BROKE BANDIT$

I want shelter like this...

2011-03-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

"From the film "Welcome Home" This is a story of a kid, in search for a new apartment rental, who comes across a place that has actually chosen him. When a place speaks to you, you have no other choice but to play along with the tune :)"

Written/Directed/Edited - Daniel "Cloud" Campos

And yes, that is Bboy Cloud.

Travis Barker – Can A Drummer Get Some? (Diplo Remix)

2011-03-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

Travis Barker - Can A Drummer Get Some? (Diplo Remix) by diplomaddecent. Uploaded with BandPage by RootMusic

Why Wisconsin?

2011-03-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sometime after Valentine’s Day, Republican Governor Scott Walker, with the backing of Republican-ruled State Assembly, passed a bill which will deeply affect all State Union workers.

Like the majority of the 50 states in North America, Wisconsin is suffering major budget deficits. However, unlike the 50 states, Governor Walker feels cuts must be made with Unions in order to alleviate Wisconsin’s situation. According to Walker, by July, Wisconsin’s debt will reach $137 million and if not taken care of, he estimates it will reach $3.6 billion by 2013.

When the Bill, soon to be Union Law, was passed this March, it will force members to pay for a part of their Health Care and retirement plans, cut 8 percent of their pay, and strip away their ‘collective bargaining’ rights.

When doing research about the Wisconsin incident, the term ‘collective bargaining’ kept popping up. I asked myself, why is this so important to union members? Well, according to our good friend wikipedia.org it says that ‘collective bargaining’ allows the leaders of unions to come up with compromises every year with the government in order for members to have better benefits like health care and retirement.

A lot of drama has been surrounding this bill. For starters, in order for any bill to be passed, a quorum, a certain amount of senators to conduct an assembly, must be held and 14 Democratic senators fled, or “took a vacation” to neighboring state, Illinois, so the quorum wouldn’t happen.

Then Walker, threatened them by saying if one of 14 did not show up he would issue 1,500 layoff notices to union members., but those senators still held their ground. THEN what those sneaky Republican senators did was change the original bill regarding all measures that dealt with spending money so that they could vote on it without Democrats present.

So as of March 27, 2011 Wisconsin has already passed the bill which will become law once it is printed.

BUT WAIT PEOPLE. There is another side to this story which I found interesting when I read an article published by Times magazine. It says:

The cost of state employees' benefits has skyrocketed in tandem with the rising power of public employees' unions. It has become a perverse and semicorrupt arrangement: the unions raise millions from dues, which are then used to elect labor-friendly politicians who cave at the contract-negotiating table, especially on long-term employment deals, whose cost really begins to crush the state or city budget in the years after the agreeable politician has left office.

Few Americans understand how the public-employee-union money machine works. Many unionized state and local public workers have their dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. On average, a teacher in Wisconsin pays more than $1,000 per year to the union (from an average salary of $51,264). A decent chunk of this money is used to fund political activities. That doesn't mean just making contributions. It also means running lavish independent ad campaigns in support of their chosen candidates and against their opponents.

Still, I believe, this doesn’t outweigh the fact that every time our government needs to make cuts, it is we, the middle and lower-class, blue-collar workers, who are affected.

BUT WHY SHOULD WE CARE?!?!? I mean Wisconsin is in the middle of the U.S. and whatever they do in their state won’t affect us, right? Well, yea, but remember Wisconsin is considered a swing state, meaning its not considered a Democratic or Republican state, but can be either when presidential elections come up. Other swing states, like Ohio, can follow in Wisconsin’s footsteps and then a dominoe affect can occur where state workers from those states can also suffer.

Why do I care? Well, to make it short, after reading Howard Zinn’s book, “A People’s History,” in which he informs us about North America’s history from the perspective of the oppressed like the Native American’s from 1492, I have learned that this country, America, has been found on revolutions, strikes against the oppressors, and countless fights with the government. However, somewhere along the way WE as Americans have lost that drive to come together and fight for our rights.

When doing research about Wisconsin, I’ve read about so many stories of the peaceful protests outside of the Capitol. Retired teachers would show up, people would come during their lunch breaks to show their support, and people would use their vacation time to fight!!

Like I said earlier, the bill will soon become law, but has all the protesting been in vain? "No," says Kenneth Mayer, who teaches political science at the University of Wisconsin. "It was pretty clear that the protests, as massive as they got, weren't going to change the governor's mind. Even though they didn't succeed in getting what they wanted, they mobilized a lot of people and made this a salient issue. A protest doesn't have to succeed in its immediate goal to have a long-term impact."

This situation is a reminder to me as to why fighting for rights is important AND in America we as a people have that privilege to speak our voice. It also reminds me that only as a group do we have power over our government and if we look back at history it is WE the people who have changed this country so we all have Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Have you Urban-Dictionaried your name yet??

2010-08-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

NUMERO UNO: thank you for formatting this blog. It loosk a-Berry-purty

So I looked up both you names up on no other than urbandictionary.com and I got

AILEEN - n-
1. A girl who is self- concious, funny, sweet, exceptionally compassionate and usually brings light to others. The name Aileen mean's "light". Commonly mispronounced as Alien, A-leen, or eileen. (i-leen)
Aw that girl is such an Aileen!
2. A person who is not afraid to go out on da dance flo' and shake dat thang.
"DAYMMN who is that chick breakin' it down ova there?"
"OBVIOUSLY an Aileen...!"

Jayson - n-
1. A different form of the name "Jason".
2. 1% of the worlds population spell there name in this unique manner.
3. Displays confidence when around the opposite sex and physically attractive to women and men.
4. Most are typically successful.
You are so Jayson I'm jealous.
Jayson you're my idol.
Jayson an American hero.

Bottled Water < Faucet Water

2010-07-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Jayson would be very proud of me. I found a photo that greatly portrays the post ("Sunday posts and water") he made on bottled water. Peep the vision below:

Via: Term Life Insurance

It ain't never too late to change your ways.

Who sleeps anymore?

2010-04-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't been able to fix my bookshelf lately and gather all my books (nerd alert!), I've been watching a few documentaries. Just this past weekend I watched "Beautiful Losers," documenting the lives of outcast artists who become famous. (FYI: I kinda deem it a hipster film, but more genuine than others I've seen, haha).

Now I've stumbled upon another documentary that I kinda wanna watch. It's titled "A Million In The Morning" following a man in New York who stays awake for 5 days straight. Crazy huh? I recently found out about this documentary through a Jay Electronica track inspired by the film posted somewhere on Tumblr. So I did my research and I literally just watched the YouTube vid and now I'm shaking my head. Awake for 123 hours?! DAMN.

"Filmed by Jason Goldwatch, the movie of the same name chronicles Gavin McInnes and other contestants as they try and beat the standing Guinness World Record of going 123 hours without sleep. Mr. Exhibit C-Note is no where to be found, though. Probably because they didn’t pony up the pennies for his presence." (via TSS)

Video treats

2010-04-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Despite MTV not playing music videos anymore and VH1 Soul being killed off thanks to Comcast *shakes angry fist*, I still watch music videos on a regular basis. In fact sometimes I rather watch music videos than watch regular TV. I find it's AMAZING to see what artists come up with for their songs. The imagination and the instilled visualization each artists dreams up equip audiences with a vision only he or she destined to create with the tune in mind.

But in more simpler terms: I'm a huge fan of aesthetics, but I'm an even bigger fan of storytelling. So if the artist can create a visual narrative to their music, I'm all for it.

Here are just a few (new & one old) videos (in no chronological order) that just came to mind. Enjoy!

Full Crate & Mar - She Was Fly from Full Crate on Vimeo.

Probably one of my all-time favorite videos that was played on VH1 Soul - R.I.P.

Sunday posts and Water

2010-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

So before starting my blog i just want to tell my reader(s) that as of this day, I will start to write on this blog OFFICIALLY every sunday. So with Great Adu (sp?) here we go:

WELL before that I just to say that though it said spring on our calendar's last month...its coming....I can feel it. Like today, when i went to go buy some yerba maté I stumbled upon a nice park downtown had a nice warm breeze brush against my face and say families and people outside again enjoying the sun! but enough with that. Lets blog.

So bottled water....well let me tell you about my story with bottled water. Maybe it was my rebellious nature of a college student, or my question to everything in society with structure, but I was a Sophomore in college and I never once questioned about water... What do we know about the common H2O..that we all need right? If its a sugary brown drink, a sugary yellow/orange/red/clear COLD drink that can quinch our thirst on that hot summer day. I remember being in my college dorm, Phelan Hall, on the fifth floor and my neighbor who lived two doors down was filling his Dasani water bottle with fountain water.

