Way back in 2003 after a night in a great club in Newcastle, I caught what seemed like an ordinary taxi. From the markings of the private hire trade magazine on the outside of the van, there was no mistaking it from a UK taxi. So we jumped in and the driver greeted us with a big smile. I told him that we were heading to Durham, and once he noticed my accent I think he instantly became in interested in having a conversation.

The Indian kid driving couldn’t have been much older than me. I was around 20 at the time. Whether you are on the streets of NYC, Tokyo, or even a small town in the northeastern part of the UK, seems loud speakers in your car are the general rule. So he informed me that this seemingly ordinary taxi, which he used for both his daily driving and becoming a taxi driver, was actually equipped with what I think were two 12″ woofers in the back. How he fit luggage back there, I have no idea. Luckily we didn’t have any luggage that night. I could tell this was more than just his business taxi. This was his daily driving car too. By the way, do you know how much does a 20 minute uber cost?

He then asked me if I had ever heard of Bhangra. I didn’t have a clue. So he told me he was going to put in a CD to let us hear. I have no idea who he put in, but that night was the start of an appreciation I still have to this day for Bhangra.

You may have not realized, but chances are good you have heard Bhangra before. When you think of traditional Indian music, you are more than likely thinking of Bhangra. What he played for me that night wasn’t traditional Bhangra though. It was faster, mixed and mashed with hiphop, house, and pop dance. Much of the Bhangra popular with Indian youths today is a very new-school rendition of the traditional music. Bhangra has even had a bit of mainstream exposure here in the states. Jay Z did a song with Panjabi MC, a legend in Bhangra scene. The song sparked waves across the air and brought Bhangra even more fans across the world.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wke0-lj2wzw]

Fast forward 6 years. I still listen to Bhangra almost every week. BBC’s Asian network has a weekly 2 hour segment called the Bhangra Mixtape hosted by Sonny Ji that mixes Bhangra, hip hop, dance, and house seemelessly into an amazing mix. Listen to the latest show here. If you are looking for a place to start listening to the new age Bhangra, his show is a great start.

If you asked me to place the blame on someone else besides myself, I would have to say it’s because my favorite Twitter client, Twhirl, has halted development. The team has since focused on developing Seesmic Desktop. Upon getting the alpha download email, I had grand thoughts in my head. However, after seeing the release, I absolutely hated it. Gone was the simplicity and compactness of Twhirl. And more importantly, no FriendFeed! I just can’t accept that. So I stuck with what was familiar and chose to uninstall it.

But then it hit me… Had I given it a chance, would I not have got burned out on Twitter? Seesmic Desktop has 1 key feature I wish they built into Twhirl… the grouping of contacts. I follow lots of Japanese bloggers, designers, twitter celebs (no, not those celebs), and all sorts of segemented groups. Keeping everything organize is a must.

Good news, Seesmic Desktop does have plans to add back FriendFeed as well as make the UI a bit more plesant to the eye. So for the time being, I will keep wading through the Twitter stream that I have amassed. How do you keep a hold of your Twitter follows?

So, as some of you may already know, I am currently waiting on my ship-date to bootcamp for the Air Force. I somehow managed to pull off a score 5 points away from perfect, and signed the papers to spend the next 4 years as an airman. I am extremely excited and can’t wait till leave.

As I was driving home from work on Thursday it occured to me… I’m happy with the direction my life is going. Without going into too much detail, what I hope to do in the Air Force will give me a choice in 4 years whether or not I want to continue in the Air Force, or work for the government doing what I did in the Air Force with a pretty good salary. I have more than just a plan for the near future, I have a plan for the rest of my life!

Short term? While I’m waiting to leave for bootcamp, I have returned to working fulltime with my current employer. I am really greatful that they are willing to work with me while I am waiting to leave. I am paid very well and much of the money I make until I leave will go directly into savings. Working full time will also help the time go by faster I hope.

Which leaves me with something I not only didn’t predict happening, but also am extremely greatful it did. Over these past few months, I reconnected with a friend. It was a bit funny because of all days, we began talking again on Valentine’s Day. Since then I have seen a side of her that previously was unknown to me. Whether it is about life, travel, music, and even the definition of what love should be, we share so much in common. I am enjoying getting to know her, and am looking forward to becoming even closer.

So as I look at how my life is at this very moment, although almost everything will be changing in the next few months, I am extremely happy with the direction I am finally going. It took a few years, and a few mis-steps and learning experiences along the way, I finally can say that I am heading in the right direction.

The newest superstar personality to hit the scene is Vince Shlomi. He is the face behind the ShamWow and Slap Chop… which will have you slapping your troubles away. Sure, it hasn’t been an easy road to superstardom for Vince. We all remember the little incident where he got his ass kicked by a stripper.

I love 80s dance and hip-hop. Some ingenous Youtuber has combined those two loves and remixed Vince’s Slap Chop infomercial into something that defies awesomeness. Be amazed, I still am.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5cHIQA]

Also, as an African American, I know for sure your mother didn’t raise you to hit women. You should be ashamed of yourself. I don’t get it when people, men especially, beat up on the weaker… whether its male or female. Is it that big of a deal to you to prove you are superior?

You know what, Karma is a cruel mistress. She will come back to pay what’s due. If you have to remember one woman to never treat poorly, let it be her. I’m not really big into R&B, but I did like Chris Brown and Ne-Yo’s style. They were like how Usher used to be, minus the cocky attitude. At least there’s still Ne-Yo.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w]

Whether you admit it or not, I’m sure if you went back to your first couple of tweets, you could easily fit into the group of people this video is referring to. Who’s at fault for this entire class of Twitter user? I blame Twitter itself. Take a look at Twitter’s definition of itself:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

How many of you know someone that strictly uses Twitter for that reason alone? I sure don’t. And if I did, I wouldn’t be following them in the first place. Therefore, I don’t know any. Keep up.

