U Being BitchSlapped - A Point of Controversy Forever 'N Ever

Forced Feminization in Prison

2010-05-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

'Naked News' Picks Anchorwoman (CBS News)

2010-05-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Henry Box Brown - The First FedX'er

2010-03-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

The box that arrived in Philadelphia that day was the plain-looking sort typically used to transport dry goods. Just over 3 feet long, it was 2 feet 8 inches deep and not quite 2 feet wide. Written on the side were the words “this side up with care.’’ Safe to say, the recipient of the box was not fully prepared for what was inside: a 200-pound man named Henry Brown.

As an African-American living in the South, Mr. Brown was a slave when he left Virginia on March 23, 1849, concealed in the box he had designed for this purpose.

When he arrived in Pennsylvania a day later, by express mail, he was a free man.Having himself shipped as if he were an order of dry goods was an audacious act to those eager to strike a blow against slavery. Yet, the story of Mr. Brown’s flight from slavery — several hours of which he endured upside down — never quite earned the recognition it deserved.

His is hardly a household name, and even the circumstances of his death have been lost to history. “I’ve never been able to find an obituary,’’ said Jeffrey Ruggles, a curator at the Virginia Historical Society who wrote one of the few treatise-length books on the topic, “The Unboxing of Henry Brown,’’ in 2003.

Civil rights leaders no doubt found Mr. Brown’s moxie inspiring, but some feared that publicity would only make it harder for other slaves to follow the same path to freedom.

A Flight to Freedom
An eye-witness account from the man who opened a box and found a human being inside. FOLLOW THIS LINE TO Annotated Letter and Other Records »

Certainly, that was true of James Miller McKim, the man who accepted delivery of the box. He shared a dramatic account of the event with a confidante, but urged him to keep it quiet. “And now I have one request for Heaven’s sake don’t publish this affair or allow it to be published,’’ Mr. McKim wrote, warning that it might “prevent all others from escaping in the same way.’’

To help correct this century-old oversight, the New-York Historical Society has made available to The New York Times, in celebration of Black History Month, its copy of the account that Mr. McKim wrote within days of Mr. Brown’s stepping out of the box and into his life.

“He came to me on Saturday morning last in a box tightly hooped, marked ‘this side up’ by overland express, from the city of Richmond!!’’ Mr. McKim wrote an associate in New York named Sydney Howard Gay. “Did you ever hear of any thing in your life to beat that? Nothing that was done on the Barricades of Paris exceeded this cool and deliberate intrepidity.’’

The letter, which you can read here or at the society’s library on 170 Central Park West, goes on to describe how Mr. Brown spent 27 grim hours entombed in a tight-fitting box that was tossed and turned repeatedly during the 350-mile journey.

Upside down at one point in a noisy freight car, Mr. Brown was able to shift enough to relieve the pressure on his head. But when it happened again on the steamboat ride, passengers were too close. He had to remain still for 20 miles or face detection. “This nearly killed him,” Mr. McKim reported.

To assure speedy delivery, Mr. Brown’s accomplices had hired Adams Express, a private shipper that promised next-day delivery from Richmond to Philadelphia.

Mr. McKim, a Philadelphia abolitionist whose son Charles became the noted New York architect, had agreed to accept delivery. But after one too many delays, he was fairly sure that any man transported in this manner would not have survived. He wrote that he could hardly “describe my sensations when in answer to my rap on the box and question – ‘all right?’ the prompt response came ‘all right sir.’ ”

As Mr. Brown later recounted in published narratives of his life, he continued on to Boston, adopted the middle name “Box” as a reminder of his ordeal and turned his deliverance from the box into something of a theatrical spectacle.

Mr. Ruggles said, “The good thing about that McKim letter was it was so early on, it is before Brown enhanced the story or improved it.’’

And while Mr. Brown’s tale thrilled the antislavery crowd and got picked up by some newspapers, Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, decried those who had publicized details about the escape, making it unlikely that anyone else could replicate it.

Twice more, in fact, Mr. Brown’s accomplices in Richmond tried to ship human “cargo,” but failed, according to Mr. Ruggles. Alerted by the publicity, Adams Express had warned its agents to be “suspicious of boxes that emitted grunts” and “the two slaves on the second expedition were not as stoic as Henry Brown and gave out little noises.’’

It was not long before Mr. Brown was also back on the run. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had put him at heightened risk of being apprehended as a runaway slave. So he embarked for England later that year.

He was described as a “lodger” on this British census form the following March, as was James C.A. Smith, one of his accomplices from Richmond. He and Mr. Smith are each listed as an “antislavery advocate” on the form.

A ship manifest from 1875, archived at Ancestry.com, records a Henry Brown returning to the United States after the Civil War – this time, not as human cargo, but as something even more precious: a passenger.

Julie Chang - All Fine On All Coasts

2010-02-19T04:28:00.000-08:00

Julie Chang of Fox 5 is way hot. But wait - there's another fine Julie Chang on the left coast. As an art dealer, this Julie is shakin' it up on the San Francisco art scene. Check her out online.

Are We On A Collision Course to World War III?

2010-02-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

When you look at what's happening out there, when you read the front page of the major U.S. newspapers & sites, you will notice a few things one should at least take tacit note:

1) Tensions growing with Iran over its development of nuclear power and production capability.

2) Israel stepping up pressure on the U.S. and other nations, especially those of the UN Security Council, to move against Iran (sanctions supposedly, but destruction preferably).

3) A contradiction: apparent subtle but certain U.S. military buildup is occurring, while we are using our limited financial resources in the furtherance of "foreign policy interests" (that means the interests of the Corporate Ruling Class in English), while at the same time debate is going on in our domestic politics about needed domestic buildup (i.e. jobs, flow of money throughout the economy, economic security and development for all Americans, etc) and whether we can "afford these expenditures".

How does furthering Israel's Middle East interests further the needs of the citizens of the U.S.?

4) Obama sounding more and more like Bush. And with pitbulls like Clinton, Emmanuel and Summers on your team, how could you not have some Cheney-like wolf in the fold? The state of the Presidency at the moment, while I have the fullest faith and happiness in him being our President, is starting to look more like puppetry every day. We are being controlled - emphasize "CONTROLLED" - by the Corporate Ruling Class who dominates much of the world thru its various triads or other oligopolies that maintain regional order and flow of capital to further their interests throughout the world, places like Dubai, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, New York, Moscow, London, Paris, Hamburg, Brussels, Beijing, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Lagos, Buesnos Aires, Rio, Montreal, and all over the world where they hold geopolieconomic control.

These are but a few of my unfavorite things. I am very concerned about a world that is moving rapidly towards what might become a global war, a true world war, within the next ten years, perhaps as early as 2014. All elements point to the perception at least that the United States is currently agitating for a foreign policy win of some sort, most likely focused on that region of the world. Whether it be in Afghanistan, Pakistan (witness the Taliban leader caught in Peshewar yesterday), Iran, or in covert state in Dubai (like the possible Mossad/CIA/MI6 mission that assasinated the Hamas leader over the Valentines Day weekend), or Clinton's agitory remarks in Doha, Qutar the same weekend, there is agitation everywhere outside the U.S., while gridlock and no progress on the single most important issue of interest to the remaining 300 million of us; the work that needs to be done to provide a better standard of living for our citizens now, not to mention the millions of jobs and foreclosure saves needed by our families immediately!

Do you get a sense there's a miss of priorities here?

America needs to worry less about Iran getting the bomb, while not the best thing to happen it's also not for us to decide. Instead, America needs to worry a lot more about what to do about this economic mess we've created. This is not about just fixing up and building a safety net. This is about changing the formula of greed that we've pursued, putting some laws back in place that were broken (like we've been living thru a Toyota brake defect problem for the past 10 years), creating a consumer climate more in line with Americans putting Americans to work. If we manufactured and consumed more of what we made ourselves, we would promote small business growth, we would increase manufacturing and sales, thus creating more jobs to fill. Money would be generated by the growth in workers and economic activity (buy/sell/trade/exchage) - what could be simpler?

It is simple. The problem is we have more barriers in place against small sustainable economic growth that we do sanctions against Iran. The barriers are big business that is not in tune anymore with its people. Many of our businesses either go offshore, and many more are dependent on the foreign parts produced elsewhere to sell affordable products. We have so many barriers (local regulation-most often bribery & fees, trade agreements, lack of financing, etc) to domestic business and job development today that it would take a total shutdown of our borders for a year to figure it out. Nothing so drastic should be done, but we do need to build from inside more, and a lot less projecting our values to a disinterested planet outside.

They have a point: America, you need to clean your own house up first.

Bitch Assed Men Speech

2010-02-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

you knew this was coming, if not by me by someone else. In fact that someone has come out. Check out this new You-Tube sensation Alexyss K. Tryor git her shit on and expressing what she's been wanting to say on here. Hit the title above to link up.

Lovelies in WInter Wonderland Upper East Side NY

2010-02-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

A
A cold and bitter day to have to be out & about. But not to make the worse of it, there were still a few sights to see. Yes, you see little as they're all crumpled up and bundled up, but I saw them and they look as good as you think.

Getting around New York in this blizzard is one thing. Making sure you take in the sights on the way is what counts!

Cold winds and snow all outside, sometimes in it and sometimes insulated under it in the subway, or insulated through it in a cab . . .

I'll take my chances but prefer to take it underground where's it's drier and warmer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 - IT'S WHAT YOU MAKE IT.

2010-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well once again a new year and a way late post from me. sorry bout that. well now I might as well report that the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl 44 last nite with a score of 31-17 over the Indianapolis Colts. They deserved it on so many levels, but most of all for the folks of post-Katrina Big Easy, and the strong and focused play of their athletes. they played well against a truly worthy and formidable opponent in the Indianapolis Colts.

Whatever you do out there this year, be good. Never give up. Remember it's not just you, but so many of you. So c'mon, let's give each other a helping hand, a shout-out, and whatever other help we can to all who need it in 2010. That's a happy new year!

Lest We Not Forget Charlie's Little Angel...

2009-06-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

....and words of love and life for you in heaven to Farrah Fawcett, who died only hours before Michael Jackson. Almost lost in the sauce, this sexy icon of the 1970s hit Charlie's Angels has also got it going on as a symbol of that era and what was sooo gooood about it!

Farrah went on to become quite a different and memorable character in her Emmy-award performance in The Burning Bed. And I just saw her in a relatively recent mid-2000s movie with Queen Latifah, Ja-Rule, and Danny Glover as her husband (the judge who finds his blackness and then his hip-hop with a transformation that she also loves - that black male manly scent. She has played in a number of venues, and while Charlie's made her famous, her speaking out for various causes, including the renal cancer that killed her, was one of her notable later in life achievements.

My mother, I much later in life found out, also died of renal cancer. I never knew that, other than she had trouble walking in her last years and was more wheelchair- and crutches-bound. I never fully knew what she was going through, she rest in peace also.

The icons in our lives define the times that each of us grows up into in this American diaspora of celebrity and larger-than-life living. We're a long way from being a simple people, such an advanced society we are, and yet the simplest thing in life - life and death - bring us back to the human of the earth that we are always destined to be. Living life to the fullest in between those spectrums of life and death is what defines, and enlightens, the world.

rap music history

2009-06-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

Rap Pioneers Then & Now
Posted Tue Jun 2, 2009 1:22pm PDT by Shawn Amos in GetBack

The other week Tone-Loc was hospitalized in Florida after passing out during a concert. He's 43 now, and his collapse begs two questions: can dudes rap into their forties, and... people go to hip-hop shows in Florida?

Actually, the whole hip-hop generation is approaching middle-age. I'm sure we could argue all day long about the first hip-hop moment, the first hip-hop single, or the moment when hip-hop's spark was truly ignited. I'm going to put a stake in the sand on that last one and call it as August 11, 1973. That's the night Bronx DJ Kool Herc (short for "Hercules" - a childhood nickname) played the first breakbeat at the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue project housing recreation room. And with this break the hip-hop blueprint was drawn.

Rap without a breakbeat is like rock with out an amp. That "five-minute loop of fury" gave rappers the foundation to build their rhymes. Thirty-six years later, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is now officially the "birthplace of hip-hop" (thanks to Herc's lobbying) and a host of old-school rappers are now approaching AARP age. While Eminem, Method Man & Redman, and Cam'ron all suck up the hip-hop oxygen this summer, let's pay our respects to the pioneers who hold them up. Know your history to create your own.

GALLERY: See what rap's pioneers look like now

MELLE MELTHEN: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's 1982 single "The Message" is credited as the first socially conscious rap recording, but rapper Melle Mel (born Melvin Glover) didn't want to do it when his label, Sugarhill, brought it to him. Mel thought it was just another forgettable single. But when he heard it played in the Bronx club Disco Fever, he knew he was wrong. The crowd dug it. NOW: Since his '80s glory days Mel has done everything from pursue a wrestling career to write a children's book ("The Portal in the Park"). He's also dropped an "l" from his name and now goes by Mele Mel. The name change hasn't brought him back to hop-hop's mainstream, but maybe it helped get him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2007 he and the Furious Five became the first rap artists inducted.

GRANDMASTER FLASHTHEN: DJ Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler) moved to the Bronx from the West Indies and quickly became a student of both his father's record collection and Kool Herc's DJ style. Both helped Flash pioneer the early use of scratching. An interesting bit of trivia: an unofficial video for the 1983 single "White Lines (Don't Do It)" was directed by NYU film student Spike Lee and featured an unknown Laurence Fishburne.NOW: Flash has travelled a lot of ground since his early '80s heyday. He spent most of the '90s as musical director for Chris Rock's HBO series and found a loyal following in Europe and Asia, where he continues mix for legions of kids who wish they were born in the Bronx (but deep down are glad they weren't). He's also taken to the airwaves with a show on Sirius XM Radio and made himself a legit author with the publication of his memoirs, which he wrote completely in rhyme. Just kidding.

KURTIS BLOWTHEN: Harlem native Curtis Walker was in a late-'70s group called The Force with future hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Simmons wound up managing Walker and persuaded him to change his name to Kurtis Blow. His 1980 single "The Breaks" was the first hip-hop song to be released by a major label (Mercury) and got him an opening slot for Bob Marley at Madison Square Garden. NOW: Blow gave up recording in the '90s and briefly worked as a radio DJ with a show on L.A.'s Power 106. Then he got religion. Blow went back to college as a theology major, graduating this year. On the road to rap religion, he lent his name to a compilation of Christian rap music and co-founded Hip Hop Church New York, which holds services in Harlem. I guess this answers the question, "Are there breakbeats in Heaven?" Pass the turntable, and praise the lord.

DOUG E. FRESHTHEN: The Human Beat Box, Douglas Davis, gained recognition in the classic 1984 hip-hop film "Beat Street." Throughout the '80s, Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew (whose M C Ricky D left the group and went on to fame as Slick Rick) released a series of hugely successful records, including the humbly titled "The World's Greatest Entertainer." NOW: After his crashing from his chart heights, Fresh turned to commercials to keep the cash coming in. He's provided music for McDonalds, Coors, Tanqueray, and all sorts of other brands begging for hip-hop cred. Fresh also became a Scientologist. I assume he's bringing some hip-hop to the Celebrity Center. What rhymes with L. Ron Hubbard?

