thoughts from others

car shopping, real site stuff, hw and lolla prep are running my life and taking top priorities today. with a lot to do in a short amount of time, i'd like to share some advice from others made pretty thanks to photoshop and people with more skills than myself...

hold up

on a bit of a blogging time out for another week or three. finals, moving, traveling, presenting & living have all taken precedence for the time being. until then, make like this kid and throw your T's up.

final push

shit's been a little hectic the past few weeks. it seems as if everyone around me, regardless of if they're in school or not, has a lot on their plate these days. april showers bring may....moves? the next two weeks have a lot in store for me so it doesn't look like the madness will be ending any time soon.  

wanted to post up some random videos i stumbled upon online over the past week or two. first up is a takeaway show performed by delta spirit on what looks to be some sort of bus or trolley. regardless of the transportation choice, i'm a fan. i found it on la blogotheque, a french site that i can't understand a word of but like because they do stuff like this.

Delta Spirit - Trashcan from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

next up is footage of spoon trying to figure out how to play don't you evah, off the album ga ga ga ga ga. ted leo did his own version/remix of the song and the video shows the band working out how to play it his way. stolen from the spoon website.

Spoon learns the Ted Leo version of Don't You Evah from Spoon on Vimeo.

and that's enough from me.

reasons why today is awesome

1. it's fucking beautiful outside.

2. i just got a free lunch & $50 for being part of a focus group. the whole thing lasted under an hour.

3. MB & AH are en route to EL as i write this.

4. the campaign i was working on since november got top three out of 77 competing schools & we're going to DC to present for a chance to win the national competition.

5. we're getting a keg tonight.

enough internetzin, time to go outside. later, boners.

and the winner is hov...

i was wondering when this would happen. jay on the cover of june's cigar aficionado. being that june is my birthday month, i'm considering this an indirect birthday present. i've been a cigar smoker since i was 16...errr 18. what was thought to be a passing phase for me has grown into a full-fledged past-time/leisure activity/vice/however you label it. with the weather getting nicer, the time for outdoor cigars is finally here & i couldn't be happier.

i gotta give you a hug for making it rain in here

Ryan, Fab & Keri Studio Session from Ryan Leslie on Vimeo.

ryan leslie/fabolous/keri hilson in the studio making something i needed to hear like.....months ago. shouts to cliff for being first on this one. hey ryan, want to leak the song already? thx, p.bob.

it's alright

bring it on home

i'm kind of obsessed with this album right now. sam cooke, live at the harlem square club. recorded on january 12, 1963 in miami. reaaaalllyyy liking this track a lot: it's alright/for sentimental reasons medley. click, listen, love, repeat.

fantasies

even though it just came out, metric's new album fantasies could definitely be my favorite release of 2009. i've been listening to it pretty much on repeat since i got it & i have yet to tire of it. i meant to do a post about the album the day it came out but i'm glad i waited until now. 

i was watching a video of an acoustic version of glass ceiling, a song off of their 2005 album live it out that a friend sent me when i looked over at the related videos section. after some clicking, i stumbled upon a documentary entitled "the rawside of metric". filmed as they were finishing the album, "the rawside of..." elaborates on the grueling year & a half plus that went into fantasies. i didn't think i could love the album any more than i already do but watching this made me appreciate it even more. if you don't have the album, get it now. seriously. and watch the videos.

burn rubber x g-shock

burn rubber, one of michigan's premier shoe & clothing boutiques/p.bob's favorite place to get fly, is set to release their very own custom g-shock on april 18th. cliff told me about the collaboration a while ago & i've been anxious to see the final product ever since. after some mild computer difficulty earlier in the day, i finally got a chance to check my email & saw these gems in the inbox:

to be 100% honest, i've never been the biggest fan of g-shocks...until i saw this. adding burn rubber to the mix is a guaranteed way to make anything better. the black on black absolutely killllllls it & the subtle detailing makes this g-shock a must-have. the release is going to be super-limited so don't sleep, $175 a pop. april 18th, exclusively at burn rubber. for more information, click here or call the shop at (248) 543-3000.

house of howe fall 09

once upon a time, when jens & i were just wide-eyed young bucks, ce-life used to chauffeur the two of us to our every destination (thanks ce). one of our favorite places to go was twc surf & sport, one of michigan's top skate/wake/snow/kite board shops. it was here that i first came across the clothing label howe. based out of los angeles, their attention to detail & unique designs set them apart from every other tired t-shirt company. needless to say, p.bob was hooked. in fact, i still have a few of the shirts & wear a few of them quite often (that growth spurt is coming any day now). with that said, after looking at pictures of the fall 09 line, it might be time to add some new pieces to my personal howe collection. 

