Citizen Of The World Inc. » Blogging

Self Portrait Of A Cold-Fighter In The Winter

Citizen192 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:15:28 +0000

I woke up gasping for air as if I’d slept with a clothes hanger clip pinching my nostrils all night. A loud hack followed and I felt the preemptive tingle of the upcoming onslaught of cough-mania. It was 7am and I felt like turd.

I’m always one to boast about my unwavering immune system; its defense capacity is that of a platoon of millions of white blood cells carrying the legacy of my generations before me. That generation lived to be 99, fit, healthy, conquering even the most potent physical demons a human can imagine. And yet, I’m sure a simple Saturday night basketball game under a moonlit sky filled with crisp Northern California air is what destined me for a full day of blogging and pajama wearing.

I hate whatever is at war with me.

Scaling The Web: Exhibitions In NYC: Food: The Chupacabra Exists!

Citizen192 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:37:19 +0000

Links I feel are beneficial to your well-being.

I know it’s hard for you city-folk to venture into Brooklyn for an afternoon, but catching Brooklyn Museum’s “Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present” exhibition before January 31st is a must. [via BK Museum]
These are 13 dishes you can try in these 13 different countries. You know what I love? Denmark puts BACON in their applesauce! [via The Atlantic]
Mexican-artist Gabriel Orozco at MOMA will either inspire the purist inside of you, or you’ll want to kick that ~~stupid~~ shoebox when you walk into his exhibition. Whatever the case, check it out. [via MOMA]
Folks at The Awl say the Chupacabra exists. And I believe them. [via The Awl]

Song(s) Of The Decade: “Goodbye, Everything [Is] In Its Right Place…” Wrapping My Head Around Ten Years.

Citizen192 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:26:32 +0000

I’m not sure my decade started on Jan 1, 2000. It started, more appropriately, on Sept 21, 2001. That’s when I snagged a “Study Abroad In Spain” brochure from my community college, ran home, and told my parents there was no way in hell I would miss the opportunity. I’d say the 90′s ended for me exactly a year earlier, on September 16, 2000, when I saw Rage Against The Machine’s last shows (they’ve since come back) at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. That’s when all the real dreaming of the decade started. One album, in particular, initiated a departure from the 90′s angst I’d known through “Killin In The Name Of” and “People Of The Sun.”

Radiohead’s Kid A released October 2000. Rolling Stone named Kid A album of the decade, but what the hell do they know? I still remember driving down Brand Blvd in Mission Hills, CA, listening to “Optimistic” in my 1996 Camry, pulling over, leaning back and listening. Music changed after that. The angst, movement and influence would forever be warped for me. I no longer needed a mosh-pit to enjoy something. This was groundbreaking.

I’m sitting in the corner of my hotel room at The Listel Hotel in Vancouver, BC clicking away at photos on my flickr photostream. There are 2,334 total images. Some are dull, others stirring, but most are simply digital snippets of days and nights I enjoyed enough to share with the world. A photoshoot with friends, 35mm B&W SLR shots, a man strolling in Berlin, my parents visiting in Mexico City and Jesse being Jesse. These photos all have music attached to them. In my head. No one usually hears any of it. But my favorite is this portrait. Cinematic Orchestra’s “To Build A Home” is attached to this one. Everyone knows that. I’m telling you this because I’ve been thinking about “What My Song Of The 2000s Will Be” and photos seem to help me out.

I’ve been scrambling to make sense of this decade. I moved to several cities in the 2000s including Salamanca, Berlin, New York City, Mexico City, West Hollywood and San Francisco. But what’s the point of reminiscing now? I invest enough in nostalgia on a daily basis that all I’m feeling right now are tremors in my brain from neurons blasting away. What will change on Jan 1, 2010? I’ll be in Canada with my fiancee, with my same camera, with my same desire to capture a new city and its people. I’ll discover some new music soon, eat at a new restaurant in a new “up-and-coming” neighborhood. I’ll report back on my findings. And my evenings will end the exact same way they’ve ended for the last 2 1/2 years. Essentially it’s all going to be the same, right?

