Thursday, January 31, 2008

Animated Food

Through a couple of friends I've come across some videos that are definitely worth watching. One is apparently a little bit older than the other one, but they are both new to me.

The first one definitely made me want to roll in pancake syrup and stuff my face full of pancakes. The first one comes via YouTube and is packed full of sweet stop frame animation.



The second comes via Atom films and it's also fantastically well done. It's a historical recreation of every war since World War II. That's right. With food.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The rise of the robots!



ZOMG! The robots are coming!!! Well, to the Kennedy Center at least.
Over two weeks, the Kennedy Center brings together more than 450 artists, more than 40 performances, and more than a dozen free events to showcase the best Japanese theater and dance, music and fashion, architecture and sculpture, poetry and literature, photography and film. February 5-17, don't miss this living celebration of the artistic innovator that is Japan… the "floating island" whose modest size belies its stunning global impact. [Kennedy Center]

You better believe I will be making the rounds at this, great photo op's if anything else. Although working robots, anime premiers, and the laptop orchestra are also seductively calling my name.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Get your cook on

Amazing deal

Get the Cook at Home 16 Piece Hard Anodized Cookware Set for $130 - $30 instant savings = $100 at Linens 'N Things. This set includes:

8, 10, & 11-inch Frying Pans.
1, 2, & 3-quart Sauce Pans.
5-quart Dutch Oven.
5 Pot & Pan Covers.
4 Cooking Utensils.
[Dealhack]



Now you have no excuse to not cook me dinner!

Myspace for chefs!

A networking site for the culinary types!

The site offers educational video, IM between members, start clubs, post classified ads, etc. You can use the site to post your own blog and upload videos. It's basically a social networking site aimed specifically at those in or interested in the culinary world. It looks like a great way to meet other culinarians.[Slashfood]

Great, because I don't have enough things to waste time on at work or at home already.


[Master Chef]

In the clouds

The DJ Shadow-Cut Chemist set last night was unreal. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I hope NPR covered it, because I wouldn't mind listening to it again.

I leave to Texas today, so blogging will be on hold until my return, or until I get my grubby hands on a keyboard down south.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Becasue we. are. your friends...

Suffering from a slight headache and sore throat, I'm sitting at work procrastinating. I will be leaving to Texas this Friday to attend one of my very good friend's wedding and do quick visit of friends and family. Should be a good time. I plan on stuffing my face with delicious Mexican food, which I will do my best to document.

Tonight I will be attending a show which I am actually super excited about.
DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and Kid Koala will all be playing the 9:30 club in DC and I will be there to wet myself to their awesomeness.

In a related note, Justice tickets went on sale this morning and I have acquired mine because that show not only will it sell out almost immediately, but it will be glorious!

In the meantime, while you try to figure out which way is up and what color black is, I'll leave you with an amazing mix by Justice recorded live at the Fader Mag party. [via the Fader]

Download: Here

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

They set me up the bomb

Contact has finally been made with Carl at Guitar Center. He can fix Starla's ails in a 5 day turn-around and about $45 (!). I will be dropping her off, hopefully tonight and will be picking her up promptly upon my return from Texas.

I can't wait to start twisting her knobs and feeling her up.

Time is Money. I'm severely out of both.

I have yet to get adjusted to going to sleep at a decent hour. My schedule due to a number of factors, is very inconsistent, something I wish to rememdy before end of year.

I find myself not only strapped for time this week, but also for money. The drafting table was definitely worth it, however.

Usually that means no eating out and actually eating the food in my refrigerator. (!!!). Last night's project consisted of ready-made omelletes! I decided I could probably make a mini omelette for every day of the week, only consuming 30 seconds in heat time, rather than 10-15 minutes of cooking in the morning. The project was a success aside from the minor oven burns. These are actually quite good and practical. They basically make themselves. Preheat oven to 350.


Get a muffin baking pan and line it with foil muffin sleeves.


Throw in about 5 eggs (I did a couple of only egg whites to balance out the cholesterol intake)


Chop up toppings of your choice (I wish I would have had some mushrooms)


Mix everything together


Don't forget the cheese!


Pour into mold and place inside the oven


30 minutes later - BAM! Let them cool, then refrigerate.


Try not to burn yourself.

Enjoy tomorrow morning! Total cost: about $8.50 (Less if youve already have some of the ingredients) - 6 days of breakfast! I've also noticed that if I eat one of these before leaving the house, I'm not really that hungry until about lunch time, as opposed to when I don't eat until arriving at work. By the time I get to work I'm so hungry I burn through about $6-10 in mediocre breakfast food from the cafeteria.

