Its all a game

Last night while watching the 2005 NBA draft I got mad heated that Raptors GM Rob Babcock took Charlie Villanueva with the 7th pick. I'm calling for his immediate dismissal. What was he thinking?

I mean Villanueva looked like a top 10 pick last year when he was playing next to Emaka Okafor at UConn but this year he wasn't all that. Actually he disappeared in a positively Rashard McCant type way in Uconn's final game in my opinion. I usually chart out all the possible Raptor picks and even got it right the one year we took Kareen Rush. Boy was I happy that year until we traded him a few picks later to the Lakers for this Mr Potato head looking guy. Damn!

So last night when I heard we picked Villanueva I was like rushing around talking to myself saying no way, there's got to be a trade in the works. Oh well! Maybe Babcock is tired of Toronto and is trying to get fired. I still hope Villaneva works out though.

Oh well. Anyway as I watched the draft and wondered about the impact of these young men on the NBA in years to come I had some deep thoughts. Thoughts like why draft a high schooler on potential rather than take a solid college grad where you know what you're getting. Its all a big gamble.....just like life.

I mean dudes are being penalized for going to school now. Sort of like real life, you go to school do your degree come out and the debt hits you like whoa. Its sort of like that BDP rhyme: 'You go to Vietnam come back you're a veteran but how many veterans are out there peddling' except substitute Vietnam for college and substitute peddling for struggling and cant find a job. Schools supposed to be the way to success but dudes who went straight to work out of high school be making more cash than some college grads who are straight struggling. Geez I'm starting to sound like Kanye.

And I was following the whole issue with Marvin Williams the number 2 pick last night. The one knock on him was that he's too nice a guy and they don't know if he wants it bad enough. Basically that's saying he's not a big enough jerk and his ego isn't big enough yea and then teams complain that the guys in the league aren't good citizens, wow! Just like real life I guess being nice just aint where its at. Still number 2 pick aint bad for ol Marvin for most of the good guys in the world its more like you're not even drafted.

Yep the draft is sort of like life, the asses somehow seem to impress those in authority more and get ahead don't they?

They also sometimes say life's a game you got to play hard to win and you may have some talent but it will only take you so far. But is life truly a game? I mean come on I could use a time out right about now to regroup but if I call time out right now I'm likely to be hit with a Chris Webber like penalty and blow the game and turn the ball over. Turn the ball over? What ball? You have to pick the ball up and run with it I've heard. Me I just dropped the ball a long time ago because I was tired of getting hit. Why is it that if you pick up the ball and start running mysterious linebackers appear from out of nowhere to impede your progress and sometimes stomp you into the ground. You've got to be able to take a hit son. Well f that, if you hit me mama said knock you the hell out. Personally, I say take the ball and pass that ish to someone else and let them deal with that shh umm hit. Where's my pass protection anyways? I'm feeling like a QB outside the pocket trying to go deep while dodging 400 pound linebackers trying to sack me for a loss of yards. I've already lost mad yards as it stands, if I lose anymore I'm out of the game and in the stands. Always got to scramble and I aint as fast as M Vick.

They say take it to the hole strong, maybe you'll get the bucket And 1. But maybe you should just settle for the jump shot. I mean good jump shooters are far and wide lacking in the league, I say find your niche, everyone cant dunk, everyone wont be a star some people got to be role players right. Someone has to do the dirty work, play defense, we all cant be flashy.

Got to deal with the curveballs life throws, cant strike out. Knock it out the park while other brothers be hitting bunts (I got SOUL POWER never took a cold shower neva had a ...). Got to get on top of the ball, handle the bouncers and the beamers. Hit them for six! Avoid the tackles, don't bogey on the 13th, return service, win the game, win the set, win the match. Instead I'm behind the 8 ball and praying for a hail mary to save me. Whoa sports metaphor overload!

Anyway I still don't believe life's a game. If it is then why is it years after I've been in the league I still feel like I'm undergoing a rookie hazing? Why cant the coach take me out when I'm playing crap and put me on the bench for a spell. Where's my sub, even a stunt double would be nice in some situations. Why cant I rack up a DNP (did not play) when I'm sick. Where are the drugs when I'm playing through pain? Why cant I demand a trade? Life's just not cricket (fair) but then again cricket is no longer cricket these days anyways.

Where's my playbook, where's my scouting chart on the opposition, and worst of all where are my endorsements? I could be s spokesperson too. I can sell product. Actually I probably cant. I'm giving it 110% out there son, I got sound bites?

Still the closest my life will probably get to sports is sudden death. Who knows!

Dancehall Nice again!

'Run come up in a me magnum bwoy!'

Went to a bashment to celebrate the "earth strong" (birthday) of one of my good bredren a few weekends ago.

'When wifey come out dem a bush to de bone
we nuh worry bout man cause them ave fe dem own
matie come out an a gwan like she hot
kiss me neck she in a dhashiki frock'

We were all supposed to get dressed up and show up looking as if we were going to a real dancehall session. Since I don't have no clothing like this gentleman on the right (See me no favor shabba!) I just had to go as my super casual self but some of the ladies at the session really went to some lengths with the colorful hair and the outfits to match. Something like this other photo! Lawd a mercy! Oh by the way I find dem pictures online I don't know these people lol.

So serious session went down in the basement bashment! Ya ever been to a basement bashment in summer? Dem things duz get heated!

'me wanta juk offa jacqueline but
me ave fe draw fa my rubbers for my rubbers
sex nice but the aids thing a mek ya die like flowers, die out like flowers'


I had a good time. The DJ's threw down some tunes. Everything from old Sanchez, Beres and Barrington Levy stuff to the new Ele and Vybez flavas and I was able to see the latest and the greatest new dances. Mind you I duz dance to the rhythm in my head cause I aint got all dat sorta coordination to do no chaka chaka nor sesame street or anything so.

Was going to write about dancehall for a while now but just got sidetracked until tonight when I threw on this wicked old school dancehall cd that I picked up this weekend.

'I'm in a factory working hustling on the side
see the informers lurking trying to break my stride'

Anyway it was a wicked bashment. The djs could have been a bit better especially at the start with their mixing but I cant fault their selection of tracks. Think I man should go into the dj business cause nowadays it seem like all you need is to have the music and you can call yourself a selector.

"The gal dem ova dey a flex like cellular"

rewind!

'Seccle Mr cat because you come fe mash it up
anyway ya go it a fe haul and pull up
lissen Mr cat because I'm well dangerous
me say mud up it a lik, an it a lik, an it a lik!'

Big tune dat!

Oh as an aside since I'm on dancehall today I heard that I-Wayne of 'One man cant satisfy her' fame was in Trinidad saying that Calypso music was the devil's music. Cha! Big chupse to that foolishness and here I thought this was man with some sense. Too much weed like it addle his brain. If ya don't know what to say I say keep ya mout shut.

'Me holla big it
gal in a ya batty rider, murder! ya musse want the dj charge fa'

'Some woman a gi' bun
and a get back bun
an a nuttin dat call it bun fe bun'

Oh by the way if I havent linked you guys yet you should check out Dj Xquizzyt1 old school dancehall mix from a few weeks ago over at ej flavors. Nuff big tunes like Limb by Limb, Hot this year, Cabin Stabbin, Kuff and other favorites from back in the day. Big up to Xquizzyt1

'cause we nuh ina dem funny guy thing
bad man nuh wear g string'

I'm just rambling today but with a dancehall theme as you can see. Anyway I went to the flea market the other day to hook up some cds. I'm not big on hip hop mix cds unless its like Doo Wop or Tony Touch but dancehall on the other hand is the ish. Got to hook up the latest mix cd to hear what the latest rhythms are out of Jamaica. A good dancehall cd can really get a certain vibe going like I've got going as I write this Just bring back memories or make you just want to get up and start dancing.

'moggle pun ya one time man
cause im cant tek back wha im dun did gi you
pose pun ya one time man
ya find a good man and ya kno im a tek care a you'

lik wood mean forward de gunshot mean rewind!
so my selector wont you please rewind and come again!

