Great in '08!

I know that right now, everyone is fed-up with "end of the year" recap lists, and so am I. So instead of spending the time to go back and cover what was great, I will focus on what's to come that will become great. Here, in no particular order, is the 1st Annual paulrosenblog.com 20-best-upcoming-great-things-about-next-year-list.

1. The 2008 Presidential Election: I'm not a huge political analyst or anything, but this race looks way too close to call on both sides of the block. I still feel like a darkhorse may be riding to the front. The dollar is so weak and the war is so wack, we damn sure need a change.
2. Superbowl XLII: I made it in person to the last two bowl games... Detroit for obvious reasons (Shady Bowl was the shit) and Miami because my wife's beloved Bears made an appearance. This year we aren't planning to be there in Arizona, but it should be a good one regardless. I predict (ok, hope) that it wont be the Paytriots and Cowgirls.
3. The Detroit Tigers: with Cabrera's bat added to the equation, the D looks to be the team to beat next year.
4. Eminem's Next Album: come on, you didn't think I was actually going to give anything away here, did you?
5. End of the Writer's Strike: hopefully the WGA and the studios/networks can figure this out sooner than later. I'm getting tired of the reruns on late night and no new programming.
6. Detroit Pistons in the Finals: the D has made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the last 4 seasons straight, and they will be there again this year. Call Vegas and bet on that. The difference from last year is that they will make it into the NBA Finals again. Stuckey is back, the starters are healthy and playing great, and with the new blood we are quite deep on the bench. Be afraid.
7. The Wire, Season 5: this show on HBO is hands-down the home of the best acting and writing on scripted television, period. If you haven't seen it, don't be retarded. Go rent or buy seasons 1-4 and then get into season 5. Word to Weebay.
8. NFL Network and Time-Warner Cable: get it together, boys. We don't want to have to go to the bar to see all of the Thursday and Saturday games. This season was bullshit because of it.
9. Whole Foods, Tribeca: the grocery stores in my neighborhood just plain suck. In March of next year, Whole Foods opens on Chambers Street. Thankfully.
10. Ernst Benz PVD Chronograph: this Detroit-based but Swiss-handmade watch company is throwing their hat in the ring to become a competitor with the best. The have a Mario Batali orange-accented piece dropping. But I'm about to cop the sick, black limited edition case with carbon fiber face chrono. Check the whole line out here.
11. 4th Year of Shade45 on Sirius: it's official, Shade45 will be back for another unique year. More of Cipha Sounds Effect in the morning, Rude Jude & Lord Sear's All-Out Show in the afternoons, and mixshows nightly from our very own DJ Muggs, Tony Touch, Clinton Sparks, Kay Slay and The Aphilliates are on the way. Also, every Saturday from 10 a.m.-8p.m. check out 50 Cent's very own G Unit Radio. You might even want to stick around to the end of next year for the 4th installment of Hanukkah Radio, hosted by yours truly (see post below). Go get a subscription to Sirius and check out the uncut, commercial-free hip-hop radio station you've always longed for.
12. Larger Memory Ipod Touch: I'll be frank, I never copped the iphone. I was turned off by the hype and the virtual keyboard, as well as the bullshit EDGE network from AT&T. But, I gotta admit, the wide-screen ipods with the Wi-Fi connectivity are sweet. When they get more memory (than the weak 8gigs they offer now) next year, I'm going to pick one up for sure. Fasho.
13. Albums Dropping By My Clients/Artists: of course, Shady Records and our clients at Goliath Artists have albums coming out next year. Be on the look out for awesome full-lengths (pause) from Cashis, Bobby Creekwater, The Alchemist, Mickey Avalon, B.o.B, The Knux, Blestenation, DJ AM and +44 (you may even see a solo effort from drummer/producer Travis Barker). Sorry, I can't reveal what 50's plans are yet- they are locked in a briefcase somewhere. No, I'm not telling you where.
14. The Dark Knight: I saw an on-line leak of the 6 minute clip featuring Heath Ledger as The Joker and his crew robbing a bank, and it was brilliant. Low-tech, edgy, raw and angry. I'm really looking forward to the second Batman installment from Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale as Batman. This new, modern movie series of my favorite superhero is the finest comic book film adaptation so far. Sorry, X-Men.
15. Palms Place Condos: the gleaming new condominium towers at Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas open in '08. Guess who plucked down duckets for a spot?
16. The Blackberry 9000 Series: as RIM stock continues to surge, there is a new Blackberry on the horizon. The 9000 is rumored to have a fully touch integrated screen a la the Iphone, a 3 megapixel camera, true 3G wi-fi internet connectability, and 8gigs of built-in memory. As a dedicated Blackberry loyalist, I will be copping one.
17. Porsche Panamera: in 2008 (maybe early '09), Porsche will release its first luxury sedan (4 door), the Panamera. Look for some images of it like this on-line, its amazing. Like a stretched out, bad-ass 911 for the seasoned taste.
18. Detroit Lions Firing Matt Millen: this has become some kind of joke. What kind of team keeps a General Manager on board for six straight losing seasons? The Lions showed promise this year starting off 6-2, then proceeded to turn into petrified garbage and lost 7 of the next 8 games to finish an awful 7-9. This is like punching yourself in the face, having it hurt, and then trying it again to see if it will hurt again. Yes, it will. Stop it. Seriously, get rid of this guy for the love of blog. Sign the petition, here. OR, read the article from the Detroit Free Press about this carbuncle.
19. thewingmen.net: as a fat guy, I had the idea of creating a blog or site dedicated to the review and praise of Buffalo-style chicken wings about a year ago. Next year, after collecting reviews and getting fatter, I plan to launch www.thewingmen.net- a site dedicated to the worship of the finest bar food ever created. Bars, pubs, restaurants, dives and diners around the world, its time to step your game up. You never know when The Wingmen will show up and eat your chicken, then write about it.
20. More Rosenblog!: don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'll have more random blogging going on for the whole year of 2008, including better photos (courtesy of my new Panasonic Lumix with wide-angle capability), more music, polls, and exclusive information. Thanks for reading and supporting paulrosenblog.com for it's first 5 months!

