Wednesday, January 21, 2004

The man from Miami (Nik Kozy) writes...

Why does the federal gov't have any say in athletics or control of the individuals body?

"To help children make right choices, they need good examples. Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now. (Applause.)"


Nik - I have no idea. Apparently everything is now a federal issue. Politics is looking more like the Daily Show (from comedy central) everyday.

ARRGGHHHH.....

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Steriod Testing???

Didn't watch the speech, but if this sums it up....Dang! Big brother is all up in every place. MLB and NFL are next....

SOTU 28
Federal action against STEROIDS?

On domestic policy, Bush is the Republican Bill Clinton. No issue is too small to get his attention, if he can throw a few million dollars at it and claim "progress."


Sunday, January 18, 2004

Writer's Block - chad hugo breaks down the nerds beatmaking process

Interesting take on the hottest beat makers (Neptunes) out there (at leats when you look at cash per beat-- maybe 9th wonder or Kanye West is hotter).

D.O.I. - The beats you make are very distinct with the other beats in the music industry. How do you get the ideas?

Chad - We get ideas from everyday life. Whether it be a sound we hear while walking around or a sound we hear from a record. But the most important thing is to have the "Okay I'm gonna make a beat today"mindstate when you enter the studio. First we find a sound that we wanna work with from a recording that we have done before, or from a record, or even from a preset. We never think too deeply, we just start playing the metronome and record all kinds of patterns. While doing that we come up with a dope pattern. If you have and open mind to music genres, you can experiment with a lot of things in hip hop.

D.O.I. - What kind of equipment do you use?

Chad - We basically use the same instruments that we used in the Noreaga 'Superthug' period. Korg 01/W for sequencing, Ensoniq ASR-10 for the drums, and sound modules like the Roland 1080 or the 2080. These days we have been using the Korg Triton and the Korg MicroKorg a lot. The MicroKorg is very simple. You can filter vocals through it and make dope bass lines with it. We used this for the bass and the high sound for the track 'Blaze Of Glory' with Clipse on our new album. We also use a lot of analog synthesizers. But don't think you can make good sounds just because you buy a certain equipment. These days you can make dope music with just a notebook computer.



Via Okayplayer.com
Spam Bill Having No Effect

Shocker, the spam bill is not working. Did anyone think that the government would actually solve this problem?
Anchorage Daily News | Don't swear off salmon just yet

Eat Salmon, Don't Eat Salmon.....Ugh. I've been eating salmon 4-5 times a week for a couple years now, so I hope that these guys are correct. The fresh water salmon is hands down better than the farmed stuff, but the nutritional profile for each is fantastic (though the farmed loses out any many of the positive efa benefits). Not sure who is right on the contamination issue in salmon, but I'm going to roll the dice and keep on trucking with it. It is great for the physique, so that will win out for now. Fish oils are still great...don't forget the fish oils.