Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
In the mood for Old School Neptunes
Back in the day, remember when Kelis had kaleidoscopic curly hair and Pharrell wore those trucker caps constantly and made an appearance in every video for evry song he produced. Humble Chad was never visible. God bless him. He's responsible for half of all of this unyet he never bothered with the limelight like his playboy, Peter-Pan-never-wanting-to-really-grow-up-settle-down-and-have-kids (I mean even original Peter Pan himself MJ had kids, Pharrell). But it was good times you know. Any time you heard that "neptune sound" that Jigga refers to in 'I Just Wanna Love You' and you knew just exactly who made that beat. Ah early 2000's - that was an era in itself.
South Africa and Homophobia
With a country this homophobic and this misogynistic, this kind of hatred is by no means a surprise. But I am proud of these ladies for not feeling ashamed to express their sexual orientation knowing full well that it may put them in danger of serious assault from misogynists within the community. They're courage is outstanding. Kudos to them for being openly lesbian.
Ah, Steve and Bill - You Blurry Bastards
How I love to hate them and wish to be them. Steve Jobbs and Bill Gates.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Controversy Around Born-Free: My Take on It
Just finished watching the video for "Born Free", I see no reason why it should have been pulled off of Youtube a month ago. Yes there were graphic depictions of violence but here's an interesting comment I agree with which I found under the comments of this video:
That's an excellent point to raise in the midst of all this. Vulgar depictions of misogyny - which is also hateful toward a certain demographic i.e. the female population is tolerable whilst violent imagery serving to make a statement about the insanity of war and ethnic genocide in this world should be banned.
It reminds me of several years ago when FCC fined Sarah Jones on indecency charges for the lyrics to her spoken word poem, "Your Revolution" which was an anti-sexism, anti-misogynistic war-cry. Funny the FCC chose to avoid all those rappers out there spitting vulgar lyrics about their sexual conquests with women when a woman who is simply speaking up against what she sees as derogatory should be charged. Interesting. The lawsuit was dropped eventually. Should have never been taken up in the first place. But it goes to show how selective censorship boards are. They don't really aim to censor what is considered immoral or indecent. They aim to censor instead what messages they do not want the public hearing because they're afraid of an enlightened masses, a know-better-than-that masses that begins to wake up from their government and media-induced coma. I am reminded of those stunning lyrics from Lupe's classic "Dumb it Down":
so it's alright for music videos of girls dancing naked and exploiting themselves to be up on youtube rather than a video with actual substance and a message that's worth watching? idiots.
That's an excellent point to raise in the midst of all this. Vulgar depictions of misogyny - which is also hateful toward a certain demographic i.e. the female population is tolerable whilst violent imagery serving to make a statement about the insanity of war and ethnic genocide in this world should be banned.
It reminds me of several years ago when FCC fined Sarah Jones on indecency charges for the lyrics to her spoken word poem, "Your Revolution" which was an anti-sexism, anti-misogynistic war-cry. Funny the FCC chose to avoid all those rappers out there spitting vulgar lyrics about their sexual conquests with women when a woman who is simply speaking up against what she sees as derogatory should be charged. Interesting. The lawsuit was dropped eventually. Should have never been taken up in the first place. But it goes to show how selective censorship boards are. They don't really aim to censor what is considered immoral or indecent. They aim to censor instead what messages they do not want the public hearing because they're afraid of an enlightened masses, a know-better-than-that masses that begins to wake up from their government and media-induced coma. I am reminded of those stunning lyrics from Lupe's classic "Dumb it Down":
You've been shedding too much light Lu (Dumb it down)
You make'em wanna do right Lu (Dumb it down)
They're getting self-esteem Lu (Dumb it down)
These girls are trying to be queens Lu (Dumb it down)
They're trying to graduate from school Lu (Dumb it down)
They're starting to think that smart is cool Lu (Dumb it down)
They're trying to get up out the hood Lu (Dumb it down)
I'll tell you what you should do (Dumb it down)
What Could they Be Concocting?
Do I look forward to the finished product or should I find myself afraid, very afraid like after hearing that Lil' "weezy-baby" Wayne was going to record with Erykah Badu. Oh no! Yeah, exactly. And why, considering that this was George Jefferson's favourite thing to call his woman has Wayne adopted this as his catch-phrase?
