The Rod is now ¼ of a Year Old!

Yeah you guys read that correctly. 3 months ago, a dream over two years in the making was realized. The goal to establish a medium through which two remarkably brilliant college kids can express whatever the hell they wanted was accomplished. And while Rod is obviously still a pretty small operation, I honestly did not think that we would have this many unique visits from such a spectrum of countries…even if it’s just one person a piece. To this day, I will always remember logging in and seeing that someone from THE Islamic Republic of Iran managed to find The Rod....shit blew my mind, yo. But seriously, I was pretty excited about it (and now we have 2 unique visits from Iran!). Since then, we’ve received an ever-increasingly diverse group of visitors. Great Britain is currently our second biggest source of visitors (you Canucks gotta step your game up!), and neither I nor Sid have any English friends…so yeah. Good stuff. The next step is to get at least 5 of the 300 million Chinese internet users out there to visit us. Statistically, we should already have like 80 right?

So what are my plans for the future of Rod? Well, first, I would like to continue posting and actually have this thing make it to one whole year. If Sid and I can keep this up even while we’re going through the exuberant adventure that is college senior year, then we’ll be in alright shape. I’m also going to try to actually take photos in real-life and post some cool stuff here. I’m not the artsy type, but I think it would be cool to mix it up a bit.

Boom.

Ip Man = Baddest Man on the Planet

Just watched Ip Man yesterday. It stars Hong Kong action superstar 甄子丹 (Donnie Yen) as Ip Man, the man responsible for the current popularity of Wing Chun and for training some young guy named 李小龙 (Li Xiaolong) back in the day (you may have heard of him before). If you enjoyed Fearless, you would love this film too as they both feature pissed-off Chinese guys beating the mess out of people for the pride of their nation and our viewing pleasure.


Oh yeah, the film also features one of the most brutally awesome fight scenes I've seen in a while. Once I saw what Mr. Yen did to the first sucka I knew I was in for a treat. Check it:

Matt and Kim - Lessons Learned

Below is a dope video from the apparently brave and incredibly laid back Matt and Kim. I was introduced to this Brooklyn duo by way of a RCRD LBL mixtape with their song Daylight, which you may recognize from a recent Bacardi ad. Anyway, check out this fantastic clip.

Enjoy!

mattandkimmusic.com

MoMA x Muji: "I Like The Way This Feels"

A couple of days ago, I visited the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), only I didn’t get to see any exhibits. I had forgotten it was Thursday, so the museum itself closed at 5:30, as opposed to 8ish—I arrived at 4:45. Opting to not spend twelve hard earned dollars for just 45 minutes (I’d need a little more time), I ventured across the street to the Design Store. It was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my week. The store’s skillful, minimalistic interior design drew me in (huge glass windows helped), as well as the allure of air conditioning. Inside, my amiga Janday and I saw piece after piece that caught our attention. After about 15 minutes in the store, I noticed Muji has its own wing. Muji is a popular Japanese home goods/ wares store which arrived stateside just last year. The two stores combined were a match made in heaven. Honestly, I’m not too big on home goods, as I live in a dorm and I feel it’s pointless (maybe next year), but “everything just looked so cool.” Because of my home wares aversion, I ended up buying a pack of fun socks from the Muji end. But it was so simple for me. This is one of those stores where little-to-no purchases feel forced. Stuff just jumps out at you, then you’re sold.


MoMA Design Store 44 West 53rd St, NYC momastore.org

Jay-Z - Run This Town (feat. Rihanna, Kanye West)

I'm not entirely sure I'd let Jay, Rihanna, and Kanye lead me into battle, but they sure do make good music together. That's what really counts, no matter how hard they try to convince you to join them in the trenches.

Jay-Z - New Music - More Music Videos

"What you think I rap for/ to push a fucking Rav 4!?"

jay-z.com

The Dream Team (Shameless Objectification Part 2)

see Part 1

In the hypothetical situation that God and Deebo ask me to create a soocer team of highly attractive, scintillating women, this is the team I'd assemble. Each one has a different role, as you will see below. My XI will gladly defeat anyone's squad. It's on!

Megan Fox: Def (US)

This actress simply exudes sex. If I saw her in public, I’d probably pounce on her, just as she’d do to oxen.

Lovefoxxx: Def (Brazil)

The eclectic Brazilian songstress’s inclusion in the team appears to be misguided upon first inspection, but it’s her bravery which sets her apart from most women. At most of the shows with her band CSS, she wears these wild outfits. She seems to favor the one-piece, colorful mind-fucks.

Rosario Dawson: Def (US)

Just her height gets my juices flowing…all of them.

Kerry Washington: Def (US)

Simply stunning. This woman stops men mid-sentence. Don’t believe me? Try uttering a word in her presence.

Olivia Wilde: Mid (US)

“She’s so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox. She’s mesmerizing.”

--Megan Fox

Vashtie Kola: Mid (US)

She does EVERYTHING. She writes the treatment for AND directs music videos. She’s fashion-forward with her clothing line, Violette, in addition to 1992 parties, which she co-hosts with Q-tip usually. She appears to be everywhere in the LES (Lower East Side). No wonder she’s downtown’s sweetheart. And any girl who can seamlessly transition from Jordans to heels and kill both outfits deserves to be on my team.

