This has been a problem since I worked at BET.com (a*k*a "the plantation"). It's an even bigger problem now. I don't have cable. The last time I watched TV, it was because Taj was on Survivor.* The time before that was Lincoln Heights, and that was online. Because I own a 120 GB iPod that is compatible with my car stereo, I haven't listened to the radio in years. And from the little I hear, there's no reason to.
Today, I learned two things:
1) Alicia Keys had an album out in 2008, and 2) Beyoncé has a video called "Ego".
I happen to really, really like Beyoncé, in a "never bought one of her albums" kind of way. I firmly believe that Beyoncéitis is real. I love "Single Ladies", and I couldn't stop watching the video for a while. (I think she had some songs after that, but I can't say I cared all that much.) But this? This really, really, really sucks. This is like, MIDNIGHT-level suck. It's like she took all of Janet Jackson videos, threw them in a hat, drew out threeorfour at random and made a video.
I think it took me 45 minutes to get through a four minute music video. I kept pausing it, doing other stuff and coming back. Oh, and the song is garbage. HOWEVER...I must say "it's too big/it's too wide/it's too strong/it won't fit" is pretty darn clever. What can I say? I'm a sucker for wordplay.
Still. C'mon, Bey. I know you recreated the game and all, but fans are fickle. You do this a couple more times, and Ashanti is going to come off her shift at Whataburger and kick your ass right off the charts.
"It never gets old, huh?" "Nope." It kinda makes you wanna..." "Break into song?" "Yup!"
____
I love the Cowboys
I love my family
I love the old school
I love the UFC
I love the whole world We're shouting YES WE CAN!
Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da
I love the east side
I love our rivalry
I love FAMU, and
Wakandan royalty
I love the whole world (Sebelius 2010 HHS!)
Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da...
I love the black race
I love when children play
I love Nintendo
I love the USA
I love the whole world Most folks are good at heart*
Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da
Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da Boom de ya da...
_____
Credit for the Obama artwork goes to the awesome Shirozora!
*"It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."The Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. - 1 Corinthians 9:24
Here's what you've heard: last week, the girls' basketball team at The Covenant School beat the girls at Dallas Academy, 100-0. Dallas Academy (or DA for short) is for "...students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other learning differences." Because of this, Covenant is a much of testosterone filled jerks who beat up some poor retarded kids* and have no right to call themselves Christians. In fact, they've been bullied so badly about their victory that they are attempting to retroactively forfeit it. I guess that's what Jesus would do.
Here's what you probably haven't heard: the same night, DA's boys beat Covenant's boys 50-38.
Why does this chap my ass so much, you ask? First, blowouts in high school sports (and especially private school high school sports) are not uncommon, as the talent in these schools tend to be lopsided. The fact that these girls are learning disabled is really not the issue here, as evidenced by the DA boys winning the same night. Earlier this year, the Jesuit Rangers boys' basketball team beat the McKinney Boyd Broncos, 108-22. When Coach Mitch Grimes says that these things just happen, they really do. I give credit to DA for not harping on this "we go to a special school and that's why we're not very good" angle, because as their boys have shown, it's bullshit. Being ADHD doesn't make you a bad athlete. Being unable to dribble the ball does.**
Second, as an athlete who has been on both sides of blowouts - both in team (volleyball and basketball) as well as individual (tennis) sports, there is nothing more insulting than the idea that my opponent should ease up on me because I'm not as good. I don't like watching a group of girls being demonized for doing what they should have done, which was win. That's what they're supposed to do. That's what they practice for. That's why they're there. Whatever new aged, feel good bullshit is being pumped in schools is still not translating to the real world***, so why in the world do we insist on hoisting it on our children? Hell, the mercy rule isn't even enforced in real world sports - otherwise, I would've been spared of such sharp, neverending agony last December when Philadelphia crushed Dallas 44-6.
"Okay, how about we let them score the touchdowns, but they aren't allowed to go for the extra point. That's fair, right?"
