You think you live a green and eco-friendly lifestyle?  Try drinking your own urine!  Though you may enjoy drinking your own urine, it was news to us that it could be done and that three astronauts on the International Space Station actually did it.  Recycling urine to drinkable water is a huge feat.  Here’s  what went down.

Apparently a recycling system, installed last fall, can purify urine. For the people up in space, recycling is crucial.  Water is a costly item to transport from Earth.  When the crew members lifted their frothy mugs of urine-come-drinking water, the team in Houston all lifted their glasses at the same time to prove that you don’t have to hang out with Spock in order to drink you own urine.

When people think of “bike cities” they think of Portland and Boulder.  What they don’t know is that cities like Long Beach, California are listening to the needs of its citizens and taking action by making Long Beach the most bike friendly city in the USA.  Not only does this resonate with life-long residents, bike commuters and kids, but also with the fastest growing bike segment in the USA- fixed gear bike riders.

The reality is that the fixed gear phenomenon has been alive and well in Long Beach for many years (like in most major cities) and these riders spend the majority of their time cycling the streets.  Though not all fixed gear riders are angels, many in the Long Beach area subscribe to the adage of “live and let live”.  There is no arbitrary beef with other cyclists and motorists.  These riders, like all cyclists, just want to feel safe when going to the office, heading to class, to spending time with their loved ones and having fun with friends .  Safety is normally not the first thing cyclists (of any type) as they venture out into the city as illustrated by a verbal harassment my buddy and I experienced this evening by a fellow Long Beach resident when riding (within the law, I may add) to a local retailer, “Go get some brakes, fags.”  Though that does not represent the view of all residents in Long Beach, it does represent enough motorists that cyclists of all types feel nervous when riding around the city.

The good news is that thanks to a proactive city council and Charlie Gandy, the City of Long Beach’s Mobility Coordinator, residents and tourists are able to access more shops, offices and beaches via bicycle.  As a resident of Long Beach, technology professional, husband and avid cyclist I am amazed at the progress Charlie and the City of Long Beach have made.  Not only have they been able to bring cycling of all stripes together to create a solution, but they’ve been able to bring the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) to the discussion.  The good news is that the LBPD has made it clear that they want to ensure the safety of all the residents of Long Beach; cyclists included.  So, no longer is the LBPD “the man” out to hassle local cyclists or ignore their concerns as local, money-spending residents.

Last June Long Beach was the first city to implement green “sharrows” on the city streets.  Pictured below, green sharrows were installed in Long Beach to remind cyclists and motorists that the law states that bikes are required to be on the streets and not on the sidewalks.  This is a reality that most residents in most cities in the USA don’t realize.  Sometimes we need a small reminder.

Another initiative they have put into action that will come to fruition in the next few months is the Vista Bike Boulevard.  This is a special street that is being redesigned to accommodate pedestrians, motorists and cyclists.  They will install 7 traffic circles, decorative signage and diversion areas.  This will be the first of its kind in Southern California.

One of the key elements that the City of Long Beach and Charlie Gandy have identified is that cyclists spend money.  They’ve been able to convey that to local merchants.  The good news is that savvy merchants are listening and getting that famous “aha” moment.  They realize that in tough economic times consumers- cyclists, pedestrians or motorists- speak with their pocket books and want to support merchants that care about their customers.  Addressing the cyclists needs is just one of many ways merchants can benefit, but it is a way that many have not realized and are beginning to leverage.

My family, friends and colleagues support the work that Charlie Gandy and the City of Long Beach are doing.  After all, when we distill it down to the lowest common denominator they’re just making Long Beach a safer and more desirable place to live, work and play.

If you’ve not seen Cindy Sherman’s photography, you’ve been missing out on one of the most creative female photographers in the late 20th century.  She is known for recreating herself as completely different women in her “self portraits”.  If you consider yourself a fan of photography, you should be ashamed of yourself for not telling your friends about her work.

On a brand and marketing note, she has – like many other world class photographers – created a strong brand identity through the consistency and uniqueness of her work.  One of the interesting elements of her photography is that one knows what to expect, but never really knows what they’re going to get.

