Photographers I like Vol. 1: White Kross

I've been doing a fair bit of trawling on the internet recently, looking for photographers for the upcoming photo issue of the publication I'm interning for (that will remain nameless). Whilst the tasks I am given are more often than not tedious, looking at pretty things for half of my day isn't really all that much like hard work.

Anyways, I'm going to include some photographs of people that I like in my blog as a way of remembering, as well as showing them to all two people who know that about this blog. This is the first. Operating under the alias of White Kross,this guy/girl/stuff has been posting some amazing photographs on their Flickr. Check it out for yourself:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/strictlywizzness/

ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX

So rare it is now that any mention of Hip Hop yields a comment greater than an affirmation of it’s death or a gesturing of the nostrils to the sky. The “Hip Hop” that is produced now, or the offensive ramblings that at least masquerade under it’s hallowed banner, is tame in comparison to the music being produced by the same characters in the early-mid 90’s. I realise that I am not saying anything new here. In fact, I am simply falling into line with all those purists before me, who harp on about the fact that the hardships that were drawn upon to create those classic tunes are not a consideration anymore, replaced with the riches and diamond rings (“real niggaz do real things”) that they were striving for. As a result, everything that is made now is, therefore, contrived and devoid of passion bla bla bla.

Anyways, self indulgencies aside (well sort of), this is a blog to illustrate the genius of RZA/Lou Diamonds/Tony Starks in their production of, arguably, the greatest Hip Hop record of all time “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”. I loved it when I first heard it. I remember I had to wait two weeks for my local record shop to order it in (it wasn't a particularly good record shop), but that seemed like a small price to pay once I put it on. Stand out tracks that I couldn’t stop listening to on repeat were “Guillotine Swordz”, “Wu Gambinos” and “Ice Cream”, but over the years, as with all long player’s of this ilk, I have come to appreciate the layers of this album. It’s the closest thing to an opera, I think, that anyone in the game ever came close to producing. From the violent imagery to the skits of gangster speeches, it exists in a world completely created in the heads of its creators. If this music was made by anybody now, it would be considered beyond pretentious, but because it was the Wu it was more than acceptable.

I used to stumble across this album more when I went home, as my mate was a Wu Tang fanatic and would insist on reliving old times, but since I have been living in London it seems to have been played a minimum of once a week in the office. It’s weird because I just seem to understand it more now than when I was a Hip Hop diehard. As with some other records that I adore, I’m sometimes not sure if the people who made them realised just what they had achived, but I think that anyone with any taste could reassure Bobby Digital that he’d done alright with this one.

Here’s one of my newest favourites:



apologies for the backing video

I'm not one for psychedelics myself, but this video is absolutely chaotic. Realise that I may have missed the boat a little with Vince Collins, but the internet is all about second chances I heard. Anyways check it out:

Snapshots of another life

Usually rummaging through the editor’s hefty box of unopened mail only gifts me paper cuts and the latest Jack Penate promo. This time, though, I found a diamond in the rough. Application forms and Curriculum Vitaes are often about as interesting as flicking through a science teacher’s tax returns, but when they come packaged with photographs of old skate dudes and a handwritten letter from a troubled youth, it’s sort of like summer time in Pan’s Labyrinth. From the carefully selected envelope (you know the kind your mum gets you from the local newsagent when you’re five to mail to your pen friend in Mallorca) to the heart-wrenching story of a father’s ailing skate company in Buenos Aires, this was a truly personal plea for a chance at the ? Corporation.

There just seems to be a romance inherent in the Hispanic that is sadly lacking from the rest of us. They say “Te amo, eres guapa” we say “Vodka and coke sweetheart?” Within this bundle of memories and delicately crafted tales of woe, there wasn’t an ‘Employment History’ section or any over exaggerated ‘Hobbies and Interests’ because that’s just not important. There would probably be a lot less recruitment officers doing themselves in if they got to open one of these little parcels of sunshine on a grim Monday morning.

Bungalow Hate: Interview with Vivian Girls

Hey. So, you lot have been like stupid busy this year with touring. Didn’t you do like 18 shows at SXSW?

Cassie – We did, and umm what else did we do?

Katy – It’s been a really productive year.

Cassie – We did a full US tour, we toured Europe. We ahh have a new 7” out. We’re going to have our new album out in September. So, yeah, really productive year.

That’s intense. You’ve got a side project as well, haven’t you Cassie? Called Ghost Town, yeah?

Cassie – Oh. Oh no, we’re called The Babies. We changed our name. There were a couple of changes, we were called Ghost Town, but now we are The Babies. And we’ve only played one show. It’s like my band with like my boyfriend and our friend Kevin. We’re just like, we’re just like very new. We just started.

How is that sound like a progression from Vivian Girls?

