ATZ Crew on the 3rd St. Promenade on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Testing out the “Press This” bookmarklet that debuted with WordPress 2.6, which I just installed. Which it rules, doesn’t it? And, I should probably blog about.

Oh, I’m doing that now! See, I added the bookmarklet to my bookmarks. then when I was on the Flickr page, I clicked the bookmark. It opened a new window with the New Post interface automagically set to Photo. (Cos it detects Flickr, yo!) Cool beans.

YouTube – Rafter – ZZZpenchant

One of my favorite quirky indie tracks of the year is “zzzpenchant” by Rafter, or maybe his name is Rafter Roberts? Craptastic indie video above, just keep tapping your foot and you’ll get through it.  Dorky redheads gotta stick together. Real talk!  Check out his Myspace. He’s from San Diego, and even recently played at the Whistlestop bar in my old neighborhood. I miss that place. I wonder if the graffiti-enhanced video locale is in SD? I should ask my old pal Erock to keep an eye out for it.

Update: The audio track in the Youtube is a little thin, the album track’s bass is much beefier, really makes it. It’s on Rhapsody… whenever Dave W . gets around to integrating Rhapody with the Goose player, I’ll add it to this blog.

Checked my Flickr stats today, and saw something that made me pause.  This was the total views for all the stuff on my account at some point overnight. That means at sometime today, I will have been peeped 300,000 times. (!!!)  This is not that remarkable on Flickr, I guess.  Many Flickr superstars have gone well past that number many times over. But, it still made me proud.

On the car-crowded commute this morning, I saw a gleaming silver BMW 750  with a license plate that read: I TRIED. It kind of got me pissed off. I don’t try? Or, do I? Where did trying ever get me? Actually, I realized that before I saw that car this morning, I tried something myself.

There was a point last year when I was going to the gym every morning before work, but was extremely bored with it. On a whim, I signed up for “boxing training” at my stoic gym with a new trainer known only as King T. He was something of a character. I’d noticed him panhandling free sessions. I tried it, like it, and signed up. Now, boxing training is not about learning how to box, it’s about using training techniques that boxers use to get into shape. But, it does involve boxing gloves, hitting bags, and even sparring. In fact, when I did eventually spar against King T, it was something of a sensation at the gym, this being a new phenomenon at this otherwise uptight health club. All the trainers gathered around the glass-walled aerobics studio to watch me get pounded.

Another thing that boxing training features is jumping rope –something I was atrocious at. I couldn’t skip five loops in a row. It was at those moments I imagined King T coming face to face with his life and wondering what had gone so horribly wrong that he was watching some fat, white guy fumble on a jump rope and saying things like “All right! Keep at it!”

I never could get that image out of my head, actually. I wanted more for King T than to have to try to whip my sorry ass into shape. Of course, I was looking at it the wrong way, but that’s what I do. After my first batch of sessions with King T, I bailed out citing money troubles. He was very disappointed, even a little creepy about it. But, he remained the friendliest and most encouraging figure at my zombie gym, giving me fist bumps and big ups whenever I saw him. I wasn’t sure how cheesy that was, but I liked it.

I saw King T take a few other students, always with a little bit of envy. I noticed his boxing equipment kept moving around to different places at the gym, more out-of-the-way corners. I got the sense that he wasn’t fitting in with the rest of the staff or clientele. I even saw a terse note appear on the wall about how the speedbag had been removed due to complaints about the noise. Very soon after that, King T himself was removed from the scene, presumably because of the noise. He’d moved on to do private sessions.

But, one thing that always stuck with me was the rope. I kept jumping two to three times a week. I got my own leather rope. I started to get the hang of it, switching feet, going side to side, one-foot, et cetera! I wasn’t completely inept. In fact, I even had a couple other really ripped guys ask me about it, and tell me how my footwork was really impressing them. I started noticing more people jumping rope where before I noticed none. I don’t know if it was me or if it is just the natural tide.

Today, at the gym, I was jumping rope, and I wanted to try something new. I wanted to try that trick I’d seen badass boxers do where they cross their hands in mid-jump and reverse the rope so that your left hand is on the right side and vice-versa, keeping the rhythm going. I didn’t know even how to go about it, but as I was going along, I tried jerking my hands. The rope caught my foot and came up and whipped my arm with a crack. Yes, right on my previously-wounded extremity. I felt a pain I wasn’t sure I’d ever known before. I decided that today might not have been the best time to try this stunt. But, it was just a sting, and adrenalin made it fade quickly. After a few minutes, I tried again. Just narrowly missed flaying myself a second time. I wasn’t even close to doing whatever it is you need to do to make this happen. I briefly considered who I’d even ask for advice. “So uh, when do you start switching your hands, anyway?” A minute later I tried again. I saw the rope actually loop the way I imagine it’s supposed to. Another minute, I tried again. The rope looped around and I jumped it! But, I didn’t recover and the follow through whacked me in the ankles. I tried again. I switched hands, jumped over the rope, kept going, switched again, jumped it, kept going, switched a third time, kept going!

Somewhere, I hope King T had a good day, too.

Now, where’s my BMW?

Must see: Here’s life in one panel: takethetightrope

A brilliant comic.

From the site “VIRUS COMIX encompasses the work of author Winston Rowntree (not his real name), who enjoys making comics of all kinds for anyone who wants to read them. “

 

Slam Dunk

Total classic from back in the day. Whatever happened to MC 900 Ft Jesus? He was sharp, had a great flow, and some of the cleverest lyrics around.

Sez Wikipedia:

Griffin eventually became disillisioned with the music industry, and following unproductive sessions for his fourth album felt he has taken his style of music as far as he wanted to go. Record label interest waned. Needing a new direction, he gained his commercial pilot’s license, hoping to become a trainer, but eventually took a job at a large bookstore

I wonder how much different his career would have been in the new media world? I bet as an indie artist, he wouldn’t have gotten a Spike Jonez video. Maybe he would. Seems like he had a good run, and now works for a living like everybody else. All is OK with the world.

I just checked out the crowd at theSanta Monica Apple Store for the launch of some new geegaw or other. I do want an iPhone three-gizzle, but I’m not gonna queue up for one. Sheesh! Reports from the crowd were that the line started getting going at around 3 A.M. It’s good to be passionate about something!

On the egocentric tip, I’ve now had 32 photos make Flickr’s Explore pages. That means via a secret formula of views, comments, favorites – each of these photos was at one point one deemed of the 500 most “interesting” photos uploaded that particular day to the famous photo site.

There’s much debate about the secret formula, and a lot of resentment from people who somehow get many more views, comments etc. but never seem to make Explore. Some people also notice the relative vapidity of the photos that make it — a lot of sunsets, HDR, babies, pets, and hot chicks exploiting themselves, that tease the tasteful limits of self-indulgence. And, it’s all true! But, whatever. People like what they like, I guess.

But, somehow I made it thirty-two times, and I’m shamefully proud of that. And, since that’s a number that fits naturally on a BigHugeLabs Flickr Scout poster, I thought I’d fire one up. Some of these were really random unartistic snaps. But yeah, those can be “interesting.” What’s this say about me? Nothing good, I suppose.

Mick O on Explore!

The intersection of Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevards will be named “Larry King Square” in ceremonies taking place Thursday.

LA SQUARE HONORS LARRY KING – New York Post

I have nothing funny to add here. I just want to spread the news. Celebrate!