I've decided to form a band. Living in NY, it seems like the thing to do. However since i can't really play the guitar or drums, i've decided to use an instrument I do know, the handbell. I'm still looking for about 3-5 more members, preferably those who can play the handbell. The name of the band is the Hand-Bangers. Since there is no lead singer, I don't think there will be much drama. Listen to the song below to see if you can hang with the Hand-Bangers.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Jamanta Crew
Alright I just discovered these guys, so all you heads out there saying this is old news, fuck off! From Brazil, this "house collective" crew is producing some horribly sick beats. Incredibly funky and dancy, they're touring in the U.S. so check out their blog to see the tour cities and dates. Goddamit, why are they not coming to NYC?!!?!!?? Listen to their latest mix in Rio, I probably shouldn't be posting it, but under my blog philosophy,"share the love", i have to. Enjoy!
pop art
Saw this cool/weird rainbow of wolves or foxes, very Damien Hirst. I think it's apart of an exhibit in china somewhere. I found it on this on another blog called Pop Experiment, all kinds of cool shit there too. Don't be surprised if you see this same photo on cuteoverload.com, the king-cornucopia of cuddly animals.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
2.14.07
This is scene on the 57th & 5th ave this morning. If you look closely, those aren't scratches on the Bvlgari sign, it's ice needles. Walking to work was murder. With the wind, I got about 10,000 ice needles in my eyes. It's a lot worst outside than what's shown in these pictures.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
First reactions to the Wii
I purchased a Wii yesterday. Apparently, Toys R Us had a huge shipment of Wii's come in on Sunday, maybe for Valentines day?? Regardless, I finally got one!!!!
If you read my previous post Quit the gym and get a Wii you already know that my main objective was to get a Nintendo Wii in order to quit the gym. If you haven't seen all the publicity gained from the Wii experiment, check it out and you'll understand why I was so intrigued.
So after rearranging my apartment to make my space optimal for wii-playing, I started. The Wii console, consist of 5 sports games: tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing. I tried all 5 games to see how my body would feel compared to a work out at the gym. Tennis was very realistic, swinging the controller in different variations would accurately reflect the types of shots, i.e. topspin, lob, etc... Your range of motion does not have to be very dynamic, but actually moving the position of your body as if you are hitting a real shot gives a more realistic feel to the game. In terms of a cardio work out, I didn't really break a sweat or feel winded. Although, my arms did get a little tired from swinging the virtual racket, which i can feel today.
Let's quickly skip through baseball, golf and bowling. These three games are really fun, especially golf and bowling. Baseball is well, ehhhh. Final conclusion, play these sports with friends while drinking beers. There is no hope for true exercise, unless you're insanely creative.
So the real test was the boxing. The Wii experiment revolved around the boxing game mainly because it requires the most activity. I found it a little hard to control the punches at first but after a while I got the hang of it. The continuous punching and dodging made me tired & sweat. But it's really the amount of effort you put into it. Hypothetically I could play this game while sitting on the couch and flicking my wrist to throw punches, but jumping around, throwing punching and dodging with your entire body will give you a work out. I played for about 30-40 minutes. It's not as strenuous as a boxing class at the gym but it is a work out. My arms and back are noticeably sore today. Overall it wasn't to the level I imagined it would be, but again it really depends on the amount of effort put into it. Before I suspend my gym membership, I'm giving myself a few more days to get adjusted. It's too early to judge its real potential.
If you read my previous post Quit the gym and get a Wii you already know that my main objective was to get a Nintendo Wii in order to quit the gym. If you haven't seen all the publicity gained from the Wii experiment, check it out and you'll understand why I was so intrigued.
So after rearranging my apartment to make my space optimal for wii-playing, I started. The Wii console, consist of 5 sports games: tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing. I tried all 5 games to see how my body would feel compared to a work out at the gym. Tennis was very realistic, swinging the controller in different variations would accurately reflect the types of shots, i.e. topspin, lob, etc... Your range of motion does not have to be very dynamic, but actually moving the position of your body as if you are hitting a real shot gives a more realistic feel to the game. In terms of a cardio work out, I didn't really break a sweat or feel winded. Although, my arms did get a little tired from swinging the virtual racket, which i can feel today.
