Who's The Man - a golden era of Hip Hop and MTV!

Who's the Man? was the first film released by MTV Films in 1993. The film would star Yo! MTV Raps hosts Ed Lover and Dr. Dre. (no, the other Dr. Dre) The movie stars the two VJ's in a comedy about crime, community struggles, the desire to get rich and of course, hip hop. With a tagline that reads, "the first hip hop whodunnit?" it was a film that represents the glory days of hip hop music and the golden era of MTV.

MTV was at its peak, proving that it was more than music television but a cultural revolution. Hip Hop blew passed the notion that it was just a phase by becoming a dominant musical art form. At the time these two forces seemed unstoppable and this movie was bound to be a huge success.

The movie's plot focuses on two barbers (Dre. and Lover) working out of harlem and failing to give their costumers quality haircuts. They believe they are misunderstood stylistic geniuses and would be respected if they had money, lots of money. Their boss Nick (and father figure) is sick and tired of their antics. Nick fires them and forces them into the police academy as an attempt to get Dre and Lover to be more mature and responsible for themselves. At the same, Nick organizes community groups and protest the businesses that are making it difficult for blacks to live in Harlem. This might seem a bit heavy for an MTV release but then you realize that Dr. Dre and Ed Lover are just a hip hop version of Abbott and Costello. That comparison might be a stretch but after all (the brilliant - ha ha ha) Roger Ebert thought this movie was so enjoyable that a franchise like Cheech and Chong was on the rise. Some of the familiar faces in the film included such MTV regular and Hip Hop icons as

MTV regulars include:

Dennis Leary

Colin Quinn

Bill Bellamy

Kurt Loder

Fab 5 Freddy

Karen Duffy

Hip Hop Icons include:

Humpty Hump (also known as Shock G)

Heavy D

Queen Latifah

Salt-n-Pepa

Busta Rhymes

Melle Mel

Eric B. & Rakim

C.L. Smooth

Pete Rock

Kid Capri

Kris Kross

Naughty by Nature

The Guru

KRS-One

Ice-T

House of Pain

Cypress Hill

Flavor Flav

I enjoy the movie for several reasons. I grew up in a suburban household and then believed that hip hop was more than cool but exciting. I was somewhat naive. At the time, the portrait painted by MC's like Rakim or Chuck D seemed adventures rather than the drab conquests of suburban life. Of course at the age of 10 it was much more difficult to understand the hardships of inner city life, racial oppression and economic strife.

As a child I responded easily and immediately to the juvenile humor and crazed antics within the motion picture. As I watch the film again, many years after my first viewing I realize that despite some flaws, it does one thing exceptionally well and that is present the city that gave birth to hip hop. In a movie that lacks the polish of recent pictures involving musical acts, Who's the Man does a fantastic job of representing hip hop. In the film, it's hard to ignore the low lit concert halls, the dirty city streets, the low income housing and the auto body shop that looks like a body shop rather than a Pimp My Ride car haven. It's not just hip hop stereotypes or over simplifications. Who's The Man is not cinema verite but refuses to disrespect Harlem, New York City, Hip Hop or its heroes by cleaning the image of the city or those who not only benefit from hip hop but live by its legacy.

Good For You - You Fail at Life. A drunken tale of false reporting

In La Plata County, Colorado a 59 year old man was charged $30,000 for falsely reporting an airplane crash. Harsh? Not exactly, considering the man was drunk at time and convinced he was talking to a friend and not an emergency operator. The large fine was due to the 50 emergency workers that were called to the scene to assist, rescue, and aid those hurt in the accident. Law enforcement typically does not act kindly to being punk'd.

So... Good for You, Mr. 59 year old man that falsely reported a crime and got charged a large sum of money because you were to drunk and stupid to realize what was actually going on. You sir, fail at life.

But wait, could this be the whole story? An alternative notion.

A year prior witnesses claim to have seen a UFO crash by the nearby Colorado river (estimated 162 mile distance) Could another UFO been mistaken for the airplane crash in La Plata County? With a patsy in place, did the FBI and local law officials cover up this intergalactic incident? It is no coincidence that most photos of UFO's are out of focus and those claiming to have seen aliens or unidentified flying objects have a history of mental illness or drug use. The cover up, if at all, is already a success.

