Concho's real name is José Concepción del Río Martínez, but everybody knows him as Concho River. Russell and I met him a long time ago (I think it was 2004). We were driving from Lubbock to San Antonio and Concho was there hitchhiking. We gave him a ride and he has been our friend since then.
From the Guitar Hero people, who created an army of dummies thinking they actually can play an instrument when all they do is click through patterns of colors in the Dance Dance Revolution fashion (and not even using the memory skills of Mego’s Fabulous Fred), now comes an abomination of a video game titled DJ Hero. Yes! It even comes with a cutesy little thing that looks like a turntable (or is that a turntable and a mixer, since it has like one little “volume” control and a few buttons?) and costs some good $130 on pre-order at amazon.
Just like Guitar Hero makes dudes carry their “guitars” and make pre-recorded “music” by matching little colors like lab rats in an experiment during the 70s, now DJ Hero wants them to click little colors on the fake turntable and match them to pre-recorded music, and they can also “scratch” when prompted. How cool! However... just as playing Guitar Hero has nothing to do with playing a real guitar, DJ Hero has nothing to do with being a real DJ. Tell that to the masses of mamahuevos who will play with their fake turntables and think they are DJs. The game is probably fun, but it is lame in its basic premise: DJs only make mash-ups and we need to scratch lots to be happy. Oh, and it has a little fader, but... it doesn’t fade anything... it’s just to make an “effect” when the little path with colors asks you to. Fun times. We are all DJs. Call Jazzy Jeff and tell him to endorse it and claim this is good for the DJ community. Mis huevos.
It reminds me of a moron who showed up at the studio once (I wish I could remember his name) and claimed to be a “very good” DJ. I told him to go ahead and show me, and I gave him the headphones of the basic set-up we had with the Realistic turntables, and he argued he only used Technics 1200s (that’s like saying “I can’t drive your Honda because I only drive BMWs”). Later that week, we ran into the same moron at a club and the DJ, who was a friend of mine, told him to stop just talking about his awesome skills and play something, and he used the same lame defense about the Technics 1200s. Little did he know that the turntables in front of him were Technics 1200s. “What are these? Chopped liver?” we asked. Dumbass.
Talking about being a DJ or playing a game about pre-recorded mashups with little colors won’t make you a real DJ. Don’t even try.
And most likely a new funded grant proposal. Details coming soon (as soon as they are 100% official). Teaching is going ok, but I still think Writing for the Web has too many students. Working on a couple of papers and also preparing two new grant proposals (including one with Don Manuelito). Obviously, all the research projects are about improving workplace communication and safety for Hispanic construction workers (los "maistros").
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