PUFFY IS POISON!!!!!!!!

Raphael Saadiq – Love That Girl

i’m lovin this song!  i have a thing for oldies, motown sound, and doo wop.  old soul, i guess   Raphael Saadiq is the truth.  plus “pillow” and “anniversary” was my jams back then.

As longtime R&B historian and expert David Nathan of Soul Music.com says, “Raphael Saadiq’s latest album is the closest I’ve heard to a genuine, feel good R&B record since the ‘70s! Unlike others who copy or attempt to recreate the sound of soul from those days, Raphael Saadiq delivers the real thing.”

heh, you know who they are.  can’t wait!  i hope he comes back to LA soon.

Kucinich killed it!

i’ll always give him props for being what a Democrat should be, actually different from typical Republicans which can’t be said for a lot of Dems.  dude can get hype on the mic!  though in my experience, telling people to WAKE UP is not effective.  it’s just not a good strategy to reach out to folks that aren’t like-minded.  this is probly just for Dems and voters still on the fence bout Obama.  great speech either way.

“we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be”

wow.

what an incredibly moving speech.  it was so good it got this reluctant Obama supporter teary eyed.  given the way American society is structured, it’s hard for me to believe that one man can bring about real changes from the top.

i can’t deny this is an important moment in history.  Obama has re-energized many people across color lines and social classes.  the age of cynicism is over. maybe.  i’m all for expanding the public discourse and spreading the important message of dreaming/hope/imagination/self-reliance.  we desperately need mo positivity in our lives.

i still think the American Dream is bullshit.  but that’s another topic in itself.

Michael Phelps is a jerk

here’s proof:

RARE: Jackson Five in Africa Documentary 1974

apparently it hasn’t been released until now. peep it before it’s taken down!

love,
michael jackson stan for life

part 1/part 2/ part 3/part 4/ part 5/ part 6

Daily Show Olympics Controversies

i used to be a huge Daily Show fan but they’ve consistently drop the ball when it comes to dealing with race (the most recent is probly Rev. Wright’s comments).  i don’t keep up with it anymore though they do have their moments.  peep the clips at the halfway point.

Jose Calderon: “Some of my best friends are from China”

aww what a loving gesture.  more enlightening words from his blog:

one of our sponsors asked us to pose with a “wink” to our participation in Beijing, we made an oriental expression with our eyes. We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving. Never the less some of the European media did not see it this way.

From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning. Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused.

they’re just WINKING!  or as he cleverly puts it, making “an oriental expression with our eyes“.  yes yes we’ve all confused their loving intentions into some racist ish.  forget the use of the term oriental to describe people.  forget the typical racist defense of “i got friends of X group”.  forget equating China as the representative of the EAST!  thanks for reminding me that some Spaniards subscribe to old ish that Europeans created instead of identifying with other people of color.

and if you hear some racist ish in your life, Jaysmooth breaks it down nicely

movements, change, and how we treat each other

i wrote this almost two years ago, thought i’d share it.  it’s important to leave my word choice intact even though i’d articulate it differently now.

11/1/06

Based on my college experiences…Most people talking about revolution or some kinda change hasn’t made the change in themselves. It seems we can learn all we can about our culture, our history, our language but we overlook the fundamental element: being human. This is not some traditional liberal bullshit, I’m not talking about we’re all equal and all that nonsense. As organizers/activists, we have a long way to go because, to put it bluntly, many don’t know how to act. Many don’t know how to treat each other, don’t know etiquette, don’t realize how much we’ve internalized from American culture, don’t even treat ourselves with respect sometimes. Why smoke? Why put yourself in uncompromising situations like dating guys you know that are jerks? Why are “progressive/radical” guys still exhibit caveman mentality? When did we stop to love, unconditionally-loving everything regardless of what it is and what our relation to it is? Why are many still cliquely, factionary and then talk about unity? Why judge based on a small amount of evidence?

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to being politically engaged. I found myself in spaces where everyone knows each other for some time through doing the same work. In any movement, any effort to work towards social change or any change for that matter, exclusivity is not an option…unless you exclude undercover cops but that’s a given. What do you gain by excluding an ally? Obviously, you don’t have enough people. You can never have “too many” people down for the same cause. And I hear things like “forming cliques is natural.” Fuck that. That’s some backwards thinking that prevents us from moving forward, from uplifting EVERYONE. We can’ afford to make the same mistakes over and over again, one group’s advancement should not be at the expense of another. Every issue is related, interconnected in some ways. No one wants to wait in line to get their “freedom.” Okay we’ll give it to Black men, then white women, then Black women and the rest of them “coloreds.” That’s how divisions get started, movements fall apart, and guess who benefits every time we fuck up.

For various reasons, I’m not close with my fellow Asian American activists which makes things a little more difficult in a university full of ignorant white fake liberals, closet bigots, privileged idiots. One reason is there’s this misconception of me as a sexist. I said some things in class that made me look like I was sexist and I was treated as such, labeled as such and excluded as a result. And in class I didn’t “get it” because I was disconnected from my feelings. I know I must’ve did a lot of other questionable things that showed I didn’t care but it’s due to what I was going through at the time. One thing I say doesn’t reflect who I am as a person, unless I continue to say those same things. I’m a funny guy but they don’t know that. I’m not an enemy yet that’s how they treated me. It’s easy to judge people when you don’t know shit about them. If you ask people who really know me if I’m sexist, they’d probably laugh at you. A sexist couldn’t have sustained a 4-yr, long distance relationship that started in High School. A sexist couldn’t write poems about his mother, women in pop culture, prostitution in Thailand, etc. A sexist couldn’t talk this much!

Unless they’re hardcore racists, bigots, sexists, or just bad company, no one DESERVES to be treated with less than the utmost respect. Karma is the fuckin truth. I tried asking the source but no response. There’s nothing worst than subtle behaviors: silent treatment, disregard of requests and exclusion.

The word “revolution” should never come out of your mouth if you don’t know how to treat others with love and respect. Quote me on that.

For guys who think they’re progressive, liberal, radical, etc. but still don’t act right:
This ain’t the 60s. Know your fuckin history and see that you’re doing the same shit as men in the 60s did, taking all the credit, taking leadership while women do all the work behind the scenes. Most dudes saying “Black Power!” basically meant to say “Black Men Power!” Learn who Ella Baker is and why she didn’t have much respect for Martin. Wake the fuck up and break the cycle! Learn to shut the fuck up and listen!

edit: 11/10/06

to be clear, this wasn’t directed towards people, but towards people’s actions. there’s a difference between a person and a person’s behavior/action. at its essence, a person doesn’t change, we all need basic necessities to survive, we all need love in our lives to thrive. a person’s behavior is contextual, it will change and it will continue to change unless one succumbs to a path of self-destruction and gets stuck. who i am today is not the same as who i was last year. heck, who i am today is not the same as who i was yesterday. sometimes people get too caught up in judging and labeling, it blinds them from seeing that what they’re concerned with is insignificant in the larger scheme of things.

much respect, r.i.p.

Bernie Mac

Isaac Hayes