It finally arrived!

The art stork left me a baby!



Hopefully I will be able to complete the art series I promised someone in Texas before I leave this Friday.

!!!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Sadly, my fingers no longer bleed.

"Guitar Center, Hello" Answers the voice on the other end of the telephone, as I sit and stare blankly at my computer monitor. Eyes red from the glare of the computer and the fluorescent lighting combined. A bit irritated with the day, I reply, "Hi, I'm looking for Carl, the repair guy" "Uh, Carl is out for the day, he's gone home and will be back Monday" "Ok, thanks a lot, I'll try him then". Shitfuckballs! I've tried getting a hold of this guy for about two weeks now and he's always either at lunch, on the phone, or out sick. wtf!? What does this guy do? How does he make his money?! I really need an estimate or a price for a job I need him to do and no one in the store but him knows the prices of repairs. I have a guitar, a gift from a good friend, that needs fixing and I can't get a hold of this guy. A gorgeous blue piece in a small attempt at recreating an Ovation, only my dream guitar. Ugh. I'll try again Tuesday I guess.


The best birthday present of 2006.

It's time I take the guitar a little more seriously, It sits there, looking beautiful in it's own right, collecting some dust, and feeling neglected. There are days when I come in from a long day at the office and all I want to do is play it, but alas, it needs repairing.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I love music. LOVE IT! I love listening to it, I love watching it be performed, I love dancing to it, and I most definitely love playing it to the best of my abilities.

I miss the feeling of learning a new song. Of listening to something that later on came back in my head and my fingers deciphered the cryptic message hidden within. Most of all, I miss the soreness of fingers that have been hammering down on metal strings for hours. Blisters. Calluses. The burning and shaved down nails. It's about as gratifying as the soreness you get the day after a good work out.

I am a really good procrastinator. Good enough to get paid for it. And as such, I have been putting off taking Starla (that's right, she has a name) to get looked at and repaired. So now, when I finally have the time and money and having putting on the effort, I try to reach the man who will solve my problems repeatedly, to no avail.

Not only that, but now, with the new acquisition of my super-powered-mega-computer-center-hub capable of dominating worlds, and a couple of music production and editing software programs, I have no instrument to play them with. Granted, I need an interface to input glorious sounds into the applications, but that's the least of my worries, as I have one in sight! (remember to donate!).

I come from a long line of musicians, bohemians, and life lovers and deestroyers. My family has influenced me I think in both their good and bad deeds simultaneously, for the better, and I thank them for that. Because without all their experiences, and mine with them, I probably wouldn't be where I am now, and I probably wouldn't have lived all the things that I've lived up until now which I wouldn't change for the world.


My uncles in line, at our kitchen in Chihuahua, circa 1992,a t what would appear one of numerous celebrations spent at that house.


The house I grew up in (orange), in a now more developed Chihuahua.

It is now the weekend, I doubt Carl will be in on Monday as it's the celebration of Dr. MLK, so I will shoot for Tuesday to try again. Starla's neck and bridge will get straightened out. In the meantime I'll focus on getting the software set up and start shopping for a new amp. Undoubtedly, I will create music this year.


I got started at an early age.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Baby steps

In the new year, although only 17 days in, some things begin to look a little bit more tangible. Being out of debt is finally a couple of steps away. Clarity in mind about the future sets in.

Clarity in such a way, that I believe the right steps need to start taking place. I talked about how I believed in only working for myself for the rest of my life. About how no matter how much of my time I spend in academics, ultimately I want that to be for myself. I keep reading stories on applying your hobbies into your professional life in order to find a career in doing what you love.

Well I love many things and I think all of these can come together in unison to reach my ultimate goal. I'm planning on owning my own business, hopefully no later than 2011. Music. Food. Art. Furniture. Socializing (!!!). All of these skills will come into play soon enough.

First things first, I am working on researching my options as far as financing. Clearing my credit is sure to be the first major stepping stone into financing. It will allow me to have more room to work with when I make it into the bank to ask for a rack of cash. It will also ensure that the only payments I'm making are to the bank and not a million creditors wanting my head.

Secondly will be taking full advantage of any programs available for grants and loans. I have a couple of points on my side. I will be a start up, small business and I am Hispanic. The business plan in development will play a major role in acquiring the necessary funds, but one is definitely in the works.

It had been suggested to me to start an offshoot of what will at one point become the main business. Like say you wan an art gallery, you start painting first. You want to own a hair salon, you freelance. You want to own a restaurant you cater. Which seems like a viable option and a fun idea to get my product out there, my name known, and start working out a lot of the details. What sells, what doesn't. Cost forecasting and trend research.

