Anyone who’s known me for a long time knows my two favorite genres of music are Classical and Hip Hop. Before I get to the meat of this post, allow me to put in a quick plug for ClassicalArchives.com, the single best resource for classical performances from all periods, of which I am proudly a paying member ($11/mo. for unlimited streaming).

With that out of the way, I’ll turn my attention to Hip Hop. Let me preface the rest of this post by saying this is purely my own opinions. They may look like facts, but this is just my observations and my own feelings on the subject. Hip Hop hit a golden age somewhere around 1995-2000. The 20 years prior, Hip Hop was still defining itself, and struggling to establish its credibility within the music industry. By the early 90s, Hip Hop was fully entrenched in mainstream music, and by the mid-90s, it had grown into a dominant force. More important, because Hip Hop was so new, almost everything artists brought to the table was innovative. Artists like Rakim, Wu Tang Clan group and individual projects (most notably Raekwon, RZA, Ghostface and Genius), CMW, NAS, Outkast, Mobb Deep, the reemergence of early pioneers like EPMD, Black Sheep and Q-Tip/Tribe and a slew of smaller artists (Pharcyde, Camp-Lo, Jeru, Skee-Lo, etc.) made the 90s golden for me.

In 1999, I made a most amazing discovery…Hip Hop was alive and well all over the world! Over the next couple years, my music collection featured artists like Iam, Faf Larage, Articolo, Molesta Ewenement, Muzion, Saian Supa Crew, Sans Pression, Diams, MC Solar, Arsenik, NTM, the list goes on and on. Most of my interest was in the Hip Hop culture of France and French Canada, for no particular reason except that it was most accessible to me.

Here’s the thing. Since the early-mid 2000s, U.S. Hip Hop has stagnated in my eyes. It’s just not all that interesting. Nothing new or interesting comes out of it. But I regularly listen to tracks from 5-10 years ago produced by foreign groups (as well as newer releases) and wish the U.S. scene could take a hint from them. Maybe it’s because foreign groups focus more on the music (which is my first love - lyrics are secondary for me) than U.S. groups do. Maybe it’s because they seem to have a lot more fun with the music and the whole scene in general. Maybe it’s because some of it has a throwback feel to that golden age I remember so fondly.

Whatever the reason, I would be remiss if I didn’t share a few choice tracks with the world, courtesy of my favorite Internet jukebox, YouTube. Enjoy!

• “Nikt i Nic” - Molesta Ewenement, 2008
• “Kto Jest Kto” - Molesta Ewenement, 1999
• “J Ai Dit” - Saian Supa Crew, 20??
• “Jeune Demoiselle Recherche” - Diams, 2006
• “Nouvelle Page” - Sans Pression, 2008?
• “Mon Clan” - Shurik’n, 2000
• “Avoir des Potes” - Oxmo Puccino, 2002
• “Sexcitations” - Pit Baccardi, 2004
• “Le Retour du Shit Squad” - Iam & Fonky Family, 20??
• “Ils Ne Savent Pas” - Starflam, 2003
• “Game Over” - 2 Faces, 2003
• “Pouki Sa” - San Pression, 1999?
• “Le Bilan” - Neg’Marrons, 2004 (orig. release ?)
• “Si Triste” - 3eme Oeil, 2002
• “La Fidanzata” - Articolo 31, 1998

For those of you who aren’t aware, I’ve been working through some health issues lately, mostly related to stress, all with physical ramifications. This is one of the reasons I haven’t posted in a while. I’ll try to make up for that now.

Yesterday, I went to a sleep clinic to see whether or not I’m having any difficulties breathing at night. I had no idea what to expect, and it was quite an experience! If you can get past the hard mattress, flimsy pillows and clinic-like atmosphere, it’s really not too bad. The staff was very nice, the room was very dark, and you get over the fact that you’re on an infrared camera and microphone pretty quickly.

The most interesting part is the preparation, when they cover you with electrodes and hook you up to your monitor. This is actually the reason I wanted to make this post, because I just had to share the pics

Earlier today, my mother sent me a video clip. I’m not always too keen on my mom’s interesting tidbit of the day (sorry Mom, it’s that crazy generation gap), but this was just incredible, and I thought I would share.

Meet Willard Wigan, the artist who was convinced by his teachers, peers and society that he was worth nothing. His disabilities meant that he could never learn to read and write, but he’s more than made up for that by developing one amazing talent, turning nothing into something.

“I’m trying to prove to the world that ‘nothing’ doesn’t exist.” - Willard Wigan

A few days ago, I nearly made a $1,200 mistake. I made an assumption and an overinvestment in my own pride which almost ruined a solid client relationship and an ongoing maintenance contract. I narrowly avoided slitting my own throat, and I publicly offer this example to others as a lesson in how assumptions can color your judgment and pride can influence your actions.

A few days ago, a client sent me a forwarded email containing a handful of photos he wanted added to his site. This would be an unremarkable request, except that the email forward contained an exchange he was having with another Web designer, asking for quotes to have his Web site redesigned and maintained in the future. I was shocked - either my client accidentally showed me an email I wasn’t supposed to see, or this was his way of telling me we were no longer going to do business together. Either way, my pride as a professional was deeply wounded.