'gal from ya born ya nuh walk wid muh mouldy arm
when ya come on the street ya always smelling sweet'

Actually, to tell the truth there were a few years in the 90s when I first came here and I was in school where I was really starved for any sort of real Caribbean music aside from the two soca songs and couple of dancehall tracks the dj would put on at every hip hop/rnb jam I went to. It was actually really funny for certain reasons like they would always play this one bajan song by this calypsonian who was basically laughed at back home where we considered it a joke calypso (cant remember his name at all) but for some reason dude's song was a big hit up here. Go figure!

It was actually a rather depressing time for me regarding reggae actually. Aside from getting tapes when I went to Barbados in the summer all I had was the occasional Ron Nelson show on radio when I could figure out what time he was on. But that all changed when I discovered my domino crew around the time when tunes like 'Peanut Punch', 'Kette Drum' and 'Mavis' were the big tunes.

The way them gal ya look so pretty,full a witty
Them no gritty me hafi put them pon me bookshelf, yes

Anyway so I go to this cd spot in the flea market, not my usual spot but I like to check to see what this particular spot has before I check my usual spot. So they're playing this nice cd with Jr Gong's 'Welcome to Jamrock' hitting hard and I ask what cd it is. Now I'm expecting the little yout I see standing around to answer me but no the weirdest thing (to my mind) happens. This white woman answers me, whoa she runs the stall? Now don't get me wrong I know Jamaicans and Caribbean people come in all colors and I also know that reggae music is universal these days but still it was just suprising to be having a conversation about dancehall mix tape djs with someone not either black or with a Caribbean accent. This clearly Canadian born, 905 ( read suburb) bred woman was giving me reggae suggestions telling me to link up the DJ Rondon or the DJ Loudmouth because they are good. LOL. Now that was strange in my opinion. I guess that thought me a lesson though. Oh well!

A talk bout car man a rush dem but
Bashment gal nuh drive inna putt putt
Some gal a talk an dem nuh reckon
Dem never hear bout Dolce & Gabbano
Hot gal nuh dress inna skettel name brand
Moschino and Versace a get too common


Mi naw guh run, mi naw guh hide
Mi naw guh flee
Mi naw guh thief mi nah guh tun no refugee
Mi naw guh fraid a you cause you nuh fraid a me
But mi wi tek on yuh whole family, bwoy
Ya think mi simple but nuh tek man fi stool
Ya want a ride guh get a donkey or a mule
Ya waan fi war when yuh nuh own yuh owna tool
Man a dis an man a dat but yuh a fool
A yah mi born, a yah mi live an mi a stay
An from mi little bit a yasso mi dey play
An mi nuh see nuh bwoi fi mek mi run away


woman you a lead
by 20 furlongs they cant catch ya speed
you the man want an you de man need
true ya hotta dan 21 pepperseed

ok I've rambled enough, I get the feeling this week's going to be a lot of rambling.

Kung Fu fighting!

Watched Master of the Flying Guillotine tonight. I guess I could have added Kung Fu movies on my list of things I love but I think I would have been misusing the word love. Still I like them quite a bit.

Remember that line from that Wu song
"And the survey said -- ya dead,
Fatal Flying Guillotine chops off your *** head,
rZA who was that? Aiyyo, the Wu is back, Makin **** go BO BO!, like I'm Super Cat"

Anyway not much to talk about today which is why I'm talking about Kung Fu movies. Now like I said I like a good kung fu movie. Mind you I use that word 'good' rather loosely since every kung fu movie before the recent attempt to give plausible plots and dialogue were basically the same movie.

Let me give you the recipe for every Kung Fu movie. Some dude either has his family or teacher killed and gets the crap beat out of him because he is too weak to fight his strong assailants and then the rest of the movie is spent with him first hiding then recovering trying to get better with his craft, learning some new style and then facing down the bad guys and kicking ass. And they were all set with some historical storyline about the rebels fighting the manchu dynasty or the red lotus society leading a rebellion against whoever. Oh and there was always a teacher and student or a kung fu school involved. Ok maybe they had a little more than that as a plot but if I added one or two of those elements I have the basis of every Kung Fu movie ever made back in the day.

So yea you really don't watch them for the fine plot or dialogue, its all about the action.

To digress a bit, the new stuff like Crouching Tiger and Hero and House of Flying Daggers are ok but they seem to take themselves so much more seriously with the storytelling than the old stuff plus the use of wirework seems to get a little too excessive. Chill out, its should just be all about the action.

Anyway something just sort of nostalgic for me with badly dubbed Kung Fu movies. They were sort of like westerns where good always seemed to win out over evil. The hero was always battered and bruised and some of the good guys might die but the evil was always banished. Of course in the context of Westerns the 'evil' was sometimes rather contrived since the basis was these white dudes trying to chase the natives off their own land and Hollywood using b.s movies to justify it but that's another blog.

And Kung Fu flicks are just so much cooler than dudes blasting each other with guns. It was like rhythmic violence where you almost forget that dudes are trying to kill each other. Its like the violence is secondary to the rhythm of the spectacle. Mind you I could never understand why 10 guys wouldn't just beat the crap out of the hero by rushing him all at the same time and stomping him like his name was Rodney king lee. Was there some unwritten code that even though we outnumber you it just wouldn't be fair to use our superior numbers to crush you to a pulp. Who knows or is that Wu knows?

Anyway Flying Guillotine is one of the classics apparently along with stuff like 5 Deadly Venoms and 5 Fingers of Death. Personally I think I like the Jet Li Stuff that he did in the 80s early 90s before he came to Hollywood like The Once upon a time in China series which besides amazing action has some interesting colonial overtones and The Legend and Legend II and Ti-Chi aka Twin Warriors. Still after a while I find I'd prefer to watch some unknown than watch Jet Li over and over again.

Watching Kung Fu when I was growing up was way cool. It was a sure fire way to make money at the cinema. The Empire and The Globe cinemas in Bridgetown would have double billings like 'Fist of Buddha' backed with 'Shaloin Temple 25' and stuff like that which would easily grab sell out crowds. Then with the advent of vcrs and easy access to video stores I remember just renting every kung fu movie I could find. It actually was easier for me to watch Kung Fu movies at home than some other non-violent fare. Why? Cause my mom was very particular about the colorful language in the movies shown in her home and I couldn't just watch Hollywood stuff where every other word was f this or m.f that when she was around so to be on her good side and be respectful cause it wasn't my house I'd rent kung fu with subtitles and then I had nothing to worry about.

And Kung Fu and Hip Hop go so much together. Even forgetting some one like the Wu Tang Clan who got their crew name and names like Shaolin (aka Staten Island) Ol Dirty Bastard and Ghostface Killer, Killer Priest etc from some classic Kung Fu movies all you have to do is take a look at some classic break dancing to see how some of those kung fu moves were incorporated into the dancing.

Anyway for someone who dint have much to say I actually ranted on quite a bit about Kung Fu. And I didn't even mention the Silver Fox or Wong Fey Hung or the preying mantis or the Buddhist fist or any of that stuff. Oh well.

5 or is it 10 things that I love

Ok Starfoxx tagged me so I'm a do this right now and stop being a stick in the mud.

10 Things that I love. Oh first I guess I should say I hardly ever use this word love. Maybe its because I listened to 'Love's gonna get'cha' a few times too many but yea I think this word is overused. Anyways here goes.

hmmm.

1 - My Family - that's my wife and parents anybody else doesn't really count. Basically my motto here is if I would defend you, or get into crap for you for no apparent reason then you are family and so far that list is rather small.

2 - Music - Especially hip hop. Music just does something for me. Aside from Hip Hop, I'm all about the reggae, jazz, calypso and that sort of stuff as well. Just music with a good rhythm. Its kind of funny how many good friends I made in Canada just through music. My boy D, I met when we were back home and he was a hip hop head, then I meet another brother through him who was a dj who I'm still tight with till today. Then I remember my boy J. I was in university residence and there weren't many dudes who listened to hip hop so when I walked past his room on moving in day and heard Jeru's Come Clean pumping I knew that I had to see who was playing that. Anyway years later we still cool too, My Boy P I also met under similar circumstances and we still cool like that too. Oh and I sort of met my wife through hip hop too so all in all musics been good to me.

3 - Heat - I hate cold weather, and I mean absolutely frigging hate it which is ironic cause I live in Canada. I think my internal theromometer is set a few degrees lower than everyone's else so I need it to be at least 25C before I start to feel comfortable.

