Trick or Treat?!

Hey friend(s)!

A Halloween poem for you:

Dress up today

in a way that may

allow you to hit the streets

and nab some treats!

Please do not stray

from fun and appropes;

Racism is never okay,

not even a little bit,

nope!

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!!!!!

NOPE!

On a lighter note:

brimming with sisterlove

I had the best weekend!!! Time spent with so many of my sisterfriends, my best friends! Congrats to Linde for a amazing job helping with the South Asian Film Festival in NYC! And also to homegirl Jillian for her acceptance into FIT for next semester!!! Anaka came to visit! Jean an Jung-Hee loved hard. And we celebrated Ayesh's bday in style with Soomz! Big girls doin some Big Thangs.

The subsequent video might seem mad irelev, but its not...

This version of the video includes clips from the classic film soundtrack on which it appears... starring Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry and Rebecca DeMornay (of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle fame). We're talking friendship that sustains the trials and tribulations of time, transition and perseveres beyond the evildoings of Cardinal Richelieu and friends...or at least the imminent end of raspy white man pop/rock as a popular genre.

BUT you gotta heart the lovefest happening between these dudes in the video, esp in the beginning. Rod Stewart offering a little affection circa 1:51 for Bryan, and then to himself 8 seconds later. Bryan rocking that unfortunate mushroomesqe hairdo, and the killer guitar solo juxtaposed with the most intense scenes from the film... I just hope that in the future when my homegirls and I reunite, it's as sweet.

I'm not hatin' though. Sting could get it. (I heard he's into that tantric shizz)... But not Bryan or Rod. and definitely not Kiefer.

He's a Smart Guy...

do do dooo do do do do

Homie is set to be in a TV adaptation of Coach Carter next fall... With Ving Rhames playing the title character and Chris Brown, Ashanti, and Cassandra Ventura (Cassie, for all you Bad Boy heads out there) joining the cast. What about Channing!?

perfection part II as promised

So this weekend, I spent time doing the following: 1) sleeping for hours, 2) wearing my Wesleyan sweatshirt and complaining about the cold, 3) going out with my beautiful friends, 4) watching episodes of "A Different World" on Youtube.

I don't know what prompted this re-invigoration of my love for the show. It happens periodically; I think on some level it has to do with this whole Barack/McCain thing, the heightened political atmosphere, the lack of current creative output such as that particular show...

It started off as the Cosby Show spin-off, a way to keep Lisa Bonet around without dealing with her butting heads with Heathcliff himself... but then she got preggers after the 1st season with Lenny Kravitz's baby and the show got a makeover.

And what a deliciously perfect makeover it was. Debbie Allen (mama Huxtable aka Phylicia Rashad aka the orig MILF's real life sis! holla!), came in as the producer of the show and revamped it so that it more realistically resembled a historically black college (peace! to Marisa Tomei). The show actually addressed issues that the Cosby Show shied away from... race, class, and it even aired one of the first TV acknowledgements of AIDS.

Slash, how beautiful to see such gorgeous and talented people of color all over the screen! Plus the shit was FUNNY.

I always had the thickest crush on Dwayne Wayne and his flip up glasses... and in the later years, Jada Pinkett's boyfriend Dorian, as played by Bumper Robinson with his corny collegeman schtick and "Richie Cunningham" sweaters really did it for me... Sidenote: Kadeem Hardison (aka Dwayne Wayne) used to date Cree Summer (aka Freddie) and has definitely referred to her as the love of his life. So romantical! I'm totes jeal.

Watch it. now. on youtube or elsewhere. It is just so good!

ps check out the homies loving each other now! adorabs!

ughs perfection

i love this show. and miss it. espesh dwayne wayne. love that guy!


and miss when shows like that were on tv. more on this later!

The City is Mine

I just recently moved into an apartment in Brooklyn, and while it is in a neighborhood that I've been living in intermittently during summer breaks from Wesleyan and crashing at my sister's place (who bt dubs, now lives down the street), I'm realizing what a far cry adult city life is from youth in the 'burbs, and college in Middletown, CT.

Thinking about this city move, and spending hours on the train, unearthing crazy lost tunes on my ipod, has led me to re-encounter this gem from late 1998...



Its a single off of Jay-Z's second album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, entitled "THE CITY IS MINE." Basically, it's Jay bigging himself up, with the choral contribution from one of my favorite brown boy (man?) groups, Blackstreet. Remember Teddy Riley? Anywho, the song uses elements of "You Belong to the City" by Glenn Frey to get its point across. That, and the little simultaneous and coordinated hand choreography by the group. I'm not sure that this song got a whole lot of airplay, in fact i'm sure it didn't (it's not exactly the prime example of hip hop), but it always holds a spot in my heart, for its catchiness, and for the memories of riding in the yellow cheese bus and all the junior high whack stars singing along...

also. check out the cameo by Michael Rapaport. he loves playing cops. and the only thing he loves more than playing cops, are people of color.

Doppelganging During the Deb8

Who watched the debate last night?? The past few have been intensely scary for me to watch, because no matter how correctly my man Obamz pronounces "Pakistan," it doesn't change what he's saying about what he wants to do there. And the delusions that support John McCain's candidacy and his followers are beyond my comprehension. But some very good points about health care and the economy were brought to light by Mr. B.O., as well as trying to take the higher road in campaigns that have become particularly nasty. Beyond that, this time around, I was into Bob Schieffer's ability to ask candid and pointed questions without getting lost in time reminders a la Mr. Brokaw, and guide a fluid debate.

Also, he gave me the perfect opportunity for some split screenage:



Yes. Bob Schieffer looks like Dr. Frasier (and Niles! Don't sleep on the younger bro!) Crane's lovable, huggable, retired-cop-in-Seattle-with-the-gross-chair father, Martin Crane, as played by John Mahoney.

I gotta agree with my one of my fellow debate watchers, Adele, in the wish to catch a glimpse of Eddie, poss running up to one of the candidates with a doggy toy in his mouth, maybe shaped like a golden wrench, as a plumber making $250,000 a year might carry... hm.