venomai

Sounds like you will end up with a lot of unknowns. IMO it would be better to use well-recognized artists (I can already think of a lot that you've missed out on).

Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992) Ice Cube - The Essentials Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (1993) Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die or Life After Death GZA - Liquid Swords Jedi Mind Tricks - Servents In Heaven, Kings In Hell Devin The Dude - Waitin' To Inhale EDIT: Thanks Mc90123, I'm listening now. :thumbup: EDIT2: Woah! Really cool and funny storytelling! This is a really neat song:

Probably Intriguing, I've never really been into Aesop. :P I know what you mean. The more I listen to Madlib's beats and other sample-rich tracks, the more I'm itching to go digging through old vinyl crates to find the originals. Today I installed an open source Digital Audio Workspace and copped a few Nas acapellas -- I'm hoping to learn the basics of sampling and production. If you're interested in hip-hop samples and other production stuff, check out: http://hiphopisread.blogspot.com/search ... e%20Crates

Agreed. If you ban guns, the people you're trying to get them away from won't turn them in anyways. Making it pointless. Meanwhile, the law-abiding citizens will have turned them in. Rendering them defenceless to criminals. Sensible gun control isn't just a polite request to turn in all your guns. It's a lengthy process involving a number of changes in education, enforcement, manufacturing, cultural norms, etc. And, of course, firearms don't grow on trees. By controlling the distribution and production in the primary (licensed) market, you can reduce distribution in the secondary (unlicensed) market. I posted a study supporting this some pages back, if you care to dig it up.

If you liked Atmosphere, grab a copy of their free EP, Leak At Will. Also check out Felt's two albums -- a duo with Slug (from Atmosphere) and MURS. Vol 2. is produced by Ant, so it's essentially Atmosphere with MURS. [yt]SbvbVu8xNWA[/yt] Illmatic uses pretty minimal sampling, mostly a few notes from a jazz piece. Check out Nas' Lost Tapes if you haven't already. Doo Rags, Gotta Love It, and My Way. Like 1_man_army said, be sure to check out the producers of Illmatic: DJ Premier, Q-Tip (from A Tribe Called Quest), Pete Rock and Large Professor (from Main Source). Gang Star's Moment of Truth, for example, or Pete Rock's NY's Finest (especially and ).

Of course it's an album list...

Edited the OP to better appease the elitist folks here. You've missed the point of this thread if you think it's to compete with the so-called "official" lists. My list is a short 'kick-starter' for those who haven't been exposed to much alternative hip-hop. The albums listed aren't my 50+ favourite albums, but rather, a few albums that I felt would make a good introduction to an alternative hip-hop thread. :thumbup:

Awesome idea, but definitely needs a new colour scheme. I've got plenty more artists if you're interested. A quick search in Eclipse for '>' suggests you've already used over half of your artists.

Post your own recommendations, discuss alternative hip-hop, etc. An in-depth hip-hop thread is long overdue in MMT. 9 (Alternative) Hip-Hop Albums That Don't Suck Intended as a 'starter list' for thosed who've only been exposed to limited forms of hip-hop. Sit back and just chill with this short list of alternative/underground/non-commercial hip-hop albums. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991) A classic album by one of the most acclaimed alternative hip-hop groups of all time. If you haven't heard this album, you ought to. Also be sure to check out their other albums, particularly People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Selected Tracks: Jazz (We've Got), Butter Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993) A classic jazz-rap album released in '93. Selected Tracks: , Guru - Jazzmatazz, Vol 1 (1993) Part one of an excellent jazz-rap series by Guru (from Gang Starr). The other volumes are also well worth a look. Selected Tracks: , Transit Ride The Roots - Illadelph Halflife (1996) Smooth and conscious hip-hop. Their music video for "What They Do" still rings true today. Selected Tracks: , Section Cyne - Cyne (Collection 1999-2003) (2003) A collection of some of Cyne's best work. Selected Tracks: , Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens (2007) An excellent debut album by Blu (rapper) and Exile (producer). Selected Tracks: Us3 - Hand On the Torch (1993) Yet another fusion of jazz and hip-hop Selected Tracks: Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia), I Got It Goin' On Ohmega Watts - The Find (2005) A well-balanced album with laid-back beats and strong lyrics. Selected Tracks: Mind Power, J Dilla - Donuts (2006) An all-instrumental album released on J Dilla's 32nd birthday, three days before his death. Donuts is a very different side of hip-hop, not one that everybody enjoys, but nevertheless a superb piece of work that marked Dilla as a legendary producer. Selected Tracks: A Short Compilation Honourable mentions: Souls of Mischief - Cab Fare (Single) Zion I - Mind Over Matter (2000) Theory Hazit - Extra Credit (2007) Murs - 3:16: The 9th Edition (2004) J-Live - The Best Part (2001) Lee Bannon - Marvin & Me (2009) Oddisee - Foot In The Door (2006) Blueprint - Sign Language (Instrumental) (2009) Flying Lotus - 1983 (Instrumental) (2006) Madlib - The Beat Konducta Vol. 1-2: Movie Scenes (Instrumental) (2006)