I guess the success of Twitter stems from the fact that we are able to adapt Twitter to what we want it to be. Personally, I love the fact that Twitter offers a platform for open conversation. If you want to join in, you can @ or #hash in. If you just want to be an observer, you can follow the conversation with ease and be totally in control.

Why do you use Twitter?

Video via René Fischer.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacxAfN_T-Y]

What starts out as an innocent family walking along a make-believe street, when the child tells his parents that he has to go potty. I guess potty was Pee-wee’s Secret Word (see what I did there?). Out pops a Carl Cox look-a-like MC, who proceeds to show the kid the correct way to signal a potty emergency. Then we see Mr. Herbert from Family Guy stake his claim to the dance.

As if this dance was common knowledge growing up, the parents begin to expertly perform the moves. If you look at the kid closely, you can see it in his eyes that he desperately wishes he didn’t know these adults. But he’s stuck with them. So like many, he succumbs to peer pressure because all the kids these days are doing it.

Then there’s part two. Yes, part two. One thing that you will notice is that the Potty Dance knows no cultural boundaries. Pull-Ups does an expert job at showing all sorts of families from all over the world. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Potty Dance in other languages in the not so distant future.

So what do you get if your child proves that he or she can master the cool, yet crazy Potty Dance moves? Pull-Ups is offering a $5,000 Big Kid room makeover. But the real prize is your child being known for the rest of his or her life as the Potty Dance kid. Who wouldn’t want to be among the likes of the Star Wars kid?

You know, sometimes you hear a song that not only brings back memories of the past, but also is very relevant to your future. I was listening to Pandora and this song by Kate Nash came on. I stopped what I was doing, and just listened to the lyrics. I was left smiling.

Lyrics

The Friday Five has been around almost as long as I have been blogging. During the early days of xorsyst.com (2001-2002), I used to participate in the Friday Five almost religiously. While I believe it has changed hands a few times, the concept has remained the same. Every week, a new set of 5 questions are presented for bloggers to answer. 

1. If your car/bike is wrecked (if your mass transit service goes belly-up), do you know what you would do to replace it, perhaps even have the car or bike you want already picked out?

I have always wanted an RSX, and when I finally bought one, I became content with my choice of car. Although, secretly, my next car is going to be a white Acura TL. Don’t tell my current car though! Lately, I have become fond of bikes. Theres a guy in my neighborhood that has some crazy crotch rocket with the biggest rear tires I have ever seen. I need to find out what he has.

2. A client/friend gives you a lottery ticket, which wins you a prize worth (after taxes) ten times as much money as you earned/received last year. What will you do with it?

I would probaly give them some as a thank you. You know, Karma is a cruel mistress. After that, I would probaly buy up a lot of beachfront property in prep for when the economy gets back on its feet. This is a buyers market people! After that, I would probaly travel the world, and Japan would be my first destination.

3. Fight or flee?

I pick my battles. Gotta know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em. That was my first and last Kenny Rogers lyric I promise.

4. Someone performs a random act of kindness that is exactly what you need on a bad day. If you wish to pay them back, would you write a poem, bake, buy something, or what?

I would take them out for a drink. I’ve never been the thank you card kinda guy. Cards are so… impersonal. If I’m going to say something nice to someone, im going to literally say it.

5. Your manager commands you to pick a charity to contribute to. Do you resist? If not, which charity would be your first choice?

I would like to donate to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters foundation. While I have always had a loving and caring mother who I treasure with all of my heart, I missed out on having a father in my life. A child shouldn’t miss out on having either parent missing while growing up.

Recently, I have become a fan of Pandora Radio, the Internet radio station that discovers music for you. It has replaced, but not elimiated, my previous addiction to Winamp’s shoutcast radio. I still listen to a lot of JRock and dance stations such as French Kiss FM in Winamp, but the majority of my time is spent letting Pandora discover what I should be listening to.

There are many services out there that claim to recommend similar artist that you will love. What sets Pandora apart is that they are powered by an amazing project called the Music Genome Project. The MGE categorizes music based on about 400 attributes to describe songs and a super complex mathmetical algorithm to organize them.

Last year, I became fixated on a girl called Uffie. She’s a Paris based, electropop/hip-hop/dance artist with such a unique sound. I quickly scoured the Internet to find everything she has ever created. Once I became saturated by everything that is Uffie, I wanted to find other artists with that similar electropop / hip-hop sound. Pandora came to my rescue.

Once you sign up for Pandora, you create radio stations based on artists you currently like. So naturally, for the first artist, I put in “Uffie” and it played a song by her. Then, it started to link to other artists such as Fannypack and Peaches with that same sort of sound that I was yearning for. I fell in love with Pandora, and it is one love affair that I don’t see ending anytime soon.

Another popular service for music recommendation and tracking is Last.FM. I have been on Last.FM since 2005, but lost interest in it due to the fact that I began listening to most of my music streaming online. Winamp couldn’t send track information to Last.FM about the songs I was listening to through Shoutcast.

Fast forward 4 years. Last night, I stumbled across an open source app for Pandora called OpenPandora. It allows you to listen to Pandora without a browser open, as well as a lot of other cool features. There was one feature that made me happier than all the rest, Last.FM integration. So now, if you visit my Last.FM profile, you will see all the songs I am currently listening to on Pandora. It’s a great mashup.

FYI, in my sidebar, you will now see a “listening to” section that’s a feed from last.fm. It’s a WordPress plugin called Last.FM Recent Album Artwork, and the best plugin I have tried so far with Last.FM integration. I definitely recommend it.