since their inception, inspiration for the brand has shifted from that of a modernized western look to what they now call the "indie executive" look, designed for a "hard working, hard playing, creative career minded guy whose lifestyle is shifting from his desk to backstage in minutes."......yeahhhh, ease up on the description there, guys. although i prefer when labels let the clothes speak for themselves, i'll look the other way on this one. here's a few pictures i snagged from selectism:

i'll pick you up & take you where you want

miss me? aside from plain laziness, i don't really have an excuse for not posting anything. it's not exactly like i've been the busiest person on the planet...i finally have some free time, unlike the past few months. in a few short weeks, absolutely everything & nothing has happened. typical everyday college student things (read: exams, procrastinating, classes, actually going to classes, march madness, realizing the semester is coming to a close, etc).

with that realization comes the inevitable "what am i doing in x days/months/years" question that i loathe so much. my answer? i don't know. the only thing i am sure of is my uncertainty. spring forces me to somewhat confront this problem with the immediacy of change that comes in the form of looking for a summer job, selecting next year's classes, moving my ever-expanding collection of unnecessary objects from point a to point b to (maybe even) point c, etc. 

but that's enough ruminating, it's time to up the april posts quota. 

standing in the way of control

"Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of resistance" -- Steven Pressfield

Twitter. The most vapid, self-absorbed form of social media in existence. As BPB said, it's the endless swirl of the social media toilet. Does anyone really even give a shit about whatever it is you have to say? Yes, everyone has a voice and America the great and beautiful, land of the free encourages everyone to let theirs be heard. But here's the real question: does everyone else need to hear your thoughts? A voice does not necessarily entitle you to an opinion.

Twitter provides everyone who signs up with the opportunity to become the star of their own show. It's a personal news feed -- all you, all the time. Could anything be more self-righteous? (maybe a blog...oh...wait) Constant ego stimulation. Me me me me me me.

The personal spotlight that Twitter affords individuals can be intoxicating at times. "Look at how many followers I have! They all want to know what I'm doing & thinking & saying at all times! Look at all of my @replies!"

No. No one gives a shit. It's a digital facade, technological tricks, smoke & mirrors.

In my personal use, I've come to view Twitter as nothing more than a leech on the leg of creativity, slowly & quietly draining away one's lifeblood. You wade through the murky, knee-deep water of those you follow, sifting for various tidbits that will only hold your interest for a mere moment. You never even feel the leech take grip of you. It feeds off of your one-liners, ideas & thoughts, draining the blood out of them. Before you know it, they are reduced to colorless, lifeless shells of what used to be productivity & inspiration. The "ah-ha!" moment reduced to a pipedream.

For me, the time has come to emerge from the swamp. I am all too conscious of the leech sucking everything out of me. And I intend to throw salt on the bloodthirsty bastard.

For the time being, I'm done with Twitter. More than anything, it has been the writer's equivalent of crack for me: instantly gratifying, incredibly short-lasting (140 characters or less isn't exactly what I'm looking for at this point in my writing) and an altogether terrible habit. Let's just hope that it's not as hard to quit.

So that's that. It's not you, it's me. Hopefully, I'll see you on the productive side of the street.

Edit: I'm back on Twitter. It is harder to quit than crack.

carine roitfeld

okay i lied...looks like i do have time to post after all. just saw a mini-documentary on carine roitfeld, the vogue paris editor in chief. cnn followed her around during the paris & new york fashion weeks as a part of their 'revealed' series. it's an interesting piece on an amazing woman...definitely worth a look.

patience is a virtue

just got back to school. since spring break's over (for me at least) i figure i'd warm up your mind with some word problems, bobby billions style. ready? let's go:

1) 60 degree weather + first day of classes - one class because it got cancelled + chuck bast being in town = billions not getting back to the ELife (mentally) until to.....morrow. or wednesday.

2) new metric + new phoenix + lots of time in the car = spring/summer '09 is shaping up to be epic music-wise.

3) getting lots of emails + deadlines + work piling up = library for the night.

4) all of my bags on the floor + a bed to make - motivation + leaving for the library in a minute = that's not getting done for a while.