My first thought, 'WTF, thats gross! I only drink that shitty water when im desperate' so I ask him, "Why don't you just buy a bottled water." He then tells me that TAP WATER from SAN FRANCISCO is actually one of the best to drink because not only is it clean since it is regulated by the state, so it has to, but its good for you because they put fluoride in it so it strengths your teeth.

hmmm...i said is this true? so I did my research and i can tell you now people. I AM A CONVERTER...I drink tap water....and Im still living and healthy

Let me ask you where along the lines in our history did tap water ever become....bad? Why did we stop drinking it?

here is a video to help convince you:

AND sometimes you have to say FUCK water!! GIMME BEER

Whats up with technology these days?!

2010-04-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

So Ive been thinking about getting the Kindle from Amazon. For those of you who don't know what that is, its the electronic book that a person can store up to 1,500 books where books cost about $9.99, lightweight, and it has a 3G network so you can download books WHEREEVER you are?! Amazing huh.

The ability to store all these books in a 10 onces which is a pound and the ability to use the internet is......wow. But then I started to think about other things, other then its price. Working for an optometrist, ive learned a lot about how to keep your eyes healthy AND how to prevent worsening your prescription.

So im not one to bag on technology, heck Im all for it. if it makes your life easier and faster in basically no work to you, then why the fuck not right?! Well, i believe with the advancement of these new machines, its kind of a shove-and-pull effect, and let me explain:

Lets rewind to the 80's the good ol' glory days. where hip hop first began, style was...well colorful, and soon-to-be famous music was being made. I mean back then what was technology? A typewriter, the invention of the Pac Man game (imagine how BIG that was), the cassettes/walkman......who would of thought in 20yrs people would be able to store ALL their music into an Ipod or be able to order/get anything online with a laptop, or have an interactive game experience with the Wii AND even storing all your vinyls into a laptop instead of lugging milk creates?! cool huh? So technology has made everything FASTER..BETTER..STONGER..and has PUSHED us towards progressiveness and has let us to communicate with each other around the world.

But the Pull? hmm does anyone think about the consequences? Well I think there are a lot....which im not going to dwell in like: global warming (the big corporations are dumping their wastes into the environment), lack of exercise (more people just sitting around in front of a screen), AND EYE STRAIN

Here's a fact:
According to the American Eye-Q ® survey, nearly 46% of all Americans spend 5 or more hours per day using a computer or “smart phone”. Prolonged use of these devices may lead to symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) which include eye strain, dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, fatigue, and loss of focus.

I mean when did a phone stop being JUST a phone?! Now having internet, music, and a camera on a phone is STANDARD.
-When did a playing console stop playing JUST video games ?! Now features like blu-ray and internet are expected.
-And 3-D movies are starting to become more and more popular!!
-Whats next?! I feel flying cars aren't too far away, heck in the next 20 we could be traveling from Earth to the moon like driving from The Bay to L.A.

Back to "The Pull." I guess why I am so irked is because I feel we will soon lose some skills along the way: like will DJ's in the future know how to scratch and play on solely vinyls? Does anyone out there know how to make a mixtape with cassettes? Will kids rely their research all on GOOGLE and the internet and stop going to the library and use books?.....I mean these aren't life threatening skills, and we probably won't need them BUT STILL!!! I just don't want us to have to rely on it TOO much, I mean what happens when your computer/laptop crashes with all your essays..information..pictures.music...we're fucked. And when our iPods break? get a new one I guess.

MY dad tells me: back when i was your age, we didn't even have boooks to study?! we had to copy everything down on our notebooks, *I laugh*, yea you guys are lucky you can get anything on the comptuer now.

And its good that I am reminded of where things once were in the "pre-historic" days; it humbles me a little and reminds me that there was once a "hard life. The life where Sam Goody still existed and sold singles, where all kids did was watch movies at the mall with their backpacks, and play outside until it was dark or they got hungry, where we used our imaginations to pretend to be Power Rangers ( or Ninja Turtles), and if you wanted porn you had to dig in your uncle/dad's "secret" box..haha

Like I said, I am not one to hate on technology, but I just feel people out there are excessively using it. Like everything else in life: MODERATION. LETS GET BACK OUT THERE PEOPLE. pick up an instrument and jam...get a ball and shoot it... call your friends and drink on the beach..shit man READ a BOOK.

That was my rant. NOW watch this, its the new Gorillaz video ft. Mos Def called "Stylo" click here.

"And all that you know goes right outta the window"

2010-04-02T12:42:00.001-07:00

After J*DaVeY released this music video yesterday (4/1) I've probably re-blogged, re-tweeted, and re-posted this video several times already.... and I'm bout to do it again.

I could write a crapload of reasons why I like this video (one being I'm a huge fan of their projects), but that would take a while (and i'm thinking of just writing it all out when I get a chance later this evening, ha!). But to sum it all up right now the reason being why I'm feelin this song so much right now is the fact that the lyrics & notion of the song channel self identity in some way. And if ya'll know me right now or have seen the pieces I've been writing lately, I'm all bout THAT right now - it's the tip I'm on. So I'm not surprised that I've been listening to the lyrics so diligently and dissecting the shit out of it. But that's just me. Ya'll might get a different reaction out of it. But either way, I suggest ya'll check out this video. Don't sleep.

J Davey - "Outta The Window."

J*DaVeY "Outta the Window" from SOCKETUMi Iam on Vimeo.

Is it nothing but a game? If it is where are the rules? Cause I'm not sure how to play. Will I watch it all go passing by? Just blowing in the wind. Like everything I thought I knew before. I guess I'll just pretend. Be like everybody else.

SJ chillin

2010-03-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Back in our hometown.

(Photo cred: Jason Angeles)

I left you some goodies

2010-03-31T02:41:00.001-07:00

There's only about five things I do online:

1.) Check my email(s).
2.) Do that stalker shit: Go on FB, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube.
3.) Craigslist
4.) Watch my fav TV shows
5.) Download mixtapes

#5 being my main entertainment (I'm a true sucka for mixtapes) & the one that occupies me the most, I figure it'd be nice if I were to share what I find with ya'll.

Right now I'm stuck on this Mix Amour 2 mixtape I stumbled upon randomly. Can't exactly remember how I found it or who DJ Mada even is, but I quickly fell in love with this mix. Despite the typos in his description, I was appealed by his authentic vinyl approach. Then looked over his tracklist (and the fact that "Friendly Pressure" was his first track on the mix), I took a chance and downloaded it. And since then I've enjoyed it. Def provides a good listen during some downtime. Git it.

*Download now: http://www.mixcrate.com/mix/6871/MI-AMOUR-2/

Tracklist:

1.	Friendly Pressure	Jhelisa (paul Nice Rmx)	Buy
2.	Rock Wit U	Jazzy Jeff Featuring Erro	Buy
3.	I Don't Want To Be Alone	Shai	Buy
4.	Fall In Love	Slum Village	Buy
5.	Declaration	De La Soul	Buy
6.	Albany	Kev Brown	Buy
7.	How I Do	Jazzy Jeff Featuring Shawn Stockman (boyz Ii Men)	Buy
8.	Ghetto Hell	Red Astaire	Buy
9.	Night Like This	Symbolyc One & Ill Mind	Buy
10.	Eternally Yours	Strange Fruit Project	Buy
11.	Come Around	Foreign Exchange	Buy
12.	Right Here	Dj Mitsu Feat Dwele	Buy
13.	You	Hezekiah	Buy
14.	?????	??????	Buy
15.	Nic's Groove	Foreign Exchange	Buy
16.	Sho Ya Right	Dwele	Buy
17.	Too Real Inst	Big Pooh	Buy
18.	Come Down	Red Astaire	Buy
19.	Get This Money	Slum Village	Buy
20.	Hold You Down	Alchmist	Buy
21.	Come Over To My Place	Davina

Re(cycled) piece: 12ftDwende "The Freedom of 22"

2010-03-31T01:55:00.000-07:00

(click picture for article)

Originally written for 12ftDwende, I decided to repost this piece for all you folks here on Broke-Bandit$. Not as a plug for Dwende (although it could be - yes, shameless!), but really just to share some wisdom to all my folks out there who are dealing with the same struggle I'm going through right now... the phase we all hate being in the "post-grad syndrome".