4 - Writing - Actually I never realized how much I like writing until a while back. Yea my blog isn't the best written thing on the net but considering I didn't even think I had anything to say I'm pretty happy and I've seen an improvement in my writing since I started which was one of my goals. Oh and I hated writing stuff at high school, think I started writing because of hip hop. One of my boys was writing songs and I thought I could do a better job so I started writing. I actually had an entire hip hop album written before I made it to Toronto (sort of like Brand Nubian, meets Gang Starr meets KRS-one lol). Then I moved onto poetry, which I had/have a real love hate relationship with and then I decided I needed to write more than that. No real goals regarding the writing just seeing where it goes but I must say I kind of like the fact that we have so many brothers and sista blogging cause one of my biggest beefs is that black folks seem to perform too much and not actually write so one day I hope to see some of you talented folks as authors.

5 - The beach - Something about going to the beach back in Barbados at 5 or 6 and just being immersed in its salty embrace that's just so therapeutric.

Anyways that's all I can think of and I wont force any more.

Some of this and some of that

Well the Spurs won sigh! If I said I wasn't disappointed I would be telling a lie but all the same on some level I am happy that Tim Duncan was able to silence some of his doubters. Oh well congrats to the Spurs, it was a hard fought series. Turning point in Game 7 for me was Pistons up 7 in the third and Billups attempts to throw a quarterback pass into traffic for McDyess. Spurs got a lot of momentum after intercepting that pass. Oh well its over now Pistons you fought valiantly, respect! Actually its really funny if the Spurs had played any other team I'd be ecstatic but right now I'm feeling a bit down about the whole thing. Oh well!

Today I wanted to do one of those deal with a lot of small item types blogs, haven't done one for a while so here goes.

Remember I spoke about the young girl who went missing in Aruba? Well after releasing the black security guards and arresting the son of a judge it now appears they have arrested the judge himself in regards to this case. Interesting!

What else is interesting out there. Oh I read this article today. Apparently this guy was on the radio flirting with the female radio host and his wife get vex and sold his 25,000 pound car for 50 pence on Ebay. Boy all I can say is its a good thing I aint got nuh expensive car or it would be sell off long time gwan. All I own is me back and me belly so dem cant sell fa even 10 pence. Still I like I might got to be more careful in the future. lol

Oh and then there was this article. This lady won '100 grand' on a radio show in Kentucky. Now my girl happy happy make plans on buying car and house with a backyard for the kids and all that and when ya hear the shout what happens when she shows up to collect her prize? The radio people hand her a chocolate (candy) bar called '100 grand'. Imagine that foolishness! Woman think she win big money and they gave her candy. See that is the sort of thing that would drive somebody postal cause if that woman had decide to lik few shots in them radio people for playing the fool you couldn't blame her. Anyway she's taking them to court I wish her luck.

What else happening? Let me see. Read another article about how women cannot fake an orgasm to a brain scanner. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have used scans to show that different areas of the brain are stimulated during an orgasm but are not activated when a woman fakes it. My thoughts were and how exactly does this study help anybody? Is it a common thing for women to have sex with brain scanners? Are they now going to sell little portable brain scanners for fellas to hook up to their partners so a fella can say "ah ha, I ketch ya, I know ya was faking it" I fail to see where this research is taking us. Of course I fail to see the use of a lot of the studies they do these days.

And finally I saw that KKK dude got convicted for those 1964 murders. Oh is it me or from a certain angle doesn't he look like the little bald dude who does the ads for six flags? Anyway I digress what is funny is they give him 60 years in prison. Dude is like 80 something years old do they really expect him to live to 140 years? Why don't they just call it what it is, life imprisonment. Somehow though I fail to feel too excited about this conviction. Oh yea old dude is going to jail now after spending the best years of his life free after killing those three guys. Something is just not fair about that.

Anyway that's all for now, Starfoxx tagged me on 10 things I love , I can barely think of 2 or 3 right now but I'll be back tomorrow with that post. Have fun. And yes congrats to the Spurs once more.

Game 7

Yes ladies and gentlemen it all comes down to one final game tonight, game 7, crunch time, sudden death if you wish. Pistons vs Spurs for the NBA championship! I'm not even playing and I'm feeling the jitters of waiting for this one. Lets see who will pull it out of the bag. Spurs have got to be favored for playing on their home court but those pesky Pistons don't seem to give up. Should be fun.

Now my man Obi over at Soul on Ice has done a blog or two about the Live 8 concerts over the past couple of weeks. (Safire mentioned it too.) Live 8 is a series of concerts designed to get G8 leaders to address issues like poverty, debt and AIDS in Africa. Great cause you say and I'd agree.

Well the concert series is happening all over the world; London, Rome, Toyko, Johannesburg, Philadelphia, Barrie. Hold up wait a minute did Jdid just say Barrie? Where is that? Well Barrie Ontario is about an hour directly north of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Couldn't they have actually held it in Toronto where folks could actually take some public transit to the concert? Oh well not such a big deal I guess we're about to put Barrie on the map.

What is interesting though is the lineup for the Barrie concert. I'm seeing names like Jann Arden, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Tegan & Sara, Bruce Cockburn, and Tom Cochrane, Gordon Lightfoot and Bryan Adams. What is this a baby boomers reunion? Did we find the oldest musicians we have in Canada for this thing? Oh alright they also have Simple Plan, the Barenaked Ladies, Our Lady Peace, Great Big Sea, the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Billy Talent, some of whom I've heard of before and some of whom I'm guessing may appeal to a younger audience but still how many of these guys are actually popular these days. What happened to popular Canadian artists like Alanis Morrisette, Shania Twain, Avril Lavie even a Fefe Dobson, Keisha Chante, a K-os, Swollen Members or Raskals?

Like Obi was complaining where are the actual African acts, I mean damn even a solitary black act would have been nice for the Barrie event. Come on Geldof! When you think about it Toronto, the GTA and its environs are currently one of the most multicultural places in the world. Why is it that this concert is only featuring has-been old white dudes who most of the younger generation don't even know? I commend the issues that this concert is trying to highlight but damn add some relevant music acts and some folks of color. I'm assuming you're trying to get the message out to folks of all ages so why are you loading this concert with acts that are not relevant to younger folk? Don't younger folk count amongst those you want to hear your message?

Belly Rings and Cleavage

First off thanks to everyone who hit up the comment box the last few days. I'm feeling the love so thank y'all for making a brother feel appreciated.

Anyway with a title like today's' you guys must be saying Jdid like he going give we a spicy blog today. Well maybe, maybe not we'll see.

Now recently I've been telling you all about the heat we've been getting in Toronto. Yep, Toronto known more for its cold and more cold has been getting some temperatures around 30-34 degrees Celsius and with the humidex that is going past 40 degrees Celsius (thats 100F) mark on some days. (oh I wrote most of this blog last week before the rains descended in case you're wondering) Now that is some proper heat trust me on that and after the winter that we had I man no complain about that regardless of the humidity and the smog. I mean ideally I'd like to be somewhere on a beach with pristine air and a cooling breeze but if I cant have that I would still take the heat and humidity over the cold any day of the week.

Now ya know once heat in the place the first thing that duz happen around here in Toronto. Yep clothes coming off, skin expose people walking 'bout looking lawless! And it doesn't even have to be the sort of heat we getting now just let the temperature pop past 12 degrees Celsius and some folks bust out the shorts and start getting their tan on outside.

So you can only imagine how much clothing coming off in this heat we had here early last week when the temps were in the 30s. Now don't get me wrong it doesn't really bother me one way or the other if clothes come off or not cause ya don't need to tek off ya clothes to catch my attention. I grow up in the Caribbean and I quite accustom seeing skin so it aint no real issue for me if ya feel I getting titilated by the sights. I mean I aint going say I aint enjoy some of it but at the same time its not really excite a brother too much.

What is an issue for me though is when the bare skin is a little too close to me. Like for instance, last week some day I got on the bus to head home during rush hour. Somehow I was lucky to grab a seat facing the aisle. Now waiting as the bus driver took his sweet time to go into the bathroom or whatever it is they do at Kennedy station after they arrive from the previous trip, the bus started to slowly fill up until there was only standing room. As the standing room too started to fill up in walks this one tall young girl wearing what I can only describe as a fuzzy sports bra with long sleeves and a pair of low rim jeans (I don't call them no low rise is low rim) so all her stomach expose and she also has a silver belly ring.

