You know what I hate ... Ellipses points j/k
Here I am. Awake again at 5:30am. I've decided to relax and accept my body's natural attempt to cope with this transition period. That's what I'm calling it now. My life's in transition. I'm not sure where I'm headed, but I have to believe that this time in my life is just a bridge to whatever phase or chapter that awaits me around the next turn.
It's not easy trying to focus on the positive though. It's not really in my nature to be a cheerleader for myself. For others, yeah. I can be a freaking PollyAnna without the slightest hesitation. But I think like most people, I'm a hardcore realist when it comes to dealing with what's on my own plate. Did I mention I hate my job? :-P
Since I'm awake, how about some random thoughts about "stuff"?
- Tweets from qoolquest (?uestlove), LouisCK, and Mashable
will be the death of me online. Too. Many. Tweets. Well, not really
since I haven't figured out how to get Twitter sent directly to my cell
phone from people who aren't following me as well. Why must James Kyson Lee ignore our love? J/k Please, don't call the police. I'm only joking.
I’m pretty sure if I’m not using Twitter right anyway. I’m not one to jump on bandwagons (dude, I only signed up for a Myspace acct. last December, and that’s was only to follow the bands, artists, and people I adore in L.A. while I’m in transition). But so far, Twitter has helped me cope with some of my crushing, immobilizing depression, so I figure it can’t be all bad. Yay distractions! - I
put all this effort into planning and writing content for a fledgling
website that I hope to put online at some point back in Dec. and Jan.,
and so far, the work has been for naught. I’ve laid it by the wayside
and now I feel guilty because it’s just one more career-related item on
my to-do list that I know may help me get a decent full-time job, but
I’m still procrastinating.
Why is it you always hear about Type A personalities? What about all of those other types like B, C, D+, sigma? Why does Type A get all the attention? What is my type? ::goes off to Google:: - Personally,
I couldn’t care less about Rihanna and Chris Brown. And I’m really
sick and tired of hearing about them as if their relationship deserves
a hearing in the public court of opinion. No, I’m not a cold heartless
bitca. I just wonder if this outpouring of support for Ms. Rihanna
would be the same if her name was Latwayla and she worked second shift
at the local Safeway ringing up groceries. And now the obligatory
disclaimer: Unless you or someone else’s life is in immediate danger,
a man has no excuse for laying his hands on a woman without her
permission.
Having said that, why are people surprised she went back to Chris? If you truly care about domestic violence and bothered to understand why it's so prevalent throughout our society, you would know that most victims of DV go back to their partners. Why would you assume Rihanna would be any different? Because she's a celebrity? Last I checked, she was a human being first. Oh, but I forgot. Her first duty is to be a role model for the millions of people she's never met. Bullshit! And I call bullshit on Aisha Tyler and any other so-called concerned celeb citizen who assert that the most damaging aspect about the situation is NOT that Ri went back to Chris, but that doing so sends a message to millions that his behavior is acceptable.
Well, you know what, Ms. Tyler? F#ck You!! No, the most damaging aspect about the situation IS that she went back to Chris. Her well-being is 10,000 times more important than being your poster child for a society ill that you clearly don't understand. The psychological effects of DV are far more profound and debilitating than the physical abuse itself, but ignorant-ass people like you only see victims as enablers of their own conditions and their diminished sense of self-preservation is nothing more than a choice. I cannot stand this "Blame the Victim" philosophy that permeates our society. My blood boils every time I hear this fake-ass attempt to reduce complex problems into cookie-cutter, quick fix afflictions that deny any acknowledgment of the pervading message of socially acceptable sexism and violence that teaches men that a woman's sole purpose is to serve mankind, and by that extension, men. Of course she went back. It's unfortunate. But the most unfortunate thing is that people like Ms. Tyler are just as much apart of the problem as Mr. Brown. - Moving on to more pleasant rants, I finally finished watching my Profit
DVDs. Overall, I liked the show, but I didn’t love it. Not because it
wasn’t lovable, mind you. But because it wasn’t nearly as fantastic as
reviews have made it out to be. It seems to suffer from a clear case
of nostalgic revisionism. The praise you hear so often about this show
is that it was soooooo ahead of its time, and there was
nothing like it on TV that was even close to being this different and
edgy, and the audience simply wasn’t ready for a villain protagonist in
the lead role, etc. And maybe that’s true, but I think I was a bit put
off by all the backslapping on the DVD commentary and the
behind-the-scenes retrospective. I thought it was a good, solid show
for the 9 episodes that they made, but, sheesh, it wasn’t all that,
people.
