Alec Rojas

Stories by Alec Rojas

Alec Rojas is afraid to sleep. With a law degree and a philosophy degree, he works in law during the day and writes by night. You can find him DJing in downtown LA or on top of a California mountain, probably talking about Hegelian Aesthetic philosophy as applied to the Snoop Lion record.

Secret Garden Party | A Mixtape by Anon

Download Secret Garden Party | A Mixtape by Anon

This very special TFIB mixtape comes from across the pond. Anon, a UK based producer and DJ, created this sweet mix, a combination of his personal faves and his own compositions. It’s got a little bit of everything, a degree of eclecticism that I have always valued in a mixtape. It begins from the start: Michael Kiwanuka, a soul sensation out of Britain, keeps it mellow until we get into a dabbling of UK electronic music and funky classics. The variety (from Lapalux, Shed, Gold Panda, even Carly Simon) is consistent, head-bobbing, and straight up enjoyable. Sprinkling his own tracks in between it is even sweeter, a unifying flavor. As he puts it:

The mix is in preparation for a long overdue summer – I’ve been getting wet listening to some dark stuff for the past few months so I thought it about time to crack out some oldies and make a decent mix for the journey to Secret Garden Party. At the end is a new tune of mine which is lined up as the first proper single, on wax, proper label and all that. I would love to find an artist to collaborate with who might feel like making a cover for this and hopefully future releases. To work with to create something great!

The playlist:

Michael Kiwanuka – Tell Me A Tale
Anon – Amen
Lapalux – Gone
Herbie Mann – Superman
Flying Lotus – Do the Astral Plane
Anon – I Gave You Everything
Gold Panda – Back Home
Shed- Selection One
King Sun – On the Club Tip
Loleatta Holloway – Runaway
ESG – Tiny Sticks
Gerald Mitchell – Resurrection
Kuedo – Scissors
Carly Simon – Why?
Anon – Untitled

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Alec Rojas

September 5, 2012 - See more posts by Alec

Frank Ocean’s ‘Channel Orange’ may be one of the best albums of the year, here’s why

Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange is everywhere. Somehow hitting both the underground and the mainstream at the same time, this ghostwriter/OFWGKTA member/R&B icon hit the pulse of 2012 squarely on the nose. I asked a wide variety of associates and friends what makes this record so good. The most common answer? “Unrequited love.” So many of the tracks focus on this common human experience: loving someone/thing that does not love you back. By using such a universal theme, Frank Ocean has made R&B accessible from a wide variety of angles. His letter regarding his sexuality has garnered almost universal support, breaking down a decades old barrier in hip hop and R&B. The record is that good.

So here’s a listening party of Channel Orange, track by track.

Continue reading this post…

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Alec Rojas

August 23, 2012 - See more posts by Alec

4 Good Books To Finish Out Your Summer

It’s the holiday season. Those dog days of summer where vacations are crammed in before fall hits. Most of us might be escaping to tropical wonderlands, new cities, or to forests and countries across the world. What are you going to read on your trip?

I’ll tell you this much: I’m going to do everything possible to keep you from reading Fifty Shades of Bore, A Girl Who Did Something Weird, or A Game of Bones: Songs of Chicks and Midgets. Never fear, friend. I suggest these four reads, all very different, to occupy some space in your duffle bag or e-reader.

Wool by Hugh Howey

We’ve touted Wool before. This sensation has became a phenomenon. One of the best selling series in the history of Amazon, rumor has it Wool has been picked up by Ridley Scott and will be published by Random House in 2013. I mean, how can we not get obsessed with Hugh Howey’s riveting prose and dynamic, flawed characters living in a silo? Destined to become a modern classic, it’s one of the sparks to the resurgence of sci-fi literature. The best use of 14,000 words in a long time. And when you get done with that one, the sequels are waiting for you.