Let's quickly skip through baseball, golf and bowling. These three games are really fun, especially golf and bowling. Baseball is well, ehhhh. Final conclusion, play these sports with friends while drinking beers. There is no hope for true exercise, unless you're insanely creative.
So the real test was the boxing. The Wii experiment revolved around the boxing game mainly because it requires the most activity. I found it a little hard to control the punches at first but after a while I got the hang of it. The continuous punching and dodging made me tired & sweat. But it's really the amount of effort you put into it. Hypothetically I could play this game while sitting on the couch and flicking my wrist to throw punches, but jumping around, throwing punching and dodging with your entire body will give you a work out. I played for about 30-40 minutes. It's not as strenuous as a boxing class at the gym but it is a work out. My arms and back are noticeably sore today. Overall it wasn't to the level I imagined it would be, but again it really depends on the amount of effort put into it. Before I suspend my gym membership, I'm giving myself a few more days to get adjusted. It's too early to judge its real potential.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
That's a-one spicy a-meatballa
The Bushwick 2007 meatball challenge happened Saturday night. The winning meatball (top photo), a traditional Italian meatball just edged out the newcomer's, team Galapagos Kick Boxing, spicy chipotle bbq meatball (middle photo) to win the top honors this year. Obviously presentation was not considered, as Heather, Chris and I, the heart, soul & fire of Team Galapagos, felt robbed as the winner/founder/host of the event may have had a slight influence over the judges (bottom photo).
See nancy's assessment below.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Quit the gym and get a Wii
I've become obsessed with getting a Nintendo Wii after seeing and reading about the Wii Experiment, basically this dude from Philly played Wii sports, mainly boxing, for 6 weeks, 30 minutes a day during the holidays. He lost 9lbs and got ripped! He didn't change any of his eating or drinking habits, take note that this happened during the holidays when eating assloads of calorific foods is not uncommon.
Here's the dilemma, I hate the gym. That's not much of a dilemma, but I would rather play video games if I got the same results as being in the gym. For the record I'm not a gamer and the last video game consol i owned was a Super Nintendo back in '93, over 13 years ago. Anyway i need some convincing that the wii is the right thing to do and the gym is an overpriced gimmick. Let's break it down.
COST
Gym: $85/month @ New York Sport Club
Wii: $271 One time fee (including 8.5% NY tax).
If i quit the gym for 4 months I will save $340 making up the money spent on getting a Wii.
ENJOYMENT
Gym: hate it.
Wii: Thinking I will love it. I have never actually played the Wii, but there are many videos of people playing it and they seems like they're having fun. Here's one.
HEALTH BENEFIT
Gym: Cardio workout with weights for muscle tone. There are also classes like yoga, boxing, step aerobics etc...
Wii: Cardio workout, no weight. If any of you doubt how much of a workout the wii provides, watch this news clip from NBC that shows a woman getting noticeably winded while playing the boxing game.
MOTIVATION
Gym: Getting to gym is a battle in itself. When I'm there, I can't wait to finish
Wii: When I was kid, my mom would have to hide the controllers of my original nintendo system so i would stop playing it and do my homework.
RISK
Gym: Getting hurt at the gym is always a possibility, i.e. falling of the treadmill, dropping the free weights on my foot or getting hurt by other yahoos at the gym.
Wii: Unknown, but players, bystanders and pets have all been injured by Wii-related accidents. Household furniture is also at high risk. This has been documented at the blog wiihaveaproblem.com.
SELF CONFIDENCE
Gym: Ever feel intimidated when Ivan da Steroid is benching 900 lbs and grunting like a gorilla?
Wii: The only ridicule you'll receive are from family members or roommates, but are we really trying to impress them?