In all seriousness. Thank goodness there was no plane crash but there is a valuable lesson to be learned. Drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive. Don't drink and falsely report airplane crashes costing you thousands of dollars. If you drink responsibly, you might not fail at life.

good day to you.

original story reported by the Durango Herald, USA and other media outlets.

Why NASCAR May Hurt the Economy

at the NASCAR brickyard race this weekend 43 cars were racing. 43 cars using gasoline to race 400 miles. I could not find how much gasoline the average race car uses nor could I find the average miles per gallon but according to a few web pages the average car gets between 4-6 miles per gallon. Yes, 4-6 miles per gallon and has about 20-25 gallons in each tank. So for the sake of this blog we shall say that the average car runs at 5 miles per gallon with 25 gallons in every automobile. So if all 43 cars finish the race, 4300 gallons of gasoline would have been used for one race. 4300 gallons!

Just to make sure you remember... 4300 gallons of gas. If I were to put that gas in my car then I could drive from New York City to Los Angeles (at 30 mpg) 47 times. 47 times !!! In my hometown gas is currently $2.49 per gallon. So based on our figures, the cost to fuel this race was over $10,700. According to the 2009 projected federal poverty guidelines, a person in the district of Columbia can apply for government assistance if he/she earns less than $10,830.

I don't want to talk about whether or not NASCAR or any form of auto racing is actually a sport. I am not going to doubt that millions of people love watching and partaking in these events. It is a skill/sport and there are statistics that show auto racing is the most popular sport in the United States. This is what scares me... NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races per year, with varying distances and number of racers but in the end thousands and thousands, maybe even millions of gallons of important gasoline is used to fuel these automobiles. I don't know if NASCAR has a green project but maybe it should. I don't think the government is planning on trying to decrease the fuel emissions at the race track but maybe they should. American car companies seem to have no trouble creating a special engine with 750 horsepower but apparently cannot make a special engine that gets over 50 miles to the gallon and I know they should.

It seems that plenty of people are willing to complain about how much certain athletes are making in every sport but I rarely hear people complain about how much gas goes wasted on the race track. I constantly hear complaints about the price of gasoline, arguments against and for fuel independence and yet no one seems to mind that auto racing uses more gasoline in one day than most use for the entire life of their automobile. In an economy that has seen better days and many people unhappy with the cost of gasoline, does the enjoyment of auto racing outweigh the cost? I am not so sure it does.

to my friends... thank you

I know this cannot embody the thanks I owe but I can consider a step.


I am not going to dive into the depths of what I have been thinking but I will say this, the 26th year of my life has been one of the most difficult years of my short existence. It has been a very hard year. Sadness seems to be a dish served frequently. I have been kicked and kicked and then as I feel the momentum shift, a strong wind knocks me down once again. My recent days have been lacking any remorse as they even kick me while I am face down in the ground. I have not been strong enough to brush these pains off as it it were dirt on my shoulder. The past few month have been very hard.

It has been in these past few months when good friends, old and new, near and far have come to me to offer their hands in friendship, a hug to console, and an ear to listen to the trouble I'm going through. I don't talk very much or openly about what I am feeling. I have never been good at allowing people to see what lies underneath. Many know of my reluctance to speak openly about what I feel but that has not detoured many of my friends from wanting to listen and help.

Feeling like a failure in more ways than one, doubting my skills and abilities, broke and broken, I have been feeling very much alone. It is a naive thing to feel alone in your sadness. It is the silly trap of sadness and a naive way to think that no one can understand, relate or share your pain. I have not been alone except when I choose to be. I have not been alone because my friends have been there for me.

Many of my friends have proven ever present and greatly important. Never allowing me to hang my head in defeat. Never allowing me to swallow my misery. Reminding me that I have talents and skills that are worth exploring and need to be appreciated. Reminding me that I am a good man and good things can and will happen. My friends have been more than a raft to float upon but also provided the sail to help push me in new directions. Whether they are involved in a night of mayhem and tomfoolery, helping me find a better job or even helping me navigate through my thoughts and feeling, without my friends this past year would have been a year lost with little hope for the next.

Being lucky or feeling lucky might dismiss all of this as chance and does not describe how I truly feel. I am very proud and honored to have friends that care for me, help me and believe in me. They represent the best parts of living and I only hope that I can be as good of a friend to them as they have been to me. I won't deny that I am still a bit down but a change is going to come. I will rise. I will smile again and that smile will be a consistent occurrence on my face.

thanks to those who have been there... thank you, oh so very much.

kills 99.9% of germs... good but not good enough!

