Serious house dancing, playing pool with friends, making fun of spoken word poets, civil rights documentaries, snowboarding, Amoeba Music shopping. I spend a lot of time in Afro-Brazilian dance and yoga classes.
Music
MAP OF AFRICA. That's the shit right now. And the new MeShell Ndegeocello (as always). And the Lily Allen CD. I bought the new Common but haven't really listened all the way through yet. Also, Donavon Frankenreiter. I'm loving him. Zero 7. Man, they blow my mind. Spymob. I'm a sucker for the melodic pop rock stuff. John Mayer, Matthew Sweet, Coldplay, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, Ringside. Tears for Fears. Recently got into them and went back and bought most of their albums. Woke up today to The Roots "Game Theory." I'm listening to Slum Village right now. Wait, now it's Incubus. Van Halen forever, Motley Crue, The Police, all of Jack White's stuff. DJs: Jedi, Cut Chemist (remember the van rides, Luke?), Z-Trip, Marques Wyatt, Mark Grant, Jesse De La Pena, Masters at Work, Mark Farina, Derrick Carter. Recently saw an AC/DC cover band, Bon Fire, that KILLED it. The Van Halen cover band, Panama, was a'ight. And last but not least, I will go to my grave believing that Miles Davis, James Brown and Prince are the three greatest musicians/entertainers of the last century.
And check this out.
Movies
This is my boy BENSON LEE's film.
Just finished at the Tribeca Film Fest!
Some of my recent favorites: LITTLE CHILDREN. Rent that sh*t. Last King of Scotland, Dirty Pretty Things, Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men. North by Northwest. Searching for Bobby Fischer. Casablanca. Run Lola Run. All Todd Solondz films. Usual Suspects. Blade Runner. The Breakfast Club. Sixteen Candles. Bull Durham. Batman Begins. Diggstown (great Sunday afternoon movie). Amelie. City of God.
Television
Family Guy. The Office (shout out to Denman & Robinson!)Arrested Development. My Name Is Earl. Monk. Chappelle's Show. The Daily Show.
And last but not least, Si TV's "Not So Foreign Filmmakers Showcase"! Check your local listings, mofos!
Books
Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. All the Harry Potters by JK Rowling. White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Voices of Freedom by Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Dr. King edited by James Washington. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes edited by Arnold Rampersad. Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume (saved my ass when I was a kid). Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison.
Heroes
THESE GUYS!
Seriously...My parents, my sister, my godfather, Dr. King, Thurgood Marshall, Jack Greenberg, Toni Morrison, Nancy Malkiel, Cornel West, Bill Hicks, Eddie Izzard, Charlie Chaplin.
I thought this was pretty cool. It's from a recent performance at Onondaga in Syracuse, New York. Much respect to Chuck D!
About me, huh?
..
Hmm...I grew up in the city of Chicago. Not the suburbs. That's a pet peeve of mine when people say they're from Chicago but they grew up in Elmhurst. Although, honestly, I really don't care that much. My street cred is solid. HA! Now a REAL pet peeve...don't call me "Joe Hernandez." That's my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my uncle and my cousin. Not me. They're all "Joe Hernandez." Mine is "Joe Hernandez-Kolski." The hyphen is incredibly important too. In my opinion, it's the most important punctuation mark known to man because it bridges gaps. Brings two things together. So I'm from Chicago, grew up on the northwest side, went to Whitney Young High School on the west side, graduated and went to Princeton University, got my ass suspended for a year, went and worked at the White House under Clinton doing speechwriting and policy analysis for the health care war room, then moved over to public liaison and did Latino outreach, danced at Club Zei by night, met lots of girls, found out I was a sexual being, returned to Princeton, got my ego crushed yet again and was walking to the Wa alone at 2 in the morning to buy a hoagie within weeks, graduated, then moved out to Los Angeles. Once I got out here to work as an actor, at first I was working for a bunch of afterschool programs. I still run an open-mic for high school youth called DOWNBEAT 720 with DJ Jedi. I also write and perform lots of spoken word poetry and dance a lot. But I'm mostly focused on acting, the whole reason that I moved out here. If you want a real bio, check out www.pochojoe.com/bio.html. That's the one that makes me sound like a real hard-working actor.
Check out the scene below from AFTERSCHOOL'D, a short that I wrote and produced with director Pete Alton (BET's "BEEF" series)
HBO DEF POETRY SEASON FOUR FINALE
HBO DEF POETRY SEASON SIX FINALE
I watched "5" and I laughed off. Because I thought of my husband. and his job. maybe it wasnt meant to be that funny, but to me, yeah, it was. good job. thanks for the smile
Ur a pimp! I mean, not literally. I'm not saying u rent women out by the hour or anything. I'm just saying u command attention and wear funny clothes. Its a hip hop compliment. Like calling someone fat when there not, or bad when there good. I am a word ninja son. I be flippin the status quo like what!
No problem man. It's such a great show. I've really loved seeing it grow. I'm sorry I won't be able to make it this week but I know you guys will kill it!
