fripodding and celebrating like a champion

Where to begin in the epic story of the week that was?

First of all, I must say that last Halloween was a blast for me, doing my annual DJ gig, playing good music for 3-4 hours straight for kids and adults to have fun to. The Jackson 5 was revisted. Pictures were taken, but I wasn't in any of them, so I won't share them. Don't get a hissy fit with me! I'm important too, ya know. Plus, I need a new MySpace picture, especially with me in action. I was Tito.

Monday I had computer issues. I had to upgrade a program I use for work. Sadly, it wasn't working, therefore I couldn't work. It was bittersweet. It gave me time to rewatch what may now be my favorite foreign film The Man Who Copied. If you've never heard of it, I suggest you Netflix it immediately. It hails from Brazil and stars Leandra Leal whom I've developed a hopeless crush over. I actually should dedicate a post for the movie alone. Anyway, I watched it a couple times picking up things I never noticed before as well as being re-inspired to fulfill my dream in wanting to tell the world stories through my writing and eventual filmmaking. My computer program finally worked correctly eventually, so that's great.

Tuesday. I said it before, I'm a news junkie. CNN.com is a friend on my work computer. I couldn't stop checking it all day long. I don't know why. I did my vote thing around 10ish. No lines. Awesome. A cute girl was working there, but no game was played. It's hard to do moves when you're with you mom, plus I think it would just annoy the worker. I really wanted to go back home anyway. After work, I ran out to rent some movies because I couldn't imagine watching the news from 7PM until who knew when. Even I need a break sometime. But my dad and I kept tabs on our laptops while we watched movies. Then my dad channel surfed until I decided to go to my room to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert tell me the Earth-shattering news. I wish I was at someone's party or out in the streets. I really did. This needs a post all it's own, which I sort've addressed Tuesday night. But this can lead into today's friPod's iPick.

I've actually been waiting to talk about this song for a while. But after Tuesday, the message behind this song is clear: Kanye West's "Champion." I'm just going to throw this out now, as of today, I don't care too much for his new toy he likes to use in his songs. But hey, the same thing happened when music video directors discovered the fish-eye lense. And bullet-time. I still like bullet-time though.

I don't care much for the video, however it is very creative with Kanye as a puppet training to be a champion. Once again, I'd post it, but embedding is disabled. Watch and listen to the video here.

I actually made a playlist with iSaac featuring Champion-esque song. But this song is very uplifting, inspiring and empowering for me. It keeps me ambitious and working hard to achieve greatness. Furthermore, as the chorus suggest: did you realize that you were a champion in their eyes? And yes, after much reminding, I did realize that. And the eyes are those of children, peers and my family whom support me. So this song is a reminder as to who I'm working for, so to speak. Would you like to see the Champion Playlist? It's not long, and by no means is it complete. I don't think an average playlist is complete until you can fit it into a CD. Unless its for a specific event... like a 3-5 hour Halloween party. iSaac actually has the playlist called "champion beats" since I built the list on strong bass and/or drumlines. Not all of them had champion messages though*. Regardless--

1. Champion Requiem - Mos Def
2. Champion - Kanye West
3. Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
4. We Want Your Soul - Andre 3000*
5. I Need You - Alicia Keys*
6. Hostile Gospel Pt. 2 - Talib Kweli
7. Grammy Family - Consequence feat. DJ Khaled, Kanye West & John Legend

Like I said, it's a short playlist and I haven't added to it... yet. But that's what keeps me in a champion mind set, and Kanye is a good role model for that. Interestingly enough, he has a connection to every artist on that playlist. But we'll play that game another day.

Lastly, there's a poem I've been working on that also deal with the champion theme, but unfortunately I didn't finish it in time to go along with this post. Nevertheless, when it's complete, I shall make it known and also restate a revised playlist, hopefully.

Happy Friday all.

i am not a halloweenie

We had a nice long 3 hour meeting today. I didn't wanna go. I really didn't. But I did anyway, and I'm glad for it. I ate food. Some food I've never had before. A special kind of chicken. Well, the chicken wasn't special, it was how it was made. I don't care enough to go look up the spelling (sorry, I'm being lazy) but it was okay. It had mushrooms in it. I'm picky. I dislike mushrooms. It's fungus. No thanks. There was also what felt like pine needles, or some kind of skinny leafy thing you find on a bush and can poke people with. Not painfully, but you'd feel it nonetheless... but this was on the chicken. I don't know what it was, but it was poking the inside of my mouth and I was not having it one bit! So I took those off too. Other than that, it was tasty. There were roasted potatoes and ziti that tasted as though it was smothered in some kind of alcoholic beverage. Weird. But edible.

There were also Halloween celebrations going about. Some dressed in their costumes. Some passed out candy. There was also a farewell party, non-Halloween related (see ya later Todd, you taught me well).

I do not celebrate Halloween. You can call it religion if you want to. Knowing where the holiday came from kinda made me not want to give in to the idea of it. Sure it's not as demonic as it once was back in the day. Well, not in the mainstream. Perhaps in dark alleyways or in the woods... but in the office and on prime time TV, it's pretty safe and kid friendly. But knowing it started with occults and stuff makes me not so interested.

Don't get me wrong, I'll take any excuse/reason to party and have a good time. I like candy. I like the sweets. I, on occasion, enjoy terrifying small children. I'm just not going out of my way to do anything special on the 31st. I'll hang a sign on my door that says "tricks only". But then I'd get whores looking for money (*Arrested Development reference... calm down). Whether I give out tricks or illusions, the kiddies won't get candy from me. Maybe I'd tie candy on strings, drop them in their bags, and as they walk out, pull the candies back out of their bags again and laugh. Ah... good times.

Since I'm not promoting Halloween, I changed my mind on tomorrows friPod iPick... which was going to be the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors. Hilarious movie. Good music. Totally not my pick for tomorrow to coincide with Halloween.

However, I will be DJing tomorrow night at the soup kitchen in Middletown tomorrow night with my church. It's my only annual gig for our annual Harvest Festival. I sometimes forget being a DJ is on my list of "things to be when I grow up." Bring the kiddies! I wish I could be wearing either of these shirts:



Anyone wanna donate to my "Buy DJ Sterling Silver an Awesome T-Shirt Fund"? There are many items that need a home.*

Totally unrelated notes: this, and many other posts, totally make me a hypocrit--I like reading shorter blog entries so why do I write such long ones? And I totally found a catalogue for geeky guys like myself: TigerDirect.com. They send me a nice magazine every so often, and I drool in it, thus makes me a true geek. But I want it nonetheless. *Yes yes y'all!