Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Am I missing something here?

On the morning commute, something bizarre happened, and I want to know if I woke up on BizarroWorld this morning or what...I got off at L'Enfant Plaza and transferred to the blue and orange lines downstairs. I'm doing the customary thing, right side of escalator stands still, left moves, I'm moving, only there's someone slowing up progress at the bottom of the escalator...I know it's not the most politically correct thing to say, but he was a wide gentleman, and I had to get fairly close before I saw that he was using a cane. The people in back of me, only knew that a train was at the platform and I was holding them up. The year before last, I had to use a cane, that's no fun. There wasn't enough space to go around this guy, at least not for me, because I had more than one bag on me. The dude with the cane glanced back at us, I wasn't trying to embarass him, but I just felt like the impatient people behind us had a lot of nerve and I was going to tell them about themselves. Everyone else, was fairly cool about the situation, but this one man and woman just start yelling at me. So, I yell back [and not once did I swear, ladies and gentleman, it is a very good day when that happens. :)]. The older woman says that I should keep moving, because she's not going to shove me. I don't know if that was a veiled threat or what. I yelled to them that the man in front of me had a cane, I wasn't going to just shove past him (I don't know about them, but I was early to work, nothing's that big a deal to me that you have to stop treating people like people.). Then the man has something else nasty and smart to say to me. I told him, he could have just gone around me, you know what he says? "No, you could have gone around me.", which made absolutely no sense if you saw our locations. I just went on and didn't even dignify that with a response...

It's stuff like this that makes me understand my father's attitude toward people, especially strangers...Still, it's not fair to let the bad apples ruin the whole bunch. That ticked me off so badly this morning though. I didn't/ and still don't feel like I was wrong...If I had to do it over, I still would have done the same thing.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Twilight zone occurrences...

I was rummaging threw my blankets this morning trying to find my cell phone and I glanced up and my little toy Kimba the White Lion (it came all the way from Japan) was sitting up on one of my pillows (dead center, not propped up or anything) as though I had placed him there or someone was holding him there. With as much activity as there was on that bed while I was looking for my cell phone, there was no way he should have remained upright and yet he did. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to catch my bus, I would have taken a picture of it. Curiouser and curiouser...

Disappearing clothes donation bins

I guess this must have happened over the weekend...When I got up this morning to toss some clothes in the big yellow clothes donation bin at the side of my apartment complex this morning, it wasn't there. This is a huge pain in the rear, because I'm not clothes to a Salvation Army or a Goodwill (I can't drive, nor do I have my own set of wheels yet.). I don't want to just throw perfectly good clothes away and I don't care if people do go through dumpsters, no one should have to be forced to do that. :( I wonder if anyone else besides me used those bins? I hope they put them back or at the very least have a clothing drive at the community center, otherwise I'm going to be down for quite a while about this.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Been sick...

Hey all,


Sorry for the long break between posts. I've been sick[er] and now I'm playing catch up both around the apartment and at work.

I'm loving it at the MJFC forum, makes me wish I'd plunged in sooner. I'm on other boards, but if I haven't forgotten the name, then I've forgotten my password. It's a crying shame.

Just walked down the street and found out the Wendy's that used to be near my job is gone [No baked potato for lunch for me today.] :(

Did pick up the October issue of Harper's Bazaar. Haven't had a chance to read it yet though.


I'm enjoying the season premieres and series premieres of the different shows. I laughed at Cougar Town. It's too soon for me to tell about Eastwick (although I am digging the guy that plays Darryl Van Horne, way better than I was Jack Nicholson). The Vampire Diaries I can take or leave, although I do enjoy ogling Ian Somerhalder.)

I missed Flash Forward, but at some point, I'd like to catch that from the beginning as well. (I was just too exhausted to stay up.)

I want to give Cleveland's show a try and I want to see who ends up with Mike on Desparate Housewives.

I'd also be lying if I didn't admit, I'm curious about what they're talking about on Dateline, don't know if the whole show will be devoted to Michael Jackson or what, but I'm going to find out.