Most recently since I've moved back to San Jose, I've been thrown into a whirlwind of changes. Starting from living on my own to now moving back into my parents house, to having a hectic schedule to not having one at all, my priorities have tremendously changed since I've graduated and my mindset has shifted a bit as well.

I've realized for a lot of the folks my age these are just a few that plague our minds during this transition. So I decided to write about it.

Compiled with several different thoughts and different folks in mind, I tried my best to encapsulate what we all might be going through. And with that I tried to come up with not a solution, but a way for all of us to cope with this inevitable change we're all going through.

So keep that in mind & read up if you wish. I tried my best to make sense out of this nonsense.

Yes yes, Hip-Hop, I forgot I loved you

2010-03-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

HOOOW ARE YOOU AMERICA ? ME, well lets not dwell too much about me, but im great! How was my trip you ask? HA that gonna take me more than one blog to write about that. But lets focus on the subject

So ever since I got back, ive been dipping my toes in other different genre’s of music:
Rock of course, Drumb&Bass, electronic, some punk, A LOT of reggae (island + bob Marley stuff), and even some Jazz. So I have not been so much focusing on hiphop and R&B.

But on March 15, the same day of yet another Paciaqo win, I went with my cousin to Berkeley to see an all women’s Hip-Hop show called B.A.S.S (Bay Area Sistah Sound, http://bassladydjs.com ).

Let me tell you, I have NOT been to a GOOD hip-hop show in a long time. I mean, I think what was so good about were not only all the dope performances, but the vibe I got from the crowd. In between shows there would be female DJ’s, who were spinin with vinyl’s by the way, and play good songs, all from the 80’s // top 40’s // classics // new stuff. But the vibe…

The way I can describe “the vibe” from the crowd is: have you ever been to a dance // club // concert where everyone around you is reeking high energy and you have that moment where you take a 360 degree look around you and see everyone dancing.

But the reason why I loved going was b/c I forgot how music, especially Hip-Hop brings people together. I EVEN SAW AN EITNSTEIN COUPLE DANCING WITH THIS BLACK COUPLE..haha it was sick… Everyone was nice, talking to everyone and I made a bunch of friends that day.

here are some pics my cousin took of the event...

To all my beautiful women out there, HAPPY WOMEN’S MARCH APPRECIATION MONTH!!

---

2010-01-15T20:43:00.001-08:00

Cloud your mind with positivity.
Fill your thoughts with creativity
Breathe in fresh air
Breathe out sunshine

It's been awhile...

2010-01-15T20:14:00.001-08:00

... but we're both still ALIVE. Very much alive. As ya'll probably know already my partner-in-crime is gallivanting all over South America while I'm here suffering from the post-grad disease. We're both in two different worlds right now that it's been difficult to keep up with this. But that doesn't matter anymore cause it's now 2010 and both Jayson and I still hope to keep this blog as updated as we possibly can. Especially since I don't got school anymore and no other writing jobs will hire me right now (damn you all!) and Jayson will be coming back soon (I hope?), Broke-Bandits will come back with full force! ...I think? So hold on tight while we try to come back from this long overdue hiatus (do people still read this shit? *crickets*).

Before I go though I will leave you with this pic Jayson sent me recently. ch-ch-check it out YOU cool guy, YOU! (click the photo to enlarge)

(via Gold Coin)

1st day in Buenos Aires

2009-10-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

I do not even know where to start, the whole trip coming here was an adventure itself:

so the thing that happens, and i did not know this is that when ever you are flying international, you have to be at the airport at LEAST 90min b4, to check your luggage and all that jazz even if you have a layover at LAX. My 1st flight from san jose to LAX left at 8am, i was supposed to be there at 6:30...i woke up at 6:45. hahah Do you guys know that scene in HOme Alone 1 where the whole family is rushing to the boarding station to make it to the plane on time? that is what happened to me except RIGHT when I was done with the security check, I hear the intercom "flight 687 to LA is now leaving, would jayson madriaga please checkin to gate 1" I RANNN my ass over there pushing old ladies and kids BUT I made it!!!!

The whole flight there was ok, I went to MEXICO CITY again where i got hustled: so i exit customs, and this guy so kindly helps me and guides me to the gate that i need to go, he asks me a few questions, what I am doing, and when I thought we were about to leave, he asks me for tip??!! WTF!! i told him i did not have any money, but he jsut kept standing there, THEN i felt sorrry and was just going to give him $1, but my lowest was a $5...guess what i did....AND to make it worse, the security guard who saw all of this and checked my passport was laughing at me..fuck i can not blame him though he was jsut doing what he had to do.

THe flight from Mexico city to Buenos Aires was 10 hrs long,it felt like i was going to the Philippines with white people. At the end of all those flights, my tail bone HURTS SOOOOO fuckin much i never wanted to sit down again

MY first day here: a lot of shit happened ALOT:

FIRST MY IMPRESSION:
so i have not explored ALL of buenos Aires yet, so I do not want to judge, BUT so far i like it, I tried to compare Buenos Aires to the other cities i knew: nY, SF, LA....but there is no comparison. It is its own city: building from the spanairds still up right next to the modern glass-covered business buildings. Some streets still ahve cobble stones, some pavement, and some even have both. There are no signs of any major chain stores except for Mcdonalds, but I feel there are so many small businesses, clothing, markets, music, books, resturants, cafes. When greting someone, you kiss them on the cheek, very European, even the guys (i was thrown off by this). THere are some ghetto/ dirty parts, and thre are breath taking aretecture + landscape onlt known in argentina....I am going to explore more tomorrow...

1. So i had to be on my own today because my host and his roommates all had work/class.

2. I wanted to buy a book so my roommate recommend I walk down the street for 10 blocks and i would enter a mall. MY DUMBASS had to say let me take a fuckin adventure and make a left to go to the park and I will walk back. I did do that, but once i got fascinated with other things I got lost. The thing here in Buenos Aires is that not all the streets are straight, they curve, AND they change on you, so when you THINK you are walking on one street, a few blocks down it changes into something else!!!! AND the NOT ALL THE STREET have signs, so i was seriously walking 10 LONG blocks to just find out where i was, to find out i should of made a right, not left. getting lost is SOOOOOOOOOO frustrating and so easy, especially when you are by yourself

3. I went into a shop today and saw they sold Stella beer and Heineken(sp) in 40oz for only $2, AMAMZING, and wine here is SOOOO cheap, like $4/5 for a bottle of good argentian wine. I wanted to take a picture but I got scolded by the owner in spanish....FUCK

4. to relive my stress of being lost AND getting scolded at, I went to a bar. That made me happy. I got a 40ish oz beer, they measure it by volume, so the beer was 650cm (squared, weird huh) for only $2-3 American dollars. SO i only spend $4 (including tip!!) i wanted to get another one but i did not want to be drunk by myself in a place i did not know

5. After the beer i remember my mission: i needed to get a prepaid SIM card so I could contact people here + get a beanie if i saw it. THERE IS NO PLACE HERE, but i did find one, and it was sketchy, it was in the bottom of a building, but had cellular in their sign. I tried asking the guys in spanish for a SIM card, but FUCK THESE people talk SO FUCKIN fast it was hard for me to pick up what they were saying!!! they guy took my phone explained something to me...I did not get it, THEN his friend had to explain it to me...still did not get it....THEN his wife SLOWLY explained it to me, and the only thing i got was that I had to be back in the store by 4pm the next day, so he took my phone AND THEN SLAPPED me with a $150 pesso ($50) bill. DUMBFOUNDLY i just walked away. I did not know how to argue in Spanish....

6. so now LOST with no phone and a $50 bill for my cell phone in my hand, i walked back home...except i was walking in the wrong direction.....I walked 10 blocks the other way thinking i was going the right way, then i saw a subway map telling me i needed to go BACK 10 blocks, which i did. THEN when i got to the area i was supposed to be it took me 30ish minutes just to find the right street because the directions were in my phone which i did not have, so i was doing everything by memory....not a good idea....i looked at my map, but it only covered a certain area..FUCK FUCK FUCK , just kept going through my mind. i was lost, no phone, and did{t know if i was going the right way BUT after so many wrong turns and back-tracking,i finally made it

7. On the good note: my hosts are funny, amazing, and very hospitable. THey love food as much as I do!! THey cooked some traditional argentian meat with tomatoe sauce + cheese on top whcih was VERY tasty and I got to drink MATE, which is their tea. It looks like and smells like green tea, but they WAY they drink it is different. THey pour HALF of a bag of tea into thsi wooden cup and sip it through a metal straw. It is a socail thing, think of it like a hookah, because when one person is s}done with the MATE, they jsut pout more hot water into it and pass it to the next person

LASTLY EVERYONE here is beautiful, even the people who dont try are!!! i am guessing it all the Italian + french immigrants from the industrial era. Everyone is tall, fair-skined GREAT BODIES,..fuck haha

that was just my first day...I keep telling myself i can not belive i am really doing this

sorry no pics yet, i have to ask my host i can do that

Patrick Swaye's influence on HIP HOP!

