DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS OR DIFFERENT WORLDS?

When I started Junior High school I met a lot of new people from some of the neighboring cities such as Sierra Madre and Hastings Ranch. One day one of the girls invited my friends and I over to her house to see where she lived. Now I'm not sure how we got there (maybe by her parents after school) but when we arrived we were stunned! We saw wide streets with no cars and no sidewalks too! We saw large beautiful homes and perfectly manicured yards. It really felt to us like an entirely different world. The girl then showed us her horses. Horses? We never knew anyone that had horses before. Where do you keep a horse we asked? Now I don't remember us being allowed inside the home because we looked like thugs but it was really like being transported to another world. I think we tried to hitchhike home but no one would pick us up because, well we looked like thugs. I think we finally had to call someones parents so that they could come pick us up from the strange, foreign land. Whew! What an experience!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK - COSTA RICA

The Photo of the Week comes from Costa Rica. This was taken last year while on vacation at Playa Tamarindo in Costa Rica. This is also commonly referred to as Playa Tamagringo due to the overabundance of white tourists. This photo was taken from one of the many restaurants we visited and yes, the nachos were as advertised!

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER

This weeks DVD Pick of the Week is the 2007 release Curse of the Golden Flower. I know from the cover it doesn't look all that exciting and you probably may have passed on this at the video store. My recommendation? Check it out! I recently picked this up in the $5 bin and was thoroughly entertained by this movie. Lavish costumes and sets abound in this story of deceit and love. An epic movie with battle scenes and a story line you are sure to enjoy. Check out the trailer and go rent Curse of the Golden Flower!

iPOD NEWS - 160 GIGS (OH YEAH)

For those faithful readers of my blog you know that I have been patiently waiting....and waiting.....and waiting for Apple to come out with a bigger (storage capacity) iPod. I currently own an 80 gig model that is completely full of music and I am even having to select what music goes on my iPod and what gets left off. There has been a 120 gig model out for some time but I decided to wait and bide my time hoping a newer and larger capacity iPod would be released. Well now, the time has come! After threats of being discontinued all together, the iPod Classic is now back with 160 gigs of storage! Yes! And the price has even been cut too (although by only $20 measly bucks to $229). Anyway, there were many announcements at Apple's invitation only event today in San Francisco such as iPod Nano's with video cameras! What? As soon as this new iPod hits the stores, I'm there! My life is complete. I can now carry my entire music library with me (for now) wherever I go.

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD - VOTE NOW

I am trying to get an idea from my many (2? 3?) readers what they enjoy most abut this blog. I have added a poll on the right side of this blog where you can let your voices be heard. I know some of you enjoy my real life stories while others count on my musical picks to help hip up your music library. I'm not sure how many Asian cinema fans are out there but this is one of the reasons I am having you all vote on what you really like. Hurry! Vote now! I've only let this survey run until Sept. 30th so vote now and as often as you like! NOTE: ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS THE VOTING (TALLYING OF THE VOTES) IS NOT WORKING WHEN YOU VOTE, PLEASE VOTE ANYWAY. I CAN ONLY ASSUME (HOPE!) AT THE END OF THE POLL (SEPT. 30th) I WILL STILL BE ABLE TO VIEW THE FULL RESULTS. SAXOMAN (aka Afro-Samurai)

REGGAE CD PICK OF THE WEEK - BERES HAMMOND

This weeks Reggae CD Pick of the Week is Beres Hammond with the cd titled Sweetness. I had just picked this cd up earlier today as I was doing some long overdue cd shopping. Now I don't have a lot of Beres Hammond cd's in my collection but every one that I have picked up has been a winner! Now for some reason most casual music listeners that I know are not even aware of this great reggae singer. For those of you that are not yet hip to Beres, all I can tell you is check him out. His smooth vocal sound and laid back style (known as Lovers Rock) is something I'm sure you all can enjoy. Here is a live video of Beres performing one of the hits from this cd titled Double Trouble. Check it out!

HITCHHIKING - DOES ANYONE DO THIS ANYMORE?