This weekend, I'm mainly going to be focused on trying to finish up my ridiculously overdue library books, putting some stuff in the cleaners, doing laundry, and finding a cami to go under my blazer. I've thought about seeing the Fame movie, but I'm not sure I want to even if I can somehow manage to find the time.

Hopefully, somewhere in all this insanity I'll find time to snag a ticket to TII. If not, at least I'll have tried. Can't believe if it's not playing here I'm going to have to drag myself to New York. If that's the worse thing that happens to me the whole weekend though, I'll consider myself blessed. :D

MJJ Dateline

Ok, I'm going no holds barred here.

MJ and his relationship (or lack thereof) with his father-Anyone with two eyes and a heart already knew most of what was disclosed. The bit that Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, played reminds me of the portion of Oprah Winfrey's interview where she asks Michael Jackson about Joseph (I never understood why they called their dad by his first name either...). Oprah at least had a line that she wouldn't cross. I think the part that Oprah wouldn't air of the previously unreleased footage, was Michael telling her about what he and Janet said. Only, it appears that the Rabbi didn't stop to weigh how Janet or Joseph would have felt about Michael's confession.

Misogynist?...No...at least not your "typical" misogynist...Not when I think about how he felt about his mom. Not when I think about his relationships with Latoya and Janet (although the dynamics of each are different. I'm not sure how close he was or wasn't with Maureen/Rebbie.).
Then, there's the other more subversive stuff...he mentions wanting to have slumber parties when he was a kid...Did/do little boys have slumber parties? I always associated them more with little girls...There's his thoughts on women's perfume versus men's cologne...The way he used hair pins to keep his hair the way he wanted it (Check out the behind the scenes footage of the Thriller cover shoot.)...No, there was a little too much going on with him to simply label him as a misogynist or a womanizer.


Aging... I could relate to this fear...I'm sure a lot of people can...The bizarre thing is I couldn't see him as an old man any more than he could see himself as an old man...I'm not saying I'm happy he's gone, not by a long shot...It's a double-edged sword...

His self-awareness...I love that he was hip to the fact that both men and women found him attractive. It's odd that he could have such low self-esteem at the same time, but still, I think that's wild...I didn't think it was possible for him to be as oblivious as he appeared at times, and I was right...

I'm wondering how much of it was conscious...I remember watching some rock documentary on Vh-1 and this dude in a glam band was talking about how men in makeup draw chicks for some reason...I can only speak for myself, but there's definitely some truth to that. Were someone to ask me why I was drawn to that, I couldn't give a straight answer though...Again, there's much food for thought here...

What he said about "they" not liking for White women to scream and cry over a Black man...This reminds me of a number of things. It reminds me of Michael telling Oprah that he's proud to be a Black man. As colorblind as Michael was, he couldn't be a Black man in America, and completely forget about race, there was just no way... He also couldn't be a Black man where he was in the entertainment industry and not know he was breaking taboos. So, I definitely don't think he had his head in the clouds as much as people might have believed or as much as there were some things that he definitely wanted to block out or escape...

The lizard and frog thing...I wish I knew where this came from...What was this thing with amphibians and reptiles anyway? Did someone tease him like/about this too? Or was this something that came from Michael's own perception of himself? I wish he hadn't felt that way about himself...There are times when you'd never know he felt that way and then there are others where he may as well be screaming it. To be deadly honest, I never saw him that way...the closest he came to me, to how he saw himself, was the way he looked at the MSG 30th. I thought those little LJN Michael Jackson dolls didn't do him justice (and yet, I still had to have one, because I couldn't imagine being without one.), to me, they looked more like a lizard than he ever did to me.

The "froggy voice"...I can't remember where I read/heard it, but I heard that Michael referred to the voice that he sang the song "You Can't Win" in the Wiz in as his "froggy voice". I liked how he sang the song...


Madonna...For some reason this portion of the program made me laugh a little. As powerful as their personalities were and as in control as they both liked to be, no one could have thought there would be no clashing there. They could never have been a real, healthy couple, because everything would have been a power play. That's unhealthy enough with no cameras, but to have it played out in the public eye? No, they were better off either just as "friends" or apart.