I've been doing some reading and a lot of note taking, taking full advantage of the many courses offered by the Small Business Administration online, about business management and administration. That site is full of usefull iformation and it's all free.

Clearly we have taken some insight into my love of food and art. so I've decided to heed the advice and get the gears running on this food business. I'm actually excited, since all of this is becoming more and more tangible with each passing day and each dollar sent into the pits of creditor hell.

Does anyone out there know of any Government or private programs for Latinos that maybe I may have missed?

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tasty music before lunch


[Threadless]


It would appear as though every respectable blog this side of the internet has at least one post per week with music. Music has been a huge part of my life since I can remember listening. I'd like to think that I'm somewhat in the know, and most definitely when throwing down in the kitchen, music is what keeps my rhythm and marks my enthusiasm, which is sorely reflected in my cooking.

An much like my food and my life ideas, my music must stay delicious, crisp, fresh, and somewhat abstract and nonsensical.

My boy Van of Killah Beez, hooked up this awesomely awesome electro/indie rock mix full of some of my favorites [via:KidzbyColette]. Definitely a good way to make the buzzing of the fluorescent artificial lighting drown away and make the clock seem like it's moving slightly faster.


Download HERE

Tracklist:

The Black Lips – Veni Vidi Vici
Holy Ghost – Hold On
Siriusmo - Allthegirls
Etienne De Cr̩cy РOut Of My Hands (Dj Mehdi Remix)
Hercules and Love Affair – Blind
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Fagget Fairys – Samo Ti (Zombie Disco Squad Remix)
Ben Westbeach – Dance With Me (Switch Remix)
Burial – Archangel (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
Rodion – Electric Soca (Crookers Remix)
Round Table Knights – Freak From Desire
Knightlife – All Systems
Hot Chip – Hold On
Must Have Been Tokyo – Popular Culture (Round Table Knights Remix)
Poni Hoax – Antibodies (Chateau Flight Remix)
Poni Hoax – Antibodies (Bones edit)
Caribou – Irene
Peter Sarstedt – Where Do You Go (My Lovely)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Too much coffee man?

I've long since kicked the caffeine habit, largely due to the fact that the nearest decent cup of fresh brewed espresso is about four blocks from here.

But hey, for $140, I could get back on the wagon and never leave my seat!


[Gizmodo]

You can actually see this amazingly awesome gadget for keeping perked up for those cubicle times when you need a quick pick me up!

Monday, January 14, 2008

I sprinkled bacon on bacon and time traveled

I was having a conversation about old school Disney cartoons with someone who clearly did not have a childhood. Goofy cartoons. There were so many good ones.

Two particular ones I was referring to, due to a conversation about defensive driving classes, randomly came up through the blog roll today. boy did these take me back. Back when Disney was full of ideas and wasn't yet owned by Satan. It really is funny how some of these, although far fetched now, much more then, some of these are actually options in vehicles now and the Goofy character embodies every DC driver (including myself every now and again) I cross paths with on a daily basis. One of those, it's funny because it's true things.

Magic Highway USA


Motor Mania

[EcoGeek via Carectomy]


Does anyone besides me remember these? C'mon people, I saw these in Mexico for Pete's sake, someone here must have seen them too. There were also others. Goofy in the Olympics. Goofy and Music History. Goofy and dance lessons. There were tons.

There's no sex in your violence. Breakfast.

Although my headline was probably no better than the ones Gizmodo listed, my excitement about owning one of these does not decrease. The guns are definitely going on my wish list.


[Laughing Squid]

As with everything else, where there's guns, there must be sex. I believe that's a direct quote from the unwritten book of Bad Ass (ancient religious text). The not as popular pick for your significant other, or your boss. These I could probably do without.



[Blushing Buyer]

Egg muffin sandwich for the Latino on the go (inside you)

Heart pumping. Adrenaline rushing. Palms sweating. 3 minutes left for getting everything done around the house, but no one can function on an empty stomach. Particularly not the fat Mexican kid.

So here's what you do. You pull out what's left in the fridge from last time you grocery shopped 6 weeks ago, and you throw it in the pan.



Crack some eggs and whisk 'em up from scrambles


Throw down for some omelette-like ingredients


Throw in the pan, along with some of them Mama Lycha refried beans from the other night


Melt some cheese on the junk


Toast up some English muffins


Serve up all sandwich like


Don't forget the fire


you're out of the house before you know it and well on your way to that place you hate going to that pays all your bills. And no, I don't mean your mom's house.