Does anyone hitchhike anymore? I know when I was younger and before any of us had cars my friends and I used to hitchhike all over town. At that time we thought nothing at all of hopping into a strangers car to get where we needed to go. We used to hitchhike to each others houses, to the bowling alley and hang out, hitchhike to other schools to go to their dances, hitchhike to parties. We would even hitchhike home from school because it seemed like about a 5 mile walk. I just checked the distance and it was only 1.5 miles to my house. Oh well, it seemed much further at the time. Sometimes one of us would do the hitchhiking and two or three others would hide out of site because nobody would typically stop for a group of delinquent teenagers. Sometimes we would be hitchhiking around midnight just trying to get home from somewhere. Anyway, nothing ever happened to us but I'm sure that would not be the case today. I can only believe that hitchhiking has become a thing of the past and is a reflection of the times we currently live in. How sad.....

IT'S TIME FOR THE L.A. COUNTY FAIR

Today starts the L.A. County Fair! Now I don't know about the rest of you but I really enjoy this fair and go many times while it is going on. I eat an assortment of foods that you just can't find any other time of year. Some of the many foods for sale at the fair are: deep fried Twinkies, deep fried Oreos or Snickers bars, funnel cakes, pork chop on a stick, giant turkey legs, Pink's chili dogs, sausage sandwiches, ice cream, pretzels, onion rings, corn on the cob, ribs and on and on...See what I mean? Great healthy stuff! HAHA!

I also enjoy the concerts and in the past have seen many top name acts such as: Earth, Wind and Fire, War, Tower of Power, Smokey Robinson, Ohio Players, Grover Washington, Rose Royce, Brothers Johnson, Heatwave. This year I'm looking forward to seeing War and Average White Band on the same night! Whooee!

Now I don't go on any of those crazy rides (scared) but I enjoy wandering around looking at all the stuff. Some of those people that give the demonstrations are really funny to listen to. Oh yeah, I always get my wedding ring and tennis shoes cleaned for free when I go there too. HAHA! Anyway, check it out! It's a blast!

LATIN JAZZ CD PICK OF THE WEEK - YESKA

This weeks Latin Jazz cd Pick of the Week is by Yeska with the cd titled Skafrocubanjazz. This cd came out way back in 1998 but it has stood the test of time to my ears. Go to the Amazon link to hear a sample of each track of this very hip cd. http://www.amazon.com/Skafrocubanjazz-Yeska/dp/B000007N9M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1251997594&sr=8-1
Now I couldn't find any live performances of Yeska and don't know if the group is even still together or not but here's one of the standout tracks from this cd titled Fideo Para Aqui. Check it out and get hip! Remember, that's my mission statement.

MY VERY FIRST FIGHT

Now I'm not positively certain if this was my very first fight or not but it is one that I still remember to this day. I was in Elementary school (5th or 6th grade) and remember one of the school bullies telling me to "meet him after school". Now I'm not sure what I had done or said but as I saw this person throughout the day he kept reminding me to "meet him after school". So after school I go to the side of the school where a crowd is gathered around waiting to see me get beaten to death (sadistic kids!). After a few minutes it looked liked nothing was going to happen and I would be home free. I said "well if nothing is going to happen then I'm leaving". So then the bully pushes me and I push him back. He pushes me again and I push him back. Then, BAM! he smacks me right in my jaw! OWWWWW! I was shocked! Stunned! He hit me! Right in my jaw! I couldn't believe that this guy actually hit me! I grabbed my jaw with a stunned expression on my face and turned and walked away without saying a word. I walked the 4 blocks to my house holding my jaw the entire way home. When I got home I looked in the mirror and saw that my jaw was all red.

Now what's funny is that this bully eventually became a friend of mine in Junior High and High School and would beat up other kids for stepping on his suede shoes HAHA! I haven't seen this guy in many years but know others that have. I have relayed a message to him that I haven't forgotten about this incident although he now claims not to remember this happening. Even if he's in a retirement home or on his death bed I will seek my revenge!

Here is a clip from the 1987 film Three O'clock High that reminds me about this whole situation. This is a really funny movie that I recommend you check out!