After considerable brouhaha consisting of playing music very loudly in my hotel room — and pondering over Rayluv’s genius with “Sedatives 2009” — sitting in a trance, and thinking, “I remember exactly where I was the first I heard this song, the special places I played it and the dreams attached to it”, it finally came down to one song… that continues to move me…Yet, there is something that excites me most about this track: what will this music sound like to three generations removed from us? How will I explain this music to my great-grandchildren? Think about it.

P.S. This song came in a close second.

Happy New Year!

Scaling The Web: Saner! There’s A Food Link In Here: Photostream I Enjoy: That Boob Is A Pepsi Bottle.

Citizen192 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:00:25 +0000

Mexican graffiti artist Saner will be heading off to España to douse walls with paint in the way only Saner knows how. [via Juxtapoz]
Have you ever had the pork buns at Momofuku? No? NO? Well what the hell are you waiting for? Another restaurant to open? [via NYT]

There are 1,864 photos in this photostream. I will look at all of them. [via Flickr]
LA-based artist Patrick Martinez will be showing at FIFTY24LA from 9/10/09-11/5/09. I want to see this. [via Juxtapoz]
I just discovered Jorge Colombo’s sketches on the New Yorker and I’m hooked. Here he drafts a scene with an inflatable rat. [via New Yorker]

photo [via Citoyen]

Podcast: Tequila Tunes: In Conjunction With Blogoliciously Über-Cool Post-Matter Postings.

Citizen192 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:09:58 +0000

Whether you shoot your tequila (rookie!) or savor your Aztec nectar one succulent droplet at a time, there’s hopefully a soundtrack blistering in the background of your watering hole, cheering you on and making you prance around like an idiot until you drop to the floor, exhausted, dry heaving, with one shoe on. Working in conjunction with Post-Matter Postings, this is the Songs-You-Drink-Tequila-To-And-Then-Wake-Up-The-Next-Morning-And-Listen-To-Again podcast. Tracklist denotes who picked what. Tell us if it’s good.

Calle 13 – “Cumbia de los Aburridos” [PMP]
Pulp – “Common People” [C192]
Santigold – “Lights Out” [PMP]
Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart” [PMP]
Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)” [PMP]
Lila Downs – “La Cumbia Del Mole” [C192]
Manu Chao – “Me Gustas Tu” [C192]
The Pharcyde – “Soul Flower (Remix)” [C192]
Johnny Cash – “Folsom Prison Blues” [C192]

Scaling The Web: Post-Matter Postings Goes Large: “Emulsion Stew”: Mexico’s Answer To MJ: Y Mas.

Citizen192 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:30:09 +0000

New York City, Boise City, Salt Lake City and now Paonia/Montrose, CO. It’s been a hectic six days. But don’t think I haven’t made time to sift through my RSS feeds. It’s like rummaging through dusty paperbacks at a closeout bookstore…except virtual. Ahem. Links!

This is all you need to know about the soon-to-be-hippest-blog-in-town: recent new yorker. super collector. mix master. sous chef, personally. a veces en español. Check it. [via PMP]
Juxtapoz contributor Isaac McKay-Randozzi traveled over to San Jose for “Emulsion Stew.” Check out the photos. [via Juxtapoz]
The Faster Times contributor – and penthouse party-planner extraordinaire – Daniel Hernandez profiles Mexican Michael Jackson impersonator “Hector Jackson.” Ee-he-he-he. [via The Faster Times via Intersections]
El Oso looks at the state of HIV positive bloggers and their willingness to expose it all on the net. [via El Oso]
I’m in Colorado, but here’s Black Book’s list of NYC parties for this week. [via BB]

Image: “The Red Car”
Los Angeles, Ca 2006
[via]

Podcast: Soundtrack For The Rolling Hills: Let The Chords Rain Down!

