Entertainment: The nonsense that entertainers get away with, that us normal people would be arrested for.
Drop and give me 50
If you are still wondering:
a) why the music recording industry is suffering
b) why hip-hop music is still getting sh*tted on
c) why stereotypes will forever continue to exist and will condition our behavior
Watch this Mike Jones video.
Let me know what y’all think.
.:: d.b
India’s ‘The Office’
A very funny spoof of outsourcing in India as ‘Manoj’ takes the viewer on a mockumentary on his business and lifestyle in India. This video takes some cues from the popular TV show ‘the Office (U.S. & U.K. version), and adds an Indian flavor to it – while also touching on the outsourcing issue as many American corporations put their call centers in India.
I put this video up (besides the fact that is funny & intriguing) is that I had an idea which was similar to this a couple of years ago, and I still think, if written and presented properly, this idea would be a hit. Something for you striking Hollywood writers to think about on your laptops in Starbucks.
.:: d.b
http://desieb.blogspot.com
Get in shape with the Energy God, Elephant Man
Fun Times & Working Out Bahd
2007 was all about the dance/rap gimmick; tons of rappers came out with a one-hit wonder accompanied with a catchy dance. This didn’t really work out for the artists (exception may be Soulja Boy with Crank Dat) as they will be back on the block hustling in no time.
However, Elephant Man represents the dancehall reggae scene that has used dances as a gimmick in their music for years — since the early 90’s. Whats funny about this is that he is trying to bridge the gap between dancehall dancing & exercise … kind of a cheesey attempt, but stranger things have worked.
Fan dem off …
.:: d.b
http://desieb.blogspot.com
I was ready & fired up to write a scathing piece on the movie ‘Freedom Writers’, starring Hilary Swank. After watching the previews on T.V., I came to the presumption that this is just another classic ‘white savior’ flick. You know the rhetoric, the Hollywood formula is comprised of:
Step 1 – An inner-city public school w/ poor learning conditions
Step 2 – Troubled black & Hispanic youth who have socio-economic & behavioral problems
Step 3- A ‘white’ protagonist who enters the environment & ‘saves’ the troubled youth from destruction
Whether it is manifested as a teacher, student, or friend, the white protagonist enters an environment & ‘shows’ the troubled youth a better ‘life’ or teaches the troubled youth how to ‘appropriate’ to society or normalcy. These types of movies kind of imply that the ethnic youth are ‘savages’, ‘misinformed’, ‘delinquents’ — and only a ‘white’ figure can change their ways, or ‘civilize’ them. Kinda sounds like the Missionary period & world exploration period all over again.
I will acknowledge that there are also black protagonists in such films (Coach Carter), but I can’t recall any films where a Black protagonist ‘civilized’ white youth delinquents …. if they exist, please let me know.
I could name countless examples of white protagonists such as:
– Michelle Pfifer in ‘Dangerous Minds’
– Julia Stiles in ‘Save the Last Dance’
– Jessica Alba in ‘Honey’
– Sean Connery in ‘Finding Forrester’
However …..
Back to my opening statement, I was going to blast ‘Freedom Writers’, but a co-worker of mines schooled me & said that this flick is nothing like ‘Dangerous Minds’, and I realized that I was going to make a gross assumption about this flick, without viewing the film first hand.
Thus, I guess the moral of this lil’ piece is not about the ‘Great White Savior’ of inner-city ethnic youth – which is a valid point by the way, but the moral is not to ASSume something, because it’ll make an ASS out of U and Me ….. yes i know, its a kinda cheesy phrase, but it is very fitting!
Peace.
Angelina started it (maybe with good, pure intentions) when she decided to adopt a baby from Nambia in Africa. At the time I thought, ok, based on her history of working with the U.N. and other agencies that work with the poor and developing nations, maybe her actions are genuine and she really does care about the state of affairs in Africa.
However, now Madonna has gone out and done the same thing, with allegations that she may have used her celebrity power to obtain the baby illegal. Now that may be true, or not, its irrelevant really, but when did Madonna become such a ‘humanitarian’? Several years ago, this broad was slutting her way to the top of the pop charts (and at her old age, she continues to do so). My fear is that Madonna adopted the black child because with everything that is Hollywood, this whole ideal of celebrities ‘saving’ those who are less fortunate has become trendy. It is the new ‘it’ thing. And Madonna is the 1st celebrity to FOLLOW in the noble footsteps of Angelina.
The worse thing that made me cringe was when I heard that broad Britney Spears thinking that she might do the same thing.
Black/African PEOPLE are not novelties. I guess my point is, that celebrities should only adopt if they honestly, and genuinely are adopting because they care about the well-being of the child that they adopt – celebrities should not adopt because it may improve their public image/perception (so they can sell more units).
If you want a novelty, find it on eBay, stay the f*** out of Africa.
Guy in the bottom picture is the father of the adopted baby.
Random thoughts:
at the gym the other day, trying to get my work-out on. So, I am on the exercise machine and I am watching various mute channels on the multiple TV’s that are overhead of these machines. On one TV, a rerun of CSI Miami was intriguing, another TV had CNN with the daily fear-fuelled news, but what caught my eyes was the TV showing some hip-hop music video on BET. No all of these TV’s were muted; no sound emitting – which is an important fact in all of this. The particular music video on BET was your derivative content for the average hip-hop song; ice-flashing, booty shaking, hood themed, and of course the new crave — the obligatory regional dance. This one in particular was the ‘snap dance’.
What was shocking was that with no sound emitting from the tube, to attempt to correlate meaning to the visual mess in the music video, the music video seemed almost comical — even amusing. Without sound, the people gyrating, and jumping around looked so funny, and even asinine. I guess sound, at least attempts to give the viewer a sense of meaning to what is going on in the video — and even in the presence of sound, most music videos on BET look ridiculous. So imagine, how when other cultures view BET who do not understand the language or culture …. they must be laughing and having a good time watching the perception of black culture.
Thus, try watching BET with no sound … get the popcorn out.
Can we really be mad at BET for this? I don’t know …..
Peace,
DesieB
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