Tuesday, May 7, 2013

To Nina, with Love

"Each night I breathe you and become high." - Nina Mosley



I remember love,
the Cloud Nine feel
its heart; revealing, willing,
to give and receive,
love...
literally,
unconditionally.

Like the scores of sunlight that generates Earth,
the pours of rain which invigorates its turf,
there lies a persistent flow of intimacy on behalf of someone fully converged.
for better or worse,
love heals, love hurts,
love emerges from out of nowhere.
we share love...

Immaculate; thick, rich, good,
to the point where it becomes easily understood,
as to why love is corinthian-ed as the greatest of them all.
a soft stare.
THE Breath of Fresh Air.
a Tamia song.
the way your name tastes sweetly on the tip of my tongue...

I depend on love, as if my soul depends
I need love to grow as passionately as the strongest Chicago winds,
like a well-placed crease, I wear the emotion proudly upon my sleeve.
see, once you've fallen in love it's hard to believe it has an ending.
inasmuch as the atmosphere itself leaves your spirit animately suspended...

Though, such as a flower birthed into existence,
if the roots of love are shown minimal attention,
its spirit sways,
and eventually withers away,
I'm sure many will agree.
leaving the sum of its parts far from where one's heart longs to be...

I remember love,
I remember you,
I remember me.



The poem To Nina, with Love was creatively inspired by the film Love Jones.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Any Netflix recommendations?



Lately, at the recommendation of a close friend, I decided to give Netflix another try. I know, I know. Our past relationship ended on a sour note after I felt Netflix wasn't upholding its end of the deal. For that very reason I hardly expected things to be different this go 'round, seeing as how it's basically the same streaming video service. But since my friend is of the trusted variety, I figured she knew something, which of course left me curious. They say, curiosity killed the cat. In this case, curiosity earned Netflix enough respect to gain another life. And suffice to say I am more than pleased at the amount of surprisingly entertaining streams I've come across on the site.

So, during those times where I'm unable to fall asleep or suddenly awakened in the middle of the night and don't feel like searching for a DVD or flipping TV channels only to catch a great movie nearing the end, I grab my iPad, click on Netflix, prop my pillow and enjoy the show.

Below I've listed twenty films in no particular order that are worth viewing. While I do understand how our taste of genres might differ, at the end of the day, a great film is still a great film. If you are a Netflix subscriber, feel free to recommend a few selections.


  • Freelancers (2012)
  • Shakespeare In Love (1998)
  • American Violet (2008)
  • Loving Annabelle (2006)
  • Bloomberg Game Changers: Documentaries
  • Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)
  • Oldboy (2003)
  • The Glass Shield (1994)
  • Video Girl (2011)
  • The Grey (2012)
  • Eve's Bayou (1997)
  • Blue Valentine (2010)
  • All Things Fall Apart (2011)
  • BET's College Hill
  • Good Deeds (2012)
  • Diary of a Single Mom (2011)
  • Double Jeopardy (1999)
  • Freedom Writers (2007)
  • ESPN Films 30 For 30: Documentaries
  • Finding Forrester (2000)

Monday, February 25, 2013

85th Academy Awards

"Halle Berry is the epitome of beauty." - The Hollywood Gossip


LIKES
  • a rather prestigious-looking award
  • Halle Berry
  • Kerry Washington
  • Robin Roberts
  • Jaws theme hilariously played to end speeches
  • Michelle Obama announced Best Film award
  • Kelly Rowland
  • Adele is made for the Oscars
  • Denzel Washington received a nomination 
  • Quvenzhane Wallis received a nomination

DISLIKES
  • Jennifer Hudson's performance
  • I had not seen nor heard of 95% of films
  • most of the participants resembled dead people
  • Tarantino won for Best Original Screenplay
  • Tyler Perry wasn't nominated for Alex Cross #sarcasm
  • Jennifer Lawrence's embarrassing fall #dang
  • long and boring, as usual
  • Beyonce didn't perform
  • switching TV channels, OKC/Bulls game was equally boring
  • The Onion's distasteful joke about Quvenzhane

Friday, February 15, 2013

Things I Do Not Understand

          "There is nothing to talk about. I'm done with it." - Kobe Bryant



  • Why disgruntled Los Angeles Lakers teammates Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant refuse to sit and share a man-to-man talk to end their basketball differences, once and for all. I am not even a Laker fan and it bothers me to see Howard notsomuch as break a sweat in games.

  • How female recording artists Tamia, Chante Moore, and Melanie Fiona can be so beautiful and talented and down-to-earth, yet so vastly underrated. What does that say about the music industry? What does it say about consumers?

  • During conversations of greatest R&B album ever, how is it that Anita Baker's Rapture never enters the conversation? One will be hard-pressed to name another joint that lists classic songs such as Sweet Love, You Bring Me Joy, Caught Up In The Rapture, Been So Long, No One In The World, Same Ole Love.

  • How anyone can view cold-blooded killer Christopher Dorner as a hero. Yes, the LAPD is unfair and rogue. Yes, ethic minorities are discriminated against in America on a daily basis. But if murder is the response, what then can be accomplished? At what point does Dorner lose credibility?

  • Black women in general complain about how they are portrayed in the media, and rightfully so. No one wants to see negative stereotypes of themselves. Yet, black women condone and even encourage such behavior in wildly popular "reality television" programs.

  • There are some wonderfully smart and intelligent people in the world in all areas of life. That said, it baffles me to see one of said persons allow themselves to be twisted and turned by the ever-changing winds of popular media.

  • How urban culture on a whole is devalued on a daily basis. Yet, it somehow remains as a valuable entity. Which leads me to believe that someone is lying. Hollywood, yo.

  • Is it me or has everyone noticed how Oprah Winfrey suddenly embraced Black America ever since OWN channel suffered a drastic decline in ratings? I don't know, maybe I'm the only one that paid attention.

  • Every year, outside of the appreciated efforts of academic students and scholars, Black History Month seemingly enters with a bang only to exit with a whimper. Are the ride-or-die efforts of our ancestors no longer important or appreciated, even?

  • How anyone can have a problem with someone that doesn't walk around, looking to be understood at all times. I mean, is every single thing about a person meant to be understood? I believe the majority of misunderstandings can be summed up in this particular and always-relevant song.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Likes And Dislikes: 55th Grammy Awards

"I'll show you how to do this, young." - Jay Z


LIKES
  • Jay Z's "Sinatra"
  • Beyonce and Ellen's humorous exchanges
  • Rihanna looked more like herself
  • Justin Timberlake's performance
  • J-Lo's leg
  • Prince presented an award
  • Carrie Underwood is a class act
  • Kelly Rowland looked so damn good
  • LL Cool J milking the game for all it's worth
  • Twitter's hashtag humor

DISLIKES
  • The hell happened to Lupe Fiasco?
  • Kanye West wasn't in the building
  • Beyonce wore pants
  • I knew only one-fourth of the performers
  • I still don't understand Frank Ocean's appeal
  • I will never understand Taylor Swift's appeal
  • Hip Hop is dead, yo
  • I'd rather watched Sunday Night Football
  • all the music sounded alike
  • Twitter ripped Alicia Keys