You may never see me again


In an attempt to beat Apple before it strikes with a similar service, Netflix removes time limit restrictions from their "Watch Instantly" service, which offers pure, unadulterated television. Commercial free at that. (Emphasis mine)
Netflix customers will have unlimited access to a library of 6,000 titles; including episodes of the popular NBC series "Heroes," "The Office" and "30 Rock." [Businessweek]

Emphasis there to chronologically journal my entire day yesterday. Whatever little productivity I had going on after kicking the TV habit is in jeopardy here. Now, the paranoia sets in. I really do think they are out to get me. You know. They.

Ave Maria Purisima, may God be with us all. The end is upon us.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

La vie d'un artiste

Drafting table order has been placed. 7-10 business days? I'll set my heart on 2.5 weeks.

!!!

score.

Drafting up ideas

Adding to the list of investments and goal achieving tools, I will be investing, within the next two weeks, a couple of hundred dollars in a drafting table, although also going on the wish list in case anyone's feeling generous enough to donate to the "Help a Mexican Better His Life" fund.



[DraftingTables.com]

I have some jobs that need finishing:



[Biomechanics]


[DC Riot]

Disgustingly sexy

ZOMFG!

[via TTtC]

Wow. I thought Food Porn was good, this beats it right out of the water.


[Tastespotting]

Reason #465 why GUE dreams up illegal things about TTtC. But we won't tell if you won't. (TTtC, that totally isn't me leaving hand prints on your bedroom windows).

Friday, January 11, 2008

I've got moths in my pockets

Never in a million years will I had imagined this to be true. I'm 27, border-jumping to 28 soon, I've got a good amount of disposable cash in my pocket, it's Friday night, I've got a closet full of fresh gear that came in the mail, and I'm sitting in front of my computer blogging. Is this really the most interesting thing going on in my life?

Well, no. Not exactly. Great things happened today. I had a deliciously congealed cup of wheat germ for breakfast. I paid the IRS a good chunk of cash I owed them. I found out my credit score went up 20 points since last year when I started paying for shit. I found out I've got a significant amount of cash in high return savings accounts and some in the emergency fund (which isn't a lot for some people, but if you know me at all, you know that money at arms-length, at any given moment, is not likely to survive this long). I introduced someone to Pho. And she liked it!! I tried the teppanyaki-style noodles at the Asian Bistro (which were glorious, btw).


I got a sick work out. I finally brought a certain, unnamed character (who dislikes Pho, btw) to the gym with me. Had a quick, chill dinner with mom, and now I'm about sit down and read. I guess you could say I had a pretty productive day, even though I didn't quite make it out to get partied up as I usually do.


The world around me melts as I realize I've had too much to drink. Or paid the IRS, I forget which.

I may not be out right now drowning in the sweet nectars of the gods, but boy do I feel accomplished. I'm giving myself a pat on the back and sitting my ass down with a glass of wine to get read.

bacon, bacon, bacon. (it's bacon!!!)

Jim Gaffigan on delicious, delicious bacon [via Serious Eats]



"I bet if you put sprinkles of bacon on bacon, you could travel through time!"

This guy's unreal. Love him.

Are you green?

I remember back in middle school when "are you green?" was a question completely unrelated to the environment. Now, although in a completely different context, you should still always answer yes, even if you're not; and do your damn best to get there.

I do what I can to try and make my 27 year old carbon footprint not as big on the planet. Try to throw some sand over it and cover my tracks. There's things I try to do, and although they don't always seem to work out as well as I'd like to, or at least how I've envisioned them in my head, I make a conscious effort to rehabilitate my lifestyle to conform to a more ecologically-friendly state of mind.

I quit smoking, which in cigarette butt-value alone is a great deal. I try to focus on more sustainable eating by purchasing more organically grown/bred, free range products. I have done my best to cut back on my bottled water drinking and try to drink out of a water fountain and get the reusable gallons for the cooler at home.



The recycling part, I need to get a little better at, although at work I do use my recling bin regularly and try to print as little as possible (even if my department specializes in tree killing). As far as my living environment, until I get out of living in an apartment and get a place of my own, there's not really much I can do to control what goes in and out of the aprtment short of using more efficient light bulbs and making sure lights are turned off in unecessary places.

I have seen a number of greenification projects sprout up in the area, which make me excited. Especially with all the recent talk of our apocalyptic demise as a planet.



For the past few years, I've been making a conscious effort to be a bit of a minimalist at home. I try no to have things just for the sake of having them. I hate clutter (although judging by a mid-week bedroom of mine, you'd be unable to tell), I hate bunches of paper, books, magazines, furniture. Things that need not be there, need not be there. I think it makes for a crisper, fresher, more spacious and organized environment. There's nothing wrong with interior decor, hell, I'll be the first one to sign up for some sweet home accessorizing, but again, until I have that space of mine own...