Here are the Top 5 Things you should have learned from Cindy Sherman:

1. Don’t be afraid to do art that makes sense to you

2. Ladies, expressing yourself is bueno

3. Photography doesn’t have to be just of weddings or your crappy Halloween party

4. Pictures are truly worth 1,000 words

5. Smeared make-up is pretty awesome

from L to R… chris prynoski (Titmouse), ollie green (Adult Swim), t-pain (Jive Records), carl jones (Iroko), monica jones (Iroko), nick weidenfeld (Adult Swim), jacob escobedo (Adult Swim)

What happens when one mixes a group of cagey animators and high profile hip hop stars in a venue with over 100 plasma TVs deep in the bowels of Hollywood?  Offspring caked in “ice” arguing about the powers of Dragon Ball Z?  Close, but not quite.  It’s more like a river of booze with high profile rappers slapping fives with some of the top artists in animation.  These are the types of parties Hollywood-based Titmouse animation studio throws.  Giddy up.

Last week I attended the Hollywood premiere of “Freaknik the Musical”.  This animated movie, airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, featuring the likes of Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, T-Pain and Young Cash is quickly exploding across the country being called everything from a hood heater to a cult classic.  Apparently these types of projects fall into Titmouse’s wheel house and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Known for bringing  internationally famous projects like “Metalocalypse” to life through their animation, direction and production chops, Titmouse rubs elbows with the most unlikely mix of creative and influential people in Hollywood.  If they aren’t hanging out with Slash at their studio or having meetings with Disney execs, they are fine tuning their reality show project called 7200 Frames or destroying sh*t at one of their infamous Smashing Parties.

The Hollywood premiere of “Freaknik the Musical” is no exception to the enigma that surrounds Titmouse.  The evening was hosted at the plasma screen mecca called Capitol City Bar and was flush with music  and comedy celebrities like T-Pain, George Clinton, John Witherspoon (dad on the movie “Friday”), Christopher “Kid” Reid, Mr. Marcus, Gene “Poo Poo Man” Anderson and Affion Crockett.

The evening started with DJ Stefi spinning a hip hop mix of bangers, underground heaters and classics.  Just when the party was hitting the 300 person mark, the music faded and all eyes went to the mic.  Co-Creators Carl Jones (Co-Executive Producer of “Boondocks”) and Nick Weidenfeld welcomed the eager crowd.  Jones kicked it off by thanking Titmouse.  Weidenfeld followed by thanking Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and then passed the mic to T-Pain.

T-Pain is the voice of the main character in “Freaknik the Musical” that looks like a ghost monster from Pacman plastered with green dollar signs.  After speaking about his enthusiasm about working with Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Titmouse T-Pain gave the cue and and all 100 screens burst to life with the first public viewing of the movie.  The crowd went crazy.

I’m not sure how they did it, but Titmouse was able to convince hundreds of semi-drunk people in a club in Hollywood to stay quiet and watch a 45 minute animated movie.  It was like Grizzly Man and Steve Erwin came down from the heavens and did their uncanny mind melt on all of us.  However they managed to pull that off, they succeeded in hosting one of the most badass premieres in Hollywood.  So glad I was there.

Tony Robinson-Smith, Nadya Ladouceur and 20 students ran across Bhutan, in what they’ve termed the Tera-thon, to raise awareness about education in Bhutan.  Apparently, there seems to be a massive disparity between “city” kids and rural kids.  It seems to have worked, as they are getting a royal reception.  Sweet!

The main point Robinson and his team were making was this:

Though education is free in Bhutan, rural families have a tremendously difficult time providing uniforms, shoes, books, pens, paper and school meals.

It’s said that Nu.2000 (approximately $50 USD) will pay for a student’s schooling for a year.  Tony and and the Tera-thon team have a goal to support over 1,200 students per year.  To bring awareness to this issue, the Tera-thon team ran an average of a half marathon a year.  They started in Paro; the only working airport in Bhutan.

Paro is in the far western part of the country and has an airport that is surrounded by wild marijuana that they feed to pigs.  No kidding.  Another interesting little bit of information is that the capital city of Thimpu is the only nation’s capital in the world that has zero traffic lights.  Again, no kidding.  That might make jogging a bit more challenging.

