Black Thought II
The trials and tribulations of a 23-year-old college student who in his head thinks he's already a star in the journalism world. Ok, ok, maybe not a star...
...for the weekend.
I will be blogging for the j-o-b at the Essence Music Festival.
Peep that blog here.
Live From the 2006 Essence Festival
I will be blogging for the j-o-b at the Essence Music Festival.
Peep that blog here.
Live From the 2006 Essence Festival
For all the time it rained,40 days and 40 nightsYour boy takes off like I been strippin all my life
44 fours mothafucka, I'm nice!
I rolled the dice and went with two tickets to Jay-Z on Saturday instead of one ticket on Sunday.
And minus the 96 Lexus, Foxy Brown, Beyonce, and a white tuxedo, there wasn't much difference between the two nights.
The show was great but couldn't compete with his concert in October.
But it's not every night you share the stage with Nas, Diddy and Kanye West.
But in true Jay-Z form, he put on a show.
Complete with the New York Symphony Orchestra and ?uestlove on drums, Jay did 'Reasonable Doubt' backwards ending with Can't Knock The Hustle.
If only all hip-hop shows could be complete with an orchestra...
I'm off to Houston in a few days for Essence Festivala and I'm trying to get ready for that.
I'll be the guy carrying a laptop and a video camera around with me as I'm doing a video blog along with the tradational blog while I'm down there.
They might regret giving me a video camera...whatever doesn't make the cut on the site will just end up on YouTube.
So I went to the movies last night with my friend Ronisha and we are standing in line to get in.
An older white man comes up to where we are and taps another white guy on the shoulder and accused him of cutting in line.
"I was standing in the wrong line but I have been here longer than you," the guy yells back.
..."And you can suck it!"
Yes!
Just one week after the return of D-Generation X and folks are already saying "Suck It!" to other folks on the street.
Tonight I am heading to the Jay-Z rehersal performance in NYC.
It was either go to this show with someone else or go to the Radio City show alone.
I would have loved to go to the Sunday show but I have work in the morning and the Nokia Theatre is a lot smaller of a venue.
But nothing will top meeting my future wife earlier in the week.
Corinne Bailey Rae is in town from the UK and she stopped by the offices on Tuesday.
Look at her (---->)
Beautiful.
Add that adorable face with her British accent and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time during our interview.
Too bad she's married...
An older white man comes up to where we are and taps another white guy on the shoulder and accused him of cutting in line.
"I was standing in the wrong line but I have been here longer than you," the guy yells back.
..."And you can suck it!"
Yes!
Just one week after the return of D-Generation X and folks are already saying "Suck It!" to other folks on the street.
Tonight I am heading to the Jay-Z rehersal performance in NYC.
It was either go to this show with someone else or go to the Radio City show alone.
I would have loved to go to the Sunday show but I have work in the morning and the Nokia Theatre is a lot smaller of a venue.
But nothing will top meeting my future wife earlier in the week.
Corinne Bailey Rae is in town from the UK and she stopped by the offices on Tuesday.
Look at her (---->)
Beautiful.
Add that adorable face with her British accent and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time during our interview.
Too bad she's married...
I have always thought barbers are one of the most interesting types of people to talk to.
Maybe it's the personal connection a barber and his client can share.
There is nothing worse when your barber is not at the shop and you had to cross your fingers with Pops, the barber who has been cutting hair for way too long and always has no customers.
So as I was walking to work this morning, I happen to run into my NY barber. Dave, my LA guy, has been cutting my hair for eight years now and he still cuts it in when I'm back home.
But in the meantime I had to find someone I trusted in NY to cut my hair.
After having some bad luck with Jamaicans, I settled on the lone non-Jamaican at the shop I was going to.
So when I ran into him this morning on my walk to the subway, I knew it had to be a sign to get my haircut today.
Until tonight, not many words were exchanged between the two of us. But we struck up a conversation tonight after he asked me where I worked and how I study journalism.
"Yeah, I wanted to get into journalism." he said as he hooked me up with this sweet taper that I'm now sporting.
"I'm writing a book so I wanted to look into it."
In my head I'm thinking who hasn't said they are going to write a book.
"Yeah, I even had a book written about me."
What? Barbers getting novels? I must be in the wrong profession...
