Music Pick – Groove Armada: Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)
Aug 12th
Groove Armada – Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)
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Sticking with Groove Armada, compare the sound of their later albums I’ve reviewed with their earlier sound here on “Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)”. They used to have this more chilled jazzy house electro soul R&B vibe; yeah just check it out. A masterpiece in its own right, this album flows between intimate and increased energy, fantastic for playing during chill get togethers. I like how each song has a long intro to set the vibe and establish itself as it draws you in. As the band’s name suggest, their grooves always kick ass. For more of Groove Armada’s jazzy chilled house vibe check out their even earlier album that put them on the map: “Vertigo
[Video after the break]
Photo Shoots: Ashley, Stefanie, Kristin
May 6th
Everyone’s got hobbies. Some follow sports. Some play video games. Lately mine is photography.
I’m not a photographer. I’m humble here because I have no formal knowledge of the craft at all. It’s just a hobby for fun. I don’t charge anyone, and I don’t intend to. It’s more like I’ve got a toy that I play with a lot and I’m getting better with it. I don’t even know what an F-stop is. I know my photoshop skills are still a bit amateur (I just discovered layers). I do know how to frame a decent shot and snap it. Last year I got a compact SLR (I’ll review later it on this blog) and I’ve been taking it with me everywhere. Now I’m taking more pictures than a Japanese school girl. I love how it’s going so far, and as I get better with photography I’m enjoying it more.
We live the moments of our lives, and then those moments are gone, forever. I’m happy when I can capture one of those moments in a striking and dramatic way. And I’m eternally grateful to the rapidly evolving technology that allows me to do that more easily.
I’ve been getting some good reaction to my photos, and since this blog is my way of sharing, from time to time I’ll start sharing a bit of my latest hobby with you. I’ve already shared a ton of pics from my recent Burning Man trip. Today I’ll share some shots of one of my favorite subjects to shoot, cute girls :)
I don’t know if I can call these “photo shoots” since I was just walking around with a camera in my hand with no setup and often terrible natural lighting. Especially because I’ve never even been to a real photo shoot and have no idea what it’s really like. But anyway yeah, fuck all that, here’s some pics from 2 “shoots” I did. Let me know what you think :)
[Full Gallery after the break]
Music Pick – Groove Armada: Soundboy Rock
May 3rd
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The Things That We Could Share |
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I love this album, but I was really upset when I first heard it. That’s because I loved Groove Armada’s more intimate jazzy chilled house of their earlier albums, and this clearly was not that. But Soundboy Rock grew on me, to the point that it’s now my favorite Groove Armada album to listen to.
Soundboy Rock sounds like it was created by completely different musicians than their latest Black Light/White Light albums that I previously reviewed. This has an urban soul hip-hop electro beach dance party vibe. Yeah listen to it, you’ll see. Feels like I’m walking down the Venice Beach boardwalk in the 90s, but transported into the future. This is a perfect Summer album.
I immediately hated this album when I first heard the jarring opening song “Get Down”. My mouth dropped. What the fuck is this shit? Sounds like I’m being skinned alive in a Vietnamese prison camp. Fortunately that horror ends there, it’s consistently high quality for the rest of the album.
Highlights:
I always skip that bastardized shit that precedes it and start this cd off with track 3 “The Things That We Could Share”. It’s got a cool urban groove, and sets a cool tone for a great LA pool party.
By far my favorite song here is “Paris”, even though it doesn’t quite fit in. Lush atmospheric electro soul. Holy shit, this is fucking gorgeous! I would love if they came out with a really chilled out album of songs of this type.
I’ve got a secret to tell you, I don’t like rap. Except for a few cases, like here. I just can’t deny that “The Girls Say” is actually a fun, clever, well constructed rap song. Check it out above.
“Love Sweet Sound” is 70s disco soul diva vocals meets electro-house dance party.
“Lightsonic” is reggae vocals meets electro-house dance party.
“Drop That Thing” is not the sort of song I’d normally like, it’s aggressive electro-hip hop about shaking your ass, but the music is really clever and captivating.
“Song For Mutya” is a totally respectable urban pop song with a nod to the early 90s, and probably would have been a massive hit back then.
