Chris Brown...All is Forgiven...


So, Sunday Night...Chris Brown gave us HEART! He took that Michael Jackson tribute and BEAT IT...BEAT IT...UP (Kinda like the way he did Rihanna...)! I had tears and then I felt awkward because I had this strange feeling that Chris Brown KNEW I was crying. Not ME, personally, but like everyone because that was the objective. I caught the performance with my parents...and even my Dad who was singing the wife beater tune not too long ago...was saying "That Boy Got It..." Chris was definitely trying to win us over with that "I'm asking him to CHANGE HIS WAYS" performance. I forgave him and so did everyone else, though. Notice though, that Jay-Z, the Queen B, and Ri-Ri couldn't be bothered with the whole show....

The Trip

 
It was a lovely trip
as L O N G as it lasted
because I learned how to give,
without even asking!
We drove ourselves crazy
waiting for magic
and racing through traffic
without ever crashing
or knowing what happened.
The world felt like plastic,
but WE looked fantastic
for all of our flaws
seemed a little less tragic.
The ugliest truths
seemed much more attractive
and we realized ourselves
by being nostalgic.
Memory lane
was I N S A N E in the passing.
Ignition was key
because our hearts were proactive
and saw that a life lived in F E A R
never gets play,
like brief radio-action.
A trip?
That it was.
And we did it because,
no gassing it up,
dipping in tripping
is what a Venturer does.

 

Appreciating Art: Photographer Christopher Bucklow

First spotted this photographer on Kanye's Blog. I'm in L O V E...LOL. It's like De Ja Vu...or something...because I know those silhouette from somewhere...





Now Watch Me Go...Go...Go...


Fefe Dobson - New Music - More Music Videos

Not even gonna lie...this song makes me bump my head, something foolish lol. "Now, watch me GO...GO...GO...

Color Blindess in the Age of Obama

When President Obama was sworn into office it was a proud day for America, and the world at large. A huge statement was made about the change in reality for people of color everywhere, concerning their political potential in the Free World. And yet, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not the election of a Black President, more specifically President Obama, has worked to the detriment of the argument of colorblindness in, what is now considered by many as, post-racial America. Are we REALLY living in a post-racial America? (Like, really...) And what role does Obama play in all of this?

Tim Wise's book, COLORBLIND: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity, investigates the criticism made about our President and what he deems a lack of attack on the issues still plaguing people of color in America. Since elected, President Obama has adopted the Universal approach...that is...Universal Education...Universal Health Care...which anyone would consider commendable. Still, many feel that a Black President could be doing MORE for people of color in the U.S. More specifically, Tim Wise feels that President  Obama could me more direct in addressing the ever-present disparity between White America and Black America. Wise doesn't limit his criticism to the President, either. He thinks Congressional Democrats could be doing more to help the race disparity. He discusses the nominal left wing and the complacent right wing, and the dangers of the attitudes of both parties when it comes to the evolution of progressive legislature in favor of minorities.  

Scholar Michael Eric Dyson has spoken on the issue, too. I think Wise drives home a point about a debate that Dyson already hit on. The idea that President Obama's success (depending on how you look at it) is tied to his distance from Black issues. Dyson has discussed that Blacks should not expect the President to do more for the Black community than any other President...but we should not expect him to do less. This brings the discussion back to Wise's book, and how in a post-racial America...racism is merely subliminal when there remains a subtle bias in the consideration of "equal". Regardless of whether Obama gets everyone health care, the larger issue is the QUALITY of health care afforded to people of color. Now, I know...baby steps, right? Agreed. The President is not going to fix the problems in one presidency but as a previous law teacher, Obama knows of the lingering inequality and suffering communities. And we still find him making comments about a seemingly EQUAL America. I think some are concerned that based on the political attitude towards race that he continues to maintain, we might fall into a far worse type of racism; the kind that denies the fact that there are still racial issues to be corrected. This includes but it is not limited to the public health crisis and the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM...a mechanism that Wise identifies as an evolved version of Jim Crow. After all, as it stands today, about 2/3 of the people incarcerated  by the criminal justice system are people of color. We can't have progression simultaneously allowing for regression.

Wise considers the role of the activist to be the individual who pushes from the outside on the people on the inside. He believes that encouraging a healthy discourse allows White America to do the same thing that minorities are striving to do, themselves...that you can't legislate morality but you can ask everyone to rise to the opportunity of realizing our aspirations to be better than we have in the past. The unwillingness to discuss racial issues only alludes to the reality that there are still issues deemed uncomfortable when it comes to race relations...a reality that is detrimental to the country at large in the long run, which includes the majority.

