HEY WHAT'S GOOD...

...2014?

It's that new new. i meant to post about all of my favorite things before i up and left NYC and up and arrived in Chicago. i'm sorry, ok man? i'm sorry.

If you haven't noticed, or you're new, or you're not new and picking up on repeating themes in highly inconsistent bloggery just isn't your thing, i post my new year's resolution every year.

Hey kt, your randomly mentally generated resolution is:

There's room for improvement.

Ham and black-eyed peas and collared greens for you and yours and

-feliz año kevo
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amazing ...

... just when i think i can't do anything and that my productivity has been completely derailed and i think to myself "what the hell do i even believe in?" i manage to answer an e-mail.

the secret key to productivity turns out to be the thought "what the hell do i even believe in?"

you're welcome everybody.

-kevficient, yo

Why I should ...

... be happy more than I am sad.

I put this question to my little brother on Sunday. He gave me a list of five reasons:

1. "You keep meeting nice people and they keep coming into the family."
2. "You just adopted a nice dog and she likes you."
3. "Mommy and daddy love you."
4. "You still have fun with your friends, at least sometimes."
5. "You have food on your plate."

That's a really good list. I'm really glad he made it for me.

- kevbro

Questlove is someone I never thought much about...

...silly me.

"The other day I heard the new 2 Chainz record," says [Rich] Nichols [The Roots' longtime manager] in Mo' Meta Blues [Questlove's soon to be published memoi]. " And it's a fucking object lesson in thematic narrowness, one dumbass idea repeated over and over again. There's a song called 'Crack!' and then a song called 'Dope Peddler,' right next to each other. Then a little alter there's a song called 'I Luv Dem Strippers.' I'm not knocking 2 Chainz, but what kind of market elevates him like that, at the expense of everything else?"*

What a nice, articulate synopsis of one of the most problematic elements of popular hip-hop music. I think that is a book I would like to read.

It's still my birthday and I still don't know what to do.

-Twenty-kevin

* From Jenna Sauers, A Vibe Called Quest, in The Village Voice (2013).

This is a poem . . .

. . . composed entirely of quotes by one of my favorite professional basketball players (original here). At first I was just amused because, well, it's amusing. But then I read it a few times and now I can admit to myself that I think it's kind of beautiful. Maybe you will too:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion, by Jeff Parker (A Poem Assembled from Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) Quotes)

I don’t shake substitutions’ hands.
I lose my feet.
I’d like to thank my psychiatrist.

I felt something,
But I didn’t know it was an actual head.
I knew somebody suffered something at that point.
There were a lot of emotions in that game.
I can’t worry about that.

I have to try to get the ball.
Kobe passed me the ball.
Kobe never passed me the ball.
And I could hear Phil Jackson–
He’s the Zen master,
So you can just hear him in your head.
Saying, “Don’t shoot don’t shoot!”
And bam! I shot it.

I was lying down when I got hit with a liquid,
Ice and glass on my chest and on my face.
Nobody ever just threw anything at me
With the exception of a few times.

After that, it was self-defense.
I’ll take the blame for that. It’s my fault.
Stunned. So stunned. It’s stunning.
Erratic fire, erratic passion.

We maximize it by playing together,
Loving each other,
Caring for each other.
Kind of like the Care Bears.
You know the Care Bears?
They care for each other.

I partied in July hard.
You got to party.
You can’t just be a boring guy for 12 months, right?
You got to party hard in July.

Why are you staring at me, daughter?
Did you throw that?
Jack, you think we going to get in trouble?
Let me see
How I can answer your question
Without giving you a good quote.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I still think Ron Artest, who is now Metta World Peace, is a very good basketball player. I also think he is a very good, if troubled, person.

-kevin world peace

Dear ...

... Dope Jams on Myrtle.

i'm sad to see you close even though i hardly even know you, man.

vinyl and
cds and
black magik

for always.

xo xo
-dope kev