Definition: substantialiscious

from the inside of the snickers wrapper:

Substantialiscious \sub-'stan(t)-shu -li-shus\ (noun). The weight of something when you hold it with your tongue.

Is it me or should that be an adjective instead of a noun?

The best twenty bucks I've ever spent..

..or the worst, depending on how you look at it.  This game has killed whatever kind of productivity Rande and I had going recently.  But I do have a Porsche with almost 900 hp now.

my frontyard this morning in miami

my backyard in nj

Record One

We had a session at Dr. Dre's studio the other night, Record One.  Hidden on a side street in a quiet part of LA is this incredible studio.  You could walk right by it and never know.  All you see from the street is a big green gate and a callbox to talk to the front desk.  love this place.

Being in a real studio instead of the usual laptop+mbox+hotel room combo reminds me why I got into this in the first place.  It's kind of ironic that after 4 years of college and year of grinding and learning how to use SSLs and Neves my primary set up is now something anyone can walk into Guitar Center and buy with $5k.  So it's always nice to get back to a real studio where there is PRO gear and you need real engineering techniques.  Plus they have an old Asteroids arcade machine in the lobby.

movies rock taping

Last night was a lot of fun. Went to the taping of that Movies Rock CBS special at the Kodak Theatre in LA. I got to walk on the green (not red) carpet with busabusss. It was a pretty cool experience. Right before the carpet, there was this tent where everyone gathered before walking out. I was standing in a group with Busta, John Legend, will.i.am, Kate Hudson, Eddie Murphy, etc.. definitely felt like I was in an episode of entourage for a minute. After the whole photo and interview process was finished we went into the show and got our seats. It was an awesome show, with focus on MUSIC. Lots of great performances and talks about music and film. (airs friday december 7th on cbs)

I was looking forward to the afterparty, but right after the show ended, it was back to work. Went straight to the studio to record some new hotness and finish another mixtape coming out soon. Its not all fun and games, kids.


The only thing on the schedule so far today is some tracking and a Mary J Blige video shoot. Busta rhymed on the remix of Work That, her new single, so he'll be in the video whenever it airs. Peace until next time.

Dillagence

A couple weeks ago, we finished digging through the archives and listening to a whole bunch of unreleased dilla joints featuring busta rhymes and many other mc's from the past 5 years or so. Working with mick boogie, this project turned into The Dillagence Mixtape. download it here.

Movies Rock Special

Mark your calenders. Friday december 7th on CBS, a 2 hour special about the impact of music on movies. There will be a ton of great musical performances, with Steve Jordan as Musical Directer. More details below:

"Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson, Hilary Swank, Billy Bob Thornton, John C. Reilly, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Charlize Theron, Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Broderick and other great ones to come.

Confirmed performers include: Fergie ("Live and Let Die"), Jennifer Hudson "Theres A Place for Us" from West Side Story), Mary J. Blige and John Legend ("As Time Goes By"), Elton John (medley of Disney Animated title songs), Carrie Underwood ("Sound of Music"), Marc Anthony "Mrs.Robinson", Will.I.Am ("Shaft"), John Williams (medley of his amazing film scores), Beyonce "Over the Rainbow"), Usher ("Singing in the Rain"), Chris Brown ("Jailhouse Rock"). and Tony Bennett ("White Christmas")Also have 60 piece orchestra and our Musical Director is Steve Jordan.

MOVIES ROCK is also a full length magazine personally edited by Graydon Carter included in December issues of: Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, Teen Vogue, Men's Vogue, Self, Allure, Wired, Jane, Glamour, W, Conde Nast Traveler, The New Yorker, Architectural Digest with Bill Murray on the cover. You won't be able to miss us!

The players are heavyweight...Kathleen Kennedy Marshall (War of the Worlds, Munich) and Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Big Fish) Exec Producers. Benefits the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

Airs Dec 7th prime time CBS...

the road life

Thanksgiving is amazing.  It has to cause more awkward and uncomfortable conversation than any other holiday.  Thank goodness for babies keeping everyone entertained until dinner is over before sleep sets in.  But the food is always wonderful and the whole thing melts the ice a little bit before its finally broken on Christmas eve with a round of shots at my uncle's house.      Cheers to the holidays.

This past wednesday night the flipmode crew left nyc on a road trip to los angeles. The bus trips are definitely an experience.  You sort of enter into your own time zone and lose communications with the outside world until you get to your destination.  All the cell phone towers and satellite dishes in the world couldn't get you consistent reception traveling at 90 mph through the arizona desert.  There's basically nothing to do besides listen to music and lay in your coffin sized bunk, being rocked gently to sleep by the terrible road surface. 

more to come..

pharrell & ferrell

Dear ---,

We met at south beach studios last week.  Sitting next to you on the couch in the lounge, I introduced myself and we had a great conversation for the next 10 minutes.  We talked about smelly old dogs and psychotic cats. Then xbox 360 and call of duty 3.  I thought we had a moment.. Things were going great until you mentioned that you're pharrell's girlfriend. damnit.  lemme know if things don't work out.

-Ryan

---------

this made me laugh today.

teachers beware

I know a bunch of teachers who have myspace and/or facebook profiles.  It's hard not to now without feeling out of the loop.  But it seems like the tide is changing regarding whether it's ok for teachers to participate in social networking sites.

read this.

pandora

pandora is awesome.

my mentor and the best engineer in the world

I have to mention on here the only reason I'm working for busta rhymes right now. Mr. Robert "LB" Dorsey.  LB took me under his wing early on at Quad Studios in nyc after I helped him fix his mac. He showed me the ropes and taught me the right way to rock an SSL 9000 J. He has been in the recording scene longer than anyone I know, coming up engineering for The Roots and going all the way to the top as engineer for Beyonce. This man gives me both inspiration to keep going and a ton of headaches. Tough love has done me right though. He definitely prepared me for what I'm doing now and probably what I'll be doing for the rest of my career, so thanks son!!!

there's now a link to his myspace page over on the right. go there and thank him, because he probably worked on whatever you're listening to right now.

blogs all over

I started this shiz just the other day, as you can see below. I guess I would say it's doing pretty well. I havent had any complaints yet, but probably not a single hit yet because I haven't told a soul this exists. Truth be told, I haven't been faithful to this young blog. I just uploaded an entirely NEWER one today. It's over at http://web.mac.com/gilliganr if you want to check it out. (link is to the right) Basically I'm just trying to compare this free blogspot chompie to iWeb and .mac. Which one will outlast the other?? If the suspense is killing you as much as it is me, please bookmark this. and my other page. i'll be back soon.

uncontrollable laughter

I have this uncanny ability to make my little brother Eric laugh hysterically.  Usually around dinner time, I make one stupid comment or another and it sets him off.  From there I can keep escalating it until he curls up into a teary-eyed ball on the kitchen floor and has to be carried out of the room.  I think it's his only weakness.

new blogs FTW

I'm just jumping on the bandwagon with this whole blog thing.  Let's see what happens.