Archive for nyc

“Across 110th Street” (1972) #BlackAndWhiteAmerica #tfilms

Posted in Motion Pictures with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on 18.12.2010 by thomas

Across110Street

I got to watch this the other night. I’ve been trying to watch every good movie that was ever filmed in NY.

This is the kind of movie you watch today and it’s not just a dope movie, it’s a historical picture. This was not that long ago, even though it seems that way. It’s the same New York. It’s not based on a true story and some of the performances may be overacted a little,  but from what I’ve learned from old school New Yorkers, this isn’t so far off.

These 3 guys robbed a mafia safehouse for 300,000$ and took out some cops in the process. So they have not only the italian mob headed by a guy who has no problem using the N word in the most negative way, but the cops are after them too. Anthony Quinn plays the “old boys” Captain about to retire when this happens and the new Lieutenant is going to take charge, except the new Lieutenant happens to be black, and this change of power is something these 2 guys have to work through, the first with his lifetime of bias to get over.

All of the acting in this is good to great. I found this looking for more stuff Anthony Quinn is in, a favorite actor of mine.. everyone in this was good though. Real s#%t.  Some of the scenes are really powerful and all of the action scenes are some dope pre-computers realFX ish

#itsOnNetflix

Peace

~t

 

ps – i’ma do more of these

Oh and I forgot to say the soundtrack is great too. Check it

in the dark

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on 08.07.2010 by thomas

sitting in the dark

heat swelling

trees in my head mellowing

beats saying hello and inviting me over to freak

can’t say no

melody so cool it’s freezing

just what i need

a breeze across my body


wishing on a star

the sky lit up

in came the storm

the rhythm got me rocking

still air moved by frequencies beyond the terms east or west

a song

some singing

from somewhere


in the dark

C.R.E.A.M. – STILL in 2010

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on 06.05.2010 by thomas

Evidence Mounts for Taliban Role in Bomb Plot (NYtimes)

I started to read this article. I didn’t make it past the 1st paragraph, this sentence “elevating concerns about whether other militant groups could deliver at least a glancing blow on American soil.”.

I stopped.

Of course they could. Any idiot can buy an old pathfinder on craigslist, load it with a bunch of store bought shit and drive it into Times Square. Count your federal/state/local tax dollars going into investigating this amateur scheme. I wonder if someone is.

Then I thought, on top of everything else, it was a neglected by the government and society Viet Nam veteran street vendor who first notified police of the burning truck. An ABC7 reporter said “you must love your job you’ve been doing it 15-20 years” to which he replied “I didn’t have much choice” without hesitation.

GET THE MONEY

They wanna be Known.. they wanna blow up.. if only they’d known.. they’re already glowing #Walk

Posted in Muse with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 03.05.2010 by thomas

“Walk”

WALK

#9 of 14

Known

Known3v

i can decipher [A Dedication to Terra]

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 17.04.2010 by thomas

maps. digital. or globes. like the ones that were in every new york city public school. now i have google. and ‘click’ on the -pictures box and

gEarthPhotos

words………………. written in text digital… in images of ancient marks on long forgotten walls

the internet really does have everything. it’s overwhelming. but somehow we find certain things. when we know what we’re looking for, we find it

roads

somewhere the road stops

gEarthAlaska

somewhere someone kept walking

sometimes i think i can read lips does that mean i can decipher a kiss?

i’m buggin.

the stars shine and i feel like i can say their light is singing reminisce

yes mary J … reminisce on the love we had

and i can decipher everything it seems but  my own mind

ain’t that a bitch

it’s all good

‘Terra’ is the latin word for our Planet

it means from dirt

which we all eventually return

i’m cool with that

dedicated to our beautiful Mother Earth

peace & light

Shine on

t

Just some thoughts from the mind… #NYC

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 15.04.2010 by thomas

I’m fixing my sleeping schedule.

I’ve been awake quite a while.

It’s a beautiful day.

I just got out of the shower…

and there were 573 new tweets by the time I got back.

Ya’ll mofo’s tweet a lot.

It’s all good.

I’ve got too many blogs in draft. I much prefer the ink.

I’m exporting in all forms.

I’m looking forward (as always) to June.

This event is going to be good in #NYC -

keep rockin world

peace

shine on

t

I’m Going for a Walk

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on 09.04.2010 by thomas

Fuck the MTA, fuck the cabbies, fuck the corporate shareholders at GM **AND** Toyota, fuck the airlines who charge 45$ for a carry on, fuck the buses that never show up on time and are either ridiculously slow or driving way too fast, fuck the bike lanes that everyone ignores…

I’M GOING FOR A WALK

HIP-HOP IS ALIVE AND WELL @SOBs

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 31.03.2010 by thomas

Where else other than the legendary SOB’s?

