This Happened And We Let It Happen

Sorry I have been gone for so long. My new job requires me to pay a lot more attention to what is going on now than my old one, so that leaves less time for blogging and watching funny pet videos on youtube.

Anyway, I was somewhere discussing the pockets of shittiness that have popped up during different eras of Hip-Hop and you can't have a discussion like this without the group Harlem World coming up. If you don't remember them, they are a group that Mase put together at the height of his popularity that was so bad that Puff Daddy wanted nothing to do with them, so Mase struck a deal with So So Def and put this album out. Shortly after, Mase gave up the rap game to be a minister until he realized that that he really was not good at that either.

I actually listened to that album when it came out and this is easily the best song on the entire record. As much as I don't like this song I loved the video. I think that was due in large part to the fact that there are more black cheerleaders in this video than I saw during my 4 years in high school and with all colorful circus shit going on, there are still mentions of shootings, drug dealing, and lesbian sex acts. Ahhh, it's good to be back.

My Review: Red Tails

Let me start off by saying that Red Tails is a good movie. The dog fighting (No Michael Vick) scenes were fantastic and as exciting as anything I have seen on the silver screen. It's incredible that this movie only cost $58 million with all of the stuff that blows up and CGI used in this movie. As much as Terrence Howard grates on my nerves by sometimes hitting the same note in many of his movies, in Red Tails he leads a cast of young actors with a fine performance. One of the biggest surprises of the movie was the fine job done by R&B singer Ne-Yo. The movie's score which has to compete with movie's fantastic sound design done by Terence Blanchard is incredible

Now I said it was good, because too many people have said it's great. I was even caught up in that hype when I got on social media to gush about the film as soon as I walked out of the movie theater. I will be honest, I initially looked past the films flaws because my Grandfather was a World War II veteran and with that I really understand how important it is to tell these American stories out loud. I also know a lot of want to be black intellectuals who are going a little overboard with their praise of the movie because they think seeing this movie is somehow taking a stand against Tyler Perry.

My major issue with the film's story telling is the lame interracial romance that seems to be shoehorned into the movie which was a mistake to include for so many reasons. Now before I go in, I have no problem with interracial romance. Without them, there would not be so many good looking light skinned girls turning me down for dates, but it really slows the movie down and is very unrealistic. Small towns in Europe had just as many ignorant white people in the 1940's as small towns in America. As much as I disliked the romance element, I really hated how it was resolved. (Spoiler Alert) In true Hollywood fashion the brother that falls in love with the white woman dies at the end. I expect as much from Tad McWhite but not from John Ridley and Aaron Mcgruder. Actually, as bad as every episode of season 3 of the Boondocks with the exception of Red Ball was, maybe not. With all of those things said, I really wish this story element was left out of the movie because I really think it is going to hurt it at the box office. I know for a fact that black women are not going to appreciate that in a film filled with handsome black men, the only one of them that finds romance, finds it with a white woman that can't understand a word he says. It would have helped if at least one of the pilots expressed some emotion about the women that were waiting on them back home. I along with many other have commended George Lucas for putting up his own money for this project but this is something that all of the creative minds involved should have taken more time with especially if they want to make their money back.

I'm sure directing a movie is a very complicated task but how do you not direct an actor who's character who is an alcoholic to at least seem buzzed part of the time. I am a seasoned drinker and when I'm 3 sheets to the wind you don't have to smell it on me to know.

I know these things may seem like nitpicking, but you have to remember there was a good HBO movie about the Tuskegee Airmen which came out in 1995. While the aerial scenes in Red Tails are light years ahead of that film, the character development and pacing are not. Will I see this movie again? Yes. In fact I have encouraged my friends, especially those with sons to see it. Will I be upset when it is not recognized during the next award season? No. Red Tails is a really good action movie, with one poorly thought out story telling element, and very average directing.

On This Day

I have to work on Martin Luther King's birthday and I have for the past several years. So just like I have done in past years I will be donating today's salary to a non-for profit organization that I feel advances the principals of justice and fairness that Dr. King fought and died for. Last year my donation was to the Innocence Project and I decided after what I saw happen to Troy Davis this past year that I will be donating to them again this year. My small gesture may not free anyone who has been wrongly imprisoned, but hopefully it will inspire others who believe in justice and fairness to reflect opon Dr. King's contribution to the world, to perhaps make a contribution of their own instead of using today strictly for liesure.