2009-09-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Read the numerous obituaries for Patrick Swayze and one thing seems to have been forgotten: his influence on hip-hop. "Influence on hip-hop?" I hear you scream. Well yes, actually – the Hollywood beefcake was a favourite namecheck for many rappers, and far more likely to be referenced than, say, Richard Gere or Mel Gibson. Why? Because his name rhymes with "crazy", of course.

An early use of the Swayze/crazy rhyme scheme was demonstrated by Kool G Rap on Marley Marl's The Symphony Part II back in 1991, presumably referring to his performance in Roadhouse rather than in Dirty Dancing: "Reach for the pistol and you're crazy/ Try to blast and I'll be swinging that ass like Patrick Swayze."

Yet the crazy Swayze couplet was still going strong long after Patrick's movie career had foundered, as evidenced by Young Jeezy's 2007 track And Then What, in which the Atlanta coke-rapper followed the familiar boast "I'm so crazy" by declaring that, "these other rappers [are] actors like Patrick Swayze".

In the 90s, the word "Swayze" even took on a life of its own within rap, coming to mean "gone" or "outta here", as in: "We dropped the microphone, then we Swayze" (Tha Alkaholiks). Hip-hop historians believe that it was originally a reference to Patrick Swayze's titular role in the film Ghost, as evidenced by EPMD in their 1992 song It's Going Down, from the Juice soundtrack: "Now I'm Swayze, ghost, the rap host."

The newly-coined term was a favourite for Notorious BIG: "That's why I bust back, it don't faze me/ When he drop, take his glock and I'm Swayze" he boasted in 1994 on 2Pac's Runnin' (Dying To Live). "Out of her fuckin' mind, now I got mine, I'm Swayze" growled Method Man on Bring The Pain, rhyming it with "Driving Miss Daisy" and still managing to sound thoroughly menacing. Ice-T and his Sex, Money & Gunz crew even had a song called Swazy, essentially warning wannabe girlfriends that they didn't intend to stick around for cuddles after sex. Curiously, Jay-Z didn't appear to care for the term, despite the possibilities afforded by the rhyme with his own name.

Now that Swayze is himself Swayze, maybe we'll witness a fresh trend for the use of the word among the hip-hop fraternity. Or perhaps his name will gradually drop out of the hip-hop lexicon altogether, to be replaced by George Clooney (rhymes with "loony"), Robbie Coltrane ("insane") or Barbra Streisand in Yentl (you get the idea). We can but hope.

Source: The Guardian

Below are some more Swayze-laden lyrics (thanks, hiphopisread):

I'm sick, insane crazy, Driving Miss Daisy/
Out her fuckin’ mind now I got mine I'm Swayze/
- Method Man; “Bring the Pain

You got me strung like I'm young and it's crazy/
You're making me nervous, I don't deserve this, I'm Swayze/
- CL Smooth; “Searching”

The n****s went wild, the hoes went crazy/
We dropped the microphone, then we Swayze/
- E-Swift; “Can’t Tell Me Shit”

I try to stay aware of the drama, it's crazy/
Plus, see I got to tell your mama that I'm Swayze/
- Dres (of Black Sheep); “Who’s Next?

Then he was Swayze, the shot must’ve dazed me/
Thug's selling drug, busting slugs, but he ain't crazy/
- Big Noyd; “Right Back at You”

Lick your toes, bitch? Fuck no, you must be crazy/
Squirt in your face and then I'm Swayze/
- The Notorious B.I.G.; “Big Booty Hoes” & “Bust a Nut”

Commitments, I'm Swayze, no time for the ill shit/
Rest with the n****s on that real blood-spill shit/
- The Notorious B.I.G.; “Let Me Get Down” & “Living the Life”

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

2009-08-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

Mind and music. Music and mind.

Maxwell x Common x Chrisette Michele

2009-08-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

Click the pic to get tickets on 8/27.

COME SUPPORT THE 12FT FAM TONIGHT!

2009-08-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

Jayson, I know you hate Sudachi's but WTF. SUPPORT YOUR PARTNER IN CRIME, dawg.

Forgivness

2009-08-19T11:29:00.001-07:00

So I live by this one Philosophy, or more better, I try to remind my self this everyday: Get mad and get over it. Its a hard thing especially for me because I learned I hold grudges, and I can hold them for years. BUT life has taught me this: being angry at someone only hurts yourself, life is too short, and yes this person has wronged you but you become the better man, the BIGGER person by forgiving them.

There were two instances THIS SUMMER where I had friends 'wrong' me and it took me a long time to forgive them. I would talk to people about it, but they weren't telling me what I wanted to hear, so me being stubborn had to walk around with this dark cloud for a while, and it sucks. When someone wrongs you, in my opinion, I feel they have taken something away from you. For example, if a dad wasn't present in a child's life, especially a guy's then they would feel that the dad hurt/wronged the child by taking away his childhood. When friends talk behind your back, you feel they take away your credibility, your reputation. When someone has stole ANYTHING from you, you feel they have taken away your materials, number one, but your trust as well.

It IS hard to forgive people. From my personal experience I am a proud person and I don't like to admit that I am wrong or a fault with anything, but then again I have to remind myself that I am human and I will contradict myself, I will make mistakes, I will be an asshole sometimes, BUT if you can recognize that, accept it, and correct it, then your on your way to becoming a better person.

WHY write about this now? well everyone, I have some people I want to forgive before I leave and want to be on good terms. Anger, grief, depression, and grudges are not a good thing to be on one's mind. It'll eat you away and consume your life. Life is better being happy, don't you agree?

I would like to know what people think about this. So leave comments!

Im not a Fashionista.....

2009-08-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

Because my partner-in-crime, Aileen, did a blog about fashion, I feel I must do one to for all the guy followers out there. Enough estrogen.

In my High School, they tried to administer some sort of uniform, you know the polo shirts and khaki pants, but we as students refused to comply or conform to the school’s attire and fought for our individuality, though a lot of us wore the same thing anyway. Never the less, I feel the clothes you wear is just an outwardly expression of you personality. For example, I would never wear any Hype Beast shit, (colorful plaid with tight jeans, a handkerchief, and matching nike dunks), I mean its not me and I STILL can’t do the Jerk

Let me tell you people, THRIFT stores is where it’s all at! Another man’s trash is another’s treasure. Some people get turned off by “vintage” clothing or the fact that someone else already wore it, BITCH just put that shit in the washer its 100% clean….DUH

But like my partner, there is no harm in looking at those “expensive” pair of jeans you’ll never buy until you get a “job” so let me enlighten you on my kind of Style:

Its a Henley ($255) + puffer Vest ($565). Inspired by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (yea I know)

Michael Bastian double-breasted blazer ($2,195): OO Im a sucka for blazers. This + nice dark Denium + and a Fedora and your SET

Givenchy Denim ($375): I’m a jeans and shirt kinda guy, and my favorite jeans are the ones you can wear everyday with any shirt

New Adidas Consortium Rod Laver Project: I love these shoes. I like it when things are simple, but elegant and these shoes say just that

GoldCoin ($25): I have to plug the company I am interning for here!! Once I saw this crew neck, I’ve ALWAYS wanted, they have one in all black with black stiching. Its AMAZING

One day huh Aileen.....

Just another Thursday night...

2009-08-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hello kawawa Jayson.

Okay so tell me... what do you do when you break your glasses during an inebriated night and take it upon yourself to solely rely on your contacts days after? You think you're all cool and shit until all of a sudden your right contact decides to rip into two pieces. But shit, that doesn't phase you so you continue to wear one contact like a G. But then after hours and hours of studying with one eye, your head fcks with you and the next thing you know, you're dizzy. How do you cure that shit on a Thursday night?

You make a muthafuggin' eye patch.... endorsing Jayson's math & Broke-Bandits, WHAT.

Best believe homie wore this while we were out that whole night. YEE.

ATTN, ATTN. Hot off the Press

2009-08-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

2 headed baby born in the Phillippines:

The baby was born late on Tuesday and is now under observation at the neo-natal intensive care unit of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila.
A hospital spokesman said the baby was stable at the moment, but said she may die if tests proved both heads shared only one set of vital organs.

