Man, I’m starting to feel like I got really gipped by my childhood breakfast cereals. Don’t get me wrong, I like the shitty little plastic toys and sheriff badges or whatever that functioned as prizes, but I certainly never got something as cool and trippy as the lysergic 3D glasses that the members of Ringo Deathstarr receive in the new video for their track “RIP.”
Probably because I never ate Starrdust cereal, probably because it doesn’t exist. This is all starting to make sense… Ringo Deathstarr made some waves last year with their debut, Colour Trip, and judging by first single “RIP” their followup Mauve should be more of the same ultra catchy, fuzzed out goodness.
As you read this, ONE FC: Pride of A Nation has already taken place. It’s over. It’s done with. You’ve already watched Tim Sylvia get soccer kicked (illegally?) by Arlovski. You’ve enjoyed watching the “New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni kick the face off of “Ximbica” Rodrigo Ribeiro. I’m not sure what “Ximbica” means, but I do know that Xibalba is performing tomorrow alongside Agnostic Front. Xibalba is one of my ex girlfriend’s favorite bands, and now I’ll probably never see them perform. I definitely don’t listen to them either. Shame on you Ximbica for reminding me of my ex girlfriend. That’s not cool, which is why Phil Baroni had to do what he had to do to get that victory. Thanks Phil Baroni for somehow making me feel better.
I didn’t get the chance to really watch ONE FC today, so I don’t feel qualified to tell you about the fights. What I did watch though were a number of Ariel Helwani interviews with Steven Seagal and Nam Phan (respectively) last night. They had me laughing pretty hard, so let me give you a little back story and I’ll even share the very same videos that brought a little joy into my life.
Steven Seagal claims credit for Anderson Silva’s victory over Vitor Belfort as well as Lyoto Machida’s win over Mixed Martial Arts legend Randy Couture. The Aikido master says that he taught both fighters a modified version of the front kick. Amazing. Not surprisingly, the MMA community has not taken lightly to this, as Seagal has absolutely no known fight record under his belt. Nam Phan is a critic and has even challenged the Sensei. Your opinion on Seagal will weigh heavily on how much laughter these videos bring your way. Seagal, above, explains how proud and happy he is, being that he taught Middleweight world champion Anderson Silva the front kick. Here Seagal explains how proud of Machida he is.
Steven Seagal tells Ariel Helwani that Jones wasn’t himself at UFC 135, and seems a little agitated when his opinion is compared to that of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Tae kwan Do Black Belt and Muay Thai seasoned, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan
Ariel Helwani interviews Nam Phan on the MMA Hour, only referring to Seagal as “Sensei”. A lot of people don’t understand Helwani’s tongue in cheek, smart ass humor. I appreciate it. Here Nam Phan challenges Steven Seagal after his victory over Cole Miller at UFC on FOX 4.
Enjoy those, and also enjoy this cool looking poster for UFC 152, where Jones feels ready to fight.
It is time for all you Мишка fiends to line up and show us what you can offer our secret society! We are taking Fall/Winter internship applications. If deemed worthy, you shall be called upon for a minimum of 3 months in which you shall be summoned by the titans of darkness to fulfill gut wrenching tasks. Now choose your destiny:
• Design Interns will assist the Art Department in seasonal designs i.e. creating CADs, tech packs and promotional materials. You need to be proficient in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Free-hand or digital illustration ability a huge plus.
• Operation Interns will assist in the organization of the online/store inventory, partitioning and shipping of the orders and general office/store upkeep duties. Being proficient in MS Office suite required.
• Marketing Interns will assist with press sample pulls, sponsorship and event projects, press/tear sheet archiving and general office upkeep duties. Knowledge of the music, art and fashion industries are all a plus; being proficient in Adobe suite a plus, MS Office suite required.
• Bloglin Interns will assist with maintaining the blog, preparing drafts and creating new contents. Please regularly keep up to date with some combination of music, art, film, TV and fashion if applying; Please have a strong grasp of grammar and basic HTML skills. Maintaining your own blog and knowing your way around a camera are big pluses. Please also enjoy writing and blogging!
• Photo Interns will assist with product and catalog shoots, photo retouching and be sent assignment to cover Мишка sponsored events. You must have your own SLR and know how to use it. Please be proficient in Photoshop. Basic HTML knowledge and blogging ability is also a plus.
