Entertainment

I’ve finally got a chance to see Chris Rocks Good Hair. I know I’m late.

After watching the movie my initial thought was “Good Try”. Come on, its Chris Rock did you expect a doctoral dissertation on the psychological issues black women have with hair. He went for the laughs with a side of facts and pertinent information.
Although it wasn’t an all encompassing analysis of black women and hair. Good Hair did a good job of bringing to light black women’s obsession with their hair and the monetary cost of their psychosis (my thoughts). Chris Rock only describes what good hair is to various people and lets their answers display the craziness.

The most informative part of the movie was when he went to India to see where all this Indian Yaki hair is coming from and how its collected. That was an eye opener how much money is made collecting and selling weave hair. I wish I could get that Indian connect, I would be the legal version of Frank Lukas getting his Heroine straight from Vietnam.
He goes through Perms and Weaves discussing the huge money machine behind both hair choices. In an interview with a chemist he discussed exactly what a relaxer is and its affects on the hair and scalp. No wonder the sisters don’t have edges any longer. (If you know you know if not ask a sister). On of the most telling parts was when he told the chemist (white) what women use to straighten their hair, the chemist was perplexed.

I thought it was interesting that he didn’t discuss women who Hot Comb and Press their hair, a choice that many black women make, which doesn’t need loads of chemicals. Growing up on the east coast I thought all black women permed their hair or had naturals, but since moving to Los Angeles I’ve found that because its so much less humid out here black woman have the option of Hot Combing their hair. Leading to much healthier and longer hair.

Chris Rock spent much too much time at the Bronner Bros. International Hair show in Atlanta and their craziness.
It would of been nice if he would of given a historical and cultural perspective as to why black people in general give such attention to their appearance in general. There was no mention of Madame CJ walker who built her fortune on black hair care products.
The issue with Black’s and their hair is a very deep one that runs to the core of our community. It doesn’t only affect women, black men also have a healthy obsession with their hair. Brothers spend a lot of money on hair cuts, shape ups, perms and curls just like women.
In the end I thank god my wife doesn’t have a weave or a perm.

I have to admit I love the show Hoarders on A&E. For some reason it makes me feel good to see people whose life are so out of control, it makes me feel like my life isn’t as bad as I think it is. No matter what I do I can have the solace of saying, at least I’m not like, that bitch.

That brings me to another point. Watching so much depression TV has me cursing too much around my daughter. I really don’t want her first words to be Bitch or one of the following variants of:

• That Bitch
• Dumb Bitch
• Stupid Bitch
• Cunt Bitch

Why am I cursing so much while watching Hoarders, because that is how I wind down after a long day at work. I watch an episode of Hoarders and yell at the person being helped. I yell a lot of the above words.

Lets take this weeks episode about Patty who had her children taken from her because of her compulsive hoarding. She got a lot of “you Stupid Bitch” and “You Cunt Bitch”. Why because, baby you lost your children because of your shopping addiction and you couldn’t get rid of things, you Dumb Bitch. See I just can’t stop myself.
My wife accuses me of being flippant and uncaring of these poor peoples mental illness. Well . . . I must be guilty as charged. Because whenever I watch this show I laugh long and hard at the situations these people are in. It just boggles my mind how much money they spend on all this useless stuff.
I can’t wait until next week.

Last night I had a moment of weakness. Out of the blue I sat down to watch some TV, turned it on and Kung Fu Panda just happened to be on.
I had resisted seeing this movie for a long time because i thought that it would be very silly, but just the opposite, it was a great movie.
But,
There is something I didn’t tell you. I know I should of, but I was embarrassed.
I cried.
I mean I really cried. Streams of tears down the face crying.
Why did I do that?
I love tales of the Master-Student relationship, and stories when one person sacrifices themselves for good of the many.
I have to buy this movie, after I saw this I wanted to start doing forms and fight for those weaker than I.
Hay-Ya