So, there you have it... the 1st Annual paulrosenblog.com 20-best-upcoming-great-things-about-next-year-list. This was by far my longest post ever. I'm tired of typing. Discuss amongst yourselves, and Happy New Year from paulrosenblog.com!

Vote: Jude vs. RA

The post below Rude Jude & RA on Shade45 has received a lot of attention here on paulrosenblog.com. People all have different opinions on who was in-the-right here. Let yours be known! Here is the first paulrosenblog poll...

Who won the Shade 45 argument on the current state of hip-hop?
	Rude Jude
	R.A. the Ruggedman
pollcode.com free polls

Shady Holiday Card

In case you weren't lucky enough to receive one of these, here's the Shady '07 Holiday Card we sent out. We do our own card every year, I like this one a lot.

Knux "Cappuccino" Shoot

Last week in LA, director Jason Bergh shot the video for The Knux warm-up single, "Cappuccino". The video is a total early 90's throwback style video with classroom hi jinx reminiscent of a De La Soul's "Me, Myself & I". The guys did incredible on their first ever video shoot, as did the awesome actor who played the teacher pictured below (I wont ruin the surprises before I post the video right here in a couple weeks). Check out some flicks from the video and listen to the song below.

Pistons Jingle Bells (Remix)

This is pretty self-explanatory... Rasheed Wallace, fortunately for us Pistons fans, is a much better basketball player than he is a beatboxer. Wow.

50 Rocks Kosovo

Here is a link to the full Reuters story. This is an interesting read, check it out.