So I am sitting in my seat staring through the window half tired just trying to relax after my hard day at work and 'when ya hear de shout' this girl came and held on to the pole in front of me and start chatting on a cell phone. More space in the bus and you're supposed to go stand in the back but no one ever does and so she came to a stop right smack dab in front of me. So one minute I'm relaxing looking out at the parking lot and next thing bram! A belly ring and two hard hip bones and an exposed navel staring me straight in the face right at eyeball level and no more than 8 inches from my nose. Rather uncomfortable for me I'd say.

Now tell me what is the proper etiquette for that situation? Do I just sit there and stare at the bellyring, do I try to avert my eyes by staring off to an angle or do I just hang my head and stare at my lap?

And people in the bus staring at her because of how she's dressed and then they staring at me to see if I staring at her. So what was I supposed to do? Well I was looking straight ahead when she came and push she belly up in my face so I don't see why I should be fidgeting and trying to look no where else but ahead. I lie?

Anyway a little later in the trip she moves down a bit in the bus and then totally obscures the sight of the lil fellow with the Muslim headgear that was sitting next to me and the poor man had was to put he hands over he eyes and pretend he cant see nuttin. Cuhdear!

Then there is the cleavage thing. I tell y'all I not complaining by a longshot but ok this scenario happen to me twice in the last two weeks. I'm on public transit again, this time I standing, my eyes inadvertently just happen to glance down at the person sitting in front of me when whoa! I realize that this woman is just showing off major major major cleavage with a low low low cut thing I can see almost to her navel. My eyes must now jump back up and look straight ahead through the window and pretend like 'la la nothing to see here, nothing to see here' cause I cant risk looking down again because next thing ya hear Jdid is a ol pervert and look how he staring at women breasteses on the bus and train and thing. Next thing ya know somebody arrest me or somebody man or brother want to lik me upside my head with a two by four and I aint do nuttin.

But what ya going to do? The women will wear what they wearing and I got to look where my eyes take me so if cleavage and eyes happen to converge ya cant hold me responsible, my eyes didn't know what was going to be in their line of sight. I wasn't searching for cleavage it just happen to find it. Anyway that is my story and I sticking to it.

Anyway its officially summer so I guess the skin will be shown but still there are some times when you find your eyes looking at things you would rather not be looking at or that you start to feel a bit uncomfortable seeing up close.

Oh what I should say although I don't want to lecture is ladies its important not to go too far with the dressing though. Saw a rather thick young lady at Kennedy a few weeks back and she was wearing a nice summer dress. Only thing the dress was probably a few sizes small for her so curves shooting out blam blam and blam all over the place, cleavage popping out, butt sticking out and the dress so short and flimsy that with every step I thought her underwear would be exposed.

Now if you dress that way oh for sure the guys will look and you will get attention which I assume is the purpose of such attire but that don't mean that you looking decent. So yea you will get attention but is it really the type of attention you want. Or is attention like publicity in that any attention is good attention. I don't know but anyway I done with that cause I aint lecturing anyone. Wear what ya wearing and I will look where I got to look.

What the ? aka Eediat ting dat

Thought I'd share this story in case you avent seen it yet. The Mayor's account of the KKK is rather interesting. Yep, those wacky KKK, fun loving, black people lynching, peaceful do-gooder types. NOT!

Former Mayor Defends Ex-Klansman, KKK


Monday June 20, 2005 5:01 PM

AP Photo MSDJ101

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS

Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) - A former mayor testified Monday for Edgar Ray Killen in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers, standing up for the former Ku Klux Klansman and calling the white-supremacist group a ``peaceful organization.''

Harlan Majure, who was mayor of this rural Mississippi town in the 1990s, said Killen was a good man and that the part-time preacher's Klan membership would not change his opinion.

Majur said the Klan ``did a lot of good up here'' and said he was not personally aware of the organization's bloody past.

``As far as I know it's a peaceful organization,'' Majure said. His comment was met with murmurs in the packed courtroom.

Killen, an 80-year-old sawmill operator, faces the first-ever state murder charges in the case and could get life in prison if convicted. He was not scheduled to testify Monday.

The victims - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner - were helping register black voters. They had been stopped for speeding, were jailed briefly and then released, after which they were ambushed by a gang of Klansmen. They were shot, their bodies found 44 days later buried in an earthen dam in rural Neshoba County.

Also Monday, David Winstead testified that his brother, Mike Winstead, 52, lied in testimony last week when he claimed to have overheard a conversation between his grandfather and Killen in which the defendant acknowledged playing a role in the killings.

However, David Winstead acknowledged that he was a friend of the Killen family and was not present during conversations that his brother, who was 10 years old at the time, claimed to have overheard.

On Sunday, Schwerner's widow joined local residents for an annual memorial service in memory of the three young men who were killed.

``It's important that we seek to understand how a government became complicit in terror and how good people looked aside and let it happen,'' said Rita Bender, Schwerner's widow, after the service at Mount Zion United Methodist Church.

She said it was important to understand the racial climate in Mississippi in the 1960s because ``governments can run amok again.''

The victims were investigating a church burning in this small Mississippi town when they were murdered as part of a plot allegedly carried out by the Klan. Klansmen had come to Mount Zion and beaten members of the all-black congregation before setting it ablaze.

Killen's name has been associated with the 1964 slayings from the outset. FBI records and witnesses indicated he organized carloads of men who followed Chaney, a black man from Mississippi, and Schwerner and Goodman, white men from New York.

Their disappearance focused the nation's attention on the Jim Crow code of segregation in the South and helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Killen was tried in 1967 along with several others on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights. The all-white jury deadlocked in Killen's case, but seven others were convicted. None served more than six years.

Big Shot Bob

In the NBA every team is supposed to have its stars, the go to guy, the guy who will win the game for you at crunch time, the all-stars. In these NBA finals for Detroit that would be Chauncey Billips and Rip Hamilton and for the Spurs that would be Tim Duncan and more recently Manu Ginobili.

When the game is on the line these guys are the ones the coach draws up the plays for, the guy you want with the ball in his hand when the game is down to the wire. Yet every year for the past couple of years there has been one mere mortal role player type dude who regardless of which team he's on, for just one playoff game when things are on the line takes over from the better known stars. That man is Big Shot Bob aka Robert Horry an NBA veteran with 5 championship rings with the possibility of a 6th looming quite largely this year.

Now Horry isn't your regular NBA superstar, no one's going to call him the Franchise or think of building their team around him as they aim for a championship run yet somehow year after year, series after series when his team is in dire need and a series is at its most crucial juncture this dude just steps up and wins it for his team.

Last night he did it again for the Spurs. Watching the game and cheering for the Pistons, I had this sinking feeling that it was his night. Oh oh there he goes with a three at the buzzer at the end of the third to give the Spurs a 1 point lead. Oh oh he seems to be feeling it as he hits another 3 in the 4th. Don't give him space I'm screaming to the Piston marking him. Make him dribble the ball, make him pass to Duncan who we can foul and whose foul shot is now as bad if not worse than Shaq.

And then in overtime in the first close game of the series he got wide open and hits the game winning three pointer. Nooooo!

Oh well got to love the guy, talk about performing when it matters, this guy really takes that motto to heart. So props to Big Shot Bob, forget Ginobli and Duncan, he just might have won another ring for himself and his teammates

Props to Pops

Or Happy Fathers Day as it is better known.

Spent way too much time trying to find a nice picture to accompany this blog and couldn't even find one I liked with a son.

Anyway I want to say happy father's day to all the great dads out there who are raising or have raised their children properly. Got to shout out some of the man in blogworld like Obi, Mad Bull, Don T , Scratchie, Gunner and Brother Omi who are doing their thing as fathers. Keep it up bredren! Respect! If I've forgotten anyone didn't mean too the love goes out to you too.

I think in general Father's dad is no way the big promotion that Mother's day is because well there are alot of kids, both adult and children, out there with father issues.

Fathers get the shaft for so many reasons. LOL, even the old saying Mother's baby Father's maybe keeps it real by showing you how the love is usually distributed between parents.