Come to find out, he does indeed have a book written about him.
It's called The Lost Children of Wilder
It's about the foster care system in New York and how my barber's mother was a product of the foster care system growing up.
At 14, she had him, and her son is put right back into the system which she is in. The book takes a look at the unfair practices of the foster care system and how a lawsuit came about all of this..
I told him that I would buy and read the book which I plan on picking up in the morning...
As I'm sitting there while he finishes cutting my hair, the journalist in me is of course going I would love to interview him to do a follow up story of some sort.
The nigga in me though is like damn, yo, someone famous is cutting my hair....
Maybe it's the personal connection a barber and his client can share.
There is nothing worse when your barber is not at the shop and you had to cross your fingers with Pops, the barber who has been cutting hair for way too long and always has no customers.
So as I was walking to work this morning, I happen to run into my NY barber. Dave, my LA guy, has been cutting my hair for eight years now and he still cuts it in when I'm back home.
But in the meantime I had to find someone I trusted in NY to cut my hair.
After having some bad luck with Jamaicans, I settled on the lone non-Jamaican at the shop I was going to.
So when I ran into him this morning on my walk to the subway, I knew it had to be a sign to get my haircut today.
Until tonight, not many words were exchanged between the two of us. But we struck up a conversation tonight after he asked me where I worked and how I study journalism.
"Yeah, I wanted to get into journalism." he said as he hooked me up with this sweet taper that I'm now sporting.
"I'm writing a book so I wanted to look into it."
In my head I'm thinking who hasn't said they are going to write a book.
"Yeah, I even had a book written about me."
What? Barbers getting novels? I must be in the wrong profession...
Come to find out, he does indeed have a book written about him.
It's called The Lost Children of Wilder
It's about the foster care system in New York and how my barber's mother was a product of the foster care system growing up.
At 14, she had him, and her son is put right back into the system which she is in. The book takes a look at the unfair practices of the foster care system and how a lawsuit came about all of this..
I told him that I would buy and read the book which I plan on picking up in the morning...
As I'm sitting there while he finishes cutting my hair, the journalist in me is of course going I would love to interview him to do a follow up story of some sort.
The nigga in me though is like damn, yo, someone famous is cutting my hair....
How is it already the fourth week of summer vacation?
I'm four weeks in and haven't done any traveling yet which makes me a little sad.
But in two weeks I will be heading to the great state of Texas for the first time to cover the Essence Festival in Houston. (What up, Ash)
And two weeks later, I FINALLY go back home to L.A.
You would think I haven't been home in like 11 months but in reality it will be just three.
Still on the to do list is Denver, Las Vegas and Indy for NABJ...
An update on my Treo 700...
So yeah, that has been put on hold.
Sprint wants $650 plus tax for the Treo even though I would be signing with a new service with them ... all beacuse I'm a Nextel customer.
Reason #82 why I hate Nextel...
I'm four weeks in and haven't done any traveling yet which makes me a little sad.
But in two weeks I will be heading to the great state of Texas for the first time to cover the Essence Festival in Houston. (What up, Ash)
And two weeks later, I FINALLY go back home to L.A.
You would think I haven't been home in like 11 months but in reality it will be just three.
Still on the to do list is Denver, Las Vegas and Indy for NABJ...
An update on my Treo 700...
So yeah, that has been put on hold.
Sprint wants $650 plus tax for the Treo even though I would be signing with a new service with them ... all beacuse I'm a Nextel customer.
Reason #82 why I hate Nextel...
As I was leaving the office on Wednesday, I was expressing to a co-worker my anger about it only being Wednesday.
"Ugh, tomorrow is only Thursday. It's not even payday on Friday...I have nothing to look forward to."
Boy was I ever wrong.
It started with a luncheon for Wendy Williams...
...it ended with meeting and standing next to Jay-Z at The Roots listening party.
In between was an in-person interview with ?uestlove.
And how did you spend your Thursday?
My day started with a luncheon that was to announce Wendy's new partnership with Alize.
And of course any event that deals with Alize, you know there is free liquor involved.
I make it a habit of not drinking but I said what the hell and drank anyways.
1 1/2 cocktails later I'm talking to my co-worker and realizing that I might be a little buzzed.
And it's only 2PM.