SOURCE:http://www.telegraph.co.uk

I'm not a fashionista...

2009-08-10T18:30:00.001-07:00

I mean c'mon... my most favorite shirt I own is my 13-year old Lion King shirt with Simba plastered on the front.

But I'd like to think I know what looks good and what doesn't no matter what the cost. Matter of fact I'm a huge fan of making fashion affordable but at the same time still unique with all that bullshit. But sometimes, there's just sometimes where you don't feel like flippin' through yo mama's clothes circa 70s and shufflin' through Buffalo Exchange hoping to find some goods. Sometimes yo just lazy! I won't front, but at those times I can't help but kinda want some of those $90 jeans or $200 sandals cause shit, they look GOOD and they quality FIT.

But of course, after a few seconds reality kicks in and I'll realize those $90 jeans and those $200 sandals ain't within my budget so I just buy the mimics that look just as good but ehh, don't fit quite. And somehow still work it like it were worth more than a bill.

As of late I've been on this weird tip with blogs. I've been reading a lot of fashion blogs. Oddly enough, this girl... the girl who wears white v-necks, beanies, and jeans everyday is the one reading up on this fashion shit. Yeah. I don't know what compels me to do so, but fashion, specifically street wear I feel has evolved into not just screen printed t-shirts and Nikes. The whole look has moved and transformed into a piece of art of its own; which is beautiful to see folks spill their creative juices on what they wear everyday.

So... with that said, I've been reading over a lot of them and I came up with this simple list of what I'd want if I had the chedddaaaaaaaaaar (or a sugar daddy) to cop these. This is my dream up list that will go untouched for now.

(via What the Hellz?!!)

I'm really feelin' this 18gram two knuckle Hellz-Bellz ring. How fkn badass is that broken bottle, yo? Plus I've always been a huge fan of Hellz-Bellz. Lanie, the owner & creative mind behind the line has so much swagg, any girl who rocks her shit looks fly. Her designs have that "I don't give a fck about you" kinda feel, but with much more lady class than you and yo mama.

A preview at Crooks & Castles' Women's Fall collection thanks to the folks at Paris & Pascual.

(via Paris & Pascual)

Not really into Crooks & Castles, but I've got cardigans on lock and this specific cardigan is freshhhh to deffffffffff. The look's so clean and the way the girl rocked it with her accessories made me want the cardigan even more. Check out her whole fit here.

Johnny Cupcakes Crossbones Fork Shirt

(via Johnny Cupcakes)

This one's a simple win for me. I've always been on a Johnny Cupcakes hype and I don't know when I'll be off it. So I'll let my collection start and grow.

That's pretty much it on the list. Realistically I'll only be able to afford one of these and for me to cop the other two at the same time, I'd probably have to sell a kidney. But imagine if I had the bank for all this?! DAMN. One fcking day, one day.

Never Dilute your shit

2009-07-31T11:10:00.001-07:00

It's that one girl from Elf... whats her name?

2009-07-15T22:52:00.001-07:00

*originally posted on Deep-Fried Funk*

for awhile i was calling Zooey Deschanel: "that one girl from Elf." i know, i should get half-slapped for that one. but whatever! no need to slap me now cause i know my shit, okay?

its true. i enjoy her stale humor. but what gets me more so is her voice. whenever i listen to her group, She & Him, their music somehow always triggers that white part of me when i was a freshman in high school and was in love with indie music (& boys on skateboards). it brings me back to those days, hahaha.

and now that she has a new movie coming up with 3rd Rock From The Sun homeboy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, i reallyy reallyyy wanna watch it! it doesn't look like your typical love story. but it definitely kinda looks like your typical indie film love story. if that makes sense? add 500 days of Summer to my summer watching movie list. maybe it'll hold me down and get me ready for when Paper Hearts comes out.

Black belt Jones intro

2009-07-15T22:21:00.001-07:00

Man I LOVE korny kung-fu movies, especially wiht black guys. Love the music too

FourSquare

2009-07-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Remember that popular game where 4 friends were confined in a box equally broken up into 4 other boxes? Well, I remember we had tricks like the famous CHERRY BOMB and black magic to knock you opponents out so YOU could reign supreme in your castle box...until the next kid would challenge you, or until break was over.

BUT lo and behold, this website has taken a familiar name and made it into this social thing: FOURSQUARE

The concept behind the website, well...hmmmmm think of it like this. You find a new place to go to in your city, a cool park, a new mexican restaurant, or a new alley way with cool graffiti, so you want to share it with everyone. Well that's what FOURSQUARE is about! You just tell people where to go and what to do.

But I find it copying the ideas of the facebook status and twitter thing, just with a twist. TO ME, its repetitive, but for the boring urban youth out there, this might a start to your new life of adventures as people give you clues and it your job to search for that treasure. FOR ME, I like to do things on my own time, when I want, and not have to rely on websites to tell me what to do, (though I do use going.com)

But give it a try, it can't hurt, let me RE-introduce to you FOURSQUARE

semi-Bucket list

2009-07-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

OK people, COME AND GATHER around your computer(z) and let me share with you my mini-bucket list for SAN FRANCISCO in the month of July:

- Sugar Lounge's Happy Hour
They give FREE, yes everyone, FREE Food teriyaki chicken, tempura, quesadillas, chips & salsa, veggies, candy and more..
*377 Hayes St
(between Franklin St & Gough St)

- Make-out Room
Cuz I hear its WEIRD
*3225 22nd St
(between Bartlett St & Mission St)

- Bike across the Golden Gate Bridge

- Get drunk at Twin Peaks

- Go to a Salsa Class
Café Cocomo ( every Wednesday Nights, its $10 cover
*650 Indiana St San Francisco, CA

- Sunday July 19, 4pm
Cardboard Fighting League Tournament
Teams will compete for Championships. There will be judging on costume and tubes will be provided, but I want to bring my
own bad ass one ha.
* At Golden Gate Park, near USF

- Sunday July 19, 9am
AIDS walk
*Golden Gate PArk

-Sunday, July 26 2pm
Stern Grove Festival will have the Bay Area's Lyrics Born + other local HipHop artists
* Stern Grive Park

- Saturday August 1, 8pm
Free showing of "Pretty in Pink"
*Dolores Park

Mayer Hawthorne

2009-07-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

alright, if you haven't heard of this man you are truly missing out.

i originally heard about this musician through a friend of mine two months ago. he sent me this track called, "I Wish It Would Rain." after i heard it, i was like "who the fck is this?" i immediately thought of the sounds of Motown. but i was wrong. "I wish it would rain" wasn't some old school shit, this song was an original created by a genius named: Mayer Hawthorne.

since then he's been on rotation for me every day. and okay, i give myself a late pass for sharing this on Broke-Bandits just NOW. my bad for keepin' the goodies to myself. fckn Justin Timberlake's blog even beat me to it. (at least he's knows wassup though).

okay so... just think: if you somehow got the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the O'Jays all together and stuffed their voices into a white male from Detroit with no formal musical training, you'd get Mayer Hawthorne. sound appealing enough? lemme try that again... if you've been feenin' for a voice that strikes faithful to Motown, 60's r&b, soul etc, there's no doubt you'll easily find and fall in love with Mayer Hawthorne's projects - he's yo boy.

already with a heart-shaped 7'' released (cop it here), he's been getting decent reviews and a long line of folks awaiting his full record.

with his old-school-bow-tie-lovin-heartbreak-barbershop-quartet-charm goin' on... i've got his shit on lock. right now he's the only one keepin' my ears happy. with the music out today, i am finally thankful there's someone who can bring back a more honest and genuine sound to the airwaves.

and plus Questlove and my 12ft fam have been ravin bout him for awhile now. (peep Jon's post on him here).

no joke, don't sleep on this ya'll:
http://www.twitter.com/mayerhawthorne
http://www.myspace.com/mayerhawthorne

History, What's the point?

2009-07-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, remember way back in junior high/ high school during those boring World History or US History classes, on that first day our teachers told us why we study history: it was so that we didn't repeat it. Right? can I get a Allejuah or an AMEN.

Well everyone i hate to break it ya, but history has been repeating itself MANY times, it has just taken on a different form and manifested a different country/city. The back story to this is when i was reading the new today: on BBC news, they say a region of people from China called Uighurs were protesting against the Chinese police. Why? Well, to my understanding people, mostly the men, have been mysterely "dissaperaing," but the people of Uighur believe the government has been taking them. So in defiance the women of the town got together and this is what happens:

He says riot police - armed with rifles and tear gas - charged the women and surrounded them. But they sat on the ground in defiance of orders from policemen to disperse.