In any event, after a bit of background on this and tad long-winded intro, I leave you with some of the sweetest and eco-friendly accesories I would probably have in said living space. (Take notes, for once the house warming happens, you know what to bring)


[Kursi]


[Bel Air]


[Vitamin Living]


[Rolf Benz]


I'll let you browse through these websites, while I go change my pants.

This would appear to be one of those ranty entries, but I think I stated my point.
I will try to keep up with my sustainable living progess. No longer a product of my environment. My environment, soon to be, a prodcut of me.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Good ol' double standard


[Su Ropa] $19.99

Three of my favorite things. Fashion. Food. Humor.

Undoubtedly this will only be funny if you speak Spanish, but if you do you probably cracked a smile or two. This site is full of these AND they carry NACO. Browse it. Buy me stuff.

My birthday's coming up in February! *hint*

Educated guesses

Next school semester begins in about a week. After this last semester of chaos, underachievement, and disillusion, I've signed up for one art class this semester to unwind. What still lingers in my mind is whether or not I should compliment it with a design class as well. Seems like a waste of a semester to take just one class. Recreational culinary classes even.

I'm definitely not signing up for the death trap that last semester was again, but I think this semester I should do something else than just drawing.

I think my undying need to complete a degree I hate just for the sake of security is not the right choice. I need to clear my mind. Reassess my situation. And figure out where all of this falls into my long-term goals.

I feel like I've hit a point of no return. Something needs to be done without regression. There are plans and ideas floating around that will soon have some light shed on them on this blog, but not quite yet.

GRS, had a write-up today on completing college education and the difference it makes on a financial level.

I've always been of the idea (perhaps this being the very same that deters me from enjoying corporate-land and accounting classes) that going to school for four years should not be so I can waste away my life working for someone else. Making someone else rich. I am a firm believer that if I'm going to spend the rest of my life breaking my back to survive, I may as well break it for myself.


= Breakfast Toast =: Stupid Mondays

Perhaps this is also why all the courses I actually excell in, are courses I can apply to my every-day life and not some pipe dream of cubicles and artificial lighting. Seriously. Who ever thought the American dream was to live like an iguana?
The monitor your heating rock. The cubicle your tank. Lunch hour to eat the same crickets every day for the rest of your life, just hoping your tail doesn't get cut by some asshat who's having a bad day.

2007 was a year of realizations. A year of advancements. Physical. Spiritual. Mental. Moral. Financial.

2008 will be a year of applied theories and progress.

Lord knows I've got plenty of role-models to measure up against, and a list of their mistakes to compare notes with and try to not do the same. I will not submit to mediocre pre-dispositions of society. Not to sound like the idealistic, anarchy-pumped non-conformist, but I will become more than life chooses to grant me.


What would appear to be the first day of the rest of my life.

Displaced Urban Art

In the midst of the art searching this morning, also through Wooster Collective, I came across another artist, who in his own right is an incredible one. You have to see his remarkable portraits to see what I mean. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada is Cuban-American, and in this video touches on the very subject I've spoken about before, and friends of mine can identify with, of being a foreigner in your homeland.

See him work and hear him speak, Makes me want to grab a vine and write up all the walls in my office.

Arte de la calle

Me being the dynamic individual that I am, I like to submerge myself into different types of things that stimulate my senses. Art is no exception. I'd like to think it helps me exercise the part of my brain that allows me to make pretty looking dishes.

Upon taking a stroll through the daily blogroll, I came accross an awesome video compiled to document the setting up of an art exhibit in Paris, featuring at least two of my favorite street artists.

The video was put together by Sofarida, and it features GUE's girlfriend Swoon, Chris Stain and Polaroid Kidd setting up at the Galerie LJBeaubourg in Paris [via Wooster Collective]

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Mexican Survival Tactics 101

I'm 3 days from being paid, and the bank account is nothing but yet another large, empty void in my life.

The way to survive? Three words. Beans. Tortillas. Cheese. MUST HAVE AT ALL TIMES! These three little wonders can be arranged in a number of ways and doctored up to almost feel like a real dinner!(and almost help you forget you have not a dime in your pocket, at least temporarily)

Step 1. - Fry you up some beans.

Step 2. - Toast up some tortillas.

Step 3. - Melt some cheese up on that steez.

Step 4. - Top with beans and whatever surviving vegetables you can find in the fridge.


Delicious. Obvs.