KRS-ONETHEN: New Yorker Lawrence Parker lived in homeless shelters as a teen. It was there he met Scott Sterling (a.k.a. DJ Scott La Rock), and the two formed the seminal late-'80s act Boogie Down Productions. The deaths of La Rock in a 1987 shooting and a fan at a 1988 show prompted KRS to form the Stop the Violence Movement, which donates money to the National Urban League. NOW: KRS-One briefly worked as a label exec for Reprise Records but ditched the gig in 2001. That same year he got himself into trouble when he said, "We cheered when 9/11 happened." To clarify his remarks, KRS explained that he was referring to the cheering for what happened to the rich and powerful. That didn't help. As recently as 2007, he was still explaining himself to Fox's Sean Hannity of all people.

PUBLIC ENEMYTHEN: Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour) and Flavor Flav (William Drayton Jr.) practiced their MC skills while delivering furniture for Chuck's father's business. They were signed to Def Jam after a demo featuring Chuck's freestyles caught the attention of label co-founder Rick Rubin. Their powerful black militant stance put them in the center of many controversies where they were accused of being homophobic and anti-Semitic. NOW: Today, aside from continued PE touring, Chuck D has become a reliable political pundit for the left. He co-hosted Air America's "Unfiltered" show with Rachel Maddow and now his own show, "On the Real." Flavor Flav, meanwhile, has become a reliable staple of reality shows, starring in four different series. He wears a clock in all of them.

RUN-D.M.C.THEN: One of the most influential hip-hop acts in history began when Russell Simmons asked his younger brother, Joseph, to DJ for Kurtis Blow under the name "DJ Run." Run's friend Daryl "D.M.C." McDaniels began rapping to his beats and soon they recorded their first single right out of high school with neighborhood bad boy Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell. NOW: Mizell was gunned down in 2002, allegedly for deciding to work with a young blacklisted rapper named 50 Cent. Run has since dedicated himself to inner-city youth and reality TV, while D.M.C. successfully fought depression (with the unlikely help of Sarah McLachlan's song "Angel") and reunited with his birth mother in 2006.

LL COOL JTHEN: James Todd Smith probably had the most idyllic childhood of any of his rap contemporaries. He sang in church choir, joined the Boy Scouts, and delivered papers. His grandfather bought him his first mixer at Sears. His first single as LL Cool J (it stands for "Ladies Love Cool James), "I Need a Beat," sold over 100,000 copies. NOW: In the great hip-hop tradition, LL Cool J is a serial entrepreneur. He's written four books, has the requisite urban clothing line (Todd Smith), and regularly acts in film and on television. Next up is a starring role in CBS's upcoming fall series "NCIS: Los Angeles." Cool J is also one of the most in-shape dudes in hip-hop, employing a personal trainer and gracing the covers of fitness magazines. That's why the ladies love him.

M.C. HAMMERTHEN: Say what you will about his credibility (or lack thereof), Hammer taught the world how to wear baggy pants and blow $30 million. Hammer began his career as a batboy for the Oakland A's in the early '80s. By the early '90s he was a multi-millionaire thanks to rap-lite hits like "U Can't Touch This." He tried to toughen up his image by signing to Death Row Records at the end of the decade (none of his recordings, which included collaborations with Tupac Shakur, were released).NOW: By '96 Hammer was bankrupt and his career a punch line. He went from traveling with a 300-person entourage to appearing with Ed McMahon in a Cash 4 Gold commercial on this year's Super Bowl broadcast. He's now a minister (the "M.C." now stands for "Man of Christ"), which earns him extra cash for officiating weddings of other faded pop-culture icons, such as Corey Feldman and Vince Neil. But things may be looking up for the MC: his new TV show "Hammertime," which chronicles his struggle to relaunch his empire with the help of his wife of 24 years and their six kids, debuts June 19 on A&E.

D.J. JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCETHEN: Jeff Townes was a local Philadelphia hero when he met a kid named Will Smith at a 1985 house party. They had instant chemistry and soon a hit single with 1986's "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble." It was released a month before Smith's high school graduation. Three years later they won the first ever rap Grammy for "Parents Just Don't Understand." NOW: Officially, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have never disbanded, but they have taken very different career paths. DJ Jeff went on to contribute scratching for Eminem, Talib Kweli, The Roots, and others. Unfortunately, things didn't turn our so well for Will Smith's career: a forgettable sitcom and some box-office bombs. Maybe Flavor Flav will put him in his next reality show.

Protests Flare After Ahmadinejad Victory - NYTimes.com

2009-06-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Protests to Assumed Power of Ahmadinejad by an allegedly corrupted election, people went nuts and went to the streets. But they were protesting out of earnest for what they see is a stolen election by the power elite of Iran, instead of this new popular and forward-thinking leaded in the opposition. After President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was announced as winner of Iran's election, protesters hurled stones.

Published: June 13, 2009

TEHRAN — The streets of Iran’s capital erupted in the most intense protests in a decade on Saturday, with riot police officers using batons and tear gas against opposition demonstrators who claimed that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had stolen the presidential election."

tiki lights at tavern on the green

2009-06-13T16:09:00.001-07:00

the tiki lights at tavern on the green central park
Originally uploaded by eastvillagepeeps

Bright, colorful, sparking, inviting dance and entertainment!

Just what the doctor ordered to liven up the body and soul. this place is definitely a beautiful rendition of an era say between the 1940s to the 1980s, when its elegance took on a new meaning in a new age.

Tavern never disappoints!

American Power

2009-06-13T08:11:00.001-07:00

P1000277
Originally uploaded by eastvillagepeeps

A symbol of the meglomaniac government we still have that its bearth includes a global intellectual reach it calls American University. The home and alma mater of the CIA, it spreads its tenacles of learning far and reaching. It reaches the Middle East, it reaches Croatia, it reaches Tanzania. It reaches Malaysia and Bagledesh and New Zeland and the Czech Republic. It reaches Iran and Israel too.

With all of its benetton mosiac of colors, it exemplifies the exhibit of a global sphere, but all within and underneath the control and sphere of influence of the United States of America (hence the sign, with the Capitol dome in it for Christ's sake). All within the game of the plan. The symbol survives...and so too does the power.

KOLPING INTERNATIONAL - North America

2009-06-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

KOLPING INTERNATIONAL - North America: "North America

Just some public service information.

For any of you students or world travelers traveling light out there....Here you can find Kolpinghouses, -hotels and -youthhostels all over North America. Reasonable price, nice people, and they feed you breakfast included in your cost of stay.

Just so you know (and to make all disclaimers), this is a religious group, not endorsed or views shared or believed or otherwise not affiliated with this blog in any way. This blog does not endorse nor promote the views of this organization, only advertises its offer of hospitality.

USA

Youth Residence
Catholic Kolping Society New York
165 East 88th Str.
New York, N.Y. 10128
U.S.A.
Tel.: 001 21 23 69 66 47
Fax: 001 21 29 87 56 52
E-Mail: residence@kolpingny.org"

they also have a place in the Bronx, for adult as well as student residents. They service Columbia University and others who are young professionals and academians. Male and female welcome and among the current residents. Reasonable rates around $125-250/wk.

Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Too Much Coffee Man on Yahoo! News

2009-06-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Too Much Coffee Man on Yahoo! News: "Mon Jun 8, 12:00 AM ET"

this Chihuahus ain't Taking no Shit!

2009-05-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Temple University Beasley School of Law

2009-05-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

SO why not report on some alumni news:

General News
The Beasley School of Law hosts an exclusive symposium on the credit crisis with nearly 50 practicing attorneys, judges, and law professors in attendance.

The Congressional Research Service names Temple Law program at Tsinghua University one of five "Key Actors and Programs" in China.

Temple Professor Phoebe Haddon named new Dean of University of Maryland Law School. Sister #1 of Temple Law who trounced her wisdom of constitutional law and her own husband Carl Singley, former Dean of Temple School of Law, and the so-called competition to really impress them with her notoreity near the Nations's capital at one of its most prestigious area universities.

Dean JoAnne Epps to receive the Philadelphia Bar Association's Sandra Day O'Connor Award and present the Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Memorial Public Interest Lecture on June 9, 2009. Like my favorite professor, she is graceful, beautiful, and such a wonderful person (you too Dean Haddon - that sounds right on you - you too!)...so nice, hot too. Anyway, just a thought.

Professors Reinstein and Sinden deliver honorary lectures (Judge Green and Friel/Scanlan lectures).

U.S. News and World Report: Temple ranks in Trial Advocacy, Legal Writing, and International Law.

Michelle Orloski '09 wins the 2009 Distinguished Writing Award, presented by the Burton Foundation, in association with the Library of Congress.

National Trial Team: Year in Review.

Jessup Moot Court finishes third among US teams in international competition.

Temple student awarded Sandra Mazer Moss Scholarship.

Faculty
In the Media:
Amy Sinden comments on Supreme Court ruling that allows government to apply cost-benefit analysis for ordering environmental upgrades (fish protection) in Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune.

David Hoffman discusses cyber-bullying in law school student forum in Conde Nast Portfolio.com.

The Philadelphia Inquirer cites Jane Baron in article on estate implications for Dow Chemical and Rohm & Haas merger. featured practice areas: Environ. Law, Estates, Business Law, Immigration, Cyberspace, Trial Adv., Prof. Responsibility.

Publications and ConferencesDuncan Hollis's article, "Unpacking the Compact Clause," to be published in the Texas Law Review.Sandra Sperino's "Judicial Preemption of Punitive Damages" accepted by the Univ. of Cincinnati Law Review.

William Carter's article on "Judicial Power to Compel Domestic Treaty Implementation" was accepted as the lead article for the Maryland Law Review. featured areas of interest: Treaties, Family Law, "Wiki"Law, Employ. Law, Int'l Law, Intellectual Property, Cyberspace Law, Business Law.

Complexity and Collapse: The Credit Crisis symposium organized by Temple Law Professors Peter Huang, David Hoffman, and Jonathan Lipson.

Michelle Obama's Commencement Speech at UCal Merced - INSPIRATIONAL!

2009-05-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

What a speech! This will certainly go down as one of the most important and inspirational first lady speeches given by anyone since Elanor Roosevelt. Hillary was inspirational, but not as good as this first lady and certainly none of them have a more inspirational story than Michelle's - hey, none of them were that poor. That's the spice, the essence of the Obamas - they really are just like, and come from, places like you and me!

2009-05-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, Obama is Right, and Bush was just WRONG!!!!

Again, as 2009 unfolds, the storms are still strong, stanky, and still with us. But we will trudge on with our new leader as he fords a new and better path. Starting with stepping up funding, he added $19 billion to the stimulus package for real jobs for young people, or at least more of them. A far improvement over the previous administration's dismal years, as evidenced by this archived 2007 article from the "Cold Case Files":

NYC MISSING BIG CHANCE TO BUILD TEENS' CAREERS
More slots available in the public jobs program for young people would pay major dividends in the shape of their futures. > By David Jason Fischer

City Limits WEEKLY #592June 18, 2007

New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) will serve approximately 9,000 fewer young people this summer than in 1999, and will turn away tens of thousands of applicants due to limited slots, according to a report released today by the Center for an Urban Future, City Limits' sister think tank.

The report shows that while the Bloomberg administration and City Council have significantly increased city funding for the program in recent years, steep cutbacks in federal support and a higher state minimum wage have caused the number of participants to shrink by 21 percent.

The report concludes that the declining enrollment in the summer jobs program is deeply troubling, since New York’s teen employment rate is the lowest of any of the nation’s 50 largest cities. The city also has an alarmingly high number of “disconnected youth,” young people who are neither working nor in school. According to the study, research by national workforce development experts shows that early work experience strongly boosts young workers’ prospects for future success in the job market.

Here is an excerpt from the report:
While there is no solid formula to measure the return on investment for subsidizing SYEP participation, a wealth of research suggests that the value is quite substantial for participants’ future jobholding and earning power.

Although SYEP is not means-tested for participants, the city is required to check participants’ financial eligibility in order to draw down state funds, and the numbers suggest that more participants than not hail from low- to middle-income households. Additionally, nearly three quarters of participants from 2006 were non-white. Research has found both that teens from wealthier families and white teens have higher rates of part-time employment than non-white and less well off young people. In that sense, SYEP gives a double boost to many of its participants.

Researchers found that during 2005, the employment rate of white New Yorkers between the ages of 16 and 19 was almost a third more than of blacks in the same age range, and about 12 percent more than older Hispanic teens. Without SYEP, those numbers would likely be considerably more skewed.

But what exactly do participants gain by working? And who gains the most? Perhaps the most definitive answers to these questions are found in a book-length report by Andrew Sum, Neeta Fogg, and Garth Mangum, released in 2000, titled "Confronting the Youth Demographic Challenge: The Labor Market Prospects of Out-of-School Young Adults."

“The cumulative years of work experience and the nature of [teens’] work experiences are critical determinants of their weekly and annual earnings,” they write. “Early work experience during the high school years has frequently been found in past national and local studies to have favorable labor market consequences for youth, especially for those not enrolling in four-year colleges and universities immediately upon graduation from high school. Those youth who obtain more work experience during the high school years experience smoother transitions to the labor market upon graduation, obtain higher weekly wages when they do work, and earn more per year 10 to 15 years after leaving high school.”

In other words, young people not immediately bound for college – whether from lack of interest, inability to pay, or need for quick income from work – gain the most from work experience as a teen. This is meaningful given that tens of thousands of city high school students graduate every year and do not immediately enroll in college. It also suggests that the SYEP program could maximize the return on public investment by giving preference for work opportunities to high school seniors (who typically account for more than three-quarters of total participants) who are unsure about or unlikely to directly pursue post-secondary education.

While almost any summer job has some positive impact, Sum, Fogg and Mangum argue that the better that job, the bigger the likely impact will be: “The quality of an employed youth’s work experience also influences the size of its labor market impacts. The opportunity to acquire new skills, to obtain more work hours per week, and to integrate school and work-based learning improve hourly wages and occupational mobility in the early school-leaving years.”

This suggests that the impulse behind CAPITAL, GirlsREACH and BoysREACH – to connect participating young people to higher-value work experiences with private-sector employers – is a good one, and probably deserving of even more city resources and effort than it currently commands. As things stand now, the “ladder” on which SYEP is a lower rung and CAPITAL, GirlsREACH and BoysREACH are next steps up would look more like a pyramid with a very wide base quickly coming to a point.

New York City is hoping to place a few hundred young people in private-sector internships. In contrast, Philadelphia – a city with less than a fifth of NYC’s population and a less diverse and high-powered business community – plans to secure 1,000 employer-paid internships for its young people this summer. The push for these internships has come not from government, but from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Similarly, the private sector in Boston long has taken a leading role in helping to provide young residents of that city with meaningful work experiences; indeed, the program there served as a model for CAPITAL.