Anybody else notice the connection?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Kelis: Acapella
I had a hint she was singing about her baby because God knows that Nasir is not worthy of such lyrical love-showering as it is. But then again, how would I know. But the fact that you don't realise those little baby feet peeking out from behind her waist all the way through the song until she turns around and shows her little baba wrapped around her upper-body African-style. That is so sensationally beautiful. The imagery of her as a warrior-princess protecting her young. Such an empowering image. We've come a long way from that sex-kitten image ala "my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard".
Well, Ain't I a Woman
I completed my reading of "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism" by the ever-powerful bell hooks. Brilliant. Okay. In speaking about the Black feminist movement that his its roots in the 19th century with women such as Sojourner truth who gave this gut-wrenching, spirit-lifting speech with this extract:
Reading it called me to question the underlying message behind images such as these (by the fiercely bold and original David LaChappelle who I admiringly paid tribute to in an earlier post).We have Outkast surrounded by a pool of Black completely naked women lying them in positions of worship and submission to their "male power" in the first one and in full sexual servitude as each of them lies on the floor, on all fours (as an animal) with their asses up to the ceiling.
I have to ask, does it get any more misogynistic than this? This is the worst kind of depiction of black women and it continues to the point that it raises no sufficient protest in the mind's of viewers. We are all accustomed to portrayals of black women as lascivious, wanton, immoral, sexual tools i.e. hoes. No wonder black women clearly encounter problems in their interactions in daily-life. It is difficult to establish yourself as an intellectual and thinker when the media wants to reduce you down to nothing more than your genitalia. Your purpose for breathing - nothing more than to serve men sexually.
Hey, hey, hey with a history like America has in which black women were their to bear the brunt of white European males psychosexual confusion and misogyny through continuous rapes and utilisation of the black woman's womb for the economic gain (slave-labour) which only reinforced the ideas about black women that society currently embraces. I find it tragic that black men have sought to imitate this very exploitation of the black female form as did white men during the era before Reconstruction. Yes, those days are over but have the practices ended. Clearly not. Statistics will tell you that. Some think it's all fun and games. Yey, let's sexualize black women in images - afterall "sex sells" right. Yep - it sells darling. At the expense of other people's dignity. What a rotten system of capitalism we operate under that serves only the interests of the individual crushing the dignity and humanity of those needed to be exploited for the other person's upliftment.
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Reading it called me to question the underlying message behind images such as these (by the fiercely bold and original David LaChappelle who I admiringly paid tribute to in an earlier post).We have Outkast surrounded by a pool of Black completely naked women lying them in positions of worship and submission to their "male power" in the first one and in full sexual servitude as each of them lies on the floor, on all fours (as an animal) with their asses up to the ceiling.
I have to ask, does it get any more misogynistic than this? This is the worst kind of depiction of black women and it continues to the point that it raises no sufficient protest in the mind's of viewers. We are all accustomed to portrayals of black women as lascivious, wanton, immoral, sexual tools i.e. hoes. No wonder black women clearly encounter problems in their interactions in daily-life. It is difficult to establish yourself as an intellectual and thinker when the media wants to reduce you down to nothing more than your genitalia. Your purpose for breathing - nothing more than to serve men sexually.
Hey, hey, hey with a history like America has in which black women were their to bear the brunt of white European males psychosexual confusion and misogyny through continuous rapes and utilisation of the black woman's womb for the economic gain (slave-labour) which only reinforced the ideas about black women that society currently embraces. I find it tragic that black men have sought to imitate this very exploitation of the black female form as did white men during the era before Reconstruction. Yes, those days are over but have the practices ended. Clearly not. Statistics will tell you that. Some think it's all fun and games. Yey, let's sexualize black women in images - afterall "sex sells" right. Yep - it sells darling. At the expense of other people's dignity. What a rotten system of capitalism we operate under that serves only the interests of the individual crushing the dignity and humanity of those needed to be exploited for the other person's upliftment.
PostSecret is Deep
Some of these short manifestations of deepness I retrieved from the PostSecret made me snigger a little. I'm almost done with my exams but I'm on the internet displaying my thoughtspace. This semester went by quickly and I already feel as if I'm on a break already owed to the large space between my last exam and the one I will write tomorrow and on Wednesday. I'm relaxed though. Only because they're half courses but back to the topic of discussion:
And it's so true man. How many times have you looked back in hindsight and thought, "Whoah, I'd never do that again." It's only because you now possess the knowledge that only emerges through experience that you can see your past folly for what it was. When you were in it, man - you thought you knew exactly what you were doing and nobody, not even your future self travelling through space-time to warn you would have convinced you otherwise. And that's exactly how it is - no guide-map. Just winging it.
