Song of the day

I wanted to start a new blog thread dedicated to songs I am listening to on a particular day. Whether I am feeling happy, sad, angry, aggressive, confused or in love there is always a song I can choose that will relate to how I’m feeling at that moment. Most of the time it probably won’t even be about how I’m feeling, but just how much I like a song. Heck, sometimes I don’t even know the words to a song or what it is about, I just listen to it because I like the beat. I will try to provide the name of the song, artist, and if possible write a brief summary on why I chose that song. I will also try to provide a video link from youtube.

Joker

Title: Joker

Writter: Brian Azzarello

Art Work: Lee Bermejo and Mick Gray

Publisher: DC Comics

A while back I went to my local toy store to check out what they had.  While I was there I started talking with the guy that worked in the store.  He told me he was a huge fan of the Joker, and even showed me a tattoo he had of him.  I was surprised to meet someone that loved the Joker that much.  I also have to agree, the Joker is a pretty awesome character.  In the Batman movies he is always the character that most people like as well because he stands out from the rest of the evil villains.  Later that week I went to my local library to check out what they had in stock.  To my surprise they had a graphic novel of the Joker, simply called Joker.  I just had to get it and once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop.  This graphic novel blew my mind away.  The artwork is so amazing; it mixes between regular comic book drawings and paintings.  The Joker is drawn similar to the version Heath Ledger created in the movie The Dark Knight, with a Glasgow smile and his iconic green hair.  You can almost feel the emotions of characters from how they are drawn.

What complements these drawings is the darkly written story line.  It simply brings the Joker character to a whole darker and scarier level.  The story is written from the perspective of an up-and-coming criminal named, Jonny Frost.  Jonny is so ambitious to make his name be known that he is willing to join the Joker and follow him where ever he goes.  At first the Joker is shown to be the regular villain that everyone knows, creating the type of havoc that everyone loves.  As the story progresses and Jonny starts to get to know more about the man he idolizes, he soon starts to regret this decision.  The Joker goes from sinister to psychopathic to a beast that no one would envy, and would actually fear.

However for Jonny it is too late by the time he realizes what he has gotten himself into and this is what I found brilliant about the book.  Everyone always finds the good guy, be it Superman or Batman boring and instead like to follow the bad guy.  But in Joker, you come to realize that the bad guy is someone you don’t ever want to meet, and that when you do feel helpless the only person you can call is the good guy, Batman.  When the Dark Knight finally does appear, you really start to appreciate what he does; he fights evil.  As simplistic as that may sound, one will only understand how great this is until you have been through hell and see someone at the end of the tunnel willing to help.  I have to say this is by far my favorite graphic novel of all time.

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(graphic_novel)

DC Comics:

http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=10157

Vintage Jerseys

Whatever happened to Starter and Champion? It’s like once New Era, Mitchell & Ness and Nike came into the fitted/jersey business they forgot to step their game up. Granted their quality was trash with jersey's barely lasting a year on the playground. That dreaded peeling off numbers and logos was always a reason to avoid them. Still I love going to the local "bohemian used clothing" market in the city and finding jerseys from the early 90's.  My first jersey was a Penny Hardaway black away jersey from Starter.  I absolutely loved it because Penny was my favorite player, since MJ was still playing baseball. 

I had gotten the jersey with a pair of Orland Magic shorts, which really looked nice (and not cheesy).  I can’t remember what eventually happened to my jersey, other than I grew out of it and must have thrown it away.  Today I don’t own many jerseys but I can still appreciate them, especially one’s from the NBA of the late 80’s to 90’s.  A website that I like to visit that is filled with an appreciation of all those vintage jerseys is straightcashhomey.net.  Besides the jerseys worn by people on the street, I like how they show random player jerseys as well.  It’s nice to see something besides the superstar players all the time.

Website:

http://straightcashhomey.net

Air Jordan III Retro 2011 white/cement

The Air Jordan III white/cement has been a sneaker I have been waiting for years to be re-released.  It is a sneaker with much history, style and technology that represents the Air Jordan brand the best.  The history that it represents is the time when Michael Jordan wanted to leave Nike, but decided to stay after Tinker Hatfield showed Michael a sample of the sneaker.

The history it also represents is when Michael wore the white/cement III’s to win the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in 1988.  The style that it established was the first time that an Air Jordan used the Jumpman logo, and also the famous elephant print.  The technology that it provided was the use of a visible Air-Sole unit.  To this day I am still amazed by this technology created by Frank Ruby; being able to see through the shoe, and also wondering how the Air unit doesn’t pop.

Besides the joy I feel for being able to buy these sneakers, I am also happy that Jordan Brand also added some additional special features such as a retro box, paper, pamphlet and hang tag.  When I was a kid, wearing the hang tag or key chain (that was included) on your sneakers made them look super official.  Besides Nike; Ewings, Fila, and Reebok all came with hang tags.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say these retro’s are identical to the original release, but nevertheless they are made better than what we’re used to from Jordan Brand retros.  The minor (or major as you may wish to focus on) differences from the original are the thickness of the leather, the lack of the Nike Air logo on the back heel and bottom sole, and the type of paint that is used on the outsole.  Rather than complain about these issues, I’m just glad that I have these sneakers.  I have been buying Air Jordan III themed t-shirts for years waiting for these sneakers, so I am just happy I can now wear them with my t-shirts.  This groundbreaking sneaker is worth its weight in gold.

Jordan Brand:

www.jumpman23.com

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v59FAp3I8qk