• Store Interns will assist in the day-to-day operations of running 350 Broadway. Being proficient in MS Office suite and with a camera is recommended. Past retail experience is a big plus.
Select your area of expertise and put it in your email’s subject line. Then send along your resume with a cover letter, explaining your reason for wanting to be part of the darkness, to interns@mishkanyc.com. Please put some thought into your cover letter. We ask that anyone applying to our intern position already live in NYC or be willing to relocate here for the duration of their internship. Please be a motivated self-starter ready to service Satan’s every whim.
All internships are unpaid… but Hell ain’t a bad place to be.
Hey working American (and international) proletariat friends: we work hard, don’t we? You put in your hours at the grindstone/keyboard/counter/altar and you do it with a smile on your face because that’s what we’re about. But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a pat on the back, at least every once and a while. And that’s what Labor Day is all about, right? Thanking our labor force. I know because I just looked it up on the internet. Thanks, internet running people!
We here at Мишка want to make sure that your Labor Day weekend is extra special, if it wasn’t already awesome enough with the three days, the grilling, the football, etc. So that’s why we’re making our Summer 2012 Collection 50% off, both In-Store and Online, starting now and running through midnight on Monday. Here’s your chance to get your hands on all the Summer items you coveted, for only half the cost.
Left Leberra is the rapper who includes all the stuff that rappers normally leave out. If rap was OZ, Left Leberra would be a dude advertising curtain removal services. As humble and as honest as an American man can be, is how humble and honest Left is in his music. That’s not to say he’s a pushover, he’s just not advertising what he’s capable of. Instead he chooses to talk about what happens to him, how he lives, and how those two things overlap to dictate how he feels and what he imagines. For Left, his reality is more important than your impression of his reality, and so his art is a direct reflection of those priorities. If you can take the time to really connect with XRAY3D you’ll find an incredibly thoughtful depiction of intense frustration. That may seem illogical given the subdued, and often laid back tone of Left’s music, and I suppose in that way it is. The music is a paradox though because life in the United States in 2012 is a paradox. And Left is able to roll all of that up into his music because he has the multi-faceted mind of a designer (he used to design graphics for US Polo, Notorious, Makaveli, and Phat Farm). For him, it’s not about creating a restricted audio artifact that people will identify as RAP MUSIC and latch onto. For Left it’s about distilling life into an artistic process in an attempt to gain some distance from, and then re-embrace, his own experiences.
Left’s superpowers in rap originate from his artistic process. He has a mind and perspective that are geared not towards perception, but the means of perception themselves (there goes that tiny but imperative distinction again). Left doesn’t just understand what is there to be perceived, he also understands how perception happens. Thus he doesn’t show you a picture of rap music, instead he leads you down a path replete with potent events that will fill your ears with the sound of art. And those sounds are the sounds of rap, but association with a nomenclature isn’t a priority because Left is too involved in the intricacies of his work. He knows how subtle changes in the bigger picture can amount to a world of difference. And so, when Left departed down the path to creating this record he didn’t have his eyes on anything except for what is all around him. And from the moment you turn on XRAY3D that is clear. It’s clear in what he does, but moreso in what he doesn’t do. You won’t hear any of the contemporary signifiers for rap music. No gunshots here, no Lex Luger beats, no incessant adlibs, no club track, no party track, and so on. The parameters that define XRAY3D can only be identified once you’ve listened to the album a few times. You’re not gonna know what to do with it as soon as you turn it on.
On the album’s opener Left and his sister Stash Marina give a robust guide to Left’s worldview. Left is not exactly thrilled by the world around him. Understandably so, but what Left doesn’t say is how his perspective differs from a lot of folks who are unhappy with the world around them. He isn’t complaining and whining, he’s merely working out the problems of a contemporary life in a vocal fashion. For Left the two biggest concerns are apparently women, and socializing. And they come up again and again. But that’s certainly not to say that it’s repetitive. Far from it. Left Leberra is an amazingly talented gentleman. His capacity for making art is rivaled only by his capacity for observing and understanding the world around him. His music is an apt summation of his struggles as a person. It’s not easy being alive in the United States right now. We’re all born with a massive negative balance in our karma accounts, and ever day of our lives is poised to drive that balance further and further into the negative. Gone are the times when living a modest life in your community, and doing good to others was enough. For us, we’re born into a world where the consumption of goods perpetuates the suffering of individuals whom most of us will never see or meet. People in other places live meager and impoverished lives so that we can be born into freshly anointed cribs and color-coordinated blankets. And from there our karmic balances plummet. That is the plight of the citizens of the United States of 2012, and so it’s not easy to see why Left is afraid to leave his house, and wishes to refresh it all. He isn’t afraid, he’s just apalled.
