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Friday, March 28, 2008

Think it's funny when white people rap?

Well, it might surprise you to know that the first rap video ever performed was a WHITE woman. 1981's post punk sexpot Debbie Harry in her unforgettable band BLONDIE had booties shaking white and black with her funky fusion Rap :"RAPTURE"

I played the 45 when I was 11 till the thing warped. When the record broke, I would flow while my sister boxed the beat. Black people have embraced the style and taken it to places noone could have foreseen. Shoot, It's good stuff, and no white person was taking the initiative to step up and follow Debbie's lead so it now is what it is. I love it now, always have. I don't give a rats behind who's delivering the beat, just as long as it's still alive.

It wasn't Eminem. It wasn't Vanilla Ice. Hell, it wasn't even NWA or Easy-E.

It was just a woman with a cat-tail on her shorts and her band called Blondie.




By the way, Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was a single was on the charts 6 months before this, but without a video! It hit 36 on Billboard as opposed to Blondie's 1. But when you try to Google history of rap, very few other than Wikipedia give Blondie (and Queen for that matter) any credit. Like it or not, white folks were a part of it, they were good at it, and they were instrumental in popularizing hip-hop for those that follow today.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Vision Quest Lesson #5

When it comes to human behavior, study everything. Observation is power, it is change. Heck it screwed up standard scientific reasoning and gave us Quantum. But observation is not enough to become a conclusion in and of itself.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Vision Quest Lesson #4

Although I am a strong believer in forming one's own opinion, there are exceptions to the rule... EX: When someone professes proudly from the get-go that they are a "douche": BELIEVE them. Take everything else they say at face value. It apparantly does not matter how likeable they portray themselves, the douche part will eventually come out. Dr. Jeckyl cannot hide Mr. Hyde.

Vision Quest Lesson #3

Pay attention to the signs that someone in your life ought not be there.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

My letter to Randy: About being an Artist & taking the step to oils

Randy,

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Apologies for my screwed up keyboard, I spilled oj on it and my wireelss one is out of batteries. I hate to edit emails so it might not look perfect.

All that aside, I wanted to get back to you. I'm just getting over pneumonia but I'm definitely on the upswing. RE: your questions:

My education could go on and on... I love education (clearly) and it adds to my credibility on paper...but it really has nothing to do with me being an artist. I was an artist long before anyone taught me. I feel fortunate to have had natural talent since before I even entered school. But being naturally talented held me back for some time. I didn't see that the people trying to teach me could really show me anything other than new medium or tools. I am not a fanm of formal education in the arts. I am however a fan of understaning art (history, other artists, etc). It was only when I found a mentor or two that I really understood what it was to learn and grow. The few people who have been that for me taught me to find things from within, never taching me something I didn't know. Example: I was afraid of building up the paint when I used oils. I would never go far enough in fear of ruining the piece. Once I became able tto build the piece up (and pull it back from time to time) I was always producing pieces that felt so amateurish. Sometimes it's not about the amount of paint or time spent, it's about not being afraid of going there. That is a classic byproduct of acrylic painting. It takes several SEVERAL pieces to get accustomed to oils, but it is worth it. It will take you to such another level as apainter. When the rush is taken out of the process and replaced with finesse you will be creating a piece like never before. The patience part is hard to overcome as well but it is so much more fulfilling. BUT the best part is oil always looks better than acrylic. Even as soon as a week, Ac. loses it's lustre that no glaze can mimic. The colors stay richer as well. If you ever do show/ sell, your work is also worth more.

That's about all I can think of for now. I'd love to tell you more if you like.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Love is a Battlefield- Ain't that the truth!

I always adored Pat Benetar. She stirred emotions in me I hadn't even conceived of yet as a young girl. At my age now, I know all too well what they were/are.

Enjoy:

The devil is in making spaghetti sauce

It's never a good idea to put your contacts in after chopping garlic.  No matter how well you scrubbed, it's still there.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Things I've gotten consistently worse/better at:

eww, not looking so good:

1. My handwriting
2. Editing thoughts before they are sent out my mouth.
3. My OCD
4. Completing projects

finessing and perfecting:

1. Pushing away people I really like
2. Painting and creating
3. My OCD
4. Letting others complete/share in projects

Saturday, March 15, 2008

"Narcicissim" and "Assumptions" ~ a deadly combination

+1 for a lesson learned
-3 for the assumption that got me there


I just hope I become this better person before I'm 80 and I've successfully repelled
every last person away from me.  

Ironically, I've been 'Spring Cleaning my Life" lately and walking away from toxic
people that embody the behavior of what I just did.  