Yoda's Face Sums Up How I Fell About 3D

I got into a drunken argument with my best friend's 8 year old nephew a couple Christmases ago about how Episode I is easily the shittiest of the 6 Star Wars movies. Deep down, the marketing department at Lucasfilm must understand this as well because they have chosen to highlight the things about the Phantom Menace that people actually liked and they ignored many of the things that people really hated.

By the look of this poster, you would think the angry fellow with the double sided light saber is the main character of the movie and you would be wrong! Darth Maul may have 15 minutes of total screen time and hardly any lines. There is a horrible character named Jar Jar Binks who is thankfully not pictured but who has a major role in the film who is now and will always be the bane of the entire Star Wars franchise. Now they did highlight the Pod Racers in the posters which everybody would agree were pretty effen' cool. What is conspicuously missing from the poster is the trilogy's main charachter, Anikan Skywalker who eventually becomes (spoiler alert, not really how do grow up in America and not know this) Darth Vader. Once again I can understand why he was left out because he was extremely annoying in this movie. Despite the fact that Anikan and his mother were slaves, he was was always saying "yippee" like shit was all good. I know Tattoine probably did not have anything on Mississippi in the early 19th century but despite what you may have seen in Disney's Song Of The South, slaves are not supposed to be that upbeat.

With all that said, the best thing about this poster to me is the look on Yoda's face. It's like he is saying with his eyes "guys are we really going to unleash this holy terd of a movie on people, and have them pay 15 bucks to see it in 3D?" In my case the answer is "no" because like a real G, I have been paying regular price to see 3D movies and using the same pair of glasses I got when I took my ex-girlfriend to see Avatar two years ago.

This Christmas

J.MOORE'S Super Soulful Christmas.

Even my Jewish friends like this mix of classic soul Christmas songs. This compilation is I-Pod ready or you can burn it to CD. If you are tired of rocking around the Christmas tree, you need this in your life.

Tracee Ellis Ross

Yes Lord!

Heavy D 1967-2011

Dwight Errington Myers a.k.a Heavy D passed away earlier today at age 44. I remember being sad when I heard about Pac, Biggie, and Jam Master J dying, but there is something about hearing about Heavy D passing away that is like a punch to the stomach. Maybe it was all of the positive things he said on twitter, or maybe it was that I have never heard one bad thing about him from anybody in the industry. For all the shit I feel like BET gets wrong, it made me so happy that he got the people off of their feet like it was the early 90's again during their last Hip-Hop awards show. Below is a re post of a blog I wrote last September, I tried to give him his roses while he could smell them.

VH-1 does a Hip-Hop Honors show which gets worse and worse each year. I remember telling someone a couple of years ago, if they ever get around to honoring Master P they should just shut the show down, and what did they do this year? They honored Master P!

One person who should have got his due way before Master P was Heavy D. In a 10 year span (87 to 97) he released 6 albums 3 gold, and 3 platinum. He collaborated with Michael and Janet Jackson. He had a hand in putting on Pete Rock & CL Smooth & The Notorious BIG. As a performer he danced at a time when other rappers were too hardcore to dance and have a good time and he did it without ever being corny. Considering he was a big man, his breath control on the mic was incredible. He never had to rap over a backing track like so many of today's rappers who barely move when they are on stage. Heavy D also made the transition from artist to label head more than a decade before Jay-Z, taking over Uptown Records after Andre Harell left in 1996. During this time he put out hit records by Soul For Real & Monifa.

The thing is everything I mentioned just pertained to music, Heavy also did his thing on the big screen, small screen and on the stage as an actor. Unlike Master P, Heavy D never did never did anything desperate to remain relevant, his music is still good today, and most importantly he never did anything to embarrass his people. The ill thing is they will probably wind up honoring the guy who invented spinning rims or Lil' Bow Wow before anyone give Heavy D his due.

This Is Not Shôtarô Kaneda!

When I heard that Hollywood would be making a live action movie of the classic manga & anime Akira, I thought "wow, how are they going to fuck this up?" Well, I got my answer. In typical Hollywood fashion they are casting a film based on a story surrounding a group of Japanese teenagers with a bunch of white people in their late 20's and 30's. The fact that Justin Timberlake was even being considered for the role is weird and disheartening. He was probably going to cost too much money, so the role is apparently going to the guy who played Sam Flynn in Tron Legacy. I was going to use his picture but I don't really care to look up his name again and a picture of Justin Timberlake is probably much better for web traffic. Anyway, they should just make the movie and call it something else because calling it Akira with no Asian lead actors is insulting to the fans of the source material and to people's intelligence.