Now some fathers don't do much to help themselves out though. They provide the biological material but then they don't stick around to assist in the rearing of the child or they do such a bad job that its better they weren't there. Well to those guys I say come on fellows try and pull up your socks and do better. You made you bed and now you must lie in it, that is if you helped make the child, help raise it by being there not only financially but to assist in the actual rearing of the child, passing on morals and values and that sort of stuff. Especially when it comes to our sons, they could really use a good role model to steer them on the right paths from small.

Moms are great, some even super I'd suggest but it'd be a hell of a lot easier if there is a dad involved.

But on the flip side even some of the better dads still get the shaft. Why because the father's role in some cases is usually that of the tough guy, the bad cop, the disciplinarian, the parent you are afraid of. So while mom is soothing your cuts and bruises after you fell down or tried to 'small up yaself" and fit through the hole in the wire fence dad is the one telling you in no uncertain terms with a firm voice that you need to not do silly things like that. He can be the spoil sport, the kill joy, the tough hand. And so mom might become the friend the one you talk to but you still have this sense of the distance between you and your father.

Just offering that up as a reason why even when dad's there he doesn't get the same love as moms. No disrespect to the moms just that I think the dads need some more love and acknowledgement. Hey I'm a man , I got to look out for my bredren!

Anyway spoke to my dad in Barbados early this morning. Ended up talking about cricket a favorite in our conversations.

Its funny growing up, I really honestly cant say I wanted to be like my father but in recent years I've seen a myriad of similarities, I know where he was coming from now and we've been through a lot of similar experiences. And I cant say I'm at all displeased with the fact that I'm becoming a lot like my dad, in fact I kind of enjoy it. Its rather cool!

Growing up I got the impression that my dad thought that I was too soft and quiet while I thought that he was too hard. Plus he had a sense of humor always telling jokes, I didn't really have one, yo me was a serious likkle yout! lol. He was always there for me though its just that many times we didn't see eye to eye. Plus I think I sort of enjoyed just taking an opposite stand to him in some weird way, not being openly rebellious just arguing the devils advocate case all the time.

Still I always appreciated the time I got to spend with my dad. It was and is still pretty amazing to see how he can just strike up random conversations with almost anyone and just get along with them so easily. De man 'ave charisma and charm, I have to work on that!

So you wont get into a whole I wish I was living physically closer to the fam thing today but yea man my pops is mad cool and I appreciate the job he did in raising me. So much love to my pops.
Anyway I'm running out of stuff to say here so once again Props to all the Pops and I hope all you guys remembered your dads today.

Barbados on the Water

The Barbados on the Water festival is on starting today here in Toronto down at the Harborfront. Hopefully we get some sunshine and I hope some of the T dot bloggers can make it down to support. Should be fun. I'll be there tomorrow evening for sure and possibly Sunday.

Oh and I heard there is a launch for the festival at noon in Dundas Square.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Head gone

Boy ya know ya tired when ya cant remember if you've previously written about something or not. Actually its probably also a sign that I've been writing too much on this here blog thingy. After all its been a good 10 months now that I've been doing this blog and I've been pretty consistent (computer issues aside) in posting. When I started I never thought I would be able to post as much as I had or that I had that much to say or to write. Who knew! I guess I was creating a monster but a much deeper question I ponder is would I have done things differently if I had known I was going to create a monster. Hmmm.

Oh well, anyway next month the blogs might get a bit sparse due to matters beyond my control but I will still try to see if I can get in one or two posts per week and its just a temporary thing August I should be back to regular posting.

Anyhow the reason I'm saying that my head gone is because I've been recently starting blogs and not finishing or thinking of things to write about on the subway and then not remembering when I get home and things like that. Yes its called senility I know.

Like for instance I keep remembering this security protocol thing I wanted to talk about and I keep saying "boy that would mek a good blog" but I don't remember if I've blogged about it yet or not. The long time readers will have to tell me if I'm repeating myself. Oh well if that is so, I feel to repeat the story still.

So like I was saying there used to be this old security protocol at one of my former workplaces that involved what procedures to follow if someone phoned in a bomb threat. The procedures said something like this: If someone phones in a bomb threat in your building, remain calm. Ask the person for his/her name , address and contact information and the location of the bomb, what time the bomb is supposed to go off and the reason for placing the bomb.

Well when I first read that I had to say to myself Jdid boy is a well known fact that you mad (crazy) but dem like dey got people out here in Toronto that madder than you.

Ask the person's name and contact information? Ya mekkin mock sport now! Excuse me but y'all must have mistaken me fi eediat! I aint know bout nobody else but from the time anybody call me on a phone and use the word bomb I taking off like I'm in a Road Runner cartoon. All ya will see is the phone hanging in mid air and my dust hovering over my chair! I'm 'Gone!' like dat N'sync song. Gone! I would be outrunning bullets that is how fast I would take off. Asafa's record wouldn't be safe at all.

I aint waiting to hear who the body is that calling in the threat, where he from, where he put the bomb or what he want. I definitely don't want his contact info cause I don't plan on calling him back and I don't envision a scenario where one of my friends was to ask me something like "wait tell muh sumting, you know anybody dat duz mek a good bomb?" and me pulling this info out of my pocket and saying "well ya kno is a funny thing dat you ask me that cause I got a lil contact right hayso and de man good nuh lie, champion bomb maker dat star!". Nope, no nuttin a gwan so!

From the time a fella could be ignorant enough to be planting bombs that means I don't want anything to do with him so its not like I want his info so I can call and strike up no conversation with him. The less I know about him, the happier I feel, so if he want to give somebody his info under no circumstances should it be me. In fact I don't know why he would want to give out his info like he looking for friends because if he was actually looking for friends he really going about it the wrong way with this whole bomb thing. I never read the book on how to win friends and influence people but I'm pretty damn sure than calling a fella to saying you set a bomb in his building aint listed in there.

I can just see the conversation though
Me: "Good afternoon, how may I help you Sir?"
Bomber: " Boss man, listen up, I only tellin ya this once, ya hear! I just planted a bomb in your building, at exactly 3:30pm this weapon will..."
Me: "One moment sir, well that's just great but before you proceed can you give me your name and telephone number so I can confirm your location?"
Bomber: " Confirm my wha?"
Me: " Just your name and telephone number sir, I assure you its standard company procedure."
Bomber: " Wait you is madman or what, I tell you I plant a big bomb in you building an you want to know my name? Looka I in two minds right now to just hurry up an let go this thing now. "
Me: No sir, that's absolutely not necessary. This can all be simply resolved if you just give me your contact info, I assure you the information will be treated with the utmost confidence"

Next thing I hear a big BOOM! and Jdid blown to a million pieces.

So see me, if anyone had called in with a bomb threat, I might stop a few minutes to holla out "bomb bomb, run fa ya life" but I wouldn't be asking no questions I would be too busy leading the running and screaming from the building.

Not guilty y'all got to feel me

I wasn't going to comment on Wacko Jacko's acquittal. Like my man Brother OMi said there are more important things to discuss. So I said to myself don't bother with it, its not really worth it. Especially since I have deliberately been avoiding all news articles relating to the trial as I thought the media was as usual just peddling a silly trial as big time news instead of focusing on more important events.

Then I heard about the acquittal and said well good for him, I shall not pass judgment but I hope he's learned his lesson and will at least be more careful in his dealings with kids in the future. That was supposed to be that. End of story!

But then I stupidly read another Jackson article and saw this little blurb:

The Jackson Web site mjjsource.com trumpeted the acquittal with graphics declaring "Innocent" and showing a hand giving a victory sign as a fanfare plays. A scrolling calendar highlights historic events such as "Martin Luther King is born," "The Berlin Wall falls," "Nelson Mandela is freed," and finally, "June 13, 2005, Remember this date for it is a part of HIStory."

Hold up, Hold up, hold up! Ok Martin Luther King is born yep historic moment as its the birth of a man who helped his people, Berlin Wall falls yep another historic moment as its the symbolic end of the cold war, Nelson Mandela's release yep end of an unjust imprisonment and a signal that 'legalized' apartheid is on its way out, June 13th 2005 ummmm? Oh yea June 13th 2005 Michael Jackson is acquitted of child molestation and the greater significance here would be what exactly??