When I read his email, my first reaction was to do something very stupid. I nearly wrote the client back with a number of untruths, to tell him we’d outgrown him, that his patronage wasn’t desirable and it was best for him to look elsewhere for a designer to take over his Web operations. My ego was damaged, and I almost allowed it to dictate my actions. Instead, I reined myself in, and sent back a message stating I’d read the contents of his forwarded email, and that if he was indeed planning to move forward with another designer, he would want some statistical and strategic information regarding site visitor growth so the new designer could continue our upward trends. It was as much a way of reminding the client we were experiencing success as it was me acknowledging I’d read his message and was willing to be cooperative to the end.

Assumptions are very powerful things - not inherently good or bad, just powerful. They allow us to fill in the unknowns in our realities with what we perceive to be facts. We act on assumptions as if they are real; we must do this! If we waited until we had every single fact about every single situation, we’d never make a decision and never get anything done. I felt I had all the information I needed to understand the situation I was presented, and I responded to the client based on my assumptions.

I’m very fortunate I chose to bury my pride before reacting to my assumptions. The client responded the next morning to let me know our relationship was not in jeopardy, the exchange I witnessed was related to a completely different project, and the other designer was brought in by committee, outside of his control. He also mentioned the scale and budget of this other project would likely have been undesirable too.

My assumptions were very wrong - that much is human error and quite forgivable. My reaction was almost disasterous. Had I reacted based on my pride, I would surely have lost a client and friend. I’m fortunate I get to share with you an exercise in humility, not a story of loss.

This isn’t as much a lesson in having the wherewithall to handle ego-based situations professionally as it is a lesson in proper mindsets and perspective. I ended up making the right decisions in my response, but I spent a day feeling just awful about myself (didn’t sleep too well that night either) and it turns out there was no reason to do so. Ignoring my pride prevented a disaster. Had I sought more information before forming my assumptions, I could have also prevented a lot of anxiety and inner-turmoil. I only fell asleep because I eventually convinced myself I didn’t care.

Of course I care. If I didn’t care, what would be the point?

I promised my wife that I would take her to see Twilight on opening night. It’s a sacrifice, I know, putting myself through the pain and torture of 200 screaming high school chicklets who want to become vampires and spend their lives with Stephanie Meyers’ fantasy “heartthrob,” Edward Cullen. But I must confess, I read all four books…and they’re really good! They’re not the most intellectually stimulating books, but the story is pretty interesting and well written. I wasn’t not looking forward to seeing the movie, which is close as I’m going to get to admitting I was looking forward to seeing it.

My expectations were low, for four reasons. First, I had the characters and settings already pictured in my head, and I knew no matter how much I was committed to accepting Catherine Hardwicke’s interpretation of the book, it just wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t match up with the images in my mind. Second, movies based on books like this are rarely as entertaining. Third, the story doesn’t lend itself very well to cinema; the settings are dull, the characters are mostly one-dimensional - it works in writing, but I didn’t expect much on-screen. Finally, this was one hell of a hyped movie. The expectations set by the production houses were very high, a recipe for failure.

I think Amy was expecting more than me. To say she hated it would be a bit strong, but she was definitely underwhelmed. I think I did myself a favor by not expecting much, because while it’s not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, I did find myself entertained.

First, the highlights. The movie actually looked the way I thought it would in my head! The town looked how I expected. Charlie’s house looked close to what I pictured, though I thought it would be a little darker - more wooden. The reservation and beach were just what I had in mind. Ditto for the school and Cullens’ house. The filmography was generally pretty good. The movie score was fitting and set the mood for the movie well. There were a lot of good elements - a good base for a good movie.

The casting had high points and low points for me. I wasn’t a fan of Kristen Stewart as Bella, but months ago I had it in my head that Kat Dennings would be perfect in the role. So I was biased. Robert Pattinson as Edward? No thank you. Billy Burke was the perfect Charlie. Without throwing around actors’ names, Emmet, Alice, and the whole crew of Bella’s school friends were all very well cast (except for Eric - holy crap, someone needs to beat that kid with the acting stick). Bella’s friends gave me that slightly nauseous revulsion feeling which typically hits me when a group of clueless kids walks by too close - good casting indeed! Rosalie as the “impossibly beautiful blond?” Wow - that was a miss! And Carlisle looked like a grown-up version of Eddie Munster. Jasper’s screentime was mercifully short. Like I said, the casting was a mixed bag.

The movie fell apart with the acting and special effects. Too much of the acting was just too piss-poor to make a positive impression on the audience. The vampire speed-running was nothing less than ridiculous - the theater crowd got in more than a few laughs at the expense of Twilight’s effects. The acting didn’t completely ruin the movie only because the movie followed the book pretty well, and the story itself was good enough to pull it through.

Overall, I’ve seen better, but I was sort of entertained. I know a good movie when I see it, and this was not a good movie. We’ll see the sequel, I’m sure. I would be perfectly happy if they recast half the movie with actual actors the next time around.

Plot: ****
Acting: *
General Entertainment Value: ***
Overall Score: **½