The only reason this was not me is because I have not been privileged enough this semester to have constant 24/7 access to that monstrosity of a blessing - DC++ (filesharing software program at UCT). Then Dr House, Omar Epps and the cast of the Big Bang Theory would have been my homies for the time. (This is somewhat of a gross exaggeration have to admit but work...yeah you know the deal)
You know what tweezing just hurts alright. There's no other way to put it. That isht HURTS especially within the regions of the upper-lip area. Luckily, my dark pigment certifies that these miniscule strands remain barely unnoticed. But oh, I rock that androgynous look in the sunlight. Better know this.
AN-DRO-GY-NOUS (I am, I am), A-A-A-ANDROGYNOUS. It's okay my fellows. Rock it with pride.
Lookah here, now lookah here. There is nothing wrong with looking. Hello, boys and men have no guilt taking regular unassuming glances at your bosom whenever their "nature compels them to" (not the inverted commas) so go ahead, sister go 'head. You've got to rid yourself of these irrelevant shames.
And it's so true man. How many times have you looked back in hindsight and thought, "Whoah, I'd never do that again." It's only because you now possess the knowledge that only emerges through experience that you can see your past folly for what it was. When you were in it, man - you thought you knew exactly what you were doing and nobody, not even your future self travelling through space-time to warn you would have convinced you otherwise. And that's exactly how it is - no guide-map. Just winging it.
The only reason this was not me is because I have not been privileged enough this semester to have constant 24/7 access to that monstrosity of a blessing - DC++ (filesharing software program at UCT). Then Dr House, Omar Epps and the cast of the Big Bang Theory would have been my homies for the time. (This is somewhat of a gross exaggeration have to admit but work...yeah you know the deal)
You know what tweezing just hurts alright. There's no other way to put it. That isht HURTS especially within the regions of the upper-lip area. Luckily, my dark pigment certifies that these miniscule strands remain barely unnoticed. But oh, I rock that androgynous look in the sunlight. Better know this.
AN-DRO-GY-NOUS (I am, I am), A-A-A-ANDROGYNOUS. It's okay my fellows. Rock it with pride.
Lookah here, now lookah here. There is nothing wrong with looking. Hello, boys and men have no guilt taking regular unassuming glances at your bosom whenever their "nature compels them to" (not the inverted commas) so go ahead, sister go 'head. You've got to rid yourself of these irrelevant shames.
David LaChappelle
For years, I recognized these images as amazing but had not a clue as to who the artist behind these icononoclastic images was. David LaChappelle. What an artist. I'll let the images speak for themselves.
SICK SONG!!
Beautiful track. Sincere lyrics. I love it. Can't wait to hear the entire 10-track product.
This song reminds me of jut exactly how I feel when you try to open up serious discussions about racism, sexism and the structure and culture of domination in the world that is the reason for the demise of innocent people in war-torn and disaster-stricken countries. People just shrug their shoulders as if it has nothing to do with them. Yet it is the very same system that is responsible for their wealth and comfort. These things can only exist with the presence of a severely oppressed underclass of people. Not animals, others or subhumans. PEOPLE. She is probably the one and only artist that speaks defiantly about political issues that affect the non-white, the non-privileged. The basically-invisible peoples of this world who remain voiceless and completely crippled.
"You make me hard with the wounds that I had to lick... You're a racist, I wouldn't trust you one bit."
Aaaargh!
Before I could get my hands on that blurry ticket for the Italy vs Paraguay match on the 14th June, the match sold out. The tickets were released on Friday and it seems too many people got excited about it, it SOLD OUT damn it! This is after being "currently unavailable" for yonks - who knows how long. Again, the others are not available either (10 days to the start of the tournament) - what is up with these people. Release the Greenpoint Stadium tickets immediately before somebody loses it. I refuse to miss out on this historical event!
Hey, there's always Shoprite Checkers just up the road. They'll have the answer.
Update soon to follow.
Hey, there's always Shoprite Checkers just up the road. They'll have the answer.
