A Xmas tune to check out if you're a bit tired of the standards.

Perfect background music when consuming copious amounts of Yuletide booze this afternoon into this evening.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays...celebrate whatever it is you celebrate, but make sure you have a good ass time while doing so. Be safe.

Peace and Much Love.

"Maybe I'm just a helpless Hiphop romantic."

It came late in the fourth quarter but just like another Chi Town legend, Common messed around and took over the game. With a simplistic approach of raw beats and sharp, precise lyricism, the Hiphop legend stayed true to the culture he loves and easily dropped the album of the year.









Now if you can't feel that, perhaps you should light some candles, run a bubble bath and pop some Drake in.

Peace.

Heavy D.

'

It was 2005 and I was living in Los Angeles when Heavy D came into the Blockbuster Video I worked at. I can't be sure if it was simply the crew's immunity to seeing celebrities or that it was way past Heavy's time to have customer service representatives doting on him. Whatever the case was, only two out of the seven of us on the clock were truly excited to be in the presence of this legendary figure in HipHop and all around stage performance. The majority of the crew seemed more intrigued by the fact that Halle Berry was sitting in the passenger seat of his shiny black Escalade, waiting for him out in the parking lot. Yes, Heavy was rolling with Halle.

The man was as nice as any celebrity, or for that matter any customer that I came across in my eleven months there, could possibly be. I was always entertained by Heavy, especially by the fact that in his prime he was not a small man but ripped a stage like no one before or after him. He had a combination of rapping and dancing that was uniquely his own. But after seeing him in person, his down to earth demeanor combined with a nonchalant approach to buying out the store and what we could come to find out was his courting of Ms. Berry, he won me over for eternity. He was simply the man from there on out.

Not even a month ago I tuned into the BET HipHop Awards to see what the kids are into these days. I wasn't impressed by much of anything other then a slimmed down Heavy D straight up showing these youngsters how to command a stage. On that night I tweeted "If Heavy D isn't trending, he should be".

I'm sure he'll be trending tonight, unfortunately it's for the worst of reasons.

Dwight Arrington Myers

May 24th, 1967 - November 8th, 2011

Have we lost our way?

In the last week I've watched as the state of Georgia executed a possibly innocent man, read about a fourteen year old boy that took his own life because of bullying, sat disgusted as the crowd at the Republican Debate booed a soldier and just recently had to sit here and just shake my head after reading about a hockey fan that tossed a banana at a Flyers player.

What the hell is going on out there? It's gotten to the point where I'm actually considering quitting my attempts to stay up on the news because I'm quite certain every time I check into one of my sites or turn to one of my channels, I'm going to be bombarded with ugly stories of my fellow man.

I'm not perfect, not even close. But I know in my heart that I try to stick to common sense values when it comes to this group that call ourselves humans. I respect someone, regardless of skin color or sexual orientation. I respect someone even more if they're also an active solider stationed in Iraq, fighting for the very freedoms that allow me to write this blog and those people at that debate to sit there and jeer him.

Regardless of your political affiliation or feelings on the death penalty or the messages in some archaic book, there comes a time where you have to look inward and think to yourself that we are all granted a very short time on this rock. Let's at least try to be nice to one another, it's simple, it's what our parents should have taught us in grade school. If this came off preachy, so be it. Sometimes I must vent through the written word. Peace to all and good luck.

House of 1,000 Costumes

My wife and I decorated our house for Halloween a week ago, but since today is officially the last day of summer and gravestones are starting to pop up in other families' front yards besides ours, I think it's socially acceptable now to make this post.

Every year Jamie and I can't help ourselves, it's one of the many lovely elements about our relationship. Our mutual appreciation for not only Autumn but the magic of All Hallow's Eve. I'll never forget our first trip to Spirit together to find some decorations for our new apartment. I was a bit nervous that my own fondness for the macabre wouldn't jive with hers, since all I knew about women and this particular holiday was twofold, my mother's choice of decor (smiling scarecrows) and the unspoken competition between young ladies on who could sex up an otherwise non-sexy character or occupation the most.

To my surprise Jamie was not only going to accept disgusting ghouls and mutilated zombies around the apartment as the norm, but was going to pick out the most disturbing things herself. Most notably the large hook and severed head connected to a giant chain, that is hung across our living room as I type this. Of course with the season comes the costumes and since our first Halloween together we've tried to something fun an unique as a duo, this year will be no different as we go back in time and break out a classic monster movie couple. Until then check out our past endeavors...

2006

Beetlejuice and Lydia

Too bad we came out of the gate with this ensemble because I'm afraid we may never top it. Not only did Jamie do my makeup perfectly (complete with real moss) and we payed major attention to detail (Lydia's old school camera) but we embodied the characters themselves perfectly.