I could also hear her saying that about Disneyland in just that way too.

He seemed both hurt and ticked off.

The suggestion about the S&M books...I wonder if she misinterpreted his belts and braces and whatnot and it ticked him off/hurt him. He seemed so fragile about certain things...

He was quite adamant about not wanting to go see strippers with her...I can't remember if it's in Moonwalk, but I remember Michael mentioning seeing strippers in between acts when they'd be performing in clubs when they were little kids...I hope there's not a story there, because I think enough damage was done to him without that being added to it.

The mannequins...I remember these from back in Michael's Thriller days. I didn't think he was weird for that then, and I certainly don't now. I collect dolls, one of my favorites that I have is an 18-inch animatronic Edward Scissorhands. My favorite episode of the TV series Amazing Stories, was an episode that Richard Matheson wrote called "The Doll". I love all the little doll themed Twilight Zone episodes. A doll is a hop, skip, and a jump from a mannequin. Do I understand that type of loneliness? Yeah, I do...I think that's why I began to retreat from him, some of Michael's pain, I understood a little too well. I guess that's why his death hit me way harder than I thought it would...

Cleveland

Last night's episode was wild. I laughed at some of it. Other times, I didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. My question is this, if there's truth to it, than it's not wrong to laugh at it, is it? I am Black, African-American, whatever the terminology is for it now, so to laugh at it doesn't make me racist, but it definitely raises some issues...I was curious to see if they were going to blog about this on Racialiscious, but I guess not...or maybe I'm just a bit early...that tends to happen to me too. My insomnia's back, so I can't shut my brain off, which means the wheels/gears are constantly turning up there.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

New Moon...

I saw the previews to New Moon, while I was watching Access Hollywood last night (for the VMA and Jackson coverage), the werewolf transformation was just like I saw it in my head...that rarely happens...wild. I still don't want any parts of this movie series, but if anything were to tempt me, that would be it.

Patrick Swayze

I was really sorry to see/hear about this, but with the way I saw him looking, I can't say I'm surprised. I'm sad to see him go. I enjoyed him in Dirty Dancing, Ghost and Point Break (Just went to Imdb, and I don't know how I forgot he was in The Outsiders too. I loved that movie. I guess I was paying so much attention to Rob Lowe and Ralph Macchio, that I overlooked him. I'm not proud of the fact, but it happens...) I wasn't really a diehard fan, so I'm afraid I haven't seen much else of his work. I do remember that he had that song "She's Like the Wind" on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and being amazed that he could actually sing (Renaissance men/multi-talented men are the best!). I never saw all of To Wong Foo, what I did see I enjoyed though. I think there's something to be said for an actor that can take on both "macho" roles and a role like Vida. There's not many out there that can do that (and don't think I'm forgetting Ving Rhames or Wesley Snipes. I love them, I respect them, I appreciate them. I've seen their work too...Just because I don't always speak/write on a thing doesn't mean I'm walking around clueless...)

My condolences go out to Patrick Swayze's family. He will definitely be missed.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Vienna concert has moved to London and is moved to June 2010 and I'm glad...

For those of you pissed about the post title, please hear me out. I think that time and location would make so much more sense. I think more people will be able to perform and also (selfish as it sounds), I stand a better chance of being in the audience given that much time. I've also always wanted to go to London. I'm on the forums of at least two different MJJ sites. I'm thinking of arranging some type of meet up, but I want to go really slowly, as far as planning something like that out...because I've had horrific experiences on celeb boards/forums before. Cool people and crazies are everywhere though, so I guess I'll just learn from my mistakes and go on from there.

Janet's tribute to Michael at the VMA's

First off, I thought what Madonna had to say was both amusing and beautiful. (I'm sorry, it may sound dumb, but I don't think anyone understands a shy person, like another shy person. He seems like once, you broke him out of his shell, he was a fun person to hang out and talk with. Interesting too...All the places he's been and the unique perspective he'd have on them...You know that question of you could have how ever many people living or dead to be your dinner guest and conversate with them. I have a handful in mind and he's definitely one. My paternal grandmother, My Gran Lee, and my maternal great-grandmother are some of the other ones. I like Alicia Keyes too. She seems like she's cool people and Beyonce too. More men...I'll get back to you on that one...I'm also getting off track. Ahem...)