INTERESTING TOPIC...I'm just listening because I stand firm in the fact that Politics is all about Politics and the allocation of funds (or better the fiscal interest of big business when it comes to public health) is the biggest problem. Don't they see the New World Order being established? CLASS IS THE NEW RACE!! It's not about Race anymore...it's about the plutonomy that's forming. STILL...this is a GREAT READ!

Blind Faith: The Book of Eli

(WARNING: This article contains a spoiler)
So, recently I watched the movie The Book of Eli starring my favorite...Denzel Washington and my other favorite Jennifer Beals...and my other, other favorite Mila Kunis. I have to say...this movie is SERIOUSLY underrated. If people haven't noticed...movies about the ENLIGHTENED HERO in the APOCALYPSE seem to be the Hollywood fad these days (hint, hint). Leave it to Denzel...the humanitarian... to take on a role that focuses on religious faith as a means to enlightenment. Let's see if we can break this movie down...

Now the movie takes place 30 years deep into the post-apocalypse, and we are soon introduced to the protagonist, ELI (those who are up on their biblical names know of the story ELIJAH and the blind man). Eli is lead by faith to carry the last copy of the Bible through the wasteland to an unknown destination in the west. Along the way, he kills anyone of the many who try to stop him. He walks into a town, controlled by a man named Carnegie, because of his need for water.

Carnegie has hired thugs to look for the Bible because he is aware of its power and wants to hire Eli. Eli refuses and is held captive. The young daughter of Carnegie's blind concubine, Solara, is sent to seduce Eli, but to no avail. Instead, Eli opens her eyes to the power of prayer and Carnegie becomes aware that Eli has a copy of the Bible in his possession.

Eli leaves and kills ALMOST all of Carnegie's men in a shoot out. Solara follows Eli on his venture to deliver the Bible to the West and Carnegie chases after them. After a shootout at an elderly couple's home in the middle of nowhere, Solara and the book are captured and Eli is wounded. Solara escapes and goes back for Eli and the two continue to Alcatraz Island, without the Bible, where things from the old civilization prior to the Apocalypse are preserved. There, the climax reveals that Eli is, in fact, blind but also enlightened by his memorization of the Bible. The copy of the Bible that Carnegie fought so hard to get his hands on is entirely in braille. The conclusion of the film surrounds the transcribing of the Bible and Solara's return back to the East.
 Now, the metaphor of the movie is crazy and so is the power of blind faith. What might not be so obvious about the movie is the subtle occult symbols. From the onset of the movie, when we are first introduced to the protagonist, we see the numbers  14:6...which in numerology reduces to the number 11 (a symbol for enlightened thinking). The fallac motif of swords in the movie represent the concept of a male dominated society and although we find out that the apocalypse brought along a catastrophic flash, the use of sunglasses draws the audience to consider the significance of sight. 

What also might not be obvious is that the post-apocalypse is essentially a depression, where bartering has replaced capitalism and materialism is a remnant of the past. The movie introduces a New World Order debate of the Bible and the power of organized religion. The protagonist and the antagonist are metaphors for the arguments of the use verses misuse of the Word and the lengths it can serve the individual. I thought it was interesting that Carnegie found the Bible in the television but did not know how to decipher it, as I believe Hollywood is giving us big subliminal messages if you have the tools to decipher the meanings. Carnegie, himself, reminds me of a psychic vampire, a theme I see reoccurring in popular culture a lot these days. Psychic vampires are people who feed off of the energy of others for their own political gain....hmmm. Anyway, as far as male domination is concerned, we discover that the only way for a female to be her own protector is to acquire the metaphoric sword...to be curious and seek the knowledge in the manner of the enlightened man...much like Solara does at the end of the film. The end of the movie drives home a powerful message: Control can always be taken over but Knowledge can never be taken away...

Gettin Busy 'Cause I'm A Star, No Spangled Banner...

Drake & Jay Z - Light It Up by djstylesz

Was riding in the car and heard this. Drizzy speaks to me...gotta stay busy. And that HOV is just so Unusual...LIGHT IT UP... 

