Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Citizens United Attacks From Justice Stevens Continue
Citizens United Attacks From Justice Stevens Continue. Click on the link to read the story, excerpt below:
'WASHINGTON -- A day after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, retired Justice John Paul Stevens on Wednesday night backed President Barack Obama's suggestion during his 2010 State of the Union address that the Citizens United decision could lead to "foreign entities" bankrolling American elections.
He urged the U.S. Supreme Court to explicitly explain why the president's words were "not true," as Justice Samuel Alito famously mouthed on camera, breaking the justices' usual stoic appearance during the president's annual speech.'
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Skydiving Goes Wrong 80 Year Old Granny Almost Falls Out Of Harness!
Skydiving Goes Wrong 80 Year Old Granny Almost Falls Out Of Harness. Otherwise known as 'time to kick the bucket list.' Funny as hell, but also really kinda sad. Hmm, glad granny's ok. Props to her for having the cojones to go up in the first place, huevos to her for having the guts to call 'aw, hells no!' once it was time to jump, and triple pelotas to her for surving this ish.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Music - Woodkid - Run Boy Run
Woodkid - Run Boy Run. Kinda beauteous-ly shot. Okay, so don't get weird on me, but the subtext of this makes me think of how many young white males (or old white males, probably more likely) in many parts of the Western world (U.S., in particular, and parts of Europe) feel about the browning of the various nations and continents. Interesante, though. Maybe it's all a part of the hidden subconscious, a kind of psychic mood in parts of ze world. Scary-ish and beauteous, both.
Surprise, Surprise: Melungeon DNA Study Reveals Ancestry, Upsets 'A Whole Lot Of People'
Melungeon DNA Study Reveals Ancestry, Upsets 'A Whole Lot Of People'. Well, it ain't what we was seekin', but it sure is what we found, a.k.a, 'Once you go black, you never go...' (You know the drill. And quite likely it's the drill that's responsible for this little story. Ehehy.)
So you mean to say this whole new multiracial America ain't brand new? Who you tellin'? You say it's somethin' that the black folks always knew? Hmm, really? How they do that? Don't know. They don't aim to be sharin' none of their secrets. Click on the linky link to discover the truth behind the DNA (Do Not Ask) history of the Melungeon.
Different Day, Same Ol' Bill: Bill Clinton Poses With Porn Stars At Star-Studded Gala In Monaco (PHOTO)
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| Brooklyn Lee, Best New Startlet (Adult Video News), Tasha Reign, un otra porno star, and Jennifer Taule, an executive at a drug testing company (per reports) is seen to the far left. |
How do we say? Some folks never learn. Some folks never want to. Imagine Hilary right now? Shakin' her head, tossin' back a few brewskies and sayin' 'Who gives a isht?' I'm King o' the world, beyootch! Who's the man now? I am b-tch! I'm the Secretary of State! Who are you? You're B.C., the nearly impeached ex-president, ol' tail and posterity chaser. I'm in this-itch now.'
Does Hilary really care? Hmm, probably not. Is Bill trying to get her attention, maybe without even knowing he's doing so? Probably. Still, all in all, ol' Bill does look mighty happy. And we can imagine those long fingers of his are probably jigging up a storm.
Bill. Man. SMDH.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Aid groups warn Yemen's food crisis is becoming 'catastrophic' | GlobalPost
Aid groups warn Yemen's food crisis is becoming 'catastrophic' | GlobalPost. Excerpt: 'Aid groups are warning the food crisis in Yemen is reaching “catastrophic proportions,” with ongoing instability leaving 44 percent of people undernourished, as reported by The Guardian.
A string of seven major humanitarian groups have issued a joint appeal for donations – one day ahead of today's international Friends of Yemen conference in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The groups behind the drive are Care International, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Merlin, Oxfam and Save the Children.' Click on the link above to read the article.
Iconic Radio Personality Hal Jackson Dead At 96 | Breaking News - News One
Hal Jackson's Sunday Classics With Debi B. & Clay Berry - 107.5 WBLS – Your #1 Source for R&B.
Radio pioneer Hal Jackson has died, according to reports from WBLS radio in New York. Jackson had some seventy years in radio and was a one-man radio dynamo. Jackson transformed Sundays in New York with Hal Jackson Sunday Classics. The best of the classics, the cultural touchstones, little known gems, all these were available on Jackson's show. If you don't know who he is, or you've never heard his show, you truly missed out. Do a search online to find clips of his old shows and see if you can give a listen.
This man's ears were art, they knew musical art, they recognized musical art, they kept folks in touch with radio that was off the charts and no longer main stream, and they introduced new folks - the 'younguns' to the beauty of the tradition that had come before them.
This is a true loss in that we will never be blessed with his physical presence again, or the beauty of his knowledge and his selections. But we have been gifted with several decades of gems. If WBLS and any other radio station at which Hal worked was smart, make that 'is smart', they will have held on to the tapes of his old show. That's history and art baby and they should be archived.
We know Hal was revered in the music community and by his peers - young and old - and so we know that he knew his value. We miss him today but even more, we celebrate his life, his love, his gift, his legacy, and we send him on his journey with a touch of the O'Jays, a dose of Ella, a sip of Big Mama Thornton, a whisper of Bessie Smith, and multiple fixings of Smokey Robinson, the Isleys, the Four Tops, the Supremes, the Ronettes, Sam Cooke, Brooke Benton, Etta James, The Drifters, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Aretha, the list goes on. We, in America, are blessed with the breadth and depth of our musical contribution to the world. Hal Jackson helped us spread the word and the sound.
