To be honest, I find a lot of French music too cool for its own good. Most of it lacks the big melodies that I look for in pop music. So I always approach French bands with a bit of skepticism. Jamaica, though, have bucked the trend by crafting an indie-electronic album filled with catchy hooks and a rock 'n roll sensibility. The single, I Think I Like U 2, is the best of them all. It's reminiscent of Phoenix, another popular French band, but the overall sound has a little more pop to it. They use a lot of distorted guitar, which makes the album seem meatier -- less airy. This track has got the kind of hook that ingratiates itself more and more with each listen. It wasn't until the third time through that I realized how fun this song actually is. And the video seals the deal. Very clever.
(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Preorder the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.
Het is uptempo. Het is rauw. Maar ook weer niet.. Lady Oorbijter hier vind het toch wel heel erg lekker klinken. Dus m/v psycho pop met een gruizige garage meets punk attitude. Album: That's how we burn. Vlammende plaat van een opvallende band uit Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Jaill hooks the ears with insistent, upbeat pop and twanged-up garage elements which grow deliciously darker with further investigation.
If this doesn't get you going, you need an EKG, stat...
call it The Great One vs The Anointed One
Most rousing call to duty anyone could ask for... Mark's intro to yesterday's show summarized masterfully -and stirringly- what sparing the United States of America from the power-mad Left will require of us: fighting-off the unrelenting statists tooth-and-nail for the rest of our God-given lives, basically...
Levin first takes a look at the foundational history of the TEA Party movement, who he says will save the country... thenboydoes he kick into gear @ 4:30...
I thought I would try this picture that I had previously painted in watercolor. This is my latest attempt at trying out acrylics, I am trying to get the hang of glazing. I glaze when I paint in watercolor and thought it might be an easier transition. Anyway it is what it is lol :) hopefully the next one will be easier.Hope everyone has a great day!
Back when January Jones started attending awards like the Emmys, she tended to continue the Mad Men vintage theme off the set and on to the red carpet, now it seems she's doing hest best to leave those style behind going more fashion-forward than retro.
At the 2010 Emmy's held on Sunday (August 29) January looked stunning in a bright blue Versace gown which featured textured fabric, an asymmetrical hemline, and ruffles. There may have been a little (unseen) vintage touch though. Talking about the skirt, January said: “It’s got some things in there, hoop skirt stuff.”
Topping off the stand-out look was over $1 million worth of Cartier diamonds and some simple black pumps.
"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status" -Laurence J. Peter
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches, an exceedingly odd number...
Why was that gauge used ? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge, then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts....
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot....
Bureaucracies live forever.... so the next time you are handed a pecification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this ?', you may be exactly right: imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses... that's right, two horses' asses.
Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site...
The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over 2000 years ago by the width of two horses' asses...
Ancient horses' asses control almost everything... and the far-Left horses' asses in government today are controlling most everything else!
Legs, teeth and a lot of skin were on show as Heidi Klum took to the Emmys red carpet on August 29.
One of the only attendees to eschew the usual long gowns, Heidi showed off her pins in a teeny black Marchesa dress.
Despite the body flaunting dress it was Heidi's accessories that really set this look apart: a huge statement necklace from Lorraine Schwartz, and stunning black spiked heels from Christian Louboutin.
Lea Michele on the red carpet at the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre in LA on August 29.
Lea - who celebrated her birthday on the day - opted for a gorgeous deep, dark blue gown from her usual red carpet go-to: Oscar de la Renta. She told People: "I love Oscar de la Renta and I love blue. When I saw this, it was perfect!"
Adding extra sparkle were some magnificent statement jewels from Lorraine Schwartz.
Looking like a modern day Gone With The Wind heroine in her long tiered gown Glee's Dianna Agron graced the red carpet of the Emmy Awards on August 29.
Dianna's floral organza came from designer Carolina Herrera and was paired with around $1.5 million worth of Cartier jewels, plus some unseen Louboutin heels.
Sorry, no similar steal the style items for this look.
