Tim Duncan+

Tim Duncan might be one of the most hated players in the NBA. Not because he's a jerk on or off the court, but because "he's so boring." Even though as a kid I collected a bunch of his basketball cards, and I owned 2 of his Champion home jerseys, he isn't exciting to watch. It's mostly because he's not flashy, and he's just 7 feet of fundamentals. I'm sure Tim Duncan doesn't lose sleep over people's perspective of him, especially when he's accompanied by 4 championship rings at night.

In my beat making class, I learned about the fundamental beat structure of hip hop beats: kick, snare, kick snare, kick snare, kick kick snare. If there's only basic kicks and snares the beat is going to be pretty boring. So high hats, keys, horns, sound effects, fades, etc need to be added to make the beat interesting and enjoyable to a listener.

Get down the basics, then add the sauce. The sauce helps the taste of the dish. Just don't add too much though..

Sharing

A couple of weeks ago, the retired 'Discovery' Space Shuttle flew over the west side of New York City. I work on the west side near the Intrepid, and most of my coworkers made their way to the rooftop to partake in this experience. And by "partake" I mean getting their iPhones in position to take a picture of it. I was amongst the iPhone picture crew, but I noticed for a split second that people weren't looking at the space shuttle fly by with their own eyes, but rather through the lenses of their phones.

I think we live in a generation where we're so eager to share (tweet, instagram, Facebook) our experiences, that we're not in the moment, truly enjoying those experiences. The objective seems to be: Look how cool I am. I've been trying to get better about setting down my phone and be more attentive to the people I'm with and the things that are around me.

I know we were all taught to share when we were kids, but how many of us would actually share our fruit snacks without being able to have a few for ourselves? Enjoy what's in front of you.

Anyhow, LOOK HOW COOL I AM!

First day of beat making class

Making beats isn't as easy as they sound. I took a good amount of notes and paid close attention to all of the nuances of the programs because I want to be good at it. Hopefully I can get to a point where I can sell some beats... At the very least, it will be a cool hobby to have.

Looking forward to the rest of the course.

The use of creativity

Last week I was reading Swiss Miss' blog and came across this quote: “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.” – Jeff Hammerbacher, Early Facebook Employee

That quote pertains to people in the advertising business, but I'm sure it's true in other fields as well - Our creativity and thinking goes towards solving these seemingly trivial things.

It's funny thinking about it now, but over the last 3 years, I've spent countless hours figuring out how to sell more peanuts, candy, vodka, and whiskey. As delicious as those items may be, it still seems weird looking at it from afar.

I started this post prepared to knock all of the pointless things people waste their talents on, but while writing I remembered something my old pastor used to say: God knows the things that you're attracted to, so go after them.. And there you'll find what else He has for you.

While working in advertising, I started to see other interests come about: TV writing (television shows) and beat making (I start a class tomorrow). I don't know how great I'll be at either, but who would've thought peanuts, candy and alcohol could lead me here.

iphone wallpaper: phase2

phase1

Bookmarks

Bookmarks in Firefox is mandatory.

New project

I'm in the kitchen cooking up a new project for y'all... Stay tuned.