Now see this is a case of hyperbole gone wrong. How the hell does getting acquitted for molesting kids equate with those other events mentioned. I mean seriously what are they thinking? Yea I know its a big moment for Michael personally and some of his fans but those other moments were big in the grand scale of things for the world. What the hell does his release do for anyone? Lots of dudes escape jail time and yea its a big day and they are happy, overjoyed even why wouldn't they be but you don't compare this to world changing events. How is this a world changing event?

And no I don't think Michael actually wrote this or at least I hope not but still his employees are being oh just a tad bit over-zealous shall we say. Don't believe the hype!

New 100m record

From ESPN. Big up Asafa!

Jamaican breaks Montgomery's record

ATHENS, Greece -- Asafa Powell set a world record in the men's 100 meters Tuesday, clocking 9.77 seconds at the Tsiklitiria Super Grand Prix meeting.

The Jamaican, who finished fifth at the 2004 Athens Games, shaved one hundredth of a second off Tim Montgomery's record of 9.78 set in Paris in 2002.

"This goes to show that the no one knows how fast a man can run," a smiling Powell told reporters. "I am just happy to have set the record on a track where Maurice Greene also broke the world record."

American Greene set a record in 1999 when he ran 9.79 seconds in the same stadium, which hosted the Summer Olympics last year.

Montgomery's record already was at risk because he faces doping charges. The previous record was 9.79 set by Maurice Greene in Athens in 1999.

Powell, 22, already had the world's fastest time this year, a run of 9.84 seconds at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 8. He also ran a 9.85 on June 9 in the Czech Republic.

Montgomery finished fifth out of six in the 100 meters with a time of 10.43 seconds Saturday at a meet in Mexico.

Do I look like I work Here?

So Saturday afternoon I had to run a few errands. Was chipping up and down the place all afternoon running from place to place in an attempt to get back home at a decent time. Was really enjoying the heat too. Don't know what the temperature was but when you can feel the heat its a good thing. Think I may have lost a few pounds sweating.

Now one of the errands I had to run involved going to Ikea. So me and the wife got to Ikea, knew what we wanted, knew what aisle to pick it up in and were on a mission to get out of that spot as quickly as possible especially after we saw the large Saturday afternoon crowd that was there. So we went straight to the aisle and headed for the location of the item. Only thing was they had moved around stuff since we were last there a few months back. Wonderful!

So looking around the wife said there was some computer somewhere and the staff could link us up with what we wanted but since the place was jam packed with customers I said to myself naa let me just quickly run upstairs to the display area (which is usually separate from the area where the items are stored), find the item and find where the pieces can be picked up cause that may be quicker than getting help from one of these staff members that were running around the place like headless chickens.

So I left the wife and quick so I was heading through the store on a mission. Only problem was the store was packed and is also in the midst of renovation so it was a bit difficult finding my way through it since some of the regular corridors were out of bounds. Now before I go on I should mention I was wearing a red Atlanta Hawks Jersey (similar to the one shown here) and jeans. Yes this is important to the story, I not just giving you a rundown on my fashion choices fa style. Follow me nuh!

Now after a bit of scrambling through the downstairs maze I found the stairs to get to the next floor. As I'm heading towards the stairs, a lady coming in the opposite direction just started looking at me and I know for some strange reason she thinks I work there. How do I know this, I'm not sure but something in her eyes said this lady thinks you are an employee and will ask you a question. No sooner did that thought cross my mind than she starts talking to me as I'm speeding past, asking me where to find some item or the other. As if I should know! However , she seemed to realize her mistake and just looked at me again and said sorry. Maybe it was the look on my face like I haven't a clue what you talking about lady.

Anyway I made it upstairs quickly found my item and the location of the pieces and hurried my way back downstairs. Made a few wrong turns on the way and on one of those turns a middle aged lady with her family came up to me with that same look on her face like I work at Ikea and said "Can you tell me the quickest route out of here?" I responded "I'm looking for the same thing myself." Now as Paul Keens Douglas would say 'who tell me say that!'

Bwoy ya shudda see how de wuman a look pun me after I uttered those words. A shocked expression came over the woman's face followed by a look like I had just said some of the foulest bad words ever uttered by man to her in front of her family. Nuh lie! The woman look at me like I was just incredibly evil and should be struck down for my innocent response. Cuhdear! Although I don't think my comment was out of place and I said it with rather jokingly rather than saying it harshly or aggressively I think that comment somehow upset her. I figure she probably reported me to the manager before she left like 'and one of your employees was rude to me and wouldn't show me the way out of the building! Yes tall black feisty bald dude, that is de one!'

Oh well I would probably feel a bit bad if she did do cause I might lose my little pick (job) at Ikea. Oh wait a minute I forgot I DONT ACTUALLY WORK at Ikea you moron! Don't believe me? Need proof? Look at their uniform.
Now scroll back up to what I was wearing. Do you see a similarity? They are wearing dress shirts, I'm wearing a basketball jersey with a number in the front. Their shirts are yellow, mine is red. They wear slacks, I'm wearing jeans. They have buttons in the front of their shirts I do not.

Not satisfied, not enough proof for ya. Well lets say I was an employee. What did ya think was the reason I was wearing something different? You think I didn't understand the word uni-form? Oh I get it you know how us black folks like to always be different. You think that I took the regular uniform called in Xzibit and I pimped out my Ikea uniform to turn it into an Atlanta Hawks basketball jersey? Ok then. Chupse! Why a brother in Ikea cant be a customer?

Now I know some of you are saying maybe they were just asking questions. No, no no. I know when folks are just casually asking questions to fellow customers, I got no problem with that, I'll answer if I can but clearly here I could tell that there was some belief that I was an employee.

Still it was kind of funny because for a few minutes I had to look at all the employees to make sure that red was not part of their uniform. Saw some wearing blue vests over the yellow but absolutely no red of any kind anywhere. So what was that all about! Dumb ****, I don't work here leave me the hell alone! lol!

The Bridge aint over

My man emailed me sometime earlier this week about this film on the infamous Queensbridge projects showing Thursday and I said ok lets go. All I knew was it was about "The Bridge", I didn't know the name and had a vague understanding that it was a documentary but that was it. So when I showed up early yesterday evening to hook up the tickets in case there was a lineup later on I looked at the film name on the cinema and was like huh what is this Tragedy thing showing at 7PM and this is the North by NorthWest festival right? Almost thought I had the wrong cinema or the wrong day.

Anyways say a homeboy who looked like he was down and asked him if I was in the right spot and what this movie was about. Had to make sure before a brother doled out his hard earned cash ya know.

He said it was Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge, a documentary on the rapper now called Tragedy Khadafi once known as just Tragedy the Intelligent Hoodlum. If ya don't know ya betta ask somebody! Dude was part of the legendary Juice Crew when he was like 14 or 15 years old, then did a bid and dropped his first album Intelligent Hoodlum featuring such gems as Arrest the President and Black and Proud. Think that was back in like 1990.

I hung around the cinema for a while waiting for my tickets which ultimately turned out to be just an 'X' in black marker on the back of my hand and was building with this guy who is actually a T dot rapper from a crew called Steel Halo who should be dropping some ish later this summer. Had to give the local talent a lil shine cause everybody's trying to get paid right plus dude seems to know his ish so I think they will actually put out some decent product.

So as I'm outside the cinema waiting I'm just watching the very small gathering (I cant call it crowd cause that would imply there were a fair amount of folks waiting for tickets and there were not) and I notice an interesting encounter. Should mention that there seemed to be a fair amount of older folks checking this movie out so I was standing next to like these three old ladies and I mean like past retirement old.

Some street person wearing his t-shirt back-to-front and inside out with the tag showing comes up asking for change. One of the ladies reaches into her bag pulls out this huge purse, opens it up and starts digging for change. Now the thing is its one of these big purses with like a million compartments but right in the middle of this ladies' purse I'm seeing about 8 to 10 20 dollar bills just sticking out and I can see that the street guy sees too cause his eyes are just lighting up like yo this cant be for real!. Anyway I was waiting for dude to pull a snatch and run but he didn't do anything and just waited till she gave him the change.

Now to me she was lucky cause she broke what I consider an unwritten rule about not flashing your cash on the street. I'm not saying don't give someone less fortunate some change or a few dollars I'm just saying you should always be wary about flashing your cash on the street. Ya feel me? At least keep your change separately if you got big bills in your wallet. You don't want to be digging for change and showing off your wad of cash like that. Now if that guy was drugged up or looking for some money for his next stash he could have easily grabbed that purse and bounced.

