Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Find our eyes and our souls will be free...

You know you're in a recession when the wifey gets you a gas card for Valentine's Day.  Either that or she's just on another whole level of creativity and practicality.  


So for Valentine's Day, Nook and I decided to celebrate as a family and take my 5 year old daughter with us to lunch and a movie. The movie of choice? Hmmm, how about that brand new, stop action, 3D animation flick? Now what can be wrong that? Well, nothing... nothing at all. Unless of course the movie is Coraline.

Now don't get me wrong. The 3D effects and overall feel/look of the movie were AMAZING. And they didn't give out those cheap, paper 3D glasses either. These glasses were made of strong plastic frames that looked a lot like a pair of Wayfarers. So help me God if I see any hipster or emo kids wearing these at the mall, someone's gonna have their feelings hurt.

But back to the movie. Without giving too much away, I personally thought the movie very good, but may have been a bit better if they had: elaborated more or revealed who (or what) originally made the doll of Coraline; elaborated more on the grandmother's background and how she actually came to own the doll; and although i understand the reason behind this, I still think they went a bit overboard when showing her parents' lack of nurturing for their daughter. 

Overall, the movie might not be appropriate for very young children. Many kids may be able to grasp the message of being careful what you wish for however, I think the multiple levels of symbolism may fly over the heads of the average child and to some extent, many adults (Although the symbolism may have been more obvious than the Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland). Personally, I think they would have hit the nail on the head if they marketed this to emo teens.

Leaving the theatre, I was seriously contemplating what my daughter had made of the movie. It reminded me of when I was a little kid and I had seen 'Yellow Submarine' or 'Fantastic Planet.' Shit had me feeling all funny inside... almost confused. I can only imagine what it must be like to watch Coraline on acid, X, salvia or after a visit to the dentist

Alright stop... Collaborate and listen...
  • So the West demolished the East at the All Star game. But the real stories are what happened at the pre game festivities:
  1. Shaq is the newest (and biggest) member of the Wacka Jobbeez
  2. Speaking of Shaq, him & Kobe are now the best of friends. But did anyone have flashbacks of Diesel asking Kobe how his nuts taste?
  3. Maybe NateRobinson should be asking Dwight Howard how his nuts taste?
  4. What??? Shug got knocked the fuck out AGAIN???
  5. And Kid Cudi gets tazed??? Don't taze me bro!  (Now he's gotta write a rap about it)

  • First Denny's.  Now IHOP.  Man, when times get tough, the tough get hungry.
  • Taste the rainbow you drunk motherfuckers.
  • How can you turn something that can potentially be scary into something absolutely terrifying?  Make it into a piece of art.
  • I was just flipping through the channels and caught the beginning of American Idol (by chance, swear to God) and one of the contestants who was being introduced pulled a Sexual Chocolate.  ("Gotdamn that boy can sing!")  Shit made me laugh out loud.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Everything will be alright...

Something cool happened to me and Kaylee the other day.  We had just finished eating fish tacos at Serramonte when we were walking around the mall looking for a Valentine's Day gift for the wifey.  As I was passing the fountain (aka meet me at the pountain dud), something caught my eye.  Sitting on a chair was a small painting with a note attached to it that read: "EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT.  THIS PAINTING IS YOURS TO TAKE FOR FREE."  After reading it, I immediately knew what it was:  The Smile Project.


I had read an article about it on the internet a few months back, but never thought I would actually find one... and of all places, in the middle of Serramonte.  Basically, the artist has traveled the world leaving paintings in public places with a similar note attached, asking that people can take the painting home for free if they promise to smile at random people more often.  He's left paintings everywhere from New York to Germany to Shanghai to Peru to everywhere in between.  

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good that I had found one.  I felt like I just won the lottery: not the mega millions, but more like getting three matches on a scratch n sniff.  As I walked away, I was stopped a few moments later by a reporter from TFC and interviewed for Balitang America.  I even got a chance to meet the artist himself, who was a really cool guy.  Anyways, peep the steez here.

I'm famous now.  Google me bitch.

Alright stop... Collaborate and listen...

  • Come kick it like judo and celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved one (or find a loved one to take home) with me here.
  • If you're bitter about everyone else getting their fingers stinky except for you, then make a pit stop here beforehand.
  • But if you do have someone to spend the day with, then click here for some baby making music to get you in the mood.  (CD out soon!)
  • Fuck what you heard.  Jamie and Andy are killin the autotune right now!  (I think Andy's been practicing his patwa)
  • What's really good with baseball right now?  Everyone's snitching about steroids, Roberto Alomar been hitting it raw, and the Mets are in the running for freakiest team in the league.
  • God bless Salma Hakey for making African babies' dreams come true.
  • How in the hell did Chris Brown go from hittin Rhianna to HITTIN Rhianna???
  • And please America, lay off of Michael Phelps.  Michael if you're reading this (yeah right), don't trip son.  You can still be governor one day.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Allow me to introduce myself...

Mic check... 1,2... 1,2... Is this thing on?  Someone turn my headphones up...

So the homie BJ helped me set this blog up over a month ago, but I never got around to writing anything in here yet (I think I've been too busy twittering to actually sit down and write an actual post).  Then the homie Tony hit me up about contributing to the Buddhapparel blog and it kinda pushed me to finally get on the  ball with my own.  So if you were one of the (very) few people to ever follow my old blog "Late Night Ramblings and Observations," then welcome back.  But if this is your first time visiting, then allow me to reintroduce myself...

My name is Ben.  I'm a father (of the year), a husband, and a DJ.  Welcome to my own little soapbox on the net.  I'm not sure what direction I'll be taking this thing, but I guess we'll see how that plays out in time.

Anyways, it's almost time for Lost, so I've got to cut this short.  Cause if I miss an episode of Lost, I tend to get kinda angry.

Actually.