Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment: The nonsense that entertainers get away with, that us normal people would be arrested for.

Entertainment, Popular Culture, sports

Best Tiger Woods Parodies and mashups

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Poor Tiger

This story keeps unfolding and getting worse for Tiger Woods, but with most public tragedies come some creative humor – at the expense of some. The ‘mashup’ is the new trend, so the following are some funny mashup videos as people have likened Tiger to famous/infamous cheaters such as Shaq, Kobe, Chris Brown, Mike Tyson, Bill Clinton … and the list goes on.

1-900 Cheater

Feat. Tiger Woods, Shaq, Chris Brown. Based of Jay-Z’s classic ‘1-900 Cheater track’.

Eye of the Tiger

Chinese TV Re-enactment

This has to be the funniest animation and most insulting to Tiger Woods – they have him crying like a bitch, but funny.

Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Popular Culture, Social

Guide to a Hip-Hop Blog

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guide-to-hiphop-blog

BlogStar

A guide to making a Hip-Hop Blog

Its been a minute since I have actually ‘written’ anything on the blog; notice the word ‘written’. Due to a busy and demanding schedule I had to resort to what my peers do so often – post Youtube/video clips. Now, there isn’t anything really wrong with that – heck, if a video is worth posting, then one should post it, right? And that is what many of my peers (the hip-hop/black blogs) seem to be doing constantly as they post the newest and latest audio track from Drake, Weezy, or Gucci Mane (which baffles me). To get into it, I have noticed that many of the hip-hop blogs out there have the same content, sometimes the posts are in the same order – meaning that they are importing a feed from somewhere. And I was like ‘wow’, this is really lame. Its good to see that the hip-hop/black blogs are out there, but people are not really giving opinions, no fresh ideas, or insightful wisdom is coming out – just regurgitated content coming from a few sources. So I had to ask myself ‘why is this the case?’, I mean the supply of content is plentiful, so why isn’t there varied content ranging from entertainment to social, psychological, and political issues? Or is the demand only focused on the entertainment?

Steps to Blog Fame

So with that said, I thought it would be prudent for aspiring blog ‘writers’ to have a guide as to how to produce and maintain a blog:

1. Cool Name

– Take a common phrase from hip-hop culture, like ‘Swagsterboys.com’ or ‘onthecorner.com’ or some other madness

2. Jack Off

Not literally, but if you do, do ya thing. But this refers to where you pull your content from, many bloggers like yourself get their content from RapRadar, Allhiphop, hiphopdx, worldstarhiphop, and vladtv. If you are ‘tech with it’, you can even take their feed URL, burn their feed with FeedBurner, and re-publish that feed for your own creative, unique, and suave blog.
– www.google.com/feedburner for more info

3. Collective Commentary

Of course you must distinguish yourself from the others, so what other way to do that than to comment on the content you ripped. The sharp and quick one-liners add flavor to your blog; even though the one-liners may be from the source you got the video from – hey, its ok, its still your own hands that wrote it!

4. That’s a wrap!

I mean, there is nothing else more to do right? Just mention your blog to your friends, your social network, and claim to have the latest and best content!

With the sarcasm aside, maybe I am expecting too much from these blogs, maybe I need to understand that this is only a section of hip-hop/black blogs. I mean, there are many good blogs on AOL’s BlackVoices.com, but outside of that, I don’t think there are much more. Maybe I am confusing the relationship between hip-hop & black blogs – though I am finding that most of the Black Blogs ARE hip-hop blogs. And then, maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t complain as much as I am in my own lane, and I can actually string together words to make sentences, that makes paragraphs, that makes a ‘thought’ or an ‘idea’ ….

Step your game up peers.

.:: LiBM ::.

Hip-Hop, Music Videos

Dot City – 187

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Dot City – 187

Dot City is the group, 187 is the freestyle track, and Just Feelings is the movement – more on the movement later. But my part in this particular video is the Directing and editing – thanks to Rhoda of www.Soul360tv.com for the help with the camera. Using a bit of Premiere Pro and After Effects, I was able to capture the raw & grittiness of this potent freestyle track.

Song Credits:
Vocals: Mr. P & Streets
Group: Dot City
Director & Editor: Desmond Blackman

Let me know what you think, peace.