Good journey Hal, good journey. Thank you for your contributions and your legacy. You will be missed.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Music - Monument Valley - Your Cover Blown - Dropout Live | Dropout UK
Monument Valley - 'Your Cover Blown' - Dropout Live | Dropout UK. Ck out this track by Monument Valley. Feel really lucky to have received this. Songwriting is hard, really good song writing is extra hard. That's what makes this a nice bit of special. Lyrics that go beyond formulaic hit making, with lyrics that are neither stylized or predictable, just fresh, evocative, meaningful. Give a listen.
Short Story - Bird - by Xam Thims
He was surrounded by a hundred black birds, their wings as sleek and fine as the high-shined iridescence of the finest crows. Wings that glittered with sequins and the shimmer of acrylic fibers, summoning the light and pitching it forth. Others in diaphanous silk and lycra.
He lay incredibly stiff and still in the high-glossed white box. And his dark skin too gave off an otherworldly gloss beyond the one complexioned by the Vaseline and baby lotion that he’d always applied meticulously in life.
Each time one of the birds drew close and peered upon him in the box her voice hitched in her throat and rose, then pitched back. Then the voices of all one hundred shiny birds rose and hiccupped, pitched in concert a wall of wailing, unbreakable anguish summoning him back.
Each time one of the birds drew close and peered upon him in the box her voice hitched in her throat and rose, then pitched back. Then the voices of all one hundred shiny birds rose and hiccupped, pitched in concert a wall of wailing, unbreakable anguish summoning him back.
But they could not bring him back and it was this knowledge with which they were reckoning.
Inside the box he lay, still and stiff and sweet. And though he lay dressed in a slick double-breasted gray suit, purchased at Abraham and Sons, and looked distinguished and sharp, like a young son on his way to a job in finance or maybe just a job behind the plexi-glass window at the local bank, he no longer displayed the casual, irreverent charm that he’d bandied about in life.
His face, which had never been handsome but had evinced a bravado and sullen sensuality mixed with the joker’s mischievous humor, looked remarkably symmetrical, as if molded with thought and precision before set into mannequin plastic and embalmed.
He lay there thinking, though incapable of thought. About how the day had gone. And the night too. He’d lain in the refrigerator for an awfully long time. Long enough that he’d relived several lifetimes.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Music -The Dig - Red Rose In The Cold Winter Ground
The Dig - Red Rose In The Cold Winter Ground. Sweet melancholia, traveling down dark earthen backroads.....wishing for something more and plenty less. Oh yes, it's just a dream. Sweet, sweet, sweetness. Yes, I believe this is it. Ck out this perfect compact slice of emotion and fire, all for one and one for all.
Album Midnight Flowers, out May 29th.
Music - The Salvadors - MERRILY
The Salvadors - MERRILY. The single Merrily off the upcoming album Holy Drunken Fisherman from Aussie indie band The Salvadors. Good music + charming laid back music vid. Give a listen and learn more about the band at www.facebook.com/thesalvadorsmusic.
Why Didn’t Florida’s Stand-Your-Ground Ethics Apply to Marissa Alexander? - Reader Forum - COLORLINES
Why Didn’t Florida’s Stand-Your-Ground Ethics Apply to Marissa Alexander? - Reader Forum - COLORLINES. Click on the link to read the Channing Kennedy 'Colorlines' story. Excerpt: 'Last Friday, a judge in Florida denied a motion to re-try a case under the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law. But the defendant wasn’t George Zimmerman — it was Marissa Alexander, a 31-year-old black woman with a Ph.D.
Alexander fired a gun at a wall to scare off her abusive ex-husband, a gun she left the room to get, and has now been found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault. Which, in Florida, carries a minimum 20-year sentence, which the judge let stand. Jorge Rivas has more at Colorlines.com/Now, and the Colorlines community had plenty to say about it, especially in the slow move towards justice for Trayvon Martin. Here’s what you had to say.' Click on the above link to read more.
Documentary: Township Cinderellas - HS students born the year South Africa became a democracy attend their H.S. graduation and coming of age - Witness - Al Jazeera English
Township Cinderellas - Witness - Al Jazeera English. Official blurb: Filmed in 2011, Township Cinderellas follows two high school students - born in 1994, the year South Africa became a democracy - as they prepare to graduate. Ck out this documentary, as two female high schoolers - Shafieqah Saban and Zaahiedah Stellenboom from the so-called 'colored' community in South Africa's Cape Flats - prepare for their Matric - their graduation and prom.
The Matric dance represents a coming of age for the girls and also represents the hopes of the entire community. Some 60 students graduated in 2011 but some 200 students dropped out over the course of the high school years. Witness documentaries are all around insightful, bringing us closer to communities often hidden from view or made voiceless in traditional media. Give a look.
Kwes - lgoyh by PinBoardBlog (Phat und Sexy: How I Likes It)
Kwes - lgoyh by PinBoardBlog.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
With Friends Like These, Who the Hell Needs Enemies: Cory Booker: Bain Attacks By Obama Campaign Against Mitt Romney Are 'Nauseating'
Cory Booker Hits Obama Campaign for Attacks on Private Sector - YouTube
Cory Booker: Bain Attacks By Obama Campaign Against Mitt Romney Are 'Nauseating' (VIDEO). Watch this video to check out Corey Booker's explanation for yourself. Wow, Corey Booker. Setting the record straight is nauseating? Wow! Just who is Corey Booker repping right now? We won't say playing for, cuz to be sure he's going to proclaim that he's playing for the American people and, 'this is not a game. It's not about politics. It's about the bigger issues affecting all Americans, regardless of party. Let's get party politics behind us. The federal govertment is failing us because of party politics.' Yada, yada, yada. (That's my take on what he'd say, not a paraphrase.)