The second part...I would've put together a different medley. Did they just not want to start with J5 stuff or things from Michael's solo albums on Motown? (I would've included something from them, and had some dancers who were children. Unless labor laws or rehearsal schedules prevented me from doing so.) I can't remember what the other songs were beyond Thriller and Bad. I just felt like the medley should have covered more of a span, but I know how tight the timing is with award shows, so I can only b*@# so much about that aspect of the performance without sounding like I'm nitpicking. The dancer's in different costumes of Michael dancing to Thriller (For some reason, that just gave me the heebie jeebies. The same way Return of the Living Dead Part II will from now on I guess.).

One of the dancer's didn't seem steady when they were doing that anti-gravity illusion from Smooth Criminal. That nagged at me a bit.

Janet Jackson's performance...I thought she did a wonderful job. I was reading what the person covering the VMA's for USA Today said, and they said she seemed almost angry...I don't know if it was anger so much as defiance...Like she was saying, "I'm still here and I'm going to make it through this. " I haven't heard her new single yet, but I plan to. I found out yesterday that Janet Jackson is on Twitter, I didn't know that before. Elizabeth Taylor is also on Twitter, I didn't know that either. I think that's so cool. A lot of older people don't like to fool with new things, so it's nice to find some that do. I got an e-mail from Eartha Kitt once. That blew my mind. : D

Which kind of brings me back to what I was saying in another post/entry, you have to let people know what they mean to you while they're still here.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Promo for Janet Jackson's performance @ the VMA's tomorrow

I'm looking forward to this so much, that I'm putting off seeing True Blood tomorrow. (This is saying a lot if you know what a True Blood fanatic I am.) Something one of the people on the street being interviewed in one of the commercials on MTv promoting Janet's appearance on this year's VMA's disturbed me though. The person said they wanted to see her do, what Michael did. My thought on that, is didn't we already see that in the Scream video? (It's one of my favorites too.) Isn't the person doing her a disservice by saying that? I always loved (and still love) Janet in her own right. It's funny, I was going through some stuff yesterday that I had at my dad's apartment, and I found a box of old magazines. I had a lot of Essence and Ebony mags that featured Janet Jackson on the cover that I'd forgotten about. I was glad to see them again. (I'll be getting slip covers for them ASAP.) I've watched her as Penny on Good Times, as Charlene on Different Strokes, and as Cleo on the Fame TV series ( in our area, it used to come on after Soul Train back in the 80's). I enjoyed her in Poetic Justice and Why Did I Get Married? I enjoy her music (I know she can't see like Jennifer Hudson, but I appreciate what both have to offer.). I guess what bothered me enough to post about what I saw in the commercial, is that I feel like some people only see performer and not woman who recently lost her brother (I lost my mother 2 years ago, and I'm still so far from over it, that it's not even funny.) I feel as though fans, no matter who they're fans of, should always be mindful that the people we admire/enjoy watching (or both) are just that, people. I may have blogged about this a little before, and I'm sorry, but it's something I've really given quite a bit of thought to lately.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Twinkle, Twinkle Groovy Cat, How I Wonder Where You're At

I was looking around on eBay the other day and I spotted someone's auction for a hand-painted clock carriage that Michael Jackson once owned. He'd written something on the inside back wall of the clock carriage (I'm sorry, but he's got really distinctive handwriting. If that was a forgery, it was damn good.). Anyway, the verses go like this: I'm keeping his phrasing and everything:



What I've never had
I cannot lose

What I've got
I didn't choose


And what remains
is just the truth


That hides away
from me and you


2-5-99 MJ



The first two lines, obviously are self-explanatory. The second two, I'm not sure whether he means his fame, his illnesses or both...maybe something I'm missing altogether....


