Mothers

Oh please...watch this video...that's all I'm going to say about it. :-)

Treat you Mothers Right

Michael did what?

I am pretty sure that everyone has either heard or sang this song at one point in their life:

Michael rowed the boat ashore.
Hallelujah.
Michael rowed the boat ashore.
Hallelujah.

Sister helped to trim the sail.
Hallelujah.
Sister helped to trim the sail.
Hallelujah.

The River Jordan is deep and wide.
Hallelujah.
Milk and honey on the other side.
Hallelujah.

The River Jordan is chilly and cold.
Hallelujah.
Chills the body but not the soul.
Hallelujah.

Michael rowed the boat ashore.
Hallelujah.
Michael rowed the boat ashore.
Hallelujah

What does this song mean? Of course I could try looking it up online but of course one receives different answers, but what do you all think it means? And why did we sing it? I mean, what was so spectacular that Michael rowed the boat ashore and Sister helped to trim the sail? Why doesn't Sister have a name? I mean, we don't sing "Brother rowed the boat ashore."

I would apologize for the weird post, but one day after walking for an hour and shopping for the next two, my roommate and I were riding home in a cab when the song hit me. Now if anyone knows me, you know that I get extremely giddy after doing physical activity and especially after shopping so I started cracking up in the cab because I couldn't figure out why I used to sing that. I remember singing it at a Bible camp or probably at my old church when I was a little tyke but I can't explain why...lol. I mean the River Jordan and Milk and Honey does have Bible significance, but what about Michael and his Sister? I mean, you can find this song on various religious cds and it is sang in some churches still to this day, which I find odd because there isn't a set explanation of the song.

Could this be an encrypted song perhaps created during a war to give soldiers hope that they were receiving help by the sea? Or was it a song that someone made up back in the day and it just caught on? This cat has an interesting opinion about the song http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmichaelrow.html

Perhaps I'm curious about this song because I'm bored...I don't know why. All I do know is it popped into my head and in order to get it out of my head, I must commit my thoughts to paper...or computer just to clear my head.

So there you go.

Until next time readers,


Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

You are calling me because?

You've heard of drunk calling (you know when a person is drunk and ends up calling their ex), but now let's talk about bored calling. Don't get me wrong, I like to hear from my friends, but when they are bored and they call me, I tend to get annoyed. Let's break this down.

Bored calling is when someone who has absolutely nothing to do decides to give you a call to talk about nothing. This bothers me for two reasons. First, I'm the type of person who doesn't like to sit on the phone listening to someone else breathe or talk nonsense. Second, it doesn't make me feel all too good when they tell me that they called me only because they have nothing better else to do. Just because they don't have something better to do, that doesn't mean that I don't.

Call me mean if you wish (and I know some of you are) but I am the type of person who doesn't like to be tied to a phone. I have breaks from my cell phone because I don't want to become one of those people who despise silence so much, it looks like their cell phone is magically attached to their hands. You've seen those people. Talking on the phone while using public transportation, walking down the street, in restaurants, before and after watching a movie, and even in the bathrooms. Hey, if they want to be that way, then good for them...but as for me, I don't want to be that person. Well Max, then why have a cell phone?! Protection, for when I'm running late, to call someone when I need to ask them a question or inform them about something...you know, for a purpose. While I was in college I was a slave to my cell phone, it was while I was in grad school when I decided to emancipate myself! lol... And it worked! Sometimes people get upset with me, but c'mon, think about it. What would you do if every time you were involved in something, someone called you and said, "Hi, I'm bored so I decided to call you" and had nothing important to say after that?! I don't mind mindless banter when I'm in the presence of my friends and family because that way you are hanging out with them. You don't have a piece of plastic attached to your ear while trying to finish whatever it is that you were doing or watching your favorite t.v. show on mute with the closed caption on.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy silly conversations. I have friends call me because they saw something funny on t.v. and wanted to share it with me or because they thought about me and wanted to tell me that they were. But the difference between these callers and bored callers is the fact that once they stated why they called, they tend to have something to fill in the conversation after. My boy Kalin, who is one of the most random people calls, me out of the blue all the time. And even though he sometimes calls me while I am extremely busy, he doesn't mention that he only called me because he was bored, he keeps the conversation short, he updates me on his and his wife's life, and then asks me about mines. Those calls are cool. After those types of calls I feel like he called me because he finally had the time to call me and he chose that time to do so NOT because he was sitting around with absolutely nothing to do and decided to fill my mind with endless chatter keeping me from accomplishing my tasks. I so know that I'm going to get a few phone calls on this. Yes, bring it. All I ask is when you do call me, when I say, "What's up?" Don't say I'm bored. I'm not a teenager anymore. I really don't like sitting on the phone for long periods of time. I live closer to my friends now and that means that I can hang out with them physically. As a matter of fact, I say "what's up" because I want the person to get to the point.