Court of the Crimson King is an excellent album. :thumbup:

[hide=somewhat abridged]Age: 19 Education: 2nd year University Film Studies Major Am I religious? No, and I can't remember the last time I attended church or any kind of worship. Does god / the afterlife exist? I don't know. How did existence come about? Existence has always existed. Life evolved over many billions of years if not much longer. What are my thoughts on religion? I'm generally against the idea of organized religion. I feel that common spiritual beliefs can be expressed and shared without a religion. What are my thoughts on atheism? Atheism is a reasonable conclusion to a currently unanswerable question. What are my thoughts on agnosticism? In my view, describing agnostics as 'fence-sitters' or as 'undecided' is a grand misunderstanding of the term. 17. If you belong to a religion or non-religion, please identify. -Did you consciously choose to follow this belief? Yes. -Did you belong to another belief, by choice or force, before following this belief? Yes; my beliefs on the divine are constantly changing. -Did you personally research (as in personally in the first person) options before coming to this belief? Yes, and I will continue to "research" (subjectively, sometimes) and seek more answers. 18. Is intelligence (not IQ, but actual intelligence) correlated to one's belief in a religion or non-religion? Yes. 19. Does religion, in your observation, do good in the world? See below Religion obviously does plenty of good in the world. However, many if not all of these "good" things can be achieved (if not improved upon) without religion. 29. Have you ever partaken in an illicit substance (excluding alcohol or marijuana)? -if so, what? Psilocybin, salvia. -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of an illicit substance? My level of control over certain actions (such as fine motor control, thought pattern or standing upright) may be affected during a trip, but my worst moments of "losing control of my actions" have been from legal drugs. 30. Have you ever partaken in marijuana? -Do you habitually use this substance? Yes. -Have you ever been "stoned?" Yes. -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of marijuana? See above. 31. Have you ever partaken in the consumption of alcohol? -Do you drink socially or alone? Or both? Both. -Have you ever been drunk? Yes. -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of alcohol? Yes. 32. Have you ever regretted a sexual encounter? Yes. 33. Have you ever regretted using an illicit substance? Yes. 34. Have you ever regretted using alcohol? Yes. 35. Have you ever given serious thought (longer than 30 minutes in a year) to the existence of a supreme being(s)? Yes.[/hide]

If you like his directing, check out Letters from Iwo Jima (and Flags of our Fathers).

That would make a great GigaPan image. Awesome photo. :thumbup:

Not sure if these have been mentioned yet... Space Quest, King's Quest V, Full Throttle Age of Empires 2 GTA 1/2 Earthworm Jim Worms Armageddon Myst Death Rally Duke Nukem 3D Shadow Warrior

Heh, those commercials were pretty hilarious. :lol: The new Final Destination looks terrible.

Glad I got to see it in theatres -- I spent most of the time laughing. Would have been a lot less funny in a smaller crowd, I bet!

Recently saw the new Star Trek, The Hangover, Inkheart, and (re-watched) Super Troopers. All of them were great except Inkheart. Agreed, Gattaca was fantastic. :thumbup:

A Pinot gris from a small winery in Niagara. Also got myself a bottle. :thumbup:

Have you ever had a 'dreamless' sleep, or have you ever passed/blacked out? It's the same feeling (or rather, lack thereof). I generally lean toward the idea of 'no longer existing', although I am open to other possibilities. Near-death experiences are very interesting, and deserve much more scientific attention than they are getting now.

Cigarettes. Religion. Most genres of heavy metal. :wall:

Great job, man!