This ain't a new song. It ain't an R n' B single, and it definitely ain't original. But since when is it that exposing a candidate for who he is by virtue of his own actions, actions that were anti the working class American, since when does that classify as 'nauseating.' This whole little episode ala Cory has made Mr. Booker extremely suspect. One calls for a look-see into who his donors are and his affiliations, beyond party of course.
The Newark Mayor's Meet the Press sound-off was a big Dis, not only to President Obama and Cory's political party, but to many of C.B.'s supporters and admirers, of which I was one. It was a major disappointment. I have to question myself on possibly falling for his image and swag-- to be YGB (young, gifted and black) ain't necessarily where it's at -- and perhaps not having taken a closer and necessary look to get a better understanding of his relationships and what he stands for.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder, Marries Longtime Girlfriend Priscilla Chan
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder, Marries Longtime Girlfriend Priscilla Chan. This is what $20 billion looks like married: give or take a billion. Can we think of a more winning couple? Zuckerberg and Chan, 28 and 27 respectively, Facebook founder and CEO and his bride, a newly minted doctor, both Harvard grads.
Can we say charmed lives? Okay, some would say they created their charm, who knows, I just know that from the outside they resemble 'unbelievables;' make that 'freakin' unbelievables.' Two twenty-somethings who are now among the richest people in the world. In March Forbes listed Zuckerberg as #35 on the world's list of billionaires, worth - then - a measley $17.5 billion.
All the hot mamas and supermodel-ish types who didn't give him a second blink are now kicking themselves repeatedly.
The couple have been together for some nine years. Impressive, even by old-world standards. Good luck to them (though many would argue that they don't need luck), here's hoping that their union will produce happiness for them both, and that out of it will be born a great philanthropy that helps to create a better world. (Nah, I'm not dreaming. I have faith. The fact that he married a regular-ish girl give us hope. The fact that she studied medicine is also room for hope.)
Saving Face: The struggle and survival of Afghan women - CNN.com (What courage looks like)
Saving Face: The struggle and survival of Afghan women - CNN.com: Click on the link to view the video and read this story on the courage and the horror of Afghan women scarred, beaten and abused by men. How do you explain several men holding a young woman down and pouring acid over her face? It's inexplicable. We can point to a society where women are considered cattle, merely there for the purpose of satisfying a man's needs, but even then, are you going to scar, abuse and immobilize an animal that you need?
Not likening women to animals, of course, but just following that line of thought. Even cattle are given value in a farming society, a society that depends on their animals for their well-being. The way the men in this article are reported to have abused the women shows something far less than even the perception of, or equation of women with cattle. It shows that women are not even as valued as animals. Rather, in the eyes of the men in question, they/we, are seen as mere property that has no value once it is not fulfilling a man's needs specifically at the time and in the manner that he desires.
How do you explain the following: 'Sahar Gul had been beaten, burned, scalded with water and had her fingernails ripped out after being married to a man more than twice her age when she was just 13 years old."?
How? You can't. (Yet, according to the story, in 2008 Global Rights study stated that 87% of Afghan women had suffered some kind of abuse.)
These incidents are not reflective of all Afghan men, but one has to think that it's reflective of a society that where at least a segment of the men, and the women who assist them, are suffering some sort of psychosis. You can't be human and do such things to another human being without being truly sick, without being a sadist.
And perhaps part of it stems from being taught a hatred of women, being taught that they are not to be considered humans or beings with feelings or any intrinsic value, but perhaps it's also deeper than that. Perhaps it reflects the lashing out of people who feel totally devalued themselves and who feel acted upon and without any true power or control in their own lives. Perhaps those individuals then turn around and seek to devalue, abuse, destroy that thing which they have been taught has no value, that thing which they have been taught deserves to be the repository of their rage.
Women are abused across the world every day in ways too inventively cruel to even begin to list. The U.S. is not immune to this. But we women in countries that at least have laws that make it illegal to abuse, beat or kill a woman, in the same manner that those laws apply to men, we at least stand a fighting chance of having our governments and our courts step in to protect and support us.
The Afghan women featured in this CNN story do not have the government, the society, the laws or their enforcement on their side. And that perhaps is the true tragedy. But their story isn't tragic, for these women are courageous and unbowed. They are determined to survive in the face of incomprehensible monstrosity and they are determined to create a change for their sisters. They, and the organizations who assist them, are some of the many heroes who help to make our world a livable place.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Music - Ab-Soul - Terrorist Threats ft. Danny Brown & Jhene Aiko + Ck Rap Genius' Review and Lyrical Decoding
Ab-Soul "Terrorist Threats" ft. Danny Brown & Jhene Aiko. That Cali shit, flow like liquid nitrogen. Absent nonsense, call it lyrical absinthe. This some mind sh-t, dig deep and unblind isht. Scroll down to peep the lyrics; to get a full interpretation of them by RapGenius, click here: Ab-Soul – Terrorist Threats Lyrics
'I ain't got no gavel, I ain't tryin' fight nobody battle.......Ain't nothin' wrong with a righteous man..... just wanna be free, I ain't tryin' to be nobody shadow......' Plus a touch o' new school Jets v. Shark West-Side Story: 'I say we stand against the military tonight: I say we'd stand a chance against the military to-night.'