Cassie – Ah, it’s different. It’s two guitars and drums, there’s no bass. And I don’t really write any of the songs, I wrote like one song for it, and umm Kevin, the other guitar player writes most of the songs. So, it’s kinda like being in a band where I’m just like hanging out, and it’s like very…it’s not…like very little pressure, you know? I think it kinda sounds like…It’s kinda like Country Gospel, but like punker? I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. Haha.

You also set up Wild World last year, right? Is it all still going well?

Katy – Yeah, it’s great. We just reissued “Wild Eyes”. This summer we are actually going to put another one of Cassie’s older bands…we’re going to put out the LP of that. And then another band might be in the works, but we won’t discuss it.

Didn’t you do like a package thing, where you gave away postcards or something?

Cassie – In the winter, we put out a 7” ourselves “Surf’s Up”, and we released it in a package with a shirt, some postcards and a button. But those are all sold out. We’re probably not going to do it again because it was a lot of work.

Yeah, sounds like it. Also, deviating from the conversation slightly, I found this comment today like, you know how you did the Pink Sofa session, like the acoustic set. Well I scrolled down the page today and found a comment that someone left in capital letters, and it said “BEWARE – THESE GUYS ARE GAY 4 GOD”

Hahahahahaha

Cassie – That’s our friend Ryan!

Oh really

Cassie – He’s our friend from Brooklyn. We have a lot of inside jokes with him. Cos like you know that God hates gay people, but it’s OK to be gay if you’re gay for God. It’s like “You’re a band who loves god”…it’s alright to be gay for God…It’s a weird inside joke that make’s no sense, but we think it’s funny for some reason…

It wasn’t like a full on attack on Vivian Girls then?

Cassie – Oh, no no no. We know that person.

Katy – Very well. Ryan’s the best.

Yeah sorry, my research got a bit carried away…

Katy – Oh yeah, when’s my birthday?

I didn’t do that much research.

…

Oh shit sorry, I feel guilty now. I feel as though I should know when your birthday is. When is it?

Katy – Not telling.

Alright then.

http://www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Daydream Nation

I’ve suffered from insomnia on and off for the last five years. I think it first started when I gave up smoking weed in my second year of university, which unsurprisingly came as a bit of shock to the system after four years of habitual consumption. Even if I had bunned like five spliffs over the course of the day, I still considered a bedtime bifta necessary to get in the 12 hours sleep that my studies required. Anyways, after years of enjoying daily comatose, it seemed my dozing dollars had been all but used up as I started to spend about six fun-filled hours a night rolling from one side of the bed to another in hopeless abandon. This has now become the norm, and I can have up to two weeks at a time surviving on three hours (at most) sleep a night. For those of you who have never had to put up with this sort of shit, I can assure you that it’s not much of a crack. Your days are made up of a series of moments, each one a freeze frame of weirdness that travels across your watering eyes like an old Tom and Jerry movie reel soaked in sepia tone. At times unbearable, but for the most part just fucking grinding. Don’t get me wrong, there are sections of the day one could describe as ecstatic, where you find yourself uncontrollably laughing at the strangest things, much to the bewilderment of everyone around you. But, during these bouts of sleeplessness, these split seconds of delirium are mostly eclipsed by a suspicion that if you don’t get to sleep in the next ten minutes then your mind may chainsaw its way out of your skull in a vain bid for freedom.

 

According to the experts (emedicine.com) my condition is seen as Short-term Insomnia, where the symptoms last between one and three weeks. The bracket above me are said to be suffering from Chronic Insomnia, where the symptoms last over a month. You end up trying loads of stuff to sort it out, and some of it does help for a short period and you usually convince yourself that you’ve found the cure. This is usually short lived though as soon you find yourself once again laid on your side staring at that familiarly blinding LED on your mouse well into the next day. I’ve got to admit I’ve never read a book on how to combat the symptoms, as I think that if you convince yourself that you’ve got a problem bad enough to read a book on how to solve the problem then you’re fucked anyway. But I just stumbled across a news article about a new book called Spent! I thought that the fact that it had made the front page of the Guardian website would lend the title some sort of credibility, but alas it is just another Doctor Nick Riveira offering commonsensical advice such as “listen to relaxing music”. It’s such a joke that this chump is getting the bucks for handing out such lacklustre pearls of wisdom. I should be getting them. I know stuff. I            know loads of stuff. Surely anyone can see what should keep you awake, or what will effect how you sleep, but in the spirit of pointing out the blindingly fucking obvious, I’ve decided to jot down a couple of paragraphs to set you on your way to an assured nights rest.

 

Stress – The main contributor to sleep deprivation. To alleviate this burden, just quit your job. Capitalism is going down the pan anyhow, so by opting out now you save yourself a few months of angst.

 

Women – The ball ache of ball aches. You’re there racking your brains of the next way to spice up the relationship, just to keep them interested. this causes you hours of tossing and turning. Sever all ties. There is enough bosh material on tinterweb to keep you going till you’re old and grey anyhow. Wanking helps you sleep too.