You can learn more about the Bhutan Tera-thon team here.

For many of you that travel frequently for business, you know that weight loss or even a diet are things that don’t cross your mind.  Between getting your life back in order from the previous trip, assuring loved ones that you’ve got to take this trip and the pressure of closing the deal, there is not much time to address the fact that your pants or skirt don’t fit the way they used to.

There are any number of variables that can hinder you from making smart dining choices while you are on the road and go the opposite direction of weight loss.  Maybe you can’t find anything organic on the menu at the Sheraton in Atlanta or maybe it’s as fundamental as not having a predictable routine away from home.  Peter Greenburg, the author of The Traveler’s Diet:  Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road, seems to think it’s the latter.

Listen up, businessmen.  He makes good points about changes in schedules and never knowing if you’re going to dinner at 7 across town or at 9 in the hotel.  That’s not even taking into consideration the cocktails you have before dinner or having to skip meals due to meetings.  But, as Green points out, it’s not all doom, gloom and kaboom to your waist line.

On his website, Greenburg points out some basic tips that fall into the “why didn’t I think of that category”.  And they don’t even involve that loaded term “diet”.   Here are some of his tips:

• Always make sure the break basket or chips and salsa is on the other side of the table.
• Eat only half the sandwich.  (I’ve been doing this a lot recently and it’s amazing how well this one works.)
• If you know that you’ve got a lunch scheduled, then load up on breakfast early with eggs or oatmeal.

Many of his points highlight the need for self control.  It’s basic, but it’s so difficult to do.  I recently spoke about this with one of the leading multisport coaches in the USA at Triathlon Training Systems.  We were chatting about one of his clients, “Joe”,  and he said that the biggest obstacle for him becomming faster was being able to “push away the plate” when he was eating.  Don’t finish everything on your plate.  It’s that simple.  Or is it?  I think about that now when I’m on the road.  It’s simple and it’s helping me me keep off the lbs.  What are you going to do on your next trip?

Spending 24 hours on the Summit of Everest sounds like it would be as fun and easy as drinking boiling water for 20 minutes with no break.  Three expert Sherpa brothers are going to attempt staying at the summit of Everest about 20 times longer than is typically allowed (for “increased probability of certain death” reasons).  The average time spent at the top is a mere 1 hour due to winds that can whip across the mountain at 100 mph and temperatures that can drop to -25F.

Usually, the time spent by mountaineers on the top of any major summit is limited.  The reality is that the air is thin, guides have strict time schedules and the longer you hangout the harder it is to get started again.  Though Sherpas have legendary status and are known to have the skills, power, knowledge, experience and humility that all mountain climbers aspire to have, 24 hours of on the summit of Everest is a monumental challenge.  It makes breaking the home run record in baseball seem about as significant as jumping over a puddle during a rain storm.

Beyond all of the other adjectives used to describe these three Sherpa, “ballsy” would be more apt.  These men will spend more than 24 hours in what is called “The Death Zone”.  The Death Zone begins at an elevation of 26,000 ft/8,000 m and extends all the way to the summit of Everest at 29,035 ft/ 8850 m.  The Death Zone requires that the human body be on supplemental oxygen tanks because the air is so thin at that altitude that you’ll die within minutes without this extra/pure oxygen.  This will be the temporary home for these Sherpa temporary in what will be the longest 24 hours of their lives.

Experienced Everest climbers, Phurba Tenzing, Pemba Dorje and Nima Gyalzen have collectively summitted Everest 16 times. Dorje has a guru-like status, as he’s set the world record for the fastest ascent of Mt. Everest at eight hours and 10 minutes.    It typically takes other climbers about four days to reach the summit from Base Camp.  The current record holder for the most time spent at the top of Everest is 21.5 hours by Chhiri.  Apparently, he didn’t sleep the entire time for fear of never waking up.  Literally.

The band Beirut has created a wonderfully simple music video concept ripped straight from the bowels of creativity.  Less is more nearly all of the time, folks.  That is exactly what Beirut has done.  They’ve not only decided to create a live music video for their track called “Nantes”, but they introduced the music in such a way that will have you asking yourself, “Why hasn’t anybody thought of that before?”