Cre8ive Abstract, Entertainment, Media, Social

Marge Simpson Playboy Cover

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Beyond 2D Imagination

Playboy’s smartest move

Marge Simpson will be on the cover for the November 2009 issue for the iconic magazine Playboy. One way to generate interest into a dying medium & publication is to blur the lines of reality – so kudos to Playboy for accomplishing buzz and pushing the imagination of many to actually contemplate what is under that green dress (insert joke here). This issue can spawn Playboy’s competitors to think of other crazy issues, such as Cartman’s mother from South Park in Hustler, or even Lois from the Family Guy — the sky is the limit.

Here are also some other interesting derivations of the iconic cartoon mother


Designed by Elton Pot


Designed by Strike Force


Designed by Steve PR

.::LiBM::.

Cre8ive Abstract, Entertainment, Hip-Hop

The DJ

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Designed by Papen

The DJ

Evolution of the DJ: the Playlist DJ

Wikipedia says

“a disc jockey (also known as disk jockey, DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the source”

DJ’s today are not like the one’s we grew up to via real life and media; with programs like Virtual DJ, a heavy mp3 library, and a Macbook, anybody can create a playlist from home, setup the cues, and the program will automatically blend and match BPM’s. The hip-hop purists (the hip-hop snobs) frown down upon this new breed of the DJ, but the partygoer doesn’t really care – as their main concern is getting in that last drink before the bar stops serving liquor.

Now, on to the DJ Art …


Designed by frenzyy


Designed by Yurai the photographer


Designed by prisonsuit-rabbitman


Designed by balomc


Designed by Saint Chase

Whatever type of DJ you may be, just keep one thing in mind – move the crowd.  Don’t play for the minority, play for the majority.

.:: LiBM ::.

Entertainment, Popular Culture, Technology

Defining an Era or Error: Nintendo

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Nintendo

Being an “80’s baby”, the original Nintendo system was a staple in every kid’s home; I still recall the day that I got it – it was christmas, and I was up for several hours playing Super Mario Bros & Duck Hunt. I recall learning the special cheat codes for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Super Mario 3 and other games. You have to give Nintendo some credit for popularizing the video game industry and by pushing change & innovation; not only in technology, but in popular culture. Way back in the 80’s, Atari was actually the first home video gaming system, but was vastly archaic, Nintendo introduced a system that was cheaper than the Atari, inexpensive, and had a bunch of fun & interactive games. From the 80’s to the current era, Nintendo has sustained the competition with the defunct Sega console, and even the Microsoft X-Box, and Sony Playstation. And now with the Wii, Nintendo has redefined the gaming experience and even though the X-Box and Playstation 3 has faster processors and better visual graphics, Nintendo is the leader because of the interactivity the Wii has as it immerses the video game player into the actual game. An interesting fact is that the actual company Nintendo has been around since 1889, dabling in various ‘playing game products’, such as the Nintendo Playing Card Company before launching into the video game industry in the mid 70’s with the release of Donkey Kong, and the first generation Nintendo system in the early 80’s.


Donkey Kong Arcade Video Game
Popular arcade video game introduced to North America in 1981, surprisingly to my knowledge, was also the first introduction of ‘Jumpman’ – now known as ‘Mario’


Super Mario Bros 3
Released in 1990, one of Nintendo’s most successful game ever … much better than that sh*t that was Super Mario 2, right???

Definitely Nintendo is not an error in our culture, they have become a household brand that has provided with fun & entertainment experiences that have shaped our personalities.

.:: LiBM ::.

Entertainment, Logic, Media, Popular Culture, Social

Unconfirmed Sources Confirmed

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Verifying the Unverified Reports for Confirmation

The role of sources in a lightning fast news environment

With the whole aftermath of the passing of the King of Music (no, not ‘King of Pop’, King of Music mofo’s), on June 25, 2009, there will sure be a debate on the issue of ‘unconfirmed’ and ‘confirmed’ reports/sources. Like everyone, I started to receive txt msgs, Blackberry messages, tweets about Michael Jackson being hospitalized; so immediately I wanted validation, my first instinct was to tune to CNN. At CNN they had confirmed that he was hospitalized, in parallel, TMZ was reporting he had already passed via their ‘unconfirmed report’. The BBC, CBC, all rushed to change graphics to that he was ‘dead’, and they cited ‘unconfirmed reports’. However, CNN didn’t follow suit; they did mention the ‘unconfirmed report’, but they always followed up with “CNN has not confirmed”. At this time, BET was already dedicating 106 & Park to MJ, Fox News was saying he passed; all based on an ‘unconfirmed report’; now allegedly not from TMZ, but from the L.A. Times (where their site went down due to traffic).