Allen Gregory

Allen Gregory is a show based around a 7 year old boy who for whatever reason thinks he is a middle aged Hollywood douche bag, his gay parents, one of which who was straight but was strong armed into being gay, and their adopted daughter which they imply was purchased on Amazon to give her a better life and give them a sense of liberal satisfaction. If this does not sound like a funny or interesting premise to an animated show to you, you would be right because it isn't.

This pilot episode of this show was so bad and devoid of anything even mildly funny, I am tempted to watch another episode just to make sure I am not crazy for disliking this show so much. Jonah Hill and the rest of the creative minds behind Allen Gregory program have succeeded in one thing, creating a television program with no likable characters.

As much as I love animated shows directed at adult sensibilities all I could think after Allen Gregory was over was, "fuck this show, hurry up and bring Bob's Burgers back!"

Now This Is Funny

Hey both of you who read this blog, I have been busy doing actual work at my place of employment so I have not had the proper amount of time to space out and write about things no one really cares about. Well, that busy time is over and I am back on my bullshit.

Epic Photo Of The Week

I don't care what song Freddie Mercury was singing in this picture but it probably seemed like the most incredible shit ever to anyone who was at this concert. I need this on a t-shirt.

Ben & Barry

I assume everyone who reads this blog knows who the black guy on the right is. The other gentleman is Benjamin Netanyahu The Prime Minister of Israel. I'm pretty sure this picture would blow country star Hank Williams Jr. mind because he compared President Obama playing golf with Speaker Of The House John Boehner a couple of months ago to Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu, not thinking that President Obama had already met the Israeli Prime Minister.

I'm not really shocked that he said something so stupid, because he was on FOX & Friends. Without this show John Stewart's Daily Show may only be 15 minutes long. What is bothersome is after ESPN & The NFL decided to pull Hank Williams Jr's "Are You Ready For Some Football" theme, how many people jumped to his defense and said they were not going to watch ESPN.

First off, anyone who says that is a liar. The NFL is America's TV cocaine. People plan vacations and weddings around pro football. There is not one person who has someone in their fantasy league playing tonight who is not going to watch because of some political solidarity with some washed up country music star. Second, when you don't agree with someone for whatever reason, comparing them to Hitler only illustrates your small mindedness and your inability to have an adult discussion. I disagreed with President George W. Bush on a great many things, but anyone who would compare him to Hitler lacks at worst intelligence and at best imagination. Last of all, I remember if you did compare George W. Bush to a rainy day much less Hitler, you were called a bad American and it may be implied by someone on Fox & Friends that you side with the terrorists and hate Jesus.

I applaud ESPN for their decision and they should stick by it. What Hank Jr. said was insulting and insensitive to the Jewish community, survivors of the holocaust and disrespectful to the sitting President of The United States. For these reasons his intro needs to be removed permanently from Monday Night Football.

And This Bitch DID The Crime!!!

Deal With It!

This will always be funny to me. White Santa Claus is not for that bullshit!

10 Random Songs Wednesday

Doowhop by Blu feat. Planet Asia & Killa Ben The rest of the Jesus LP is pretty hit and miss but this track is one of the best Hip-Hop songs of 2011. It was produced by the Alchemist.

Steppin' To The A.M. by 3rd Bass I used to have the Cactus Album on tape and this song stayed in heavy rotation, well at least it did in my room when I was 12. These guys were nothing like the Beastie Boys which were at the time the only other white act in Hip-Hop.

Lose Your Way by Nicolay feat. Carlita Durand This song is what being happily single on a Friday night at the start of summer sounds like. Carlita Durand has such a pretty voice.

Popcorn Love by New Edition Some songs just make you happy when you hear them. For me this is one of those songs.

Dare by Stan Bush This is the other Stan Bush song on the Transformers The Movie Soundtrack. It is so fantastically cheesy that if you are driving when it comes on you might start speeding.