My Dream Home

 
I want to live in a beach house somewhere
where the water's translucent
and naturally clear
and the weather gives more 
than short shares of fair,
and natural disasters 
are far less than rare.
I don't even care
if I'm alone in this home
or if my presence is known.
I'd sleep lovely with the company of consistency.
The consistency of liberty 
to do as I wish,
to not sink when I think
or float like a boat,
  but to swim like a fish!
  I'd record in the sand all those past times I wrote.
I'd dream like a fiend,
and motion my way through the most epic of scenes.
  A sun-kissed romantic,
making love to the light...
I'd outstretch my arms
and run to embrace
the warm rays of sunshine that beam on my face.
I'd sleep with the stars 
without fear of the night.
Time would mean nothing.
Well, no...
it'd be something:
My day would be now,
the last second forever,
and I'd cast out to sea 
my bottled conceptions of never
and be drunk off the proof 
of the clear 
in the ever.
Yes, 
my moment would be here
and the incessance of ticking 
would just disappear.
God, 
I pray for this home,
this place of my own...

Stop Being Secretive...Lebron's Coming to the Nets...



Jay-Z is always so secretive about everything...**COUGH COUGH ILLUMINATI COUGH** but it's no secret that LEBRON JAMES is going to the Nets come July...

Black White and Sequins ALL OVER!

Don't Fall Over...
but
HURRY! 

There's a party going down...
and the dress code is 

We Might Not Need To Test On Animals Anymore...

Harvard's Wyss Institute has done it...they've designed a chip that BREATHES like the Human Lung!! Now instead of testing on animals, they've created a chip to test chemicals on... "It’s a laboratory-generated, breathing human lung-on-a-chip that mimics the way a real lung allows pathogens to enter the bloodstream..." according to Habitat.com, and its the new alternative to animal testing. Way to go Harvard. Do you see where evolution is going, though? To read more...check out this article at Habitat.com






Daily Rant: The News and the Negative Overcast

Do you notice that the news has a negative overcast these days? When was the last time you turned on the local news and heard news delivered with a positive tone? I took a class on Media and Politics...and learned the media intentionally delivers news with this tone...because Without conflict, there is no news!!

It speaks to our culture these days. Conflict and negativity heightens the sense of urgency. The Media doesn't want peace...they don't want people to COEXIST...there would be nothing to report! Politics, in general, is just for entertainment purposes. Disagree if you wish, but I'm just sayin'...

Appreciating Art: My Artform Collective

I'm starting my own Art-Form Collective...this is the original prototype before I play around with the image on Photoshop. I made this out of construction paper and magazine clippings...it's called BLACK JESUS...be on the look out. 

Drake on Jimmy...



Drake is my fav Libra... and this interview just shows that he's going places... Thank Me Later...

I'm Not Movin....



So I heard this in CVS...picking up an Arizona Energy Tonic (on sale 66 cents) and I heard this. I felt like God was telling me something...lol. The Script is the Shit...

The Real in the Mundane...


LOL...that's R E A L. That's how I feel. Found on the streets of Allston, MA.

Maybe In A Different Life, Perhaps In A Different Time


We were in the wrong Time.
I could feel it 
and your face revealed it. 
Sealed it.
My presence held no essence in the air for you,
And just so you know that I care for you,
that I'm always there for you,
it's only fair to you 
to let us dwindle 
like a spindle;
threading lies 
that you'll quickly unravel in a second 
and leave me bare to you.
I'll be left with dying embers
of what I remember of our flame.
I don't know when it left 
or when we came.
But how cold are you?
Don't you know how fast I burn for you?
Slowly.
If you were to watch me,
I'd stop.
My hands would turn to your face,
like a clock...
my hour
to be with the one.
But maybe in another life,
Perhaps some other Time.
No. 
In another time,
in another place,
you and I were a special case.
I had a different name
and a different face.
Damn, 
we must've had us quite the chase,
based
on how you make my heartbeat race.
And in this haste, 
I must've left at lightening speed;
jet set here
to outer space.
But that was then
And this is now.
But maybe in some other life, 
somehow. 
Definitely at a different Time...
than now.

Word on the Street: GREENSTREET

Green Street is a hip-hop/jazz group originally from Boston and now residing in Brooklyn, NY. Consisting of emcees A-live and Soupa, and producer Renaissance, Green Street looks to bring back the sound from the Native Tongues era, while keeping it fresh and relevant for today's audience. "Crossroads" is a unique, personal project which fuses experiences from the lives of three twenty-somethings with progressive hip-hop beats. Features include Oddisee, The Black Sunn, 810, Nieve and more.

