Mayer of Smoothsville

"Mayer Hawthorne, who the eff is this guy?" is what I found myself asking everytime I'd see a post about him on the rap blog I frequent. I mean, this is a rap blog, and this guy for sure as hell ain't rapping, so why is he here? Fast-forward to a few days ago when I was discussing musics with my friend and he "persuaded" me to listen to Mr. Hawthorne... and well damn, this guy is pretty smooth. He's got this kind of soul, old school (not 80's rap), jazzy sound. The song up top is probably my favourite, his videos have some decent visuals as well. He definitely has some really good sounds so don't be like me and pass up on giving this guy a chance.

Lazy As Sunday

While going around to my usual forums (nerd alert!), I found this one thread about a contest to create bad metaphors and analogies. Some of these are actually really funny. Also, they bring you back to your younger days when you first learned how to analogize (is that a word?) just like a student learning to metaphor. Here are a couple I really enjoyed:

• Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other Sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master. - Sue Lin Chong, Washington
• The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. -Russell Beland, Springfield
• Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. -Russell Beland, Springfield
• He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. -Jack Bross, Chevy Chase
• The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work. -Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington
• He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. -John Kammer, Herndon

Go here to read some more.

"Eh! Wanna Play Stickball?"

Instead of studying for my deadly exams, I was snooping around on my old computer and found these old ads Lucas and I conjured up for a grade 11 project. We made some ridiculous stuff for that class, hope to post some of that later. For now, enjoy these master-pieces.

Return of the King

Via Engadget

The iPad is getting hyped up quite a bit atm due to its fast approaching drop date. As it is, pre-orders have already been made, and if I'm not mistaken, people will be greasing up those wonderful screens by the end of April.

For those of us who have not yet made the decision to buy one however, hold the eff up! Microsoft's Courier (concept...) could end up being Microsoft's re-claim to the top. Yes, news of this has been out for a while, but for a lot of us, we have never heard of this magical device. If you watched the video you'll see that the Courier is essentially the iPad, but a lot more "ass-kick-ier". Okay, so far there is no tangible device (as far as we know), but if such a thing came to fruition I would buy one instantly. The possibilities of such a device have such a large range of applications. I hope to hear more about this soon!

Claim To Fame

Image from socialite life

I just remembered this interview with Pharrell that I saw a month or so ago at some music conference. Something he said really caught my mind, it was in regards to getting your name out as an artist. Of course there are the obvious means such as playing shows locally and trying to expand, and then hoping a record label would pick you up (or not, if you 're against the man or w/e...). Anyways he brought up two other ways of getting your name out, as well as catching the eye of someone in the industry. They're a little unorthodoxed, and might have a lower chance of success than the other usual methods, but there's no harm in trying. Anyways, without further adieu, here are two more channels for you to try and get your music out there.


1. Advertising. Send your music to advertisers. All products or services require some sort of music to go along with them, maybe your sound is the perfect fit. Commercials are seen all the time, whether or not people actually pay attention to them is another question, either way though, if you've got a good sound, someone will remember it, and then hopefully remember the name. This might not be the best example, but look at Feist. Yea she had a following before her iPod commercials, but how many more people became aware of her after they started to show up?

2. T.V Shows. Distribute your music to shows that again might fit with your sound. For those of us who watched O.C, how many bands did we discover from watching that show? Whether it was just in the background, or they were performing at that place that 13 works at. (13 ie. the girl from house, ie. lesbian girl that went out with seth...lol)


Some of you may have heard these ideas before, but I'm pretty sure there are a fair amount of us who haven't. Obviously these ideas won't ensure success, but they are a couple of extra possibilities that may help to give you the boost you need. To all the artists out there, keep doing your thing, and good luck.

sidebar: You can also try and gain some leverage by marketing the death of a talented friend, kind of like the guy up top... Just kidding!

Why Can't There Be Love?

I'm not sure of the relevance of this post, but I really like this Adidas commercial. It's supposed to be advertising their Originals subdivision which is just their old old stuff rehashed for today. The commercial features a lot of familiar faces and some not so familiar, of note (to me at least) are: DJ Neil Armstrong, Hyori Lee, James Bond (of UNDFTD), Jay Baruchel (fellow Canadian), and of course there are the obvious ones. I think the background song is what really took me in. It's Dee Edwards' "Why Can't There Be Love?" in the beginning, and then near the end it gets chopped up and transformed into this cool little hip hop beat. Anyways that's pretty much it, enjoy your evenings and make love, not warcraft.

sidebar: Enzo wants to have a rooftop party real bad. Who's got the hookup?

It Ain't Over

So I know the 2010 Olympics are over, and we were all happy cause we had a big ass win in hockey, but the Paralympics are still going on. We've still got some hard-working athletes representing for us, and I think we should try and maintain some of the spirit we had a few weeks ago. Try and watch one of the events, or wear your toque on one of the cold days. Support our athletes!

Very Impressive

In lieu of Lorenzo's post about Canadian Music Week, I think this video fits in well.
K'Naan and his waiving flag have come along way. The Canadian artist's response to the devastation in Haiti, according to me is a masterpiece. I think this remix holds its own when compared to the American We Are the World Remix.