Glaciers Of Ice by Raekwon, Ghostface Killa & Masta Killa I heard this song on St. Louis' underground Hip-Hop show on KDHX and went to Chestefield Mall the next day and bought the cassette single. Nobody was touching the RZA at this time. Masta Killa's verse was and is still my favorite on the song.

Get Up by Amel Larriex When I worked in commercial radio, I loved it when songs like this made it into rotation. The second single she put out from the Infinite Possibilities album was a remix to "Sweet Misery" which also made rotation. Neither of these songs were big hits but at least the station where I was working gave them a shot.

Best I Ever Had by Drake There was a time when Drake was somebody people rooted for. That was a long time ago. This is still a great song and the video which featured all of those light skinned girls with big titties was pretty fantastic.

Other Side Of The Game by Erykah Badu This is one of those songs that will never get old because the groove is undeniable. That said, it is a song about a woman who is in love with a fool who would rather sell dope to support his growing family because it is easier than getting up everyday and going to a legit job.

Your Hands by Marsha Ambrosius If I was still making slow jam tapes like I did back in the day, this song along with so many others off of Late Nights & Early Mornings would be on there. I hope we don't have to wait to long before we get another album from her.

Meet Rep. John Fleming (R-La)

"By the time I feed my family, I maybe have $400,000 left over" This is his explanation on why as a “small business owner” he can’t afford a tax increase. He was not making a joke, he was dead serious. Even Latrell Sprewell thinks this guy is out of touch.

Who Greenlights This Foolishness?

Between Gucci Mane and Master P, I hope this movie will have English subtitles so the average person will be able to understand what is going on. The constant flow of movies like this is why I can't bring myself to be angry at Tyler Perry movies.

S.W.O.P. NFL Predictions

NFC East
1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. New York Giants
4. Washington Redskins

With an upgraded defense and a lot of dead weight on offense being dumped, Dallas should win the division. The Eagles should lock down the wild card if Michael Vick starts at least 12 games, which is a big if. He has never started all 16 games in a season. The Giants have had so many injuries on defense in the pre-season they will start the season slow but they will still be much better than the dumpster fire which is the Washington Redskins.

NFC North
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Detroit Lions
3. Chicago Bears
4. Minnesota Vikings

The Packers had around a dozen players on IR last year and still won the Super Bowl. They are bringing everybody back and they are my favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year. The Detroit Lions will have a winning season this year but they will still be in the Packers rear view mirror. The Bears did not improve their team at all. They are actually looking to Roy Williams to upgrade their receiving corps and Devin Hester's impact on special teams will be minimized with the new kickoff rules. As great a Donavan McNabb has been for the NFL, he is going to get a quick hook and will finish the season as a back up while Christian Ponder is groomed to be the Vikings QB of the future.

NFC South
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. Atlanta Falcons
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Carolina Panthers

This may be the best division in the NFL. Even the Carolina Panthers who will be terrible will be worth watching because of Cam Newton. Tampa won 10 games last year and missed the playoffs. This year, they will have the confidence to match their youth and athleticism to win at least one more game. The Falcons with rookie deep threat Julio Jones will be the second Wild Card team out of the NFC. The Saints will miss Reggie Bush, and they have an aging defense that may not be able to stop the elite teams in the NFC.

NFC West
1. St. Louis Rams
2. Arizona Cardinals
3. San Fransisco 49rs
4. Seattle Seahawks

If you place any one of these teams in any other division in the NFC, they would probably come in dead last. The Seahawks won the NFC West last season with a record of 7-9. The Rams will win out this year because they have a solid defense and Sam Bradford will actually have some receivers to throw to. As great as Larry Fitzgerald is, Kevin Kolb is going to be in a constant rush to get him the ball due to a suspect offensive line. As for the Seahawks, letting Hasselback go Tavaris Jackson may be the dumbest move of the entire off season. I have Seattle penciled in for 2 wins this season.

AFC East
1. New England Patriots
2. New York Jets
3. Buffalo Bills
4. Miami Dolphins

The Patriots will be at the top of the heap again. The Jets who I believe over achieved over the last two years, not only won't be in the AFC Championship but they will not even make the playoffs. The Dolphins still don't have a quarterback and the Bills are a talented team which will still not be able to put it all together to win consistently.

