that for sure).

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An Amazing Blog Idea

I came across this blog today, via Digg. Robin Burkinshaw, a student at University in England, created two characters, a father and daughter, as homeless people for Sims 3. Now, I don’t play The Sims, but I am familiar with the concept and G-d knows I’ve played more than my fair share of SimCity, SimRailroad, [...]

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Our Ninja President

Barack Obama, aside from being the President of the United States of America, also happens to be quick with the ol’ hand eye fly swatting. Tin foil hat Temby says that this video is perhaps a veiled threat to rogue regimes. How ya like them apples?

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The American vs. Iranian Way of Life


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The Most BadAss Security Detail, Ever

I came across this article on Muammar Gaddafi’s security force, which, apparently, is comprised of 40 khaki  clad virgins. Yep. The Libyan version of a Quentin Tarantino-esque squad of deadly hot chicks.
According to News Of The World:

LIBYAN leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s glamorous bodyguards stole the show when he arrived in Rome this week.
The dictator, who calls himself [...]

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Adventures In Homebrewing: I Need A Wort Chiller

Lately I’ve been neglecting my homebrew duties. I don’t know what happened, but somewhere I got off schedule and my equipment has been quietly collecting dust in the closet.
My friend Ryan, however, has been a homebrew factory as of late. He has a lot of time on his hand, and thus gets to play in [...]

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Oil Depletion and Relocalized Economies

Jeff Rubin has been getting a lot of press lately, in advance of his new book “Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller.” I haven’t yet read this book, but from what I gather it sounds a lot like Kunstler’s “Long Emergency,” which I found very informative (if not a bit [...]

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The End of The Wire

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The Wire

This weekend I had the opportunity to finish up the 5th and final season of HBO’s The Wire. A phenomenal show. One of the best that I’ve seen in a long time. When I first started watching it a few months ago there was no way I could know how good the program would be, and it lived up to all the hype that people had heaped upon it.

Prior to viewing this series I had no idea of how gritty Baltimore was. I’ve been to D.C. and I knew it could be really run down, and I’ve lived in New York, but seeing all those boarded up buildings really struck me. Then I went to Google StreetView and confirmed the genuineness of the portrayal and was even more impressed.

I blazed through five seasons in under three months, so I imagine that the experience I take away is a little different from the original weekly installments delayed by a months of shooting. On that note, the 5th season seemed a little rushed and not as polished as the previous four. Maybe they knew it was winding down, or maybe I knew it was winding down and had different expectations. Something was a little off, but the seasons was still good and it doesn’t detract from the series as a whole at all.

I saw Stringer Bell getting it early on. To be honest, I think that Idris Elba is a great actor, but that character kind of sucked. I didn’t like him nearly as much as the antagonist that is Michael K. Williams’ Omar Little. I really liked how Wood Harris brought an understated venom to Avon Barksdale. In season 5 when he surprises Marlo at the jail I was really impressed. Good writing and good acting.

Speaking of Marlo … his ending was interesting. Here he has everything that Stringer wanted, but he’s just a thug at heart. As Prop Joe said: “Civilizin’ this boy is gonna take work.” Jamie Hector is a scary-good actor. His quiet demeanor throughout the series really underscored Marlo’s viciousness. He was a really interesting counterpoint to the more brash and flamboyant Avon.

I could go on, but there’s no point. Bottom line: The Wire was a great series. Good acting and excellent writing. David Simon, if you ever read this, Id love to work for you. On that note, if any writers or producers from HBO read this, I’d love to work for you. Your consistently outstanding programming makes T.V. worth watching (Deadwood, Rome?) Keep up the good work.

And if you haven’t put The Wire on your Netflix queue, what are you waiting for?

Wes @ June 30, 2009

Michael Jackson Is Dead … And?

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Michael Jackson
So Michael Jackson, the self-styled “King of Pop,” is dead. I’ve been a fan of MJ’s music for a long time, but I could care less that he is now dead. Let’s be honest, the guy hasn’t produced anything of value in over a decade. Not to mention all the crap from his personal life (i.e., the child molestation charges and his not-so-normal relationship with his own children). Basically, Michael Jackson dying just means that I no longer have to hear a sad story of a pop star gone bust and slowly fading into obscurity.

As the media frenzy got revved up about Michael Jackson’s heart attack, his doctor, and the meds, I couldn’t help but think of Farrah Fawcett. Now, don’t get me wrong. Ms. Fawcett was no outstanding actress, but she did take on a controversial topic in The Burning Bed. I respect that. She also became a tireless advocate on the part of anal cancer, the condition that ultimately took her life. By contrast, Michael Jackson just got shot up with drugs every day and conceivably moved further and further from reality.

So here’s the moral of the story. You can be a B-list actress known for 70s sex appeal that is afflicted with a terrible cancer and if you die on the same day as an accused pedophile and former pop star you get eclipsed. America kind of sucks.

Wes @ June 27, 2009

Google Is Either Crazy or Genius

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For providing me with this online for free:

Wes @ June 20, 2009