ed lopez

I wasn't looking too seriously at going to the Roskilde Festival this year until it was announced that Trentemoller would be performing a 2 hour DJ set with his own edits and bootlegs. If that wasn't enough, he has a new album called Harbour Boat Trips - Copenhagen that will be released at the end of June. No doubt he will be playing some of his new material at the festival. In addition Royksopp, Fever Ray, Lulu Rouge, Deadmau5, Mike Sheridan, NIN, Coldplay, Kanye West, Adam Tensta, Oasis and many more will be performing. So I booked a ticket to Copenhagen.

Labels: Life, music, Roskilde, Royksopp, Trentemoller

I have been consulting at Global Gaming for the past couple of months helping with product development, operations and technology. Very cool concepts allowing people to manage their gamer life are in the works.

On a different note, it looks like ManiaTV will be sold or will cease to exist. Very strange since an article less than a month ago put ManiaTV in better light. Looks like the ManiaTV brass was exaggerating.. a lot. Well at least there is always Mafia Wars.

Labels: GGL, Life, Los Angeles, maniatv

Yesterday, McCain blew off David Letterman in order to get to Washington and deal with the economic crisis. Turns out McCain decided to go and meet with Couric instead of Letterman. Letterman understandably was pissed.


This highlights some severe issues I have with McCain and his camp.

1- Don't lie. And if you do, don't be stupid enough to get caught in plain sight.
2- We need a president that can multitask important issues at the SAME TIME. You can't just call timeout like a 5 year old and stop campaigning so you can deal with a financial crisis you admittedly know nothing about.
3- Where the hell is Sarah Palin? McCain should have sent his running mate Palin to Letterman. My guess is that the McCain camp was worried to send her in place of McCain. They know she wouldn't be able to handle Letterman, and he would have exposed her as an idiot in the same way he dealt with Paris Hilton when she went on his show.


This Republican is planning on voting for Obama.

Labels: Funny, Life, Politics, Video

Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) is hands down a must see movie. Excellent screenplay and brilliant performances from the entire cast. The standout performance goes to Wagner Moura as Capitão Nascimento. Scenes with him when cops go through the BOPE boot camp are very compelling and raw.

The movie explores the dynamics between drug dealers, drug users, good and corrupt cops, and the BOPE (if you don't know BOPE think SWAT). One interesting subplot is how the corruption of the Military Police Force works. It shows how the "system" is used against itself and how bureaucracy makes the easiest things difficult to execute within the MP force. You begin to understand how individuals with integrity can lose their way and fall victim to this "system". You also see how people with integrity maintain it within this "system" by being callus and absolute to the point of self-detriment. As a result, good guy and bad guy lines are very blurry in this movie.

The main plot of the movie revolves around Nascimento, the captain of BOPE. Nascimento is looking for a replacement. Someone who has all the qualities the job demands. Someone like him. Enter two MP recruits Neto and Matias (who happen to be best friends). Neto has the heart and attitude to lead the BOPE but is wreckless, and Matias is smart and calculated, but thinks to the point of inaction. What they have in common is integrity and the will to change and confront the corruption that is all around them.

I won't give away any spoilers, but if you are looking for a good foreign flick in the same vein as City of God, this is it.

Labels: Film, Life, movies, review

Just a quick blog to let people know I no longer work at ManiaTV. It was challenging and fun but it was the right time to part ways. If you need to get a hold of me and you do not have my personal email address or cell number, please use the contact form on this web site. Cheers!

Labels: jobs, Life, maniatv

Ah, the service industry. I can't tell you how many times I have come across waiters and waitresses that act like this when going to grab Sunday brunch. The title of the clip should be I.F.H. Sundays.

Labels: Funny, Life, video games

If this works, you should see an Obey sticker pasted on a traffic light. Not sure what you'll see if it does not work. Now what's the difference between blogging and twittering?

Labels: Art, Life, Los Angeles, Shepard Fairey

It has been over 4 years since I last played Madden in a competitive manner. I won plenty of money playing Madden competitively when I was in college so I can't believe I haven't played it for this long. My trash talk is weak and thankfully my game is still strong. In a couple of months, I am sure my verbal skills will be on par with my game play. Competitors beware.

Labels: Life, NFL, video games

Went on a great hike with a group of friends yesterday at Big Santa Anita Canyon. We got there at around 11:30am and didn't get back until 5:30pm. The scenery was beautiful. Most of the hike was in the shade, so we didn't feel the heat while hiking in the middle of the day. The Sturtevant Falls (about 50ft high; pic above) is about 1.5 miles into the hike. Most the group took a dip in the cold pool below.

The highlight of the trip was when we tried to get by a swarm of bees on our trail on our way back from Mt. Zion. Mytch went first and said everything was cool. Then I went. Everything not cool. I had bees swarming in my hair and in my ear. While this is going on, Mytch realizes he has a few friends hanging out in his hair. So I run down the trail yelling at Mytch that the bees are on me. As I am coming towards Mytch, he starts doing the bees are me dance. I fall to the ground, thinking they are off me. I was wrong. I continue to run at Mytch, yelling that the bees are still on me. Mytch now begins to run away from me since I am running at him with my bee friends in tow. I stop where he was standing. I check my hair and my surroundings. No bees. The rest of the gang gets through without incident.

Labels: hike, Life, Los Angeles

It's official. I am going to play Event 27 in The World Series of Poker.

Labels: Life, poker, vegas

Iron Man is estimate to bring in $200 million worldwide during it's 1st weekend of release. MVL stock is currently valued around 2.3 billion, meaning Iron Man alone is going to make up appx 10% of the total market cap based on revenue. You would expect Iron Man to rack up at least $750 million including movie receipts, DVD and merch. Assuming the Incredible Hulk does half of what Iron Man did, you are looking at 2 movies that can generate 1.1 - 1.2 billion in revenue for MVL, and appx 600-700 million in profit to the bottom line. Ca-ching.

Labels: Film, Life, Money, Stocks

Morcheeba is coming into the studio this weekend to do an acoustic set for one of our shows. Been listening to their music for a long time so I am pretty stoked. I am thinking about seeing them in concert this weekend so I can catch Federico Aubele and Natalia Clavier do their thing. El Arbol is just a song I can't seem to get out of my head.

Labels: Life, maniatv, music

I find Vegas to be very therapeutic. Whenever I am gambling at the tables, I feel chillaxed.. almost zen-like. It has to be the constant thinking required to gamble for 8 hours at a time. Anyways, it was great to see Tesh again. Funny that he asked how my ex-girlfriend was doing.. since he thought we were still together. Didn't realize that it was that long since I last saw Tesh. I have to do a better job reaching out to my friends more consistently. Work seems to forever consume me.

Labels: Life, vegas

How do you define bank and corporate failure? I define it by entities that need copious amounts of money and help from the government to continue as a going concern.

Countrywide - Failed
Citi - Failed
Bear Sterns - Failed

The economy is in a real bad place. I predict a ten year recession and in all likelihood the US will lose financial superpower status.

Who is next?

Labels: Life, Money

People have good stories. People are afraid that truthful stories are boring.

Labels: Life

Back living in LA. Hanging out with Rob (my new roomie) and Sarah in her empty apartment. Drinking. Life is good.

Labels: Life, Los Angeles

After a two year stint in Denver, I will be moving back to Los Angeles. It's going to be good for the soul, as I lived a very balanced life when I was there. Can't wait to get back to my old habits for a healthier me. W00t!

Labels: Life, Los Angeles