Thursday, July 26, 2007

The longest weekend of my life

first...the video.





This Friday, San Diego, CA.

8:00pm

House of Blues, San Diego:

The Megas, Random and Quarter Circle Jab

FREE!


Also at the same time..

Bossfight and NerdyMag's "The Next Level" at the SD sports club...

YTC, Zealous1, Super Barrio Bros, Maja, IllGill and a bunch more..

and Random.


so while I'm at The HOB, my clone will be at the SDSC...or maybe the other way around.


nah, not really. I go on first (8:15) at the HOB, and I'll be at the Sports Club right afterwards...hopefully I can stick around to perform "Metalman" with The Megas, but I don't know...

one things for sure, should be a great night in San Diego.


Double dipping has never been this fun.
But the madness doesnt end there...cause then it's off to Comic-Con, for a 1-hour (!) set on Saturday.

Then an interview Saturday night, then off to LA.
in LA- Shows on Sunday, and Tuesday.

This will mark the single most times I've performed in a 4 day span in my life..I'm used to 1, maybe 2 shows in a week...but this is wild! but I welcome the challenge.

Hey...it's the grind.

gotta love it.
_________________









Random presents
"Mega Ran."
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00T4AIJB

Join the Club.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/megaran

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Interview with Capcom

I usually don't blog this much, but what can I say, there are some good things happening these days.

1st- peep the Mega Ran Intro Vid:


Hot on the heels of my last interview comes a great new interview with Scarlett of Capcom USA. if you don't know who Capcom is, they're the great folks responsible for some of the most memorable games of all time...


Street Fighter (Ha-dou-ken!)


Resident Evil...remember the big ol' Playstation game boxes, sheesh!

and my favorite...

Mega Man.

well, here it is!!

Hey Everyone it's almost time for Comic Con! And that being said, I HAVE to tell you about one of the coolest things we're going to have at the Capcom booth: a celebration of Mega Man's 20th Anniversary with a live performance by rapper Random (aka: Random Beats) performing his latest creation, Mega Ran!

"So what's Mega Ran?" I hear you ask. And I answer: only the coolest Mega Man music you've ever heard! Seriously, no joke. He took classic Mega Man themes and turned them into kick-butt tracks, complete with lyrics following Mega Man's adventures or in the words of someone like Mega Man. Old school Blue Bomber fans are gonna hear these classic themes and flip.

..

I was able to interview Random (or as the kids that he teaches know him, Raheem Jarbo), so you'll get a chance to meet the man before you see the magic live at Comic Con.

Scarlett: Where are you from?

Random: I'm from Philadelphia, born and raised. cue the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" music Just under a year ago, I decided to uproot and move to Phoenix for a teaching position, so here I am.

..

S:What made you decide to do this album?

R:As a huge videogame fan, and being a "random" guy, I one day was reading a website about Mega Man, and realized that 2007 made the 20th year anniversary of Mega Man's release, and went online searching for some of the old theme songs to hear them. Somewhere along the way I got a crazy idea to sample a tune and do one song about Mega Man. Then I had such a hard time picking a song, so "Mega Ran" was born!

S:When did you first play Mega Man and which game was it? 5th grade?

R:I don't want to show my age, but I may have to (laughs). Yeah, I believe it was the 4th or 5th grade when I played Mega Man for the first time. I had a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine, and Mega Man 2 was a cover story one issue, and it made me so excited about the game, that I went back and begged my mom to buy the first Mega Man. That was the most challenging game that I remember playing in those days, and so I was hooked. I even made up and drew my own Mega Man bosses in my sketch books in those days.....



read the rest here....and you know the drill, come on back and comment

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Back West.

I had a GREAT time back east last week, and thanks to all of you who called, kept me company, or emailed me suggestions of stuff to do.

I'm a little jetlagged so I can't go into all of the high and lowlights of the trip, but here are a few:

I visited Yale University's campus (New Haven, CT) and I was blown away. a lot of history there...great food, nice people, and a lot of Hip-Hop fans....who are also broke college kids. Say what you want about the Ivy League, but they know how to get down.

I also met a lot of great folks, students, professors and teachers, who i hope to stay in contact with.

I took a trip to New York City and saw Raheem Devaughn at BB King's. Dude works hard...for the ladies. I could do without all the de-shirting, but I gotta admit, he's a great performer.


I came back last night and went right back to work.. dig it, got off the plane at 11:30 and performed at the Hidden House (great crowd BTW!) and sold a bunch of CDs and met more good peoples. Great to know that Hip-Hop lives, even out here in the desert.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need a nap.

Oh yeah, I haven't given out any free music in a while, so here goes,
Random- "Never Be The Same" Get it Here.
produced by DN3
foreword by Craig G (if you don't know, then you REALLY should do some research).

Get it Here.

enjoy it.


And if you've heard MEGA RAN , tell me your favorite cut so I can put it up on the player.


One last thing:

Are you going on a summer vacation? Did you go anywhere? I'm curious, so do share.

holla.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

iThink iWon't get an iPhone

Why I'm not getting an iPhone.
Current mood: curious
Category: Web, HTML, Tech


its slick.
its sleek.
it's black.
its sexy.

