Sunshine on a Saturday

In order to attempt to get more of these out more often, I have enlisted my homie who chooses to go by the name of Syncere a.k.a. "The Puff, Puff the Stuff, Puff the Magic Dragon, The Puffinator etc..." To make it easier for people to tell who is writing, we've decided to have him write in this nice blue color. So from now on, when you see something in blue, its not me that said it, its Syncere. At times you'll see him pepper in some comments here and there as well as have his own 'articles'. Today is just an 'article' day.


Free Running
American Guards vs Dominican Guards
Dancing with the Stars?? 
Syncere's Song Recommendation
Trailer Park: Hangover 2; Captain America; & Super


Free Running

Now I know most people have never heard of free running. It is not only a young man's (or woman's) game, it is a very fit young man (or woman's) game. Free running's origins are in France where it s called Parkour. And even though you must go through incredible amounts of training for it, it is not a martial art. It is more of the "Art of Flight". Meaning getting the fuck out of where ever you are in the fastest possible way. Its not a straight up track meet though, it is more about dodging and conquering the obstacles that you may encounter. Now sprinkle a little 'pizazz' on that, and you get free running. And when you see free running you trully see what the human body is capable of. The strength, the agility, the precision, these guys are top-notch.

There is no 'wire work'. The boys can really fly in ways that are just freaking jaw dropping (skip to the 1 minute mark if you just want to start in on the action):




See what I mean about it being a young man's (or woman's) game? I was in pretty good shape as a kid, but not in this kind of shape or coordination. Some of the guys that do this, also go to Japan to compete in Ninja Warrior. They had a whole "American Ninja" contest to see who got to go to Japan and get a shot at their obstacles.

There are actually a bunch of amateur home videos up that have people that show off their skills, and of course there are videos of when they go wrong. If you're the 'sadistic fuck' type you can search for free running accidents. I was going to put one up, but... its just too much. These boys really get hurt bad, and the camera doesn't make them look any better. Maybe I'm getting soft, but I just feel bad for some of these guys.


American Guards vs Dominican Guards

OK, this one is fucked up. I wouldn't show it, but it cracked me up. I'm not sure if you guys haven't had this fowarded to you. A home-girl from work passed this one along. Even though I could tell what was coming, it still managed to tickle me.



See what I mean? Pancho, over there really breaks it down. The beat doesn't rock Pancho, Pancho rocks the beat! Its a good thing they gave him a gun and flat ground, because he doesn't look like a soldier who can run down the enemy.

If I were Dominican I'd find this video insulting. Luckily I'm not, so I find it pretty funny. I mean look at both guys and tell me that Pancho doesn't look the happiest between the two.

Dancing with the Stars??

All right, first things first. I'm not going to discuss the show as a whole. I simply don't watch it. Have they had stars who I dig? Yes. Is their dancing impressive? Yes. Does my girlfriend love the shit out of this show? Yes. Does she wish I like it? Yes, but I just don't. Ballroom dancing simply isn't my thing. But I did catch a couple of moves from Emmit Smith, Jerry Rice, Mark Cuban, Jayson Taylor, Stacy Keibler to name a few. Though it is not my cup of tea, I can appreciate what they have to go through in order to make these moves happen.

As some of the men know, once your woman knows that you know someone from the show, she automatically thinks you want to see them dance. And I must say, it is intriguing specially at first. So with the new season having just started I wanted to talk a little about my two favorite picks. And by favorite, I mean as a 'celebrity' not as a dancer. These are the people I would vote for, if I ever decided to vote for this thing. I'm not a good judge of ballroom dancing so picking a favorite based on that is kind of pointless.

They have a pretty decent cast who deserve some mentions: Kristie Alley (My girl's pick), Sugar Ray Leonard, and Hines Ward.

But my picks for this year are:

Chris Jericho - This is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers (yes I'm that kind of geek too). He was a high flier, and incredibly entertaining. Very good on the Mic, he really knows how to work a crowd. And he was a really good performer, whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. He was a favorite of mine before he made it to the WWE. I remember when the WWE finally signed him, they tried to make it a surprise. This was back in 1999, so they used the whole 'Y2K virus' buzz to his debut. Randomly they counted down a clock for weeks counting down hundreds of hours, and nobody knew why. Finally during a 'promo' by The Rock, it was time for it to conclude, and as a matter of fact, this is his debut:



So anyway, he is one of my picks. My second pick is Macchio. As everyone very well knows, he was the star of one of my favorite (and many others) movie series "The Karate Kid". I know a guy at work that watched the first one everyday for about a week. And not when it first came out, I mean like a month ago (yes the Macchio one). This was one of those 'iconic movies' that everyone can agree was pretty damn good. Shit, I didn't even hear about this here in the states. My brother was keen on this flick since we were back in Peru. I remember he rocked headbands for a bit, and of course so did I (he is 6yrs my senior). But, i will say that I don't remember actually seeing the movie until I got here to the States. I'm one of the few people who even liked the sequels (at least the three Macchio ones, the fourth one, with Hillary Swank didn't really do it for me). I guess the punk kids now-a-days have probably only seen the one with Will Smith's kid. That movie was cool in its own way, but for me you can't really beat the Macchio one.

The Karate Kid movies would have been enough for me to forever revere your work, but Macchio also starred in my favorite comedy of all time, "My Cousin Vinny". Do I need to say anything else about this man? Who doesn't love the shit out of that movie. I've seen it a thousand times, and if it was on right now (unedited), I'd be watching Vinny trying to get the two 'Juts' out of some serious charges. Pesci was the shit in that role and so was Marissa Tomei who actually won the Oscar for her role in it. I often wish they made a 100 sequels for this, but then again I'm glad they never tried to. Comedy sequels usually suck pretty bad. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, but as a general rule sequels blow.