They’ve managed to set themselves apart from other bands of any genre.  This is key for their brand.  Let’s face it, bands are moving, breathing brands.  Can you, off the top of your head, identify key traits associated with Guns n Roses, The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, etc?  Those are all strong brands…ahem…”bands”.  Branding is key in music, as it is with all products and services.

Here are the 5 things to take away from the “Nantes” video by Beirut:

1. Less is more
2. Music doesn’t have to be overly-ProTooled
3. Euphoniums in any band are awesome
4. Setting your band/brand apart is key…people will notice
5. New Order’s live “Temptation” video from the early 1980s has some legitimate competition

See the video below:

LA based art and object creators, Electroland, have outdone themselves with their creation of the Urban Nomad Shelter.  Not only does it provide a place for homeless people to sleep, it is pleasing to the eye like a piece of modern art.

If you’ve spent any time on any skid row or highway underpass in the world, you’d know that there is a need for the Urban Nomad Shelter.  Sure, it’s pleasing for the eye of the person driving by in a car, but it’s the only logical solution for housing the homeless on their terms.  Sometimes a homeless person may find an old camping tent, but they are heavy and difficult to transport.  This shelter enables the person to blow it up and deflate each day.

Since we all know municipal governments aren’t going to do much about the homeless problem other than issue tickets, this would at least help the community in which the homeless people are sleeping.  It would be a win-win, but not a solution.  Thanks for doing your part, Electroland.

There are plenty of corner cafe bars in Paris, but only one can wear the mantle of the only place that serves cocktails in baby bottles.  Though it looks like a cool, swanky bar in the 6th district of Paris, Zero de Conduite has a dirty little animated secret.  It’s theme is cartoons.

The 6th district in Paris is a refined place akin to a Hiroo, Pacific Palisades, Highland Park Village or Manhattan.  One would never know that a bar so close to The Louvre would be so outlandish and fun.  At first glance, the menu tells you that it’s a whimsical and cartoony sort of place.

With each menu, they provide a small dry erase board for use with the numerous board and card games they have available.  What is more fun than playing Trivia Pursuit in Paris while drinking a Vodka passion fruit cocktail out of a bottle?  Answer:  Nothing on this planet.

If you are into cartoons, animated movies or are just up for a fun time, head to this cozy little bar on Rue Jacob (near Saint Germain boulevard and the Saint Germain des Pres metro station).  I promise you’ll leave with a smile.

Back when most of the USA was mourning the attack on Pearl Harbor, national park officials were making videos about the glory of feeding the bears in Yosemite National Park…by hand.  In 1941 the parks services created a promotional video highlighting all of the great elements of Yosemite:  skiing, driving a car through the trunk of a giant tree and feeding bear cubs by hand.

I don’t pretend to eat bark and shower in the river everyday, but I feel that we know a thing or two about backpacking in Yosemite.  One of the little adages we like to live by goes a little something like this:  don’t leave anything with a food or chemical scent in the car because a bear will come out of the woods, leave your car on blocks and steal your car stereo.

All kidding aside, bears destroy cars.  Just do a search on the Internet for a bear shredding a car at a campsite.  Apparently this lady in the sweet fanny pack didn’t get the memo that bears are sorta dangerous.  (fast forward to the 3 min mark)

So, bear with me, if Yogi Bear and the Hair Bear Bunch can destroy a car then we’re pretty sure you’re screwed if they come after you.  You can imagine our chagrin when we came across this video of people feeding bears and the Yosemite park rangers giving it the “OK”.  Things sure have changed.

Spending time in bear country is serious business, folks.  There is a great book called Bear Aware that gives wonderful advice on setting-up camp, parking your car, cooking, what to do when encountering a bear and much more.  It literally saved my skin once in the mountains a few years back.  Bear country is no joke.  Other than Yosemite, some other bear hot spots (especially in the summer time) are San Gorgonio, San Jacinto and Mt. Baldy.  During normal summer droughts, bears go further and further down the mountains to find food and water.

To learn what not to do, watch the video below.  The part to fast forward to is the 2 minute point.