Citizen192 — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:00:13 +0000

Hunter S. Thompson used his loudspeakers in Aspen, CO to blare out “Mr. Tambourine Man”. He’d shoot his .357 Magnum too, but I’m not investing in gunpowder. I’ll just stick to acoustic guitars and harmonicas. In the case of The Doors, let’s allow Ray Manzarek to shoot the hilltops, shall we? Blue skies hovering above thrusting mountain peaks inspired this compilation.

No tengo lugar/No tengo paisaje/Yo menos tengo patria.

Chris Thomas King – “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues”
The Doors – “Riders On The Storm”
Bob Dylan – “You’re A Big Girl Now”
Silvio Rodriguez – “Sueño Con Serpientes”
The National – “Fake Empire”
Bon Iver – “Blood Bank”
Kings Of Convenience – “Misread”
Blind Pilot – “The Bitter End”
Tom Waits – “Romeo Is Bleeding”
Fleet Foxes – “Blue Ridge Mountains”
Unknown – “Nací en Alamo”

Scaling The Web: Karim Benzema, Magicians and Naughty Art @ BK Museum.

Citizen192 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:20 +0000

UK-based Nigerian artist Yinka Shinobare wants to talk about European colonialism and African identity via provocative, humorous and decadent sculptures. Exhibition runs until September 20, 2009. [via The Fader]
You’ll either hate them more or love them more (as in my case). Real Madrid have swindled the soccer community and snagged France youngster Karim Benzema. Look out, Barcelona. [via ESPN]

Ernesto Bazan releases his own photography book Bazan Cuba. He spent 14 years on the island photographing and teaching. [via NPR]
Is there anything better than listening to Electronica, dancing and drinking on a Sunday afternoon in New York City? [via NY Times]
Listen to StoryCorps‘ featured story of the week. [via StoryCorps]

Image [via The Fader]

Scaling The Web: Shepherd Fairey V AP: Little Rockstars Rule.

Citizen192 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:39:23 +0000

It’s raining in Los Angeles, but I don’t mind. The rain is cleansing the air of its potent rankness. Lazy days. Planning to visit SURU and Scion Gallery next Monday. There’s a possibility of frugal adventures this weekend. Through experience, I’ve come to find that $3 whiskey is ghastly, but effective. From the web:

AP found some time out of their ridiculously busy schedule to peruse Shepherd Fairey’s prints and launch an attack. Apparently, when someone makes money off a portrait your photographer took, it means you are now entitled to bitch about a piece of the pie. [via Juxtapoz]

Manchester-born graphic designer Peter Saville released a “virtual catalog” of his most notable “Factory Records” prints. You can’t see me, but I’m gushing. [via Arkitip]
Paper Magazine looks at their favorite LA couples and Kobe Bryant and wife aren’t among them. Learn something new every day: Ben Lee lives in LA. Had no idea. [via Paper]
You have approximately nine more days (extended) to go see this. [via Fairytale of Berlin]
I really love xylophones. [via Vimeo]

StoryCorps Hits East Los Angeles Library: Transmission: OH “Joy Division.”

Citizen192 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:11:37 +0000

If there’s one lasting regret I have in my short 27-year tenure on this earth, it’s never taking the time to interview and record my late and great grandmother. For a Web 2.0 blogophile, it’s a shame I didn’t isolate time on my trips to Los Angeles and record a simple fifteen-minute session with grandma. And a vlog? Oy. Capturing that gorgeous lady smile and showcasing it for years would have been a treat. Moral of the story is this: don’t wait another day to listen to someone’s story, especially when you know it’s going to be a really good story.

If you’re in the LA-area, take some time in the next three weeks to sit, chat and record a story you think might be intriguing for others. StoryCorps is camping their pimped out mobile recording studio in front of East Los Angeles Library from January 29th to February 21st, and my homegirl Whitney will be there to guide you through the process. You can look for days to reserve starting tomorrow, Jan 29th, over here. You can also call StoryCorps‘ number at 800-850-4406. If you see Whitney, tell her I said…”Lets eat some Italian food…in Little Italy! Like the tourists! Yes!”

StoryCorps Los Angeles [via StoryCorps]
StoryCorps Blog [via Official Site]
Image [via StoryCorps]