In Da Club

I came out to LA to for The Knux video for "Cappuccino" (more on that this weekend when I get time to up some photos), and for the first time I flew on Virgin America. Virgin Airlines was founded by your boy Richard Branson, and before a couple of months ago only flew trans-Atlantic to the UK from NY. Now this has all changed, and Branson (and mostly Americans, because the FAA doesn't allow domestic airlines to be majority owned by non-Americans I learned) has brought his "hip" brand of commercial air travel stateside. They fly from NY to San Fran, LA, Vegas and there are some Seattle and Washington, DC flights in the mix as well. They have super low introductory flights right now (first class to LA was $600 one-way, coach was available for $300).
The photo above shows the efforts by the airline to make the flight more stylish, complete with a purple/blacklight style nightclub'ish lighting system (which kind of became annoying after a few hours) and white-leather seats. The best feature on these planes is the Virgin Red entertainment/media system. There are very recently released to DVD films (I watched The Simpsons movie), a bunch of mp3's from which you can create playlists, video games with a controller and full keyboard, you can order food and drinks from your seat via the menu feature, and they even have a "chat" function where you can sent texts to someone in another seat. It isn't very fun when your movie stops and someone from 15D wants to holla at you, though... I didn't reply when I was contacted for chats. The seat wasn't as comfortable as I remember the Virgin flights to London that I have taken in the past, but the food was decent enough.
Overall I'd say Virgin America is certainly worth trying, and they have made a sincere effort to update and stylize the commercial flying experience. Go check it out, especially at these early introductory rates. Or stay home for the holidays, Scrooges.

Rude Jude & RA on Shade45

Rude Jude, co-host of the All Out Show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Shade45, was without vacationing co-host Lord Sear last week. When Sear is away, Jude finds guests to keep himself and the listeners entertained. This was no exception. On Wednesday, Rude Jude had rapper and media personality R.A. The Ruggedman on the air. Listen below as the fireworks erupted between Jude and R.A. over the current state of rap music, what's pop and what's hip-hop, MC Hammer vs. Joeskie Love, and who has more 'rap credibility' and knowledge. It sounds like it got pretty heated, but I'm sure it was all in good fun. Or was it? You be the entertained judge as the two rap pundits go at it.

Voki

I found this site through a random advertisement for Voki.com. I never click these, but it reminded me of the "Sam" voice generator program on my Commodore64 back in the days. We used to prank people with that thing like crazy. Any way, check it our. You may have some practical uses for it. I don't.


Get a Voki now!

Shady Graff

Recently Eminem's clothing line Shady Ltd. has launched an outdoor marketing campaign (In other words, billboards and the like) with some of the new images from our shoot we did earlier this year with incredible photographer Lyndon Wade.
One of the billboards we hung up in Downtown Chicago on Cicero and 53rd St. was hit by some graffiti writers last week... Our lease on the billboard only runs through January, so we decided to leave it. I kind of like it... Draw even more attention and they left Em and the message in tact. I doubt, however, this was by design, probably more of a convenience thing. Oh well, I guess all the Bunyan71 tags I left in Detroit and East Lansing in the early nineties have caught up with me.
P.S. I have turned on the moderation feature for comments, because some idiot blew it by leaving a post proving their mental midgetry. Sorry, but I'm approving all comments now.

Shorts In Winter

Why do some people think its a good idea or even ok to wear shorts in the airport in the winter? Just because you are coming from or going to somewhere warm? Are we supposed to be impressed? Are you that comfortable or excited that you can't cover your ghostly legs? Hey, its December. We are in DETROIT. Why aren't you wearing a parka and a sweater you jackass?
I'm looking for a photo for this. And I WILL find one.
UPDATE: As promised... snagged one.

