Do you hate bike thiefs or any other type of criminals for that matter?  This video might make you feel better, maybe.  In this video some citizens had enough with a local bike thief and they finally decided to take matters into their own hands.  They set up an ambush scene with a hidden camera and a bait bike to catch him in the act. After a couple of nights he gets caught ‘redhanded’ stealing the bait bike then gets blasted by dozens of paintballs.  He attempts to retaliate with a knife but that only makes it worse because the vigilantes had bear spray waiting for him.  Ever been hit by a paintball?? “Ouch” doesn’t do justice to the pain produced by one hit.  Yes, there is a possibility that this video is fake but after watching it closely a few times I am pretty sure it’s real.  Living in San Francisco I have gotten my bike seat stolen two times, my front wheel taken once and my car window busted twice only to take some old CD’s.  Needless to say I have experienced much anger at this situation and have actually thought about doing this same thing but never had the balls or motivation to actually do it.

This video is a first of a kind on even on You Tube.  Controversial?  Does the thief deserve this?  He deserves something that is for sure.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat excited by the vigilantes who decided to take matters into their own hands.   The thief, well, I am sure he spent a week in bed watching his bruises go down.  I hope he never ever steals another bike again.  Thiefs worldwide beware.  This type of activity might become contagious.

Dont Front! Nabir used this car the same way Hans Solo used the Millenium Falcon – he used a small screwdriver to get that tape player working and of course had a customized horn button – true Egyptian stylee.

Actually one of my main goals in Cairo was to get this picture of a hand drawn Michelin man which I kept laughing at no matter how many times I saw it.  8 years later it was still there. I was never able to get a picture before because the owner always looked so angry.  Lo and behold after taking this picture, the guy below got mad and asked for money for taking the pictrure.. Yeah right bro, no way.  Thanks to Nabir he got set straight:

Forget Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum and all that tourist trap stuff, I like Koshary, a simple and strange but addictive and cheap local dish.  I wanted to eat Egypt’s national dish from the minute I saw Cairo from the plane, Koshary!   Why do I call it strange? because the ingredient combination makes no sense to me and have never figured out how Egypt’s historical background even came to have this odd combination of ingredients in is national dish.   The name is actually and acronym K.O.S.H.A.R.Y. but excuse my bad job reporting here because I can not remember which letter stands for which ingredient.  They are : rice, brown lentils, macaroni or spaghetti noodles,  chickpeas, spicy tomato sauce (the secret ingredient in my opinon), carmalized onions, and garlic-vinegar or and lime dressing.

Accoring to Nabir, up until the 80’s Mr. Abou Tarek sold Koushary from a push cart in the heart of Cairo streets as an affordable food alternative for low income Muslims who could not afford meat.  His formula apparently became the favored choice of the people.  Eventually Mr. Tarek revolutionized Koushary when he opened up his restaurant at 16 Shampilion street in Cairo.

In Islamic fashion of having big posters of political leaders and family members, Mr Abou Tarek plasters huge poster of his smiling mug shot inside all the five floors of his famed restaurant:

ahh, that Abou Tarek, he just loves himself. Loving yourself is a good thing.  I love myself too. Its time to print out a huge picture of myself and put it in my living room, eh, might as well put it in every room in my house.

Regardless of the gaudy interior and Mr Abou’s ego his Koshary recipe is definitely regarded as the best in Egypt.  I absolutely love it and had to go get some.  It could be considered an acquired taste at first, but if you want to travel cheap in Egypt, eventually you will LOVE Koushary.  It is less than a dollar for a big portion so go figure.  My mouth watered for it as soon as I got into Egypt.. Strange huh?

This how it it served, along with fresh lemon juice and vinegar condiments which are not seen in this picture.

everyone has their own way of blending the ingredients but I always mixed it up well and added a lot of lemon, my Peruvian side you know.

While you wolf down that Koushary, you can enjoy the gaudy interior with fountains of course.  This is considered one of the best places for Koshary in Cairo, by no means should you expect to find fountains in other Cairo restaurants.  Enjoy the flash intro to the Abou Tarek Restaurant website, personally I get a kick out of it.

Since Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol, shisha, teas, and tabla (Backgammon) are hands down the most popular activities in Egypt and pretty much all over the Muslim world.  In the heart of Cairo you see these Shisha places in almost every corner and they are always full of men, never women.  In fact, you don’t see too many women period, just dudes….dudes and more dudes…. ugh… but when in Cairo enjoy some shisha and tabla and tea.

