The Cheddar Box

Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime series, and in some circles has been called one of the greatest anime series ever produced. It’s this crazy brilliant mixture of sci-fi, cowboy western, Hong Kong action all complemented by a dope Jazz/Rock soundtrack. The show’s director, Shinichiro Watanabe is a genius. Highly recommended.

Opening Theme

Dope sequence from the “Ballad of Fallen Angels” episode

Crazy sequence from one of my favorite episodes, “Pierrot le Fou” (I know J-Fish feels me)

Pretty hilarious clip from Saturday Night Live, with Amy Poehler as Hilary, that calls out the Clinton campaign for the terrible identity politics games they’ve been playing. Apologies for the shitty video quality, I looked under every rock of youtube and it’s the best I could find!

Jeff Chang has a more in depth analysis here.

Stanford now teaches a class on writing graphic novels, and the class gets to collectively write and produce a story together! Dope. Their first project produced the novel shown above, Shake Girl, which is apparently set in Cambodia. Another example of how the graphic novel is growing in popularity and influence (it is the only form of book whose sales are actually growing right now).

Below is a segment (broken up into 5 parts, about 7 minutes each) from the DVD of the film, “An Unreasonable Man,” about Ralph Nader. Pretty interesting stuff. As the Democratic nomination looks to be tilting definitively in Obama’s favor, it makes you think about the overall state of the US political system. I am so over the Democratic party.

Part 1 of 5

Part 2 of 5

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The brothers Colin and Greg have already written it up, but the new album, “Rising Down” by Philly natives the Roots is fire. The title track, featuring Mos Def and Styles P, is a dirt grimey beat with some ill verses. The whole album emits this energy that I feel is very reflective of the simmering anger and frustration felt by many in 2008 America. Some people haven’t liked the large number of guest emcees on the album, but I’m totally digging the added dimensions all the guests bring. The Roots are now like some kind of force in hip hop, and they make their guest emcees realize that if they want to collaborate with that force, they have to bring fire, spit some truth and spit it well. The video below is from a jam session in NY for the album’s release.

Fellow Philly singer/songwriter Santi White, under the name Santogold, has released her self-titled debut album, and I’m digging it. It’s just a really good pop album. She blends new wave, reggae, ska punk, hip hop and basically all pop genres in really catchy and creative ways. What the hell are they putting in the water over in Philly? The video below is for her second single from the album, “L.E.S. Artistes,” dealing with the topic of fakeness/realness, apparently.

Dave Zirin’s latest Edge of Sports entry was fire as usual, this time refocusing the ongoing controversy surrounding the Olympic games in China and reminding Westerners that critiquing the Chinese government does not automatically excuse US atrocities. I was really feeling this one because at first, I was all about the “Free Tibet” protesting, but as it has gone on, I’ve become uncomfortable with all of the anti-China rhetoric. I definitely respect the movement for a free Tibet, and I think the Chinese government’s treatment of the Tibetan people has been awful. At the same time though, all of this anti-China sentiment in response to the Olympic games has, like I said, made me uncomfortable, because of largely what Zirin talks about in his article, saying:

“…Blaming China for the ills of the world ignores the stubborn fact that there is a reason the games are in Beijing. Western complicity in China’s crimes isn’t challenged by bashing China. It’s only covered up.”

Word. DZ is just a smart, smart, smart guy. Can they please hurry up and release A People’s History of Sports?

Pretty hilarious.

Ali Wong put me up on this video recently. It’s a three part interview with Sabzi, producer/dj of Blue Scholars. He makes some interesting points about hip hop production, the craft, the business, etc. If you don’t have enough time to watch all the parts now, I suggest skipping to part 3, where Sabzi takes you through the beat making process. His TV On The Radio “Staring At The Sun” remix at the end pretty much blew my mind. Talk boxes are the shit!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Joshua Frank summed up the sorry state of electoral politics in 2008 America brilliantly the other day on CounterPunch. However, I like how he highlights that no matter who is in office in Washington, the real progressive battles that inspire true hope (and actually get real results–yes, it is possible for the left to win battles), happen on the ground, in the community, in places widely known and places totally off the radar:

“Activists on the ground fighting to stop the conveyor belt execution industry of Texas, organic farmers battling Monsanto in North Dakota, Native Americans challenging the federal government over ancient land rights, unionists fighting for a fair wage, environmentalists working to hold polluters accountable for their actions — all of these activities will rage on under the radar despite who is in power in Washington. And these are the campaigns that we ought to be supporting.

So don’t worry too much if the left seems dead in the water this year. It may well be, but grassroots activism is alive and well across the land in some of the most remote, forgotten places you could imagine.”

Ripped this off of Angry Asian Man, the photo really is just too dope not to repost. It was apparently taken from a recent student protest at the University of Washington (which I visited when I went to Seattle, beautiful campus). Like he says, the sign, the woman’s facial expression, everything about it go go goes. The photo was taken by Nick Feldman.