How to lose 3,000 blank UK passports

Bless the British work ethic!? This van driver stopped at a newsagent for a bar of chocolate and a newspaper and was robbed of his load...3,000 blank UK passports worth $5 million.

What an idiot?! But, even worse was the thieving dude got caught?! Pure idjut!!

Happy 3rd-blogging birthday

It can't go without saying that July 2005 is when I started this blog...and I can't believe it's been 3 years already!

Time has passed so quickly that it's kinda scary! And very I'm grateful the city of Los Angeles, the state of California and America in general have let me roam around and enjoy its best so easily. Thanks to the friends I've visited and the expense accounts I've benefited from.

Cheers to another 3 years!? And God save the Queen!

All-City, All Genres 8-8-08

LA's legendary Peanut Butter Wolf is doing it again. Next week, Wolf is performing a mammoth 8-night session across Los Angeles to follow-up last year's sell-out Gospel-themed seven night performance ending on 7-7-07, and his Heavy Metal DJ set held on 6-6-06!



Billed as "888", this year's event is all about the Leos in the house as Wolf performs from August 1st-August 8th in an 8-day celebration of 8-8-08. But here's the difference...Peanut Butter Wolf is DJing an all music video set on each of the nights with 8 different genres of music. And of course Wolf's signature "No song or video will be played twice!" will be in effect. Get there early! It's gonna be a roadblock.

8/1: Disco videos- Firecracker Block Party @ Grand Star
8/2: Oldies videos - Funky Sole @ Jimmy's Lounge
8/3: House video - Do-Over @ Cranes
8/4: Boogie videos - Funkmosphere @ Carbon
8/5: Party rock videos - Dim Mak Tuesdays @ Cinespace
8/6: Reggae videos - Dub Club @ The Echoplex
8/7: Hip Hop videos - Rootdown @ Little Temple
8/8: Movie music videos - private party (Details to be announced)

Surfin' USA

Sooooo California! I was invited down to the US Open surf championships in Huntington Beach, in the O.C. What a great day out: VIP...sun, sand, surf and, hmmm...itsy bitsy polka dot bikinis ;)

The local boy Brett Simpson was a keen fave, but in the final between Tim Boal (France) and Nathaniel Curran (USA) the Oxnard, California 23 year-old Curran won the judges' votes. The highest score I heard was a "9.0" which caused ripples of dissent in the crowd closest to the action...on the pier.

Portishead remix project

I discovered this underground project by the Noise/Floor Crew who remixed Portishead's "Third" album to create club bangers out of the melancholy tunes which some say lack the intensity of the previous albums.

I've been listening to these remixed tunes and I love them. I was one of the folks who kinda hated "Machine Gun" as a first release. It's jarring, stuttering beats were flat without the peaks and valleys of earlier Portishead "hits". Add some 4x4 club beats and some Ed Banger influences and this remix album is very listenable.

Comments Haters are hatin' on this, but time will tell if it becomes a classic vs. the original.

Is this my favorite blog?

So I was told about Olivia Munn's blog...if you're into kinda boring coverage of Comic Con in San Diego then this is for you! If you're not (that's me!), but you still think Olivia's hot ;) then click and be merry!

I see that she's also a new columnist in Complex mag where I first spotted her...the latest issue has her rating deodorants?! What does she know? She's half Asian and we don't smell!

Fix Up, Look Sharp...Dizzee Rascal

Waaaah...Dizzee Rascal in da' house

I got my tix for Dizzee tomorrow night...but guess what?! I also got the heads up for a free show from Diz and La Crate at my local record store. Yep, it's not any old record store. Nah, it's the LA branch of Turntable Lab.

So what did Dizzee say on his MySpace?

"yo big up to all those you have made da shows across USA and Canada in da last week and all those fans who have bought 'Dance Wiv Me' in da UK still number one after 4 weeks !!!!

u can catch me at Echoplex - LA - 24th July and Mezzanine - SF - 25th July
check da dates for info on where to buy tickets
hope 2 c some of u deyr
safe
Diz"

Look what I have to put up with!

If any of you wondered...Just because I don't talk about my work doesn't mean I don't work ;)

I don't talk about it because *sometimes* it's boring. Case in point: I was on Google "asking" a simple question about Cat 5 cable vs. Coaxial cable for home networking for IPTV...See I told you it was boring!

But a useful bulletin board gave me a few "plain-English" answers until this freak popped up. Get lost your weirdo! Hahahaa. Can this guy speak English?! Wait..crap...I think I understand!?

"....the rg3800 is running the hpna side at 112Mbps between the stb's
when i first got uverse back in july it showed just the one way connection.
after one of the updates it now shows both way connection in the rg3800 .

Data Collection Time:2008/01/04 11:21:47 PST

Destination Source PHY Rate (Mbps) Signal to Noise Ration (dB) Pre-LARQ PER (%)
Station ID MAC Addr. Station ID MAC Addr.
HPNA Network Broadcast 112"

The end result is something like this launch PR video is trying to say...aka HD TV on your set-top box. Wow?

Gehry goes to London

The wonderful Serpentine Gallery has pulled off another corker...a Frank Gehry steel and wood structure as the latest of its annual commissions and inspired by Da Vinci's wooden catapult designs. But it won't last long. The temporary pavilion is on view only until October 19th before it disassembled and probably sold.

I hear this is the first Gehry in England, but for those in the know there is a small cancer day centre designed by Gehry in Dundee, Scotland. Maggie's Centre looks lonely on that barren landscape and is made of steel and wood too.