Nabir and I just kept it very local and played backgammon, smoked apple flavored shisha, and drank tea.

I felt lucky enough to see this well known local 80+ year old eccentric Christian-Egyptian lady who dyes her hair yellow and wears interesting clothes.  She actually belongs in San Francisco.  Nabir could not remember her name.

Finally, TRAFFIC in Cairo, my favorite amusement.  Conventional talkers and guidebooks will probably tell you its THE WORST.  I disagree, it’s the best.  First of all, Egyptians have a slick way of communicating with light taps of the horn.  It does not come off angry, its more like,”hey I’m right here, don’t hit me.”  They use the horn so much that most drivers have custom horn buttons that are usually all worn out from frequent use. Secondly, pedestrians crossing streets.  Drivers don’t usually stop and let you cross. It is more like, you and some other pedestrians build some critical mass and then start walking across the street all at once.  It was scary the first time I did it, but after a while it became fun.  Believe me you won’t get hit.  Finally, in Cairo most drivers do not use headlights.  They just don’t see the point. Many people put colors on their headlights for decoration.  It looks cool at night.   Here is a video I edited for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy:

]]> http://www.miguel23.com/blog/koshary-shisha-tabla-cairo-traffic/feed/ 2 http://www.miguel23.com/blog/the-ferocious-few-live-at-dolores-park-7-19-09/ http://www.miguel23.com/blog/the-ferocious-few-live-at-dolores-park-7-19-09/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:02:29 +0000 solprovider http://www.miguel23.com/blog/?p=150 Video from this past Sunday at Dolores Park:

San Francisco and The Ferocious Few have a symbiotic relationship.  The city provides music friendly street corners to play in and the duo returns a raw original rock sound from the gut that stops pedestrians in their tracks.  They can be found anywhere from 9th and Irving, to 4th and Market, to 16th and Valencia and of course the cosmic home base, Dolores Park.

The first time I saw drummer Daniel Aguilar and guitarist Francisco Fernandez at Dolores Park was in the Summer of 2007, my jaw dropped. David’s drumming intensity (the facial expressions) was reminiscent of Michael Shrieve’s leyendary Woodstock performance but on a small kit, just brutal.  Francisco’s rock singing and guitar playing was as if he was possessed by a southern blues spirit from the past that was trapped in his body.  This duo has that voodoo juju in their funk mojo.. dig?

For being so lo-fi, their sound is so big. Indeed they are a ferocious act so their name is well-earned.  I personally believe these guys are a rock duo made in heaven that will be listened to by many.  I think you are lucky if you get to see these guys in their local element, before they blow up, which should not be surprising.

Enjoy this video of the Ferocious Few from this past Sunday at beautiful Dolores Park:

Find them on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ferociousfew

This movie was directed by directed and writen by Claudia Llosa, who is also the niece of recognized Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.  She beautifully portrays the story of Fausta, played by Magaly Solier, who suffers from ‘la teta asustada,’ a psychological condition suffered by children born during the terrorist years who lactated from the ’scared milk’ of the mothers who survived that era.  Fausta herself is an attractive but timid and paranoid character who constantly lives in fear of men due to graphic rape stories told by her late mother.  She goes as far as putting a potato in her vagina to prevent rape, but this causes more emotional and physical trauma as the plot develops.

YES, you read that last part, this movie has very strong plot elements.  In short, the story takes place in a poverty striken and post-terrorist province of Lima.  After Fausta’s mother passes away, besides the emotional pain, she struggles to save enough money for her mother burial which is expensive.  At the same time, her cousin is preparing for a lavish wedding which juxtaposes the irony of a poor province stuck in old ridiculous dowry habits.  Fausta is forced to take a job as a maid for a rich white woman, which portrays another characteristic of Peruvian diversity, culture and class division.

As a Peruvian who was raised in the United States, and also a lover of film, my opinion of this movie is high. The director’s cinematic elements are slow in rhythm but beautiful in imagery and full of feeling. I praise Magaly Solier for her acting as Fausta, she is able to make the directors vision come alive well.  I think she captures the idiosyncracies of that Peruvian province in a charming way.  Some have called this movie the Slumdog Millionaire of Peru because it of its portrayal of a poor peruvian province, but I disagree this plot is richer in feeling and compassion from a different place in the heart.  Its plot does not strive for towards the hopes of wealth and prosperity, it observes the resolution of a very complex psychological reality and experience of the protagonist.  This movie stands on its own and it brings Peruvian film quality to a whole new level.  I recommend La Teta Asustada to any true lover of cinema with feeling.