So these are my two picks for this year's contest. I will not be watching every episodes, as a matter of fact, I expect to miss most of them. I just wish my guys the best and hope they go far... Maybe I should vote.



Syncere's Song Recommendation



I guess I should take the time to introduce Syncere, but ehh, might as well let his first 'piece' speak for itself. As far as the song he mentions goes, I agree 100%. Its now heavily in my song rotation. I can't wait for the album to drop, and I'll probably get it that first day. So without further ado:

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It’s been years since I heard a song like this or at least meaning something very deeply to me.  First, the music video was not what I expected.  I loved the flashback moments more than I did the video. Especially the moments they show 2Pac, the reason why I want to be a song writer/producer. They definitely could put more scenes of Skylar Grey.  Like always, music videos are becoming predictable and meaningless.  I understand that 9/10 times people will watch a Dr. Dre and Eminem video but a song with this much lyrical content and emotion should have a video that matches the song.  

This song is my revelation, I admit for the past few years I lost something in me.  Don’t really know what it is but something has been missing for many years. It starts with the chorus,

“I’m about to lose my mind, you been gone for so long, I running out of time, I need a doctor, call me a doctor, I need a doctor, doctor, to bring me back to life.”

now at this point, I’m in my own world, I see shattered pieces, so I look closely to investigate what’s broken and I realize as I’m trying to piece this mess together that it’s my heart. Then I felt like I was in the center of a circle and every time I turned there was someone differently speaking these lyrics from my closest friends, brothers and family.

“I told the world, one day I would pay it back. Say it on tape and lay it, record it, so that one day I could play it back. But I don't even know if I believe it when I'm saying that. Doubt startin' to creep in, everyday it's just so grey and black. HOPE, I just need a ray of that, 'Cause no one sees my vision, When I play it for 'em, they just say it's wack. But they don't know what dope is. And I don't know if I was awake or asleep when I wrote this. All I know is, you came to me when I was at my lowest. You picked me up, breathed new life in me. I owe my life to you. But for the life of me, I don't see why you don't see like I do. But it just dawned on me; you lost a son, see this light in you it's dark. Let me turn on the lights and brighten me and enlighten you. I don't think you realize what you mean to me, not the slightest clue. 'Cause me and you, were like a crew. I was like your sidekick. You gon' either wanna fight when I get off this fucking mic, or you gon' hug me. But I'm out of options, there's nothing else I can do cause...”

So at this point, I feel lost and insane, but I’m still trying to piece together my heart but it constantly keeps shattering then, I hear,

“It hurts when I see you struggle, you come to me with ideas, you say they're just pieces, so I'm puzzled, 'Cause the shit I hear is crazy, but you're either getting lazy, or you don't believe in you no more. Seems like your own opinions, not one you can form. Can't make a decision, you keep questioning yourself, second guessing, and it's almost like your begging for my help. Like, I'm YOUR leader. You're supposed to fucking be MY mentor. I can endure no more! I demand you remember who you are! It was YOU, who believed in me…”

and it was a very close friend who I lost in a tragic accident. So what the fuck do you do when you’re in a world that you can’t escape?  I felt so expose and vulnerable after seeing him again, then the next time I turned around I just saw my own reflection speaking to me,

“I ain't giving up faith, and you ain't giving up on me. Get up! I'm dying, I need you, come back for fuck's sake.”

This song spoke to me in a way that something inside of me awoke and I’m desperately trying to defeat the demons inside of me.  Inspiration can come from a song, a story, or a person and it always seems music is there for me. I know I can pick up the phone and there is someone always willing to listen, but I’m better at listening then expressing myself, but that’s why I have my pen and paper.  The hardest and easiest thing for me to do is to write but the fear of someone reading my thoughts paralyzes me with fear.  I need to get over this because if I want to move foward then I’m going to have to develop a tolerance and hopefully writing a blog or two and the help of my friends and family, I can get shit done.  I know that “it literally feels like a lifetime ago,” but hopefully I can find myself.



Trailer Park

The Hangover part 2

I loved the shit out of the first one. It was hilarious, well written, and just a cool wild ride. This is the ultimate bachelor party movie. Everybody wishes they partied like these guys did but they didn't. They're lying.

I was actually concerned about this movie. Sequels to great comedies are usually terrible, but this one seems OK. Yes it seems like they stick to the same shtick from the first one, but why is that a bad thing?

I'm definitely looking forward to this one:






Captain America: The First Avenger

OK, this is actually the last individual movie of the Avengers before the big Avengers movie. For those that do not know, the Avengers (for the movie) would be Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and names that you wouldn't recognize such as Hawkeye or the Black Widow (yes, from Iron Man 2). I'm not a huge fan of Captain America, but I am very familiar with the character. This movie seems to have the right tone and set in the 50's. How will a hero that was around in the 50's be partners with the rest of the Avengers today? I know, and if you don't, you'll have to watch the movie to find out:



Super

To satisfy your indie 'dark comedy' thirst, I'm including this little movie. I first saw a clip of this movie and thought it was a ridiculously stupid movie (in a bad way). I was shocked to find out that Ellen Page was in this, and that she would pick this turd after the incredible Chris Nolan movie, "Inception". Then I saw the trailer, and ehhhh. This movie could still be a turd, but at least it now seems somewhat interesting. The fact that Ellen Page is in this, means that I won't mind catching it... on Netflix... streaming... someday. Or if someone pays for my ticket. The line, "Shut-up Crime!" as his superhero slogan is kind of funny.