Can't Decide Between Silicone Sound Or Teet Beat

Dope mannequin speaker system by Bob Turek. Bass you truly want in your face. (Found on Boing Boing.)

Dope

Jay-Z + Radiohead = Jaydiohead

The Best Things Ever From 2008

2008 is officially over and it was quite the year, clocking in at an entire 365 days! There was a lot of not so great in those days, especially if you were a governor or had a 401k, but there were also some bright shining rays of delicious, delicious sun as well. Here's some of the brightest and most appetizing... or at least the ones I can remember off the top of my head.


Sports
There wasn't really too much winning to be happy for in '08, but there was some losing worth celebrating. The three douchiest teams in all of sports suffered humiliation this past year.


3. The Yankees failed to make the playoffs in their legendary stadium's final season.
2. Satan's Lakers were crushed in the finals by the Celtics. (Not that the Celtics are a squad you should ever root for.)
1. The New England Douchebags squandered a perfect regular season by choking on a fat one in the Super Bowl.


Toys
2008 was a good year for the kid in you and a bad one for the kid in your wallet.


3. The Lego Indiana Jones video game was one positive to come from the worst man made disaster in history.
2. Mighty Muggs finally sold me with Mola Ram and Galactus.
1. Super Hero Squad continued to be adorably awesome.


Comics
This year saw a lot of overblown hype and crappy crossovers, but also some more than solid contributions to comic lore.


3. Brubaker and Fraction's Fabled Iron Fist run sadly came to its conclusion.
2. Ditto for Morisson and Quietly's All Star Superman.
1. Brubaker's Captain America continued to make creamy goodness in underoos everywhere.


TV
There wasn't too much to get excited about on the major networks, but coaxial cable delivered some fine programming.


3. Venture Bros. Season 3 was a long awaited return to glory and nozzles.
2. The Colbert Report and The Daily Show provided the finest election coverage a human being or whatever the hell alien Gorlock is could ask for.
1. The Wire series finale ended the all-time greatest run of episodic television.


Movies
Clearly, this was the year of the comic book movie and Robert Downey.


3. Tropic Thunder made my booty sweat and nut bust.
2. Iron Man made me happy to be alive.
1. Dark Knight would have made me cry if I wasn't such a badass.


Music
Pretty unfortunate that in a year with new Roots, Common, and Kanye albums that there's no hip-hop in the top three.


3. Santogold and Diplo's Top Ranking was a mixtape masterpiece.
2. Raphael Saadiq's The Way I See It was a feel-good fantasy.
1. TV On The Radio's Dear Science was purely priceless.


General Awesomeness
And now for the most important not-exactly-pop-culture events of 2008.


3. Jordan Fusion 3's making feet awesomer than ever.
2. The further infiltration of craft beers in American society and the canned beer revolution.
1. iPhone II changing life as we know it.


And of course, the very best thing from 2008...


'Nuff said.

M.I.A. Is Down In The Hole

Her new track, S.U.S. features Blaqstarr and The Wire's often covered theme song. The $6 YouTube video isn't bad either.

I Guess Diddy And I Have More In Common Than I Ever Could Have Thought

Best Comic Con Purchase of 2008

This ultra dope Mike Huddleston MF Doom print. I only wish I would have bought the Madlib one as well. Getting the Jim Mahfood Mixtapes was also pretty nice.

Tomorrow

Black Thought

(By Me) New Roots album on April 29th.

For Your Ear Hole: Oh No - Dr. No's Oxperiment

Dr. No's Oxperiment is the latest in Stones Throw's nearly flawless line of instrumental releases and clearly cements Oh No's position alongside his brother Madlib and the dearly departed J Dilla as one of today's hottest beatsmiths. No uses a recipe of MPC2000 and finely chopped Middle Eastern samples to bake this flavorful platter of aural appetizers. The satisfying blend of Mediterranean funk goes down smooth and quick as not a single track is allowed to test your attention span, each one clocking under two minutes. Fans of the Chrome Children compilations will find Heavy's guitar sample familiar as it blasts open the album and you'll be hard pressed not to twist your pelvis to the delicious bass line of Exp Out The Ox. Other highlights include the dirty spy theme, My Luck and the Temple of Doom-ish Ohhhhhh. Every cut on Dr. No's is a seamless blend of banging beats and spicy world soul and proves that this other Michael Jackson is far more than the Beat Konducta's brother. (A+)