The comparison between New York and these other cities is imprecise because neither Philadelphia nor Boston – where several thousand young people gain private-sector internships each summer – has a publicly funded summer youth program at anywhere near the scope of SYEP. Additionally, a significant number of private-sector employers in New York City have their own programs for summer hiring.

“When we approach companies about participating in CAPITAL, we often hear that they’re already doing something on their own,” says Rich McKeon of the advisory Youth Board. “I don’t know if anybody’s ever documented how many employers are doing this, and what the untapped potential might be.”

Policymakers should worry about the possibility that this potential will remain “untapped.” If the research is correct that work experience during the teen years gives a strong boost to chances of later success in the job market, it is very troubling that so many young New Yorkers who want to work aren’t able to find summer jobs. In 2006, nearly 30,000 young New Yorkers were not selected through the lottery, and early indications are that an even larger number will find themselves out of luck this year. The extreme weakness of the city’s young adult labor market – which Sum, in a more recent publication, characterizes as a “depression era” employment rate – means that rejected SYEP applicants have very dim prospects of finding work through other means.

Finally, even program administrators acknowledge that we don’t know as much about SYEP as we should. “I think it would be terrific to get some money to do a longitudinal study about participants,” says DYCD Assistant Commissioner Suzanne Lynn. “We actually have a natural experiment; we can compare the long-term employment and earnings effects of those not selected for the lottery versus those who were.”

Recommendations
• The federal government must resume substantial support for summer youth employment programs, helping New York City and other localities place many thousands more young people into jobs.
• City government and the business community should measure the extent to which private-sector employers are hiring young New Yorkers for summer work outside the parameters of public programs.
• The Department of Youth and Community Development should offer more support for SYEP providers in fleshing out the educational component of the program, including a sample curriculum and opportunities to learn from best practices.
• The philanthropic community should fund a major quantitative and qualitative assessment of SYEP and summer work in general.

O.J. and the Devil (This is Priceless!)

2009-05-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

This will make you laugh out loud, peeps:

One day in the future, OJ Simpson has a heart-attack and dies. He immediately goes to hell, where the devil is waiting for him.

'I don't know what to do here,' says the devil. 'You are on my list, but I have no room for you. You definitely have to stay here, so I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I've got a couple of folks here who weren't quite as bad as you. I'll let one of them go, but you have to take their place. I'll even let YOU decide who leaves.'

OJ thought that sounded pretty good, so the devil opened the door to the first room.

In it was Ted Kennedy and a large pool of water. Ted kept diving in, and surfacing, empty handed. Over, and over, and over he dove in and surfaced with nothing. Such was his fate in hell. 'No,' OJ said. 'I don't think so. I'm not a good swimmer, and I don't think I could do that all day long.'

The devil led him to the door of the next room.

In it was George W. Bush with a sledgehammer and a room full of rocks. All he did was swing that hammer, time after time after time. 'No, this is no good; I've got this problem with my shoulder. I would be in constant agony if all I could do was break rocks all day,' commented OJ.

The devil opened a third door. Through it, OJ saw Bill Clinton, lying on the bed, his arms tied over his head, and his legs restrained in a spread-eagle pose. Bent over him was Monica Lewinsky, doing what she does best. OJ looked at this in shocked disbelief, and finally said, 'Yeah man, I can handle this.'
The devil smiled and said . . . . .

'OK, Monica, you're free to go.'

An Action Hero Movie

2009-05-04T04:57:00.000-07:00

Our hero wrestles with finding the courage to get past or defeat the monster who has taken his comrades captive, and saving his friends from being cushion-pinned to death. Risky, but not an impossible task for this brother under cover!

Sebastian's Voodoo from Joaquin Baldwin on Vimeo.

I Just Love This Photo! Feom Flickr

2009-05-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

very very very busy time! just another crosstown traffic kind of day... why the rush? will it really get you there faster?

So Who Gives A F*cK About Obama?

2009-03-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

An interesting question posed by one of my many wonderful opponents of Obama's existence, who expect (even though they don't expect) all the world's problems to be solved, our economic crisis ended (even though it took their guy 8 years to get it to this point) and the weight of guilt for being so racist for so long lifted (although it's going to take a lot more than that to reparate the wrong of your ancestors - and YOU).

Yet they scorn everything Obama. Why, I'm surprised they haven't even rode Michele harder just for getting out to get to know the people of Washington DC, the town where she is in effect the first citizen. Washington is, after all, the capital of the Federal District, just like Sacramento is the capital of the state of California. I'm surprised they haven't made a complaint about that.

Nor has the opposition presented an opposition plan of action to solve the problems. Perhaps like the child who shits in his pants, he knows how to make a mess but not how to clean it up without Mom. In this case, Mom is our government, doing what should be done and whose responsibility it is to do it, more than anyone else or like any other parent. No, thank goodness, we don't want a parental government, only a helping mature hand.

Whatever Obama is doing or does, it is what needs to be done. It may not work, it may create more problems. If anyone has a better idea (and old stale ideas don't count) let's hear it. Let's try it if it will work, i.e. put people back to work in relatively safe jobs where they can be productive and earn living wages and take care of their lives. Let's try it if it will increase home ownership and personal wealth without jeapardizing our financial capabilities. Let's try it if it will bring reasonable equity between rich and poor. I mean, it's OK to have something to strive for, for some to be rich and some not. But the system in this country is too much capitalism at the expense of those who are disenfranchised, at too much wealth that isn't justified by any means.

We need ideas that made the 1990s go: economic opportunity that everyone can get a piece of. Those who can't we must help, perhaps in other ways. Those who won't must be made to understand they must, it is their duty to a society that takes care of them. If that means lower wages and some live in relative poverty, then so be it. Everyone can't be on top. But at least the bottom will be a place where one can live in and with dignity, safety and peace of life, like every one of The Supreme Being's children were meant to live.

Copenhagen Beautiful By Photo or by Artwork

2009-01-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

2009 - The Obama Era Begins

2009-01-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

The year that everyone and everything has been predicting will be worse than 2008 is here! Welcome. I hope you find this year no more painful than last. On the other hand, you may find this the relieving moment in your life. Finally, we all came to understand the latter part of last year that our mindless conspicuous consumption formula for fueling our economy has no meaning that is fulfilling. Just buying stuff for buying stuff, just trying to prove you're richer than the next guy (while enjoying emotional bankruptcy), just projecting profit off the backs of tradition and sympathy that only follows an Anglo-Christian philosophy (better known as revisionist history), we find ourselves outspent, outwitted and broke.

So what many of us have learned or practiced this past Christmas season is restraint. We traveled less, spent less at Macy's, ordered less IPhones. No matter how much they marked down the price, we decided it's better to keep what little cash we have left in our pocket. So how will the 'greatest country on Earth' get outta this one? Well I guarantee it better not be by spending. But if we have to spend, let it be on job creation and production of goods and services which is purchased by those in the world who need it and want it. That should be the promise of globalization, that the machine that moved us in the 1840s and 50s, the 1870s, 80s and 90s, the 1920s, 1950s and 1960s, and again in the 1990s can once again be the production engines that generate one dollar in work for every one dollar earned. Or at least earn half that.

As long is production is honed in our hands, the spirit and infrastructure and investment in our own people, not just in skill, but in hands, can produce the amount and kinds of things the world needs and wants from us. The world will buy from America; we just have to have something to sell that's worth it.

And What of Hil?

2008-12-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Well HIllary Clinton didn't do bad with her appointment to Secretary of State. But now that the election is over here's a comment from someone who would like to see more of her:

And Have We Commented on the Election?

2008-12-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

First, let us comment on the stunning and decisive victory of President Barack Obama. Not only has he made history as the first African-American President of the United States, not only is he an inspiration and a generational change for our time, but he has uplifted the country in the Kennedy spirit like no one has since, well, the Kennedys.

And now, it's good I didn't comment (see my blog CNSaw where I speak of Obama and the then-ongoing election extensively), because one of my wishes appears might come true: Carolyn Kennedy Schlossberg is now throwing her hat (or pillbox) in the ring for the New York seat in the U.S. Senate, with strong backing from New York's first African-American governor David Patterson (who has eyes on his continued legacy as well). If she is elected, she will bring instant credibility and honor to perhaps the most important office in Congress.

In addition, please note the other important development in what is perhaps the second most important office in Congress: the Illinois senate seat. The seed of two of America's most prominent Presidents, as well as a host of powerful political leaders in our history, this seat is poised to go (with the backing of the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois) to Jesse Jackson, Jr., one of the upstart leaders of a new American government for the 21st century. As well a son of one of the icons of the 20th century, Mr. Jackson like his hopeful counterpart in New York brings Obama's change message to the floor in a meaningful and respected way, but with new ideas from their fathers that promises to transform America for the new century. We can only wish them all so well!

So my comment on the election? Goddammit America, Yes We Did!!!

A Hottest Contest to the Finish....

2008-12-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

And now for the contest of who has the hottest newshoneys in the world: Germany or America. Or France or India. Hard to guess, I guess we'll have to have a beauty contest...

Just so you know, the contest was actually between Annika Kipp of DW News and Kiran Chetry of CNN. But as you can see, at the top, Julie Chen Melissa Theuriau can give them both one helluva run for their money...

Smokin' Housewives

2008-12-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

Now this is a smoker: the hottest newswomen in the world. A blog all about them. We have some here, but just hit the title above to link to the site. Melissa Thuriau, Jackie Meretsky, Julie Chen, the list goes on. Oh well....enjoy

By the way, these are the most beautiful newswoman in the world. Hard to disagree....

Tips for Those In A Tough Economy

2008-12-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Look to the Insurance Industry for Job Stability
by Dona DeZubeMonster Finance Careers Expert

In tough times, we all need tips to get, stay or hump ahead. From time to time I hope to bring those who may be seeking work ideas, and that they will share theirs with me. One area that has come to my attention is the insurance industry. Not one everyone thinks about when they go to college, but one so many of us work for when we get out. Here are some tips.

People may not think of insurance as the most glamorous industry in America, but it does offer stability, challenge and growth to those who choose the profession. “You don’t have a lot of college students graduating and saying, ‘I want to work in insurance,’” says Eric Schulting, enterprise recruiting and retention manager for State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Illinois. “But there are a lot of benefits and advantages in insurance that you don’t have in other industries.”

For instance, insurance is fairly recession-proof, because insurance companies tend to be fiscally conservative and Americans need insurance whether the economy is up or down. And since insurance firms are often mutual companies (meaning they answer to policy holders rather than Wall Street), they can launch sophisticated and aggressive information technology strategies, routinely support safety education and tend to have close ties to their local communities, Schulting adds.

The industry is not without challenges. If gas prices rise too high, consumers may decide to own (and insure) fewer cars, and fewer home sales mean fewer homeowners’ policies sold. When unemployment rises, so do theft and arson, and, therefore, hazard insurance claims.

Industry job growth is also limited by corporate downsizing, improved productivity due to new underwriting technology and a trend toward marketing by mail, telephone and Internet. At the same time, the industry is expanding into the sales of other financial-services products, such as securities, retirement plans and mutual funds. That trend is balanced by competition from banks that have entered the insurance market.

Retirement is also driving a strong hiring climate for the young: With so many of their employees rapidly reaching retirement age, insurance companies are on the lookout for all types of employees. “The biggest trend influencing hiring and employment in the insurance industry is the generational shift the talent market is going to experience,” says Sharon Rues Pettid, manager of human resources for a large national insurance company.

But there is hope for the old: Some insurance firms look beyond recent college graduates and also recruit mid-career professionals from the health, financial-services and call-center industries. “We hire doctors and nurses for underwriting,” says Clarissa Gilliam, corporate vice president of talent acquisition for another insurance organization. “We open our search to investment houses for our accounting positions and look for sales and marketing people who want to move over and learn insurance.”

At State Farm, call-center jobs are plentiful since the company does not offshore its customer-service representative (CSR) positions. However, competition for those jobs can be keen, because the pay is decent, the benefits are generous and job security is good, Schulting says. And multilingual CSRs are particularly in demand.

Actuaries and underwriters continue to be very much in demand, according to Pettid. “This unique skill set is challenging to find and provides a unique and defined career path,” she says. “Also niche product line expertise, such as group disability insurance, tends to be very hot and lucrative for candidates.”

The medical service and health insurance segments are the fastest-growing parts of the insurance industry, thanks to aging Baby Boomers buying health and long-term- care insurance, as well as annuities and other pension products. Growth may be slower in the auto insurance segment, where competition has resulted in rate declines in virtually every state, says a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute.

While some areas of insurance are projected to grow more than others, companies in all lines will continue to need support personnel in the years ahead, Gilliam says. “We don’t get to be successful at life insurance without having good accounting, corporate, compliance, public relations, underwriting, risk and tax people,” she says. “Life insurance is our brand and our product, but we’re a major, stable, successful, diverse employee-friendly company.”

Additional Articles on this subject:

Insurance Careers Home
Insider Tips for a Powerful Insurance Sales Resume
Sample Resume for an Insurance Sales Professional
Tips to Prepare for Your Insurance Sales Interview
Get Ready for Your Insurance Industry Interview
Insurance Industry Fueled by Finance, Accounting Professionals
IT Pros Can Find Variety of Jobs in Insurance Industry
Lawyers, Paralegals Work at the Center of Insurance
Job Q&A: Claim Team Manager
Opportunities Knock at State Farm Insurance

American Gangster - The Story of Frank Lucas

2008-10-07T02:32:00.000-07:00

The heroin king from Harlem in the 1970s.

Miami Vice - Payback - Season 2 (85-86)

2008-10-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

Stylescout Special....

2008-08-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Funcky look, puffy cloud hair. A bit of rasta in our elementwear. Yes, London's got soul ~~Lovely!!

Like WOOOWZ SEXIE

2008-07-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Berkley, from Showgirls' Fame (that NC-17 1995 movie)...

...saw this movie on Underground Cable last night. Bad screenplay but good views. Maybe one only needs a visual euphoriac these days. Hey it beats masterbating and imagining it's her, right? In fact, it even beats the pleasure of the pump itself...

FUCK JESSE HELMS! MAY HE ROT IN HELL!

2008-07-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

That's what black people oughta be saying about him. In fact, a lot of whites owe their disdain and guilt to what people like Helms said during his lifetime. While it's respectful, as the accompaying article speaks to, to be silent at best in his mourn, I feel no derision when I say one should crush their enemies sometimes. This I think qualifies.

Anyway, here's a more subtle but equally as infomative view of his death:

Monday, July 7, 2008

Jesse Helms Remembered: "From black community, a respectful silence"

fayobserver.com (North Carolina)
Myron Pitts
Published on Sunday, July 06, 2008

Because we all know our days will eventually come to an end, and because we respect the leveling power of death, we usually idealize the recently died.