 

Friends – Sure they’re fun and we all think we need them, but essentially they’re a distraction. Think about how much more time you’ll have in bed once they’re out of your life. No more phonecalls or beeping Blackberrys. It’ll be pure unadulterated silence for you from now on.

 

A brain - If these other things don’t work then sell everything you own and buy a shotgun, load the cartridges, place the barrels carefully in your lips, and pull the trigger. You’ll sleep sound now. You’re fucking dead. 

S. Faulks

'"My love died." You've heard people say that, haven't you? With sincerity and self-regard. "Love" is a force by which most people would claim to regulate their lives. Yet if you stop feeling it, then it no longer exists.'
'And?'
'It's like fear or envy. One day you feel jealous of someone else; another day, for no discernible reason, you just don't. Sometimes you're frightened in a car; other times with the same driver, you aren't. "Love" is like that. You feel it, you don't feel it. Nothing wrong with that. But surely that makes it too unstable to be given a privileged position in life - let alone used as a foundation.'
'To what have you given a privileged position in your life?'
This was a good question
'Accuracy,' I said.
'What?'
'Integrity of fact.'

Im an oven baked cushion

I wish I was a security panda and could spend my time patrolling the dead sea. For then I would be free. Slipping on a cap with the securipaw insignia, I would stroll about the perimeter and keep my eye watchful for unwanted bathers. It would be my responsibility, but a burden I would be happy to bare. Deadpan expression. For I would be a security panda. The pothole that caught gods tears would be my stomping ground and I would have complete control. No surface to air missiles would be needed, no artillery of any sort. For I would be a security panda. The black and white guardian of a mystical land. A warrior for the good of no one but my translucent brethrin. No banana hammock wearing cunt is going to soil your salty liquid mass oh quiet abyss of my dreams - would be my constant, unwavering internal dialogue. For I would be the security panda...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article1942934.ece

I would like to congratulate you on being one of the worst journalists I have ever had the displeasure to read an article of. There is not one ounce of objectivity or validity employed in your article, and being that this is an issue with which the media seem to be particularly keen to publicise, this is tantamount to professional negligence (and I use the word "professional" loosely). The lack of evidence you provide in your article to substantiate your claims is truly astonishing. Do you have no idea the damage this sort of journalism can have? Online journalism is meant to be a new medium, a beacon of democracy if you will, and all that you have offered here is an article with no background information or any substance. You criticise without providing solutions of your own. Truly contradictory. You speak of "multiculturalism" having dentrimental effects, when in fact it is sloppy journalism such as yours that has torn this country apart for years. Your supposed prestige is laughable.

there are 2 sides to every story

This is a well known saying but perhaps not a widely adopted thought process. It seems to me that the more I read and the more I speak to people, the more I seem to find people reluctant to be fluid in their ideas about certain situations. Acceptance of your ignorance is the first step to your enlightenment (write that down).


Only by speaking to people who have more knowledge about particular subjects can you possibly ever hope to have a greater knowledge yourself - simple idea I know, but it seems to be that not many people are able to adopt it. For example, first impressions. I met a girl recently who told me that she has a lot of faith in her assumptions about people when she first meets them. Of course, first impressions are important as we all know but can we really be sure that these initial judgements are going to be accurate in the long run? Its perfectly natural to formulate an opinion on someone from a limited contact (god knows I am guilty of this), but it seems a little ridiculous to write someone off without really giving them a chance. The girl in question has gone one stage further than this, however, and has actually decided what kind of a person an ex-boyfriend of a mutual friend was before she had even spoken a word to him! That to me is simply ludicrous. Given the barrage of information (mostly negative) that all who have encountered this mutual friend have received about this lad, we all have enough material to write a rather hateful biography, but to mark someone out in this manner really showed a lack of experience of life in general.





This example is not a great one, as most (if any) who read this blog will not have any idea who it is referring too, but the point I'm trying to make is hopefully clear. People are guilty, in general, of letting their perceptions be influenced in a whole manner of ways. If you tell someone something enough they are bound to believe it. My aim is to try and reserve judgement of a situation or a subject or a person until I have had properly dealings with it. I realise that this is not going to be rocket science to some but increasingly I find that people are small-minded in their judgements. "Theres no smoke without fire" - all that shit is just ridiculous.





The media is the prime example, on a much larger scale, of this kind of "small-town" behaviour. People seem to think that just because something is printed in an attractive font and mounted onto a impecably designed background that it is a mark of higher knowledge or certain fact. Actually, the majority of people that I speak to about issues made public by the mass media have no idea what an informed opinion really is. Collection of knowledge, in the widest sense, is a full time job. You are not an expert on a matter because you have sat down every lunch time for the past 15 years and read the Daily Mail. A true "understanding" is only found through attention to detail and a will to venture further than the tabloids, or even the broadsheets.