I really hate to defame good friends and internet-celeb brethren, but a pressing dialogue has insinuated from a previous post revealing very shocking findings. After some intense investigations conducted by a third-party, more-objective, and all-around better blog, AdRants¹, we have concluded that the presumptions made on February 25th, 2008 were ill-informed and misguided.

We have looked at the evidence and outlined the witness accounts and have come to announce the following statement:

Touchblue ripped off Carl’s Jr.

Mr. Steve Hall at AdRants graciously conducted the investigation. His statement is posted in its entirety here, including statements made by Mendelhosn Zien Advertising Group’s representative–their account director Cathy Kellner-Diaz (Take that internet celebs! That’s the account director!). The following evidence is posed:

“More importantly, if any brand owns getting stuff on your face, it’s Carl’s Jr., the people that came out with the idea of ‘If it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong on your face’ 13 years ago.”

Very important: Carl’s Junior OWNS getting-stuff-on-face for, like, a really, really long time. Can you kids even count to 13?

“In the trillions of videos out there in internet-land, there are bound do be some similarities.”

Very true. Those trillions of videos is a whole lot of videos. And that’s not counting the bazookazillion videos in internet-galaxy.

“The idea of having food on your face is a universal human truth that everyone in world has personally experienced.”

You here that, Rene! How dare you claim to have originated the experience… rather… UNIVERSAL HUMAN TRUTH of Food-on-Face (copyright 1 trillion BC all rights reserved).

Lastly, AdRants points out that:

Carl’s Jr. Chili Cheeseburger commercial which aired during the Oscars was quite similar to a video, Knight School, that “aired” in 2005.

Get it? See the sarcasm-enriched quotation marks? YouTube is not the air! TV is! If there’s anything larger than “universal human truth,” its television. Sorry, guys. You got pwned.

¹I’d like to note that this is a very credible and classy blog. There’s a martini in the logo

-Mark  

 
Elizabeth Palacios, jailed for grilling (among others).

What’s Unhealthier than Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs? Gentrification:

“It’s the only street food L.A. can really claim as its own,” Lin adds. “It’s illegal and yet it’s a ubiquitous part of L.A. culture.” 

…”Honestly, I can tell you, I’ve been a working person all my life, I’ve worked since I was 9 years old,” Palacios says. “I don’t like being bothered, I don’t like being arrested. Never in my life had I been to jail, and they threw me in jail for violating the laws of the health department.”

…Yet it’s felt by downtown’s licensed vendors that the city bureaucracy does not see their work as honorable in any way. They’ve been served with police notifications warning them of pending stepped-up enforcement efforts. Many have written letters to the city in protest, claiming the enforcement has been abusive and borderline racist.

-Mark

Who’s rolling with me April 25?

-Ninoy Brown

Not necessarily Nobel prize winning research, but a scientific study shows that though varied forms of entertainment may bring out sexism, rap music is not the cause of sexism.

“So non-sexist rap can now have sexist implications. This gets back to our hypothesis that we don’t think rap music causes sexism, because how can rap that contains non-sexist lyrics cause someone to become sexist?”

In short, sexism will still exist (and has always existed) despite sexist content in some hip-hop music.

[Scratches head] …I didn’t think we needed university scientists to prove this point. I have extremely sexists friends who despise rap and listen to… oh, i don’t know… wind chimes and Yani. The same goes for committed anti-sexist friends who love the style and artistry of hip-hop despite contradictions in its content. But I suppose anything is helpful if this will curtail the scapegoating America’s issue with sexism and put more focus into the deeper and more institutional sources of patriarchy.

I hate sexism and love hip-hop,
Mark

P.S. This song: totally bangs in the club, has various pro-woman moments, totally bangs in the club, …but no way is this anti-sexist. Dance and discuss:

Yesterday marked the twenty second anniversary of the “non-violent” EDSA demonstrations in the Philippines.  Check out who sent a press statement highlighting the struggles of the Filipinos:

Obama Statement on the Filipino People Power Day and the Filipino Veterans Equity Act

Chicago, IL — Twenty-two years after the People Power Revolution in the Philippines, we remember and commemorate the Filipino people who used the democratic, non-violent method of “people power” to overthrow the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and end the martial law regime that ruled the Philippines for fourteen years.