We clean up their lives for them, often pretending they were not as messy as normal, human lives tend to be. Death becomes most people. Former Sen. Jesse Helms is no exception.
We will continue to hear many mini-eulogies of the powerful political figure this weekend, but I doubt you will find many black people willing to burnish his checkered legacy.

A respectful silence is all he will get from most of the black community, and all things considered, that’s about as much as could be asked.

Even in the shadow of Helms’ death, I see no need to pussyfoot about: He was hell on black people. Perhaps no single figure in the 20th century could claim more credit for sowing enmity between whites and blacks in North Carolina, and if you know history, you know that the minority group is always the biggest loser when racial strife reigns.

I first fully understood what Helms had wrought in 1990, when Helms’ Senate campaign infected our state’s airwaves with the poisonous “white hands” TV advertisement. The ad showed a pair of white hands crumpling a rejection notice from a prospective employer.
A voiceover says, “You needed that job. And you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is.”

Helms’ opponent, whom he defeated, was black.

Political experts still rate the brutal ad as one of the most effective in playing the race card in Southern politics. I would later study the ad in a college course on advertising.

AN AMERICAN FAMILY - THE NEW CAMELOT

2008-07-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

click on the title of this article above to go to our guest blogsite CNSaw and see how the new Camelot compares to the old Camelot...

Profile on Jackie Meretsky from Morning Joe

2008-07-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

Morning Joe on CNBC doesn't just have Mika. They have been even more gracious to give us this superfine meteorologist who hails from Toronto originally, our lovely Jackie Meretsky. One awesome weathergirl!

fantastique...She hails from Toronto, Ontario in Canada.

Quote:
Jackie looked absolutely amazing in this outfit.

and athletic......here she is working out on Univision's Morning Show while still a weathergirl on Toronto's CN Network. EEeeeeeeeYA! - hott-chi cot-chey!!

Sizzling Hott!!! Gotta love them Canadian dolls. Dayam, even her buxome high school graduation pic gives us a revealing view of the upcoming Accu-Weather 5-day forcast: "Sunny skies, warm temperatures, and no humidity ~ well there may be some from time to time during the next few days . . ."

Burg Hohenwerfen

2008-07-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

Click on the title "Burg Hohenwerfen" above for a view of and from this craaazzy Barvarian pad.

Las Sizzla, Arigato!

2008-06-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

i love these sizzling stances.....

can i have more of this sweet candy?

Yes We Can!

Wave those flags of Iceland high and wide, lovelies...

yumma!

hot and independent....

now these ladies have style in elegance:

that's why we call it Sizzla!

oy papa sibla!

2008-05-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

Art Abounds Amist the Dawn of Spring, Again......

truly one of the most beautiful shots you'll see. i found this somewhere, the person is anonymous to the photographer, so no problem that i steal it for myself and you.

Laura here does have a name, however. She is no less stunning than HOTT....!

yes i think i'm in love.

this is Inguun. she's a model. an exotic erotic model. she wakes up the senses....

my my my. fantabulous!

now Gina here is vexed in black. It's her color:

i don't think i need to comment further. but another shot of her wouldn't hurt:

awww man like yeah it's very yummy.

but here's more yummy than you can handle boys: it's so HOTT! It's Summer!

this chick Nee here from vietnam is without a doubt the most beautiful woman i've seen today:

oh stunning indeed!!

but to bring it back to earth....

Remember that J. Lo is J. Lo for a reason......

THE PRIDE AND JOY OF LA MOTT PA

2008-04-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

JoAnne Epps named Temple Law dean

As a teenager in Cheltenham, JoAnne A. Epps dreamed of becoming a secretary like her two heroes - her mother, who worked at Temple Univerity and, Della Street the know-it-all assistant on the old Perry Mason show. Instead, at the urging of a college mentor, she become a lawyer and today was named dean of the prestigious Temple University's James E. Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.

"Back in the '60s I didn't know any women lawyers and I certainly didn't know any black women lawyers," said Epps, 56. "I didn't see that in my future but one of my college mentors did, for which I'll be eternally grateful."

When she takes over on July 1, Epps will oversee 64 faculty members, more than 1,200 students at Temple's main campus and nearly 150 students enrolled in Temple's law programs in China and Japan.

Epps has been a Temple faculty member for more than two decades but her connections to the university go much deeper - her first job was as a 16 year-old cashier in the bookstore. Her late mother, Ellen, who worked at the university for more than 20 years, retired as registrar at Tyler School of Art. "Several people have written who knew my mom and said she was looking down," said Epps. "It was gratifying. I feel very honored to be in this position."

Temple president Ann Weaver Hart called Epps "a universally respected scholar" with a devotion to Temple's mission and contagious energy.

An authority on evidence, criminal procedure and litigation advocacy, Epps has written several books that are widely used in law schools. Prior to joining the faculy, she was assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and deputy city attorney for Los Angeles. Her work in international legal education includes training Sudanese lawyers representing victims of the Darfur crisis and teaching advocacy skills to prosecutors in Tanzania at the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

She received her law degree from Yale School of Law in 1976 after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford.

Epps succeeds Dean Robert J. Reinstein, who will retire on June 30 after 19 years in the job, making him among the longest-serving deans in an American law school. As dean, Epps said she would like to continue to recruit outstanding faculty and students and expand Temple's connections with the legal community.

"I want people in the city to believe that what's going on at Temple Law School is of interest to them," she said.

Shop and Compare Prices: The Duality of Race and the Press and Public Perception

2008-04-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

my question: we read about city kids (i.e black kids, 21st century synonym: urban youth) getting into mischeif and it gets plenty of newspaper attention, and negative public opinion. our perception of black and white is so twisted around the pseudo-concept, created by European colonial cultures, of bad and good, respectively. but all of that is obviously bullshit and a matter of one's view (or lack of an objective one thereof). for example, what do you think of this?

Driver climbs on roof of van, crashes in Pennsylvania; hospitalized after naked chase

READING, Pa. - A Reading man whose minivan crashed after he climbed on its roof while driving about 55 miles per hour is in fair condition this weekend.

Police in West Reading say the 38-year-old man later stripped naked and led them on a chase along the highway. Authorities are not identifying the man, who is not charged. He remains in a Reading hospital recovering from what witnesses call a deep gash in his side.

Police say they used Taser jolts and pepper spray during the chase Friday but only subdued the man when they tackled him.

NYPD Blotta Lotta Wylde Shyt ~ Viva Iraq 2008

2008-04-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

just something i sorta wanted to say. can we gitta witness to this:

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
NY Post, Fri. April 4, 2008
Staten Island
A creep was arrested for stealing and cashing co-workers' paychecks. Amotz - oh, I'm sorry I mean Michael Barisciano, age 40, was the lowdown scoundrel who worked for the New York Container Terminal (a cargo facility on SI) where he stole 3 checks over a 2-year period. An audit determined he stole $3,600.

He was charged with forgery & grand larceny per the Staten Island District Attorney's office.

Not all that ugly, unless it hurt the people with their money or with the company whose monies he stole. If they were reimbursed, all's good. If they get restitution from him for the stolen money, that's O.K. too. VuaAAA!!

Yellow Nightclub in Roppongi (Tokyo Driftin')

2008-04-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

another place we've just gots ta get tooz....

Halloween party at Yellow in Roppongi. Trick or treat, anyone?

Copenhagen Classique

2008-04-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

and we wonder why we can't wait to get over there.....

a silouette of beauty from behind....

fashionista on wheels....

this is what i see as a photographique europa.....

speed kills - - - unless it looks good doing it!

she's got legs . . . and knows how to use 'em . . .

can you spell . . . SELF-EXPLANATORY?

2008-03-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth

Of National Lies and Racial America

By TIM WISE

For most white folks, indignation just doesn't wear well. Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot.

Indignation doesn't work for most whites, because having remained sanguine about, silent during, indeed often supportive of so much injustice over the years in this country--the theft of native land and genocide of indigenous persons, and the enslavement of Africans being only two of the best examples--we are just a bit late to get into the game of moral rectitude. And once we enter it, our efforts at righteousness tend to fail the test of sincerity.

But here we are, in 2008, fuming at the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago--occasionally Barack Obama's pastor, and the man whom Obama credits with having brought him to Christianity--for merely reminding us of those evils about which we have remained so quiet, so dismissive, so unconcerned. It is not the crime that bothers us, but the remembrance of it, the unwillingness to let it go--these last words being the first ones uttered by most whites it seems whenever anyone, least of all an "angry black man" like Jeremiah Wright, foists upon us the bill of particulars for several centuries of white supremacy.

But our collective indignation, no matter how loudly we announce it, cannot drown out the truth. And as much as white America may not be able to hear it (and as much as politics may require Obama to condemn it) let us be clear, Jeremiah Wright fundamentally told the truth.

Oh I know that for some such a comment will seem shocking. After all, didn't he say that America "got what it deserved" on 9/11? And didn't he say that black people should be singing "God Damn America" because of its treatment of the African American community throughout the years?

Well actually, no he didn't.

Wright said not that the attacks of September 11th were justified, but that they were, in effect, predictable. Deploying the imagery of chickens coming home to roost is not to give thanks as it is merely to note two things: first, that what goes around, indeed, comes around--a notion with longstanding theological grounding--and secondly, that the U.S. has indeed engaged in more than enough violence against innocent people to make it just a tad bit hypocritical for us to then evince shock and outrage about an attack on ourselves, as if the latter were unprecedented.

He noted that we killed far more people, far more innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki than were killed on 9/11 and "never batted an eye." He is correct on the math, he is correct on the innocence of the dead (neither city was a military target), and he is most definitely correct on the lack of remorse or even self-doubt about the act: sixty-plus years later most Americans still believe those attacks were justified, that they were needed to end the war and "save American lives."

But not only does such a calculus suggest that American lives are inherently worth more than the lives of Japanese civilians (or, one supposes, Vietnamese, Iraqi or Afghan civilians too), but it also ignores the long-declassified documents, and President Truman's own war diaries, all of which indicate clearly that Japan had already signaled its desire to end the war, and that we knew they were going to surrender, even without the dropping of atomic weapons. The conclusion to which these truths then attest is simple, both in its basic veracity and it monstrousness: namely, that in those places we committed premeditated and deliberate mass murder, with no justification whatsoever; and yet for saying that I will receive more hate mail, more hostility, more dismissive and contemptuous responses than will those who suggest that no body count is too high when we're the ones doing the killing. Jeremiah Wright becomes a pariah, because, you see, we much prefer the logic of George Bush the First, who once said that as President he would "never apologize for the United States of America. I don't care what the facts are."

What Jeremiah Wright knows, and told his flock--though make no mistake, they already knew it--is that 9/11 was neither the first, nor worst act of terrorism on American soil. The history of this nation for folks of color, was for generations, nothing less than an intergenerational hate crime, one in which 9/11s were woven into the fabric of everyday life: hundreds of thousands of the enslaved who died from the conditions of their bondage; thousands more who were lynched (as many as 10,000 in the first few years after the Civil War, according to testimony in the Congressional Record at the time); millions of indigenous persons wiped off the face of the Earth.

No, to some, the horror of 9/11 was not new. To some it was not the day that "everything changed." To some, everything changed four hundred years ago, when that first ship landed at what would become Jamestown. To some, everything changed when their ancestors were forced into the hulls of slave ships at Goree Island and brought to a strange land as chattel. To some, everything changed when they were run out of Northern Mexico, only to watch it become the Southwest United States, thanks to a war of annihilation initiated by the U.S. government. To some, being on the receiving end of terrorism has been a way of life; indeed, absolutely normal in fact.

But white folks have a hard time hearing these simple truths, as if it is impossible to listen to an alternative version of reality. Indeed, what seems to bother white people more than anything, whether in the recent episode, or at any other time, is being confronted with the recognition that black people do not, by and large, see the world like we do; that black people, by and large, do not view America as white people view it. We are, in fact, shocked that this should be so, having come to believe, apparently, that the falsehoods to which we cling as life are equally shared by our darker-skinned compatriots.

This is what James Baldwin was talking about in his classic 1972 work, No Name in the Street, wherein he noted:

"White children, in the main, and whether they are rich or poor, grow up with a grasp of reality so feeble that they can very accurately be described as deluded--about themselves and the world they live in. White people have managed to get through their entire lifetimes in this euphoric state, but black people have not been so lucky: a black man who sees the world the way John Wayne, for example, sees it would not be an eccentric patriot, but a raving maniac."

And so we were shocked in 1987, when Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall declined to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution, because, as he noted, most of that history had been one of overt racism and injustice, and to his way of thinking, the only history worth celebrating had been that of the past three or four decades.

We were shocked to learn that black people actually believed that a white cop who was a documented racist might frame a black man (Mark Furman in O.J. trial); we're shocked to learn that lots of black folks still perceive the U.S. as a racist nation--we're stunned that people who say they experience discrimination regularly [NO - they're not stunned, they're in denial because it's easier to believe you are wrong than to believe they are wrong at heart] and actually think that those experiences and the supporting social studies data might actually say something about the nation in which they reside. Imagine.

Black people do not, in the main, get misty eyed at the sight of the flag the way white people do--and this is true even for millions of black veterans--for they understand that the nation for whom that flag waves is still not fully committed to their own equality. They repulse at those tunes that some white people seem so eager to belt out, like "God Bless America," for they know that whites sang those words loudly and proudly even as they were enforcing Jim Crow segregation, rioting against blacks who dared move into previously white neighborhoods, throwing rocks at Dr. King and then cheering, as so many did, when they heard the news that he had been assassinated.

Whites refuse to remember that which black folks cannot afford to forget. I've seen white people stunned to the point of paralysis when they learn the truth about lynchings in this country. They were never told the truth: that lynchings were often community events, advertised in papers as "Negro Barbecues," involving hundreds or even thousands of whites, who would join in the fun, eat chicken salad and drink sweet tea, all while the black victims of their depravity were being hung, then shot, then burned, and then having their body parts cut off, to be handed out to onlookers. They are stunned to learn that postcards of the events were traded as souvenirs, and that very few whites, including members of their own families did or said anything to stop it.

Rather than knowing about and confronting the ugliness of our past, whites take steps to excise the less flattering aspects of our history so that we need not be bothered with them. So, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, site of an orgy of violence against the black community in 1921, city officials literally went into the town library and removed all reference to the mass killings in the Greenwood district from the papers with a razor blade--an excising of truth and an assault on memory that would remain unchanged for over seventy years.

Most white people desire, or perhaps even require the propagation of lies when it comes to our history. But that white version of America is not only extraordinarily incomplete, in that it so favors the white experience to the exclusion of others; it is more than that; it is actually a slap in the face to people of color, a re-injury, a reminder that they are essentially irrelevant, their concerns trivial, their lives unworthy of being taken seriously. In that sense, and what few if any white Americans appear capable of grasping at present, is that "Leave it Beaver" and "Father Knows Best," portray an America so divorced from the reality of the times in which they were produced, as to raise serious questions about the sanity of those who found them so moving, so accurate, so real. These iconographic representations of life in the U.S. are worse than selective, worse than false, they are assaults to the humanity and memory of black people, who were being savagely oppressed even as June Cleaver did housework in heels and laughed about the hilarious hijinks of Beaver and Larry Mondello.