Penelope Cruz: Mid (Spain)

This actress is universally beautiful. She could go anywhere in the world and guys would think she’s hot. Oh, and that accent is enough to make me sweat even if butt ass naked in Antarctica.

Natalie Portman: Fw (Israel)

This woman is simply beautiful. Not only can she get away with going bald. She looks damn fine doing it. "We love you, Natalie." "I wanna f*** you, too!"

Denyce Lawton: Fw (US/ South Korea) She’s just hot...seriously. Sure, she does a lot of stuff, but she’s here because she’s hot. Period. Apparently she has a great sense of humor. We’ll take that, too, I suppose.

Rihanna: Fw (Barbados)

This once good girl gone bad has evolved into quite the hot commodity. From the tattoos to the hair to the overall style, she appears to be in top form. Of course she has a stylist, but who cares, really? She wears it with conviction, unlike most.

Sasha Grey: GK (US)

She takes it in the face like a champ. Duh.

Crazy Things Women Do On Facebook

“A woman might also use her Facebook photo albums to present an image of herself that doesn’t exactly match up to reality. In her photos she might appear more sexy, more adventurous and altogether more exciting than she is in real life.”

Check out this piece below from Ask Men.

Crazy Things Women Do On Facebook

And, yes, it's written by a woman, so she would know. But I'm sure many men partake in such fuckery as well.

Shared via AddThis

Philly + Vick = ???

[Now I have to start off by saying that I never condoned what Vick did. Carrying out and supporting the brutal torture and cold-blooded execution of those dogs was sick and demented. He deserved to serve some time, and I am glad that those dogs are now getting second chances at healthy lives. I also understand that canines are highly beloved in our society, and so it really hurts people when they think about the cruel shit he did. And because I never owned a dog myself, I really do try to look at this situation from a dog owner's perspective. I also want to say that the following comments I'm going to make about Vick haters are dictated towards some of them...not all.]


The latest news to shake up the American sports world was the signing of former Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick by the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday night.







Honestly, as a fan of both the Eagles and American football, I'm just excited and eager to see what he can do both on and off the field. And that dog fighting thing?


It's done.

Over.

结束了。


Now that Vick has done his time and shown extreme levels of guilt and self-hate, I think it's time for people to back off. Over the past couple of years, I have read and heard countless descriptions of this guy as some kind of cold-blooded and heartless murderer who deserves nothing less than the same fate of some of the dogs he owned. Actually, check out this gem from Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia:





Damn that's some pretty strong language, Mr. Byrd. Now what's your stance on race relations in the US? Skip to about 1:15 for the good stuff.





Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Bob used to be an "Exalted Cyclops" of the KKK (does that mean he hated better than his buddies did?). Oops. I guess hanging people from trees isn't as "BARBARIC!!!!" as hanging dogs from them. My bad.

This leads me to my next point: dogs are not humans, no matter how much people want to believe that. I am by no means a dog hater. Sure I understand that most dog owners think of their dogs as family members (though kissing them on the lips is still questionable to me). But given the choice between saving a sibling or the pet dog from a burning house, I'm going to go with the safe bet that most sane people would rather run in after their brother or sister. It's only the simple truth, and maybe the level of all this outrage should correspond to it.

My overarching point here is that there is just an assload of hypocrisy here about this entire situation. Mike Vick went to jail for two years (more time than some sex offenders), saw his career torn down before his eyes, and lost the adoration of millions of fans because he killed dogs, and people are still wishing death on him? Compare this to Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, who got 30 days in jail for killing a man...a human being with a family...while driving drunk, and there's maybe 1/80 of the outrage. Also, judging strictly by the way Vick is still demonized, you would have thought that he shot up a daycare center. I just think that all this hatred and backlash could be better spent on...I don't know...maybe hating all the true murderers who got away with heinous crimes against fellow human beings.

In the end, people are for the most part going to have strong opinions about this very polarizing figure. However, it remains the fact that most sports fans have pretty short-term memories. So to most of the Vick-hating Eagles fans vowing to never support the team ever again, I say carry on with the Vick hate for now. Call him cold-blooded, despicable, and barbaric while he's still suspended. But just make sure to squeeze it all in before you forget all about it after he starts scoring touchdowns. Then you can join me in watching an honestly remorseful guy try to turn his life around. If anything, it will be more interesting than Terrell Owen's new show...








...or not. But it will definitely be more appealing to most of the football-watching public.

We Takin' Over...One Felon at a Time...[Penn in the News]

So me and Sid currently attend the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution located in beautiful West Philadelphia. According to this year's US News Best Colleges list, we are also the 6th best university in the nation. However in spite of the accolades, there is one thing we truly lack and is something I feel a lot of undergrads are bitter about: our complete inability to get name recognition. We already know that we're not Harvard or Yale (old money + old rich donors = fresh), but it's unacceptable that normal people are more likely to know about Dartmouth or Brown than us. Our name doesn't help either, especially during the countless occasions when we're confused with another top tier institution of learning.

