I can't stop .... mourning one of the greats

Guru, one of the all time greats died after a year-long fight with cancer. God must've need an MC. Although he went on to do some solo work, he'll always be known as the MC for Gangstarr. He and Premier came up together and despite the weird falling out they had, they'll always be linked. They were one of the best in the golden era of boom-bap and it's sad he died while they were on such bad terms.  Full Clip is one of those songs I'll always remember where I was when I first heard it.  Hard to believe he was only 43.  R.I.P.

Gang Starr - Full Clip

Gang Star feat. Total - Discipline

Gang Starr - Mass Appeal

Gang Starr - Work

I can't stop .... eating all over the eastern seaboard pt. 2

RJD2 - Good Times Roll (part 2) Whereas part one concentrated on Philly, part two hits some spots I tried on recent trips. Last weekend I went up to NYC for all of 16 hours. What followed was a non-stop food and booze bonanza. Friday, we had a feast in house. My buddy introduced me to Moe the butcher and his amazing dry-aged steaks. I showed him a new way to do scallops that I got from Thomas Keller's awesomely accessible cookbook. What was new to both him and I wasn't the simple presentation or the searing, but the use of clarified butter and a brine. The result is awesome. No sauce needed, the scallops are crazy flavorful by themselves. If you're like me and grew up with somewhat of an aversion to scallops because of the texture, this will change your mind and make you realize your mom couldn't cook for shit. The recipe is excerpted here. One note of caution, product does matter here. Since there are basically no other ingredients involved, splurge on decent diver (dry-packed) scallops. LCD Soundsystem - All my Friends

After getting him hooked on Tito's Vodka and staying up till 5 drinking them on the rocks, I figured the only way to start the morning was with a trip to the Doughnut Plant in the Lower East Side. Neither of us had been before, but I had heard and read really amazing things. As we got in line, we saw a woman emerge with a monstrous coconut cream doughnut. After she took her first bite, her eyes rolled back in her head and her limbs went limp in what I'd certainly describe as the mythical female orgasm, if I knew what one of those looked like. Needless to say, I was convinced after that the place would live up to the hype. Jurassic Five - Great Expectations

I can't stop .... eating all over the eastern seaboard pt. 1

With Mike, there's always the risk that he's going to turn the blog into imsofuckingintoyou.com. Of course, that would require that he wasn't currently eloping, or honeymooning (I'm not sure which part of trip he's currently on) in Australia. With me, there's always the risk that I turn the blog into imanobnoxiousfoodie.com So since Mike is gone, for this post, that's what the blog's going to be. I've been on a rampage lately with new places so here are a few that I can't stop raving about split into two posts with random music interspersed throughout.

The first is Taqueria La Veracruzana, a gem on 9th and Washington, in the Italian Market here in Philly. I discovered the place when looking for a Mexican grocery store way back in November, but forgot about it until I recently started running past it. Murs - Yesterday and Today Finally, I drug someone out there last week to try it for the first time. It definitely delivered. The chips and salsa were complimentary and bottomless so as not to violate the cardinal rule of Mexican restaurants. They came with a tomatillo salsa and a salsa picante that was top drawer. I got three tacos (a chorizo, a carnitas, and an al pastor) all for 6 bucks. They're served the way tacos should be, fresh masa tortillas, some onions, a little cilantro, and lime wedges on the side. My only complaint was no queso fresco, but I'm sure I could've asked for some. I definitely want to go back to try some of their tortas and the choriqueso dish. To top it all off, they actually serve both American, and Mexican coke on the menu. May god have mercy on the soul of the person who orders American Coke around me.

Laura Marling - Rambling Man The second isn't so much of a place as it is a new recurring event here in Philly. Last week was the second of collaborative dinners among five of Philly's most up and coming chefs. The event, named Chefs Gone Wild, puts together David Katz of Meme, Peter Woolsey of Bistrot La Minette, Mike Solomonov of Zahav, Pierre Camels of Bibou, and John Taus of Snackbar (correction, now formerly of Snackbar). The first event was this past summer and the chefs each designed a course involving a different part of a pig, yes even dessert.