The meaning of the last four lines escapes me...It's wild to me that he would write this in silver paint pen in the back of a clock carriage...Is it some type of riddle that has to do with time? I'm probably reading way too much into it...I just keep stumbling across these little mysteries as far as he's concerned. I'd be lying if I said these things didn't make him all the more fascinating to me.
The seller was even wondering about the significance of the lines and date, because even she didn't know...
The title to this post comes from The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield" (Episode 22, in the 6th season of The Simpsons, this is also the ep where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies and the dude at the record store marks the price up, when Lisa tells him.)

It's kind of funny, if it hadn't been for The Simpsons, I never would have found out who Pablo Neruda was. What is that poem that mentions a puma?...."I Crave Your Mouth"...
Before this starts to dissolve into stream of consciousness, I'll stop.





Melrose Place

The reboot of Melrose Place is coming on tonight.
Out of curiosity I'll give it a try. I also want to see how in the world Sydney could have faked her death. If it's not feasible and they do some Soapdish (In the movie Soapdish, one of the writers is asked to bring back a character that the viewers saw get decapitated. I think someone mentioned a head transplant and it just went downhill from there. That's what I mean by pulling some Soapdish garbage. I don't think a real audience would fall for that. At least I hope not, or else that's a sad commentary on our society.) garbage, I won't continue to watch.
Someone needs to tell the MSN Entertainment people they've got the wrong Vanessa Williams's picture up. (I tried looking for a place to comment, but couldn't find one.)

I did watch the original. I watched Models, Inc. too.

p.s. I was so tired, that I fell asleep during the first 15 minutes of the show. I know I was disappointed to see that the character who I was tuning in to watch might possibly be dead. :(
They never showed her face, that I saw. I'm hoping that means she isn't dead, but that'd be a bit much wouldn't it? I was very tickled to see Thomas Calabro back (Dr. Michael Mancini), he's held up well. :D I want to see who else comes back in the next few months. I hear Heather Locklear's in negotiations...I wonder if they'll list her as a special guest star for her whole run, the way they did before. (For some reason, I always found that amusing.)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

P****d Off

This still isn't the post about this past weekend, but I saw something this morning that reminded me of something that ticked me off this past weekend.

During their Michael Jackson day of programming E! had this Forbes special on. When I saw what the title was I was p****d.

So today, I log onto MSN.com, because I've got a Hotmail addy under my real [or government name if you like ;)], and I see Michael Jackson's credit score posted. }:(

Is it me? Or is there something terribly and absolutely wrong about that?

Most of the white musicians that I remembered passing away last year were British (Mitch Mitchell, Richard Wright)...I don't know if they treat credit the same way there.

I would have to do a little homework to find someone comparable that was white and passed fairly recently that made an impact on the world even remotely close to Michael Jackson's that didn't get there credit score posted for the whole world to see. :( If anybody out there knows one, post it in the comments thread.

Race is definitely a factor here, but it isn't the only factor. Bo Diddley, Isaac Hayes, and Sean Levert passed last year were their credit scores posted? No. Maybe they didn't spend the same and they didn't earn the same, but still some stuff should remain private.

I thought maybe with Michael Jackson's passing, people would stop going after him in a negative way...I see now that they're not...they're relentless...and I just can't comprehend that...It's like these vultures wake up and think "Gee! How much more of this man's dignity can I try to strip away today?" As I get older (I'm pushing 40 now), it's becoming harder and harder to continue to see the good in people...sometimes stuff happens to give me hope, like seeing all those people watching the Michael Jackson Memorial in all those different countries and singing, and dancing and crying...or when I'm not doing well, and someone on the street stops to see after me, but it seems like those things come so few and far between... this world shouldn't be like that.

I also don't understand why some people decide to go after the people who least deserve it, just because they don't fit under some nice neat label/box/category...I don't think I'll ever understand that, if I live to be a 100.

I guess if I have to look for something "positive" in all this, at least people with similar scores can see it's not the end of the world and you can bounce back. Still,...I don't think that was the motive for Michael's score being posted though, and that's why I'm angry.