These portraits of America are certifiable evidence of how disconnected white folks were--and to the extent we still love them and view them as representations of the "good old days" to which we wish we could return, still are--from those men and women of color with whom we have long shared a nation. One month prior, Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus called out the National Guard to block black students from entering Little Rock Central High; and nine days before America was introduced to the Cleavers those black students were finally allowed to enter, amid the screams of enraged, unhinged, viciously bigoted white people, who saw nothing wrong with calling children niggers in front of cameras. That was America of the 1950s: not the sanitized version of escape thanks to the miracle of syndication, which merely allows white people to relive a lie, year after year after year.

No, it is not the pastor who distorts history; Nick at Nite and your teenager's textbooks do that. It is not he who casts aspersions upon "this great country" as Barack Obama put it in his public denunciations of him; it is the historic leadership of the nation that has cast aspersions upon it; it is they who have cheapened it, who have made gaudy and vile the promise of American democracy by defiling it with lies. They engage in a "pathological patriotism", that asks of those who adhere to it not merely a love of country but the turning of one's nation into an idol to be worshipped.

It is they--the flag-lapel-pin wearing leaders of this land--who bring shame to the country with their nonsensical suggestions that we are always noble in warfare, always well-intended, and although we occasionally make mistakes, we are never the ones to blame for anything. Nothing that happens to us has anything to do with us at all. It is always about them. They are evil, crazy, fanatical, hate our freedoms, and are jealous of our prosperity. When individuals prattle on in this manner we diagnose them as narcissistic, as deluded. When our nation does it, it's OK and makes sense.

So what can we say about a nation that values lies more than it loves truth? What we can say is that such a place is signing its own death warrant. What we can say is that such a place is missing the only and last opportunity it may ever have to make things right, to live up to its professed ideals. What we can say is that such a place can never move forward, because we have yet to fully address and come to terms with that which lay behind.

What can we say about a nation where white preachers can lie every week from their pulpits without so much as having to worry that their lies might be noticed by the shiny white faces in their pews, while black preachers who tell one after another essential truth are demonized, not only for the stridency of their tone--which needless to say scares white folks, who have long preferred a style of praise and worship resembling nothing so much as a coma--but for merely calling bullshit on those whose lies are swallowed whole?

And oh yes, I said it: white preachers lie. In fact, they lie with a skill, fluidity, and precision unparalleled in the history of either preaching or lying, both of which histories stretch back a ways and have often overlapped. They lie every Sunday, as they talk about a Savior they have chosen to represent dishonestly as a white man. To lie about Jesus, about the one they consider God--to bear false witness as to who this man was and what he looked like--is no cause for concern.

Nor is it a problem for these preachers to teach and preach that those who don't believe as they believe are going to hell. Despite the fact that such a belief imples that God is so fundamentally evil that he would burn non-believers in a lake of eternal fire--many of the white folks who now condemn Jeremiah Wright welcome that theology of hate. Indeed, back when President Bush was the Governor of Texas, he endorsed this kind of thinking, responding to a question about whether Jews were going to go to hell, by saying that unless one accepted Jesus as one's personal savior, the Bible made it pretty clear that indeed, hell was where you'd be heading.

So you can curse God in this way--and to imply such hate on God's part is surely to curse him--and in effect, curse those who aren't Christians, and no one says anything. That isn't considered bigoted. One is not disqualified from becoming President in the minds of millions because they go to a church that says that shit every single week, or because they believe it themselves - and millions do, and see nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

So white folks are mad at Jeremiah Wright because he challenges their views about their country.
Pardon me, but something is wrong here, and whatever it is, is not to be found at Trinity United Church of Christ.

Tim Wise is the author of: White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press, 2005), and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge: 2005). He can be reached at: timjwise@msn.com

This essay originally appeared in Lip.

Doin' Da Butt! (Click To See More)

2008-03-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

Ya'know, just when you think it's over, its just not. Because these people will find a will anna way to freak me out with new shit all the time. Behold......

Camden cop shot,nude man dead
By Robert Moran and Peter Mucha
Inquirer Staff Writers

A confrontation this morning in Camden has left a female police officer shot in the head and a nude man dead.

The officer was taken to Cooper University Hospital's trauma unit for treatment, where she was in serious condition.

About 8 a.m., multiple calls were made to 911 about a disturbance near 10th and Morton Streets, according to Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Several officers arrived to find a naked man outside.

"He was going up and down the street, banging on doors, naked with a knife. He was threatening the whole neighborhood," Laughlin said.

The man, Lamont Morton, 19, of Camden, had already stabbed someone, who was taken to Cooper University Hospital for treatment, he said. Somehow a female officer, a 15-year veteran of the force, got into a physical altercation, with Morton attempting to get her gun, Laughlin said. A male officer at the scene then shot Morton multiple times as he was still grappling with her, Laughlin said.

The female officer was also struck by gunfire, but police are investigating whether she was accidentally shot by the male officer or whether her own gun discharged, Laughlin said. Around 9:30 a.m., the body of the deceased, a black male, could be seen lying face down on a sidewalk at the scene. As authorities briefly lifted a white sheet off the body, he appeared to unclothed. The body was removed shortly afterward.

A woman at the scene, Geneva Smith, 23, told authorities and others gathered that Morton was the boyfriend of her sister, who lives in a nearby house. The area was cordoned off as members of the Camden police, the New Jersey state police and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office investigated.

And not to be outdone by the above, here's naked lunch part# 2:

Naked man causes thousands in damage to Pa. hotel, store
The Associated Press

LANCASTER, Pa. - A hotel and store in Lancaster County are assessing the damage after a naked man ran amok and allegedly did thousands of dollars worth of damage to two businesses.

West Lampeter Township police said they were dispatched to the Willow Valley Resort, and later Darrenkamp's Market, on Friday amid reports of a naked man on a rampage. Some office space at the resort was trashed and a forklift was driven into an interior wall, also damaging an overhead sewer pipe, authorities said.

Police said the man, whom they identified as Nicholas Hadzick, 28, of Freeland, then crossed the street and entered Darrenkamp's in the Willow Valley Shopping Center, causing more destruction. Joe Darrenkamp, company president, said Hadzick threw chairs, tossed a 300-pound pizza oven to the floor, as well as three scales, valued at about $7,000 each. Also damaged was a $40,000 meat-wrapping machine, several soda coolers and the windshield of a delivery truck.

The incident was captured on the market's surveillance cameras, Darrenkamp said. He estimated the cost of the damage at about $90,000.

Police charged Hadzick with risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief, open lewdness, public drunkenness and related counts. He was being held at Lancaster County Prison on $200,000 bail. Hadzick had been a guest at the resort, said Blaise Holzbauer, Willow Valley executive vice president and general manager.

Telephone messages left at three phone listings for a Nicholas Hadzick in the Freeland area were not returned. (like this is surprising.)

Well there you have it. Want more? Go back to the top 'n click on the title to check out another soiree of wildness on our sister station CNsaw . . .

sexy sexy sexy.....

2008-02-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

some fashion sense....

getting ready to see her daddy...

virginic naturale indeed....

talk about the vagina monalogues...

superbly sexy fashion-foward...

sexy on the beach...but it gets better....

WOW WOW WOW!!
eddy baby where are you?

HONG KONG - where else? lovely skyline.

kinda cloudy out there...but she was crystal clear.

Lindsay Lohan - You're No Marilyn Monroe

2008-02-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

then again, Marilyn was kinda wacked too. Lindsay Lohan, in her endless pursuit of the paparazzi and headlines, is edging her way into the pseudo-void created by Paris Hilton's jail controversy and Britney Spears' psycho meltdown. Lohan just did a photo spread for New York Magazine in a rendition of the famous Monroe "Last Sitting", so called because a week after doing this famous 1962 nude pose, Marilyn was found dead in her apartment in L.A. Lindsay is a tart of sorts, not as hot as she likes one to believe, and certainly no Marilyn Monroe (blond hair dye notwithstanding). But this pic of her is fashionaby nice. What the hell - go with it!

2050

2008-02-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to this Professor Swain on Lou Dobbs tonight, talking about the (i think) now-worn logo about "by 2050, the United States will be a predominantly minority population", as if when that happens, blacks and whites will live together in harmony like ebony and ivory. Not tryin' to diss the sista (she is more knowledgable than me) but I ask: So What?? What does that mean for the sons and daughters of Africa in America? Nothing good, I say. Why??

Because the way we will get to such a population status (and more on why it may not mean much) is through the Hispanic American population. They are currently having children at 110% times the rate of white and black American families. More than 125% the rate of Asian Americans. There will also be an explosion of the Hindu-Indian American population, which already shows itself in its infusion into our financial, service and governmental industries. These 2 populations in particular will transform the way America looks and acts. The latter should concern you, as this will affect the attitudes towards black Americans adversely, because there is already some dissent, prejudice and indifference towards African Americans by these groups. Will their children expand the attitudes by their sheer numbers? Time will tell.

What is true is that the black population, barely growing 2-5% a year, with low birth rates rivaling whites and asians, will not be the new growth population with overwhelming influence on future events. Their population will be about 8% of the population by 2050, down from 11% today. More likely Hispanics will have a much stronger say on events, especially as they will inherit the native son argument over anyone from India or Pakistan. But the Hindu-Indians will be more respected in the business community, which will propel this group to a high status and visibility.

What world will they inherit? Probably a nation with more vigourous intents to protect civil rights, but also one with both whites and blacks feeling weakened in power and living with more anxiety about their future. As whites will undoubtedly still have more money than blacks at that time, they will be able to weather and adapt to survive, while being in a position to protect their culture and wealth to some extent. Blacks, with less of both, will probably lose more of what they had.

It's likely not an a cherries-and-cream future for all of us. If you're black, think about it.

Vancouver B.C.

2008-02-02T03:33:00.000-08:00

I like the feisty yet serene view of Vancouver. A Canadian Seattle, if there is even a difference between the two entities. Plus I like the "dirty-stinky-thang" little look here:

and of course this is electric . . . . . .

especially love the silver blue eyes piercing at ya. not to mention the other 2 balls staring at 'cha as well. well, if they don't burst all over the floor first, of course....

Ode the The Ohio Players

2008-01-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

Long before any of these 21st century music icons got crazy, there was a place and time in a not-so-far-off place not-so-long ago, that had the lock on the music. And the raunch. Perfect example is the 70s funk band the Ohio Players. Formed in 1959 in another music era, but inspired by the upcoming modern funk sound brought on by Sly & The Family Stone in the late 60s and early 70s, this group made some of the best funk and disco music heard in the 1970s. But they were notoriously known for their sexually explicit album covers.

One great thing about vinyl over CDs and MP3s, vinyl albums were larger, so their art covers were too. No little picture of the cover on my iPod, or 3 1/2" square CD jewlbox, these covers were 12" square, a foot-long hoagie of visuals. So with that you get covers like the one above. This is the cover of the album Honey, one of the Ohio Players best compilations. Oh, and the cover beauty covering herself with honey is October 1974 Playmate of the Month Ester Cordet, who at 28 years old then was a perfect (by mid-20th century standards) 36-24-26. She's 61 years old now, but with 50 being the new 30 she's no doubt still looking good.

tokyo drifting it's better than....

2008-01-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

from the cycling blogs, i found this shot of this extremely gorgeous woman in tokyo biking her way into town:

so when are we going? is it time to board the plane yet?

Amy You're Such a Wilde Freakazoid

2008-01-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

amy's always bustin' out of the L7 zone, baby you'd make Rick James proud...

Edo aka Tokyo 150 years ago

2008-01-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

While wathcing this cool movie called Kwaidan (Jp. 1964) I heard about the great city of Edo. so i looked it up and wow, they had a million people in the 1600s. had to imagine that. anyway this movie is kinda a scary ghost movie (Coco finds it scary Japanese style and doesn't like it, go figure) that occurs in the townhomes of Edo.

this is a picture of Edo circa 1866. of course, this is the ancient name of Tokyo from 1457, when the Edo (now Imperial) Castle was built, to 1868, the end of the Tokugawa shogunate period:

put her somewhere

2008-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

nothing but style....
scrumptiously done.

Interview with a Vamp

2008-01-18T16:53:00.001-08:00

Here's aa hott hott fashionista in London who's an up and coming designer of haute coiture. and man one fine sistah! but gotten that hot flash out of the way, here's

the Mei Hui Liu interview…

She just opened the Respiro Boutique just off Carnaby Street in the centre of London’s fashion retail zone last year. She's a hot commodity in the London fashion scene, and her reputation is growing, spreading over to New York and Paris. She has a following from her days with the Victim fashion house.

check out her interview here: http://stylescout.blogspot.com/2006/11/mei-hui-liu-interview-mei-hui-liu-up.html#links

London Style Out One Midsummer's NIght

2008-01-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

More from The Stylescout blog:

She has a strange fit in those pants. But sexy gams there. And a nice sweet smiling face : ) Hey, the couple below looks fab:

Sexy, sharp, loose, a bit drunk he might be. But to the fashionista point. Umm...Personally I'm a fan of the closeup here:

She looks conservative, fab and wild all at the same time. OK so I have ulterior motives...

Posted by The Stylescout, featured here as a link on this bolg....oops i mean blog (whatever).

'Cloverleaf' Movie Features a Philly Local who Made Good

2008-01-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

i Give props to someone from where i used to live:

Here's Abington/Warminster raised actor Mike Vogel arriving with co-star Jessica Lucas at the Los Angeles premiere of "Cloverfield." Vogel, who stars as Jason Hawkins, is among the stars appearing in this hotly anticipated sci-fi thriller opening tomorrow about a monster attack on New York City which, among other things, features a decapitated Statue of Liberty (yeah cut the b's head off!) and spiders eating people. Vogel's other credits include Poseidon, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Rumor Has It, among other films.

Jessica Lucas (born 9/24/85) is a Canadian actress born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, also appears in "Cloverfield" as Lily, Vogel's character's love interest. Jessica is best known for her TV role as Ronnie Lake on CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, but has also appeared in Life As We Know It (with Sue Miller), teen comedy She's The Man (with Amanda Bynes), and the 2006 fantasy movie The Covenant.

DRAMATIC SEATTLE VUE

2008-01-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

Yes - love this view, as it's from the Space Needle and shoots down southward toward my nabe Belltown where I stay when I'm living in Seattle. that black triangular building in the middle is accross the street from both the Warwick and the Hotel Andra, and Ralph's Natural Food Store. Look deep in the distance and you'll see the Cascade Mountains. And note the Seattle Monorail running down Fifth Avenue (note the metal strips running down the middle of the street in this pic) -

go'head ~ slide it back 'n forth...u know u want to.