2007

Mario and Princess Toadstool

I'll always remember this because of Jamie's insistence on having the dark hair instead of blonde and being referred to as "Toadstool" instead of "Peach". Major cool points awarded for that decision since I'm a man of tradition and Princess Peach is some newb shit.

2008

No parties. :(

2009

Freddy vs. Jason

Our return to dressing up after an off year was a lazy one for us. Not that I didn't enjoy seeing my wife as the cutest Freddy Kruger ever, I just think this one lacked our usual zest. Especially me, with my beard hanging out of my dollar store hockey mask and borrowed overalls, which I don't believe Jason Voorhees ever actually wore.

2010

Ghostbusters + The Devil's Rejects

After a couple of slow outings, a few parties last year gave us a chance for a double header and Jamie a real chance to flex her makeup muscles on me.The first time around we went nice and friendly, with Stay Puft and the little known fifth Ghostbuster. The second time, we went downright nasty as two members of the notorious "Firefly Family", Baby and Captain Spaulding. Jamie wasn't as excited as me at first to get into the garb of a homicidal maniac but eased into her role quite nicely as the night progressed, as you can see here...

Stay tuned and happy hauntings...

Ten years ago today.

Ten years ago today we witnessed a great tragedy, the details of which have been exhausted ever since. I personally changed on this day more so than most people probably realized, even my closest of friends. I evolved in almost an instant from a 19 year old kid who could care less, to the prototype version of the almost 30 year old man I am today. Watching those scenes unfold on that day, watching the familiar story play out live on television had a profound impact on me. I became more aware. More aware of our government, more aware of the religions we throw our faith into and most importantly more aware of our country, of us. Americans.

Ten years later I don't want to see the attack from space. I don't want to look at "never before scene" photos or hear "brand new stories" from the eyewitnesses. Frankly, the images are etched into my conscience and will be until I take them into the grave with me. It's probably a bit hypocritical for me to even make this post, but I truly feel like today is a day for remembrance, but a quiet remembrance. A quiet reflection.

A reflection on the victims and the selfless heroes. A reflection on who we were personally, on who we were as a people and most importantly who we are now.

Irene.

Friday, August 26th 2011 - 5:00 PM

-Our survival kit-

Not a drop of rain had fallen yet but half the bag of Hot Fries and a few choice blue chips were down for the count. *Note my nifty 35$ lantern.

Friday, August 26th 2011 - 9:00 PM

-Heck, throw in the the nachos-

My wife and I got together with a few friends at our friendly neighborhood Applebee's for some half priced appetizers. Taking in the spirit of possible widespread destruction and terror, we ordered one of everything. The nachos were especially tasty.

Saturday, August 27th 2011 - 6:00 PM

-Doo doo doo, looking out our front door-

The calm before the storm. Nothing to be heard at this point except the persistent babbling of news reporters.

Saturday, August 28th 2011 - 7:30 PM

-Cocktails, dinner and final preparations are made-

While Jamie cooked up a delicious Eggplant Parm, I prepared cocktails and began to get my buzz on.

Later while Jamie made sensical moves that the news informed us to make, such as filling things with water in case we were out of power for an extended period of time...I made us a fort on the living room floor and started boarding up windows, channeling Mel Gibson in Signs. Problem was we only had one broken closet door and large piece of white something that I pillaged from our basement. In a house full of windows, two were now somewhat boarded up. I felt .002% safer.

Saturday, August 28th 2011 - 10:00 PM

-Live from the underground-

After losing power right in the midst of meteorologists seemingly playing a game of "guess where the next tornado warning will be for!" I made the executive decision to move our sleepover with Irene down to the basement of our home.

Sunday August 28th, 2011 - 4:00 AM

-Insomniac theater-

Jamie fell asleep a few minutes after that last video was taken leaving me alone with my thoughts, in a pitch black basement. I can never be sure if the hullabaloo coming from above us at this ungodly hour was truly as terrifying as I now remember it (it was the peak of the storm) or it was just the combined effect of the rum, lack of sleep, nine different candle scents at once and no air conditioner. Regretfully I have no photo or video to encapsulate this time due to the fact that I needed my bearings in case I had to perform a swift ninja maneuver. However if you were awake like me you know that this was indeed the crescendo of the shit show.

Sunday August 28th, 2011 - 6:00 AM

-Worst is over & I'd like a grilled cheese sandwich-

Sunday August 28th, 2011 - 11:00 AM

-Surveying the wreckage-

*Our backyard, I'm tired just looking at it.

and finally...

*The mystery branch in front of Mario's (I'm going with the aliens dropped it there during the storm just to mess with us)

Sunday August 28th, 2011 - 12:00 PM

-Margaret Red Shutters-

Sunday August 28th, 5:00 PM

-Ending the day at a Ghost Town-