He says the protesters finally began leaving as the journalists were ushered away from the area.

But policemen were waiting in the side streets, he said, and it was unclear what had happened to the women.

Do you know waht this reminds me of?
Wel, I did a lot of studying in college about the Dirty War and 'Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo' in Argentina in the 1970's

Spontaneous Exploring, there's no other kind

2009-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

So recently me and my friend Kathy went exploring our cool city of ours, SAN FRANCISCO. Man, this city never fails me, except when we were trying to find jobs....fucker.

But the story goes like this: Me and kathy, both in desperate need of money went to go to a Starbucks Job fair all the way at the levi's plaza, which is in the Embaredero, which is near Koit tower. So we get there and the first thing we see is a LONG-ass line wrapping around the building. Frustrated, I go to the person in the front and ask him how long he's been waiting, he tells me he's been there for 2 hours AND they are only hiring people to work at Starbucks around the Embaredero....I live near Ocean Beach. PEOPLE, that all the way across town!! So We're like FUCK IT and just bounce and this is where our adventure began.

This whole week has been a lot of spontaneous decisions, and so far none of them have proven me wrong. DAMN, I've been here for 4 years and I still haven't seen everything this city has.

The first place we went to was Koit Tower and man the view was breath taking, I saw the city AND the bay, if it wasn't for the group of black people rapping, then i would have had a better time.........................haha J/P, but here is the pic of the view

Then walking down the tower, we land on North Beach, and here is a pic of me with ONE of nicest churches + graffitti

THen we started to get hungry and walk ALL the way to china town and we go into this sketchy alley way that has the FORTUNE COOKIE shop. HAHa they charge $.50 for a picture, so I just went outside and took a pic. They were making chocolate cookies, which were goood and were offering free FRESH cookies for visitors.

Peep these:

2009-06-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

its' SUMMER TIME YA'LL.

so you know what that means? the much anticipated motion picture films we've all been waiting for during the school year are coming OUT one by one.

so yes, UP was fkn glorious + cute as hell. def heard The Hangover & Night At The Museum 2 didn't dissappoint with their funny shit. while just like everyone else i'm still waiting patiently for Transformers II to hit me.

but besides alla that and wanting to see Bumble Bee + Shia La Beouf kick it with each other again, i've been down to watch other films this summer. some old, some new, & some indie films that made the Sundance Film festival.

so with that said... so far here's my summer list of movies i wanna see: (best believe, i'll be adding onto this!)

1) Lars & The Real Girl: a indie film that came out in 2007 starring the homeboy from The Notebook, Ryan Gosseling. this movie was originally referred to me by a friend who just recently bought it for $7 at Target (what a steal, yo!). she said this shit was awkwardly humorous and heart-warming at the same time, which i can understand since it's about a boy who's girlfriend is a blow-up doll named, "Bianca." .....yeah, i know. WTF? but if you like that kinda shit, cop it!

2) Paper Heart: another indie film that's said to come out in August of this year (yeah, i know i gotta wait awhile) starring my "best friend" Michael Cera of SuperBad and Juno and Charlyne Yi. the movie's basically about Charlyne Yi's character's search for the meaning of love so she embarks on a journey in search of the definition of love. while she does so, she records a documentary throught it all and somehow meets a boy along the way and falls for Michael Cera's character. sounds cute, yeah? i'm thinking this isn't your typical lovey-dovey chick flick type film. if you watch the trailer, you'll now why. and you'll probably notice the two lovebirds in here are kinda nerdy & awkward, but that's whats entertaining! just by watching the trailer i was cracking up. its def a love story/humor film that i feel i can relate to. hahaha

"i am not in love! you're in love!"- peep this preview here.

thas all for right now. any other movie recommendations for the summer? lemme know.

We need another World War

2009-05-30T13:49:00.001-07:00

So there are too many people on this earth...Check out this article from Weird Science, NASA has taken pictures over the last decade to show how people have urbanized this world, read this:

Over the past decade, the number of people on Earth shot up by more than 13 percent, to nearly 6.8 billion people. To make room for all the hungry, breeding, CO2-emitting bodies on our small planet, we’ve ravaged Earth’s surface with staggering feats of deforestation, irrigation and urbanization — and NASA satellites have captured it all. Here are a few videos, compiled from images posted on NASA’s Earth Observatory, of some of the most impressive conquests of man over environment.

HA, this is how the world goes round

2009-05-30T13:34:00.001-07:00

new MOS DEF cd- The Ecstatic

2009-05-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

My favorite rapper of ALL time is coming out with his fourth CD called "The Ecstatic" and I highly ENCOURAGE you guys to buy his cd and show him some love, I mean when is the last time you actually bought a CD??

But Mos def is my favorite rapper, well because I feel a lot of the famous rappers out there are the ones who have a unique voice, like the high pitch sound of B-real, the lead rapper for Cypress hill, Talib Kweli, and the slow mellow tone of Jay-Z, Mos Def definitely has a certain SWAGGA that no one else does. Have you ever heard him spit? Look him up on the Dave Chappele show, when Dave is driving him around in the car...its the ILLIST

But click HERE to see the promo video for Mos Def's new album.

4 all the USF heads

2009-05-27T18:22:00.001-07:00

For all the fours years I have been at USF, if you didn't want to eat at the cafeteria and craved for some good food outside of the university. Papolote, which means 'kite' in Spanish, is the default place to go to.

They got bomb ass salsa, and this green habanero sauce you put on EVERYTHING! Mix those two together and i think your high school would vote them the next "hot" duo ha.

But watch this video, because it tells the story of the place and I actually learned something about it.

thank you for coming back into my life...

2009-05-25T04:25:00.001-07:00

before I make a post about graduation, success, and shit...

first, can we please...
WELCOME BACK MAXWELL.

here's his latest called, "Pretty Wings." can't wait for this album to drop! i fkn miss his hair though.

Maxwell x Pretty Wings from Kvein on Vimeo.

Volley BOnk

2009-05-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's this new sport happening in the Dolores Park, on the tennis courts. i hear you have to play drunk. ITs a mix between: volleyball, kickball, and tennis.

Read more here

REAL FUNNY:

"Tattoos are badass, but bruises are undercover badass. Bruises are the new temporary tattoo. Bruises say I live my life rough, and I don’t even have to pay someone to draw it on. A bruise is like a tattoo that says “I’m rugged. Let’s party.”

A hot day in SF

2009-05-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

HAHHA only in the mission. This here is Dolores Park, other than that famous park with the Victorian houses, as seen in the show "Full House," you can see a beautiful view of the city + there are TONS of good hole in the walls, and my favorite ice cream place just down the street.

AND where else in San Francisco?

fuck FACEBOOK, join Orralay Homes

2009-05-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

What is Orralay homes you ask? well for this past semester I chose to take a computer science class and our final project was to make a social netowrk like facebook/myspace. AND MAN let me tell you this shit was HARD!!!

But even though I turned in my project I still plan to work on the website because there are still a lot of bugs I want to work out to make it ook/work better.

But anyway go to the website and sign up, you only need to have a google account to join:

http://orralayhomes.appspot.com/

OOOO and Orralay homes is slang in Spanish meaning "right on man!"

Epic sneeze -- bless you.

2009-04-29T01:28:00.001-07:00

since everyone keeps talking about the flu + germs, thought i'd like to share this video with you. not only will it make you wanna sneeze, not only will it make you more paranoid about the germs floating around you after you do sneeze, but i assure you it'll make you wanna cringe every time the homie next to you sneezes (without covering he/shes mouth) in class.

check this video out and then wash 'yo hands, son!

Broke-Bandits in ACTION!

2009-04-27T00:51:00.000-07:00

ever thought to yourself one morning while reading our blog: "how the fck do they look?" well, ladies & gents today's your lucky day cause i'm about to show you some never-before-seen footage of this duo. you ready? (btw, we're 10x better looking in 3D, swear).

circa 2005 when Jayson liked to torture me during dinner. (btw, we hustled our way into getting this dinner 'fo free!)

we were pretty much a big deal during this show. 'nuff said.

broke @ friendship games.

tada!

HAHAHAAHAHA.