Groove Armada keeps reinventing themselves while consistently showing us how creative and clever dance music can be. Soundboy Rock is a must have.
[Video after the break]
Gary Johnson, Running for President, and Speaking at My House this Friday!
Apr 5th
If you haven’t heard much about Gary Johnson, that will soon change. He will be running for President of The United States and there is a strong rising wave of excitement behind him.
This Friday at 7:30pm, he’ll be speaking at my house. I’m honored, and I’m also looking forward to seeing you there. In my living room, Gary Johnson will speak about his vision for the direction of our country and how his campaign can make a legitimate difference. After he speaks there will be a some Q&A time and then everyone can hang out, meet people, and even talk to Gary Johnson personally.
Event details are here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217037961645020
Please confirm there if you’re coming.
Gary Johnson is the former 2 term Governor of New Mexico. He’s famous for setting a national veto record by vetoing more legislation than the other 49 Governors combined, thus slashing the state government during his term and leaving the state with a large budget surplus. He pulled it off when many of his actions were thought political suicide, and yet he got re-elected. He gained even more notoriety for his attack on our failed War on Drugs, by becoming the nation’s most prominent politician openly advocating legalization.
| (Discussing Marijuana Legalization and Gay Marriage) |
I’ve spoken with Gary Johnson and I was extremely impressed with his mutual appreciation for Milton Friedman and his thorough understanding of Free Market Economics. There are strong principles behind his strong stance for reducing taxes, spending, bureaucracy and government involvement in our lives.
Gary Johnson is running as a Republican, and the thing is, he has less of a challenge in the General Election against Obama, than in the Primaries against Republicans. That’s because Gary Johnson is far more openly liberal than Obama on many social issues. 
Continue Reading >>
I’m So Relieved, The Atlas Shrugged Movie is Fantastic
Feb 28th
A couple nights ago, at a private screening for Atlas Shrugged Part 1, I took my seat, closed my eyes, dropped my head, and for the first time in my life, I said a prayer. “Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball.” A vision flashed in my mind of John Travolta, on the cover of a Battlefield Earth poster. Petrified, my fingers hardened into a grip around my arm rests. “No!! Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball…”
No doubt, the excitement in the room was mixed with fear. The producers of this film had the balls to make a motion picture out of one of the most thought provoking and controversial novels of all time. A Library of Congress reader’s poll ranked Atlas Shrugged as the second most influential book of all time next to the Bible. Other prominent reader polls of Best Novels ever written have listed Atlas Shrugged as #1. It’s a 1000+ page classic epic packed with action, philosophy, adventure, politics, romance, mystery, and a whole lot of attitude. Back in the 1500s, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of a prominent Catholic church, sparking The Reformation. Ayn Rand nailed these 1000+ pages on the door of the world’s churches and state capital buildings, sparking what history might record as the beginning of the next renaissance. The next cultural movement to bring a focus on reality and reason and freedom and productivity back to the world.
This novel isn’t about running a railroad. It’s about society crumbling. And what causes that. It is so ambitious and controversial because it dramatizes the different fundamental values of our culture, and how that plays out through people in a society in crisis. When times get tough, more is demanded and taken from the achievers and high earners. So they work harder, they try harder, but the chains pile on, until they strike. Yes, the business leaders strike, not the employees. The title references the Greek god Atlas, who strains to hold the weight of the world over his shoulders. The load gets heavier and he struggles through blood and sweat to keep the world up. Until he changes his mind, shrugs, and drops the world. Let it fall. Let the world burn. Let all the ungrateful leeches and apes have it to themselves and enjoy it. Atlas is done.
Continue Reading >>
Music Pick – Groove Armada: White Light
Feb 10th
Groove Armada – White Light – Black Light
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If you feel like popular dance music has become a race to the bottom, I’d agree with you. Who can make stupider music than the rest? That race is raging full steam at the dance clubs. Ah, the Dance Club, a magical place where they not only are NOT embarrassed to play the dumbest music you’ve ever heard, but they make sure it’s so loud you can’t hear your friend screaming in your ear. Yeah, the dance floor isn’t a place to hold high level discussions; but when that “Like a G6″ song comes on, does no one snap out of it to look around and wonder what they’re doing surrounded by all these monkeys?