Give these cats a PhD in advanced rapology. Whaaat? Too dope to categorize. Mercury + speed: delivery decreed. And Aiko's flow on the intro? Sick.
Some throwaway lines that are more likely than not there to show lyrical dexterity but can jam a listener up: 'Kkk...kkk;We mobbin' like we the black KKK.... I saw the face of Hitler in the picture when the towers drop...... N*gga bang that glock' that and a couple more are provocative cuz so loaded, but might make a listener hesitate. Would luv to hear the rappers' take on their meaning. This sh-t is puro sickness.
Click here to see lyrics and to read Rap Genius' review and explanation of the lyrics.
Ab-Soul – Terrorist Threats Lyrics
Complete lyrics below:
Music - Usher Kicks Off NBC Today Summer Concert Series - Climax
Usher kills it in an early morning rendition of climax. What seventeen or eighteen years in the business does for you. The question is, who didn't climax listening to, and watching him perform that song? Boo boo is pure electric magnetism.
Opinion: Minorities? Try 'people of color' – In America - CNN.com Blogs
Opinion: Minorities? Try 'people of color' – In America - CNN.com Blogs. Editor’s Note: Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and the publisher of Colorlines.com. By Rinku Sen, Special to CNN.
Excerpt: (CNN) –'With the news that, for the first time in U.S. history, the majority of American babies are not white, it should put to rest use of the term “minorities” as a reference to America’s black, Latino, Asian and Native American residents.
Nearly 30 years ago, I learned to think of myself as a person of color, and that shift changed my view of myself and my relationship to the people around me.
It is time for the entire nation, and our media in particular, to make the same move.
I am an Indian immigrant, and became a citizen in 1987.
My family came to the States in 1972 when I was five, just seven years after Congress passed the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed bans on Asian immigration.
My father was a metallurgical engineer and we lived in predominantly white factory towns in New York and Pennsylvania.
All I ever wanted was to be fully American. But everything around me, from the population to the television, taught me that being American meant being white.'
Short Story - Blue Skies
The ceiling was white. It had a skylight. You couldn't see much of the sky though. Whoever thought of calling it a skylight? Because it was a light onto the sky? Excepting it wasn't a light onto the sky, it was more like a window out of a box and you were trapped in it.
'Hmm, unh,un, hungh.'
The grunting intensified.
'Wider, wider, open wider.'
Shit, a bird landed on the window of the skylight. It's tiny feet and claws pitched against the glass. What the hell; she had to stifle a laugh.
The creature paced the glass with a watchman's precision. It stopped and pecked down at the glass. Raising its left foot it scratched at its feathers.
More grunting. She thought she heard the bird laughing. Twisting her head away from the forehead boring down into the side of her throat she strained to watch the creature.
The bird seemed to watch her as intently. It's black inky eyes gut into her. She felt like smiling but the bird refused to smile back.
The sides of her lips lifted despite her thoughts. The bird shifted its leg and a splot of green rain showered the glass.
'Fuck,' she flinched.
Leave it to her to get shitted on by a bird, even from a distance.
She laughed.
The laughter. He thrust forcefully into her.
She laughed again, watching as the bird took off. The thrust became deeper, banging against the bony ridges of her abdomen. The skin of his belly slapped against her hard, the fat hanging wide and looping down into the crevice created by her sunken abdomen.
'Hmm, unh, unh.' He grunted again. Despite herself she giggled. The bird's shit had smeared the glass and she was looking up into a swirling pool of green stained glass.
Whirls of green grey and black blotted out sections of the cloudless blue sky.
Again she laughed.
This time he sank his teeth into her. Feeding on the crevice between her throat and shoulder bone. Even when she screamed he was not immune to it, instead it drove him harder. The screams caused her to twist and turn, gyrating her hips and flimsy body recklessly.
He reached his hands up under her hips, cupping the cheeks of her ass and separating them, grinding down into her.
"Wider, I said. Wider," he grunted, the words muffled into her shoulder, but discernible to her because six months of unmitigated fucking had made her so knowledgeable of his demands that at times she seemed to be ahead of him in his thinking, responding to what she knew his demands would be before he voiced them.
She opened up as widely as she could, hoping that by doing so he would hurry up and finish. A sudden thrust upward or a tightened clench inward, what he not too ineptly called 'the locking of the jaws, and she could be done with it and gone.
As though listening to her mind talk he butted hard against the side of her throat, slobbering her ear with his open mouth, breathing as grotesquely as he was able.
Spreading her ass with his hand he used the other hand to grip her labia between the edges of his his thumbnail and finger. The nails sliced into her and she gritted her teeth, but still cracked sounds leaked out.
"Do what you're supposed to do and I won't have to do any of it," he rasped, his lips issuing his version of a consolation between increasingly watery slobs.
"Do what you're supposed to do and I won't have to."
He punctuated his words by spitting into the side of her throat and sliming it over her face with his tongue.
Her increasing thrusts in rhythm to the pain caused him to smile and steady his pace.
"Thata girl," he said. "Thata girl."
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Music + Interview - Lucius - BTR Live Studio on Blip
Lucius - BTR Live Studio [ep120] | BTR Live Studio on Blip. Feel like I just walked in on a lover's argument. Maybe that's why Lucius resonates. But then their voices take off like angels flying, wild angels haranguing, but angels nonetheless.
