Di Fara The Best Pizza In Brooklyn

*Photos by Shino Yanagawa taken with an iPhone*

When I say the best I mean the best. This past Sunday I took to a bike ride with the lady Shino from Flatbush to Coney Island. Let me say that it broke my heart to see what has become of my beloved childhood playground. I have fond memories of traveling to Coney Island as a youngster and riding the motorcycle ride and really believing that my 7 year old self was pushing a motorcycle. That ride is no longer there, and instead is replaced by some wack low budget ride. The only consolation is that my house music heads still go there on the weekends to dance in the sun. (Although I prefer the boardwalk to the new location in the actual park.)

On the way back to Flatbush we rode down Ocean Pkwy and saw some absolutely beautiful homes. Brooklyn can truly be a sight to see. 

We decided while at Coney Island to head down to this pizza place Shino has been raving about forever. Once we reached Ave. J and E.15th street I saw a very old Pizzeria. Once we walked in I saw two men working. One older man was making the pies and another gentleman was taking orders. There weren't many people inside and I was told that we were very lucky. There's normally a line around the block for these pies. You see, the old man who was making the pizza is the ONLY one who makes them here. He's been at this location for decades and takes his time. I watched him as he made pie after pie with fresh ingrediants like Buffalo Mozzerella and fresh crushed tomato sauce. After toping the pie off with olive oil it goes into one of the two ovens (which means only 4 pies can cook at a time). Because this place is so popular we wound up waiting an hour and a half for our pie with sun dried tomatoes. Once it was done I took the longest time to take the second bite of my first slice. It was simply too amazing to swallow (pause). 

If you get a chance PLEASE check out Di Fara. It's worth the wait and money (slices are 4 bucks and a pie is about 20).  

TRUST ME!

Drake - Best I ever had

Also know on twitter as BREAST I EVER HAD! Directed by Kanye West. Again I say, you be the judge. Click the link below to see what I think.
Dashaun's Opinion

Building Blocks

The Clash, Velvet Underground and Iron Maiden

I'm pretty sure you've come across these little dudes either as a child (or child at heart) playing the game or walking through the streets of the city. Either way we've seen the simple graphic style pop up around up and now it has taken another turn. I was put on to this recently and I just loved how the video shows him doing his work. Space Invader is having his new works at showcased the Jonathan Levine Gallery. I truly believe your mind has to be on some other isht to make images out of tile but to manipulate a Rubiks Cube into it, your outta here on some space cadet mission. So I'm sharing these videos with you in hopes to get a better understanding of the person behind the art.

TOP 10
by extermitent

How Times Change...

When I was in high school the Walkman was an essential tool. Most of my friends from those times recognize me by seeing a pair of headphones in on my head and a book bag on my back. I had (and still have) a big box of tapes which I would listen to on the regular. Back then the only thing I listened to was the hip hop of the day.

There was one summer where my brother Mahdi lent me his Sony Walkman. Man this was the illest Walkman I'd ever seen. It was able to pick up TV signals like radio stations. I remember I was working for the Summer Youth Employment Program and on my lunch breaks I would listen to All My Children (probably should have kept that secret but hey I'm weird). The tape that was in the Walkman when I got it was Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Links" album. It was on a TDK tape I believe and it was a good month and a half before the release date. I was the MAN in the hood. I would burn batteries out listening to TV shows and Raekwon's album.

There was a whole culture to owning a Walkman. Freezing your batteries when they went dead to squeeze that last bit of juice out of em. Flipping the tape over (because I never REALLY trusted Auto Reverse) to listen to another banger instead of pressing rewind. Those were the days. Now we just make a playlist and hit the streets. The new players charge up at night so the battery man on Utica Avenue (I used to hit up for 1 dollar Duracells) has to find another way to feed himself.

So today we salute the Sony Walkman. Honorable mention to the Aiwa models with the super base switch.



The End

A Rainbow Flows in Brooklyn

Saturday was the grand opening of the Kuntaw Martial Arts school in Brooklyn. This is the first school in New York to offer Kuntaw to the masses. The turn out was really good and we did a nice demonstration of what Kuntaw is all about. All of the Kuntaw students (Kyuds) who were up for promotion got to be officially prsented with their new belts and certificates on this day. While we were in the school rain came pouring down. When it was time to leave I walked down Flatbush Ave. People were just staring up in the sky. I stopped at the corner and see a HUGE rainbow the likes of which I'd never seen in New York period. I've only seen a large rainbow when I traveled to Hawaii last year.

People were stopping in the middle of the street to take pictures. I heard comments like "It's Michael Jackson!" and "The Lord has spared this city again and provided a covenant!". It was a moment for sure. I hope you were able to see it to for a minute. It seemed to be a small miracle.