Perhaps publishing this post will mean that no one will ever call me on the phone again. That would mean that I could end up lowering my cell phone plan and relish in the silence that I strive for. That would also mean that in order to catch up with my friends, there would be more time hanging out and less time talking on the phone. I like that idea!

Until then readers,

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

Oscars

I normally don't watch these nor do I talk about them...but I ran upon this article and I needed to talk about what it was saying...check it out:
-----------------
The post-Oscars debate: Why Brokeback lost
Reuters - Mar 06, 12:26
The Oscars opened the closet door to gay-themed films but shut it almost as quickly.

"Brokeback Mountain," the much-ballyhooed favorite about two gay cowboys, won best director for Ang Lee on Sunday but stunningly lost the best picture prize to race drama "Crash." Additionally Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for playing gay novelist Truman Capote in "Capote."

The victory for "Crash" suggested Oscar voters were more comfortable with a tale that exploited the seamy underbelly of racial conflict in contemporary Los Angeles than with a heartbreaking tale of love between two married men.

"Perhaps the truth really is, Americans don't want cowboys to be gay," said Larry McMurtry, 69, who shared an Oscar for best adapted screenplay with Diana Ossana for "Brokeback."

No overtly gay love story has ever won a best picture award and, as of Monday morning, none has. The big question going into the Oscars was whether Hollywood, often in the forefront of social issues, would break another taboo.

"Film buffs and the politically minded will be arguing this morning about whether the Best Picture Oscar to 'Crash' was really for the film's merit or just a cop-out by the Motion Picture Academy so it wouldn't have to give the prize to 'Brokeback Mountain,"' said Washington Post critic Tom Shales.

Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan saw "Brokeback's" failure as a sign that Hollywood was not yet ready to grant the topic of homosexual love mainstream respectability.

"Despite all the magazine covers it graced, despite all the red-state theaters it made good money in, despite (or maybe because of) all the jokes late-night talk show hosts made about it, you could not take the pulse of the industry without realizing that 'Brokeback Mountain' made a number of people distinctly uncomfortable," he said, adding:

"So for people who were discomfited by 'Brokeback Mountain' but wanted to be able to look themselves in the mirror and feel like they were good, productive liberals, 'Crash' provided the perfect safe harbor."
----

C'mon! Has anyone seen "Crash"?! I saw it, I loved it. I was deep and filled with topics that Americans still don't like to talk about. Yet, people want to say that the only reason why this movie won is because Hollywood is copping out. Now if Walk of the Penguin won for best movie, then yes, I would say that Hollywood is up to something. Now let me be honest...I haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain". I don't plan on seeing it. I did see "Crash" and I loved how one moment a Black woman is accusing a White man of being racist and in the end when her car gets into an accident she starts yelling at some Latinos, "Oh speak American!" Or how one cop who believes that he is comfortable around all races ends up killing a Black man because he thought that guy had a gun. If you haven't seen "Crash", check it out...I believe that it should have won for best movie and I am surprised and happy that it did. You don't see too many movies, no matter how well they are written, dealing with racism winning Oscars and the praises of many people from various backgrounds. For that, I believe that they earned that Oscar...regardless of who lost.

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease readers!!!!

Kafui and Jonathan

Well I have to thank Kafui and Jonathan because they have inspired today's blog.

Recently I received a phone message from Kafui. It was hilarious! She was upset after seeing Jessica Simpson's new commercial for Pizza Hut. Kafui was like, "It's just a pizza with cheese in the crust! Why would she sell her body for that crap!" Imagine it in Kafui's regular high pitched voice. But as much as the message made me giggle, I couldn't help but to agree with it. When did the worth of a woman's body was measured in money? There was a time when I was told that my body was priceless...But I also grew up in an era when many women were being told that. I grew up in a time when our music had various messages. On one hand we had women like Salt and Pepa rapping "It's a She Thang" and En Vogue singing "Never Goin' to Get it" while other women like Adina Howard was singing "Freak Like Me." We had a choice. We could choose what we wanted to listen to and both sides had equal playing time on the radio and on television. I chose the music that told me that I was the bomb, that I was great, and that as a woman, I was just as great as any guy! Some of my friends chose the other type of music. I still love them...I also feel bad for them also. But now, there is no such thing as music variety. The music industry likes to flood our air and television waves with images of women using their bodies to gain money and power. Some of these women believe that they are also gaining respect...But I beg to differ. BIG TIME! Whenever I see the Jessica Simpson's video, I just sigh. I wonder how many girls are looking at this and are believing that pimping your body is an okay thing to do...As long as the price is right. I guess one could say that this video along with others are a high class form of prostitution.

(Oh snap! Did I really say that!!!! YES I DID!)

The next topic came from Jonathan. No, not the Jonathan Singleton that most of the people who reads this no. Not Jonathan Singleton who has a new CD out called Soul Food



Shameless Plug Alert!!!