Ever been bruised and beaten by the voices of angels? Angels rebuking you for actions taken. Hard to evade, escape, and much of you doesn't want to as you sit or stand and listen and take in that verbal castigation but then it is so beautifully wrought that you are ultimately powereless against it, and then again, you realize that you really don't want to move, you'd rather stand, sit or bend and take the punishment.
Do a search of this site at top of page to hear other Lucius tracks.
Blocked: Judge Reins In Indefinite Detention: HuffPost
Homeland Battlefield Act Portion Found Unconstitutional By New York Judge. This is a big deal; click on the link to read the Larry Neumeister story, excerpt below:
'NEW YORK -- A judge on Wednesday struck down a portion of a law giving the government wide powers to regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists, saying it left journalists, scholars and political activists facing the prospect of indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights.'
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Stinkahbell & Psy:Am ft. OG'Z (P Money, Little Dee & Blacks) - Hot Poo
Stinkahbell & Psy:Am ft. OG'Z (P Money, Little Dee & Blacks) - Hot Poo. What the fuuuhhhuuk! Grime-enstein! Pure beast!
Jay-Z rips anti-gay marriage movement as 'discrimination' - latimes.com
Jay-Z rips anti-gay marriage movement as 'discrimination' - latimes.com. First Obama, now Jay-Z? If Jay-Z says it, then it must be true. 'No different than discrimination against blacks.'
Is America starting to view her citizens thru a more enlightened lens? Hmm? Pawsibly. Well, while there isn't compelling evidence that we are a truly enlightened kumbaya nation, the mindset (and its vocalization) by these two gentlemen, is still a sign of progress. Not too long ago a sitting president would have been hard pressed to support civil unions, much less gay marriage, unless he wanted to adopt the posture of 'sitting duck.'
Likewise, a rapper supporting gay unions? Boy, you mus' be crazy! 'Willis, what you talkin' bout Willis!'
Well them days done come and passed and we on to the next one. Barack stand up, bigots stand down.
And how far have we truly progressed? The photo says a helluva lot about the possibilities - be they few and fawkin' far between - in our nation. Yes, our (all of us) nation!
Rappers are the new oil and rail men.
Music - Willy Moon - 'Yeah Yeah' - Dropout Live | Dropout UK - (Me? Mad for Willy Moon)
Willy Moon - 'Yeah Yeah' - Dropout Live | Dropout UK. Call me wayco wacco, call me mental, right now I am made for Willy Moon. I meant 'mad,' but maybe 'made's just as good. Two parts rapper, 3 parts dapper, 4 parts used car salesman, 8 parts 1950s game show/TV host - ala Jack Paar -, 7 parts alien hip hopper, and 6 parts awkward spasmodic rhythmically challenged camp-kitsch factor. Clearly several parts too many, which is precisely what makes this MuthFuka dope. Dee-double-ish! Luvs it bitches, just luvs it! (Iconic action. Scooping it up as we speak.)
Video Interview: Quick Catch Up: Far East Movement | DropoutUK.com
Quick Catch Up (VIDEO): Far East Movement | Features | DropoutUK.com. Pretty cool interview with very likable cats. LA-based FM (J-Splif, Prohgress, Kev Nish and DJ Virman) gives us the spill on their music and influences. They cut a pretty wide swath in influences and in audience, and seem to aim for the fan who lives music, devoid of boundaries.
Wondered for a minute how come no one else was talking 'xcept Kev Nish? Prohgress - seated in the middle next to him - seemed about to doze off or yawn, but then they all got got a bit more amped when talking about artists they'd like to see hologrammed. No doubt they have their finger on the pulse. Am hearing 'Like a G6, just like a G6' bumping in my head right now, hotly pursued by the more recent 'Dirty Bass.' Holla!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Our First Share Project. Old Skool Cafe on Vimeo - Destination Freedom II
our first Share project. Old Skool Cafe on Vimeo. Seeking Freedom II. Same goal, different paths. Elevation, eradication, destruction of the old, pursuit of the true. Result: Personal expression, freedom, Flight.
Some of these images and corresponding vocals will summon up old images and questions, will make us uncomfortable on levels three, but beyond the grand gesture and emotion there remains a deeper truth. Props to the founder(s) of Old Skool Cafe. Success, life change is really just an opportuity, a vote of confidence, and support, away.
Nikon - WHY on Vimeo - Destination Freedom
Nikon - WHY on Vimeo. Seeking Freedom I. Personal expression, elevation, the eradication of boundaries. Outcome: Flight.
James Clyburn Breaks With Obama, Says Gay Marriage Should Not Be Left To States - HuffPost
James Clyburn Breaks With Obama, Says Gay Marriage Should Not Be Left To States.
Excerpt: 'On Monday, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a long-serving congressman and civil rights icon, said that leaving the issue to states was a mistake. "If you consider this a civil right, and I do, I don't think civil rights ought to be left up to a state-by-state approach," he said during an appearance on MSNBC. "I think that we should have a national policy on this. State regulation is one thing, but the granting of the right to the states, I don't think that's a good policy and I have a problem with that."'
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Music - Drawn from Bees - The Ballad of Running Bear
Drawn from Bees - The Ballad of Running Bear. Grt song, kinky subversive video. More on this band later. Interim? Enjoy song + vid.