Now, had I been the coach, I would've removed my first stringers and let the second and third stringers play the game, and I probably would've laid off the full court press. It would've been the nice thing to do. But until a mercy rule is firmly put into place, no coach has to follow my hypothetical example. Besides, this is high school varsity basketball, and these athletes are competing for scholarships and slots on college basketball teams. As cruel as this may sound, you run up the scores so you can run up your stats so you can impress the scouts. Is it taking advantage of the situation? Mos def. But if you don't like it, don't play competitive sports.
And yes, I understand that the students at DA are learning disabled, which doesn't seem to matter for the boys' team. But seriously, listen to these girls.
They're not looking at the score? They don't play to win?Why the hell not? Who taught them that defeatist attitude? Let me guess: the same man who is forfeiting the rest of his team's season, Coach Civello. Here's another example of his leadership:
Civello, as is his custom, didn't say anything to anyone from the opposing school after the game. He always allows for a cooling-down period. A week later, he has not been in contact with anyone from Covenant.
A cooling down period for what? Civello's team has lost every single game for the past four years. Their last three scores before the Covenant game were 78-10, 50-8, and 89-8. And yet, he has plenty of time to court America's new sweethearts, as opposed to reaching out to DA's coach, Mitch Grimes. Gotcha.
I know I sound like I'm whipping up on the girls. I'm not. Hell, I'm impressed by these girls. They know it's just a game, and they seem to have moved on. I'm whipping up on their loser coach, who is parading his team around like a bunch of horses at a fair. He could've played this incident down - kids get blown out all the time - but he didn't. I'm whipping up on the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the idiots who have these two teams in the same playing division. I'm whipping up on the media, who is using this game as an invite to the typical "this is what's wrong with America" battle cry in this everybody is a star country we live in, and taking extra delight in slamming a bunch of high school girls for having the nerve - the GALL! - to play their best, even if it was against a lousy team. I'm whipping up on the people who believe that it's okay to lift up the spirits of the DA players and fans by tearing down the Covenant players, calling for the coach to be fired and the girls - the WINNING girls - to be suspended for the rest of the season. And yes, the Covenant girls deserve a lick or two. C'mon, after a while, it should've been obvious that this was going to be a hollow victory. But I simply can't condemn the Covenant team for treating the Dallas Academy team just like everybody else. I mean, if DA wants to play with the big girls, shouldn't they be treated as such?
LET THE KIDS PLAY. Just let 'em play! Seriously, getting your butt kicked when you play your best is not nationwide news, and it will not scar you for life. Just ask the girls at Dallas Academy.
*This story is already dubious enough, but trying to paint the DA players as "handicapped" and "retarded" just to make the Covenant girls look even worse is beyond the pale. **This is coming from an ADHD athlete.
***The one where the rent is still due on the first, regardless of if you're learning disabled or bipolar or your booty itches.
I love Janet Jackson. Have since I was a kid. I sport a sankofa in the small of my back. So when Tyler Perry defended Janet like a true gentleman when some no-name "journalist" tried to attack her in a fit of bitchassness, I said I would never again go out of my way to attack his work.
I'm rescinding that promise.
I just made the mistake of watching The Family That Preys, seeing that it has two of my favorite actresses, Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates. I'm one of those people who can watch a bad movie with good actors in it, which is why I own a copy of The Gospel. I'll have to come back to this entry later, but I'll say this now: Tyler Perry is a cancer to black America who deserves to be dragged into the street and shot. If we can lose Biggie and we can lose 2Pac and we can lose the Jam Master, there's no reason in the world why Tyler Perry should live to coon another day.
Disclaimer: This is a link to the article in question. There have been arguments that the actual column suggests the exact opposite of what the author is trying to say. As a writer who has had this happen to me more than once thanks to an inept copy desk, I'm going to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and reserve my wrath for the editors and whoever is responsible for the cover and the title. _____
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – attributed to Einstein
The Advocate: Because we don't really need - or want - your support
I was writing a long entry about how the phenomenon of black homophobia is a crock of shit (more on that later), when I found myself having to write this entry first. The Prop 8 thing is not going to go away anytime soon, sadly, and the rift between white gays and people of color (of all orientations) is going to be there for a pretty long while. The excuse of “Well, I was lashing out when I said those things; it’s time to heal” isn’t going to swing this time, mainly because all the rage white gays were spewing was being directed to the wrong black people. Black voters for Prop 8 were hardly reading liberal, pro-gay blogs with calculators and maps of California counties in hand, trying to get to the bottom of all this. You really think Trick Trick is losing any sleep over this?