I missed out on getting tickets originally and I was pissed about it.  I managed to find 1 person who had one on craigslist, I called the number in the ad around 9PM. The doors were at 9 and I was reading tweets that the line was around the block and people were waiting in the rain. Shiiiiit. True Hip-Hop fans as MelDCole said. The dude with the ticket(HENRY – who – if you read this – #YoutheFuckinManBro) still had the ticket and said he was in line. So I chilled out a bit, got ready, had half a beer, half a joint, and jumped on the L to the 1. I was there at 9:45. Texted henry he came out gave me the ticket at face value and I went in. No wait. No line for me. It wasn’t raining by the time I got there. Luck? Or…. good at being late? I can’t front. I’m a lucky mother fucker.

Before I walked in the woman in front of me greeted the bouncer who she knew… and she had a gift… what was it? Badu‘s new album Amerykah Pt II: Return of the Ankh!! Before I even got in the door I felt GOOD people! I felt GREAT.

I felt like I had a wiiiindow seat

I get in, the place is PACKED… but I got a spot. Center of the room in the back of the ground level. I’m tall skinny and lanky. I get in anywhere! Just like J cole as a matter of fact. Being 6’2 gets you a good view at any concert. I am greatly appreciative of that. The opening act was kind of a rap/R&B type dude who was alright, kinda corny to be honest, but it was cool. Good beats. Asher Roth came out and did a good verse, I never really saw Asher live before, kinda impressed but admittedly I had low expectations and don’t know his music too much. After the opening act who failed to properly identify himself(that’s a huge fail) was done, I think it was DJ SUSS one that was DJ’ing, but he played some classic shit. BIG, Pac, Pun, HOV…. The Crowd was ready for J COLE!

J COLE came out and just from start to finish killed it. He did all of the songs I wanted to hear. Especially “I get up” And “Losing my Balance”. He talked about when he saw Kanye back in 2003 and how being there was special to him. Real shit! The vibe was crazy. Here I’m going to copy some stuff I wrote on FB/twitter right after the concert

(from my FB – I ran out 10 quick thoughts on a thread)
1 – J Cole is the ILLEST. “on this new school of rappers I will really go Columbine & throw up the diamond sign”
2- Such a nice dude he even threw an apology to the section of the crowd he felt he wasn’t showing enough love
3- On 1 of his new songs he said “they thinking about they breakfast while I’m heating up my dinner” .. …YUP.
4- He brought out TALIB! NUFF SAID JUST TO GET BY♬.
5 – I’ll be on that stage soon!
6 – i had a great time without having 1 drink.
7- HIP-HOP IS ALIVE & WELL.
8 – This 1 mother fucker held his iPhone up THE ENTIRE CONCERT. TAKE A PICTURE. TAKE A SHORT VIDEO. DON’T BLOCK PEOPLE BEHIND YOU THE WHOLE TIME!. He was 3 rows in front of my so i couldn’t get to tell him. Don’t be that guy.
9 – That shit was so ill.
10 – I GET UP!

///////////// A WTF?! INTERLUDE  /////////////////

I finally get home… vibing superhigh from the show… check twitter and what do I see but this RT’d like 15 times:

RT @RealLifeKaz: J.Cole is Drake if Drake never met Wayne and hung out more with Phonte

I’m just like.. what? Why do people even compare J cole and Drake? There is no comparison. You can take that how you will.

Anyways this is what I said

@t_NYC The Drake/J Cole comparisons are annoying me. Drake got talent but he is a fuckin child actor turned rapper. COLE is truth #fuckouttahere

///////////// OK BACK TO THE SHOW  /////////////////

(my tweets after)

1 more thing, J Cole set the bar tonight for live performance. he was up there all alone – no hype man -no crew – no entourage about 11 hours ago via web

OH YEA J COLE said “they thinking about they breakfast while I’m warming up my dinner” on the new track tonight…. YUP about 10 hours ago via web

actually he said “thinkin about they breakfast while I’m heatin up my dinner” still … “They sleep, we grind” @fatbellybella about 10 hours ago via web

then from the man himself

JColeNC Sound like some wack ass prom line, but… Ill never forget this night. NYC SOB’s. Peeace about 10 hours ago via UberTwitter Retweeted by you and 22 others

OH Yeah. This tweet. That was the illest shit. Every doing Jay Elec’s verse. Nobody could do ALL the words though haha..

@t_NYC OH YEAH J.Cole + Talib + Everybody in the fuckin building at SOBs did @JayElectronica verse on “Just Begun” #HIPHOP about 10 hours ago via web

Great fucking night.