Swoosh by J.B. Strasser

A great read on the beginning of Nike. What I enjoy the most about this book is the way it examines the shoe business pre-GOAT, back when Adidas and Puma ran the Olympics, back when shoe treads were made on waffle irons. Strasser’s style is easy going and flows well to show how an obsession with running created the iconic shoe company. It reveals the development of Nike since, well, before there was a Nike. Plus it’s about shoes. We all love shoes.

The Last of the Best by Jim Murray

He really was the best. The Pulitzer Prize winner, 14 time sports writer of the year, the treasure of the LA Times. This was a man who drank with Sinatra, golfed with Hogan, and smoked cigars with Steinbrenner. How could a man who was blind for most of these articles get the essence of sports so well? This collection is charming, engaging, hilarious, and tearful all at once. Getting benched in the World Series was “like a fourth-runner up in a Miss America contest.” Hole #15 of the Masters: “Who designed this hole – Dracula?” Los Angeles a “complicated hobo jungle,” Magic Johnson on the court becomes “an iceberg bearing down on the Titanic.” The subject of these final 60 columns ranges from Mike Tyson to a 17 year old Tiger Woods. Each is enjoyable and a lesson as to how to write to your audience with passion and what you believe in.

Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal

I read it once a year. The only book I let ex-girlfriends get away with stealing because it might change their life forever. Rene Daumal was a contemporary of the French Surrealist movement. This allegorical tale blends mountain climbing, adventure, metaphysics, the teachings of Gurdjieff, and spiritual enlightenment. That TV show Lost seems to be based on this, but Damon Lindelof can’t close a story half as well as this obscure, unfinished piece of surrealism. Daumal, translated by Roger Shattuck, crams more meaning per word anyone in years.

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Alec Rojas

August 15, 2012 - See more posts by Alec

Olympic glory captured on film: A review of ‘Tokyo Olympiad’

Tokyo Olympiad poster

The 1964 Olympics was supposed to be Japan’s “We’re Here!” moment, not much different than China in 2008. The first time that Western television got to see the country that was nearly incinerated twenty years before this moment. With over 150 cameras utilized and director Kon Ichikawa’s relentless pursuit of presenting the Olympics in an artistic frame, the film is incredibly humbling and humanizing. On one hand there is the pressure of the nation on all the Japanese athletes, desperate to impress and show the world that their nation can win. On the other hand, the film reveres the emotions of athletes as feet blur together, faces clench, feet pound the pavement. Somehow these aren’t just the best athletes in the world, they are humans as well.

The two clips above are a great demonstration of the skill of Ichikawa. Our “modern” Olympics are watered down by contemporary media. The modern television network dictates the pace via interviews, commentary, specific camera angles and relentless coverage. Ethiopian marathon champion Abebe is seemingly escorted through the streets of Tokyo into the Olympic stadium while the poor Japanese runner carries the the burden of the national flag and expectation in every step. Similarly, the almost poetic, romantic nature of the gymnastics routines oscillate in meaning. The womens routines flow with elegance (as opposed to a hyper-workout) while Yuki Endo of Japan kills the bar to secure gold for his country. A great demonstration of the will of mankind and how film can speak to us on so many levels.

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Alec Rojas

August 2, 2012 - See more posts by Alec

The game of soccer (or football) animated only with string

Richard Swarbrick's video Euro 2012, made only out of with string

We here at TFIB don’t normally talk about sports (ok I always do). But Richard Swarbrick always hits close to home with his awesome interpretations of football. I still cannot get enough of his last video, an interpretation of El Classico. It’s awesome, better with every viewing.

For Euro 2012, which played out over the past two months (and in many a pub across the world, including one where myself and a friend sat around too many Italians cheering and too many Brits using the word “bollocks”), Swarbrick upped the ante of minimalism. Instead of using his now-trademark one line animations, he has decided to animate the drama of Euro 2012 with mere string. These are an enthralling forty seconds, dripping with the passion of representing your country. From Carroll’s massive header to Pirlo’s gutsy penalty kick, it is simply incredible.

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Alec Rojas

July 23, 2012 - See more posts by Alec