You love MMA as much as the next guy that thinks he’s tough, but what if you had to wrestle a preying mantis on the website Japanese Bug Fights?  Could you hang as long in insect wresting as you do in your mind when your imagine yourself kicking the crap out of that jackass in the tight shirt that has something lame printed on it like “Affliction” or “Truth” or “Faith” or some other stupid faux philosophical blathering?

Frankly I think the centipede would kick the s#%^ out of you and all your gym rat friends like Chris Brown did to Rhianna.  If you feel that you could take on the tarantula like Conan the Barbarian does at the beginning of the film fighting in the pit, then you’ll need to bone-up on all 30 of the fights listed on Japanese Bug Fights. Our top pick is the Scorpion vs. the Crawfish in fight 11.  Take a look at how the crawfish gets yoked before his bout.  Sweet!

This is yet another example of the insanely creative stuff Japanese people come up with.  What other things have you seen come out of Japan that has you saying, “Sweet!”?

I find that I do a lot chanting “punks not dead” each night before I go to bed while The Jam plays in the background.  On the nights when we cry ourselves to sleep, it’s partly because we just don’t know where to go to find punk stuff.  We Fucking Bang has delivered us from our sadness by creating a punk map for Austin, Texas, USA (aka:  ATX).

All kidding and red plaid bondage pants aside, the Austin Punk Map is pretty darn impressive.  It helps people not fixate purely on 6th Street.  This site features venues that feature punk music, record stores that sell punk and vegan / vegetarian places to eat.  It also gives the ability to download files for the following GPS and cell phone devices:

• .kml file for iPhone / Google Phone / other poseur devices (+ google maps/earth/etc)
  
• .gpx file for open source applications (easily converted to all sorts of things)
• .csv file for Garmin / Navman GPS
• .ov2 file for TomTom GPS

Hey, and for the record:

I had no idea that being vegan was part of the punk diet, so to speak.  Our thought of a punk diet would be Mountain Dew, White Castle burgers, pork rinds, egg sandwiches and plenty of cans of crappy beer.  Soyrizo?  Hey kids, that’s not punk.  That’s Morrissey.

Gropers in Tokyo get a monkey wrench thrown in their plans after the JR train line launches “women only” train cars.  Japan has many things that make it endearing and unique.  However, one of the sleazier sides of the country are the perverts that grope and talk dirty to innocent women on the crowded trains in Tokyo and other major cities.

The sad truth is that Tokyo and it’s surrounding bedroom communities are overcrowded.  This becomes painfully clear each morning and evening when business people are commuting.  Like a bacteria in a stagnant pond, this is where the perverts thrive.

Finally, Japan Railways (JR) is beginning to do something about it.  This has been serious problem for so many years that they finally created a “females only” car on one of the busiest train lines (Chuo Line) for commuters to Tokyo that passes through the busiest train station in the world called Shinjuku Station.  Fortunate women who can get a space on the special “female only” car are able to be crammed like sardines like the rest of the commuters, but without mystery hands grabbing for their unmentionables.

Though perverts, “chikan”, prey primarily on Japanese women, ex-patriot females have been known to fall victim to the groping hands.  Women are told bits of advice here and there.  Sometimes conductors will announce over the loud speaker to be careful of gropers.

One way to ensure a groper thinks twice before whispering low perverted phrases or grabbing a woman at a future date is to get aggressive.  You can grab his wrist,  jerk his hand in the air and then scream “chikan!”  This employs the embarrassment tactic that is a highly effective angle in Japan.

Thank goodness for technology like Google Reader and We Are Hunted.  Between GReader, WAH and Glenn Friesen I’ve got my Swedish Electro R&B fix covered.

If you are a fan of electro pop a la early 1980s mixed with a dash of modern electronic music then you’ll love O’Spada and Staygold.  Below is a track called “Backseat” by Staygold.  They were joined by Spank Rock and Robyn.  Holy Sgt. Pepper meets Purple Rain.

Next up is a track called “Time” by a full band called O’Spada.  They are very much like electro meets, Swing Out Sister, meets Tina Marie.  Get your R&B groove going right here.

Red Cross is making it easier than ever to help the 2010 Haiti Earthquake victims  by enabling people to donate $10 via text message.  That $10 shows up on your next cell phone bill.  It is not a scam and is a fantastic way to leverage the mobile technology everyone has in the USA.  At the time of this article, they have already raised $8 million by text donations.   And you thought texting was just for things like Texts From Last Night or telling your friend that you are running late.