Elliott Bay (foreground), Downtown Seattle skyline (top center), and the Port of Seattle (right)

Why I Will Always Love You Seattle

2008-01-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Still one of my favorite American towns. Not that I don't like other places, like home, best sometimes. But it's a cool place to be. I enjoy it when I visit there. Lots of pretty girls. And for the girls lots of pretty guys, too. It's that Northwest thing, y'know.

install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player

And my favorite - The Space Needle. The view, the sight of it.
Makes me wanna stay longer. Stay in Belltown, be at the Andra. Hang in Capitol Hill, shop at Pike Street Market, have dinner at a waterfront restaurant in West Seattle, cruise the campus at UW, hear good music on Pioneer Square. Do whatcha wanna do just cap it all off at the Needle.

A New Blog to view

2008-01-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

I found this while setting my screen name on this blog so I could write. We have to sign on, you know. Anyway, it's a blog from expats who live in Buenos Aires. she's kinda airy, and clearly rich cuz i can't afford to do what she's doing, but then i don't have a rich husband.

or rich wife.

actually, this blog totally sucks. but if you want to get totally bored anyway, or if you're still trying to come down from that meth, you find relief at The Sexy Spanish Club in Buenos Aires: http://sexyspanishclub.blogspot.com/

good luck wif that. but for a goofy time, anywhere, anytime, this might be as bad as it gets.

a blog about change in our social paradigm

2008-01-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

we're experiencing a change in the world we live in:

But if you listen closely, you might hear something — a faint but persistent tapping at the window that economists, criminologists and biologists say is the sound of change arriving anyway. From capital punishment to global warming to homosexuality to abortion, many of the social issues that divide us are shifting and evolving — perhaps even in some instances into a new consensus, or at least, and no less profoundly, toward a reframing of the old debates.

POLITICS might be stuck in the slow lane, but science, capitalism and American culture and society are decidedly not, and all are making creative end runs around the gridlock. Mr. Obama’s call in his Iowa victory speech — for “a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states” — evokes an earlier time in America, but it also suggests a future that may be unfolding no matter what politicians like him say or do.

“New ways of looking at the world are emerging, but the language of talking about them and what they mean hasn’t caught up,” said Anne Fausto-Sterling, a professor of biology and gender studies at Brown University.

In her field, Professor Fausto-Sterling said, a divide that has gripped society for decades over nature vs. nurture — specifically, whether homosexuality is ordained in the womb or developed in puberty — has been thrown into irrelevance by advances in the study of human genetics. Nature and nurture, it seems, are both too simple to explain everything; genes set the pattern, but environmental conditions then decide whether those genes are turned on or off.

On the equally tangled landscape of capital punishment, there have been legal challenges to the injected drug cocktail in use since the 1970s, as well as front-page exposés from all over the country about death-row inmates cleared through DNA analysis. Both are forcing a reconsideration of the death penalty in state legislatures and courts at a time when crime is far less a front-burner anxiety than it was a generation ago.

In the marketplace, consumer choices and social goals have melded, once again bypassing the political system. Though some of the efforts are probably no more than public relations and pandering to the latest fad, others cannot be so easily dismissed. Those include hybrid vehicles, which are carving out a kind of middle-brow fuel efficiency: not an all-electric car or a bicycle, but not a Hummer, either.

As for abortion, the divisions are probably as deep as ever, but the underlying terrain has shifted. If human stem cells, which can be used to grow new organs, can be made from skin cells rather than embryonic cells, as a recent study suggests, then a whole corner of the abortion debate fades away: There’s no prospect of a global industry in destroying embryos for medical harvest.

And while concerns over privacy will persist no matter what happens to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s landmark case legalizing abortion in 1973, the threat of the back-alley abortionist with a coat-hanger that haunted society before Roe perhaps has been muted too by the abortion pill, RU486, which would presumably still be available (if in some cases illegally) no matter what.

Many of the great debates, in short, have become a bit passé, precisely as anticipated by President John F. Kennedy. “Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint — Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative or moderate,” Mr. Kennedy said in a 1962 news conference. But, he said, most problems had become “technical problems, administrative problems; they are very sophisticated judgments which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past.”

In such an environment, the real challenge for politicians, whatever their party, is how to transcend partisanship not just in thought but in deed.

In a New York Times-CBS News poll last April, 43 percent of the respondents who thought the weather had become stranger lately volunteered that global warming was the probable cause, up from only 5 percent a decade ago. But asked in the same survey whether they’d support an increase in gasoline taxes if that might help fight the climate problem, a resounding 58 percent said no.

“Al Gore did a brilliant job of selling the message of global warming — he packaged it and sold it to America and I think the world,” said Laura Ries, the president of Ries & Ries, a marketing strategy firm in Atlanta. “But go to the checkout counter, and people are not always walking the walk.”

Ideas can and do break the barriers between thought and action, between the academy and the shoe-leather reality of the barricades, and sometimes it happens suddenly.

In the 1960s, the demographics of black migration from the South, charismatic leadership and televised images of the racist backlash combined to jar a nation and a Congress to consciousness. In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton stepped away from Democratic Party orthodoxy on welfare and broke the logjam, leading to a historic rethinking of the subject. In 2005, a decision by the Supreme Court affirming the right of the government of New London, Conn., to take property, pay the owners compensation, and give it to someone else for development led to an instant uprising against the practice in statehouses and city halls all over the nation.

“One day it’s the Roman Empire and everybody believes in the pagan gods, the next day it’s Christian — how does that happen?” said Thomas Habinek, a professor of classics at the University of Southern California. Or the “rights of man,” which became a rallying cry of the French Revolution. “Nobody mentions it, and then a few years later there’s a revolution over it,” he said.

But an equally important question is why some ideas don’t break through.

Darwin’s theory of natural selection in evolution, for example, is the bedrock of modern biology, but it had an early life, long-since faded, as a social idea, “survival of the fittest,” that justified every racist thought and act of rapacious capitalist exploitation.

And nearly 150 years after the theory’s publication in “The Origin of Species,” millions of people, including some running for president, say they don’t believe in evolution because it remains an “unproven” theory (while other theories, like relativity, are accepted without much question).

Other times, society gets on with it, historians say, by simply turning the page, as occurred in the early 1800s, when deep divisions over religion, science and morality were papered over by a giant mental compromise that became known as the Victorian Age. The Victorians didn’t resolve the tensions over romanticism and materialism that had festered in Europe for centuries; they denied and suppressed them.

Today, pop entertainment, sophisticated marketing and the Internet can shift public thinking and taste as fast as a Britney Spears news cycle. Are the evolving attitudes that poll takers find about homosexuality, for example, a reflection of new science and genetics, or “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” or simply the fact that young people are more comfortable with gay friends who are acknowledging their sexuality earlier and more openly?

Professor Bunzl at Rutgers, who works on climate change and energy issues, said that the quieting of controversy could speak louder than the clamor of the fight itself.

“There is much more change going on than we realize,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “And one way it expresses itself is how all of a sudden we realize that what was an issue no longer matters.”

Indeed, in his Iowa speech, Mr. Obama seemed to suggest that even having a conversation about healing and coming together was outdated, and that it’s what you do next, with a consensus and a community made real through action, that matters.

“We are one nation, we are one people,” he said. “And our time for change has come.”

just seriously hott

2008-01-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

while trolling on the internet one night, i ran into this one:

she's from Canada but now lives in London. Seriously hot!!

Happy New Year 2008

2008-01-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Let's start the year off right with a post of these drop-dead gorgeous fashionistas from London. See them and lots more fashion and London views at The Style Scout http://stylescout.blogspot.com. Pretty hot spot. Read and weep, or book a flight to enjoy the sights yourself. Some cool Berlin fashion on there too.

A Gift from Bolpf to Coco

2007-12-29T16:00:00.001-08:00

just wanted to say many more Coco you're so sweet. thanks for being you, we all love you.

above just for you is an art gift for an art afficionado like you. you've already amassed quite a collection of pop art in your NYC loft. well here's one more - one you'll appreciate - as an african-american artist of no name, who provides this afrocentric pop art above.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

2007-12-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say happy birthday to my beautiful wife, who I love very much...

A Pakistani Flashpoint

2007-12-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

* from blog CNSaw article "Pakistan is now the Epicenter of Terrorism" published 12/28/07.

make no mistake about it - no matter what the outcome of the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan is perfectly poised to become the new response point of a new level of militancy and terrorism in the world. Expect to see more spectacular acts of terror, ranging without doubt from more car bombings at crucial Western markets and transportation points, to 9/11-level catastrophes by 2011. If for no other reason, it will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11/2001.

Map of Pakistan and adjoining nations...

I hope you're listening. Al-Qaeda has already established a strong, relatively-permanent (and most likely very mobile), base of operations in Waziristan, the western, mountainous, and well-defended and populous provinces of Pakistan. Uncontrollable by the Musharraf government, they are strong enough to establish & maintain leadership in an area quickly, and perhaps mobile enough (thanks to the 'spreading of the faith' thru the Internet, video feeds to news media, and speeches like the tape coming out soon from Bin-Laden) that make it able to re-establish leadership when needed where its support is strong, as they appear to have done in Waziristan. They also almost did it in Sudan, and they definitely did it with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Perhaps the Wazirs, cousins of the Afghans, can dig where their brothers are coming from. Perhaps they feel the same way when Bin Laden speaks to them, to the heart.

So how do you combat the heart? This is the core issue that has to be either defeated or embraced into a peaceful co-existence. That co-existence is likely impossible, so we have to either change our ways to accommodate their fears or fight and defend ourselves. Sadly, this one doesn't have much of a choice but to fight.

Our world is far from perfect. But at least for the most part no one is telling me what to do. In fact, unless it breaks some rule that I agreed to abide, or involves the unspeakable, I'm probably free to do what I want. That is NOT what Islam offers me, I suspect. While I respect Islam highly, I am not a religious person. That means not Christian, either. I'm happy I can live somewhere where I am relatively free to be who I want to be, not what someone else wants.

The threat of Pakistan is a strong military force and nuclear weapons. More than enough firepower, under the wrong hands, to strike out decisively against Israel, or India, or Iraq. I doubt they'll mess with Iran, but if used to start a regional chain reaction of wars, especially one that bring in the United States, I'm not so sure they wouldn't.

We must realize NOW that we are in true danger from other world powers! Not as a demagogy, but as a fundamental sea change in how the rest of the world sees itself, not how they see us. In fact, they are dismissive more and more of our Western Anglo view of the world. Whether you like it or not the influence and power of the non-U.S. world is steadily increaing, and our ability to be the preeminent world power is steadily weakening. Expect Al-Qaeda to be on the move from now until the end of the decade, with stunning results. Oh, and by the way, he cees u:

What does Bhutto's Death Do for You?

2007-12-27T23:56:00.000-08:00

We mourn the death of Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Not just because she came from a comfortable life of status to help the common person, not just because she was well-educated and wanted democracy as the bedrock of freedom for her people, but for a more simple reason:

She represented the hopes and dreams of a human race longing for peace and freedom to live without hurt or hurting others, something the whole world wants now more than ever. When such deaths of martyrs occur at such crucial times, it tends to bring very ugly wars. Through which, if past similar events are a measure, they may bring extensive social improvement.

Such was the case when Archbishop Ferdinand's death sparked WWI. Such was the case when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and fire broke out on the streets of America in the 1960s. All bad events, but significant social change for the better occurred after it.

Such was the case when Saddam Hussein was captured, and later put to death by a proxy legal tribunal crafted and created by the U.S. government. Mind you, Saddam was no martyr, but the result was significant: It brought the civil war now ensuing, more terrorism not less as promised, and America's now-seemingly endless involvement over there.

But as for Bhutto's effect, will this recent martyrdom now raise the stakes for American peace and security, at home and abroad? Are we approaching yet another 9/11 brought on by American meddling in other nation's affairs? I do believe so.

What goes around, always comes around.

Denzel At It Again - He's the Best of His Time.

2007-12-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

FILMOLOGY IN MOTION:

THE GREAT DEBATERS (OPENING CHRISTMAS DAY)
12/20/2007
By Sergio Mims (wif a little extra journalism from VillagePeeps)
CAST: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker,
Denzel Whitaker (great name choice), Kimberly Elise, Gina Ravera
WRITTEN BY Robert Eisele, DIRECTED BY Denzel Washington
RATED PG-13 *** Already the recipient of 5 (count 'em - FIVE) Golden Globe Awards

The Great Debaters announces its brazen intentions to right a few wrongs straight from the outset. It audaciously wants to answer for all the negative images and degrading stereotypes of black people that have plagued films for last 100 years. It’s a bold, ambitious mission and though one black film (or 100 for that matter) can’t rise up to that challenge, Debaters works triple hard to do its best. The end result is an excellent, rock solid effort that should be on the top of everyone’s “must see” list.

Though we have seen many times over and know all too well the “inspirational” film genre about a group of people rising against the odds before facing the ultimate test and even can predict the final outcome, Debaters puts a spin on the usual proceedings with plot twists, surprising character developments and shifting relationship dynamics unexpected for the genre.
Washington admits to having a greater appreciation for directors. The film is produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films, Todd Black, and Joe Roth. It is executively produced by David Crockett and The Weinstein Company, and is distributed by MGM. It was written by Robert Eiselle who was introduced to an article about the Wiley Team’s unheard of victory thanks to the help of debate coach Melvin Tolson.

Melvin B. Tolson (center) with the Original Wiley College debate team in 1935 after Harvard University U.S. Championship win. Photo credit: Courtesy of Wiley College

The film is based on the true story of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the heralded 1930’s debate team at Wiley College, an all black college still based in East Texas. The team led by their demanding coach and mentor Melvin Tolson (Washington) rises to the occasion beating all oppositions both white and black until they are invited to compete against Harvard University for the ultimate prize and national recognition.
Needless to say Tolson and his team, all played wonderfully by Smollet (Eve’s Bayou, Roll Bounce) and newcomers Parker and Denzel Whitaker (no relation to Forest Whitaker) face battles of self doubt, setbacks, and tremendous expectations and, of course, the all American scourge of racism as a constant presence which occasionally rears its violent side as in an extremely brutal scene where Tolson and his team accidentally come upon a horrific lynch mob and their unfortunate victim.
Jurnee said it was more about the actual events.
Yet, one of best and most refreshing aspects of The Great Debaters, thanks to an intelligent screenplay by Robert Eisele and nuanced direction by Washington, is that, from the beginning, it treats knowledge, learning and intellectual pursuit as something completely normal and expected by black people and not as an alien concept whose value we find dubious. In the film both parents and teachers demand the best from their students and children and they in turn not only expect that from them, but they try as hard as possible to live up to those expectations. For that alone Debaters is a blessed relief for those who have suffered through enough Whose The Caddys and Soul Planes.

