I happen to be at a hotel down in Waikiki and heard this musician playing some of the best music I’ve heard in awhile..  He’s a folk singer kinda guy at a time when we all love to hear it.  His name is Nathan Emmans (or Nathan J. Emmans) and his music is what I need.  He plays some good stuff and it put me right where I needed to be. While he was under contract for the Hotel I was visiting he played some covers as well including; I must say.  The best version of Hallelujah I’ve heard since Leonard Cohen.. Seriously!

I’ve found some early footage of him on Youtube; below.  He looks pretty much the same, however, he’s since turn those locks into clean, loose, dreads (as opposed to tight Rastaboy dreads).  He’s also gained a few more years from the below video.  Age brings out the soul in song writers and singers and now he’s pretty ripe.  Its an honor to hear him sing and with the exception of being in Hawaii, he’s definitely got the talent to make it far.   He plays at a couple of places regularly.  One is a resort bar Hale Koa’s, two at Irish pubs (Kelly O’neils & O’tools) , and another laid back bar (Cheeseburger Bar).

Currently, it looks as though He’s also added a Drummer.  I hate to do this but, I don’t remember his name but I “think” its Constantine, or some other cool sounding “C” Name.  No; You know what??  Its “Konrad”. I’ve gotta say, adding a bit of percussion does add something to the performance.  It also gives him a person to Interact with.  I happened to catch thier first gig together and it was worth it.

— Their webpage is The Art Of  Whimsy.com. You can buy the new CD (Live At Higher Ground) , also.. Damn Good for live music.

www.theartofwhimsy.com

— I found thier Myspace Page.  It has some older stuff from thier first CD (An Acoustic Prologue)

http://www.myspace.com/theartofwhimsy

Go Check him out..  He pretty much rocks..  Someday he’ll get the opportunity and off he’ll go.  The best thing about an artist is when you get to go on a ride with the music and;  I feel good when I listen to him play. Maybe you’ll find a piece of peace (TM) through his music..

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

In Pakistan,  A main Al Qaeda Cave complex has been attacked and seized by the Pakistani military.  There are over 150 caves built into the mountains that have provided sleeping areas, command posts, and area for forces to sleep.  These are not small. Some have been there since the 80’s war with Russia, Some are newer and wired for electricity.

There is no doubt that the Pakistanis had their hands full getting to the complex, but they seem to have captured them.  It is believed… by the Pakistani military and intelligence forces that these are the same caves that Bin Laden once stayed in.  This should be interesting this next month as they exploit the intelligence they find.  Hopefully this means we’re closing in on the man himself — Obama.  These Caves may not outnumber the Vietcong, but they do have more volume.  They are larger.  and they are quite a feat of engineering.

Elsewhere In Pakistan — The United States Government  is toying with the idea of offering Drones to the Pakistani Government.  I’m not exactly sure with why they want to do this other than the suggestion that this will aid Pakistan in thier fight against terrorism and insurgents.  But If the US does this.. There will be exact replicas being sold to countries all around the world.. The Pakistani’s will take them apart and reverse engineer them immediately.  This is not really a good idea but we’ll see how the government handles this.

I’ve gotten my hands on the new Sony Cybershot T-90 model (DSC-T90).  It is the most amazing point-and-shoot I have ever used.  Some of the best qualities you can imagine are packed into one of the thinnest camera bodies I’ve ever seen.  It is about the same dimension as a credit card (obviously its thicker than one).  The camera looks great all around and you should be able to find a color that fits your freaky, perverted personality.  The 5 colors are Silver, Grey, Brown, Black, and Blue. You can even buy more than one if you are compelled to match you outfits.

It still has all the functions one would expect, however, the T-90 ensures that you can get to the information much easier than any other camera.  IT HAS A TOUCH SCREEN!  Crazy huh?  The touch screen makes things so easy to navigate through and to review all of your pictures.  You can even “flick” through the pics you took as though you were using an IPhone.   This equates to the camera only having about 4 buttons on the outside of the camera.  Power, Play, Zoom, and shutter/trigger.  And you never really need to use the Power button because you can just open or close the front slide to turn it on or off.

One of its best features are its Low-Light capability.  You can literally take a no-flash picture it night and the camera will make all of the adjustments and take the best shot it can.  Its Anti shake capability is pretty amazing also. The camera figures out the optimal time to take the picture and it seems seemless.   With the Carl Zeiss Lens’, you can focus on items about an inch away from the camera itself.. It is truly amazing.  The 12.1 Megapixel capability doesn’t hurt either.  I actually love the fact that they got rid of ridiculous “digital zoom”.  Everyone should follow suit with this. I’ve always hated that crappy feature.

Another spectacular feature of this camera is the Panorama Mode.  You just point in the area you want to shoot, push the button, an arrow pops up on the screen and you just move the camera in the direction.  Sony calls it a sweep, and after you sweep the area you want the panorama of, the computer takes over process the image and lays it out for your review.  I’ve gotten into the habit of creating Panoramas of rooms and they come out very interesting I think.

The other great factor is that the camera gives you a great compact platform to take digital video in High Definition.  When transferred to computer the footage comes out better than other cameras.  It is gonna be a bit grainy but just accept it.  It still looks great. The downside of this camera, if there is one, is that it requires a dedicated battery and a specific charger for that battery.  You can no longer go out and buy some AA’s if you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and your battery’s dead; you’re not taking pictures. What you can do, I guess, is go out and buy a second battery and have that charged and ready to go.

It is without a doubt more powerful than my 5 year old Canon Eos Digital Rebel.  Obviously it doesn’t have the optics to be better than a full Digital SLR but it is more utilitarian and less fragile.  The T-90 can be “safely” dropped from 4 feet (though I wouldn’t risk it), and it has a measure of waterproofing.  I’m told down to 33 feet, even though I can’t find/cite, where I’ve seen that information.  I think it was listed as a feature in the at-store advertising:  No matters though; I wouldn’t risk it!