Kelly Osbourne's gorgeous Emmy Awards appearance got a lot of people talking about how fab she looks - she says it's down to time of the treadmill but she's been looking better and better ever since appearing on Dancing With The Stars.
Her gown was a Tony Ward Couture creation and was teamed with Martin Katz jewels.
Eva Longoria went for classic glamour as she graced the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards red carpet with husband Tony Parker.
Eva wore a sweeping strapless gown from designer Robert Rodriguez gown - although stunning the black could have been a little boring but Eva opted for some beautiful pink Loren earrings to amp up the wow factor.
Anyone looking for a similar show-stopping sparkle style, there is the silver embellished evening gown from edressme.com; it costs $550.00, sounds expensive but usually with super glitz comes a super-high price tag.
Kim Kardashian on the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held on August 29, 2010 in Los Angeles.
Kim went for the Grecian look with her wavy updo and flowing white Marchesa gown.
Glad to see her looking fresh in white after all the black she's been wearing lately but the style from many angles made her look bigger than she actually is.
Lorraine Schwartz jewels completed the look almost winning look.
For a similar Grecian style there is the T-Bags beaded maxi dress; it's not totally like Kim's but does have the beaded collar, total Grecian vibe and without a Marchesa price-tag.
Newlyweds Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer cosied up on the Emmys red carpet and Anna looked all dramatic in her black Alexander McQueen gown with bold gold embellishments.
The high front showed off her shining patent YSL platforms, and House of Lavande jewels plus her Cathy Waterman wedding ring added extra glitz.
Looking back at the Lakers' 2000-01 championship squad, it's tempting to assume that Mark Madsen or Slava Medvedenko were the least deserving ring recipients.
Not even.
That dishonor goes to none other than Isaiah "J.R." Rider.
In case you're not familiar with Rider's background, allow me to provide a history lesson. Isaiah didn't catch on with a major NCAA program coming out of high school. Instead, he became a standout at Allen County Community College in Lola, Kansas, where he managed to get a GED before flunking out...but after pleading no contest to a battery misdemeanor and serving a probationary sentence. Following his flunkout, Rider moved on to Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California, where he had to "earn" eligibility by taking seven units of physical education in summer school just to get his GPA up to 1.91. That was still below the minimum of 2.00 needed for eligibility, but an appeal was made to the state board of community colleges, which ruled that Rider eligible.
His academic efforts notwithstanding, Rider's fat stats earned him a spot on Jerry Tarkanian's squad at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
While he was at UNLV, Rider became a Second Team All-American during his senior year. He was also dogged by allegations of academic dishonesty and attitude problems. The latter came to a greasy, pus-filled head when he was arrested and spent a night in jail for assaulting a drive-through attendant at Jack in the Box. The exact nature of the crime? He threw a milkshake in the dude's face. Because it was vanilla instead of strawberry.
Still, Rider was an amazing athlete and had enough raw talent for some crappy team to take a wild gamble on him. Sure enough, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected him with the fifth overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. (I almost can't blame the T-Wolves for this one...it was a pretty lousy draft.)
Believe it or not, things started out pretty well for Isaiah, who won the Slam Dunk Contest and made the All-Rookie First Team. Here's the classic between-the-legs jam that won him the dunk contest and freaked out Charles Barkley the hell out:
The next season, Rider was even better. And worse. He averagd a career high 20.4 PPG while feuding with Minny coach Bill Blair all season long. I mean, he feuded so hard that the team was compelled to suspend him in December. But hey, he won an ESPY award for converting one of the craziest shots you'll ever see (against the Kings...sorry chris):
I would be failing as a blogger and a human being if I didn't include in Rider's accomplishments his infamous "Funk in the Trunk" track from the 1994 Basketball's Best Kept Secret CD:
Rider's attitude and behavior continued to regress the following season. No only did he resume the feud with his coaches and the front office, Rider was also convicted of fifth degree assault for kicking the manager of a sports bar. And did I mention the manager was a woman? Yeah.
After that, the T-Wolves opted to give him a one-way ticket to Portland, but not before Rider was arrested for marijuana possession. Oh, and during that arrest, he happened to have an illegal cell phone that had been modified to charge every call he made to someone else's cell phone.
