Between a Rock and... well.. a Rock

Ok the title is a little brutal but hear me out. I watched "127 Hours" this week, the story of climber Aron Ralston, the man who got his arm caught between a boulder and a canyon wall and was forced to amputate his own arm to survive.

The lengths Aron (played by James Franco) goes to survive are more than impressive, and his understanding of the wilderness he battles is second to none. There is no doubt this man is at home in the wild and understands the inherent risks involved with his dangerous past times.

And this is where I have my issues with sympathy. Someone so survival-savvy and experienced decides to go out on this jaunt that eventually costs him his arm and tells... no one? Not a soul. And for this he nearly loses his life. I'm not saying that he deserved what happened to him by any means- he was incredibly unlucky- but use common sense guy! Tell someone? Leave a note?

What I took from it is our arrogance as a whole when it comes to nature. No matter ow well prepared we are, if the respect for the danger isn't there, then your set up for failure. Ralston had the appreciation for nature, but I think he lacked the respect for nature's awesome power. Mother Nature really is the boss lady, definitely not one to be messed with. I'm glad Ralston survived, but I was most happy that he realized his errors and was given a chance to atone for them later.

From a visual perspective the movie was awesome, showing some amazing landscapes and making me ache that much more for a return trip West. It really is some beautiful country. Considering a majority of the action is James Franco stuck to a rock, the movie is pretty entertaining and I would definitely recommend. As for the previous stuff...that's my rant and I'm sticking to it. B EZ squids...

Monday Covers (SPECIAL!)

Hello all. Welcome to Monday Covers Birthday Edition Xtravaganza. That's right folks, 22 years ago today the kid stepped on the scene, kicking and screaming no doubt. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of my friends and family for everything, you're all the best and mean a lot to me. I've been lucky to meet a lot of people and everyone has shaped me into what I am today. SO for what it's worth: Thanks for being you, and putting up with me. HA.

So never one to disappoint, I thought ahead for today and saved a so very prodigious cover for you dudes and dudettes. This one comes from one of my favorite bands over the years, Cake. This band has an awesome sound that utilizes a lot of different instruments and puts on a killer show. The group recently did an impressive cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", but today I'm bringing you back a little further to their cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". You may not know the artist, but you definitely know the song. Anywho, this cover is dope, enjoy it and the day. B EZ.

*Must See Update*

In an attempt to make his blonde mustache "pop", my roommate Nicholas Langelotti, aka Sir Langelot, has purchased and applied "Just For Men Beard Coloring Gel: Jet Black".

The picture on the box: Bearded Walt Frazier

The end result: Great Dirt-stache success.

...taking life a little too seriously over here at 114.

Monday Covers

I actually learned something from today's Monday Cover. Who knew that it could be such an educational tool? Anyways, yeah, I thought that the actual original of this song was the cover, but turns out I was horribly mistaken.

The original "Heartbeats" was by The Knife only to be covered by Jose Gonzalez on his debut album. Both are great songs with completely different feels. The Jose Gonzalez cover is an eerie acoustic bit with a unique vocal style I can't quite define. It's one of those songs that you'd expect to see in a montage of some indie film. I liked it, and so should you. Happy Monday kids.

Huzzah

Today I gave blood for the first time, and after being a little apprehensive at first, I feel great! I'm glad I could finally do it.

Since I'm in such a giving mood today I decided to bless you minions with a great Biggie remix. Now I know that this is in a similar vein as the Notorious xx (Biggie x The XX) but hey that was a great album right? Why not get more? You may recognize the beat as the opening song in House, the artist is Massive Attack. Enjoy beezys.

I also found out that the creator of this remix, DJ KPAC, is a friend of a friend, so basically I'm famous through association, sweet.

http://www.themahoganyblog.com/2010/10/notorious-b-i-g-vs-massive-attack/

Link was the best I could do, for some reason I could only find it on blogs, weak on my part.

Get Behind It

If I've learned anything in life, it's that everyone has a story. No matter how small or how seemingly insignificant, everyone has their own tale to tell. Unfortunately many of us go through our days worried about our own stories, not stopping to think about the stories of others and how our stories may be affecting there's. I know for a fact that I have said or done things that drastically affected others stories without my knowledge, and regrettably not all of those were good things. It's just too easy to focus inwardly sometimes.

But over the last few years I've really become painfully aware of it, it bugs me, and it's something I've vowed to change. Honestly it's one of the reasons I'm pursuing journalism, to listen to as many stories as I can. Sometimes it can be as easy as asking a friend "whatsup", you never know what answer you can get.

Take for example this short video my friend John showed me yesterday that one some awards at the first annual VIMEO awards. It's the story of a man that has to put his dog down after its long bout with cancer. The story is sad, true, but relatively mundane and regular (we've all had to do it, it sucks, etc.). But documentarian doesn't stop at the surface, he continues to ask and listen and finds out that this dog helped the man kick a nasty drug addiction and saved his friends in much of the same way. In fact this dog did what most of us can too often forget, he listened, objectively and without judgement, and as a result he saved 3 lives. Pretty simple, pretty powerful. I know that after seeing this I'm going to continue trying to open my ears and connect with as many stories as I can and I challenge you to do the same. I apologize for the preacher-esque tone of this one, but sometimes it's good to take a step back.

If you're unaffected by this short vid, you're officially an emotional cyborg. B EZ ladies and gents.

Monday Covers

Well in a short summary (to be extended later) Steve Aoki was unreal, halloween was crazy, and Boloco gave away free burritos, need I say more?

But back to the real matter at hand, today IS Monday and as promised, I have another cover for you. I was introduced to this cover over the weekend, and I have to say I was impressed. I always appreciate when artists pick interesting songs to cover, and who more interesting to cover than Robert Palmer? Florence and the Machines do a great job with this one, although I doubt their music video will be able to top the original (if that reference goes over your head, you should probably tab over to youtube). Alright dudes and dudettes, more to come this week, but for now B EZ.