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Alright, I’m not gonna get into discussing American Idol everyday but I’ve got to say something about Andrew Garcia’s rendition of Straight Up by Paula Abdul.  Yea Yea.. I know but I’m just gonna say it was insanely good.  Listen to it and tell me what you think.

Now, I may (although I won’t admit it) listen to Straight up by accident every year or so when it pops up randomly on my Ipod, but I think that rendition may almost be better than the original, in a contemporary way.  The original will always be the original but in a day with so many singers like Jack Johnson and bands like Coldplay, Andrew Garcia’s version is modern dope! I would listen to that a couple of times if it came on the radio.  What do you think?

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Today another “Man-Made” global warming study is found to have flaws.  This should only be surprising to those who’ve invested part of themselves to the debate.  This should only be surprising to those who don’t believe that everything on the planet works in cycles.  You would almost have to believe that the planet was never warmer on average than in the last 100 years, but at the same time believe that its never been cooler.  These are the same kind of people who believe that everything that happens is because of Global Warming.  Its getting warmer? Man is the problem.  Large storms? Man is the problem.  Just like other religions.. Anything that happens is because or???? Name you thing.  How can you argue with that kind of “faith”?

This time it was withdrawn voluntarily.  This is a first, but it won’t be the last.  We’re already seeing the collapse of data from other sources including climate labs, Environmental Journals, climatologists, and even the UN.  It won’t be long before the trust of individuals who are proponents of global warming lose credibility… but it will continue to happen.

The science isn’t settled… despite how many times that’s stated.. Its not.. Sorry.  Just go back and restudy it and then people might believe you.  The fact that people feel the need to say man is causing it and not believe anything else is more in-line with faith.  Said another way.. You can never get someone who beilieves in thier religion to rationally change thier belief by talking to them.  People will eventually come to thier own revelations… or maybe they won’t.

The real crime and problem is suggesting people are stupid or ignorant if they don’t believe what you say.  Especially when you (as a believer) can’t prove your POV.  The US News has been practically ignoring this controversy while the British are on it big time.  The UK Guardian has even built a page to compile the fall of the Man-made Global Warming hoax. Hopefully you’ll find that its got a good mix of support and denial articles.  It is a fair page by my read.

What’s funny is all of the people who jump to defend the bad science with their souls.  You would think that people would be happy to prove that there were mistakes and that as studies fall, that this would be a cause for celebration.   Shouldn’t we be happy that the world is not warming (due to man)?  Why would anyone defend bad, or faulty science?  Perhaps we all might want to look into ourselves and ask that same question.  Why would I defend mistakes and bad science?

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Alright.  This is the Best commercial I’ve seen in Years.  Its the new Old Spice Commercial and it is Just Hilarious. I’m told the guys name is Isiah Mustafa (I cannot 100% confirm it) but in a few days I’m sure it’ll become more available on the search engines since I don’t know 1 person who doesn’t like it.  My wife thinks the guy is hot so I’m sure there are bunches of women out there who are hot-and-bothered over him thinking the same.

What makes it more impressive is that this looks to be filmed in one continuous shot.  It looks like its all done manually with the obvious exception of the CG hand/diamonds/shell/Old Spice bottle.

One Question though!!!  Why isn’t it a Super Bowl Commercial.  Its would fare well against Doritos, E*Trade, or Snickers.  It’s got nearly 2 million views on Youtube so it would’ve went viral if it weren’t a commercial.  It looks like I’m gonna be buying Old Spice again because I like thier commercial so much so It worked on me. The best line?  “Look at your man, Look at Me, Look at your man, Look at Me”.  A great commercial..

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

In another cool sight heading out of Pearl Harbor.  A Nuclear Submarine.  Who expects to see them? Not really me but I was surprised at the size of these things.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..

Anyways… I was walking down the street in Tokyo and

Skyline / GTR

looked over to my right.  In the parking spot was a brand-spanking new Nissan GTR… Just hanging out all shiny and pretty-like!  You don’t know what a GTR is you say!  Ask any teenage boy what a Nissan GTR is and he’ll say.. It’s a Skyline.  Then you’ll ask, what’s a Skyline.  He’ll probably look at you like you’re crazy!  Skyline’s are cars that most teenagers (OK, Teenage Boys) have known since they bought thier first Playstation or Xbox.  The only car that is better known is probably the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (Evo) to those who know.  And Ironically both cars hit the US Market largely because of the very same teenagers growing up and wanting these cars as they get older.  Didn’t you see the Fast and the Furious parts one and two?  Where have you been?

The GTR however, is an All Wheel Drive (AWD), 480hp, twin turbocharged, 6 cylinder (only) piece of engineering masterpiece.  It may not look like a supercar, but it handles as one.  If you doubt the competence of this car just know that this car can spank pretty much any street car on Nurburgring in Germany.  Nurburgring is a famous racetrack that has been used for decades as a yardstick of automotive capability.  It has long straights, low and high speed turns, and any number of turns and curves that test even the best transmissions, chassis, and engines.  And the Skyline/GTR is it.  Watch Jeremy (from Top Gear) test it out.  And watch Top Gear, this season is off the hook.

I would put it against any number of Mercedes, BMW, or just about any car on the planet.  And the benefit to being Japanese is that it is reliable, and cheaper.  In comparison to another all wheel drive, turbocharged, 480 horsepower car is the Porsche 911 Turbo (which I love), and I think this car may come out on top… in areas that don’t include looks, style, history, and lineage.

— Thanks for Visiting Kali Pinckney.com at www.kalipinckney.com..