The Real Lesson of North Carolina’s Amendment 1 - COLORLINES
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Catherine Klein, a minister at Unity in Greensboro church, right, and Benedette Mutisya, left, with William Robinson, the Triad area field director for the Coalition to Protect NC Families. Photo: AP Photo/News & Record, Jerry Wolford. |
Excerpt: 'President Obama’s public support of same-sex marriage helped upright the frowns of many LGBT marriage activists. The president’s endorsement came the day after North Carolina voters passed a constitutional amendment to ban recognition of any form of relationship that is not a legally married hetereosexual couple. While the passing of Amendment 1 may seem like a big blow to same sex-marriage activists, the grassroots organizing that came together to fight it may actually be the most important win for North Carolina, and a sign that activists in the state are building a better social justice infrastructure for the future.'
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Music - Audio - Gossip - Perfect World (RAC Mix)
Gossip - Perfect World (RAC Mix). Bury my head deep in the sand, now pull it out slow, sunlight brightens my toes, now bury me back. Celebrate, abandon, man down, man up, now release, pull it back. Wicked shhhh-it!
Video Interview: Serato Icon Artist Series - Erykah Badu
Serato Icon Artist Series - Erykah Badu. Gotz to luv this chick. Nuvo star. The one, the only - Miz Erykah Badu. Izm.
Blurb posted with video: 'The second artist to join the Serato Icon Artist Series (http://serato.com/icon), Erykah Badu is a musician, innovator, selector, visionary, and teacher; a true artist who lives and breathes the Serato ethos.'
TRUST Colorado: 11 year-old Xiuhtezcatl Shows Us the Effects of Climate Change to His Community | WITNESS: See it. Film it. Change it. | causes.com
TRUST Colorado: 11 year-old Xiuhtezcatl Shows Us the Effects of Climate Change to His Community | WITNESS: See it. Film it. Change it. | causes.com.
Official blurb accompanying the film: 'Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is an 11 year-old boy from Boulder, Colorado. In this video, Xiuhtezcatl shares his story about why he joined youth from across the country to ask the courts to hear their lawsuit, Alec L., et al., v. Lisa P. Jackson, et al., which is based on one of the most fundamental principles of civilized society: TRUST.
Xiuhtezcatl is asking that our atmosphere be protected, because he loves playing in Colorado's mountains, forests, lakes and streams and fears that the resources he most enjoys will not be there for his generation if we continue emitting carbon at current rates. Xiuhtezcatl shares, "The proof of climate change is everywhere I look. In my lifetime, the amount of forest killed by pine beetles has expanded. The number of acres burned has intensified. My generation is losing our forests. We are losing our homes. It's not too late to ensure my generation has a livable future. But we need to listen to the science and act now."
http://www.witness.org/
Monday, May 7, 2012
B.O.'s Personal Appeal to You: The President's Remarks at the Ready to Go Rally in Columbus, Ohio
President Barack Obama's Remarks at the Ready to Go Rally in Columbus, Ohio. It's that time again. Time to gear up, sign up for campaign volunteerism, whether in person, via cell phone or the internet. There is much that you can do, we can do, let's just get it done. Can't afford to sit back and watch this one. Have to toss our chips in, take a risk, may a play, make a decision. It's that time again. It's time.
Music - Audio - ZZ Ward - Criminal (Featuring Freddie Gibbs) (Chopped & Screwed)
ZZ Ward - Criminal (Featuring Freddie Gibbs) (Chopped & Screwed). Beautiful and brilliant both. What's a word for way past dope? Salt. (and by way of explanation let me say that once upon a time salt and the spices were as valuable as gold. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.) (Ck salt's mention in this 2001 Time magazine story: Sunset Looms for Africa's Salt Trekkers - TIME.) That may be a pretty random segue, but....but...but...whatevs.
HuffPost: Oprah Winfrey Network Losses Approach $330 Million: Report
Oprah Winfrey Network Losses Approach $330 Million: Report. According to this HuffPost story, quoting a Bloomberg Business report, Oprah's OWN network has been bleeding money. That may be, but kudos to Oprah for stepping out of her lane and trying to do something different, to start something that has the potential to help transform media in America.
If the network ultimately succeeds, whether or not she helps to change the images of blacks, browns and others on American TV, she still deserves major props.
Outside of Cathy Hughes, who founded Radio One, which later branched out into TV One, I don't know of any other black woman in America who's started a television network. So props to Oprah, for the transformative power of ownership. Yet, as powerful as it would be for that ownership to lead to a multiplicty of diverse images on television, that alone will not indicate the extent of the reach and impact of ownership.
The message of ownership and control will seep into the society and begin to impact and change perception. Perception of what an owner looks like, what constitutes a media mogul, who it is that calls the shots. And as Hispanics have shown via Univision and Telemundo, until you own the media that depicts your image, you have limited power.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Earl Sweatshirt Is Back From the Wilderness - NYTimes.com
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| Damon Winter/The New York Times Earl Sweatshirt in Los Angeles in April |
Earl Sweatshirt Is Back From the Wilderness - NYTimes.com. Pretty interesting Jon Caramanica article on Odd Future founding member Earl Sweatshirt. The piece explains why Sweatshirt has been missing in action from Odd Future's tour for the past year.
It's clear after reading this that Sweatshirt, like so many rappers, is more than the sum of too-obvious parts: college professor mother, South African poet-activist father. Sounds like the perfect matchup for the creation of a future anti-social rapper.