The End

On Sunday, we went to Ford Field in Detroit for the Lions season-ending loss against the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, they played hard. Yeah, they finally uitlized T.J. Duckett. Yeah, Kitna didn't fumble and he only had one pick. Yeah, the Lions secondary virtually immobilized the great T.O. But when the chips were down in the fourth quarter, Hansen muffed a field goal and a live fumble couldn't be fallen upon to change possesion and win the game. No surprises here... Another losing season will be on the books for The Roar.
On the bright side, we did score some sweet field passes (thank you Ford Field's Tom Lewand!) for pre-game and we also had some sweet suite passes so we could fly between our regular seats and the box. Some kid wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt got all excited during the game and thought it would be a good idea to rub my head. I told him that he shouldn't do that to a grown man that he doesn't know.
Yes, of course I'll be here next year to watch the Lions with a small rice-grain of hope in my heart. And yes, again I will be the sucker. Wait, I live in NY too... GO GIANTS!!!

Hanukkah Radio Audio

Here it is... the 2007 installment of Hanukkah Radio on Shade45 on Sirius Satellite Radio. We had a great show this year, with special guests DJ AM, actor Jonah Hill, and surprise guest in-studio for Jew or Not a Jew? Marky Ramone from The Ramones. Yarmulkes were passed, dreidles and menorahs were explained, Manischewitz was popped, and we thugged it out in a very jewish way. Our co-hosts Lord Searberg, Rude Jew and O.Jew were a big help, as was our very own Dart Garfunkel.

Please be patient with hour 1, there was a silent patch in the first few minutes for some reason. Wait it out... its worth it.L'CHAIM!!!
(Pictured above, L-R, Reef, Me, DJ AM, Dart Parker & Lord Sear, with some yarmulkes)

Hanukkah Radio Hour 1 & Hanukkah Radio Hour 2

Mr. Right Video

Check out the outstanding new video for Mickey Avalon's song "Mr. Right". The video was directed by Syndrome and features cameos from Paris Hilton and Leif Garrett. Yes, Leif Garrett.

Hanukkah Radio

Every year around this time, myself and Reef from Sirius Radio/Shade45 take over the channel for a couple of hours and do Hanukkah Radio. In the past we have had incredible guest like Lenny Kravitz, The Alchemist, and J.R. Rotem. This year our guests are DJ AM and actor Jonah Hill. Basically we play horrible Jewish inspired or Hanukkah themed rap songs and music, interview people about being Jewish, and play the now legendary Jew or Not a Jew?. Tune in tonight to channel 45 (Shade45) on Sirius Satellite Radio from 6-8PM E.S.T. and get an earful of the festival of lights. Below, check out the new promo we made. Thanks, Jay Z, for making us hot again.

Mahzel Tov

B.o.B

Shady Music Publishing is pleased to announce the signing of Atlanta-bred rapper B.o.B to our venture with Universal Music Publishing. B.o.B is a producer, writer, singer and rapper rolled up into one creative artist- and he's only 18 years old. B.o.B's creative ability is unlike anything I've seen in quite some time, and we are extremely excited for the world to get a taste of what he's capable of. Check out some of his music below and look for his debut in the first half of 2008 on Rebel Rock/Atlantic Records.

"Haterz Everywhere" (Remix) Featuring Rick Ross/Juvenile & "Cloud 9"

Beard.Net

We went out to Atlantic City on Saturday night for a run with our client DJ AM, who had a gig at the Borgata. The Borgata is by far the best thing that AC has to offer, and there are some good restaurants there as well (Do you like your Bobby Flay steak, DJ AM?). Its like a single, stand-along "Near Vegas" complex. Everything else in that town is not... Anyway they have this crazy modern high polish bright white food court downstairs that, what do you know, has a Fatburger that's open very late.
So we went down to get some egg burgers (yep) and the man pictured above was working behind the counter. The strange drape, cape or net covering his beard is one of the oddest things I've run across in a while. Its like it was specifically designed for the Philly cats who were their long-below-the-chin, black-dyed beards a la the rapper Freeway. It has ear straps. Necessity really is the mother of invention. Early!