Any field, eh? Here are some pulled from my bookmarks... [hide=]Illicit Drugs Occasional and controlled heroin use: Not a problem? The Effect of Drug Prohibition on Drug Prices: Evidence from the Markets for Cocaine and Heroin MAPS Prostitution New directions in research on prostitution (Crime, Law & Social Change) Flawed Theory and Method in Studies of Prostitution (Violence Against Women) Rehashing Tired Claims About Prostitution (Weitzer responds to criticism) Sexuality Snippets from various scholarly articles regarding pedophilia: viewtopic.php?p=6496582#p6496582 OBEs, NDEs and Parapsychology Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands (The Lancet) The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience: A Central Role for the NMDA Receptor (Journal of Near-Death Studies) About the continuity of our consciousness (here is a more readable version) Various publications on NDEs, OBEs and cases suggestive of reincarnation.' Various PEAR publications (Take these with a grain of salt...) Miscellaneous scholarly and non-scholarly articles: The Endless Universe: Introduction to the Cyclic Universe (Steinhardt-Turok model) The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself Parallel Universes: Are They More Than a Figment of Our Imagination? Mature Coping Among Life-Sentenced Inmates: An Exploratory Study of Adjustment Dynamics Capital Punishment and Homicide: Sociological Realities and Econometric Illusions[/hide] In my opinion, "expanding your mind" is just a cliché for "experiencing new things." Some things that worked well for me: visiting different cultures; learning the arts (drawing, music, etc); learning to program/develop games; dabbling in altered states (i.e. drugs, meditation, or OBEs); learning to cook fine cuisine; going camping; listening to music I wouldn't usually; meeting new people; etc... Good luck. :thumbup:

Working with private servers doesn't require any game development at all -- the game is already made for you! An MMORPG is a much larger undertaking. Just to give you an idea, at the least it would require: [*:wnxiadfk] A good set of written work, including design documents (i.e. exactly how the game will work, how it will be played, who it is aimed at, what classes and levels are available, a set of items and their descriptions, storyline, etc) [*:wnxiadfk] A very dedicated team of artists: [*:wnxiadfk] Digital artists for (a) concept art and (B) game art. Game art includes all pieces of an MMO world: hundreds of sprites including player characters, NPCs, buildings, usable items, tilesets, vegetation, books, tables and everything else you can think of. Keep in mind that animated sprites are drawn frame-by-frame, so those alone would be a lot of work. [*:wnxiadfk] Graphic designers for logos, GUI, splash screens, websites, etc. [*:wnxiadfk] At least one musician/sound expert [*:wnxiadfk] A very dedicated team of programmers working on aspects such as networking, sound, GUI, artificial intelligence, content-creation tools, and of course the game engine itself [*:wnxiadfk] A couple of content creators, who can actually create the levels, dialogues, NPCs, etc. for the game [*:wnxiadfk] A webmaster and web designer to head up a website [*:wnxiadfk] A manager/director to keep everything running smoothly, and to ensure that there is a large enough community following to make it "massively" online The list goes on. Those qualified enough to make an MMORPG are not going to do it for free just because you're asking them to. This kind of project would take years of hard and consistent work from a dedicated team of experienced game developers. Now... a more realistic undertaking would be a game like pomar's.

Apparently there is a storyline/adventure to the game, which could make it slightly less boring. IMO it would be better left as a tech demo. Though, it would be cool to have Milo give you real-time updates on the world around you... "What's the forecast for this week, Milo HAL?"

You know, there are a number of religions that describe the divine in the same manner that you would -- what with the golden ratio and all being "god's signature." On that note, though, the golden ratio does not appear "everywhere" -- or really anywhere that one would not expect to find it. "[if] you count the number of petals in most flowers you will find that the answer is a Fibonacci number. For example, an iris has 3 petals, a primrose 5, a delphinium 8, ragwort 13, an aster 21, daisies 13, 21, or 34, and Michaelmas daisies 55 or 89 petals. All Fibonacci numbers. [...] Although many of these observations were made a hundred year or more ago, it was only recently that mathematicians and scientists were finally able to figure out what is going on. It's a question of Nature being efficient. For instance, in the case of leaves, each new leaf is added so that it least obscures the leaves already below and is least obscured by any future leaves above it. Hence the leaves spiral around the stem. For seeds in the seedhead of a flower, Nature wants to pack in as many seeds as possible, and the way to do this is to add new seeds in a spiral fashion. As early as the 18th century, mathematicians suspected that a single angle of rotation can make all of this happen in the most efficient way: the Golden Ratio (measured in number of turns per leaf, etc.). However, it took a long time to put together all the pieces of the puzzle, with the final step coming in the early 1990s. [...]" The full article: Good stories, pity they're not true - MAA Online This article details many more misconceptions about the golden ratio. What, exactly, is so divine about the golden ratio? (Aside from, of course, a plethora of unsupported myths, something which nearly all theistic systems seem to have in common.)