Ok, so we have all seen the commercials were a cleaning product claims to kill 99.9% of germs. well that may seem adequate for you, killing a vast majority of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses but if there as infinite amount of germs out there in this world then isn't that .1 percent rather large?

what germs are they not killing and why aren't they telling us? let's just throw out a number... there are 1 BILLION germs on this planet and if that were true than Lysol, Clorox and other products are still leaving 100,000 germs out there to feed on the public. I know it is a marketing ploy and I know no nitwit can ever prove this to be true or false but I am not as confident in the cleaning power of such tools as hand soaps and cleaning wipes.

I guess this is just me urging you not to believe all the bullshit you hear. That .1 percent might be larger than you can ever know. Who knows what germs it does and doesn't kill? Shoot, the common cold doesn't even have a cure! Science, what have you done for me lately? Just kidding. But with medical issues like the swine flu and other diseases out there, it is important to be safe but also aware that safety might be nothing more than an allusion.

Please wash your hands, take care of yourself, family and friends. Safe is much better than sorry.

Your boyfriend/girlfriend, like a notebook, should come with paper.

So a few days ago I went to lunch at a Boston Market and it was delicious. The meal and the company was delightful. I can say the company was a treat because I was with my dear friend Amy. Amy is in town from Vegas. She left me in Ohio to suffer through my romantic troubles alone but in doing so she bettered her quality of life and met someone that brings her a happiness previously unaware to her. I can forget my selfish pity party and forgive her. But in all sincerity, no matter what kind of mess I am in romantically Amy has a gift to explain to me my trouble and remind me that my affection should be directed to someone deserving of it.

As I swim in the misery pool that is my love life, Amy is dancing in the ballroom of romantic bliss. She has a man who treats her well and she is happy. I asked her what about her new man makes him such a stud. Before she responded I had to interject. I told her the first thing she says cannot be the words, " he is a nice guy." I don't know about you but I find it a little disturbing when someone, male or female is dating someone new and the first thing they can say about that individual is that they are "nice."

I find it silly, if you are with someone and happy that the first word you would use to describe them is "nice." I find it silly because I would hope the person you date is nice. It should come standard. Being nice should be a prerequisite. I would honestly hope that the person you are dating is nice. If anything an attraction should start with the other person being nice. As a man, I tend to think that women are attracted to assholes but that is not the purpose of this blog. I just think that when you describe the person you are dating, the one you are happy with, or the one you hope sticks around and can build a future with, that your description starts off with something more specific than "nice." If I ask you, who you are dating, I hope "nice" is not the first word used to describe them because I had already assumed such a thing or else why would you be romantically linked with that person. When you are dating someone, them being nice should come automatically, as if you were buying a notebook... it should come with paper.

Your relationship, like a notebook should come with paper. Yes, maybe I am saying that nice is to relationships as paper is to notebooks. Or maybe I am suggesting that when you are out and about looking for someone to fall for, think of that time you went out and bought your last notebook, the first thing you did was make sure it had paper.

Now, like notebooks there are plenty of fish out in the sea. There are notebooks with 100 pages, 200 pages, 80, 90, 150 and for some reason there are even notebooks with 138 pages. Not only can you judge how much paper or niceness you want in your notebook but you can determine the size of your notebook as well. Your notebook can be 5 x 7, 6 x 9, or 8.5 x 12. I swear these measurements are simply the size of notebooks not human anatomy. Notebooks come in all sizes and colors. Notebooks are available with subject dividers and subject dividers that perform a double duty as folders. College ruled, Legal ruled (what the fuck?), wide ruled or maybe graph paper? One subject, two, three, four or even five subject notebooks. Plastic cover or cardboard? Advanced wirebound, wirebound, or maybe you want your notebook bound with stitching or glue. Fuck, maybe you don't want your binding on the left side because you are left handed and care for your binding on the right or on top like a legal pad. Or maybe you are just looney enough to invest in as much paper you want and put it in a three ring binder. Notebooks for drawing or writing, for business or personal, for daily use or when the moment suits you... there is a notebook for everybody.