But that's just an aside on to the movie. Tragedy the story of Queensbridge is an unfinished documentary about the rapper Tragedy directed by some Canadian dude who was at the screening later to answer questions. Queensbridge is the world's largest housing projects (ghetto?), something like 90 something buildings, basically a city within a city.

Sadly most of the interviews with Trag in this film occur with him in jail. Dude's had a hard life, dad died violently before his birth, moms became a heroin addict before he was 13, he was wilding on the streets boosting and being a stick up kid and the like but he had skills on the mic so he became the youngest member of the Juice Crew. It was an interesting look at his life and at life in Queensbridge and featured other artists including the legendary Marley Marl, Nore, Capone and Havoc of Mobb Deep etc. Turns out that Trag gets lots of love in the Bridge (unlike Nas who seemed to get a few disses throughout the movie) as he has helped the CNN crew, Havoc and other guys from Queensbridge get started in the game.

The Nas disses were interesting. It was basically Nas no longer comes to the hood and Nas talks the talk but never ever walked the walk, he was a straight A kid, so he's a fraud, no street cred unlike Trag who is in and out of jail. Rather childish in my opinion but everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Anyway the film is interesting, and a bit sad because Tragedy is definitely a guy with some smarts as his writing shows. He just seems to get caught up in drama but sometimes that's how ish goes. Hopefully the film makes it to the widespread release at some point.

One word: Rent-a-Dread!

That's all I have to say about the missing teenager Nathalee Holloway. I dun wid dat!

So I already spoke about how I'm tired of the mainstream media and their penchant for turning molehills into mountains and how I've been trying to avoid them. Well I've been pretty successful lately, I skim the newspaper, watch a bit of local news and if a story catches my interest I'll go online and see what some of the sources are saying, trying always to get some varied perspectives. Been doing a pretty good job of not being annoyed by the news channels and then yesterday ,while channel surfing instead of watching the pre-game shows before Game 7, I somehow ended up watching Nancy Grace on CNN discuss this missing 18 year old in Aruba and this show pissed me off.

Now I sincerely hope that they find this young lady alive and well and as the days go on the hope dwindles and I really feel for her parents. But still to put this in perspective I'm kind of curious as to why her specific story has been getting so much attention. Is she the only missing American out there? What's so compelling about her story? Is it that she is missing in the Caribbean, in a foreign country? Is it that she is a A student? Why is it that straight A students always seem to be the one's missing don't the dumb ass kids voted most likely to work at Mcdonalds for life get abducted, lost or disappear as well? Is it that Nathalee was last seen with three local men before her disappearance? What is it? Why does the media focus on only certain missing person's stories? Yea all those questions are rhetorical, I'm not that dense.

Ok and they paint this portrait of her as this good God fearing Alabama girl all righteous and virtuous, I believe someone on CNN even mentioned her going to Bible study. Now far be it for me to attack this portrayal seeing as I don't know the girl but wait a minute what was she doing leaving a bar late at night with three I repeat three men? Wasn't it a big class of teenagers that went down to Aruba for this seniors trip? What is she doing (1) all alone (2) in a foreign country (3) a female leaving a bar at night (4) with strange men. Hello! I mean its different to if she was traveling by herself but the report say that she was traveling with 100 other graduates and 7 chaperones. How is it that she ends up out at night all by herself when she was traveling with such a big group of people? Surely she had a friend or two in the group who would go out with her. Nope something doesn't sound right! Something wrong!

I mean I understand that when you are on vacation you tend to be a bit more laid back and you tend to hope that the place you are in isn't a spot where you'll run into any problems but does Immigration and Customs confiscate every last iota of common sense on arrival at the airport?

Immigration Officer:"Anything to declare?"
Tourist: "No."
Immigration Officer: "what's that you have there miss?"
Tourist: "Oh that's just some sound judgment and common sense that I take everywhere with me."
Immigration Office: "Well I'm sorry miss but local statute 5.1 sub-section 6 clearly states that under no circumstances is common sense allowed on the island so we'll have to take that from you but on departure we'll be happy to return it. Have a nice day and welcome to the island!"

And of course now with one American missing in a Caribbean country Aruba is going to be painted in a light worst than if it was Baghdad. Those evil Arubans preying on unsuspecting Americans. Look at how Aruba tourism going to dry up now because one silly teenager wouldn't use common sense.

They got the whole civil service beating the bush looking for the girl. Cuhdear but see me if the government did give me half day off I didn't spending it walking in the sand or going through all sorta gullies and getting plimplers and thorns juck in my hands, while de mosqitoes and sandflies trying to bite me to death, playing that I looking for somebody. Honest to God! Not that I wouldn't help find her but only if she pass by my house and knock on my door and I didn't too deep in sleep.

And I don't want to speculate on what she was doing cause I was not there but someone told me that they keep pushing this whole thing about the girl going to bible study and praying three times a day and all that trying to make her seem as this innocent young thing that was hoodwinked, bamboozled and led astray in Aruba. Now the way I see it aint no bar that I've been into nowhere in the world that duz have a sign saying "come enjoy our half priced wings and stay for our Bible Study Wednesdays." I neva see dat nowhere yet! So unless she walk with her bible and was going to testify and minister to some of the wicked heathens in the bar (wunnah know who I talking to) then she went to that bar for other purposes. True they could make a case that maybe she was lured there by some unscrupulous person or something so but for me I say if a young girl on vacation go out to a bar late at night, in a foreign country, by herself then odds are she didn't leave home with any bible study in mind.

And the two guys they arrested in connection with her disappearance are known to police for frequenting hotels and the like trying to pick up tourists. In other words in local terms they are probably Rent-A-Dreads and no you really don't have to have actual dreads to qualify. So this girl is missing and two rent-a-dreads are held in connection with the disappearance you do the math.

Anyway I truly hope she is found alive if its just because I will hate to see the bad rep that Aruba and the rest of the Caribbean gets if she isn't. Cause yes the rest of the Caribbean will soon be painted with whatever brush is used on Aruba. Cause many North Americans aint too smart on geography (no disrespect to my North American readers, I aint talking about wunnah). They will hear Aruba and ask which part of Jamaica that is or that in the Bahamas or something stupid so and next thing you know we all painted with the same brush and tourism is one industry where bad publicity is not good publicity.

The champs are here!

What a game! The Pistons beat the Heat 88-82 in game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to advance to the NBA championship. As much as I like Shaq and D.Wade this was the result I wanted because the Pistons are my boys!

I've been a Pistons fan since 1988 when they lost to the Lakers in the finals. Cant say I was really a big Isiah Thomas fan but Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, John Salley and the 'Worm' pre wearing wedding dresses, tattoos and dying of hair, were my boys back then. Hey what can I say I'll back anyone who goes up against the Lakers except maybe Utah.

Now its a new season well actually many seasons hence but I'm still a Detroit fan. Rasheed, Ben, Rip, Tayshaun and Chauney are now my homies so I was just hoping that they could pull it off in game 7 because although they are the reining champs they've been treated as the underdogs all series long lost in the glamour and glitz surrounding 'Flash' and the 'Diesel'. Also the stats really didn't support Detroit winning a game 7. The team that wins game six (Detroit) usually has a hard time winning game 7 according to the stats and the team with the home advantage (in this case Miami) wins game 7 something like almost 9 of every 10 times. Oh well so much for stats.

Actually although I watched the game I'm not sure how Miami imploded. Its like they just ran out of steam in the middle of the 4th after leading by 8 at the beginning of the 4th quarter. I was getting upset when Larry Brown put in Elden Campbell and he then missed those free throws, I thought it was over. I guess the injuries finally caught up to Miami. Still a win is a win and the champs will find a way to win when its necessary so kudos to Detroit. Hope you boys get some love and some respect now because the fans seem to have seen last years championship as some sort of aberration. Maybe they cant fathom that in this era a team with no top tier superstar could possibly contend and win a championship. The prevailing wisdom after all is that you get your two superstars and surround them with role players in order to win.

And the ongoing saga with Coach Brown and whether he will leave Detroit and go be Cleveland's GM at seasons end has got to be distracting to the Detroit players so God knows how they stayed focused to be able to win this game.