On this anniversary, I urge my colleagues in Congress to honor the Filipino veterans who bravely fought with American troops in World War II. Approximately 250,000 Filipino troops joined American forces to fight in World War II, but too many of these heroes are still being denied benefits. The time has come for Congress to honor the Filipino veterans of World War II by finally enacting the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2007. I applaud Chairman Akaka’s leadership on this issue and will continue to urge my colleagues to provide the benefits and recognition these veterans deserve.

Today, let us join Filipinos in America to honor the sacrifices and determination of the Filipino people in the tireless fight for democracy and freedom.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2008
Obama Press Office, 312-819-2423

I also stumbled upon this community blog:  Filipino Americans for Obama

Now if Barack could make a statement discussing the injustices placed on the Touchblue fam.

-Ninoy Brown

Carl’s Junior came out with a commercial selling a new laxative sandwich that looks suspiciously familiar:

Here’s Touchblue’s sketch that was made really back-in-the-day like in 1975 or something:

Granted, the script is very minimal but my gut says Touchblue sold more fried chicken than Carl’s Junior did shit-burgers.

Update:

The ad agency responsible for second-rate screenwriting is Mendelsohn Zien. It also appears they make up for their lack of originality by specializing in shock and offensiveness. They were previously responsible for a billboard designed for the Chinese restaurant Wok Fast where the ad read, “Just what L.A. needs: More Chinese Drivers.”

-Mark

Another Update:

Rene (writer of “Knight School”) shares his thoughts on the situation: YouTube.

Update 2/29:

The producers of the Carl’s Jr. commercial comment.

I don’t want to spoil too much for those who have yet to catch Michel Gondry’s newest creation, Be Kind Rewind. But I do want to say that I appreciated several of the film’s underlying themes: community, gentrification, and the Serato vs. vinyl discourse… well, it’s actually just an “Ayo, I’m tired of using technology” argument.

Several movie critics gave the film mixed reviews, but I enjoyed watching it. I’m pretty sure true ’80s babies would too.

******************************

Swede - [verb] The process that the two protagonists of the film, Mike and Jerry, use to describe their efforts of recreating the erased videos.

One of the more memorable film swedes in the film, for me, was Boyz in the Hood. In the movie, less than a minute was shown of this recreation, luckily for us, the Be Kind Rewind folks uploaded an extended version.

(Don’t worry, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, watching this won’t spoil much.)

More sweded films can be seen right here.

-Ninoy Brown

Damn, whats the deal Valley Jo?

“Fiscal woes put Vallejo in spotlight”

As Vallejo gains the dubious distinction as one of California’s few municipalities to consider bankruptcy, the city’s fiscal plight is gaining widespread, even national attention.

City bankruptcy attorney Marc Levinson, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said many cities face dire financial conditions, and are watching Vallejo closely.

If the city does file for bankruptcy, Levinson said Vallejo could be a first to seek protection due to revenues being unable to keep up with expenses.

“This would be one of the first where there’s a systemic problem - where there’s no revenues to cover the expenses,” Levinson said.

“That’s why people are following this. It could be a first,” Levinson said. “There’s simply not enough money to go around.”

City and union negotiators have been involved in marathon talks, which are expected to continue over the weekend. Mayor Osby Davis said Friday afternoon that the two sides have “an agreement to agree,” but provided no specifics. (See related story on A1.)

The city is grappling with a $6 million shortfall in its $91 million general fund. Though Vallejo started the fiscal year in the black, expenses have outpaced revenues by $10 million and every penny of the $4 million in reserves has been spent. (Read on)

My boy told me there’s talks of just blowing up the bridges, leaving the Vallejo residents to fend for themselves, and turning the city into Snake Plissken’s summer getaway. But of course, this would be the Republican response.