I got a chance to meet Wendy who is huge in person. I knew she was tall and I know I'm short but I felt like I was eyelevel with her breasts.
We finally stumbled are collective tipsy asses back to the office at 3PM - giving new meaning to taking a three hour lunch break.
I knew I had too much to drink when I started working and I totally made a mistake on one of the pages I was working on.
To the point where I had to tell myself back away from the keyboard and find something else to do until I got my mind right.
?uestlove from The Roots stopped by the office at around 7PM as he was on his way to a listening party for their new album 'Game Theory.'
If you aren't familiar with ?uestlove, he's a musical genius and the greatest drummer player I have ever seen in person.
Besides that, you really can't dislike anyone who rocks an oversized afro like he does.
Easily the most intelligent rapper I have talked to yet, the interview went well (I'll post the audio soon) and he was pretty open about the group's relationship with Geffen and working for Jay.
Last but not least, the listening party for The Roots.
When I asked ?uest about the album, he used the word "dark"
After listening to it, I can see why he used the word.
If your a big Roots fan, I couldn't even think of an album to compare it to.
It would be the equivalent of Common's Electric Circus album in terms of a certain level of seriousness.
But there is no radio single or anything that could come close to getting airtime on MTV so it will be interesting to see how Def Jam promotes it...
So what turned out to be just another Thursday turned into one of those memorable days....
If only Friday is half as good as today...
"Ugh, tomorrow is only Thursday. It's not even payday on Friday...I have nothing to look forward to."
Boy was I ever wrong.
It started with a luncheon for Wendy Williams...
...it ended with meeting and standing next to Jay-Z at The Roots listening party.
In between was an in-person interview with ?uestlove.
And how did you spend your Thursday?
My day started with a luncheon that was to announce Wendy's new partnership with Alize.
And of course any event that deals with Alize, you know there is free liquor involved.
I make it a habit of not drinking but I said what the hell and drank anyways.
1 1/2 cocktails later I'm talking to my co-worker and realizing that I might be a little buzzed.
And it's only 2PM.
I got a chance to meet Wendy who is huge in person. I knew she was tall and I know I'm short but I felt like I was eyelevel with her breasts.
We finally stumbled are collective tipsy asses back to the office at 3PM - giving new meaning to taking a three hour lunch break.
I knew I had too much to drink when I started working and I totally made a mistake on one of the pages I was working on.
To the point where I had to tell myself back away from the keyboard and find something else to do until I got my mind right.
?uestlove from The Roots stopped by the office at around 7PM as he was on his way to a listening party for their new album 'Game Theory.'
If you aren't familiar with ?uestlove, he's a musical genius and the greatest drummer player I have ever seen in person.
Besides that, you really can't dislike anyone who rocks an oversized afro like he does.
Easily the most intelligent rapper I have talked to yet, the interview went well (I'll post the audio soon) and he was pretty open about the group's relationship with Geffen and working for Jay.
Last but not least, the listening party for The Roots.
When I asked ?uest about the album, he used the word "dark"
After listening to it, I can see why he used the word.
If your a big Roots fan, I couldn't even think of an album to compare it to.
It would be the equivalent of Common's Electric Circus album in terms of a certain level of seriousness.
But there is no radio single or anything that could come close to getting airtime on MTV so it will be interesting to see how Def Jam promotes it...
So what turned out to be just another Thursday turned into one of those memorable days....
If only Friday is half as good as today...
Czech Mate.
USA lost 3-0 today to the Czech Repbulic...not exactly the best way to start the World Cup.
One more USA loss and I'm pulling for Trinidad and Tobago
The Treo 700P.I decided it was time to be a grown up and get a man's toy and stop messing with this Nextel phone.
Goodbye Nextel, Hello Sprint...
It will be here in a few days...now if there was only an easy way to enter in my 300 phone numbers...
WESTCHESTER, June 9, 2006 - The 20-year-old son of a Los Angeles police captain has pleaded not guilty to a series of charges connected to the robbery of a Westchester boutique.
Kyle Jackson Jr. and two accomplices were arrested Tuesday in a vehicle about two miles from the Jennifer Jeanne Boutique on Lincoln Boulevard.
Investigators say a store surveillance video shows Jackson and 21-year-old John Rebeiro robbing the boutique. The video shows one of the robbers pointing a weapon at a clerk as the other stuffs items into a bag.
