Ph*#k You!

While I've wooed about Woot, I'm not partial to them by any means. I like to divvy up shout outs to multiple "cool tee" finds. This one was brought to my attention by a co-worker. Thanks Steve! Mule Design may or may not be tied to a subliminal Democratic message - which is just fine by me.

Regardless of your political leanings, you will find something in here to make you laugh. Philly pholks get a bad rap for their toughness. But I personally would never trade a day I spent among the "F" notes and subway stench. Without them, my life would be the equivalent of a Federal pretzel without the salt - boring and tasteless with no grit.

http://store.muledesign.com/shirts/philly.php

New Kids on the Rock

The Black Keys indeed rock. They are an indie band out of Akron, Ohio that is super fantastico. Their music has a new indie-sound edge but its soul is unmistakably Zeppelin-esque, reminiscent of those late 70s burnout bands we all have a soft spot in our hearts for.

My favorite album of theirs is "Thickfreakness", but any others will do if you are in the mood to relive your black light poster days and jam out a bit.

The coolest part of this band is that they always record in a dusty basement, old rubber factory or somewhere that lends to the dull-razor enivron their music conjures up. Even though they just recorded in a real studio for the first, time, they managed to keep their sound raw. Read more about them at www.theblackkeys.com/bio.

New Zealand...Cool!

Every once in a while a show comes along that makes me equally laugh and equally mad. "The Flight of the Concords" makes me laugh 'til I'm crying and fills me with envy as writer because I'll never be that good.

Brilliant writing and an even more clever concept, the series follows two New Zealand immigrants living in New York who are trying to make their 2-man band a success. Jermaine and Brett are so dry and so naive that it makes them almost as lovable as they are hilarious. What I love about this series is that there is no violence, no bad language and yet it's still a total stitch - rare in today's comedy landscape.

The best part of this series is that the characters randomly break out in to videos. The art direction and lyrics of these videos are dead on spooftastic.

Add it to your queue immediately. The best character is the band manager who takes roll call at each meeting with only 3 attendees. These Kiwis all have serious self-esteem issues against Australia. Another theme for plenty of comedic fodder. Take note of the New Zealand travel posters in the background: "New Zealand. Don't expect too much and you'll love it." "New Zealand. Not part of Australia."

Their self assigned rap names say it all: Rhymnoceros & Hiphopotomus.

http://www.hbo.com/conchords/

Summer Cruisin

As summer winds down for much of the country, unlike here in Tampa where we have about 2 more months of sick heat, I am reminded of my favorite summer past time in my late high school and college years. Driving around, either alone or with one of my girls, blasting rap music.

Keep in mind the rap I speak of here is the rap of years past. The rap that wasn't so offensively bad. The rap whose lyrics ranged from serious political impact, like Public Enemy, to the levity of eating pizza on South Street, like Will Smith's "Summertime".

Rap in the 80's and early 90's was still a genre that you could fully embrace and still have self-respect. I still stand by my statement that the best wedding gift I received was the Def Jam box set from my favorite rap cruising buddy, Vee.

So without any further audieu, my list of the best classic rap tunes to carry you and your mobile through 'til the weather chills, the windows go up, and the heat goes on.


"Fight the Power", Public Enemy
"No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" Beastie Boys
"Daddy's Little Girl" Nikki D
"Boomin' System" LL Cool J
"Around the Way Girl" LL Cool J
"Back Seat" LL Cool J
"Pop Goes the Weasel" 3rd Bass
"Paid in Full" Eric B and Rakim
"New Jack Hustler" Ice T
"Dana Dane" Cinderfella
"The Message" Grand master Flash
and drumroll...I still know all the lyrics to the 8-minute beauty...
"Beat Street" Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel.


There are many many more old school delights, but time is limited and so are summer's lat dog days. So go my peeps and get your groove on with your bad selves.

Bugs and Sealife

Rent "Junebug" and "The Squid and the Whale."

"Junebug" is an endearing and disturbing tale all weaved together, and one of those movies that I couldn't tell if I really liked or disliked it. But after a few weeks of letting it sink in, I've decide it is cool worthy if only because I keep thinking about it. The naive sister in law is by far my favorite character. She's go to so much heart and yet is so aggravating because of her dim wit that you almost hate her for it in the end, but somehow you just can't. You'll know what I mean when you watch it.

As for "The Squid and the Whale", it was one of those films that keeps you on edge because it seems as if any minute, it could go really creepy/weird, but yet doesn't. It's a basic and raw tale about the decay of a New York family. I have always loved Jeff Daniels, even in "Dumb and Dumber". So he adds a nice depth to it. Again a movie where you don't know if you love or hate the characters, but I tend to fall for those "gray" folks.