If you're in London before October 19th go to the Serpentine in Kensington Gardens, London.

What would you do with $25,000? Rent a car?

Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car sounds a bit tacky to me but these guys will deliver luxe motors to your door if you have the ca$h.

Nostalgic Americana ('59 Caddy Convertible, '71 Corvette Stingray), "High-Roller" classics (Bentley Arnage, Rolls Phantom), and crazy-ass imports like the Bugatti Veyron...you know the world's fastest street-legal car!

Even at $25,000 per day you know there's probably a waiting list to rent it. Who says there's a credit crunch...?!

Holloway, London...20 deaths and counting.

I read that a 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of stabbing to death another schoolboy, aged 14!

This latest spate of violence happened in my old manor of Holloway, north London! The victim and his attacker lived in the housing estates nearby and close to my old flat. This neighborhood and nearby Archway was always a little edgy, although new money coming up from Angel and Islington was gradually changing things.

After 12 years of living in north London if and when I move back I don't think I'd move back to Holloway or may be not even London...who knows. Rub that crystal ball!

Hancock and my BMW 2002

Weekend titbit. Wow, I watched Hancock (Will Smith's new film) this weekend and it was amazing! Not just because a blue version of my BMW 2002 featured prominently as the PR man's ride. Nice one!

The Ludacris and Mark The 45 King opening soundtrack was fuel-injected. And Charlize Theron didn't look too shabby either?!

Slick Rick and Biz...Lord 'ave mercy!

Legendary. The sound stinks on this video, but oh..what a moment. Beatbox pioneer Biz Markie with legend Slick Rick doing "The Show"?!

It had to happen...Banksy revealed !@?

Well, it was only a matter of time...the Mail on Sunday has revealed Banksy real name today. Oh, well...it was fun whilst it lasted! And it was probably the best thing to have come out of Bristol Cathedral School!

It's amazing how his name stayed secret for so long considering how many people actually knew who he was!

Seriously, Jack In all seriousness, does it matter if people know Banksy's identity? Or that he's from Bristol? Nah, it takes the shine off of things a bit, but it shouldn't stop his dasterly deeds or cunning stunts. It's not like he didn't wear a disguise when he went to the Natural History Museum in London or Disneyland in LA. But let's see how things go now he's mugshot could be posted on every police station's "Wanted" board! ;)

Murakami leaves NYC...

I didn't make it to New York to see the Murakami shows (Brooklyn Museum and Gagosian Gallery), but I celebrated in my own way by (finally) hanging my Supreme Murakami skateboards. Those sold out quickly, but I scoured the stores and found a complete set available last year. They've been sat in my climate-controled secure storage (aka my bedroom) until now!

Finally...the package arrives

Who doesn't love an unexpected package?

Well, it's not quite unexpected...but it was still a surprise. All the way from Tokyo, my shopping partner-in-crime, Keiko, got me the Acapulco Gold t-shirt collaboration done for Janette Beckman's hip-hop book, "The Breaks".

When shopping gets tough I usually search it out overseas...all paths lead to South Korea and Japan 'cause the dollar is getting killed in Europe!

See you at the Beat Swap Meet

Have you ever listened to Snoop, The Game or Sir Mixalot lyrics and wondered what a "swap meet" is?

I went to my first one in Pomona back in 1998 on my second visit to LA. It was a big sprawling flea market, a bit like Eastville Market in Bristol, but a lot sunnier and with more stuff!

So, recently in the Echo Park district of LA was the first Los Angeles BEAT-SWAP-MEET. Yep, like the record fairs held in Victoria or Gloucester Rd., London, this is a record swap meet with over 20 vendors and collectors sharing knowledge, playing records and hopefully doing finding some new beats! Wish I'd gone...I see the HVW8 lads were there.




As the organizers say...the aim of the event is to "reunify LA in a way that is long overdue..."

Fraudulent artists...MBW Mr Brainwash

There was a show in LA that I was going to see, but it kinda made me puke! Mr Brainwash has created an art franchise for the masses. His ideas are instantly likeable, yet they don't say anything. But what's worse than some screen-printing, stencil artist is that he can leap from nothingness to having the cover of LA Weekly.

It's the beginning of the end It's an amazing demo of hype, public relations and money. It stinks as art!

Am I jealous? May be, but I hate Mr Brainwash. F*#k his quotes from Banksy and Obey. Come on people...he's got you on his dick! Look at the images above. Such an obvious idea that these are from two different artists. Which one is "original"? Which one is Mr Brainwash?

The one on the left is from Rene Gagnon, a contemporary artist of merit with lots of interesting work and shows around town. The one on the right is from fraudster Mr Brainwash. Bollox to him. For more balanced opinions may be go to Known Gallery's blog.

LA goes mobile hands-free...at last!

"Distracted driving leads to tens of thousands of car accidents annually..."

At my last traffic school session, some of the car abusers didn't think that hands-free was that important. They're insane! But they're Californians after all (who don't know they can't drive well!)

Well, I'm loving that the hands-free law is finally inacted here. But I'm sorry that the fine is only something like $20 if you get caught breaking it. That's less than a speeding fine!?

These guys got it right Oh, and if you need a recommendation get a Jawbone with the military-style noise-canceling technology. Go on eBay and don't pay more than $60. And look how cool the marketing is...



And check out their "redeem a traffic tix" discount offer. That's wild...you get rewarded for breaking the law! Well, kinda. If you get a tix Jawbone will sell you one of their hands-free gadgets at a discounted price (less the price of the fine!)