Anyway, because we don't get too many props from the national media, you can imagine our surprise when we saw this last week:







Meet Scott McGann: West Coast computer programmer-turned-scrap metal artist-turned-homeless dude-turned-national headline. Oh, but that's not the real story. The real story is the shirt he is proudly donning in this photograph. If you look closely, the upside-down phallus actually contains the names of all of Penn's college dormitories (Harrison FTW), and the head is our school emblem. These shirts were handed out for free during the end of this past fall semester, and were all the rage since every third person I saw everyday on campus was wearing one. Shockingly, Mr. McGann is not a Penn alum and I could not find anything about a possible connection on Google (if it's not on Google it doesn't exist). This has led to a few possible theories about how he acquired the shirt. I will list them from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least likely just because I like to confuse people and make them read unnecessarily long blog entries.



1. He got it as a gift from a friend or relative who goes/went to Penn.

This is the most unlikely scenario because nobody in their right mind would give away such a majestic article of clothing. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and versatility. How many other shirts can you wear on a hot date, to Stat 111 recitation, AND while getting tackled by a cop? Exactly.



2. He dated a Penn girl and kept the shirt as a souvenir.

Mr. McGann would be quite the catch for Penn girls who like the scraggly, unemployed/unwashed indie rocker look so this scenario is not that unlikely. Although after noticing how that shirt looks on him I would hope, for his sake, that this wasn't what went down...



3. A drunk Penn kid working over the summer in Manhattan took this shirt off and threw it out the window of a cab right before he/she puked. McGann found it the next day and jizzed. in. his. pants.

This is a more viable explanation because the sheer number of Penn kids working in Manhatten over the summer significantly increases the chances of finding one of those badboys lying on the ground somewhere over there. It is also more likely because alcohol can really mess you up, man. It can make people do crazy shit like punch best friends, cry or giggle spontaneously, punch complete strangers, and throw away bad-ass T-shirts.



4. He scoured the internet looking for this particular shirt, and paid top dollar for it when he found it on Craigslist.


We're getting warmer. A lot of Penn kids are intelligent and resourceful so it would not be a surprise to me if some clever bastard somehow managed to procure not one, but TWO of these glorious shirts. Seeing that one was already way too cool for him to handle, he decided to share the love with a lucky stranger by selling the second one.



So what's the most likely explanation of how Scott McGann got his hands on a Penn College House 10th Anniversary T-shirt?







5. He killed someone for it.


That's right. He saw a kid wearing one of these things, and Bolo Yeung'd his ass right there on the spot.




And there you have it, guys and girls. The first installment thus far of Penn in the News. Stay tuned until next time when we actually have an alum getting on the news for doing some wacky shit.

Head in the Clouds: Man on Wire

A few days ago, I rented Man on Wire. It’s a 2008 documentary about Philippe Petit, a high wire artist who, in 1974, walked between the World Trade Center roofs, some 415 meters off the ground. Upon hearing about the film, I thought it’d be exciting, but I quickly found out it’s a documentary.

Fear not, Carriers of the Rod, for this is not your grandfather’s BBC or CNN-style documentary. This film cleverly incorporates elements from Petit’s own recordings of his antics from the early seventies, up to, and including that eventful day in the August of ’74.

Petit himself narrates most of the film as his present-day self, so you already know what happens, as far as his near-death experiences goes. The film, however, finds a way to keep the viewer on pins and needles for the duration, making it a must-see. This is easily one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. Rod certified.

The Self-Proclaimed “Greatest Person Ever”…in Her Own Words

Me: We should write a book.

Alex: Just write down what I say.

-----------

Me: I don’t even know why I talk to you.

Alex: I’m entertaining. I would talk to me too.

-----------

Alex: I make grown dudes giggle.

-----------

Me: I’ve been talking to you for an hour? WTF?

Alex: I told you I’m entertaining. Time flies.

-----------

Alex: How could something about me not be the greatest thing ever?

-----------

Alex: You know who can get it? The werewolf from Twilight.

-----------

Alex: Sid, if I get married, you’re gonna have to stop calling me “Jones”

Me: Naa, nigga. I’ll still call u Jones.

-----------

Alex: Sid, I need you to check my Spanish paper.

Me: How ‘bout u wake up first, Jones.

Alex: How bout u suck me off, Sid.

-----------

Alex: I am going to kick you in the face.

-----------

Me: You’re weird.

Alex: No, you think I’m superhuman. That’s what it is.

-----------

Alex: Mom, u gave me too much sangria! This is child abuse.

-----------

Alex: Sometimes, people take an aversion to the entity which is Alex.

-----------

Wise, but never antiquated; complex, but never overwrought. This is my friend, Alex, ladies and gentlemen. The "Greatest Person Ever".

What These Women Can Do With Their Bodies

Please watch both of these videos, with or without sound.

Shakira - She Wolf

Shakira - New Music - More Music Videos

Ciara - Love, Sex, Magic (feat. Justin Timberlake)

Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake - New Music - More Music Videos

My, oh my! Some women can learn so much from these two videos (masterpieces).