Happy First Birthday Coolkids

Exactly one year ago, four men with a hunger for writing and wittiness banned together to give the internet a piece of their minds. ADONIS, Just Ray, Nazer, and CommanderCacho started the blog entitled, The Coolest Kids In The Room, a no standard, no guideline, no shit place to express opinions. We've dealt with everything from frozen food to politics, with each individual contributing their own special blend of herbs and spices. Readers everywhere have raved about the massive overflow of content on the blog each day, and we've received oodles and oodles of fan mail, something we're all extremely proud of. Lets take a look at some data.


As you can see from the line graph above, we started out incredibly strong, with nearly a post a day. In March we peaked with a record of 41 posts, a most impressive accomplishment for bloggers everywhere. In the later months we drop a bit, and in September we only had a total of 7 posts. But that's okay because...


Over the months our coolness has increased exponentially. In the form of Rock Band multipliers, we've reached a 2048x multiplier of coolness, which in my book is pretty incredible.

So over the course of a year we've totaled 246 posts, and we're still going strong crawling along. We've gone through a slew of cosmetic changes, and our layouts are only improving over time. So thanks for the year guys, lets keep it going. And now for a more traditional entry.

School has been keeping me pretty busy. I'm finally diving deeper into the Film Scoring major, and that includes a LOT of writing (music) as well as learning applications on the computer. I'm surrounded by peers who love film and film music, and I have to say that I've heard some of the greatest music I've ever heard in my life this semester, not only from my peers but even from doing more in-depth research on some of my favorite scores. Projects range from scoring short scenes and doing analysis papers to sitting at a desk and just spilling whatever it is inside of our brains onto paper and hoping brilliant music comes out. It's incredibly difficult and daunting, but its seriously so much fun. For one of my classes, we have to make a mock up (a digital representation) of a minute or so of E.T. Digitally punching in notes for woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion, and so on. It's all really cool, and I'm definitely looking forward to my future semesters to just get more information and to get more work done.

I've also been one of the people at Berklee increasing awareness of Video Game music as a valid genre. The themes of video game music stick in peoples brains forever, and like film, it's an incredibly important component. A guest speaker came, and he stated that some people play WoW for nearly 30 hours a week. As they're playing they listen to music and sound effects in the game for 30 hours. Even for a favorite record, you probably don't listen to that for 30 hours a week, so that's all pretty interesting. I've been working with a few people on audio integration in games, and some of us have been talking to professionals about the importance of music, as well as technical aspects of it all. It's all pretty nerdy shit, but I'm pretty optimistic that by the time I graduate I'll have a good idea on music production in games.

I'm also part of Berklee's video game club band. It's a group of 7 of us, and we make all of our own arrangements. In March we're going to SF to play at the Game Developers Conference, so hopefully there we can get ourselves out there as composers, and meet a bunch of bigger names.

I've been following TV as usual. Pushing Daisies canceled, My Own Worst Enemy canceled, Dirty Sexy Money canceled, all unfortunate events. Heroes is trash, and if you disagree we can argue about it, but I continue to watch because I want it to get better. Bryan Fuller, who worked on Daisies, was a former writer on Heroes, so he's coming back there to help the show out, so hopefully it gets better in Volume 4. This weeks 30 Rock was probably one of the funniest episodes I have ever seen. Some of the shows that have been consistently awesome are Dexter and Chuck, I look forward to them every week.

So I'll be home Friday the 19th at like 9:30PM. Can't wait to see everyone again, get some mexican food, and just chill out. I could probably go on forever, but this seems like a good place to stop. Time to make some food, PEACE

Never Leave Your Shit At The Condo

P.S. - Object was beyond repair. We decided earlier in the day to throw it away but eventually decided to just break it at night, no worries folks

Summer 08: 3 Weeks and We're Already Drowning in Alcohol

10:30 AM. To tell you the honest truth, I don't remember much about the night before. I remember waking up in Ant's car, saying goodbye and thanks for the ride, sticking my key into my front door only to find the chain latched. Two house calls later my dad opens with an "oh you're back early," and I nod my head and race upstairs to crash in my bed.

I knew Summer was going to be fun as hell, but there was no warning label for the shit that went down the past couple weeks. Everything from Vicente in a wheel chair to stepping in puddles of blue curacao, let's just say it's been eventful.

David's ridiculous house party with insane amounts of liquor, immediately followed by Adonis's "three ring circus," and then everyone got to be 21 for a day in LA for homeboy Mark's birthday, happy birthday man, and thanks to the folks in Irvine for their continued hospitality, we couldn't carry out this drunk lifestyle without you guys.

We've hit a lull in the summertime schedule. Nothing major planned for at least a couple weeks, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm kind of looking forward to some real relaxation. Few weeks gives the UC kids time to finish school, gives me time to concentrate on music, gives everyone time to just kick back, enjoy the weather and take it easy. So seriously, thanks for the GOOD TIMES guys, there are many more to come in these next months, but now it's time to make myself a grilled cheese and some orange juice and watch that Lost finale I have recorded, till next time.

Great Spring Break Closing Weekend = Birthday Surprise + Wrestlemania

To: Adonis, Nazer, Ray
From: Lance
Re: The Balancing Act

I promised myself I would never post while I was drunk, I broke it once, fuck it, I will break my promise again (note to reader: never trust Lance if he promises something to you).

If you didn't know already it was Nelson and Nazer's birthday on Sunday. Be sure to leave them obligatory facebook/myspace comments.

Through some act of God, we pulled off the birthday surprise for Nelson. Despite our hopes that he would say something embarassing as he walked in, the look of shock/fear once we yelled surprise was worth all of our efforts throughout the last couple weeks.

Kristi, honestly, I thought that something, somewhere, would fuck up all your plans, but you pulled this off, I gotta give you props. Or e-props, whatever, the fact that it happened is very impressive.

Saturday's festivities were a great nightcap to a spring break that went a long way in recharging my batteries for the upcoming spring quarter.

Beer pong at 3 in the afternoon two days in a row (I am a self-proclaimed champion now), getting my BRAWL hours in with Bassek and David, seeing Nazer and Tony during the first weekend, a few work outs here and there, babystting Floyd one night, more beer pong at David's, and finally Nelson's traditional dinner at Islands followed by his surprise birthday party is quite the spring break if you ask me.

The cherry on top was Wrestlemania XXIV at Kuya Pogz's house. I don't watch wrestling regularly anymore but there were some good spots here and there. The highlights of the evening were a "Money in the Bank" ladder match, and Ric Flair's tearful "retirement" match versus Shawn Michaels.



In all honesty, Ric Flair is not someone who I had much respect for when I was younger. He represented everything I hated about WCW when I was a pro-WWF crazy fan (he wasn an old fart who got way too much screen time in that day and age in my opinion).

Not until I put his career into perspective (after he came to the WWF during the WCW buyout) could I grasp what he has done for professional wrestling. Everyone knows that pro wrestling is scripted and that it doesn't legitimately constitute a "sport" in the truest sense. But it's because of the passion and unwavering commitment to the profession that individuals like Ric Flair posess that this industry continues to thrive on what otherwise may be seen as a faulty product.

Flair continued to perform way beyond his "prime", yet still at a level that captured audiences across the nation. He literally bled for the world of pro wreslting, along with his sweat and tears.



If this is indeed Ric Flair's last hurrah, then the industry will surely miss his pure unadulterated contributions on a nightly basis. Next time I'm drunk, I promise you can slap me in the chest as hard as you want, as long as the surrounding crowd lets out a resounding "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!".