Both of these movies had a very strong sense of place. I think it's fascinating how some directors and writers can pull off "setting as character" so flawlessly. I envy it. I wanted to move to New York and also made me glad I never moved to North Carolina.

What a Woot!

For those of you who love the thrill of the chase, you'll love Woot. There are several different kinds of Woot. Shirt Woot, Wine Woot, plain old regular Woot.

http//www.woot.com

It's a website/blog that offers one product a day at a ridiculously cheap price. The best part for me is how they handle the product descriptions, or catalog writing if you will. It takes J Peterman's ground-breaking catalog approach from the mid 80's and rips it up, stuffs it back in "the box" and mocks it like the lameness that it is.

As for Shirt Woot, if you are a graphic tee junkie, this indeed is the place for you. A fresh design daily. From a different artist daily. And anyone can enter their own design too. All non-sweatshop produced in America. Which of course is top of mind right now as I watched the almost no female cast in the opening ceremonies of Bejing (which I found fascinating yet disturbing all at once.)

http://www.shirt.woot.com

So give a woot and don't pollute the fashion world with crappy T-shirts anymore!

Curses!

Surely a sign that I'm getting old, or perhaps it's my suburbia like environ these days, but I don't necessarily value profanity the way I used to. So take my next tip with a fucking huge grain of salt.

Holy Fuck rocks the show. Do I wish their name didn't smack of effort to be "cool"? Yes. But despite their ill-chosen namesake, this band is one of my new faves. Sometimes aggressive, sometimes ethereal, I love the way they treat lyrics as secondary and focus on the msuic. Sometimes you don't even know what they are saying or even if it is real words. But no matter, it's great shit nonetheless.

Their album, Holy F**K is well worth the small chunk of change to buy the whole damn thing.

The irreverence reminds me of an old fave, the Inspiral Carpets and the T-shirt I owned once with a cow head on it that read 'Cool As Fuck". I wore it often.

Word Play

Bored? Think you can't do anything interesting with a block of text without a handy dandy art director? Oh how wrong you are!

Create your own word clouds at www.wordle.net.

I chose a favorite passage of mine from Lesley Gore's "Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows" cuz that's just the kind of day I'm having!

There's pretty much no productive value to this exercise whatsoever. But it is a nice break from the tedious work you do in front that ole monitor o' yours. If you are itching in the middle of some kind of monthly budget crunch or are just surfing for something different, play away.

This very cool java program puts regular Joes and Janes in the designer seat. And is another example of how fun design in general has become so much more accessible to all of us. Say what you will about the pitfalls of a computer age, but personally, I just don't know how my father spent a majority of his working life looking at blinking yellow letters and numbers on a bulky blank screen. I wonder what word clouds he would have made in 1982.

Embrace Your Inner Village Person

Ok all you homophobes out there, it's time to let down your guard and have some fun. The newest listening pleasure I recommend is a streaming radio station through Itunes known as "DeeGay". You can find it under the "International" genre listing. Billed as the "first Italian gay station on the web", it's one big disco ball of fun. Plus you can learn a new language!

So while I sit in my office trapped in the drone of reports and assigning tasks to my team, I am experiencing my own private mental getaway in a Tuscan nightclub on a Saturday night where lights are flashing and sweaty bodies far more attractive than mine are pulsating to the beat with drinks in hand. See, just now, I did a jello shot!

While it may not be everyone's cup of iced green chai tea latte so early in the morning, today it is befitting of giving me just the amount of gay club buzz I need.

Old Soul, New Vibe

Amos Lee is one cool cat. This is old hat for those in the know, but if you are a late comer to the Lee party like me, then you will thoroughly enjoy discovering his mellow vibe accented by insightful lyrics and an old Motown spirit. I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Lee live Saturday evening at the State Theater in St. Pete. An old building with as much character as those who play on and enjoy the stage - the perfect venue for a guy who fancies plaid Kangos, rocks soulful acoustic stylings and has a voice to rival Marvin Gaye.

I own all three of his studio albums and had low expectations as his material is on the quiet side. I feared a night of boredom. However, great friends, a wine soaked pre-game, dancing with Greg and an amazing live show made it a night to remember. Surprisingly, he brought a lot of energy to the music live and well, go see him if you can. But otherwise, at least download his stuff. I can't even say which, cuz it's all good.

When romance is on tap, there's no better backdrop. Oh and did I mention he's from Philly? When I grew up there, all we had was The Hooters. Sucks...