CONVENIENCE
Gym: If your gym is 24 hours then you can go anytime you want, but not all are. However you still have to schlep your lazy ass, gym & change of clothes all the way to the nearest gym, sometimes in the freezing weather.
Wii: Living room.
After weighing the options it seems that the Wii wins over the gym by a huge margin. But it is really unknown what the physical results will be. The Wii Experiment is just one guy, who is to say that the results are not fixed or that he maybe an exceptional individual. Take Jared from Subway, sure his results were amazing, but i do not know one person who got results like Jared. Further more I don't know anyone who lost 1 lb from eating Subway sandwiches. This could be an elaborate marketing ploy by nintendo, which I think is brilliant by the way. I'm certainly buying into it, plus Nintendo is kicking the PS3's ass in overall sales. It is next to impossible to get a Wii except on ebay or other sites that jack the price up at least 50%. That's it!!! The only way to get to the bottom of this is to buy a Wii, quit the gym for 4 months and see if it's worth all the hype. One three things will definitely happen, I'll get ripped, I'll get fat or nothing will change. As soon as I get my hands on one I will let you know.
Here's the dilemma, I hate the gym. That's not much of a dilemma, but I would rather play video games if I got the same results as being in the gym. For the record I'm not a gamer and the last video game consol i owned was a Super Nintendo back in '93, over 13 years ago. Anyway i need some convincing that the wii is the right thing to do and the gym is an overpriced gimmick. Let's break it down.
COST
Gym: $85/month @ New York Sport Club
Wii: $271 One time fee (including 8.5% NY tax).
If i quit the gym for 4 months I will save $340 making up the money spent on getting a Wii.
ENJOYMENT
Gym: hate it.
Wii: Thinking I will love it. I have never actually played the Wii, but there are many videos of people playing it and they seems like they're having fun. Here's one.
HEALTH BENEFIT
Gym: Cardio workout with weights for muscle tone. There are also classes like yoga, boxing, step aerobics etc...
Wii: Cardio workout, no weight. If any of you doubt how much of a workout the wii provides, watch this news clip from NBC that shows a woman getting noticeably winded while playing the boxing game.
MOTIVATION
Gym: Getting to gym is a battle in itself. When I'm there, I can't wait to finish
Wii: When I was kid, my mom would have to hide the controllers of my original nintendo system so i would stop playing it and do my homework.
RISK
Gym: Getting hurt at the gym is always a possibility, i.e. falling of the treadmill, dropping the free weights on my foot or getting hurt by other yahoos at the gym.
Wii: Unknown, but players, bystanders and pets have all been injured by Wii-related accidents. Household furniture is also at high risk. This has been documented at the blog wiihaveaproblem.com.
SELF CONFIDENCE
Gym: Ever feel intimidated when Ivan da Steroid is benching 900 lbs and grunting like a gorilla?
Wii: The only ridicule you'll receive are from family members or roommates, but are we really trying to impress them?
CONVENIENCE
Gym: If your gym is 24 hours then you can go anytime you want, but not all are. However you still have to schlep your lazy ass, gym & change of clothes all the way to the nearest gym, sometimes in the freezing weather.
Wii: Living room.
After weighing the options it seems that the Wii wins over the gym by a huge margin. But it is really unknown what the physical results will be. The Wii Experiment is just one guy, who is to say that the results are not fixed or that he maybe an exceptional individual. Take Jared from Subway, sure his results were amazing, but i do not know one person who got results like Jared. Further more I don't know anyone who lost 1 lb from eating Subway sandwiches. This could be an elaborate marketing ploy by nintendo, which I think is brilliant by the way. I'm certainly buying into it, plus Nintendo is kicking the PS3's ass in overall sales. It is next to impossible to get a Wii except on ebay or other sites that jack the price up at least 50%. That's it!!! The only way to get to the bottom of this is to buy a Wii, quit the gym for 4 months and see if it's worth all the hype. One three things will definitely happen, I'll get ripped, I'll get fat or nothing will change. As soon as I get my hands on one I will let you know.
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