ATTN: Cheap Ice Cream

2009-04-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, if you don't know me I like free stuff, or cheap food. SO I AM HERE to share you the good news: ( I wish I could make shit here look nicer or BIGGER, but blogger is gay, so bear with me)

************ BASKIN ROBINS I SHAVING A $0.31 SCOOP NIGHT *****************

WHEN: Wednesday, April 29
TIME: 5pm-10pm
WHY: in honor of firefighting heroes across the nation. Each person can get up to 3 scoops of 2.5 oz of ice cream or 3 oz of Soft Serve

FIND THE NEAREST LOCATION HERE

Ladies night HEYY!!!!

2009-04-26T18:01:00.001-07:00

BACON vodka. ha

2009-04-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION all fat asses out there or ALOCHOLICS. This one is for you:

Get yours >>HERE<<

I AM ALIVE

2009-04-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

So like my partner in crime Aileen said, we haven't gone anywhere. its just somehow school has found a way to kick or ass, but we always come out victorious. This is one of the project I had to make for my Computer Science Class. AND LET ME SAY THIS FIRST!!!

COMPUTER SCIENCE IS HARD AS FUCK. I have a new appreciation for all the people who program games, even the ones in your phone, your computer, etc.

Here is my version, its still not done yet, because i have the answer showing. BUT play around with it.

http://1.latest.hangtokillaman.appspot.com/

we ain't DEAD, son!

2009-04-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

we just got lives in the 3D world. with Jayson graduating soon and my ass still trying to find a writing internship, we got the world working against us.

but it don't matter cause we saw QUESTLOVE!! that made no sense, but i just wanted to say that. hahaha

anyway, it's that season again... okayplayer just released the Rock The Bells 2k9 line-up for the summer. how ya'll feelin' about this?

i'm thinking the Broke-Bandits should make an appearance here.

AND WE'RE BACK!!!

2009-04-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7974995.stm

A Student's Rant

2009-03-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

I would like to open this post with a quote from an R&B artist named Monica (if you can guess the title, its kind of obvious this is from I am going to give you a virtual HIGH FIVE)

"It's just one of them days
When i wanna be all alone
It's just one of them days
When i gotta be all alone
It's just one of them days
Don't take it personal
I just wanna be all alone
And you think i treat you wrong"

And I am just having one of them damn days. So listen: I am sitting in my Non-Linear Dynamics and Chaos Theory Class (it jsut sounds fancy), and as I was staring across the room admiring the rain and the Friskian landscape I got to thinking: school is taking over my life. For the THREE people who are following the blog, its my last FUCKIN semester and my senior-itis has returned. Its like I am at the home stretch and i just want to give up. Does anyone else feel like this?

I just took my Probability and Statistics test today and it did not go well...I ended up bullshitting ALOT of it. Why? the material was not hard, it was my lack of preparation, I started studying at 9pm the night before, and I can't cram, it doesn't work for me. It takes me a while for my brain to sponge up the material.

Why was I ill prepared? because two days before I had homework assigned that I desperately needed to finish, I just finished my computer science project over the weekend THEN the day before I had Kasamahan and Alpha Phi Omega stuff to do.

I just feel overwhelmed and all I want to do is have FUCKIN FUN, I mean its my last semester and I want to enjoy the time I have with my friends, not spending it with my head in my books, stuck in front of a desk.

So today i was just bummed about thinking about all of this. Does anyone else feel like this? if so say Hallelujah!!!!

Royksopp - "Happy up here"

2009-03-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

an old sampled hip-hop beat with a nice creative video to go with it.

under construction

2009-02-24T02:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=19731

Now I want Kids

2009-02-19T22:19:00.001-08:00

For those of you that know me, I.....(I don't want to use the word hate), but I do not like to be around kids, and AT THIS MOMENT I don't want kids because they are a little ball of energy that will jsut cause you trouble and stress.

Kids are like dogs......that can talk.

BUT WHEN I SAW THIS, I HAVE TO RECONSIDER haha, killing two birds with one stone. Make your kids work for their food.

Stimulate this!

2009-02-18T01:37:00.000-08:00

So get this, i am waiting for the bus and as i wait in the trickling rain and breezy sea air, i find myself thinking about the $787 billion STIMULUS Plan that Congress approved and Obama signed today in Denver. (the plan was originally $900, then both the house and congress agreed to the current plan. but it only got 3 Republican support and no Republican support).

This is the breakdown of the plan:

STIMULUS PACKAGE

$240bn in tax breaks for individuals and businesses
$140bn for health care
$100bn for education
$48bn for transportation projects

Mr Obama said: "I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems, nor does it constitute all of what we're going to have to do to turn our economy around, but today does mark the beginning of the end."

Obama + Che

2009-02-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

Will Obama lead us to the next revolution like Che Guevara? I find these images have share a lot of similarities. Both capture the essence of what the two icons represent.

I want to start on Che's first because I am almost done reading his biography (which is long but AMAZING and inspiring). As I finish the book I can say I know something about Che and this famous image. For one every time I see it I always think of his absolute implacability, meaning during and after the Cuban revolution he was never satisfied with himself because there was always room for improvement. Che was on this internal mission to globalize socialism and always seemed restless because he wanted to achieve it.

Another thing this image captures is his resoluteness. Che was verbally abusive to his comrades who would "fuck up" sometiems, but he always had a reason, and never did it out of spite or hate for someone, but definitely anger.

I don't really know much about Obama. i would like to read his auto-biographies, but I don't really know anything about his past to pass judgement, except for what he has done so far as president and what he has promised America during his campaign. (If anyone knows facebook me or talk to me i would like to find out)

What I noticed about these two images is that they both seem to looking...I want to say at the future. Obama of course is our symbol the hope of America. Here he looks stern....but ready. He seems experienced, but most importantly not afraid, and because he's not afraid, it doesn't make me afraid, and that is why i feel I can trust him.

For Che's I think the author of his biography explains it better than I can "Che appears as the ultimate revolutionary icon, his eyes staring boldly into the future, his very face symbolizing a virile embodiment of outrage at social injustice" -Jon Anderson

Metronomy - "A Thing For Me"

2009-02-14T22:47:00.001-08:00

i saw this video on Jon's blog awhile ago and after i first saw it i couldn't stop watching it. now i have a hard time getting it out of my head. i randomly caught myself singing it today.

it's such a dope video. i don't think anyone's been this creative with a music video in awhile.

(thanks for the hook, Jon)

... what i got.

2009-02-14T22:23:00.001-08:00

you go girl, you go.

here's my shameless plug for my personal blog:
Deep-Fried Funk.

i started it awhile ago cause it's supposed to be a future magazine project of mine, but instead it's turned into something different. check it out if you guys have time. AHA!

finally, i'm here.

2009-02-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

before i get all journalistic + editorial on your ass, i thought i'd shove the hard news agenda into the cupboard and instead share a few indie films with you.

since i'm currently taking a Arts Reporting & Review class, i've been diving myself into more indie films. i've been giving them more love than in the past. now lemme tell you, i barely watch movies, so i'm no where near being a movie buff or a hardcore indie films fan, i'm far from it. but i thought these next few movies were just a few i thought were interesting. it was either their storyline, concept, or camera angles that caught me and told me that "hey, i should share this with you!" so yeah, here i am doing just that.

i don't know if any of you have seen the movie: Paris, Je'Taime? for all you folks who skipped out on French class in high school, the title means: "Paris, I love you." it's an indie french film with a huge amazing cast both from Europe and the U.S. to name a few... you've got your homeboys: Elijah Wood, Wes Craven, and Steve Buscemi (i only remember him cause of the Billy Madison movie) and homegirls: Natalie Portman and Maggie Gyllenhaal starring in this film. the cast is filled with great talent along with directors who are even more amazing. with about 20 directors in charge of this film, some even acting in it as well, you gotta think with all these extra hands it better be a good film.

now because i'm horrible at explaining plots/synopsis, i'll let you know what IMDb said about the film:

"Paris, je t'aime is about the plurality of cinema in one mythic location: Paris, the City of Love. Twenty filmmakers have five minutes each; the audience must weaving a single narrative out of twenty moments. The 20 moments are fused by transitional interstitial sequences and also via the introduction and epilogue. Each transition begins with the last shot of the previous film and ends with the first shot of the following film, extending the enchantment and the emotion of the previous segment, preparing the audience for a surprise, and providing a cohesive atmosphere. There's a reappearing mysterious character who is a witness to the Parisian life. A common theme of Paris and love fuses all."

one of my best friends told me about this movie the other day and since then i haven't been able to stop trying to get a hold of my own copy. cause damn, i feel so late! this movie was released in 2006 (told you i wasn't a movie buff) so that makes me... 3 years overdue? not cool. anyway, the weird part is i found a movie called: "New York, I love you" a couple days before she even told me about the Paris movie. the title grabbed my attention immediately so i did extra research and yep, later found out that New York, I love you is a spin off of Paris, Je'Taime. pretty much the same concept, instead with just 12 directors documenting 12 different stories in a different city and without subtitles. cool.