AND Then when I got out of the place 3 people handed me their CD’s(which of course makes me feel like I must look important or something), and 1 of them was actually kinda alright! Shoutout Gist , though I gotta say, I threw out the CD’s. I did keep the printcards on the inside though. I Think it might be more efficient/less costly for artist to just share a ‘card’ with their website than spend money/time making CD’s that people will just throw out. Especially rowdy hyped up possibly drunk people leaving a concert. Just a lil note.

ANYWAY

What I miss? Roc boy Young Chris came out and did a verse + an ill acapella on some real shit. Cole did his verse on his track with Wale.. a piano duet slowed down “A Star is Born” before going full force into the real one…. then the ENCORE! HE came out and did the new track which is what it is “COLD WORLD” TRUTH!!!!! KILLED IT!

THAT SHIT WAS ILL. HIP-HOP IS ALIVE AND WELL!

PEACE

shoutout to everyone who was there

and if you weren’t

IT’S ALL GOOD

All some things I had to say… #Passion

Posted in poetry with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 22.03.2010 by thomas

9/2009

[[ hot tip - if you can't read it so small.. click it for the full size ]]

Passion 1st verse

Passion 2nd verse

Passion 3rd verse

A story, A dedication…

Posted in film, Life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 29.12.2009 by thomas

August 2005

I was 20 years old. I’d been working in the film business 3 months. Up until that point I’d only been on small stages in regular size places moving a wall or two doing construction on sets. Learning. This WAS My first big job. I arrive at the Bedford Armory. It’s HUGE. If you live in NYC you’ve definitely seen the Armories -  Marcy(in Williamsburg), Kingsbridge (in BX), Bedford (in Crown Heights) and there is one on Park Ave uptown in Manhattan. They look like castles. I think there are more but they are all National Guard buildings that as far as I know since 2003 they’ve been rented out for major film/tv productions. I’ve read that they want to make the Kingsbridge Armory (which is a place that will get a post of it’s own) into a shopping plaza. There’s a rumor that they’re all connected by underground tunnels. But that’s another story for another day.

I walk into the big bay doors in the middle of Union St. Here I am. In awe. A kid in the middle of all of this, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Picture Calvin[&Hobbes]. Gawking. Look at this huge production.  I wish I had a camera then. My job? To clean the construction shop. Vacuum the saws. Sweep. Put away lumber. Keep things organized. Make sure no one trips on debris. Give the carpenters a hand when they needed to move something. Simple things. “Shop bitch”. I didn’t mind, I was a kid and I was learning. Happy just to be there making some money and watching it come together. It wasn’t easy.. there are no comfort controls in the massive armories. No A/C. We were starting at 6AM and sweating by 6:17. In the winter it was freezing cold no matter what you did. Here I am, I’m in the middle of 8 table saws going. Dust everywhere. A lot of it MDF (medium density fibreboard – another story…) – a toxic composite wood made of glued together sawdust. It was filthy. But from all this filth the set started to come together. The floor. Then the walls started rising. Then the carpenters added detail. Then the set dressers came in. The electricians lit it and the rigging crew had everything set. And then the shooting crew arrived. The cast. The exras. Craft service. Catering. Where did the star of the movie park their BIGGEST-EVER bus size trailer? INSIDE the armory right next to our carpentry shop. The armory, this HUGE armory, was EMPTY when I got there. By the time I had left we filled every inch three times over. We’d built sets, knocked them down, and built new ones, new floors on top of old, at the end of the job the floor we put down was 10 layers of wood and we used 2 forklifts to break it into huge chunks. At the end it was empty and cleaner than when we’d found it. And I saw it all.

One of the first mornings I was there, probably looking confused, “hair in my eyes”, a carpenter who knew I was new to the business said to me “C’mere kid I wanna show you something”. He turned me around and said “This is the first rule of the business” and pointed at the wall of our tool room – on it in huge letters was:

“SEE THE BIG PICTURE”

Sweeping is not just sweeping. If the floors don’t get swept the movie doesn’t get made. I applied that lesson to everything. I learned a lot from that carpenter. We did that entire job together and I didn’t see him for almost 2 years and he said he saw me working and he couldn’t believe how much I learned. I’m extremely lucky to work around people that are not just my peers but people who’ve lived life much more than I…. that carpenters name was Eddie Ferrara. He passed away 3 days ago of Lung Cancer. He was in his 50′s. A true character in the story of life.

Rest in Peace to all those we lost in 2009 and all of us left behind

we are ALL a part of the Big Picture

LOVE

t

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.