AFC North
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. Baltimore Ravens
3 Cincinnati Bengals
4. Cleveland Browns

The Steelers and Ravens will be battling once again to see who is going to have homefield advantage while the two teams from Ohio will be battling for the worst record in the NFL. The only reason I did not put the Bengals at the the bottom of the division is because the Brown's Peyton Hillis is on the cover of Madden 12 and the Madden curse is real. The Steelers are my pick to win out in the AFC and they will avenge their defeat to the Packers in last years Super Bowl.

AFC South
1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Houston Texans
3. Tennessee Titans
4. Jacksonville Jaguars

Unless Peyton Manning misses the entire season, The Colts will win this division even with their sorry ass offensive line. Houston's whole team is injury prone and is they are the most over rated squad in the NFL. The Titan's have a new coach and QB who does not have anybody to throw to and their most explosive player, Chris Johnson missed all of training camp. The Jaguars just released their veteran QB who had career highs to save a buck, Mike Simms-Walker plays for the Rams now, and Maurice Jones-Drew will probably miss 5 games due to injury. Update: I wrote this before I know Manning would be out for at least 2 months, but I am sticking by my prediction. The Texans are a one step forward, two steps back franchise.

AFC West
1. San Diego Chargers
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. Oakland Raiders
4. Denver Broncos

The Chargers have the pieces on on both sides of the ball to make a real run at the AFC crown if they can keep from making a slow start like they usually do. Kansas City's schedule sets them up to easily win 10 games and they will grab that second wild card. Oakland is going to be Oakland. Denver picking Tim Tebow in the 1st round of the draft is really going to catch up with them this year. They are paying a 3rd string QB 8 million dollars this year, when they should be paying somebody who can catch the ball.

Real Love

Sometimes I really wonder how The President keeps from flipping tables over when people say so much about him and policies that is just not true. When I see a picture like this, I wonder a little less.

How Is This Still Cool?

I just want you to look at the picture above for a moment. Pretty messed up, right? I thought the same thing while knocking back a Fat Tire at a restaurant while watching baseball highlights a couple of weeks ago when this image came up on the screen.

For those of you who do not follow professional baseball this is the logo for the Cleveland Indians. This is not an old logo from the 30's and 40's but the one that adorns almost all of their official paraphernalia today in 2011. It's bad enough that the majority of the people who would be offended by this have been killed off but to continually mock them with this logo is just cruel and insensitive. I know someone reading this may think I am being too sensitive and that this is not a big deal, but what if there was a logo like this representing your nationality of ethnic group? Replacing the feather with a sombrero and putting a joint in between those over sized teeth would surely upset some of my Hispanic friends, I am pretty sure throwing a Yamaka on this logo with some side locks would be a tad unsettling to my Jewish brothers & sisters, and I would be on the phone with the quickness to Al Sharpton if a Major League Baseball team changed it's logo to Lil' Wayne's face.

If Mississippi State a.k.a. Ole' Miss can change their logo from a confederate soldier to a rebel black bear and stop singing "the south will rise again" when the football team scores a touchdown, I think The Cleveland Indians organization should sack up and seriously consider changing this.

Watch The Throne

I was going to write a review of Jay-Z & Kanye West's Watch The Throne album that everybody is talking about/hating on, until I realized that there is no point. I stumbled on this picture in my collection of cool images I have stolen off of the Internet over the years and I think watch the throne in a perfect caption for this photo.

Elzhi

It's one thing to remake a classic Hip-Hop song but to remake what many fans consider to be one of the best Hip-Hop albums of all time is a task I didn't think anyone could or for that matter should try to pull off. That said, you probably can't tell someone who worked with the great J. Dilla about what can't be done. Former Slum Village member Elzhi's Elmatic is a fantastic tribute to Nas' Illmatic but it also stands on it's own as a great album.

When I saw that he was going on a small US tour with a live band that would be kicking off in Indianapolis, August 19th at The Jazz Kitchen, I got a ticket immediately. If you have not heard this album yet it can be downloaded for free at Elzhi's Official Site, and there is a limited edition double LP version pressed up on vinyl that is available at Fatbeats.

Michele Bachmann

The best part of this picture is the look of delight in eyes of the guy in the background. By the way, the woman in the picture won the Iowa Republican straw poll.

Common & Nas

Common is in my top 5 and I really needed him to put something like this out to make me forget about his last album.

Dickmotized!!!

I watched this at least 5 times in a row just to hear her say dickmotized.