5) st. patrick's day tomorrow + jenner & bast coming up for the occasion = trouble.

BONUS/FREEBIE!

6) my new decanter = awesome

good job. i'm proud of you. if you didn't pick up on one of the common themes from the problems...march is shaping up to be as busy as february was. here's the twist: i'm going to try out positive thinking for a while & see where that gets me. it also means there's a good chance i'll be slacking on the posts but i'll make it up to all ten of you soon. time to dive in headfirst.

i might regret this

there's a good chance i might take this down before it can see the light of day...literally. the following is a series of thoughts that occured to me on my way down to chicago last weekend. thank god for the memopad function on my phone. anyway, it's all fun & games for the most part here but i thought i'd switch it up every once in a while. we'll see whether or not this will happen again. without further adieu, my thoughts:

the car's speed is set at 79 miles per hour. i'm sitting shotgun at a standstill. michigan to chicago. a mini-midwest roadtrip i've been on too many times to remember.

i've been around for two decades -- too little to know anything but too long to be surprised by much. i read somewhere that david foster wallace also had an early midlife crisis at age 20, which doesn't exactly bode well for me now does it? both in this world & this car, i'm just a passenger along for the ride. how many times have we heard the cliched "don't let life pass you by" slogan? however, in these messy times, what am i supposed to do? what am i going to do? the only thing i know: observe. think. write. reflect.

is it possible to be equally discouraged & inspired by the state of the world? can the glass be both half full & empty at the same time? all my life i've been discouraged by the endless hoops to jump through, the bullshit bureaucracy, walls taller than jericho. but today, i feel up to the challenges. maybe it's the fact that it's march 6th & 61 degrees in the midwest. maybe it's the blue sky. maybe i'm just tired of being tired.

the old way of doing things is over. the dinosaurs are dead. the world is broken and i want to pick up the pieces.

--------

annnnnnd that's it. like i said, i wrote the thing in a blackberry memo. obviously, it's not pulitzer winning material but if i don't start putting out my real writing soon, i never will. this is just a start.

it's your lucky day

Tips to Staying Recession-Proof with Bobby Billions

even though it's been a full two days since i posted the last tip and you're like, totally ready for this whole ew gross 'recession' thing to be over, it's not. times are still tough. shit's still rough.

a lot of people have been asking me questions lately about how i still manage to look like the quintessential definition of style & beauty while maintaining the musk of old, filthy money in these hard times. my only response is that it's not easy being bobby billions & this recession isn't doing anything to help. however, with a little bit of persistence, sticktoitiveness and good old-fashioned chain-snatching, you too can be just like p.bob...which brings me to my second Tip to Staying Recession-Proof:

2) chainsnatch

this is my good friend cliff skighwalker

as you can tell by the picture, he is indeed a champion. in fact, he's so much of a champion, i recently decided to snatch his chef piece chain. figured a guy with that much swagger wouldn't even miss it. turns out he does. but here's the beauty of chain snatching: once you get a chain, the ball is in your court (or should i just say the chain is on your neck?) i'm now in the position to ransom cliff's chain back to him...for a billion dollars. bobby billions wouldn't accept any less. and if he doesn't feel like forking over the billion dollars, i can continue to 'turn my swag on,' as soulja boy would say & wear the chain whenever i feel like it. it's obviously a win-win situation for you, the chainsnatcher. for the chainsnatched, not so much. but who cares about them? you're balllllllliiiiinnnnnnn' like jim jones used to. and that's as good as it gets. more tips coming soon.

your move, skighwalker.

almost done

just pulled a full day at the library. beyond exhausted right now. two exams tomorrow & driving home as soon as i turn in the second test. finally getting away from the ELife for a while. shout outs to everything that kept me going today:

copious amounts of water

mainlined some coffee

uniball v5s are the truuuuth

xr

drake's 'so far gone' mixtape

here's a quick shit list of people/things i encountered today:

- the guy sitting at the computer across from me who found it necessary to pound out every single letter on his keyboard while typing. give me a fucking break, guy. i can feel the communal table space shaking.

- slow walkers

- the professor who decided to conduct his class in the middle of the quiet wing. are. you. kidding. me.

it feels like i've been skullfucked after today. yayyyyyy :) that's all i've got for now...this guy's calling my name:

yeah yeah i know it's only red but i'm trying to save money. speaking of which...watch out for the next bobby billions recession tip. coming soon. as in later tonight soon.