An off-duty Santa Monica Police Department officer spotted Jackson and Rebeiro running from the Jennifer Jeanne Boutique in the 8300 block of Lincoln, according to police.
The officer followed them after they sped away in a vehicle. Police stopped the car and arrested the two men, along with 20-year-old Mallory Katharine Eddy, all of Los Angeles.A handgun and other unspecified evidence were found in the car. Police say they got away with cash and jewelry.
Jackson and Rebeiro are each charged with felony counts of second-degree robbery and receiving stolen property, with the special allegation of personally using a handgun. Jackson also faces an additional felony charge of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.
Twenty-year-old Mallory Eddy is charged with a count of receiving stolen property.
If convicted, Jackson could face up to 15 years and eight months in state prison, prosecutors said.
Jackson's father, Capt. Kyle Jackson, is the commanding officer of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division. He said through a spokesman that his son has no prior criminal record.
The boutique's owner says two employees have quit since the robbery.
Check out a little side project I am a part of - a blog tracking five young black journalists over the next 3 years.
Ever wanted to know how to have 8 internships on your resume - well here is your chance to find out how.
Ten 95
Ever wanted to know how to have 8 internships on your resume - well here is your chance to find out how.
Ten 95
Good job President Bush...?My only problem with this - they had the nerve to frame a picture of this guy who's dead...
That's a nice ass frame too...
Got bored and was too lazy to put my photoshop skills to work so I stole a template and threw it on here...
The black background was a little too dark, even by my standards.
One more joke for you...
There were two guys with no arms, no legs, hanging on the wall...called them Curt 'n Rod.
Zing!
The black background was a little too dark, even by my standards.
One more joke for you...
There were two guys with no arms, no legs, hanging on the wall...called them Curt 'n Rod.
Zing!
Normally I shy away from blogging about entertainment news because frankly I don't care about who's sleeping with who or which celebrity is having a kid.
But I couldn't help to get sucked into all this Paul McCartney/Heather Mills talk recently. The two just seperated last month which has been in the news.
The real comedy is not the seperation is Heather Mills herself. She's a former porn star who has just one leg due to an car accident.
OK, I'll be honest - I only wanted to bring her name up so I could roll off my one liner model jokes about people with one leg...
So with that said....
*drumroll*
There is a model with one leg, an Asian woman, her name is Irene...
There is a male model who has no arms and no legs but he lives on top of a hill, they call him Roland....
There is another guy with no arms and no legs who always gets carried around by his friend on his shoulder, his name is Chip...
A guy with no arms and no legs who is often found inside a mailbox, they call him Bill...
Two male models who work together as a team, no arms and no legs, they live under a car, one's named Axel, the other named Jack.
And then they are all hanging out at the beach place of a woman with no arms and no legs, they call her Sandy...
Corny, but I feel better...
But I couldn't help to get sucked into all this Paul McCartney/Heather Mills talk recently. The two just seperated last month which has been in the news.
The real comedy is not the seperation is Heather Mills herself. She's a former porn star who has just one leg due to an car accident.
OK, I'll be honest - I only wanted to bring her name up so I could roll off my one liner model jokes about people with one leg...
So with that said....
*drumroll*
There is a model with one leg, an Asian woman, her name is Irene...
There is a male model who has no arms and no legs but he lives on top of a hill, they call him Roland....
There is another guy with no arms and no legs who always gets carried around by his friend on his shoulder, his name is Chip...
A guy with no arms and no legs who is often found inside a mailbox, they call him Bill...
Two male models who work together as a team, no arms and no legs, they live under a car, one's named Axel, the other named Jack.
And then they are all hanging out at the beach place of a woman with no arms and no legs, they call her Sandy...
Corny, but I feel better...
The definition of quitter according to Webster's is:
One who gives up easily.
It's a word, when said, stings more than any curse words to some folks.
So when I heard someone call me this today, I was upset.
Hell, I was furious.
Still am.
Call me an asshole.
Call me bourgeoisie.
Call me cold-blooded.
Don't call me a quitter because I'm far from it.
A quitter, when found out they had a chronic illness with no cure, would have just said "Woe is Me" and gave up.