But in all seriousness, this situation just gets me thinking about the bigger economic crisis that the rest of the state and the country is facing. And when financial troubles hit, its always education and social services that get the shaft first, leaving the future at even more peril.

For the 7-0-sav:

Mac Dre - Vallejo

-Ninoy Brown

Okay, so the picture above has little to do with the rest of this post, but I thought the juxtaposition of the hipster kiss of death to a symbol of cultural commodification speaks volumes.

A featured article in SF Weekly caught my attention, then dissipated after flashbacks of endless articles of Hyphy’s demise came back to me. But my cynicism went away after reading a content heavy piece by Eric K. Arnold, who has been described to me as an old dude speaking on youth culture (I actually can’t vouch for this myself, as I’ve never met the dude and don’t know his intentions). The article’s title? “The Demise of Hyphy”.

No doubt that this topic has been played out more than those bootleg LRG skeleton hoodies, as it’s been touched on more than a few times in here. But an interesting take is made by Arnold, with a bit of investigative work marking Clear Channel’s “The People’s Station” KMEL as an overlooked culprit to being a Dr. Kevorkian to the local music scene.

Many factors may have contributed to hyphy’s demise. Contractual snafus and bad business practices by some artists resulted in missed opportunities; major labels signed local artists, then delayed releasing their albums. National media made a big fuss over the controversial practice of “ghost-riding the whip” (putting a car in neutral and dancing on its hood or roof while the vehicle kept rolling). Additionally, hyphy was frequently linked to illegal sideshows, and there were reports of violence at concerts and clubs. Subsequently, overall sales figures never quite caught up with the hype.

Even so, the largest single factor in hyphy’s decline may have been the withdrawal of support for local music by KMEL 106.1FM, the Bay Area’s top urban radio station and a powerful industry tastemaker.

A year and a half ago, it wasn’t uncommon to find at least four or five songs by locally based indie rap artists in rotation at the San Francisco–based station. These days, however, you won’t find a current local rap release in KMEL’s top 50, or its top 100 for that matter. In fact, the highest-ranking recent single by a Bay Area rap artist the week of February 4 was the Federation’s “Happy I Met You,” way back at number 187. (read entire article)

With all the numerous articles from Bay publications placing the blame on the artists for not stepping their game right, it’s interesting to read about the back room politics that, if true, could have caused much detriment to a local movement that saw and still sees much potential. Now, I won’t take all the blame away from the artists (we don’t need anymore Pack clones), but it does make one wonder what happened to all the support that the radio was giving to the local artists, whether it be Hyphy or just some straight mob shit.

The article cites beefs between Big Von and FAB, KMEL blacklisting DJ Backside, and local pressure being ignored after a FCC licenses became renewed. It is fairly long, and it definitely leans towards one side, but Arnold does expose many things that may not have been previously discussed in the Hyphy/death discourse.

With that said, Hyphy isn’t dead. Maybe it’s potential for commercial music success has been wounded greatly, but this shit still lives in the streets. Music aside, the youth are still keeping the cultural and less marketed form alive.

-Ninoy Brown

I’ve been on a long hiatus from the blog grind, but now I’m back bringing the illy-fo-rilly. Props to the homies at the FreestyleSession forums for throwing this along my path. They say you’ve gotta pay the fiddler man if you want to do a “jig”. So with that being said go ahead and get into your B-boy stance, and although we try to stray away from posts without much depth, the clip is self-explanatory.

P.S. Something I’ve been slapping a lot lately from the DJ Swindle Album: Bobb Deep - Queensbridge Meets Kingston. If you haven’t heard it yet, mash-up of Mobb Deep songs to Bob Marley tunes, our staple. Here’s a taste and get on it.

Bobb Deep - Got It Twisted

-Mad Merc