All you have to do is this:  Text “haiti” to the cell number 90999

It’s so easy that your druncle could figure it out at your next family BBQ.  To make it easier on yourself (depending on the type of phone you have) you can do what I did.  I added “Red Cross Text Donation” as a contact into my cell phone address book so that I could easily text my donation…and for possible future donations.

Still on the fence?

Let’s go over some of the last things you probably spent $10 on, shall we:

1. An overpriced and over-hyped vodka + Red Bull for that gal that turned out to have a tattoo of a bowl of gravy on her left shoulder
2. Your Netflix monthy fee
3. Dry cleaning on 4 shirts
4. A blended coffee drink for you and your coworker because it was your turn to buy
5. A plate of happy hour priced nachos and two happy hour draft beers

You get where I’m going with this.  You can make a legitimate difference by donating $10.  Sure you may be thinking that you don’t have the cash because the economy sucks or that you don’t trust how it will be allocated…blah blah blah.  Suck it up and take a chance by doing something nice for a family you will probably never meet in your life.  Do it because it’s the right thing to do.  And PLEASE don’t rely on Twitter as your trusted news source on this cool way to donate to families that need it.

I recently sat down with New Berlin at Intelligentsia in Silver Lake to talk about movies, world travel and his latest mixtape available for free download at Teleport Door.   Intelligentsia is the sort of place that stands out on Sunset in Silver Lake.  It, like its neighbor the Cheese Store of Silver Lake, represents the sleek foreshadow of what is to come in an area that is known for being equal parts grime and artsy.  It was the perfect backdrop for our conversation.

The Super Social mixtape is many things, but it is not contrived or boring.  Like his previous mixtapes, New Berlin ventures down a new road of uncategorizable sonic stylings.  The intro tracks lead the listener to believe the Super Social mixtape is a techno endeavor.  Don’t be fooled!  This mixtapes ebbs and flows from up-tempo electro to pop R&B to indie rock to vocal house.  This is the sort of mixtape one would hear at a club in Tokyo, Germany or Poland.  It was worth the wait.  Trust me.

Between Buggy Rollin and Junkyard Cyclocross, you may think that you’ve seen all of the creative and outlandish sports created in the last 10 years.  You haven’t until you’ve seen a freestyle pull-up competition;  More specifically, if you’ve not seen a tournament thrown by B-xtreme / N.B.X.A.  This crew of people have held two freestyle pull-up tournaments so far and I suspect that there will be many more popping up across the country.  Get ready to be wowed by guys that have more core and upper body strength than we ever will.

Here’s how it works.  A person gets a set amount of time to show off all of their freestyle pull-up chops.  Style and form are all that matters in this sort of competition.  They can do wide grip, narrow grip, overhand or underhand.  Everything else is up to the competitor.

The major players in this years competition in The Bronx were:  The Technician, Big Rebel, G.I. Joe, Omar, Bigz, The Bar Extrodinaire and many more from the B-xtreme and Highlanda crews.

When are we going to see a freestyle pull-up competition in Los Angeles?

Cyclocross is sweeping the cycling world.   Bike manufacturers are rejoicing and local clubs all over the USA are hosting grassroots races that are single-handedly restoring the “community” to the bike racing community.

Stephen Bilenky of Bilenky Cycle Works is doing his part to incorporate as much fun and creativity as possible to his annual Bilenky Urban Cyclocross Race.

Thanks to race organizers like Bilenky, cyclocross races are not blindly adopting the attitudes and formats of traditional local criterium bike races.  The one consistent theme, however, is that everybody is there to race and aren’t afraid to suffer in rainy, muddy and cold weather.  Bring the pain!

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the US Cyclocross Republic, Bilkeny’s Urban Cyclocross Race is more akin to Blade Runner, The Road and Mad Max than to the lycra and carbon fiber images we associate with bike racing.  Racers ride through tractor trailer beds, past boats, through toxic puddles and oil stained cement.  This is, hands down, the most creative race in cyclocross.

******  Watch their Huffy Toss here.  ******