I can't stop watching .... piano remixes

Came across this over the weekend. I'm a sucker for piano remixes so this was a softball. In related news, Passion Pit is playing at the Mann Center June 27th here in Philly. Tickets should be still be available.

I can't stop .... hearing it from the haters

Everyone in the country will be spitting venom at Duke tomorrow night. So for all the Duke haters, especially Mike, all I have to say is .... Hi Hater.

and Quit tryna block my shine

I can't stop thinking that .... the apocalypse is upon us this week

Maybe it's because Friday is the anniversary of Mike and I killing Jesus, but this week has had it's share of foreboding news, so I'm going to steal Jeff Foxworthy's bit and list the reasons we know the apocalypse is upon us.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... Fox News not only has the highest rated show on cable news, it has the top f'ing 13. Not only does O'Reilly top the list, but the re-run of his show comes in at #8. Those looking for clues as to why the GOP has gone to hell and is taking the country with need look no further than the above list as to why.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... Glenn Beck is duping nearly 3 million Americans into his nonsense.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... the Wall Street Journal, one-time bastion of objective reporting and go-to source for information about the business sector.... has decided to launch a gossip column.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... pop icon and sex symbol Ricky Martin comes out of the closet. And like being robbed by a little old lady in a motorized cart, I didn't even see it coming.



You know the apocalypse is upon when .... Taco Bell starts serving shrimp tacos, and they're not terrible. Seriously, a company known for vermin infestations and use of Grade D meat (yes grade D does exist) is going to dabble in shellfish. This can't possibly go right, right? Wrong. Apparently, Taco Bell has succeeded in finding some of the world's perfect prawns.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... the second most watched cable network show is making claims that the health care bill is racist because .... it taxes indoor tanning salons and who uses fake tanning, well almost entirely white people.

You know the apocalypse is upon us when .... Newark just celebrated a murder-free month. Ever since I saw the documentary Street Fight, I've been fascinated by Cory Booker. To see this happen for the first time in 40 years just reaffirms that this guy is the real deal. Hell, the guy personally responded to a twitter post asking him to help shovel an elderly lady's driveway this past winter. Booker in '16.

Finally, you know the apocalypse is upon us when .... KFC has started a countdown for its newest calorie bomb, the Double Down... and sadly, I can't wait to try it. Two pieces of fried chicken sandwiching monterrey and pepper jack cheeses, and two slabs of bacon, dear god. Now I'm not sure what exactly they're doubling down on (saturated fat, a policy to single-handedly topple our health care system?), but I don't much care. I'd say there's about at 40% chance my heart might stop midway through eating this but if so, look out Hell, here I come.

I can't stop watching ... two polar opposites on HBO

There's been kind of a lull in TV recently. This season of 24 sucks. I refuse to get sucked into Lost until somebody tells me the writers actually know what they're doing. The Real World/Road Rules Challenge doesn't start for a few weeks. Thankfully, HBO has two shows that are worthwhile watching to varying degrees. First, is the legitimately good show of the two. The Pacific is a Spielberg/Hanks production that is in the same mold as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. By that I don't mean that they're cut from exactly the same cloth but that they all view war through the lens of (in the Pacific's case) three completely ordinary people and the extraordinary things war drives them to do. One thing I hope but doubt that they explore the issue of adjustment and culture shock for the soldiers when they come home from the war, a topic which neither of the other two have examined. My one beef thus far is that the characters often get lost in the grand scale of the show and speed of the narrative. Given that the show attempts to show WWII through three people more or less, I'd say this is to be expected, so it's a minor gripe. Though it's only three episodes in, I'm already hooked on the show. Far from being an action mini-series, the Pacific blends history, friendship and love along with vomit-inducing violence in a fast-paced hour of television.