Oh as an aside even if I wasn't a Pistons fan before this series I had to back them here. Why? No frigging way was I going to back a team with Alonzo 'I wont report to Toronto because I'm really really sick' Mourning in it. Yea I have had sympathy for his illness which I wont trivialize because it is a serious thing but being sick and never playing for the team you were traded to then forcing a release so you can play for a contender while still getting basically all of your contract paid is just some foul ish in my opinion. Then the same dude who was so sick all season and we here in Toronto were hearing could barely play looks like he's been reborn playing for Miami. Dude was a blocking machine! What gives? Shame on Babcock for granting him his wish and his money. Zo, I hope you retire now, accept it you are not winning a championship.

Ok so onto the finals. San Antonio vs Detroit. This is the matchup of two of the best teams in the league and two of my favorites. Also two of the most underrated and disrespected (considering their records). How can we forget that besides the Laker 'Dynasty' San Antonio and Detroit are the only teams to win a championship since 1999. So why aren't these two teams thought of more highly? Is it the lack of personality? Aside from Rasheeds occasional antics the Pistons have no drama queens. No quote machines here, no superstar attitudes. Duncan is like a mild mannered Clark Kent type although putting up superstar numbers. Where are the arrogant Kobes and the trash talking Shaqs?

The Spurs have been consistent since Duncan arrived! They've been a top tier NBA team since 1999. I mean big up to Steve Nash and his Phoenix team and all that but dude until you and Amare play some D you guys wont get to a finals. The Spurs with the 'Big Fundamental' Duncan are just rolling. They play good ball. They've been doing that for years. Duncan, Ginobli, Mr Eva Longoria, Horry these guys can play. This is going to be some matchup. Yea it might not be a high scoring finals , it may not be that exciting but the Spurs will play some good ball.

Spurs- Pistons. The NBA might not be happy with this matchup, the fans may not tune in but I'm loving it and after all it is all about me lol. So the only problem here is I like both of these teams. I really don't have a team to cheer against as I'd be happy if either team wins. Can the champs repeat? Can Duncan win a championship without David Robinson? Only time will tell. So who do I cheer for? I'll cheer for some good basketball but as much as I like Duncan I'm going to back the Pistons here.

Dandelions and such

Well it looks like summer's here (knock on wood). This weekend we had some great temperatures in the 20s and today its supposed to go up to 30C. Of course now we get the complaints about it being too hot. Damn Canadians are never satisfied lol. Winter's too cold, summer's too hot. Whatever!

See me, I'm loving it. Bring on the heat a brother got to get some sun and work on his tan.

So the last few weekends I've been trying to work on my lawn and all that good stuff. Not that I'm a big gardening fan but with the nice temperatures its a good way to stay at home and still be outside. Plus with the new house I just got to do what I got to do. Damn living in an apartment was definitely less work!

So a few weeks ago I tackled the dandelions. Now let me tell you this I was never one to pay any attention to those things before this summer it was always more like oh look yellow flowers in the lawn how nice. Now, after spending an entire weekend digging those things up all I can say is dandelions are the spawn of the devil. Evil, insidious, nasty looking things with roots down to the depths of hell. How one little weed can have roots a foot down in the ground is beyond me lol. And I started off not having so much a lawn as a dandelion patch with the occasional blade of grass so you know it was some serious backbreaking work digging up those things because if you don't get as many as possible they come back with a vengeance cause they spread quicker than wildfire. Serious thing that.

Anyway I got the dandelions under control at least in the back yard but now I have philosophical and ethical issues with my lawn. Yes Jdid has to make simple things difficult! What issues you ask? Well in order to keep the lawn looking half decent, not aiming for perfection or anything just half decent will do, one needs to put in quite a bit of the H2O. My issue is I feel like its a waste of good water to be spraying it on grass that a man cant even eat when people in other countries would love a little drop of water to quench their thirst. Don't get me wrong though I'm not about to become all environmentalist and the like but for me its like what is the point of this grass watering foolishness anyways.

Maybe its my perspective on things. Growing up in Barbados the folks in my neighborhood weren't into the lawn thing. You would grow a nice little flower garden to nice up the place but grass was a weed and if it was growing on your property you would take out a little chopper or a ho (a garden tool as opposed to a hoe which is a ....ammm never mind) and get rid of it. Now here it is I'm cultivating grass. What the??

Ok so I guess grass is a plant and plants add much needed oxygen to our atmosphere and use up CO2 so that preempts me from just digging it all up and paving it over, plus a nice little green lawn looks kind of nice too but I got to reach some sort of compromise. Maybe I'll grow a kitchen garden in the back or something. Who knows!

p.s: Oh and if you're a hip-hop head give me a holla over at HipHopQuotables (shameless plug)

Eediat Ting dat

The way the world going these days I think I might have to make 'eediat ting dat' a regular feature of this blog.

When I first saw this story I didnt know whether to laugh or cry. This is the sort of thing that when you read it it would make a man involuntarily swear. All I could do was say "no man dem lie, man dem mekkin joke, this cant be fa real!"

Bwoy if this one true I feel Cambodia trying to mek third world countries look bad. We going to need a new designation fa them, I hereby declare them a fourth world country cause them in a class of their own. Eediat ting dat.!

Clearly dem didnt hear bout that Sigfried and Roy fella that get maulsprig by the Lion the other day. Reminds me of what my parents used to always say when they saw people messing with dogs "ya feel dem got rubber teets" in this case them fellas feel that the lions got rubber claws. Anyway read for yourself. Got it from here

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

Tickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.

The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.

Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine."

This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted.

An African Lion (Panthera Leo) was shipped to centrally located Kâmpóng Chhnãng especially for the event, which took place last Saturday, April 30, 2005 in the city’s coliseum.

The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that they receive a 50% commission on each ticket sold, and that no cameras would be allowed in the arena.

The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.

Sihamoni was quoted before the fight stating that he felt since his fighters out-numbered the lion 42 to 1, that they “… could out-wit and out-muscle [it].”

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Can you imagine what went through that lions head? "Well boy the food on the plane wasnt so nice but look how the fellas provide me with a nice 42 item buffet."I mean seriously putting a lion in a ring with 42 midgets is like putting a hungry man in front a plate of fried chicken. The chicken and the midgets dont stand a chance. I wonder if dem thought the Lion was vegetarian?

Something about this whole article makes me want to break out into

A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh
A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh

In the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle the quiet jungle the lion sleeps tonight

Doggone it, the article's fake but still it made for a decent blog!

I guess I should post

Haven't really had the time lately. Started one blog but don't have the mental capacity to finish it up at the moment so I figured I'm going to take the easy route out. Oh check Ms Blaize's list on you know you're addicted to blogging when.... and I guess I should add you know you're addicted to blogging when instead of emailing the addicted to blogging list you blog about it lol. Oh and if you're at Ms Blaize site and have some time read her 4 parter on the stalker. Man that stuff would make a good movie.

Saw a story about how a homegirl in Alabama is suing a hair salon because they charge black women more than white women. Check the story here. I understand the suit but what I'm wondering is whether this chain is charging about the same as salons that deal predominantly with black women's hair or say a white woman comes in with big hair is she charged more than one with less hair. Just wondering. Sounds like the suit has merit though. Oh well guess I'll wait and see how it plays out.

Been watching Chappell Season 2 the last few nights. Keep falling asleep in front of it though because I'm dead tired but that in no way is a slight to Dave. Believe me folks this stuff is hilarious! I actually miss seeing the season live. Not that its not shown in Toronto its just I never remember what time its on. So here I am watching the Racial Draft, Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories and I know Black People for the first time and I am laughing my butt off.

The funniest thing I saw was one skit where he's talking about how black folk never believe our celebrities are guilty. He shows a potential juror being interviewed for the Michael Jackson trial. Nothing that the lawyer tells him can convince him that Michael is guilty but when the lawyer asks so would you let your kids sleep over at Michael Jackson he's like "Oh hell no!"

On one final note was just listening to the radio and there are some folks here that feel dem smart. They are putting on a talent show and are having auditions. Now hear them, spectators can come to auditions and watch....for 5 dollars. I must say that's a pretty good idea because you know at least at the auditions you might get some folks that not ready for prime time so you may get a little comedy thrown in.

Anyway wow amazingly with nothing to talk about I constructed a blog. Have fun folks.