Thank god for Groove Armada. They make great dance music, the difference is it’s consistently interesting and brilliant.
Their new White Light album is incredible. It’s a companion to their Black Light album, but very different. The same songs are on both albums, just completely re-created and re-invented. Black Light is the dark version, White Light is the bright version. These albums have this surreal early 80s glam rock disco vibe, which totally caught me off guard; because it’s such a departure from their more accessible urban house past. This sounds like it’s from completely different musicians. In theory I’d usually be more interested in the darker version; however, except for a couple phenomenal songs, I’m just not so into Black Light, but I LOVE White Light. These songs are powerful, clever, unique, epic, and it’s still fun dance music. I already loved Groove Armada, but they have outdone themselves here.
To hear just how incredible they are at totally reinventing their songs into something else, check out this version of History and compare it against the one above.
[wpaudio url="http://hustlebear.com/audio/groove_armada/white_light/09%20-%20Groove%20Armada%20-%20History%20(Love%20Mix).mp3" text="History (Love Mix)" dl="0"]
[Videos from this album after the break]
Why Net Neutrality Regulation is the Path to Ending Net Neutrality
Jan 5th
Let’s bring some perspective here. People have become hysterical. They are DEMANDING Net Neutrality. Now. Right NOW. But, wait a second… they already have it. Right now, we all enjoy a neutral net. It’s here. It exists. It’s alive. And it’s fucking fantastic.
Bless their hearts. Net Neutrality advocates have good intentions. They are typically very intelligent, sophisticated, and they obviously care enough to get involved in bringing about a better world. I hope that this article will help some of them realize that they are fighting to destroy their own goal. They are fighting for their enemy.
Our Enemy. We all have a common enemy here, because we all have a common goal. Everyone on all sides of this debate wants the same thing, an open and free Internet.
Just like Castro’s army and Lenin’s army gathered followers blissfully marching for their future freedom and prosperity only to later become shocked in horror, Net Neutrality Advocates will soon realize that they are marching and singing in support of The Boot. This boot stomps without precision, without emotion, without representation.
My friends, now is a time to stop and reflect. Before we continue fighting, let’s briefly go over this issue so we can understand the perspectives.
There is no truly free country left on this planet. That’s becoming less of a problem, because, we have the Internet. The Internet, as it is right now, is humanity’s last bastion of pure freedom. We plug in, we say what we like, we view what we like, we play, we connect, we share, we learn, we grow.
It is incredible how much the Internet has already changed our lives. And the possibilities for the future are astonishing.
The Internet is currently completely unregulated by our government. There’s no government regulating our content, our activity, or our Internet connections.
So what is Net Neutrality? And why is it so important?
Senator Al Franken has said that “Net Neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time.”
Moby is really concerned about it. He was crying about the threat 4.5 years ago.
FACT: The Net Neutrality cause is a response to a hypothetical problem. We’ve never had this problem. It’s a hypothesis, by those who are simply afraid of business. They’ve confused a ton of people and got them all riled up. Let me let them explain their concerns in their own words through some visual diagrams from http://www.theopeninter.net/
Music Pick of the Day – Delerium: Karma
Dec 29th
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Silence |
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This is a classic.
Taking cues from an erotic electronica genre pioneered by Enigma and Deep Forest in the early 90s, with their album “Karma” Delerium forged a darker ethnic tribal sound. This album kicked off the genre of electronic worldbeat. There are a million knock-offs now, but when this came out, there was nothing like it. Despite all the imitation, and years of advancing technology, this still holds up as a serious contender for best electronic worldbeat album ever. Dark, erotic, ethereal, atmospheric, with driving grooves that keep it all still accessible.
“Karma” spawned a sleeper megahit with Sarah McLachlan’s signing featured on “Silence”. I noticed that the track and consequently Delerium got massively recognized a few years and a couple albums later, when “Silence” remixes became club hits. I only picked this cd up in 1997 because I was into dark industrial at the time and this was one of the many side projects of the underground metal industrial band Front Line Assembly, which is the duo of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber. This cd was a shock to the fans of their underground industrial side, way too poppy and commercial. Consequently, Delerium fans were in for a major shock if they looked for other work by this duo.