As I’m sure the filmmakers intended, and as I’m sure many internet heads are feeling, I’ve been extremely intrigued and excited to see the Tim & Eric starring film The Comedy ever since it’s particularly vitriolic and poor reception at this year’s Sundance Festival. The screening was apparently liberally peppered with walkouts, some calling the pitch dark comedy one of the most grating movie experiences ever. Nice!
This initial teaser doesn’t do much to dispel those rumors, instead proudly displaying negative reviews about the film, which centers on Tim’s character, an entitled hipster stereotype who I believe just goes around New York with Eric and James Murphy being a real shitbox to everyone, and not in an endearing or rakish way but in a way that makes you really sad about humanity. Can’t wait for this one to drop in mid October.
Well well well, look what we have here. Our friends over at electronic label Baku Shad-do were kind enough to allow us to premier not one, but two new releases today on the Bloglin. Not only have we extensively covered releases from this label in the past, but they’ve also done work with Bloglin contributors Nattymari and Supa Sortahuman, so when the opportunity arose to do these premiers you know we jumped right on it.
So without further adieu, let’s get right into it with ☯, the new album from bedroom r&b duo SANGO x ZandSHE. SANGO is on the beats and fashion designer ZandSHE does the crooning, using “a sonic template of dreamsounds and fat beats to create an opium den tapestry.” ☯ features 5 original tracks plus four remixes from the likes of Ron Hardly (Nattymari), and Chrome Clouds (Party Trash). Stream and download it below!
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The second drop is the debut EP from #MAGICALPOWERS, another duo featuring buzzing producer AbdeCaf, and hip-hop artist ptolemy. This self-titled EP is full of AbdeCaf’s chilled out, spacey electronics pushed right up against skittering glitch, as on opener “Pyrotechnics.”
Based out of Miami, #MAGICALPOWERS purports to bring “a fresh approach to the formerly dragged out sounds of witch house, with a freshly energentic, pop savvy approach, laden with a cascade of trap flourishes.” Listen to and download this 4-track EP below, and then check out AbdeCaf’s performance tomorrow, September 1st, on the Hilltop Arena Stage of Electric Zoo at 11AM.
Welcome to Press Start! You know the drill: I regurgitate stories that I hope you haven’t already read whilst I simultaneously resist the urge to talk about my junk and flog myself for being such a hack.
Join me. Oh, it’s about video games, I mentioned that, right?
Metal Gear Turns 25 in Style
This year, the Metal Gear series turns 25 and publishers Konami have spared no effort in satisfying fan appetites. Not only have they announced a motherload of expensive, collectible swag to celebrate the milestone, but they’ve also announced a film adaptation and two new games. Count ‘em: TWO.
Producer Avi Arad is bringing the game to movie screens along with Sony and had this to say: “For many years I fought to bring comics to the big screen. Comic books are now biggest genre in cinema,” Arad told the crowd. “Video games are the comic books of today.” Yeah, because no-one reads comics any more….
Then, there’s the smart phone bound Social Ops and the altogether more substantial Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, details of which are appropriately hidden at the moment, being as photography at the announcement event/birthday bash was strictly prohibited. However, a few informative tweets and a promotional image is all that infantile crotch-rubbers like myself need to be chomping at the bit. With the promise of a more open-world structure, the chance to play as Big Boss again and the promising tech of the new FOX Engine, it would take a truly die-hard pessimist not to assume greatness. Of course, there’s the other possibility: that you’re just not interested in the Metal Gear series, in which case I just really don’t know how I can help you. Just kidding: we’re still buds
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Time Travel Proves Effective Method for Avoiding Police Capture
I’m starting to worry that the only thing that excites me now is the newest PC gaming mod. What’s wrong with me? I don’t even download any of them; I just longingly marvel at humanity’s creativity, or at least our ability to crowbar elements of one popular franchise into another. Case in point: the Back to The Future Delorean in GTA IV.
Be warned: this shameless piece of fan service also includes a Marty McFly character skin and functioning Flux Capacitor. Basically, this works exactly as you would wish, assuming you simply just want to travel to different parts of the same year. It’s sort of like diet time travel, which, will have to do for now, but it does confuse dumb AI cops.