"Following the box office smash feature film 'Paris, je t'aime' that opened the 2006 'Un Certain Regard' section of the Cannes Film Festival, we are thrilled to present 'New York, I Love You'. Twelve filmmakers will direct short films illustrating the universal theme of encountering love within the five boroughs of New York City. Internationally acclaimed actors and directors have signed on to create another truly enjoyable and inspiring project."

i just think the inspiration and direction behind both movies makes it worth watching. the fact that the directors and actors in the film probably have a special connection with the city and are telling a story about their experience firsthand or in relation to, it makes me think they're feeding me the vibes and giving me the downlow on the lifestyles of such a place. especially since i haven't been to either Paris or New York, i figure watching both movies will give me a taste of how both cities are from just watching locals live in it.

now if i haven't hyped up these films enough and if you wanna know which familiar faces (there's A LOT) took part in this film and who helped direct and share stories, click here. Natalie Portman is in it again along with Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Ethan Hawke, James Caan, and Shia LaBeouf to name a few. and this movie was already released in Canada at the Toronto Film Festival this past September and it's going to be released in Russia this month. for all of us Americans, we don't get a look at this movie till sometime in April. and even then it'll be limited. the trailer put me on a good tip. i'm stoked already... i can't wait.

New York, i wanna love you!

A True Fat Ass

2009-02-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

Haha I like how they try to compensate for their breakfast by making something healthy. If this is what they eat in the south, then watch out Hurricane Katrina, because I am going to be the new BIG thing!

Another point for Men

2009-02-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

So my cousin sent this to me and I just wanted to share:

Sushi made easy and another Obama citing

2009-02-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

When I first tried sushi, I wanted to throw up. I was a kid and I HEARD what sushi was, some RAW fish on rice. As Amercians, we liked our food cooked, well-done please, except for my steak, which I get medium-rare, but eating raw sushi on rice, no way-jose. The only reason I ate was because it was for free, and I made sure I stayed away from the raw stuff so I ate the cucumber rolls. BUT I've grown up and I FUCKIN LOVE SUSHI (!) and for all my sushi-lovers out there here is some news we all have been waiting for:

SUSHI MAKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only problem I see with this is YOUR IMAGINATION. You could even make the sushi rice sweet and put chocolate mango and jackfruit.....some bananas. All you have to do is load the rice, put the ingredients in, then push it out into the nori! Any amatuer can do this, and hey if we all had one, we would see more sushi places on the corner of SF AND its ONLY $25!!!!

WEBSITE: http://www.lighterside.com/product/our+newest+items/sushi+maker+set.do?WT.svl=67975#

My FUTURE baby

2009-02-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted a 1997 Corvette like this one:

BUT for all you Transformer Fans, if you watched the superbowl you would know that the movie looks SICK-with-it (!), but one of the new characters, or i should say cars that Micheal Bay is using in his movie for the 2009Summer release is this new GM Corvette here:

This car will be playing as "SideSwipe," but I'm not sure if he is a good or bad guy, but this baby looks to good to be bad. GM said it won't be making this specific car for mass production, but in their new models, they will resemble their new corvette to this. So watch out everyone, they next time you see me, I will still be in my 1991 Blue-Green Toyota Corolla, BUT will have money saved up to buy this.

Take your anger out on love!

2009-02-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

So I don't know who is reading this yet, but for anyone who does not have a date or does but just loves a good ol' fight, then come out and bring your pillows!

Pot gives Men TESTICULAR CANCER!!

2009-02-09T01:32:00.000-08:00

Watch Neil Armstrong, you might not be the only one, I JUST read this in BBC news and I had to share it with you guys:

"The study from scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle is the first to look specifically at marijuana use in relation to the disease.

They studied 369 men aged 18 to 44, who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and quizzed them about marijuana use.
Their replies were compared to those from almost 1,000 apparently healthy control subjects.

Even after adjusting the figures to take account of the other known risk factors, marijuana use remained a clear risk factor for testicular cancer.

Just being a marijuana smoker seemed to carry a 70% extra risk, while those who smoked it regularly, or had smoked from an early age, had twice the risk compared to those who had never smoked it.

A connection was made to nonseminoma, a fast-growing form of testicular cancer which accounts for approximately 40% of all cases, and tends to strike younger."

I dunno? Friends?

2009-02-09T00:26:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about "Friends" this whole weekend. I am a senior who is graduating in May 09' and a real important question popped into my head: Who are your real friends? I mean who will you keep in contact with after graduation, because realistically someday in the near future we are all going to move away from good ol' USF and we'll forget some people.

Think about it. How many people who have graduated have left a lasting impression on you? Yea I know they are year(s) older than us, but let me put it into this perspective: how many people can/will you remember when YOU leave? Me? I can only think of a hand full.

Why was I thinking about this? Well sometime this week, I think it was a Wednesday morning, and I was in my professor's office hours and I don't know how the topic came up but we were talking about death and he said something like, "when I am on my death bed, all I will be thinking about are my regrets." and I replied, "well thats why you live your life to the fullest." But what I wanted to say was "well, how can you change that"?

Yea I have a SHIT load of regrets in life, and I am only 22. One of them being a shitty friend (in my opinion anyway). But why is it that when the end to anything is coming or when you KNOW the end is coming, all you do is look behind you and ask the one question: WHAT IF...? Like everyone else I live in fear: scarred to speak my mind because I will seem like a dumb-ass or sound like one, scarred to approach a fine girl because I might get rejected AND seem like a dumb-ass, scarred to give things a chance because it is out of my comfort zone or circle of people I know, scarred to act because I will seem like a stupid-ass. Just scarred. And that fear has greatly influenced my decisions in the past, like why I prioritize school before anything, and why I don't go out as much.

Not to get anyone down or anything, but thats how I have been feeling lately and its stuck in my head and had to get it out. There are people I want to get closer to, friendships I want to amend because the friendships are far more important, people I want to know, and new people I want to become friends with. There are only 3.5 months of school left, and all I see the the time ticking, but tomorrow is always a new day, and ANYTHING can happen in 24 hours.

Obama Day 18:
The stimulus package. Does anyone even know what that means. I first thought tax-paying Americans were going to get more money, like Bush's plan to boost the economy by giving everyone money. WRONG! the package was actually one of the propositions Obama first wanted to address. Its a $900 billion (thats ALOT people, if I write it out, it is $9,000,000,000. Thats nine zeros!!) to help "boost," hence the word 'stimulus,' the economy by creating at least 3-4 million jobs. It also includes lowering taxes for middle-class americans, providing medical assistance for those who can not afford it, and creating jobs to fix roads, and bridges. It was recorded that the unemployment rate now is 7.6% with 600,000 jobs lost in JANUARY alone!

I don't know about you but my family has been affected by the economy. I've been having to stretch $30 for a whole week sometimes, and thats hard when your friends want to do something, especially to drink. BUT THANK YOU for Happy hour and the USF cafeteria.

Having a Bad Day?

2009-02-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

So I stumbled upon this video on Yelp. Weird huh, looking for places to eat and I come across this really great video. It couldn't have came at a better time for me because of reading the news, hearing Israel has killed 500 people in Gaza, all the personal drama in one's/my life, I feel this video can uplift anyone's day, if not, then you must have NO SOUL.

It gets one thinking (well me anyway), this video reminds me there is definitely hope for humankind. This is definitely one of those "If we all get together to fight one cause then we can over come it" kind of slogans, just like how we abolished slavery in the united states, or with the help of an amazing man, finally obtained the RIGHTS we people of color finally deserve.

This also sparked something in me. It got me thinking about the bubble that each of us are stuck in, meaning we get to comfortable in where we live that we don't want to see what else is out there. But this argument is just a generalization, because i know that some of us are scared to get out there, or are held down by money, or are commitment to our families. SOME of us are even ignorant and closed minded and don't want to see the world, and to those people, I URGE you GET OUT. BREAK YOUR BUBBLE! I don't want to get all preachy. Enjoy the video

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

And....

2009-02-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

WE'RE ALIVE!!!!!!!

Jayson + Aileen = THE Broke Bandits

With Aileen's $5 subway and Jayson's cafeteria meal we embark on a new journey of inspiration and knowledge we'd like to share with you.