—————

Update 2/26/10

When I wrote this movie review last year I did not expect it to become the 1st Peruvian film nominated for an Oscar. I also never thought I WOULD BE GOING TO THE OFFICIAL NOMINATION PARTY IN LA TO POUR MACCHU PISCO COCKTAILS! I am actually most excited to meet MAGALY SOLIER. Viva PERU and drink some pisco, its actually good for you.

I met William at a stoplight in San Isidro as he was breakdancing for money. He was literally turning on his head to earn a living. This is an example of a great Peruvian guy earning a fair buck with his talents. Support the street arts worldwide. Give William some love at bboy257@hotmail

As of two years ago cumbia in Peru has once again taken the front seat as the popular music but with a more comercial sound.  Los Chapillacs however have decided to revamp the old Chicha sound and bring back the lost party flavor from the dead.. and they did it well in Lima on 3/31/09 @ Bar Mochileros.

The most amazing thing for me about this band is that these young kids are from Arequipa, a conservative southern city with nowhere near the cultural capacity of Lima the capital.  It is rare that a band from Arequipa can come to the capital, pack a nightclub, and rock the hell out of it on a Tuesday night.  The band received great accolades from the crowd which ended up full of sweat by 1:30 am.  I also find it cool that their name, Chapillacs, is derived from La Virgen de Chapi who is the virgin patron of Arequipa if you will.  If you ever go to Arequipa you will likely see Virgen de Chapi efigies everywhere.

Their live show simply rocked, it did not sound psychedelic as their music claimed but if you can listen to their recorded sound here: http://www.myspace.com/chapillacs

I suspect that a band like this would do well on a little West coast American tour. San Franciscans would love it.

“Like any well-executed satire, The Tender Morsels captures a niche genre of rock, one where The Wiggles might be seen as competition. But they’re not. As any newly minted parent of an infant knows (and is reminded of every single night on repeat), The Wiggles play for kids and are also WAY more famous.“

Jeff also produced “I Slammed My Dick in the Drawer”,  a viral video that was screened at SXSW this year.  the rest of the cast I do not know personally but apparently are hilarious .. enjoy The Wiggles:

Let’s not forget to give props to all the cat extras:

CATS
Gus
Dakota
Amira
Squeaks
Brownie
Icicle
Poe
Ruckus Rockstar
Nessa
Thom
Bananas
Zima
Sumomo

Paul Takahashi, aka Paul T, is an underground culture trendsetter whose disco djing skills have earned him high degree accolades in the avant Nu Disco scenes.  Paul T sees  Disco through different lens.  He drops drippy filtered psychedelic ’spaceship-landing’ Nu Discospheric selections mixed in an expert fashion with keen attention to vibe and programming.   He was recently featured on Tim Sweeny’s highly acclaimed Bside radio broadcast, BeatsInSpace, out of New York.  A friend of mine described this radio recording as “crucial.” Listen to it here.

Years ago Paul teamed up with the voodoo disco prince, Dj Harvey, to produce LA’s highly acclaimed Dj Harvey Sarcastic Disco events.  Paul helped mature and foster a scene of serious disco music aficionados and veteran partiers who come out of the woodwork to celebrate the Disco warehouse spirit.

This will be Paul’s first show in San Francisco (he once played a wack fashion show here, so that does not count!).  Paul has a reputation for being very selective about where he performs.  This following clip from a gig in Mexico (Mexico has a rich history of loving disco music) displays Paul’s dj headnodding groove as he pounds a disco sample through the floor:

We made sure to secure a safe underground spot to make this event go off.  Here is a very short video clip of Paul building a crescendo at a party in Mexico, we never really hear the drop but the energy is building:

Paul will be accompanied by Leonard of Tocadisco, an underground music guru (Leonard is very sought out for his limitless knowledge of rare vinyl recordings), and Jeno, our local Wicked veteran and headliner for the BackToBack parties. 

In all, Paul T is the underground dj’s DJ.  I am very excited to work with VHS to help bring Paul T to San Francisco. I personally look forward to repeating the Disco magic I experienced at a Dj Harvey show back in May. I cannot wait to feel the power of the beat through the mind of Paul T.  19 Heron St, $10 at the door, 10pm to 6am.  See you there dance suckas!