A quitter would have not returned to school after having to take year off because of illness.
A quitter wouldn't have left his mother in tears as he drove 1,100 miles to Denver for an internship he already made a committment to.
I wouldn't be where I am at if I was a so called quitter...
Chew on that...
One who gives up easily.
It's a word, when said, stings more than any curse words to some folks.
So when I heard someone call me this today, I was upset.
Hell, I was furious.
Still am.
Call me an asshole.
Call me bourgeoisie.
Call me cold-blooded.
Don't call me a quitter because I'm far from it.
A quitter, when found out they had a chronic illness with no cure, would have just said "Woe is Me" and gave up.
A quitter would have not returned to school after having to take year off because of illness.
A quitter wouldn't have left his mother in tears as he drove 1,100 miles to Denver for an internship he already made a committment to.
I wouldn't be where I am at if I was a so called quitter...
Chew on that...
It's always good to see a fellow black player get called up to the big leagues.
This week the New York Mets called up highly-touted Lastings Milledge up from AAA Norfolk.
As a semi-Met fan, I knew all about Milledge's performance on the field.
What I wasn't aware of was his performance off the field.
Lastings, like many players before him, had a bit of a troubled past.
Milledge, 17 at the time, admitted to having sex with his then girlfriend who was 15.
Big deal, right?
How many teens in high school haven't dated and fooled around with someone younger than them?
As a result he agreed to enter a juvenille arbitration program to avoid prosecution.
That should have been the end of it but later, someone wrote a letter to Lastings new school and suggesed that when Milledge was 16 he was getting sexual favors from girls as young as 12 and 13.
He was never found guilty of the accustation but the Mets still took it into consideration before signing him.
The other word that has been tagged on to Milledge besides the phrase "character issues" is "flamboyance."
This "flamboyance" resulted into a minor league brawl a few weeks ago when Milledge slid into the 3rd base with his spikes high.
Guys like Lastings, Deion Sanders, T.O., they have been tagged as having ""flamboyance."
Guys like A.J. Pierznyski and others are just "intense" in the media's eyes.
The reason why I know all this information is because the NY Media has done nothing but attack the kid all week since he was promoted.
When a white athlete has a checkered past, it is considered they are turning their life around and it's a "feel good story" when they make it to the big league.
Don't believe me.
Read any story about Brett Favre.
For a black athlete, the media just wants to resort back to his past.
I am hardly letting all black athletes recieve a free pass. But to make a big deal over something that happened five years ago when the guy was in high school with his then girlfriend is just low and uncalled for.
Reading the newspaper, you sometimes forget that it is indeed 2006.
This week the New York Mets called up highly-touted Lastings Milledge up from AAA Norfolk.
As a semi-Met fan, I knew all about Milledge's performance on the field.
What I wasn't aware of was his performance off the field.
Lastings, like many players before him, had a bit of a troubled past.
Milledge, 17 at the time, admitted to having sex with his then girlfriend who was 15.
Big deal, right?
How many teens in high school haven't dated and fooled around with someone younger than them?
As a result he agreed to enter a juvenille arbitration program to avoid prosecution.
That should have been the end of it but later, someone wrote a letter to Lastings new school and suggesed that when Milledge was 16 he was getting sexual favors from girls as young as 12 and 13.
He was never found guilty of the accustation but the Mets still took it into consideration before signing him.
The other word that has been tagged on to Milledge besides the phrase "character issues" is "flamboyance."
This "flamboyance" resulted into a minor league brawl a few weeks ago when Milledge slid into the 3rd base with his spikes high.
Guys like Lastings, Deion Sanders, T.O., they have been tagged as having ""flamboyance."
Guys like A.J. Pierznyski and others are just "intense" in the media's eyes.
The reason why I know all this information is because the NY Media has done nothing but attack the kid all week since he was promoted.
When a white athlete has a checkered past, it is considered they are turning their life around and it's a "feel good story" when they make it to the big league.
Don't believe me.
Read any story about Brett Favre.
For a black athlete, the media just wants to resort back to his past.
I am hardly letting all black athletes recieve a free pass. But to make a big deal over something that happened five years ago when the guy was in high school with his then girlfriend is just low and uncalled for.
Reading the newspaper, you sometimes forget that it is indeed 2006.
