LA Times Top 25 LA films in the Last 25 Years

the LA times recently posted what they think are the top 25 LA films in the last 25 years. there were only two ground rules, "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list". I thought it was a pretty interesting list. choices that i agreed on: #1 L.A. Confidential (1997) - just a flat out good flick. #4 Boyz N the Hood (1991) - ice cube's jerry curl. the first time i ever felt proud of living next to the fox hills mall was after seeing this film. and who didn't cry when they saw this scene, slow motion fo' ya: did you ever notice that the gunman's car has a "local motion" sticker on the window? gangsta ass shit! #5 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) - cameo by balki bartokomous from perfect strangers. one of the best theme songs ever: #16 Friday - should have been higher on the list, no pun intended. i saw this film for the first time on a bootleg VHS with no sound! too many classic lines to mention. underrated cinematography. #24 Mi Vida Loca (1993) - the article puts it best: "The film is also a snapshot of a neighborhood pre-gentrification, before the coffee shops, boutiques and hip nightspots move in, forever changing the local feel and sense of place." aqua net aesthetics. and dialogue like this: choices i didn't agree with: #25 Crash (2004) - even though it barely made the list, it shouldn't have even been on it. i probably had the most arguments about this film more than any other, mainly because so many people who i respect and usually agree with actually liked this film! i still don't get it. why wasn't Colors on the list??? -tadillac

People's State Of The Nation 2008

video by Sine Patriyotiko (SIPAT)
What up everybody! I just got back from the Philippines integrating with exploited and oppressed communities in the Cordilleras and Metro Manila with the San Francisco based youth organization ALAY (Active Leadership to Advance the Youth). This is a performance by ALAY at this year's People's State of the Nation (SONA) Rally in Quezon City, Philippines. If you're going to FPAC on Saturday,September 6th, come check out Power Struggle's performance to see it live! Featuring: Pele, Power Struggle, ET, and Den More to come soon.. -ET

Best Part of DNC

i have to admit, i did get a caught up in all the hype around last weeks DNC. it was interesting to see the whole entertainment value of the convention and the way it was packaged for media consumption. i mean shit, stevie wonder was the opening act! The fact that each keynote speaker was introduced by a mini-doc video acknowledged the emotional power that film can have. i thought the use of narration in the videos were really effective, first they were scripted perfectly and then the choice of narrators was pretty slick. here's michelle obama's video intro. what better way to hit home the theme of "family" than her mamma's voice. (even though it plays off the african american grandmother stereotype, think the movie "soul food", it works for a DNC audience): the subtle music is my favorite part of barack's video. peep the well written and performed narration, unlike the other videos that are narrated by someone directly related to the person (michelle obama's mamma, hillary's daughter) barack's is narrated by the unidentified, omniscient "voice of god": but the best performance at the DNC happened on wed. at the denver coliseum... -tad -tadillac

Blue Scholars Report From DNC

the homies geo and saba aka blue scholars performed at one of the protests at the democratic national convention in denver on monday. peep their report back here. the scholars are still on the freshly dipped tour with hiero and tanya morgan. goin back to cali next month, sf on 9/18 and santa cruz on 10/2! -tadillac

Radiohead at the Bowl!

cindy and i got the privilege of seeing radiohead at the hollywood bowl on monday. next to bjork in '03, this was one of the best concerts i've seen at the bowl EH-VER! peep the guy next to me gettin' hella emo! there is a definite difference between seeing someone simply perform verses experiencing a full-blown concert at the bowl. besides TWO encore performances (yes, those fuckers came out twice!) the video and lighting design was the shit! highlights for me were "talk show host", "no surprises" and "all i need". quick, watch these clips before they get taken off youtube: no surprises: talk show host: tell me why (neil young cover): i'm so glad i "fell off the wagon" for this concert! -tadillac

Nostalgic Aesthetics

the aesthetics crew, the homies indie and aidge aka. mr. hyphen 2006 & 2007, just uploaded their video for "doin it still". the video was directed and cut by jared seltzer back in '02 (that just sounds weird, "back in '02"). besides seeing my folks doin their thang, i like this video cause it takes my nostalgic ass back to my undergrad days at ucla: things that i miss about undergrad: - not being sober in the cultural affairs and academic affairs offices - trying to talk about sex and masturbation with the christian fellowship missionary bible-bangers - 4/20 on the kerckhoff lawn - rallies in westwood plaza - CAPSA retreats in lake arrowhead - white smurfs and vick's vaporub! - making sure my knitted hat matched my "no on prop. 21" t-shirt - house parties at the tilden house with this guy - talking waaaay too much in my asian american classes - mumia 911 concerts - SMOKING PARLIAMENT LIGHTS!!!! go check out the aesthetics crew performing this saturday at the next generation remix concert in little tokyo. they'll be performing with the homies bambu & dj phatrick: -tadillac

Bobby Hundreds

my little cousins keiji and noah were in town from new york last week. they live in the heart of soho and in-terms of teenage street fashion, their game is on-point. so as a has-been pretty boy myself, whose first "skill" in life was ironing his own clothes, bonding time with my lil cuzzos means shopping. bobby hundreds (below), co-creator of "the hundreds" was nice enough to meet us at his store on rosewood & fairfax. as their shirts say the hundreds is HUGE! i'm talkin celebrity, london, tokyo status! so it was the boys consumer wet dream come true when bobby laced them (and me!) with shirts, hats, socks and stickers. and just to make sure that they were the freshest kids on the first day of school, he gave them a shout and posted our picture on the hundreds blog: peep their on-line magazine and store. if you're a LA native who yearns for early 90's aesthetics, you'll love their prints. -tadillac

Beatrock Store Coming Soon!

yesterday, cindy and i went down to long beach to check out the soon-to-be beatrock store! dave (above) and vennie (below) have been lacing the community for years with some of the illest t-shirts around, so it's a beautiful thing that they'll be opening their first store in october. they were having a clearance sale of the old designs in order to make room for the new shit coming in the fall dave and daniel explain the new movement in interior design new gear gets me excited! cindy thinks i'm stupid. the pacman design the beatrock tribe. later we hit up this cupcake spot down the street that vennie recommended called "miss priss" if you can't wait till october to cop your beatrock gear, they will be premiering and selling their new designs at the festival of philippine art and culture on sept. 6th & 7th. -tadillac

Republicans and Depression

tim hit me with this video. it's pretty funny but the crazy thing is that it's true!

you can read the real article here or just look at the ad below for proof. it's probably not that big of a coincidence since the marketing brains behind the republican party are probably the same people who help slang legal drugs. yaaaaaaaayyyy legal drugs! booooooooooo old rich, homophobic, racist, born-again white men! -tadillac

Blueprint 3!!!

ain't gonna even front, i've been and still am "jockin' jay-z". the brotha just got too much swag! i really hope this blueprint 3 shit is for real:
BLUEPRINT 3 from kwest on Vimeo. -tadillac

"Somethings Gotta Give" by Big Boi feat. Mary J.

when was the last time a presidential election EVER got this much hype? more than anything i think its a sign of just how bad shit is right now. either way, artists are finally steppin up and realizing their potential: -tadillac