Drizzy's lines are actually pretty good. Nikki Yanovski's extreme talent is displayed in this song (the girl from the olympics) and the eclectic mix of artist's ensure that the song exhibits all areas of Canadian music. We are not just a rock alternative nation. Drake, Kardi, Metric, Sam Roberts, Esthero, Simple Plan, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, Jay from Bedouin Soundclash did this song justice!

Canadian Music Week!

From Canadian Music Week website

I guess we're a little late with this as it's pretty much halfway done, but there's still a few more days of good music to be heard. It started on the 10th and will end this Sunday, the 14th. There are a lot of hidden gems performing at various venues throughout the city. I myself am extremely interested in checking out Mista Sinista and Rob Swift of the X-ecutioners, K-OS, Grand Analog, A-Trak at the Redbull Thr3e-Style, and Keys n' Krates. The names I mentioned are mostly hip hop related, but don't let that throw you off though, there are way more rock, electro, and pop artists. Head on over to the Canadian Music Week website and take a look at the large list of events. There is definitely something for everyone, yes even you Karl Wolf and Ke$ha fans...




Anyways, don't delay, go now!

If theres one thing you watch...

If there is at least one thing you'll watch on tv this year, I hope it is this.
This is the single most hilarious marketing ploy I've ever seen. Its so outrageously funny that I watched it about 5 times.
Take a gander,

iPonder...

The first official iPad commercial came out yesterday at the Academy Awards. By now we've all probably seen it, and for the most part been disappointed. Yes, in essence it is just a larger iPhone, but it does have certain abilities that could prove to make it useful. For the most part, what Apple is really trying to sell here is a glorified e-reader. With a few tweaks, I feel the iPad could become an extremely useful school tool. The ability to store textbooks on it would have many benefits, ie. save paper, save space, ability to read your textbooks wherever you please. Furthermore if the ability to annotate your books was available, it would further increase the iPad's value. These are both things that I think could easily be done.
I know right now it seems like a pretty jank piece of equipment, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Jobs knows what he's doing, or perhaps he is just taking the easy route and riding all the success he's had to the bank. I mean, it's not a crazy idea, we all know someone who is Apple crazy. Either way, I wouldn't count out the iPad just yet, it does have its uses, but at the same time, compared to other possible (eventual) options such as the Microsoft Courrier, it's not much at all.

This tune is Chiddy Bangin'

Philly's very own Chiddy Bang have reworked and sampled MGMT's Kids. The title of their song is the Opposite of Adults. Im pretty sure you can figure out what that equals. The effects in this video are cool, I'd still watch it if it didn't have music.....

Manny Pacquiao

I am posting this because I think this is just Amazing. I hope Pacquiao and Mayweather meet and fight. Tsk Tsk Manny, singing is not going to get his attention. Although I think Mayweather is the better fighter, Manny is the better singer.

Enzo's Addendum: And this is the pride of the Philippines..... haha

Game Over?

Drake - Over by JCChase

Source: HYPETRAK

It's finally here, Drake's first single off of his upcoming debut album "Thank Me Later". After a year of countless hits, most of which came off of his mixtape "So Far Gone", the expectations on Wheelchair Jimmy are very high. With Lil' Wayne heading off to jail, Young Money needs a new bread winner, but is Drake going to be the one? It's hard to tell after listening to this track. After first listen, it hasn't exactly caught my attention. The production by Boi-1da is quite mediocre for a track that's had as much anticipation as this one. Like a few of his previous tracks, this is a boastful song about his recent successes, his fame, and how his career is far from over (somewhat similar concept to "Forever", no?). His hook for this song is a wee bit uninspired, but I guess it's catchy, which is good for a radio single. Other than that, this track is just alright, (at least for the time being, some tracks just take time to grow on people). It's not a bad track, but it's also not the "next level-ness" I think people were hoping for. I definitely expected a lot more and I hope that Drizzy Drake Rogers does not disappoint when his album comes out.

Axe Cop is Axeome

As usual instead of doing my homework, I found myself browsing through the various forums that I browse through and stumbled upon this e-comic I guess you could call it. I'm probably late on this, but I bet you are too. I think what makes the comic really cool is the fact that it's written (apparently at least) by a 5-year old, so it's really simple, yet extremely imaginative. Go ahead and take a gander, it's definitely an enjoyable way to kill that time that you don't really have, but will make time by not doing stuff you should probably be doing.

sidebar: Here is the first episode in animated format.

You should probably read before you view.

Dollas Is What I Need

From the producers of Entourage comes a new HBO series, "How To Make It In America". The title of the show pretty much sums up what it's about, two young "entrepreneurs", Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon, who are trying to become successful through unorthodoxed methods. Their dream is to establish a new brand of denim, which you can imagine is no simple feat. Scoot Kid Mescudi a.k.a Kid Cudi is also in the show. As of yet not much is known about his character other than the fact that he is close friends with the protagonists, but I guess his presence should be enough for any Cudi fans to give the show a chance.