All I am saying is, if you want to be with someone they should be nice, like when you buy a notebook I hope it comes with paper. Your new romantic fascination may be nicer than your previous efforts but I hope your attraction to that person is based off the unique characteristics that can only exist in the eyes of the person you love. I hope you love that person because they understand your off beat sense of humor or because the pieces of gold and grey in their green eyes never stop surprising you. I hope you love that person because after you've had a bad day they know all you need is a kiss and a space in between their arms to find peace. I hope you are with that person because their smile is infectious. They push you, believe in you, and make the effort seem effortless. Or because the best vacation is the day you share in bed. I hope you love them because they love you for who you are and want to become, plus they will be with you for every moment of that journey. In truth, there are many reasons to like or love someone and I hope you are not settling for someone who is nice because any decent human being deserves that and much more. I am happy for my friend Amy who has found the person who makes her most happy and from what I hear, he comes with plenty of paper too.

me... who is that?

some have said that my blog does not allow people to understand me or know me on a personal level so here it goes.

as of may 25 2009, I am 26 years, some months and some days old. I feel older but on occasion act like a 15 year old girl. My body parts suggest that I am male. I am attracted to women, so society would suggest that I am straight. I have been in love, more than once so lightning can strike twice. I would say it has struck four times. Love has allowed me to be bold and stupid. I have been bad in relationships and those have failed. I have been great in relationships and those have failed. I am not sure what success is. Recent history would suggest that sharks bite with sharp teeth.

As a child my favorite sport was basketball. As an emerging adult, my favorite sport is baseball. I root for the Red Sox even though I am not from Boston or new england. I love sports which surprises some. I once had a decent or moderate collection of sport playing cards. I plan to pass those on to my children. I do not have any children, yet. 'Yet' does not mean that I am expecting at the current moment but hopeful that one day I will have created a better version of me. Hopefully a child of mine will posses some of the skill in athletics that I was never strong enough to nurture.

As of today I have 24,199 songs on my i-tunes. The most played song at 103 spins is "Gentle on My Mind" by Johnny Cash with Glen Campbell. I still buy CD's. I went to school to study film but Hollywood doesn't make anything that interests me anymore. My favorite movie is The Third Man. Movies are movies, films are movies, movies can be films, and I am pretentious. There isn't much to watch on television anymore either. I hate reality TV and I hate YouTube. Music and movies might be the only stable thing I have in this life.

I love useless facts like Hawaii being the only state in the US with a royal palace or that manatees despite given the nickname of "sea cow" are more closely related to elephants. Or if you fill a container with 14% sawdust and 86% water and freeze it, you get something with similar strength and durability to that of concrete. I think knowledge has no limits other than the limits we impose on it. I dislike it when people think they are always right or that there way of thought is the only acceptable way to think. I think liking something or enjoying something doesn't mean that it is right, good or justified. "just because," is never a suitable answer for enjoying something or believing in something else.

I have my faults. I am paranoid. I can be distant and cold. I dislike most children and refused to be swayed by the argument that they are young or cute therefore their annoying habits are acceptable. While on the topic of children, I think most parents shouldn't be parents and I am very close to believing that some sort of test should be given to those wanting children.

I drink. I prefer quality beer when my bank account allows it. I prefer cheap beer when my bank account is empty. I drink as a social activity but do not shy away from the solitary moments of drinking. It sometimes turns sadness into a smile and other times turns a blank stare into tears. When I am sad, I enjoy strumming on my guitar or sitting down to write. I haven't been writing very much as of late which has allowed me to practice my poor guitar playing. I am not being modest.

maybe these are vague but I have been accused of similar crimes. I don't let many get close and allow very few get close enough to see the wrinkles around my eyes, the imperfections of my smile and the shadows behind my words.

let me hit you with some basic facts to end this blog. I wish I was well read. I love going to the zoo. I am afraid of the ocean. I prefer pie over cake. I never knew my grandparents and fear my children will share a similar fate. I speak spanish poorly. I put too much sugar in my coffee and tea. I agree with the person that said America's greatest inventions are the constitution, jazz and baseball. I love the static puff of sound from worn speakers when placing a record under the needle and flicking the on switch. I feel the first climb to 10,000 feet of air travel is unsettling. A quality back scratch might be more satisfying than winning $50 from a scratch off lotto ticket. I think spelling bees are cruel. There is something delicate yet sturdy about a ranch home on a vast piece of land that I admire. I am rather vain but lacking genuine confidence in my appearance. I suck at crossword puzzles. I hate losing. I fear disappointing my parents. I am a grown man with stuffed animals. I cuff my jeans. I talk to my car like it is my therapist. And like you, I am just trying to do the best I can with what I've got.