For Your Ear Hole: Talib Kweli - Ear Drum

While it certainly doesn't touch Black Star, Reflection Eternal, or Quality, Ear Drum is a welcome return to form for Talib Kweli after his underwhelming Beautiful Struggle. It stumbles a couple times, mostly thanks to will.i.am and Justin Timberlake on Say Something and The Nature respectively, but has an equal amount of highlights. Madlib's trio of tracks infuse the album with nostalgic soul, including Soon the New Day, which features a warm and sultry hook by Norah Jones. Pete Rock twists an Elton John sample into the hard hitting Holy Moly and the flute laced Listen!!! by Kwame is certainly the most movement inducing track. The requisite Kanye West appearance will get you In the Mood with its laid back groove and Kweli and KRS-One rip apart Bob Marley's Do It Twice on The Perfect Beat. While it seems Talib can't quite stay away from trying to drift in the mainstream, Ear Drum should still keep the backpack fans happy. It's not overflowing with bangers and head nodders, but it is a smooth listen with only a couple necessary skips. (B)

For Your Ear Hole: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

I have to say, I don't think I've had a rock album on continuous rotation this much since Weezer's debut. (Although TV On The Radio's Return To Cookie Mountain has come close.) Somehow, Ga Ga manages to be one of those rare gems I can actually sit through without skipping a single track, although that may be because it's only 36 minutes. Spoon is able to swerve from the hauntingly eerie The Ghost Of You Lingers to the sunshiney, brass infused You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb with surprising fluidity. They enlisted production mastermind, Jon Brion for the booming anthem The Underdog, and the slickness of Don't You Evah manages to match the funky groove of Gimme Fiction's hit single, I Turn My Camera On. While it often seems to pine for lost love and understanding, Ga Ga is rife with variety and bursting with confidence. (A)

Chocolate Rain Has A Myspace

Tay Zonday will move you.

Sweet Chocolate Rain

(Click To Watch)

For Your Ear Hole: Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth

Straight out of Minneapolis, Brother Ali is blues infused barbecue chicken slathered in tangy hot sauce and cooked over smokey coals. He mourns the struggles of poverty and a broken society yet celebrates the lights in his life with equal vigor. Ali's Truth, however, is far from being all sensitivity and Uncle Sam bashing. His battle raps continue to smack lesser MCs straight in the mouth, sending them back to the notepad with a broken pencil, and the Whipper Whip laced Listen Up will get you slapping your steering wheel like a red headed stepchild. ANT's beats are impressive as usual, a roller-coaster ride of harmonicas, hi-hats, and rock guitar riffing. While this latest endeavor isn't quite as explosive as Shadows On The Sun, it is still quite worthy of heavy ipod rotation. Long live the legally blind albino Muslim lyricist. (B+)

For Your Ear Hole: Pharoahe Monch - Desire

Fresh off his white hot performance on Amy Winehouse's Rehab remix, Pharoahe Monch has finally dropped his sophomore joint, Desire, a full eight years after Internal Affairs. The highly slept-on MC who falls somewhere between treble voiced crooner and abrasive drill instructor lives up to any and all anticipation on this long awaited album. Desire is simultaneously a grimy political manifesto and a soulful, head-nodding good time; addressing topics from Iraq to getting in a girl's Myspace top eight. In either case, Pharoahe's lyrical puns are in top form, as usual. In the synth-heavy Agent Orange, he spits lines such as, "Pissed on the motherfucking White House lawn / I threw a rock, then I ran / Cause I couldn't stand anymore within the grip of the man / Y'all wanna ask me who's sane / These biological gasses are eating my brain", while we get the lighter side of Monch on Desire's title track: "Understand, New York City respects my game like Joe Namath / And I protect my name like your anus / In prison, y'all don't hear me". The metaphorical mastermind from Organized Konfusion flows over beats both haunting and banging in this complete package of what hip-hop could be in the modern age. Simon says, "Turn that the @#$% up." (A-)

Ear Candy III

Mike Jones + Air = La Femme D'Monsieur Jones (mp3 via zshare)

Ear Candy II

T.I. + Fujiya & Miyagi = What You Know About Transparent Things (mp3 via zshare)

Ear Candy

Madlib + Badu = hot fire (mp3)