No, this idea came from my homie Jonathan from Amherst, MA. I found out that he actually reads my blog! I was kinda shocked. I thought that Avery was the only one who read this. But slowly I am finding out that other people are reading this. I'm almost compelled to watch what I say. Now if you believe that last sentence, then you don't really know me...Do you? LOL...

Anywhoo. Jonathan responded to one of my posts on hip hop. He agreed with it. Am I shocked? Naw...

A cool story about Jonathan is that while I was house bound with my broken ankle, he visited me. Not many of my classmates did that and it was hard for me being house bound without much company. The cool part is we kinda had a jam session. He brought over his guitar and I sang and banged on my drums a bit. I ALWAYS wanted to have a jam session of my own...LOL. I've been to a few, but I was always wanted to have one in my own house. You know where everyone has an instrument in their hands and are lending to the production of the music. Sorry Avery, at my jam sessions, I don't allow onlookers so you wouldn't be invited unless you swore that you were going to participate. :-)

But back to what Jonathan said...Sorry, I usually have a back story to things. Jonathan responded to my hip hop post and he said something that stood out in my head. He said,

i hate it. i almost never listen to the radio or watch tv anymore. every now and then i flip through the stations and find that the fun stations i once listened to occasionally now completely suck. the music just sounds like it's made by big companies marketing towards early teens. i turn it off and feel old, but wise. i throw in some good tunes...[sic]

That made me think. I too used to think that I was "getting old." But I liked how Jonathan said that he felt old but wise. It's true...It is a wise choice to be more careful about what types of music you put into your body. I guess as you get older, music starts to become something that has meaning to you. It's not just about the beats. No just about that dancing.

Submitted for your discretion the lyrics from Beyonce's new song Check On It:

[Slim Thug]
You need to stop playing round with all them clowns and the wangstas
Good girls gotta get down with them gangstas
Go head girl put some back and some neck up on it
While I stand up in the background and check up on it

[Chorus]
Ohh Boy you looking like you like what you see
Won't you come over check up on it, gunna let you work up on it
Ladies let em check up on it, watch it while he check up on it
Dip it, pop it, trwek it, stop it, check on me tonight

If you got flaunt it, boy I know you want it
While I turn around you watch me check up on it
Oohhh you watchin me shake it, I see it in ya face
Ya can't take it, it's blazin, you rock me it amaze me
You can look at it, as long as you don't grab it
If you don't go braggin, I'ma let you have it
You think that I'm teasin, but I ain't got no reason
I'm sure that I can please ya, but first I gotta read you

[Chorus]
Ohh Boy you looking like you like what you see
Won't you come over check up on it, I'm gone let you work up on it
Ladies let em check up on it, watch it while he check up on it
Dip it, pop it, twork it, stop it, check on me tonight [x2]

I can tell you wanna taste it, but I'm gone make you chase it
You got to be patient, I like my men patient
More patience, you take might get you in more places
You can't be abrasive, have to know to pace it
If I let you get up on it, you gotta make a promise
That you gone put it on me, like no ones put it on me
Don't bore me, just show me, all men talk but don't please
I can be a tease, but I really wanna please you

[Chorus]
Ohh Boy you looking like you like what you see
Won't you come over check up on it, I'm gone let you work up on it
Ladies let em check up on it, watch it while he check up on it
Dip it, pop it, twork it, stop it, check on me tonight [x2]

[Slim Thug]
I'm checking on you boo, do what chu do
And while dance I'ma glance at this beautiful view
I'm keep my hands in my pants, I need to glue em with glue
I'm in a trance all eyes on you and your crew
Me and my mans don't dance, but to feel ya'll bump and grind
If won't hurt if you gone try one time
They all hot, but let me see this ones mine
Its slim thug and DC outta H town

[Chorus]
Ohh Boy you looking like you like what you see
Won't you come over check up on it, I'm gone let you work up on it
Ladies let em check up on it, watch it while he check up on it
Dip it, pop it, twork it, stop it, check on me tonight [x4]

Why would anyone want to pump this crap into their bodies?! At the ripe age of 27, yes I am older...But I will take that along with the wisdom that I have. I mean there is nothing wrong with choosing your music based on the message that it has. So to everyone who feels old when you rather listen to old school music or even music other than what's being played on the radio or MTV, just think if it like this, when most of us were younger, we used to eat a lot of junk food. Now that we are older and we can see how dangerous keeping those eating habits truly are, we (most of us) tend to move towards better foods that will keep our teeth, hair, skin, and internal organs extremely healthy. We don't do it because we are "old." If we wait until we are "old" then it would be too late to changes those habits but we do it now because we are wiser. Some of us have family members who are inflicted with diseases like diabetes, gout, heart diseases and we don't want those types of diseases for ourselves. That's why I am now a vegan...It's all about the wisdom ladies and gentlemen. So Jonathan, you and I along with a few more of my readers are wiser...And I am happy with that! :-)

Until next time kiddies,

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease!

A Quick 80 Minute Video for Y'all

One of my friends sent this to me...

I don't know...

Check it out...

WATCH ME

Let's chat about this...