Photos of the French Elections:Sarkozy Out, Analysis From Le Huffington Post
French Elections: Analysis From Le Huffington Post. Click on the link to read the Hufffington Post analysis. Article excerpt:
'The French people have spoken. François Hollande has been elected President of the Republic with 51.9 percent of the vote against 48.1 percent for the incumbent president, Nicolas Sarkozy, according to early results released by Ipsos at 8:00 p.m., Central European Time.'
What does this mean for the French? And for the African, Arab, immigrant French, the people who have been under attack by the conservatives for the last several years. The crowds supporting Hollande seem to be racially diverse, but still don't know what it means for them in terms of French law and policy. Wait and see, Little B, let's wait and see.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Music - Kori Withers - Blue Blues
Kori Withers - Blue Blues. From the documentary, 'Still Bill,' Bill Withers' daughter Kori performing while her father looks on in the studio.
Music - Bill Withers - I Can't Write Left Handed
Bill Withers - I Can't Write Left Handed. (This video was uploaded to YouTube by theczechstallion123. I thought the images were powerful stuff when combined with Bill's incredible song.)
Music - Bill Withers - Better Days
Bill Withers - Better Days. Just motherchuckin exquisite. U can't writ sh-t like this without feeling pain. I listen to Bill Withers and feel connected to life, world, the main artery plugging into human pain, and then I think,'Man, this cat must have felt some deep ish, must have plumbed the depths at times, cause it ain't possible to rise so high without having fallen to deep sea levels.'
Music - Bill Withers - Soul Shadows
Bill Withers - Soul Shadows. Sweet music. Divinely sweet. Made sweeter because of its simplicity and pureness.
'Left them soul shadows on my mind, oh, on my mind.'
Music - Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands
Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands. I listen to Michael Kiwanuka and I think of Bill Withers, master songwriter of the understated lyric connected to a powerful emotional charge.
Music - Michael Kiwanuka - I'll Get Along
Michael Kiwanuka - I'll Get Along. Brit singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka, 'I'll Get Along' from his debut album 'Home Again'.
http://www.michaelkiwanuka.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mikeksongs
Music - Planet Love Sound - My Shadow
Planet Love Sound - My Shadow. The sound? Kinda beautiful and fragile both. Like the chaotic madness of the video images, its self-contained nature and feeling that it's a thing onto itself. Each dancer lost in his or her own self-expression. Haven't seen any dance in a while, and the sound and the video remind me of all that I've been missing.
Who are Planet Love Sound? A Melbourne-based psychedelic/experimental pop act who've been fine-tuning their music in Berlin, Germany for the past two years. Their new EP 'Part 1' offers up a taste of what they've been working on.
EP available at: planetlovesound.spinshop.com
Ck them out at:
planetlovesound.com
facebook.com/planetlovesound
Video: The Honor Code | Katy Chevigny on Vimeo
The Honor Code | Katy Chevigny on Vimeo. Official blurb accompanying film:
'If we change the way we think about honor, could we make the world a better place? Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah proves we can in The Honor Code.'
If you haven't seen it yet, ck out movie: Think Like A Man - now playing
The real is that sometimes the stuff that's put out for black audiences is remarkably less than good, let's call it poor, and this, while light fare, was well written and held it's own.
Black viewers, or any others, who attended hell bent on making sure we lent our support to one of the few and far films featuring a predominantly black cast, did not have to feel mortified (hallelujah! - drum roll), embarrased or just grateful that black actors finally got lead roles.
We were able to laugh wholeheartedly throughout, able to feel affirmed, vindicated, whatever, because the writing was actually good and hella funny. The cast members all looked good (a rarity in films depicting black people -- and even though in real life not everybody in the room is attractive, or wakes up with their hair intact, in movies about every one else Hollywood seems to have no problem lending the lie to that fantasy. So every now and then it's great to see black folks get the same fantastical treatment.)
Plus, the fact that all the castmembers spoke well, lived in great apartments, were intelligent, reacted in the manner of real people, were supportive of one another as friends and did not spend their time cursing at each other, trashing black men or black women or jumping on tables while berating one another! Shite, I was able to walk out of the theater with my head held high.
Steve Harvey's book got plugged throughout the film, the premise is a throwback to 'what women need to do to catch a man,' but hell, the pickings of decent black films and images now are so rare that I was more than ready to accept the trade off. And, truth be told, in real life, a great many men and women do continue to apply the rules that Harvey's book and the movie promote. 'If a woman does a certain thing, she's thought of a certain way.' Pathetic, but too often true.
So hell, as opposed as I am to people giving women gender-specific rules to live by, I waved the white flag on this movie because I was so damn grateful.
In the end, all the happy, attractive couples got together, I and my movie companions had a great laugh (a great many laughs) and I came out of the theater in a better mood than I went in. On that note, I recommend this movie and ask you to check it out and tell your friends about it. Male or female, black, white, Asian or Latino, it's a funny film and a great date movie. (Thanks to the Steve Harvey for bringing the project to light, and to the writer, director and actors in the movie. Here's to a job done well!)
Friday, May 4, 2012
Music - Yadi | Guillotine (Scuba Darkness & Light Mix)
Yadi | Guillotine (Scuba Darkness & Light Mix). 'You fold like a guillotine.' Too many things I like about this: the battle of the voices, the kind of summon to war (like) cry, the enchanting trance enducing beat. I don't know, as much as you can lose yourself in it on the dance floor, there's something that's supremely melancholy about it, and in the face of Adam Yauch's death and the unexpected deaths of so many others lately, the song just fits. It's a little bit of blue lovely in the face of all the pain.