Similarly fast-paced but in a completely different way is How to Make it in America.  When I first saw the show, I immediately described it as Entourage: New York City, but with a tighter theme song and fewer jaw-dropping women. Six episodes in and I stand by that description, although they're not perfect twins. Both are poorly acted with a few exceptions. In fact, I downright loathe the second lead in How to Make it, Cam. Like Entourage, How to Make it follows young twenty-somethings trying to get rich or die trying. How to Make it goes for a less glitzy version (women included) by focusing on up and coming fashion designers as opposed to movie stars and in that way, the show feels more accessible. Where Entourage succeeded (at first) in giving everyone a glimpse of Hollywood through the life of a new star, How to Make it succeeds by showing what it's like for two guys trying to make it big by straight grinding in New York City.

Another difference is that How to Make it doesn't have a character like Ari, or to a lesser extent, Drama, who carries the show. At least so far, the writers are relying on you watching the show by investing in its character's success, not based on two stars. They've tried to rep Kid Cudi as a star in the show but he might get 20 seconds per episode, and those 20 seconds are always forgettable. While Cudi doesn't have much of an on-screen presence, he apparently has some weight in the soundtracks for each episode, and the music is far and away better than Entourage's. The last episode even ended with a Broken Bells song, which if not for the stupid DMCA, you'd be able to scroll down and listen to right now. One final note: How to Make it is sort of category defying. If you go in expected it be a comedy like Entourage, you'll be disappointed. Sure, there are a couple of laughs per episode but not enough to make it a comedy and the subject matter of the show isn't weighty enough to classify it as a drama. So just watch it for what it is. Is it critically good? No. Do I feel a little angry at myself after every episode for being hooked? Yes. But it's enjoyable television, like Entourage used to be before they got lazy and decided that a writing a plot that went anywhere was like a vestigial organ.

I can't stop listening to.... that new new by the National

Mike and I disagree about a lot of things but one thing on which we're in universal agreement on is our love of the National. One of our greatest regrets in law school was not that we drove three hours to Asheville two nights before our 1L crim law final. Instead, it was that we didn't realize how tight they were, so we showed up late to the Arcade Fire show that night for which they were opening and missed them. Anyway, here's a track which I'm pretty sure made the cut off their untitled album that I can't stop listening to. Enjoy.

The National - Blood Buzz Ohio

I can't stop thinking that .... my elementary school chorus didn't sound much like this

Still feeling warm and fuzzy from the healthcare/100th post stuff, so I figured I'd keep the positive energy going for the time being. Here is another video from the chorus of PS-22, who you may remember from their take on New York State of Mind. Apparently, this is some kind of ongoing project as they maintain a blog where they post all of their takes on modern pop songs. I'd love to see the DMCA take a run at them for violating the artist's performance rights.

I can't stop ..... declaring Victory

It seems like ages ago that Massachusetts did its best attempt to fuck us by electing Scott Brown and trample on Ted Kennedy's legacy, but miraculously, over a chorus of racial epithets, gay slurs, and screams of "baby killer," we have (nearly) universal health care. Is it ideal? No, but then any kind of reform in an environment in which Republicans are rooting for failure no matter what the cost and Democrats are willing to scuttle the entire effort because of minor abortion loophole, is near impossible so ideal wasn't a viable option. Moreover, even if the CBO is way off and the bill doesn't reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions, it seems to me worth some amount of government expenditure to insure 31 million additional Americans, but maybe that's just the socialist/nazi/antichrist in me. It's incredibly hope-inspiring that for once, the Dems grew a spine and refused to bow to opposition that ranged from gross mischaracterizations (by quoting the gross but not net cost of the bill) to the absurd (get your government hands off my health care but don't touch my government run Medicare) to outright lies (health care reform will put in place death panels). But that's not the only reason to declare victory, this is also the blog's 100th post, no thanks to the DMCA, which didn't take kindly to our Broken Bells post for some reason and forced Google to take it down. So fuck the DMCA as a staff record label and as a mother fuckin' crew. It's going to take a lot more than pulled posts and threats of copyright infringement to stop we can't stop won't stop.