PLEASE SHOW LOVE... 
Download link for the file: http://www.mediafire.com/?nn2jkwynoiy.
Streaming link: http://greenstreetrecords.bandcamp.com/album/crossroads
Website: http://greenstreetrecords.net

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Remember Michael
(an Angel in his own light)
Forever a Household Name...
a Hero to the Sentient Nation

The Sensory Box

Saw this on Kanye's Blog...So ill!!

Appreciating Art: Swoon

Swoon, 31, female graffiti artist based in New York City focuses on creating life-sized, cut-out, wheat paste prints and paper cutouts of figures inspired by people in her life. Swoon isn't her government name...  she's avoiding prosecution for vandalism crimes associated with her street art.






CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW!

Wake Up Drunk, Go To Sleep Fucked Up...



Remember, it's all "for the thrill of it..."

WRITINGS on the WALL

I like to write on walls too...




Music Madness: Alejandro - Lady Gaga





"Don't call my name...don't call my name...ALEJANDRO..." 

So, before the video even dropped...I was in love with this song. I thought it was SO funny. Clearly, on the surface its a song about Gaga rejecting an old Hispanic lover. And Behold, the video drops and GAGA has dropped a bomb again! But what does all this mean? The first time I peeped it, I was like wait...so...nuns...gay Nazi's...uhhh...didn't Madonna do something like this? But then I put my occult/esoteric thinking cap on to try and dissect the video. The interpretation I came up with did not digress too far from what seems to be the main current of themes in music videos today...the deconstruction of organized religion, the establishment of the military state...and of course...Love, Fashion, & good ol' Fashion Brainwashing. Let's see if I can break down my interpretation for you guys: 

Well first, let me just say that this video gives the song crazyyyy dimensions. Kind of like a fashion model...but the song opens with Gaga...talking to her old love...praying...because Alejandro is her euphemism for God...and the song, at large, is discussing her choice to reject her relationship with the Catholic Church, traditional feminine roles and appearances, and perhaps even monogamy.

"I know that we are young/
and I know that you may love me/
but I just can't be with you like this/
Alejandro..."

The opening of the music video establishes a suppressed policed society...perhaps even a gay suppressed society. Two of the men are "wearing" the occult symbols that oppress them in a dark fashion...the pyramid of hierarchy and the "Star of David" (better understood as the occult symbol meaning as above so below). 


Then, Gaga, the "dark ice queen" unveils her eye of illumination, as she oversees the oppressed, dancing 


...after the precession of the death of the one with the sacred heart...(this clearly has religious connotations) but also notice that "Lady Gaga" is a HIGH fashion ice queen...and the sacred heart has a fashion needle piecing through it.
  
The music video juxtaposes feminized men with traditionally machismo men holding guns. The feminized men are dancing and fighting with each other, possibly hinting at inner struggles with their manhood while the machismo militia are being held up by strings (hinting at the fact that they are puppets and they are being controlled)...using their manhood as a weapon.

 

Gaga also playing the nun character, is controlled by strings as well...

"She's got both hands/
In her pocket/
And she won't look at you/
(Won't look you at)
She hides through love/
en su bolsillo/
She got a halo around her finger/
Around you"
The above mentioned lyrics can be interpreted in several ways. On the surface level, we get the sense that the ice queen is speaking about herself in regards to her relationship with "Fernando". You could also say that she is speaking about the effect of the celibate nun married to Jesus, from a Catholic's perspective. You could also say that she is referring to a model...posing as she goes down the runway...captivating the audience with her glow.

The bridge...

As we literally and metaphorically cross the bridge with Gaga, she says...

"You know that I love you boy/
Hot like Mexico, rejoice/
At this point I gotta choose/
Nothing to loose..."

The song is hinting at her making some kind of transition. It could mean several things...her rejection of... a boy, her Catholic upbringing, her male model counterpart(s), tradition, you name it...I think she's realeasing herself of everything sacred, everything traditional. She represents this transition, by shedding off her clothes...and being as "nude and crude" as she possibly can...f*cking with androgyny ...good and bad, male and female, domination and submission for her greater goal...
(its kind of like Jay-Z saying..."I got a million ways to get it...CHOOSE ONE)

The chorus...