NO, not me! the iPhone.

As the biggest techno-geek I know, I for one salivated when I saw the first video demos of the spiffy new iPhone. However, as an iPod and Sidekick owner, why on earth would I need this phone???

Here are just a few reasons I found.

At a glance, the device looks fantastic, features sound fun, and there's no doubt this phone is the "it" phone this year. But realistically, would you pay $500-$600 for any other phone? Like many of you, I'm still debating whether to buy an iPhone or not, so I found a list of reasons, and I'll give you my take on each.

* Price/Storage: Probably the biggest reason to wait is the price.The iPhone will retail in stores for $500 (4GB) and $600 (8GB) — AND you still have to sign a new two-year agreement. Don't expect this phone to replace your iPod either. The top-of-the-line $600, 8GB iPhone only holds 2,000 songs, and only a handful of videos and full-length movies. I also don't understand why you have to buy the iPhone at full price, and still sign a two-year contract. You could easily get a comparable phone actually running on a 3G network like a Treo 750 for $199 with a two-year contract, or an 80GB video iPod for almost half the price.

*iThink........right!!! in a year it'll be 1/2 the price. and what are the monthly charges? plus fees?? only 2000 songs? I live and breathe music! Nah. keep reading...

* Plans: What's really bothering me about this is AT&T is playing into all this hype too, forgetting about its customers. I called AT&T today to find out more details about switching carriers, and the rep was clueless. Come on guys, we needed pricing details about a month before the phone went on sale so we could estimate costs. Why is the company being so secretive? We know the phone is launching on Friday, and we know what it does. So why did it wait so long to reveal service plans? At least now we know getting an iPhone isn't going to be cheap. Chris Null outlined the cost of each service plan, the cheapest plan being $60/mo for 450 minutes. He says that in two years, you'll end up paying close to $2,000 for service alone. Plus there is that $36 activation fee, and a two-year contract on top of that. Those who already have an AT&T account can expect to pay an additional $20-$30 for the "iPhone plan" which includes Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, and unlimited data since there is no voice-only plan. And if you think you can get the iPhone to use without service, think again. Apple's web site says a two-year agreement is required for iPhone activation including iPod features.

*iThink........I already get unlimited text, internet and data on the Sidekick.. who cares about watching a dog on a skateboard on youtube on my phone??

* Network: Surprisingly, the iPhone does not run on a third-generation (3G) network, instead it runs on the slower EDGE network. Forbes thinks Apple opted for the slower network because AT&T's EDGE coverage spans across 13,000 cities and towns nationwide, compared with only 165 major U.S metro areas that have 3G coverage. It also brings up another excellent point. Since 3G devices are interchangeable between faster and slower networks, why did Apple still choose EDGE? Other AT&T smartphones like Samsung's BlackJack and Treo 750 run on 3G, and for what I understand AT&T is slowing moving away from EDGE. So perhaps a second- or third-generation iPhone will have 3G capability. And while the iPhone may have Wi-Fi capabilities, realistically, looking for a hotspot when you're out can be a challenge, unless you pay an extra $10 for T-Mobile access at Starbucks.

**iThink........this is the hardest one, because out here in AZ, my network sucks with T-Mobile. I don't know if I'm on the 3G, or the ZeroG out here, cause my signal sucks.

* First Generation: A geek's rule of thumb is to never get a first generation gadget. Apple is one of the few companies that revamps its products at such a quick pace, that in this case, they actually make it quite bearable to wait for the second revision. Look at all the improvements they've made on iPods and MacBooks. It may seem like waiting for a new iPhone will be an eternity, but I bet it'll be a matter of months before we see a better, faster version.

**iThink........ absolutely. the line to get it will be just as long as the line to return it. glitches are an absolute given.

* Long Lines: I love technology as much as the next guy, but no gadget is worth standing in line days in advance for, not even the iPhone. People have already started to line up, and some are even betting real money that someone will get trampled. I would add getting shot at, beaten, mugged, and possibly being hospitalized to the list.

**iThink........ I aint tryin to get shot over a phone!! and if i got robbed for my shiny new $600 phone, I think i'd sit right on the curb outside of the mall and cry.

On top of all the above reasons, there's still some doubts about about the lack of keyboard, inability to sync with corporate internal email systems, and battery life. So lets get this straight. We're expected to pay for an overpriced phone, an expensive service plan, sign a new two-year contract, and still wait in line hoping to get one? No thanks.

**iThink........ i've grown so accustomed to the QWERTY keyboard on the Sidekick, I dont think I can go back to texting the old way. Granted, it makes from better road-texting (which I DON'T DO...um yeah..and neither should you...shame on you), but still....you might be looking at the next ..

N-Gage. Remember that? exactly.


iThink iPods and Phones are meant to be separate. what happens when the phone rings, does the music just shut off? then resume when the call stops? too many questions.

Bottom line is, you don't need the iPhone...

But I think you knew that.

so in closing...if you get one, let me know so i can come over and play with it.


-Ran


PS:


Cop that Mega Ran, and help Ran get to L.A.!

iThink that's a good move. peace.



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