Update soon to follow.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Another Guy: Yipee
No I did not take as much fanatical interest in American Idol Season 9 as I did last year when I was lounging (*ahem*) and not slaving at the books. But as usual, it's been tough getting another girl to take the crown. I could understand why last year when the last girl standing was 16-year-old Allison and Lil' Rounds kept picking awful songs that left people bemused but hey Crystal was good. I heard her sing several times during the Top 20 or something and Madame sounded powerful. Had so much pizzazz, confidence and flare. Oh well. It's not like winning makes all that much of a difference. Adam Lambert is doing far better than er, whatsisname? Cris Allen who is where at the moment? Does anyone beside his wife and family seem to know?
I've Been Frightened Today
What awful cause of nature would cause 50 Cent to look this miserable. My first thoughts were, "Is he ill?", "Has he got an eating disorder we didn't know of?" until I read the caption beneath the image which read:
Wow, Curtis Jackson id really taking his acting seriously. Even employing techniques from method actors. I have to say, I'm quite impressed. But that sullen look on his face and the washed out grey quality of this image had me worried for a second I must admit that.
The rapper turned actor lost an incredible 54 pounds for new film Things Fall Apart, in which he plays a terminal cancer patient, and the usually muscular star was keen to show off his new slimline look by posting photos on his blog.
Wow, Curtis Jackson id really taking his acting seriously. Even employing techniques from method actors. I have to say, I'm quite impressed. But that sullen look on his face and the washed out grey quality of this image had me worried for a second I must admit that.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
MONAE Steals the Show!!
Okay, I have not even listened to ArchAndroid yet but the way critics are raving about it, it MUST be good. Need an ITunes account pronto. She is too worthy to download for free!
First track release "Tightrope" from the album. Nice groove.
First track release "Tightrope" from the album. Nice groove.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wise and Sensible
Will.I.Am says this:
I thought about this last night. What would happen if the women were in power? What kind of a world would we have? I like to believe it would be so much better than this mess of a planet we have going at the moment. Sometimes, I just sit and think how sad it is that men, especially white men are in power. It seems that it is in the European males best interest to dominate others for his own psychological and economic gain. So as far as the Man is in power, this predator-and-prey system we seem to live by will remain intact.
Read the first 70 pages of "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism" last night. It was a tough read, I'm telling you. Especially the first chapter. You know how you never think that you'll be the one balling your eyes out when you visit a slave port in Liberia or you watch a movie like "Amistad". Until you witness all that pain, trauma and anguish. Being forced to acknowledege that these horrific events are not just a figment of someone's imagination. They are real-life accounts of the absolute sheer brutality that humans are capable of committing toward one another. It's just tragic. So tragic.
“Soon I want to settle down and have lots of girl babies,” he reveals. “Because I don’t want to add to the destruction of the planet. It’s a man’s world and I think it’s gonna be a female that changes it all.”
I thought about this last night. What would happen if the women were in power? What kind of a world would we have? I like to believe it would be so much better than this mess of a planet we have going at the moment. Sometimes, I just sit and think how sad it is that men, especially white men are in power. It seems that it is in the European males best interest to dominate others for his own psychological and economic gain. So as far as the Man is in power, this predator-and-prey system we seem to live by will remain intact.
Read the first 70 pages of "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism" last night. It was a tough read, I'm telling you. Especially the first chapter. You know how you never think that you'll be the one balling your eyes out when you visit a slave port in Liberia or you watch a movie like "Amistad". Until you witness all that pain, trauma and anguish. Being forced to acknowledege that these horrific events are not just a figment of someone's imagination. They are real-life accounts of the absolute sheer brutality that humans are capable of committing toward one another. It's just tragic. So tragic.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
New Type of Supernova Discovery
This is interesting, just days ago A supernova that has been seen to detonate calcium and TITANIUM was observed. The supernova occurs as a result of two orbiting white dwarfs one of them which acquires mass continuously through helium capture and eventually detonates much like a Type Ia Carbon-Detonation Supernova and This may have some very interesting implications...
Up until this point, astronomers have only been able to identify two main types of supernova as a result of observation - the carbon-detonation Type Ia and Core-Collapse Type II responsible for very dense neutron stars and very mysterious black holes.
Wonder what implications this new type will have on current theories on dark matter within galaxy clusters.
Up until this point, astronomers have only been able to identify two main types of supernova as a result of observation - the carbon-detonation Type Ia and Core-Collapse Type II responsible for very dense neutron stars and very mysterious black holes.
Wonder what implications this new type will have on current theories on dark matter within galaxy clusters.
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