I had to write this review twice. The first time I heard this record I kiiiind of liked it. It was cool, but not fresh.
Then Born Like This somehow evicted Gucci Mane from the CD Player in my car and hasn’t let go since.
Ok, Ok lets get to the meat of the issue is it fresh. Out of 17 tracks, there are about 8 Bangers. A Banger is a track that doesn’t get skipped when it pops up in the car CD player.
Got that. So to put that in numbers I skip over 53% of the album. That’s not too bad, cause I’m usually vicious with it, skip..
Born Like this feels like the sequel to Vaudeville Villain, which is not a bad thing, Vaudeville Villain was a genius album which effectively utilized “underproduction”. This is the album I wish he of given me back in the day.
Would I recommend this album? Well that depends, if you’re a MF Doom fan then there are enough bangers on this album to have you satisfied. If your not really an MF Doom fan then you might think the record is slightly under produced, lacked continuity and sounded like it was recorded all over the place using every type of mice in existence with no rhyme or reason, but I enjoyed it.

by Margo DeMello
How can I put this, Bodies of Inscription is “The Shit”. It’s a shame to put such a scholarly work, in such common language, but Bodies of Inscription is “The Shit”.
I’ve been looking for a book like this, one that kind of puts it all together. I’ve been using this book for a research project so I’ve only read about half of it but, the half I’ve read is great.
Or should I say this book is “The Bomb”, Margo DeMello explains exactly what the book is aiming to achieve.
“I explore the current middle-class repackaging of the tattoo, a process that highlights the tattoo’s “primitive,” exotic roots and at the same time seeks to erase its white, working-class beginnings in this country” (pg 3)
She chronicles Europe’s first introduction to the Polynesian “Savage” (from the Europeans colonial perspective), which opened up Europe to tattooing and opened the Polynesian islands to Europe’s exploitation.
European exploitation of Native Tattoos is not the focus of this book its just my focus. The focus of this Bodies of Inscription is a study into the origins of American Tattoos and the Tattooists that made history.
I’ve been reading about tattoos for quite a few years, this book seems to be part of a new genre of book that is determined to look at Tattooing from a sociological and historical point of view.
If you want to feel a little smarter about American Tattooing pick this book up Immediately dawgs!!!!!

Apartment Living
I just moved into my first large apartment complex. I havn’t lived in a large apartment complex in 10 years. Other than that I’ve been living in various types of single family homes or condos for the majority of my life, so this whole apartment thing is new to me.
Here is the good, the Bad and the Best.
The Good

• I have central air, yay.
• Its good that I don’t have to worry about what day the trash goes out, I just drop it down a chute. Yay
• Its good that I don’t have to worry about any upgrades or repairs, if something is broken I just call the super. Yay
• Its good that the walls are thick so I don’t hear any of my neighbors. Yay
• Its good that my apartment is in a old town pasadena so I can walk to most stores I need and go jogging any time I please. Yay

The Bad

• The hallways aren’t as clean as I would like, damn.
• Someone drops chicken bones on the floor in the trash room consistently. damn
• Although the walls are thick the ceilings are thin therefore I hear people stomping upstairs.

The Best

• Although the walls are thick the ceilings are thin therefore I heard the cute Asian woman who lives upstairs from me having sex, with sex voices and all. That was the best because I’m a voyeur sicko.

This site is out of control. Dallas Pen has yet to lead me astray.
http://youknowyoudeadazzwrong.blogspot.com/

This weekend my wife brought home The Roots new LP Rising Down. I can unequivocally say that this an excellent CD. I was glad to see that they felt compelled to do away with the poetry that has been a staple of many of their previous releases.
This CD also sheds light many of the rumors that have hounded the roots (at least those that keep up with the roots) such as their intra group frictions, in the opening and closing interludes on the CD.
The Music on Rising Down is very solid. Dice Raw is featured on about 1/3 of the tracks, which is nice to hear. Although Black Thought is perfectly able to hold down a whole album as the front man, its nice to have some other personalities on the track.
It is said that this is one of their darker CD’s to date, and that is just what I needed.

You know what they say crazy pu@@y is the best pu@@y.
Have you been watching the show Snapped. Its about women who commit crimes against their significant others. Its become a local obsession of my wife and I.
There must be a reason these guys are getting with these crazy women. Which gets me to the first sentence of this post. A world of advice that I might just have a grain of truth embedded in it.
I guess we should ask Kristina Caban who just got 5 years for searing a 4-inch high letter “R” into her ex-lover after he failed to call her after a one-night stand in 2004. Reality is so much better than fiction.