Some people are saying the show is comparable to Entourage, but I don't agree. Entourage is more or less about what happens after becoming successful while this show is more about the journey. The concept may not be entirely original, but it has been implemented using ideas that I feel are more relatable to a lot of younger people. For example, Ben's ex-girlfriend is trying to make it as an interior designer.

You should definitely give the show a shot, some "inspiration" can be found by those of us who have dreams that lie outside of the generic "get degree, enter workforce" formula. If you're not courageous enough to follow through with your dreams, at least enjoy watching these guys, as well as the rest of the characters in the show.

Hard Work= Awesomeness #2

A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg. In the second version of the music video for their song "This Too Shall Pass", OK GO! used this type of machinery to create one of the most detailed and tremendous videos of all time. Yes, you heard me, ALL TIME!

Ok maybe its not one of the best of all time, but check it out.

Olympic Celebration

Olympic Celebration from Japa Langous on Vimeo.

A few days ago I had remarked at how Canada's game was not looking like we owned it. But last night, we did exactly that! Reports claim that the game was watched by 27.6 million Americans and around 20 million Canadians! We sure had our audience, and we gave them a heck of a game!

Not only did we win the Gold for Hockey, but we also claimed top spot on the podium 14 times, which is a record breaking accomplishment!

Props to Sid the Kid who came up big and proved to be a clutch player.

Go CANADA Go! 2010 is going to be an awesome year!

Japalangous was at Fionn Mccool's on Front St. in downtown Toronto taking it all in!

Olympic Frustration

Canadian Olympic protesters have become very creative in the past few months in order to get their messages across. Although the olympics have a great amount of good things to offer, they still do have their faults.

Hard Work= Awesomeness

Whenever you combine hard work, with a whole lot of planning and determination, apparently you get this amazing t-shirt war.

The T-Shirt War from Ibrahim Nergiz on Vimeo.

Dynamite!... Dynamite!!!

The first time I saw an ad for this movie was on 2dopeboyz so I had thought it was some sort of mixtape or album that was coming out. Eventually I saw a preview for the movie on Electric Playground and I just knew I had to watch it. Basically, the movie is spoof/satire of blaxploitation films back in the 70's (think Shaft, or Dolemite). Of course I wasn't alive during that time period, so I don't exactly have first hand experience with any movies of the genre, but from the tv I've been able to watch during my life time, I have a rough idea of what it was all about. Even with the little knowledge I had though, the movie was pretty darn funny, good enough to pick me up from my terrible mid terms this week. There's definitely a lot of dumb humour in it (my favourite), but there are also quite a few hidden jokes that might need a second look. It's not out in theatres, but it's available on iTunes, Blu-Ray, DVD and wherever you can find movies on the internet. If you liked Anchorman, I think you'll like this movie (I'm not sure that's an apt presumption, but if I'm wrong you can blame me for wasting 1.5 hours of your life).

sidebar: If you're into funk kind of music, you should check out the movie sound track, definitely some good songs on there. Some of the lyrics are comical (obviously), but the production is on point!

Hockey is Canada's Game?

USA 5. Canada 3.

What do we as Canadians have left to pride ourselves on?

I thought it was our ability to succeed at the winter olympics. I thought it was our dominance in speed skating, I thought it was our dominance in Luge and bobsled. Most importantly, I thought it was Hockey. For a long time Hockey has defined us as a nation, to put it all into perspective, Baseball to America is what Hockey is to Canada. 50% of all players in the NHL are Canadian, the top 50 goal scorers in the game have mostly been Canadian, even the GREAT ONE is Canadian. But where do we go from a very close game with Switzerland, and an even more embarrassing loss to Uncle Sam? All this on top of a horrible finish in 2006, and a World Juniors loss to the USA!

With only 9 medals, and the end of the games soon approaching, our usual top five finish in the medal standings looks very hard to achieve. Lets hope we manage a good finish, and lets pray team Canada goes on to the Gold Medal Game. For all we know, if there is no top five finish in medal standings, or a top two finish in Hockey, there will be severe backlash. Im talking conferences, government participation and the whole shabang.

Welcome?

Japalangous... What does that even mean? It's not an English word, or a French word, or a Filipino word, and I'm pretty sure it's not a Tamil word. Really, the word has no meaning. It was one of the many nonsense words that Lucas and I created back in highschool. It's an extremely versatille word as it can be used to replace duragotory words or phrases, or it can even be used as a term of endearment (true story). This is why the blog has been named as such, partly because it is our creation and partly because it is a blog with a wide variety of random content. The main purpose of this blog is to expose people to things that we think they should know, might like to know, or have never heard of before. Topics will range from Canada's performance in the olympics to local up and coming talent to why Filipino kids can be so whack (I'm just kidding about this one...), and much more. One of the primary topics we hope to make often are in regards to local musical talent. Being aspiring "musicians" ourselves, we understand the difficulty of putting out work and getting recognized, so hopefully through this blog we will also be able to act as promoters.

We're just starting up right now, so things will be a little bumpy, but I hope you the reader, see the potential in this project and show some love, we all need it! Furthermore if you've got some talent you'd like to showcase feel free to hit us up at japalangous at gmail.com (the at is actually an @, just trying to prevent spam)