The way John McNamara and David Greenwalt go on about the show, you would think that every single series that did something outside the television norm from 1998 - 2008 owes its ingenuity to Profit. Wow, buy your own hype much? It was a good show. Kind of cheesy in its delivery, but that’s intentional and I can respect that. It’s melodrama that knows it’s a melodrama. I would’ve preferred it if they had Profit either address the audience directly or delivered a voiceover throughout, not both. It seemed a little too intrusive to have both elements, IMO. I didn’t care for that in the first 2 seasons of Sex & the City either.
But don’t get me wrong, I liked it. If I were grading the show, I’d give it a B+. Lisa Blount and Lisa Darr were freaking amazing and adorable, respectively. And Naked Nathan is always appreciated, of course. I guess I’m just tired of so many writers, producers, and showrunners in the industry constantly patting themselves on the back in interviews and DVD commentaries about how everything in the medium of television is wrong except for whatever it is they’ve created and the 2 or 3 pieces produced by their mentors and idols. Apparently, everyone in Los Angeles is doing it wrong except you. The ego knows no hypocrisy, especially if you wrap it in a thin veil of self-deprecating humor. The final word: False humility is for hipsters. Hipsters suck. Therefore, false humility sucks. QED
- A
little over a week ago, our new Attorney General Eric Holder gave a
speech about race relations in America. I haven't been able to applaud
or rebuke his statement for a few reasons. One, I've been busy, and
two, what he said wasn't nearly as significant as I think others wanted
it to be. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about his
speech felt off. He tried to say something important, but he didn't
quite hit the nail on the head or his execution was faulty or
something. It was just off. Tim Wise
does a somewhat decent job of pinpointing what it is about his
statement that really felt like a wasted opportunity to address a
social ill constructively and accurately. ::sigh:: I'm still not
saying this right. Just go and read Wise's response. He doesn't articulate exactly what it is that bothered me about Holder's speech, but he does a better job of it than I.
However, I'm happy to say that at least my issues with Holder's statement didn't mirror the third grade flailing of celebrated comic book and sci-fi author Peter David. (I'm not providing a direct link to his site.) Apparently, AG Holder's speech really, really hurt David's feelings and he thinks that black people are really mean for trying to encourage people to talk about racism instead of simply sweep it under the rug like so many nice, sweet and gracious white people who only have our best interests at heart. Honest.
Frankly, I have no words that don't result in some horrible, yet accurate generalizations about how this constant attempt to derail discussions about racism, and thereby, actually promote social progress and cultural growth feels like a 500-year-old playbook that gets passed down from one generation to the next in Western (read Euro-American) Culture. This is why so many POC feel as if they have to pick their battles when dealing with racism. Because if they didn't, no one would live past the age of 35 due to constant stress on their hearts, minds, and health when addressing bullshit detractors and denial day-in and day-out. - If you're interested in one extreme case of
"well meaning whites" attempting to derail a frank discussion of racism
in science fiction, take a gander at Coffee & Ink's unfortuate predicament.
The best thing to come out of that post is the fantastic support of
Mely's rights and the denouncement of Cramer and Shetterly's fuckery.
The second best thing to come out of that post is the fantastic list of
book recommendations by authors of color that I've pinched from each
page of replies. Yep! It's all about me and my needs. :-D
Feel free to ignore this. I'm posting these recs from the comments that caught my eye here for my future reference (I've also included a note re: the cultural perspective they represent). But if you see something that interests you, by all means, enjoy.
- Futureland by Walter Mosley African-American
- The Hanging of Angelique: Canada, Slavery and the Burning of Montreal by Afua Cooper African-Canadian
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (I already planned to read this, but those quotes cited in the comments just nudged it higher on my list.) Dominican-American
- Journey From The Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran by Roya Hakakian Persian
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (I had plans to read this one also, but the rec was for the audiobook read by Lynne Thigpen, whom I adored. May she rest in peace.) African-American
- Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film by Adilifu Nama African-American
- The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead African-American author, Multi-ethnic perspective
- Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff (This is the last movie I remember ever balling my eyes out uncontrollably. I fear the book will probably do the same, but it's a story that definitely needs to be told.) Maori and Samoan
My Groups
-
The Thinking Woman Updated: 1 hour ago
-
The Vox Meetup Group Updated: 4 hours ago
-
Things on Tuesday Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