R.I.P.: Adam Yauch (MCA) Of The Beastie Boys Dies At 47 (PHOTOS) | Global Grind
Adam Yauch (MCA) Of The Beastie Boys Dies At 47 (PHOTOS) | Global Grind. It all goes by so fast. One day you're twenty-five and the next you're 40, or 50, or dead. We've got to appreciate it people. Stop take notice claim it make it yours do what you have to do in your core. Breathe the breaths you are meant to breathe. Live the life that is you. One chance, that's all we've got. Be bold enough to claim it and to live it on your terms.
This is a shout out to Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, whose music helped to turn the pages on Rap in America; helped to make it more palatable to nonblack audiences; helped to make it so that it was about the music for many who otherwise wouldn't have listened to it; and helped to get Rap heard by multiple ears around the country and the world.
Yauch seems to have been a peace-loving and living individual, and those of us who are fans of early Hip Hop and who lived some of it, send our condolences to his family and loved ones.
It looked for a time like he would overcome it, now that he's gone we thank him for his impact, for his contribution to Rap, music and the arts; for his contribution to bringing the music world, the world, and Hip Hop fans a little closer together.
Yauch and the Beastie Boys burst on the scene back in the 80s with the breakout hit: '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)' from their 2nd album. The group sold millions worldwide and their influence on generations of younger musicians continues.
The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame on April 14th. Yauch died in New York earlier today. Click on the link above to read the Global Grind announcement of his death. For a more extensive piece on his life, click on the following link to read the NYTimes article: Adam Yauch, a Founder of the Beastie Boys, Dies at 47 - NYTimes.com. R.I.P. Adam.
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| Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has passed away at the age of 47. We look back at his life through pictures. Photo Credit: WENN/GETTY |
Adam Yauch (MCA) Of The Beastie Boys Dies At 47 (PHOTOS) | Global Grind. It all goes by so fast. One day you're twenty-five and the next you're 40, or 50, or dead. We've got to appreciate it people. Stop take notice claim it make it yours do what you have to do in your core. Breathe the breaths you are meant to breathe. Live the life that is you. One chance, that's all we've got. Be bold enough to claim it and to live it on your terms.
This is a shout out to Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, whose music helped to turn the pages on Rap in America; helped to make it more palatable to nonblack audiences; helped to make it so that it was about the music for many who otherwise wouldn't have listened to it; and helped to get Rap heard by multiple ears around the country and the world.
Yauch seems to have been a peace-loving and living individual, and those of us who are fans of early Hip Hop and who lived some of it, send our condolences to his family and loved ones.
It looked for a time like he would overcome it, now that he's gone we thank him for his impact, for his contribution to Rap, music and the arts; for his contribution to bringing the music world, the world, and Hip Hop fans a little closer together.
Yauch and the Beastie Boys burst on the scene back in the 80s with the breakout hit: '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)' from their 2nd album. The group sold millions worldwide and their influence on generations of younger musicians continues.
The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame on April 14th. Yauch died in New York earlier today. Click on the link above to read the Global Grind announcement of his death. For a more extensive piece on his life, click on the following link to read the NYTimes article: Adam Yauch, a Founder of the Beastie Boys, Dies at 47 - NYTimes.com. R.I.P. Adam.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Art Fart: 'The Scream' Scoops Record $119M At N.Y. Auction : NPR
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| AP This version of The Scream is one of four made by Edvard Munch, and the only one outside Norway. It sold at Sotheby's in New York for $119.9 million. |
Music - Mr. Vegas - Black And Proud (Nah Bleach)
Mr. Vegas - Black And Proud (Nah Bleach). A necessary message - still! Crazy ish, but real. Like blk people have fallen down a massive sink hole into a time warp taking them back.
So where was I several months ago, but on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, NY getting my hair braided. In a salon with a bunch of Jamaican hair stylists. The conversation turned to the topic of bleaching and how it made them 'pretty.'
'Girl, when me did a bleach me put eh all ovah me skin. When me finish me white white so till. Gal, if u did see me! And when me put awn me blonde weave an' me blue contac. Wha? You wuda nevah know! When me step affa de plane fram Englan, u shoulda see me baby dawta? 'But Mummy, you look jus' like me Barbie dolly, enh, Mummy!'
Laugh, laugh, laugh. Yup, this is what I heard in a hair salon surrounded by a bunch of black women; the majority of whom, it must be said were Jamaicans.
And the ish was, they were proud of it! Had no shame in their game and were delightedly swapping stories and sharing their psychosis with clients and colleagues alike, like kids sharing stories around the camp fire. What the ish. bish?
Even talking bout the best product and the best way to do it!
This ish was a revelation. It made me sad to hear women who would probably have said -- 'Me black awn proud. No tell me seh me no proud. You mus eh wan a real black woman fi cuff you,' -- say that they had done this, but it made me sadder to hear them talk about it 'openly,' and with pride.
I know that if Bob Marley and the righteous dreads could have heard them then, man, they would have been spinning in their graves.
Course it figures, with reality tv as the mantra by which we live, and with folks being programmed to be trashtastic, clone-matic, plastiqueish and as vapid in our thinking as possible, it would make sense that we would ingest all the garbage being thrown our way and regurgitate it in the form of bleached skin, bleached hair, glass eyes and bleached minds.
Shadow boxing with ourselves, people. Shadow boxing with ourselves. Ultimately we bear the blame. In this day and age there is little excuse for ish like this. Isn't there? Do you agree or disagree?.
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