In his second outing as director (after the overrated Antwone Fischer) Denzel Washington has clearly grown more confident and assured behind the camera. He’s become more visually attuned and creative in Debaters with some remarkably striking sequences such as the wonderfully atmospheric opening of the film crosscutting a raucous, sweaty, down home, blues party with a shallow figure of a mysterious man running through the swamp in a desperate attempt to stop a horrible act from happening.
Whitaker's view and Washington's view are the same - Two of the Greatest Academy Award Winners Ever!
It should be no surprise that all the performances are uniformly excellent but then with Washington and Forest Whitaker together in a film it would be expected that everyone else has to be at the best. No slouching when you have to go up against these two.
Before you think I’ve gone soft, let me point out that Debaters does have a few minor problems including an unrequited love affair subplot that’s not really necessary and an awkward, unexplained appearance by Washington during an important moment of the film which, instead of being the dramatic wallop it was intended to be, will only have viewers wondering how he got there. The film also has several historical inaccuracies which no doubt the filmmakers knew they were making but intentionally put in the film to make a bigger dramatic impact.
In spite of these small faults The Great Debaters is far and away better than the standard “inspirational” film and actually becomes something more than that. A moving, emotional movie that delivers a genuine sense of joy and satisfaction at the end.
Film critic, lecturer and festival consultant Sergio Mims covers all things film from the city that works, Chicago. He is a regular contributor to ebonyjet.com

Anyone Up For A Chess Game?

2007-12-10T04:27:00.000-08:00

A rather unique way to play. But who doesn't like life-size entertainment? Lika go for it Papi !!

Amy Winehouse - Great Singer, Just Not One Of Music's Finest Moments

2007-12-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

So this is Amy Winehouse? The Brit Blue-Eyed Soul Singer (her eyes are brown, this is just 70s Hall-n-Oates-speak for white singers of black soul music) can't seem to decide whether she wants to be a buxom Kim Kardashian-run-for-her-money lookalike or a Crack Whore. But after hearing her, I can say for sure mon, she's one helluva singer. Check out her videos.

we can't wait for the sex DVD - now that's so Kim Kardashian!

Great Years of the Modern Music Era: 1955 to Now

2007-11-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not old enough to be sure about some of these years, especially those before 1960. But by many accounts, most would start with 1956 - the year Elvis hit the charts hard. Now we can debate about his authenticity, since he stole his sound from black R&B legends of the time. But he is nonetheless the artist who folks from that era remember as starting the trend.

But I can tell you about the years I do know about:

1965: the year the Beatles and the Rolling Stones came to America, and Motown hit its peak. Yeah, I was a little too young to know this, but those who do would agree this was probably the pivital moment that music could never look back from forever.

1967: The Summer of Love. Nuff said. Too many artists to mention, but defintely the year that music hit the mark that defined everything that came after. One cool year, too (even if I was just a little boy then). Life was pretty cool in '67. Of my favorites of this year? Jim Morrison and the Doors (c'mon baby Light my Fire), Sly & The Family Stone (I Wanna Take ya Higher), and Edwin Birdsong (Here comes the Judge). But for many more, The Grateful Dead's debut.

1969: Woodstock. Need I say more? What more can I say about the year that changed America? Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Starship, the list is endless.

1971-72: Shaft, Superfly, Al Green, The O-Jays. And the beginning of TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia). The year America found its five on the black-hand side. And we're better for it.

1973: Earth, Wind & Fire with Evil. Stevie Wonder with Superstition. The Ohio Players, Mandrill, and the introduction of Parliament/Funkadelic. Yes. Boston. Traffic. Eric Clapton. Funk, R&B and Rock hit their stride. And with the jazz-rock-fusion of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Ramsey Lewis and the incomprorable Grover Washington Jr, the modern funk and smooth jazz sounds was born.

1978: The pinnacle of the Disco Era. Without a doubt, Donna Summer and many many others did a helluva job spearheading a revolution in dance music. And a social icon lifestyle standard, the predecessor of the Bling Era, was established. Think Saturday Night Fever.

1983: Michael Jackson. Madonna. Prince. Rick James. Lionel Ritchie, Evelyn Champagne King. Phil Collins. The Clash, Tina Turner. Punk Rock and New Wave were at their peak, a new music form was taking hold (rap) and the aforementioned artists put out music that became legend. For me, this was probably the best music year ever.

1991: New Jack Swing, which was brought to its still-dominant peak by the movie New Jack City (thanks Nino Brown and you Cash Money Brothers). This year inspired the likes of Teddy Riley, R. Kelly, Guy, Bobby Brown/New Edition's springoffs, and also brought us the West Coast Rap of Snoop, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Tupac Shakur. It's also the year I knew I'd never in life move into an apartment building called The Carter.

1997: Perhaps the coolest year ever; I like to refer to it as "the 9-7". I consider this year the current generation's 1967 or 1973, because the hip-hop revolution and the alternative music generation led us into the music download era, and was in fact LIVE and televised. Busta Rhymes, Usher, Common, Erika Badu, and the icons Mariah Carey, Diddy (when he was Puff Daddy), Biggie Smalls, an' on and on and on. Some of the best artists of the genre, many of whom are icons now, started or came of note in this year. And, like 1967, it was a very cool year to be alive. But most important, like '67 and '73, it inspired a new generation of enlightenment.

2000: the year of Bling, the Boy Bands, and Britney Spears. Ok, a little perverted on the history charts, but a significant year nonetheless. Although still part of the hip-hop revolution of 1997, it changed pop music to platinum status as not just music, but a new culture in America, which later inspired political movements like MoveOn.org and politics on the internet that still exist today. And - oops - some wardrobe malfunctions.

footnote: Quincy Jones was in the mix for damn near all of it.

Joyous Turkey Day, You Turkeys!

2007-11-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm just thinking about 'cha.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

just thought i'd wish everyone a happy safe and travel-logged thanksgiving weekend!

oh...and HAPPY HUNTING you f**kn 2nd Amendment freaks!

i'm just parking this story here to cut n paste into another blog...

2007-11-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

but it's good bloggings....

LAST week, the Pew Research Center published the 'astonishing finding' that 37 percent of African-Americans polled felt that “due to a widening income gap . . . the values of poor and middle-class blacks have grown more dissimilar over the past decade; and in contrast, the values of most blacks and whites have grown more alike.” I'm still trying to figure out who was 'astonished' by this 'finding'.

This smells of bleeding heart, except that you can see some truth of this in some parts of the U.S., especially where there has been significant industry secession from a city, but also where you see incredible wealth performance, such as New York, Washington, Dallas or L.A., but that's more black-to-white wealth disparities. But also one of class in some parts of town.

How did this happen? Well the old theories, slavery and segregation, surely laid the infrastructure that still exists benignly to this day. The new theories? The decline of factory jobs, crack cocaine, draconian drug laws and outsourcing to be sure.

It's jobs - which creates both stability, an important foundations from which to take risks and create wealth - which are the most significant tool that's needed, the keystone. Economic stability in the black community is the lifeblood, as in any community, that pours life and keeps us safe from the other ills.

The problem is the lack of jobs, and the segregation of opportunity that comes without it, that still marks the overall black community in the United States. This is no doubt emulated in many other parts of the world, but the U.S. must focus on its culpable acts over the years, not worry about what others may or may not do. This nation has a dismal record on its own standing as not to have to concern itself with how the rest of the world handles its problems (Darfur perhaps an exception). You wanna reduce crime, improve schools, and have a more harmonious society with less political division? Easy - use our great potential as a nation to close the gap between rich and poor, not just financially, but spiritually.

A Harvard study of the family trees of 20 successful African-Americans, shows an astonishing pattern: 15 of the 20 descend from at least one line of former slaves who managed to obtain property by 1920 — a time when only 25 percent of all African-American families owned property.

Imagine how different black-white relations would be had “40 acres and a mule” really been official U.S. government policy after the Civil War. The gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. Further intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment among every level through promoting upward mobility as a family value at all socioeconomic levels. But who is to do that? Black people, it's your problem you better start before you ask somebody else to do it.

Margaret Thatcher, in the 1980s, turned 1.5 million residents of public housing projects in Britain into homeowners. This was a positive (and liberal) step for the conservative PM Thatcher. It has had mixed results, apparently. But its core benefit is that it has created a stake in the land for these U.K. citizens they didn't have before.

The telltale fact is that the biggest gap in black prosperity isn’t in income, but in wealth. According to a study by the economist Edward N. Wolff, the median net worth of non-Hispanic black households in 2004 was only $11,800 — less than 10 percent that of non-Hispanic white households, $118,300. Sadly, in the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle, an enormous number of houses are being repossessed. But for the black poor, real progress may come only once they have an ownership stake in American society.

Some scholars say that the civil rights movement may be reborn, with the focus to thumbmark the causes of entrenched black economic struggling at all levels, both those afflicted upon and those self-inflicted, and take action. If there is a correlation between land ownership and success of African-Americans that is reflected in current socioeconomics, and partly the result of social forces set in motion by the dismal failure of 40 acres and a mule, then a correction - which means economic and social advancement in one's fellow man support - is surely needed before we really have 2 - or 3 - separate and unequal nations.

newsflash! the judith regan story is heating up!

2007-11-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

...just can't get it off the presses fast enough! now the heart of the story (the lawsuit by judith regan) is that roger ailes, the president of FOX Network at the time, personally pressured regan to lie about the kerik relationship.

...add to that, as i watch CNBC, rudy's relationship with roger ailes and FOX that has existed since the early 1980s (rudy was at roger's wedding, sat at his table at a white house correspondent's dinner, got FOX on NY Cable when Time-Warner refused, and so on. it's an incestuous story, an incestuous, toxic relationship.

...and of course, it is now shedding light on FOX News' agenda - to get a right-wing demogogue or a Republican they can control into the white house. guess who's their choice for that? yes folks, this 2008 is the year we may elect the Manchurian Candidate.

BTW....

2007-11-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

PULLEEEEZE! Bring us more Chrissy videos. He's W-I-L-D-E!!!

Electability v. Values

2007-11-14T16:03:00.000-08:00

Once again, another bite at the apple head of Rudy Guiliani. Judith Regan, the already-disgraced publisher who promoted "If I Did It" (and on the day O.J.'s in a hearing to see if he will stand trial for his latest shenanegan, no less) is now suing her publishers who fired her for the O.J. book. She claims that they tried to hush-hush her under pressure from the Guiliani camp over her romantic relationship with Bernard Kerik. Sheeesh!! Daayyymm!!

A little more on the lovers:
After the 911 attacks in 2001, Regan published a "sensational memoir" by New York police chief Bernard Kerik and began sleeping with him. They apparently used an apartment that had been donated to the city for use by emergency workers at ground zero, but which Kerik kept for himself.^[2] At the time, Kerik had another mistress, Jeannette Pinero, a married NYC Dept. Of Corrections officer,^[3] and Regan cut off the relationship after discovering that his wife was pregnant as well.^[4] Thereafter, she told friends that he had begun to harass her, and that she hired a bodyguard for protection. Kerik's lawyer denied the harassment claim.^{[5]
* from Wikipedia

We enjoy the controversy and juicyness of the story. Rudy's not at the center, but surely has to be questioned about his associates and friends. Hey, I have some rude boys for friends myself, but even our best party (3 strippers dancing and laying on the pool table while the boys played cue ball) doesn't come close to an average Tuesday after work for Bernie. Oh, rudy, be careful who you lay in the bed of politics with!

Rudy's judgment is coming to bear once again. It WILL be the 'house of cards' that brings his nomination hopes down as the cumulative effect weighs in. The Christian Right will eventually abandon him.

BUT - I predict he will win. Why? Because while the heartland types don't share his values, his winning will help them maintain control of the country, and thus push their agenda - their 'VALUES'. The path to power after Bush is the issue. Keeping the country out of the hands of despots, minorities, and heaven forbid - those illegal Mexicans, who no doubt are related to Al Qaeda (if we think so) is the only goal. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!

But before you kick another Republican, note that Hillary's donkeys are not too far aside. Her camp obviously put pressure on Eliot Spitzer of NY to drop that drivers licenses for illegals proposal, once it became clear that it was a fair-game election issue for the Senator from NY. No matter that the others are weak on the issue as well, it was proposed by her Dem Governor, in her state. Not good. She ain't havin' none 'o that! Like Rudy apparently, Hillary has goons too.

Let's face facts - the country is divided. There are many cracks now, but the main ravines are rooted in the same old values - fear of those different, resistance to tolerance, lack of compassion, looking for handouts, expecting others to do for you instead of doing for yourself, hating others because you fear they may get past you. If we elect a Democratic president, we will likely be embattled in partisianship for the next 4 years. If we elect another Republican, it better be a major improvement from Bush, especially if he (no 'she' here) keeps us in Iraq and/or goes into Iran.

If the values people really are convictious to their beliefs, they'd push the electability of Mike Hukabee. He needs money, more TV ads, more push - because from what I've seen, if you're Republican he represents more of what you want - if that's really values. Of course, perhaps the value these folks really want to continue is HATING - SOMEONE.

START BY STOP HATING, GOP.}

xmas upon us.

2007-11-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

we will start with the turkey, and then the cranberry sauce, and then the vegatables. then the cake, drink, and wine. then the christmas season begins!

by then we will also be feeling the early stages of the effects of $100-gallon oil prices on the pump or in the electric bill. then the tight budget pinch begins.

problem is, both will come by christmas, approximately 6 weeks from now. no you'll probably feel in during your winter bills to come, but the increases will likely appear by january, just in time for your credit card bills that will also be coming from christmas. hope you have enough!

************ my advice....keep the heat off until january... **********

late nite fun

2007-10-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

why am i up at 4am washing clothes? i don't fuckin' know. oh that's right - i don't have any socks or underwear to wear to work tomorrow. yup. well i'd better put them things in the dryer!

Old, but still creepy as HAIL

2007-10-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

It's Chrissy, Bitch!!

I have much love for Chris Crocker, even though he's probably one of the most wacked, cracked out people on this planet!

His rendition of Brit Brit's "Gimme Gimme MOAR":

Sadly, he put on a better performance than Brit's VMA's and her actual video. Times infinity. Plus 1.

Manhattan of the Middle East?

2007-09-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

Burj Dubai (the word Burj is arabic for Tower), in very beautiful downtown Dubai, shines light on the ever-evolving epicentre of our 21st century world. Now the tallest building (or free-standing structure) in the world, along with the many buildings you see in the background standing off the shores of North America, it gives new definition to the question of who has the most influencial business center today. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is host to the new wealthy world order, including many wealthy Americans (Michael Jackson being one of its most famous citizens today). I wonder if Michael is now a Muslim, as he has close ties to the Nation of Islam, to the Saudi prince, and lives in an Arab nation now. Well, that question can maybe be posed to some other wealthy Westerners who now call Dubai home sweet home, livin' the life of Riley. Considering relocation? Check out Dubai.

So how long does it take em to determine if a crime of hate is actually a hate crime?

2007-09-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

The FBI enters this case of ghastly abuse as it appears to struggle with the issue of whether to charge the perpetrators with a hate crime. Are you kidding?? If this isn't a hate crime, then like YO, what the hell is then?

Why is there reluctance to do the right thing when we have such laws just so people don't have
to wrestle with the issue? We don't have to figure it out anymore...if it looks like a hate crime, it probably is. Charge em, arrest em, prosecute them, and if a jury of their peers follow the law and the elements of the statute, it will come to the right conclusion.