Unconfirmed vs Confirmed

I deduce that an ‘unconfirmed report’ is little more than ‘hearsay’ or ‘gossip’; originating from someone that is not an ‘official’ or ‘professional’, or has not been validated by secondary and/or external sources. As like many, I was flipping news sources to see any variations and/or similarities in the coverage, then something happened that cemented why CNN can really stand by the moniker ‘The Most Trusted Name in News’, CNN’s I-hate-immigrant-workers Lou Dobbs personality chick had a live interview with the L.A. Coroner’s office that gave the official statement – confirming the ‘unconfirmed’. Of course, as we have all found out, the ‘unconfirmed report’ was accurate
This is important in an ultra fast paced news dimension of tweets, internet, and cable news where information travels lightning quick; one’s sources are paramount in lending validity. I am sure CNN felt mounting pressure to follow their cable news network peers, but doing so would of undermine their journalistic integrity – as I am sure for many news networks and websites, the goal was to get the information first versus getting the information that was correct & confirmed. I have a new respect for CNN as they have help protect the journalism community, as with life as it is with journalism, “A man is nothing without his word”, exchange the obvious with ‘news organization’ and ‘sources’.

 

.:: LiBM ::.

Cre8ive Abstract, Entertainment, Hip-Hop, politics, Popular Culture, Social, Technology

Great CD Artwork

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CD’s tangibility

Great CD artwork

The Audio CD will soon be replaced by digital downloads (iTunes, Napster) or by credit card sized items that act as a prepaid phone card; go online, scratch the back of the card, and download the album to your digital music player of choice. These steps are inevitable as the Internet age has made the physical CD obsolete as the medium’s message has changed, digitally speaking – the audio digital music device is the message (iPod, Zune), no longer the CD. One thing that will be missed from the tangible feeling of CD’s is the album artwork – which in the past few years have made a resurgence as record labels look frantically for ways to hold onto the traditional model. I am sure we all can recall a time when one of the best part of buying a CD was ripping the plastic, and opening the album artwork to see the credit, the pictures, lyrics, etc. That was a personal feeling and connection between the purchaser and the artist; which gave the CD far more relevance than the audio on the optical disk could ever have. Enough about that, here are some classic album artwork, all the way from the vinyl to the plastic:

Michael Jackson – Dangerous
Michael Jackson - Dangerous

Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist

Kool & the Gang – Still Cool

Radiohead – Hail to the Thief

Van Halen – 1984

Kanye West – Graduation

I will miss this aspect of the music experience – as the last CD I recall buying was Kanye’s Graduation … even thought the iPod’s Cover Flow is cool, it just can’t ‘touch’ the affect of a physical CD.

.:: LiBM ::.

Best Podcasts

Mixtape Show: Change of Direction

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Change of Direction

by www.mixtapeshow.net

Any neo soul/abstract hip-hop lover will enjoy this podcast by DJ Dex Digital of MixTapeshow.net.   All the tracks are certified fresh and dope, and will definitely score you some points with the ladies for being that ‘soulful brother’; nothing here is street-surface, all underground/grass roots artists.

Download the podcast here or through iTunes:
http://mixtapeshow.net/0329/mixtape-118-change-of-direction/

Tracklist:

The Foreign Exchange – Daykeeper feat Muhsinah
myspace.com/theforeignexchange

Dwele – Untitled
myspace.com/dwele

J*Davey -You Are
myspace.com/jdaveybaby

Full Crate – She Was Fly feat Mar
myspace.com/fullcrate

Dwele – Workin’ On It

Innosphere – Gotta Be Me

Jimmie Reign – 3 The Game
myspace.com/jimmiereign1

L.A.U.S.D. – iFeel feat Curly Tops and Nautica Jackets
myspace.com/curlytopsandnauticajackets

Suhburb – Gone Away feat Aniyia
myspace.com/suhburb

Go out and support good music!

.:: LiBM ::.