If it's not Raven, it's crap...

The last four days have been quite exciting. To start things off, Conni and his girlfriend, J. (sorry, bud, but I can't use your nickname for her, because it might seem a bit raunchy for English readers) stopped by for a visit this past weekend. I'm now the proud owner of my very own giant fox tail. I hung it on some Mardi Gras beads that Pickles sent me a few years back. I gotta also say that J. gets a thumbs up in my book. Very cool chick. The three of us did the obligatory Reeperbahn/Red-light district round. At some point, we found ourselves in a sex shop and played a game where we took turns reading the plot descriptions on the back of porn DVDs. Whoever broke out into hysterical laughter first, lost the round. Rule of thumb: any grandmotherly-type titles = pure comedy. Had I not found the complimentary give-away condoms in my coat pocket the next day, I would have forgotten about this highly entertaining game. Admittedly, I'm somewhat perplexed by the name. Why are...

I don't own a tv. I'm not trying to sound pretentious or anything, because I love watching tv. I'll watch just about anything. I'll even watch German television (where the best shows are either 1.) almost any show that wasn't actually created by Germans 2.) Dittsche ...and 3. ) Das perfekte Dinner . Real talk.) I just don't physically own a tv. However, I find that I don't miss it. Granted, I mostly don't miss it, because I can pretty much watch just about any show I want to online. So, I guess you can say that I don't miss commercials. And that's the 100% truth, I really don't. For me, television isn't just about mindless entertainment. *Serious face*. It's also about mindless learning. As much as I love to read about...stuff, I also like to have stuff read to me accompanied by moving pictures with maybe some cheesy re-enactments. One could even say that it inspires me to read even more. That's why I am a fan of the 40-42 minut...

Source : spiegel.de Even though I mention Frosty pretty frequently in my writing, I try (successfully, I hope) to keep the schmalzy junk to a controlled minimum. And the things that I do write, I consider to be something like a record of a long distance relationship that works. There's always the chance that it won't work forever, but I'll always be able to look back at this as proof of all the ways long-distance can go right. As I've said before (or if I haven't then I'm mentioning it now), communication and creativity between visits are a big chunk of the reason why we function well together. But then there are the times when I get some kind of half-baked idea for arranging a get together. Why half-baked? Well, because I often think about the immediate, self-serving benefit rather than looking at the big logisitcal picture. Over Christmas, Frosty told me he was planning on going to Dresden to participate in the anti-nazi protest/sit-in blockades on February...

Just a second ago, I was checking the archives to see if I had written anything this time last year. And I found the post announcing Baby Remy's arrival. It's not that I had forgotten that he was born. It's just that I had forgotten when. I guess I should start calling him Li'l Remy now? I probably wouldn't have forgotten his birthday if Facebook had sent me a reminder. It probably sounds bad that I can't remember my nieces' and nephews' birthdays (I've already caught heat from my niece Zoe regarding this topic). But I feel like I should be excused because 1.) I have a whole lot of siblings' birthdays to remember and 2.) They are not my kids...so technically, I'm not required to remember. I also realize that this makes me sound like an awful person. Sorry?

This is just a general notice, it's about 12:30am and I've had quite the long day. Zilv and I had our second show today. It went well, despite some station-side technical issues. I managed to get the show uploaded. In case you ever miss a show, you can go to rapstattekg.mypodcast.com to check it out. The RSS link is on the right-hand side of this page under "rss crap". I had to split the show into two parts, which I'll probably continue to do in the future (or until a better solution presents itself). Mypodcast drops in ads. They're at the beginning of the show (or should be, in general). You can also leave comments there, etc. Enjoy!

Hi, I know many of you don't know or care about German-language rap, but I do. And sometimes I want to write about it. Without proper context or introductions or explanations, it might be a little tough to follow it all. However, I'll try to throw in some wikipedia links. If you do listen to/are interested in German-language rap, then here's a chance to read some of my opinions. - Raven (Keeping in mind that I have no kind of statistics to back this up) But I think that Fettes Brot (the German hip-hop trio) is probably the most overall dissed group in the German rap scene. Notice I used the qualifier "group" because the most dissed individual would probably be Eko Fresh (sorry, Frosty ?)-- because, really, that dude has stepped on A LOT of toes in (comparatively) short amount of time. You could maybe make the same case with Die Fantastischen Vier , but it's hard to diss bajillionaires. I mean, ok, it's actually really easy to diss bajillionaires, just ha...

Hosting my radio show at Smith seemed infinitely easier than hosting this new one here in Hamburg, at least I remember it as being easier. And that was a weekly show (as opposed to the current monthly one). Maybe it was just less pressure, since it was on fairly late. It probably also helped that it was on Thursdays, which was not only candlelight dinner in Scales House, but also Senior Wine & Cheese (or Beer & Cheez-Its) Night. So I was usually still pretty tipsy when I went on air. That's not the case anymore. I feel like I spend about 2-3 weeks contemplating my playlist and what I'm going to say about the tracks. We pre-produce the show, because of Zilv's unpredictable work schedule. After we record, I then listen to the show a million times and start to pick it apart piece-by-piece until we air. The slip-ups stay in (for the most part) -- we don't go back and re-record anything. And...I basically don't like the sound of my own recorded voice. By the t...