Three weeks later, he was arrested for public gambling in Oakland.
Rider's three season's in Portland were highlighted by a 19.7 PPG average in 1997-98, a conviction for possession of marijuana, and a three-game suspension for spitting on a courtside spectator.
Despite his dubious history, the Hawks felt Rider was the missing piece of their puzzle. I'm not sure what kind of effed up puzzle they were putting together in Atlanta, because after flipping Steve Smith for Rider, the Hawks went on to win 28 games. This was after having finished fourth in the East the previous season. The Blazers, meanwhile, won 59 games with Smith and would have made the NBA Finals if not for one of the greatest fourth quarter collapses in NBA history.
The Hawks would have done almost anything to have taken a mulligan on the Rider trade...which was an unmitigated disaster even by the standards of a team that traded their best player ever (Dominique Wilkens) to the fucking Clippers and recently gave Joe Johnson a contract worth one billion dollars. Rider's one-season stop in Atlanta was marked by missed practices, more feuds with management, an incident in which he parked in the space at Philips arena reserved for Atlanta Thrasher's head coach Curt Fraser, another incident in which he threatened to have teammate Dikembe Mutombo killed, and of course more arrests. When it got out he'd smoked pot in an Orlando hotel room, the league tried to make Rider attend drug counseling. Naturally, he refused and was fined $200,000, after which he decided to attend the counseling.
In March of that season, Rider got tagged with a three-game suspension for showing up late to a game against the Pistons. After that, Rider demanded the team release him, to which the Hawks replied, "YES! YEA, GODS! YES!" But it was too late for the Dirty Birds...the damage had been done. The Rider trade began a nine-year playoff drought for the Hawks. I'm just sayin'.
At this point, Rider probably should have been D-U-N. But the Lakers -- like everybody else -- were intrigued by his enormous upside potential. Furthermore, they were convinced that Phil Jackson, who once upon a time had tamed Dennis Rodman, could keep Rider under control.
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak seemed to think Rider could be everything Glen Rice hadn't been:
"This was a great opportunity to get an experienced and very talented player and we're happy to have Isaiah join our team. His explosiveness and ability will help take some of the pressure off our other players, and with his youth and skills, he could be a great addition to this team for years to come."
For his part, Rider was excited about his latest new beginning:
Rider said he was grateful to Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, coach Phil Jackson and owner Jerry Buss for "having the faith in me to give me this opportunity."
"I'm looking forward to a new start in my career," Rider said in a statement released by the Lakers.
"I've been a Lakers fan since I was a kid growing up in Oakland watching Magic and those Showtime teams," Rider said. "Now I'm excited to play with Shaq (O'Neal), Kobe (Bryant) and the rest of the guys and to hopefully get a championship ring next spring."
In his "new start," Rider played 67 games, starting in six of them, and averaged 7.6 PPG while shooting 42 percent from the field and 37 percent from beyond the arc. He added 2.3 RPG and 1.7 APG while compiling a Player Efficiency Rating of 11.8. His Offensive Rating was (gak) 97 while his Defensive Rating was (double gak) 108. He finished the season with 0.8 Win Shares.
And while he wasn't quite the troublemaker he had been in Minnesota, Portland and Atlanta, it wasn't all violins and roses for Rider in L.A. During one regular season stretch, Rider missed the team bus to the Alamodome for a game against the rival Spurs. When he arrived late for the game, Rider gave Jackson a note from the hotel manager saying that the hotel operator had failed to provide Rider with his wake-up call. In March, as the team was starting to get playoff ready, Rider was suspended five games for violating the league's anti-drug program.
These incidents (not to mention his sub-par play) apparently soured Jackson on Rider, because Isaiah -- despite being the team's leading scorer off the bench and one of their better three-point shooters -- was left off the playoff roster in favor of Devean George (3.1 PPG, 30 percent FGP, 22 percent 3P%) and Greg Foster (2.0 PPG, 42 percent FGP, 33 percent 3P%). The decision didn't backfire on Jackson, as his Lakers went on to win the title anyway.