A lot of younger blacks have views that run almost polar opposite to our parents’ views, and we’ve taken a lot of shit for challenging their views and telling them flat out that they were/are wrong. I know I’ve moved more than a couple of mountains in my family. Furthermore, a lot of our parents are either very young Boomers, or Generation Jones, arguably the last generation to be directly affected by the Civil Rights Movement. For them, Dr. King is not a symbol or a name. He is not some guy you drag out to win arguments. He’s not an ace card. He was real, and while I certainly can’t speak for all black people, or even all older black people, I can say that that quickest way to get a “girl, hush that foolishness!” is to compare your plight – however serious it may be – to what they went through. My high school experience at Honky McCracker Senior High School was unquestionably a study in institutionalized racism, but it wasn't my grandmother's high school experience of integrating the local high school after the colored high school closed.
Which brings me to my point. As much as white gays want to blame this on sensitive black people and our need to oppress another disadvantaged group (because we obviously have nothing else better to do), here’s the thing: in the black community, the only thing that you’re allowed to compare to the Civil Rights Movement is the Civil Rights Movement. Black white, gay, straight, son of God…if you are trying to get any point across and the words “Dr. King” come up, you’re probably going to lose your African-American audience, particularly if they’re over 50. In fact, the idea that “as long as we’re not being lynched” mentality has run kind of opposite to our well-being as a whole.
Warning: objects in this blog entry are far less real in your mind.
I’ll let Tim Wise, the Guru of Interracial Relations, explain why:
…[C]ontrary to popular belief, research indicates that people of color are actually reluctant to allege racism, be it on the job, or in schools, or anywhere else. Far from "playing the race card" at the drop of a hat, it is actually the case (again, according to scholarly investigation, as opposed to the conventional wisdom of the white public), that black and brown folks typically "stuff" their experiences with discrimination and racism, only making an allegation of such treatment after many, many incidents have transpired, about which they said nothing for fear of being ignored or attacked (10). Precisely because white denial has long trumped claims of racism, people of color tend to underreport their experiences with racial bias, rather than exaggerate them.
Now, one’s delicate sensibilities and painful memories shouldn’t matter any more than one’s religion, and even though the “gay is the new black” motto is lazy and patronizing (“C’mon, you should get it! You’re black!”), it doesn’t take away from the fact that there is only one right way to vote for this issue. It would also be nice if my money tree would start producing $100 bills. The bottom line is simple: as long as white gays keep hoisting up WWMLKD posters and expecting black people to hop aboard the gay rights train, they’re going to stay mad for the next 50 years. It’s not going to work. You’ve been told it’s not going to work. You’ve been SHOWN that it’s not going to work. Therefore, if you keep doing it over and over, don’t be surprised if people like me start to wonder if you have another agenda, one that has nothing to do with healing and everything to do with eking sympathy out of non-black gays. But hey, maybe the gay rights movement is getting their cues from third wave feminism nowadays.*
And just to show that making very powerful and logical arguments for gay rights is very easy to go without pulling poor Martin out of the grave, I’ll finish with this:
I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.—Mildred Loving
Hat tip to Renee at Womanist Musings for inspiring this mini-rant.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- A Las Vegas judge sentenced fallen gridiron great O.J. Simpson to at least 15 years in prison for leading an armed confrontation last year at a Las Vegas hotel room over sports memorabilia.
O.J. Simpson was sentenced to at 15 years in prison, and could be eligible for parole in nine.
Simpson could become eligible for parole in about nine years. Grimacing, Simpson was escorted from the courtroom in shackles.
Judge Jackie Glass gave Simpson a tongue-lashing before passing sentence.
"Earlier in this case, at a bail hearing, I said to Mr. Simpson I didn't know if he was arrogant, ignorant or both," Glass said. "During the trial and through this proceeding I got the answer, and it was both."