But for now, police are looking for two more people in the torture, beating and sexual assault of a Charleston woman, and the Logan County prosecutor said he believes the woman first met one of her abductors over the Internet.

The two people being sought by police are believed to have picked up 23-year-old Megan Williams from Charleston and transported her to Big Creek, where she was held captive in a home for at least a week. Police have arrested six people already. The FBI has entered the case because it is a possible federal hate crime, authorities said.

The victim is black and the alleged assailants are white (duh, who knew?).

Prosecutor Brian Abraham said he heard from one of the arresting officers that Williams met a Logan County man on an Internet site. Abraham could not verify whether that person was already in custody or one of the suspects still sought by police.

"I think she may have met an individual on the Internet and he agreed to pick her up in Kanawha County and take her to Logan County," Abraham said. "That individual may have befriended her and at some point turned her over to these people." Abraham, who has served eight years as prosecutor, said he has never witnessed or imagined a case of this proportion.
"We’re up to our eyeballs in murder cases in Logan County, but nothing quite like this," he said. "We have typical homicides motivated by jealously, passion and theft. This seems like outright malice. It’s something you’d see in a horror movie."

Magistrate Leonard Codispoti told The Logan Banner, "It was the worst case of human abuse I have seen since I have been a magistrate. "Something like this is so horrifying it makes you want to puke. They got this girl out of Charleston and took her to Big Creek, threw her in a shack, raped and stabbed her, put a rope around her neck, made her eat animal feces and did other horrifying things to her."

It's not over. Seems as if there are two more 'alleged' suspects still wandering out there. This poor woman. Seems like it's Open Season on Black folk, doesn't it? Reminds me of that famous Vernon Johns sermon.

Now, if it walks like a hate crime, talks like a hate crime, smells like a hate crime....what is it - oatmeal? They just didn't 'happen' upon this victim, they searched her out. That, for me, is the pure definition of a hate crime. What definition does the FBI use? If it comes to a different conclusion than what I have here, they need a new dictionary. And we need a new FBI.

living (if you can) affordably in america......

2007-09-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

By Luke Visconti (the "white guy")

Question:

My company is on your Top 50 for Diversity list and will soon be celebrating Diversity Week in November. There will be rewards given to nominees who embrace diversity, which is all very good. My question: How do you help a company see that they must also keep a watchful eye on those managers who don't care about receiving an award and think that they can continue to operate as business as usual?

I have been with the company for 15 years. During that time, I have taken advantage of the generous education program and received a bachelor's and soon to be two master's degrees. Last year, my department decided to outsource many jobs, mine included. For those of us who want to stay with the company, we have until this October to find another job.

Since March of this year, I have, on record, 54 job postings [that] I have applied for. Of those postings, I have only been interviewed for six of the jobs. During each interview, the hiring manager finds some area of their business that I am not familiar with to point out that I am not qualified for the position. I know of a few individuals (non-minority) from my department with less qualification who have already found new positions, but I am still looking. I cannot believe that out of 54 postings I [don't] qualify for any of them. I am not writing this question out of bitterness. I am only writing it to find an answer. All I seek is an opportunity.

Answer:

I'm very familiar with your company and it is a long-term leader in diversity management. This doesn't mean that every manager is "on it," but you stand a much better chance of finding a progressive manager at your company than most people do. Since I don't know you, I am forced to give general suggestions. Not all of them may apply to you. Please understand that I am not trying to diminish the reality of your experience when I suggest that you can take action to change your outcome.

Please consider this checklist:

1. Give your next job application your "full game." Study for the interview, understand the person with whom you're interviewing, know the department, try reaching out to that person's friends for insight into what areas give the manager the most pain. Make yourself a walking encyclopedia of solutions.

2. Follow up. Make sure your follow-up correspondence is not a form letter. Make it relevant to the potential new supervisor.

3. Politics. See if you can leverage people you know to apply influence on areas that interest you for a transfer. Find managers who HAVE been active in your company's diversity-management efforts. Utilize your employee-resource-group network.

4. Appearance counts. Make the best of your personal visit. Dress one level up. Use the spellchecker on your correspondence (I'm not sure why people think that misspellings are OK in an e-mail).

5. Be positive. Forget about the 54 jobs you applied for. Focus on the future. You love your company—tell them about it. Tell them how much you care, how proud you are to work there and how satisfying it has been to avail yourself of their generous education benefits. Tell them how you want to use that knowledge to their benefit and work there until you retire. It's hard to resist a positive message like that. Don't include anything negative. Air your opinions with the highest level you can reach by writing letters to executives, and ask for their help!

6. Learn. We have a number of really good career-advice articles on this web site.

Your industry is going through hard times. Despite that, their commitment to diversity has not wavered (again, I'm not discounting your experience, it's just that your experience at your company is likely to be much, much better than at the average company).

By the way, there is opportunity in tough times; a good manager will be much more open to hiring someone they don't know who is well prepared over an "old boy" who is taking it for granted that they'll get the job. My heart goes out to you and I wish you good fortune in finding another position in that company.

"I AM NOT GAY, I NEVER HAVE BEEN GAY" - ANOTHERONE BITES DA DUST

2007-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

as i watch larry "toe-tap, wide-stance, i'm not gay" craig resign as idaho's u.s. senator, you have to wonder why we're even in a culture war for family values in this country (and many other parts of the world) in the first place? what's to be gained by this political approach?

btw, larry's really glad that you all 'came out' today. and did you notice how he seems to like powder blue shirts? he wore one at every press conference. so does his wife. maybe she's a closet gay too. you cops better start watching the ladies room.

don't misunderstand - i'm all for family values. but those are values that need to go to core values: the need for food, clothing and shelter, being a good person (i would say 'law-abiding', but that approach has a history of bastardization when applied in this multi-ethnic country), a peaceful life, love for family and friend, having good morals. but wait: that last one - morals - is what got us into trouble with this culture war in the first place. most of share common moral values, fortunately, but who of us is to say what morals should be universally applied to all and which ones shouldn't? one universal moral that should apply to all is thou shall not kill, or one should not hate others because they look or are different. but whose moral value applies on the issue of sexuality, or freedom of speech, or who should be an 'american', or even what laws to enact to protect whose interests? what the fuck are these asswipes talking about anyway?

these issues have been befuddled in the myraid sea of the information age, in the political climate of the 21s century which is emerging as a conflict age between civilizations and cultures, as opposed to nation-states like the previous centuries. we don't like muslims, they don't like christian infidels and jews, we don't like arabs and mexicans (like they used to not like blacks and jews - they still then and now don't like gays) and they don't like white people and westerners. we worship god, they worship allah. most of the planet wants to preserve its 'national identity'. i find that so hypocritical when i hear people of many countries talk that shit. but that's another blog story. right now i'm here to talk about larry craig and the homophobic republican party and how their own hypocrisy is taking them down the toilet (where else?).

all of this could be avoided if we just accept the reality that homosexuals are here to stay. they have always been here, and as long as they don't try to spread their morals to me and others who are not homosexual, i say live and let live, and they should be entitled to every single value (or modified a bit for their needs) as any other citizen of this country. all of this will end when these hypocrite politician stop their bullshit and do the people's work, not the people's lynch mob acts. no i don't mean craig, i mean the republicans (or any other politicians of any party) who are still out there trying to tell you and me how we should think, act, and be, while they live by a different, elitist standard that is different from how they want us to live. the bottom line? let's all just get along!

but lastly, for the republicans - stop your culture war. it has now been proven (from mark foley to tom delay to duke cunningham to larry craig) that you have no moral ground to stand on.

now everyone's getting into the act...

2007-08-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

oh boy here we go....obviously the romans would have liked the movie....

if i had to live life over again, i'd spend it all back in college (but with my current paycheck)

2007-08-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

DVR is a great thing to have on your TV. As a sexed-up heterosexual who like so many doesn't get enough (is there any other kind?), I of course like to get kinky. I like threesomes; I still remember the time in college when my girlfriend and her girlfriend rearranged my apartment, then we kicked back, enjoyed some wine, pizza, and a good joint, when the question was popped for the first time:

me: hey, have you ever had a threesome?
my gf: uh...no?! but it sounds good.
her gf: (gasp!) no i never had. (just the kind of answer i expected from this prude)
me: well, i never have.
my gf: YOU? NEVER? i find that hard to believe, playa playa!
her gf: you seem like the type that's had his way with women. you never had a threesome?
me: no.
her gf: really?
me: really.
my gf: you're full of shit! you have.
me: i haven't. really! (pause) but i'd like to :)
me (after a long gulp): would you like to? we're all friends. i'd like to do it with the 2 of you.
her gf (after a longer pause): sure, why not?
my gf: uhhh......i'd like to. but not with the 2 of you. you're my girl, but you can't fuck my man.

that, and 3 other attempts since, all ended that way. her girlfriend says yes, and my girlfriend says no.

so how did i make it happen? well, i never did. not yet, anyway. but while setting the DVR to record, i set it for the wrong time, and instead recorded this movie. and it's pretty good. i may never have that threesome. but i will have this movie to enjoy that level of sex that so far has eluded me...

Threesome
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Fleming
Produced by	Brad Krevoy
Written by	Andrew Fleming
Starring	Lara Flynn Boyle Stephen Baldwin Josh Charles Alexis Arquette Martha Gehman
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Alexander Gruszynski
Editing by	William C. Carruth
Distributed by	TriStar
Release date(s)	April 8, 1994
Running time	93 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Threesome is a 1994 film, written and directed by Andrew Fleming. The film is an autobiographical comedy mixed in with some social commentary, and is based on the college memories of Fleming. It was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America.

oh by the way, alex baldwin is now a republican and insists he's not gay. OOOOO-Kaaaay....

Native New Yorker: Residents of One Brooklyn Neighborhood Gettin' Sick 'N Tired of Gentrification

2007-08-11T14:38:00.001-07:00

~what we need is liberation from unaffordable housing costs - or a revolution against "the man" > a resident of Bushwick who just got told his $750/mo 1st floor 1 bedroom apartment is going up to $1050/mo in October.

Whatever is next for New York is probably bad for the other half of the nation. Seems like these days, you need to be an immigrant or rich to survive in America, at least economically. Either you benefit from sheer wealth, or you benefit by the vast array of government programs and plentiful low-wage labor that immigrants flock to America for to make money/ Just how much and how much money you can get your hands on seems to be the relative factor in personal wealth measurement if you're in the right income bracket.

Well, some feel bowled over by those with money or those who can get money from some source they themselves otherwise can't get. For those of us in the middle in makes us just plum mad. Anywaz check out The Village Voice's article The Second Battle of Bushwick: Thirty years after the blackout riots, it's getting hot all over again.

But seriously folks, if you wanna check out the class war of gentrification and discuss whether it's a good thing (believe it or not it is sometimes) or a bad thing (which it usually is when the robber barons are allowed to control planning of the community's new developments). Check out my boy Norman at the Atlantic Yards Report.

KINGSRIDERS - THE NEW PRINCE OF THE CYCLE OF DARKNESS

2007-08-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

had an interesting saturday - went into east new york to check out kingsriders, a very cool cycle shop with my guest yuya from japan, a cycle enthusiast as well as a prolific blogger and photojournalist on the subject for performance magazine in japan. he can also be checked out at brooklans.co.jp (i'll check on the email and get back to ya on that). the key thing is we saw some phat hayabusahs - the new thing in cycle style and sleekness - so prominent in cycle racing and streetriding. we also saw the $60,000, no make that $80,000 - T-Rex, the ferrari of motorcycle design, style and high-speed.

thanx so much to alex, asia, larry, the hot ladies behind the counter and the rest of the kingsriders staff for the wonderful stickers and other gifts (your DVD was da BOMB EXTRAORDINAIRE) and the rest of the kingsriders crew for showing us the slick bikes, the production facilities, and taking yuya on a hot fast ride in the T-Rex and all the photos (see b-low). and i might wanna buy that kawasaki ninja you got on sale for $1,900...that's a hot bike for a cool price!

not as noticeable as it acually is, there is a current, growing, serious trend developing in cycle racing, sporting, hip-hop and urban fashion going on in this venue that is about to explode like one supernova big time on the international youth market, much like pro-wrestling did in the 1990s but even bigger and more linked to the online community who can communicate, and like the rave of the 90s, set up their own venues secretly and quickly. be ready by the 2008 election for these 'tokyo-driftin' lifestyles to pick up in pace.

what to wear today

2007-07-24T18:23:00.001-07:00

skies clearing in the big city, sunny & bright down by the big resovoir in the mall. mmmmm....soooo, how did you spend your sunny tuesday? temps reached the mid-80s and quite comfortable everywhere. strange weather, the day after a strong and very unusual July Nor'easter that dropped temps from the 90s to the low 70s in a day, along with over an inch of rain.

yepper - i'm listening mr. gore . . . .

ON THE WATERFRONT

2007-07-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

love these shots of manhattan, with that classic waterfront feel. steel, iron, masonry stone, industrial, hard, gritty old city. our own London on the left bank of the North Atlantic, the cradle of America.

you'll love them too, so ENJOY!

HEY THESE 2 ARE JAMMIN'

2007-07-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

RELAX......aaahhhhhh....

2007-07-21T05:48:00.001-07:00

A home is a reflection of its occupants. It's not just how much was spent or the type of furniture you have, it's the mind of mencia of whoever is that person who makes those decisions that is reflected in the final result. If you're an ass, the finest furniture and appointments will reflect it. If you a reclusive, or otherwise unapproachable, you may go for detailed exerpts of beauty particularized to your very picky taste. If you're laid back, for you a relaxing horizontal format or a sloppy couch may work for you.

Relaxation is POWER - yes POWER. POWER TO BE WHO WE WANT TO BE. When we feel like being it, that is : )

first test shot

2007-07-21T05:36:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to expand on this project...posting pics and hopefully video streams.....

miss japan 2007 (miss universe) on her first visit to New York and sandra endo, newscaster on NY1, my favorite newshottie these days.

Welcome!

2007-07-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

I dedicate my blog to the beginning of an open, interactive, dialogue with like-minded people for any reason you want to and we can get down forever n ever! We can discuss business, we can do business, we can do politics, we love to talk entertainment and what's new out there. We love to talk tech, as long as you're not too geeky (can't deal, y'kknow?). Yeah I wanna IPhone but I'll wait til the price drops below $300. They say they will be by Christmas......

So, to those you said I can't, here I am yes I can! Not that this was any great feat, just go to www.blogger.com. Make your own blog and 'get at me', as the phrase goes.

Btw, lots of good street fairs going on in New York during the end of July and early August. Check out the Summerstage and Philaharmonic page for smooth summer concerts in Central Park. Hey and if you can check out Brooklyn: Prospect Park, McCarren Park, Ft. Greene/BAM, it's all good out there in the juicy Apple. Be careful don't hurt your eyes on the short skirts....

Anyway, this is my intro. Soon you will meet a couple of my future fellow bloggers, so stay tuned and I'll get this game started for you.