Ocho Cinco has his priorities straight on Black Friday

Pretty sure it wasn't even on sale at Best Buy, but maybe it was at the store he was at. Obviously, the fuss he caused over a new contract was warranted. Poor guy had to get up before 5 just like the rest of us common folk to get in on some slick deals.

[The Big Lead]

CHEERS and JEERS Thanksgiving edition

- JEERS to turkey. Unless it's smothered in gravy, most of time this dry ass bird tastes like you're eating a towel.

- CHEERS to prime rib, rib roasts, duck, and any other alternative protein on Thanksgiving. Much props to the Thanksgiving chef/mom/auntie/uncle who goes above and beyond the traditional fare. Here's my Thanksgiving dinner from two years ago:



Fucking beautiful.

- JEERS to sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows and green beans with crispy onions. These are lame side dishes that smell of laziness. Usually crispy onions come from some can and well, marshmallows are marshmallows. Sorry if you have a special affinity to these items, but I am not a fan.



- CHEERS to mashed potatoes. Double the cheers if those potatoes have garlic in them. Whoever thought up the idea of adding butter and milk to such a simple starch is a genius who will also happen to have a hand in my eventual demise.

- CHEERS to Thanksgiving day football. Is there a better activity to do after eating a large meal than sitting on your ass watching football?

- JEERS to the lame ass matchups year after year. I don't know why the Cowboys and Lions are the traditional Thanksgiving teams that play, but tradition can change. Just like marriage right?!

Video Games LIVE!

I just got back from the Video Games Live concert in Boston. For those who don't know, they take classic video game favorites and orchestrate the music for large orchestra and choir. While playing the music they have video clips of the songs playing in the background, as well as a bit of audience interactivity and crazy laser action.

They played the staples of the industry like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, but they also threw in a couple of really cool arrangements. Some of my personal favorites were the music to Bioshock, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II, but if you're a gamer there was plenty for everyone.

The man behind the operation, Tommy Tallarico, is actually one of the most important video game composers in the industry. He started out a long time ago, composing the music for the first Prince of Persia game, and then exploding from there to do the music to huge AAA titles like God of War. He is a Massachusetts native, and earlier in the week he actually came to Berklee to speak about how he got into the industry and the current trends. It was an incredibly informative presentation, and it was just cool to see someone that is so high up on the video game ladder, talk to us about how he paved his way into the industry.

The interactive sections of the concert were awesome. They had a whole Gutiar Hero thing where a contest winner got to play a song from Guitar Hero while the musicians backed him, Ralph Baer, the original creator of PONG, got to play pong on stage with a random audience member while the orchestra played little bits. They pulled a member from the audience, and then gave him a shirt and a controller, and he got to play Space Invaders on the big screen, except he was the ship, so he had to run around while shooting down the ships as the musicians played. It was all pretty incredible. We even got to see Martin Leung, the guy who plays the video game music blindfolded on Youtube, play Final Fantasy music live for us, which was pretty amazing.

In the end it was a night spent with a bunch of peers, eating and drinking, and seeing a really cool concert. Time well spent.

Best Fresh Prince ending EVER!

When i think back to my child hood one sitcom really stands out. That show my friends is the Fresh Prince Of Bel-air. When some folks think of Will Smith they think of Ali, I am Legend, Pursuit of Happiness, etc. Not for me though, its all about the fresh prince. I get clowned on a lot for watching a lot of "black" movies, but no one can deny the genius of the Fresh Prince. Not to mention us brown kids didn't have any shows we could relate to when we were kids and still don't have any till this day. I've been meaning to put this post up for the longest time since a lot of times when we talk about this show this episode always comes up.

WILL SMITH at his BEST


"I had fourteen great birthdays without him, he never even sent me a damn card. TO HELL WITH HIM!"

classic.....classic

Link Dump: President, Religion, Identity and New Edition

Here's what's going on in Blogfrica:

- On Spontinuity, Brother Sean puts Obama's victory into context the proper way, framed around a Fresh Prince reference: Somebody beat the young Carlton Banks to the punch.

- Over at Not So Small Talk, Kristine tussles with the moral pressures of the Catholic church.

- And at X-tra MEdium, Raf posted a few videos from ABS-CBN's Speak-Out series on Filipino identity. Ray posted one of the same videos here, but there are interesting points made on the comments section over there.

- Finally, at Waltonesque, Kuya Justin landed an EXCLUSIVE interview with the three biggest names from New Edition: Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, and of course, Bobby Brown. The interview covers what brought the three together again and some words of advice for future R&B acts. That is some real access right there, you made it bro!

Top Chef Season 5 Starts Tonight

Coolkids favorite Top Chef airs tonight at 10 PM. It's set in the Big Apple, so make yourself some dinner and sit your ass down to watch one of my personal favorite reality shows on television.

This commercial makes me want to run through a goddamn brick wall

By now we've all seen this TV spot for Nike every Sunday. The photography, the Ennio Morricone song in the background, everything is spot on. As if you don't see it enough on television, here it is so you can come here every morning to get your blood pumping for the day.

Frustrated

I am still upset at how the voting went towards prop 8. So i just wanted to drop my 2 cents once again on the issue and shed some light on something.

Arguement: Many say that civil unions are the same thing as marriage. So what does it matter?

Question: If you decided to marry someone of a different race than you, but others passed a law saying you werent allowed to, but you could have a civil union just not marriage like same race couples. Would civil unions still be the "same thing?"

Just something to ponder...

"Do on to others as you would want others to do on to you."

Unbelievable.

I never thought in my lifetime...

California Love

Amidst a historical election between a black man and the walking dead, California voters may get so into the presidential race that it may be easy to forget about legislation happening back home.

Fear not however, because after weeks of anticipation and constant research, I've compiled an in-depth guide to answer any questions regarding what will appear on California's ballot. Due to complex nature and the number of controversial issues surrounding each proposition, this guide is quite dense with information, so I must apologize in advance if it appears overwhelming.

A Cool Kids California Voter's Guide:

Prop 1: Something about super high-speed railways?

Prop 2: Allows chickens and other farm animals to breath, stretch, shake it, before you eat them

Prop 3: I dunno

Prop 4: Requires permission/notification before an abortion

Prop 5: Overhaul of sentencing and rehabilitation for nonviolent drug offenders

Prop 6: Mo money for the Po's

Prop 7: Something about funding green technology... could be wrong

Prop 8: A discriminatory law that takes away fundamental rights.

Prop 9-12: Not sure, lost my booklet.

Some SD Affairs:

Prop B: Opens up parts of San Diego's waterfront for development

Prop D: Further bans booze on beaches. Boo!

Happy Voting!