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No Spacebar is Safe From Man on The Edge
We all know that feeling. When every event just feels like it’s another lead pipe on your aching back and I swear man, just push me, I’m about to go off. Like that. Something even as trivial as a clicking space bar becomes a deafening form of torture until your unnamed Chinese hero saves the day. Steal the space bars. It’s so simple.
Recently, a Chinese internet café has seen a whole batch of missing space bars being returned to them, after they were stolen over a year ago by our anonymous vigilante. The story has spread across Chinese gaming messageboards, giving the tale almost urban legend status and the kind of thing that crops up in sub-par gaming columns all over the internet.
Am I building this man up a little too much? Is it just me here who hates the sound of clicking space bars and now idolizes this man as a crusader for all that is true and just? Sure, he claims it was simply the excessive noise caused by users playing online rhythm game Audition Dance Battle Online. But I know what he truly stands for. He is a hero for the ages. God speed.
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Yo Dawg, We Put a Madden Curse in Your Madden So Your Madden Can Have a Madden Curse
Shit, I bet someone already made that joke. I hate myself. Still, let’s press on.
The Madden Curse, commonly referring to crappy luck befalling players after signing to be the game’s cover athelete, has now come full-circle by appearing in Madden 13′s in-game news feed. Whoa, dude. Matrixinception. Right now, all over the globe, bros heads are exploding and they too are crudely using outdated meme-culture references to ham-fistedly express themselves. Whoa, I think I just Inceptioned myself. Like, whoa.
If you ask me, this is dangerous territory. Fate has seen fit to curse these athletes, for one reason or another. Now EA is messing with dark powers; attempting to make light of their decisions and brush it off as the kind of superstition that is ripe for self-aware humor. Do not taunt the gods, EA, you will regret it.
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Dark Souls Fan Lays the Smackdown on Creators With Game-Enhancing PC Mod
Doing absolutely nothing to dissuade my affection for the PC modding community is this dude: NeoGAF user Durante. When releasing Dark Souls on the PC last week, From Software acknowledged that it would come with known resolution issues and they cackled maniacally and rubbed their hands at the thought of poor PC gamers having to suffer through it. Perhaps I’m taking a bit of creative licence there, but they still made no effort to fix it. In steps Durante, who wasn’t taking this shit lying down. He spent the whole week leading up to the release creating a patch to fix the issue, in his spare time. Why did he do it? Because he could and he dares to care. Within 23 minutes of the game’s release, the patch was optimised and released online.
Now that’s a hero. I’m crushing so hard on Durante right now that I want him to just pump me full of his sexy data. Damn. Check out the before and after shots for further proof of his sexiness.
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There’s No Such Thing as a Free Game
Square Enix have announced their new free-to-play service, Core Online. The service allows players to indulge in some older titles for the low, low price of simply having to endure adverts every 10-20 minutes. Square Enix now boasts a back catalogue consisting of the Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy and Hitman series’ – all of which may soon be available for direct retina scarring via your browser.
I hate adverts. I’ve gotten so used to only watching TV on demand, or not at all, that tolerating adverts is something that I’ve conditioned myself out of. I’m not quite sure how bearable an uncontrollable minute-long break would actually be when playing a game; but it does give me flashbacks to flipping out at my mother disturbing me during some pretty hardcore Starfox sessions. Still, if you don’t/can’t own the games; I’m sure you’d be willing to take one for the team; team you, that is. Mini Ninjas is fun, too. Trust me.
I’m going to punish myself now. Agent Van Alden style. See you next week.
When a film’s universe is populated entirely with loathsome scumbags, it better be entertaining and funny as hell. Without someone to root for or relate to, there’s a strong possibility the audience won’t care about what’s going on. Luckily with Killer Joe we get a mercilessly entertaining and darkly humorous tale that’s also expertly directed and acted. William Friedkin and writer Tracy Letts, have crafted a mean little southern noir stocked with some of the most reprehensible characters you’ll see this year. It’s all about family, the murder business, and doing disgusting things to fried chicken.
Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) owes a few thousand to a Dallas drug lord and goes to his dimwitted father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) for help. Ansel hasn’t a dime to spare though – nor any weed, which he bought from Chris. He proposes to Ansel that they have his mother (Ansel’s first wife) killed and then collect on the life insurance. That will, in theory, solve both their money troubles and then some. Chris has heard of a guy, a Dallas cap named Joe Cooper, who is a contract killer on the side. Only problem is that Joe charges a hefty fee in advance.
Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey) is a charming, polite rattlesnake who performs even the simplest task like taking of his watch in a methodical manner. He takes his murder business very seriously and follows a strict code of conduct – something the Smith family has trouble following from the start. Joe is obviously much smarter than the Smiths, but what he doesn’t count on is exactly how dumb they are. Underestimating stupidity can be dangerous.
In place of an advance, Joe accepts young Dottie Smith (Juno Temple) as a retainer. Chris, Ansel, and Ansel’s new wife Sharla (Gina Gershon) agree to this arrangement and even buy a new dress for Dottie’s first date with Joe. They’re a low, shameful group of people. Sharla is always falling out of her dress – when she happens to be wearing one, that is. Ansel is just along for the ride even if he never seems to know where they’re going. Chris is filled with potential, but he’s dug himself too deep in crime and gambling to accomplish anything worth a damn. Every member of the family is flawlessly acted. Hirsch particularly is a mesmerizing ball of nerves.
McConaughey delivers what’s easily the best performance of his career. He economically moves across every scene with terrifying grace and a silver tongue. It’s scary as hell in some moments. During the climactic dinner scene, you won’t be able to take your eyes off him. It’s easy to forget this is the same actor who starred in countless romantic comedies, oftentimes with no shirt on.
The last time Friedkin teamed up with Letts we got the 2006 paranoid masterpiece Bug. While that film took place in a single motel room, Killer Joe takes place in a morally bleak corner of Dallas where there’s always a monster truck rally on television. The Smith’s trailer is a desperate den of sin that can explode into violence at the drop of a Stetson. The potential for brutality is always present and Friedkin masterfully builds suspense to a greasy boil throughout the film. The man hasn’t lost his touch or his balls. Lett’s dialogue (the film is based on his play of the same name) is sharp and funny – nicely balancing the violence.
Killer Joe is rated NC-17 and rightfully so. There are a couple moments of frontal female nudity and graphic sex, but it’s the extended scenes of perverse savagery that will leave a mark on your brain. If KFC didn’t turn your stomach before, Killer Joe will do the trick.
Holy Other’s first full length Held released late August via Tri-Angle Records. LP, CD & digital. Stylistically it mirrors his mid 2011 debut EP With U. If it isn’t broken don’t fix it perhaps? Though Held does offer more depth, spaced soupiness viscose and drooling over much more stripped and defined rhythm. The cascading heartedness of the album creates a pensive atmosphere. As one would expect from the Manchester producer, it is beautiful. It’s not earth shattering but it’s good. Less edgy than With U, it still stays loyal to the Holy Other aesthetic while doing something the EP didn’t quite achieve, that is to postmark time perfectly by culminating all the trended electronic sounds we know and love from the beginning of the second decade and present it just as that – a culmination. The album adopts the notion of story-telling much like a lot of visual arts does; documenting the time and place of it’s creation simply for the sake of doing so. The uniformity and sheer beauty pulls you in while the absorbed musing strangely distances you creating a nice comfortable tension.
All the compositional elements in Held are everything I have already heard before yet it doesn’t devalue the album at all. This is a clever nuance Holy Other achieves. Bleeps, crunches, loopy RnB vocals carved with the sharpest scalpel decanted through sub bass and ambient grooves. Swoops and assailing angelics. Dreamcreamscapes, chimes and finger clicks over almost japanesey pop sounds at times. House influences, soothing and down tempo. All arranged in a way that simply admires the new rather than tries to be new. Technological romance but not in an idealistic sense – it’s more like an authentic experience that could almost go unnoticed. A passive taking for granted, much like a child might do in expecting to get its way.
So why is everyone dreaming? Is it an overload of stimulation? Are we over-tired babies that have cried ourselves into that automatic drift? Does reality need to be chopped and looped into small chunks to be palatable? Probably. Life moves pretty fast we all know that. Holy Other slows down the thoughts in order to plant you firmly in the now. One small criticism I might have is the album art. I understand the quaint simplicity, the ‘small things/ subtle textures’ kind of idea behind it but personally I think it just comes across as careless. It’s not a great photo by any standards. That said I am happy I own a copy of the album because it is nice to listen to.
