Independence Day

Neda

U.S. Senate Apologizes For Slavery & Segregation

1/4 Life Crisis?

Haley Joel Osment = “Penistrator”?

Nice Car

East Village blog EV Grieve has been on the beat of who has been making hand drawings of penii on cars covered in snow, and now TMZ has helped them crack the case! It seems that a TMZ pap photographed Osment, who attends NYU, with a snow covered finger over the victimized vehicle.

This is just insane. I literally laughed out loud when I saw this. Get to your studies, Osment!

Date With an Angel

I love ’80s movies, and this is one of them!!! Emmanuel Beart is funny and gorgeous in this film and she’s kind of cool in real life. Pheobe Cates is an incorrigible bitch in the film.

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These are my friends: Gold, iGreen, Blue, and Red Che – otherwise known as The Five One. I met them last summer through my friend Kendra. She said her cousin’s band was playing Afropunk at BAM in Brooklyn. They came on just before Murs, a California underground rapper, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were really good.

They’re from Virginia, and have a sound akin to N.E.R.D. but defintely make it their own. They touch on everyday topics like work, relationships, interactions with authority, etc. They can have a nice melodic, SoCal vibe and then switch it up to raggae or even punk rock. When I saw them at Afropunk, I noticed that they switched instruments around depending on the song, and thought it was real cool that each member can play more than one instrument. They have a site called Deuce Day World where they interact with friends and fans as their music can be heard, and sometimes downloaded, on that site.

In 2009, the Five One is creating 51 remixes. They will release these remixes every Thursday (Deuce Day). This week they have remixed Lykke Li’s “Little Bit”. I love how these guys have such eclectic (and sometimes eccentric (Red likes Gogol Bordello) tastes in music to even reach from the international music scene (Lykke Li is Swedish) and become inspired. One mix from last year was a take on Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown”. iGreen waxed poetic about the financial meltdown and credit crunch on Wall Street and other American businesses, and why the government can’t bail out the average citizen.

Not only will you find their music on Deuce Day World, but you’ll also find somethings that the members of the band find interesting as well as members of the site. It’s hugely interactive and membership grows everyday. Being that the members of the band identify themselves with colors, of course, new members to the site must pick a color. Mine is pruple. What’s yours?

Is this fair?

I meant to post this a few days ago, but it slipped my mind. Prince Harry of Wales was busted calling a fellow soldier a “paki” and another soldier “raghead”. This is the same royal who was pictured on one Halloween dressed as a Nazi. He has since apologized for both incidents respectfully. I’m not exactly surprised by this, not because of what I think of Harry’s mindset but because I know that soldiers (US or British) tend to use rather harsh language, especially when it pertains to who is the perceived enemy. I’m more shocked that there is a video of him saying things like that. The British Ministry of Defense says they’ll investigate his behavior and that name calling and racism is definitely inappropriate behavior. 

If they investigate Harry’s actions, they should also look into the actions of his comrades. I’m pretty sure that he is not the only one using this sort of language, especially since he felt so comfortable saying on camera to other soldiers in his platoon. I don’t want to come off as trying to excuse Harry’s remarks, but I certainly think it is hugely unfair to investigate only him unless the British Defense is just talking about an investigation to save face. It does seem embarassing for a royal serving in your army to be caught on camera saying racist things.  

I don’t even want to pass judgement on Harry. I think most, if not all, people are guilty of being racist or prejudice in one way or another. Even if you don’t say or do something racist, but you still have bad thoughts about a group of people for whatever reason you’re still a racist. And how many times have you played with a friend and jokingly called them a nigger, wop, etc.? I can say that I do hear a lot of that same “joking” on the streets here in Harlem and in other parts of New York City where there are people of many different backgrounds living and working beside each other.

I guess you could say I consider NYC somewhat of a war zone in itself.

Hopeless Job Search

On Tuesday, I went to a job fair held sponsored by the New York Daily News at the New Yorker Hotel. Cut straight to the chase: it was a wash! I, along with about 300 other people, waited in the freezing cold and wind from 9am to 10am to get into the auditorium where only 15 companies were there to seek prospective employees. At least three companies were there to actually make a buck: a college, a bartending school, and a company who teaches people how to make online profiles (aka scam).

The real kicker for me was waiting on a line to speak with one of the representatives from Time Warner Cable for 45 minutes only to be told “I can’t do anything for you.” The wait was long because the woman was talking for at least 10 minutes to each person that talked to her. The other respresentative was much quicker and the line for his side was faster. I should’ve gotten on that line, but I was told that his line was for Metro Health Plus. I didn’t know that he was also there for Time Warner until I got closer to the front, and saw the sign for the table.

I made some friends on the line though. We shared in each others’ frustration on the line. There was a woman one person behind me who talking about job fairs in the ’90s, a woman in front played eagle eye to what was going on in the front of the line (line skippers), and the woman right behind me whose cousin was on the faster line; they both gave me some good advice on where I might be find work for what I got my degree in.

So, here’s how it went when I got up to the woman representative:

Me: I’m recent graduate and I’d like to work for Time Warner.

Rep: Where did you graduate from? With what degree?

Me: I graduated from Pace University with a bachelors in Communications Studies. Would you like to see my resume?

Rep: (annoyed) Yeah, sure.

::Hand my resume to the rep. She glosses over it, and sees my magazine internships, wrote for the school paper, etc.::  

Rep: I don’t see anything… What do you want to do?

Me: I want to be a journalist, but the industry is not good right now. I’m thnking I could be a clerk or sales rep…

Rep: I really don’t have anything for you based on your resume. You go online to the Time Warner website, see what is there, and upload your resume.

Me: Thank you.

:: Dismayed. I walk away. ::

After I talked to that rep, I thought about going to more tables, but I figured I’d be hearing what Time warner told me. So, I decided to get the hell out of the hotel, and go on with the rest of my day. I was glad to get out of there, but I wanted to cry so bad. I just walked around for the rest of the day. Walking off the adrenaline of having to prove to hiring managers that I’m worthy of their employ is my usual after a job interview. I walked from 34th street and 8th avenue to 9th street and 4th avenue. From there I went home, where I finally cried.

R.I.P. Ms. Kitt

On Christmas, Ms. Eartha Kitt passed away of colon cancer at 81 years old. She came from being born on a plantation in North, South Carolina to being a successful actress and sex symbol. I remember first seeing her as cat woman when the Adam West re-runs of Batman play on WPIX when I was a little girl and then in Boomerang when she told Eddie Murphy’s character, “I don’t have any panties on.” And that was just the tip of the iceberg with her career! You are definitely going to be missed, Ms. Kitt!