You’ll have to go back to 1997 to remember how exciting this new sound was, but the album hasn’t lost its awesomeness. This is a classic that will persist. You just can’t deny that this is a brilliant and beautiful album.
[Videos after the break]
How To Handle Lawyers Threatening You
Dec 14th
(No joke. This is actually how I deal with Lawyers. This isn’t just theory, this is my experience.)
Have you ever seen the movie “Monsters Inc.”?
It’s a cute animated Disney film about Big Scary Monsters. All day long they go through magical doors, each leading into a bedroom of a young child sleeping at night, and the monster’s job is to scare the shit out of that kid and extract screams for money.
That’s very much like the life of a lawyer. He goes about his work day, new situations come up, he gets involved and scares some people, he gets paid. The better he is at scaring people, the better paid he is. I’m not attacking lawyers for doing their job, everyone’s got to eat and earn a living. I just want to show you how best to deal with him.
You have to understand this fundamentally: When someone hires a lawyer to threaten you, he’s not hiring someone to figure out the legal matters involved, he’s hiring someone to threaten you. Crushing you and making you bend is the first priority, the law is just a tool.
In earlier times, when a dispute arose you would hire some muscle, or even a hit man to take care of it. In civil society we hire attorneys. They are the modern day muscle men. Unfortunately the law is often unjust or unclear and attorneys are therefore able to exact injustice, sometimes terrible injustice, on behalf of their clients.
“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw
THE APPROACH: After a busy day scaring people, when a monster enters your bedroom to scare you, you need to scare HIM. He should open the door, step inside, THEN you close the door, lock it, terrify the living shit out of him until the monster begs you to let him out.
A threatening attorney must be made to realize that his life is much better returned to intimidating average people. He should want nothing to do with you. You are the pig who enjoys getting dirty. When your name is mentioned to him, it should trigger a recurring nightmare and sudden stomach pain.
That’s my approach anyway. And it’s worked well for me.
Back in the glory days of my career as a Commercial Real Estate Broker, I would receive a very threatening attorney letter at least once a month Continue Reading >>
Music Pick of the Day – Ours/Jimmy Gnecco (part 2 of 2) Mercy
Dec 4th
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Mercy |
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Tortured. Glorious. Sad. Aggressive. Beautiful. Powerful. Brilliant. Epic. Jimmy Gnecco’s music is intense. Jimmy Gnecco is Ours (essentially), and I’d say he’s the most talented vocalist in rock music today. His range is incredible and there’s so much feeling in his voice. It’s obvious the late Jeff Buckley is a massive influence, which is a good thing, because Jeff Buckley was the most talented vocalist in rock music ever.
Mercy, Ours’ 3rd album, is a continuation of their debut Distorted Lullabies, but everything is ratcheted up several notches, boundaries pushed and he went even darker; enough that Jimmy Gnecco is no longer a Jeff Buckley clone, but is unmistakably recognized for his own sound.
I waited 6 years for Mercy to finally come out 2008. It kept getting pushed back again and again. I had heard songs from it at live shows back in 2002. It was being recorded with Rick Rubin, a legendary producer; yet I was scared I’d be disappointed. Ours’ second album Precious
The album starts with the title track “Mercy” which is one of my favorite songs ever. Gorgeous, atmospheric, aggressive and intense.
The next song “The Worst Thing Beautiful” is fantastic. If it was recorded by U2 it would be their next big hit blowing up the airwaves. Except it’s a bit more edgy than U2. Still this is the album’s most accessible song, I don’t know why it wasn’t pushed hard enough and turned into a major hit.
“God Only Wants You” is truly haunting. It’s strange to hear the piano over the arpeggio guitar, I loved when he played this song acoustic live back in the day. Anyway whatever, this is such a beautiful song.
“Live Again” is intense! Whoa! Opens with a Marilyn Manson like edge. Gorgeous, deranged and heavy.
“Willing” is cool. Another U2 inspired song that’s accessible enough to have been a radio hit.
Muse is a cool band. Ours is better, and should have had that kind of success. Unfortunately this album didn’t get the backing it deserved. It’s true that this album isn’t 100% consistent. There are some low points that I skip past (Saint), but the high points are epic, original, and lay a path for others to follow.
[Video after the break]