*disclaimer~ It's unfair for me to say what I'm about to say because it's skewed by
frustrations and not at all 100% accurate.  But at times in such states (frustrations
etc.) this is the way I felt.  In calm and objective reflection I'll admit it's ever
so slightly exaggerated:

One person in particular drove me crazy over her insecurities.   Narcissism was a
constant umbilical cord to feed an ego that hadn't learned to be a soul.  Towards
the end, every comment I made was carefully analyzed.  It got so I would expect a
phone call 24 hours later like clockwork to get chewed out.  First words were "I 
hope you didn't mean XYZ when you said ABC yesterday!  Because if you did we are 
going to have it out!" Anything I said that was not flattery, even simple recollection
of facts was automatically displaced to harsh negativity by her ego. It's funny 
how sick in my stomach I felt when she made the assumption that the absence of praise had to mean criticism.  Further, any statement regardless of the subject,
SHE WOULD OWN IT! It was very Ptolomeic of her to assume the center of the universe.

One word.

Maybe two.

and she had a clear vision of my intent.  Without being able to speak, conversation
became more and more polarized.

                                      I hated her assumptions.                      
They were not pleasant.

                                            Too many bitter pills swallowed dry.....

all I can do is walk away.



The big b**ch of it is that now I catch myself making assumptions myself.  Doing the
one thing that was driving me crazy....to others.  Did I learn it from her?  Or was 
I the one to teach? 

I just want it to stop. 

Dammit!

Monday, March 10, 2008

To Catch a Thief

It never ceases to amaze me sometimes how dumb some people are. My god, I think I'm too smart for my own good.

Case in point:

1. Summer '07, an isomething goes missing from our house. I suspect a neighborhood *reformed* hoodlum, but not until he shows up with a new Nano in a different color and shows the playlist to me.

~Stikes me funny how he has some, no a lot of songs that were on our stolen stuff.
~Songs I got at my days interning at the local NPR affiliate.
~We're talking things a 22 year old hip-hop head thizzle dancer would know of, let alone even like!
~And as for my hip-hop and rap, he had all of the cd's I had on the pod and maybe a handfull more. It's hard for me to think with all the choices out there the he and I (38 years old) have exactly the same taste in music. So similar that he has every rap album I own, but nothing more on his pod.
~The kid doesn't even have a J.O.B.

2. I have no proof, so I let it go.

3. On 9/4/07 this kid has made friends with our family by now by default because he's dating the sister of my kid's best friend. He brings over a back-up of all his songs to load onto my iTunes to show me what he's got.

4. Again, I see the blaring proof that there are TOO many coincidences. TOO many obscure songs. And how does he have that dang Boyz II Men 3-song promo CD I got at the 1997 Kube•93FM birthday party that Missy Elliott gave me. I kinda think this is the clincher, n'est pas?

5. He moves away, get's a job, but we still see him around from time to time because his girly's little brother is my son's friend.

3. It's now freshly in the dawn of Spring '08. The guy comes over after working a night shift and asks to use the bathroom. My son's stuff is still in there plugged into the speakers from his shower.

4. We notice that evening the gadget is gone.

great.

5. I decide enough is enough! We've had 2 personal electronic devices, a GT BMX, a PSP, and god knows what else stolen so far since Summer.

6. Doesn't take long to cross-reference all the songs that were uploaded from our sticky fingered friend to the duplicates in my library. A little bit of simple sleuthery and I've got him!

~I open the source files for all the songs he uploaded and match them up with the duplicates' source files. MP3 hold data files they don't hold songs. Each file shows me the first time it was loaded into my computer and when it was last modified. iTunes tracks the day they are imported into your iTunes library.
~Everything that was loaded into iTunes on 9/4/07 shows the exact same back end information (creation date) that is already on my computer.
~To ice the cake, all the 2Pac albums I own were duplicated in his files. I have about 12 discs of Pac at least. I loaded them all into my library on 10/21/07. His 2Pac was loaded into a library the very same day!

*Well whaddaya know, they all match.

So I call him up and gracefully ask him to return the one that was just stolen. I explain that I have evidence and I'll turn it over to the police if he does not return it in 24 hours. No questions asked, no gossip around the neighborhood, just do the right thing. It's a guaranteed arrest on the first one and pretty mitigating on the second one. That's two counts of theft son, and you have the chance to return ONE! Better take the offer and keep these 2 counts of theft off your record.


So. I just got a call from the guy saying it's impossible for one to take music off an mp3 and put it onto a new one. But to be the bigger man, he's going to replace it on Friday with the exact same kind. **For the sake of peace he'll do it.

But wait...
This is the best part
He says it might not be a new one, but he'll get the exact same kind on Friday to replace the one he SWEARS he didn't steal.

What do you want to bet the replacement one has the same serial number as the one that was stolen?