My entire goal was to arrive by 2:00 pm for the unveiling of the applications built by teams of developers who in most cases met the day before for the first time. Many great applications were developed, each presentation was a few minutes long. You can read about it all from Andrew Mager who was there live blogging the event both days.

My personal highlight was performing 10 push ups during Jon Bardin’s demo of his Push-Up Counter app. I get an applause at the end which was actually for the application but it might have all helped because Jon’s app ended up winning a category. I’d like to think that my “interactive” demo influenced the judges decision.

Other highlights: I had a very pleasant time hanging out cross-legged on the floor of a side room with most of the Medialets team. They built an ad-network for native iPhone applications. Their blog is a sensational read I believe. They sponsored the huge amounts of beer for the event, this Marin Brewing Co. Peach Beer was amazing. It was also great to briefly hang with 15 year old blogger/entrepreneur Daniel Brusilovsky who launched Teens In Tech on the following Monday morning.Video is courtesy of Andrew Mager.

Julia Allison was the featured cover story on Wired Magazine’s Aug 08 issue – “Internet Famous” they called her. Mager had been Twittering about her earlier and it became more special when Allison revealed it was the first Wired cover shes ever signed. This prompted me to whip out the Canon TX1 and start shooting video. The party was extra exciting for me thanks to Kabbodle’s lovely Community Manager Kristi Herwarth who crowned me with a pink feather boa. Lots of fun specially when meeting Chamillionaire and McHammer and of course Julia Allison

Check out the video:

a photo credit to Andrew Mager for the picture of me and Julia

With only 30 days left until the deadline of a contest that Current TV was running called, Seeds of Tolerance, I embarked on this project. The prize was 100,000 dollars – I was in for the ride of my life.

I picked this topic because I myself am an immigrant to the good ole U.S.A. and I felt it was my duty to explore this topic closely. I am so happy that I did.

I quit my job (I got it back when I returned), borrowed the equipment, secured the funding, and flew off to New Orleans with only two contacts upon arrival, a friends friend who lent me his floor to sleep on and Christian Roselund who ran Indymedia in the area and whom I met through email correspondence.

Blood, Sweat and Tears is the best way that I can explain these 30 days. Sourcing, shooting, directing, and editing. I was a one man show. I went up to scared immigrant strangers on the street, this is how I met all the subjects in my movie. My time in New Orleans was very short so every minute on the field was worth gold. I met heroes and downtrodden people. Then entire experience felt somewhat apocalyptic. Certain people will always stick out in my mind.

9 hours of footage later, I had to teach myself how to edit video. This took about 2 hours thanks to my audio editing skills. I’m not kidding. I am a natural at this. I boiled all the content down to 11 minutes to meet the contest requirements. I can easily make a 40 minute movie with the footage.

I did not win the $100,000 but out of approximately 380 entries, 8 movies were picked, 6 finalists, and 2 for television. This movie was picked for television – I got paid. Not much money, but the reward today is bigger than anything I could have possibly imagined back then.

Tomorrow, I will be giving a speech after the screening of my movie at Unity High School in Oakland, California. This website has all the details: http://www.unityhigh.org/gulfcoasttrip08

The aim of the fundraiser is to send a group of students to New Orleans and make 2 documentaries about this topic. You are all of course welcome to help out.

This is a much deeper story because it involves everything from the Detroit techno music label Underground Resistance and an old school Dj friend from back in the Ann Arbor days. However, you will have to ask me in person about this if you really want to find out more.

Here is a link to the edited TV version

Credits and thank you’s:
Eddie & Johnny & Larry for letting me crash in your places, and Kieran Walsh for hooking that up.
Alex Outhred for funding
Gregory Kellet and Ian Kellet for the Camera and the tips – good juju!
Elsa Wenzel for support and research help
“CESAR” for putting up with me in his editing suite.
Christian Roselund, Ed Holub, Eva San Martin, Luz Molina, Jorge Lopez, Damion, Claire Didier, Lamar LeBlanc, Albert at Common Ground, and the immigrants themselves who put themselves at risk to help me make this film.

Thanks to Cornelius Harris for passing it on and thanks to Daniel Zarazua for inspiring the youth to take further action.

Thank you ALL!!!

Mig