"Don't call my name/
Don't call my name, Alejandro/
I'm not your babe/
I'm not your babe, Fernando/

Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch/
Just smoke one cigarette more/
Don't call my name/
Don't call my name, Roberto..."

Dare I say, Gaga is calling out to all to secretly reject God...the way she has 3 names for Fernando...hints at a trinity of some sort. There are so many dimensions to the lyrics and songs, she could also be calling for the rejection of oppression, the rejection of attachment to any one person...SO MANY POSSIBLE MEANINGS!! It WORKS (snaps fingers) on so many levels...perhaps that's why she needs a cigarette break.

The next verse...

"She's not broken/
She's just a baby/
But her boyfriend's like a dad, just like a dad/
Draw those flames that burn before him/
Now he's gonna find a fight, gonna fool the bad..."

...continues with the multi-dimensional metaphor. Anyone who has watched America's Next Top Model...can just hear Mr. Jay telling the model to make herself look broken. And further, we all know that the entertainment industry favors youth...you can see the image of a young, beautiful model getting spoiled and using a boy to buy her everything she wants. However, you could also interpret the lyrics on a more sexual manner...as she's still a virgin...in her relationship with God...still yet to be broken down...

So in conclusion...

The video concludes with Gaga completely clothed again, dancing with androgyny. There are flashes of her on a stage...with slicked back hair...a very masculine identity. She also has Madonna's gun-bra...which hints at Gaga paying tribute to themes that Madonna previously discussed in a previous generation..."Release yourself." Gaga has crossed over...in fact...it seems that the nun has transformed into some evil, sexual, satanic high priestess with the inverted cross at her crotch...meaning the perversion of the sacred sacrifice that Jesus made on Calvary.





Essentially...when Gaga swallows the rosary...


she is making herself a god (of fashion, music, sexuality, identity)...she's SAVING herself in an oppressed society.

Gaga is CRAZY. No doubt about it. But you have to learn to take the good with the bad. Undeniably, the video is genius...evil...and entertaining all at the same time. I think the most important thing you can get from the video is that you have to BREAK DOWN the images that the media is giving you. There's nothing to fear if you KNOW and understand what society is feeding you...

American Badass

 by AnnMargaret

A SPRAY CAN shakes
as THE HOOD does a double take.
The aerosol can hisses
something like a salted snake.
The bagged-bottle d r i p p i n g,
with every moving stake.
The clock was t i c k i n g off to fate...
Sirens cried from somewhere off,
far away;
they sounded lost.
True L O V E is Art,
at at any cost.
Jesus Christ, in all who are mighty.
Damn.
What a thought.
The hoods' lines were previously designed
to full fill a cross.
As abandoned cargo will soon be tossed.
Please. N O T to be crass,
but, SEE, the hood was a B A D A S S
(the kind that "wifed" up the girl with the fat ass).
The hood was glowing,
without even knowing,
and people could see that.
The voices convened that
the hood was trouble,
with double the struggle,
plus reason to flee fact.
Authority,
at least of what's been seen,
captivated the less then free,
and R E E K ED of paint streaks
leaking down red, blue and green
on the horizon of a clashing city scene.
The streets had bred the hood into STRIFE,
and gave the hood canvas to paint THE LIFE.

In Biblical speech:
hoods KNOW the night
and KNOW of plight;
S E E the lights
but KNOW their rights.
After all,
THE HOOD was American.

The Curiousness of the Apple [I-Phone]

Now, I think the new I-phone is cool...but Goddamn! Much like other highly mystical, subconsciously spiritual obsessions of pop-culture (i.e. Harry Potter, Twilight, Jay-Z concerts, Political Caucuses, haha...) the lines that formed across the country for the new toy border on the insane.

 The features are super dope, but one thing I know about Apple products is that you never trust the first prototype of any version of any product they're selling. The iPad will inevitably be perfected in a few months, as will the new Iphone G4. Why are people so hysterical to get they're hands on the new toy?! I won't even lie...I kind of want to see one, too.

The Culture War Developing in Afghanistan

The New York Times blogged about the military's disapproval of the people who choose not to fight in the War in Afghanistan. It's interesting to me. Why would anybody be judgmental of citizens exercising their right to remain peaceful? If you ask me, it sounds like the military is picking up on the fact that the U.S. government is completely down with continuing the war for as long as possible. If that happens, the people who have already enlisted are stuck fighting...touchy subject. Read the article and see what you think about the matter.