And that's how Rider became an NBA champion despite not appearing in a single playoff game.
I know this is going to shock the socks right off your feet, but the Lakers didn't re-sign Rider. The Nuggets gave him a shot, though. And Rider wasn't terrible. During his brief stop in Denver, he hit 40 percent of his treys (a career high) and averaged 9.3 PPG in only 17.3 MPG. But the Nuggets waived him after only 10 games. Rider refused to say he was retired and vowed to play in the NBA again.
He never did.
But here is a log of his post-NBA accomplishments (courtesy of Wikipedia):
In January 2006, Rider was arrested on kidnapping charges in Marin City, California for taking a female friend in his car against her will. He was charged with domestic violence and ordered to stay out of Marin City.
Despite this court order, he was spotted in the area a few weeks later. A Marin County sheriff's deputy confronted him, and while fleeing, Rider hit another car. He was arrested in Alameda County in late 2006, and transferred to the Marin County jail after three judges in that county issued bench warrants against him. In February 2007, Rider pleaded guilty to several charges, including felony cocaine possession and evading an officer.
He was sentenced to seven months in jail, 120 hours community service and three years' probation. He will also have to complete a drug education program. At sentencing, Rider admitted to a longstanding problem with marijuana; he'd also begun lacing it with cocaine.
On January 6, 2008, Rider was again arrested, this time in Berkeley, California after a confrontation with a taxi driver upon a no-bail warrant for unlawful firearm possession and separate $5,000 warrant for grand theft issued by the Oakland Police Department.
On March 5, 2008, Rider was arrested and was held in the Marin County Jail in San Rafael, California. He was charged and pled guilty for possession of a controlled narcotic substance, disobeying a court order, evading a peace officer, providing false information to a peace officer, and driving on a suspended license.
On early Saturday morning, March 29, 2008, Rider was arrested in the Skid Row district of Los Angeles for investigation of auto theft and was released from Los Angeles County jail in the afternoon. He was scheduled to appear in court on April 23, 2008.
In October 2009, Rider signed with the North Texas Fresh of the American Basketball Association. Rider played one game for the North Texas Fresh, and then was cut in early January from the team.
On April 14, 2000, he was again arrested for allegedly kidnapping his one month old son the previous evening. Rider was released after questioning with the police stating they would submit the details to the county attorney's office for a possible custodial interference charge.
That's right, kids. Rider has more arrests for kidnapping than rings.
A look at just a few of the guys from the Emmys red carpet last night (August 29th).
Cory Monteith looked very suave in a Giorgio Armani tuxedo with a white shirt and black silk tie.
Just as dapper as Don Draper, Jon Hamm also wore a Giorgio Armani tux along with shoes from Tod's. Chris Colfer was in Armani too: Emporio Armani, wearing a classic white shirt, black tie and tux combo.
A muscial note shaped pin on his lapel added a great little touch.
A quick round up of the Glee star looks from the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held in LA on August 29 (more coverage later with close-up looks for accessories and steal the style links).
She's used to winning with the Cheerios and now Sue Sylvester (aka Jane Lynch) won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Jane wore a deep purple one-shouldered gown from designer Ali Rahimi.
Jenna Ushkowitz was bold in her red dress from Kevan Hall, paired with Neil Lane jewels, a glitzy clutch and some funky metallic sandals.
Heather Morris was gorgeous in her uber-glam golden sequined dress from Ina Soltani, and old-Hollywood style red lips.
Jayma Mays was quite simple in her blue strapless Burberry which she wore with (unseen) Jimmy Choo "Zena" platforms and gold jewelry.
Amber Riley was beautiful in her white Grecian-style dress which was custom-made by Melissa Masse, and teamed with glittering Chopard jewels and Swarovski clutch.
The gown wasn't a hit with everyone but Dianna Agron looked pretty (as she always does) in her Carolina Herrera gown.
And Lea Michele got a big thumbs up from most fashion critics in her petrol-blue Oscar de la Renta gown.
