Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Brokeback Mountain...A Double Standard?

I was forwarded this article in an email today, and I gotta say that the author has a point. Read below...

This week's topic comes from SB user, Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza in Philly:
"I wake up this morning to find glowing commentaries in print and electronically that "Brokeback Mountain" wins numerous Golden Globe awards. According to people who care about these things, the Golden Globes could be a sneak preview of what the Oscar's will look like.

I have not seen the movie 'Brokeback Mountain.' Basically, I did not appreciate the marketing of this protracted male homosexual relationship of heterosexually married men as a touching love story. I have no problem with the homosexual part of the movie. If the homosexuality was portrayed as an open, consensual, honest and loving relationship, no problem. What I have problems with is the positive marketing of White homosexual male behavior that is viewed negatively in the media when Black males do the same thing.

My issues are racism and double standards. When Brothers do the same thing, we get a new vocabulary word just for them--it is called the "Down Low." What bothers me is that two White males married to females continue their homosexual relationships and folks flock to see it and find it so moving, heart wrenching watching them live a lie.

What bothers me even more is that Black males who do this same thing get no safe quarter in cinema, literature or communities. In no ones eyes is there one positive thing to say about this type of unprincipled behavior, it is certainly not award-winning..." (more)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Why Men Aren't Allowed to Vote

Throughout the NFL season, Fox Sports has been running a contest to discover who is the NFL's Sexiest Man. Players were placed into brackets and people went to foxsports.com to vote on the winners. I've been pretty interested to see who would win this site (since I figured more men would be on the site than women) and just as I suspected, men should not be allowed anywhere near voting like this. Right now the winner of the contest is being decided between two players: Brett Favre and Neil Rackers, the kicker for the Arizona Cardinals....WTF?!?!?

You mean to tell me of all the fine men in the NFL, all we could come up with is Brett Favre and the kicker for the Cardinals?!?!?! First of all I love Brett Favre and all but he's not sexy...sorry. Then upon closer look at the whole bracket I can't believe some of the people that were beat out in this competition. For instance, Brett Favre beat out Tiki Barber and Jason Taylor! Other people that were beat out include Ronde Barber, Dwight Freeny and even Tom Brady. Dude I'm not drooling over Tom Brady, but he got beat out by this random kicker from Arizona! Men please don't vote for things like this ever again or if you must please consult your girlfriend, sister or some other intelligent woman before voting so that we can avoid disasters like this in the future. I think I'm gonna create my own poll...

Monday, January 16, 2006

The Best Google Logo Ever...


I love Google...

What the Feezy?

On random days where I don't have as much to do I have a tendency to visit websites that I haven't been to in a while. Today I happened upon BET.com and now I remember why the hell I don't usually frequent the site. What kinda madness are we promoting here black people? This is supposedly to be the go to site for black entertainment. Let me share with you some of the madness that I found:

Lil' Kim's new reality show: "Countdown to Lockdown". ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! Look I'm not mad @ her for tryna get her Martha Stewart on and make money while she's in jail but really? The show is basically just footage of everything that she did for the two weeks up until she went to jail. BET has officially run outta ideas for TV shows. This is crazy

Goldigger Quiz: Yes anyone can figure out if they know how to spot a goldigger on the street. And after you complete the quiz, you're directed to the BET dating site so that you can find your true internet love....WTF!?!?!

Flavor of Love: BET has message boards up about shows that are on other people's networks! The most retarded version of "The Bachelor" that I've ever seen has a group of women vying for the love of...Flavor Flav? Wow this is deep. I had to watch an episode just to see the madness. These women are crazy. They were really on national TV talking about how much they were feelin him while walkin around in short @$$ dresses, crying cuz they got eliminated when Flav didn't give them a clock! And BET makes it worst by putting up a message board. That's like a big @$$ banner that says "Don't watch BET, watch Vh1!" I don't care if you are all owned by the same people, at least act like competitors...humor us please.

P.S. some of the messages on this board are ridiculous. Here's my favorite:
"Another fool showin his entire u know what on tv. I liked the "Strange Love" series but felt like alot of it was staged. Who in their right mind would want that little burnt up ninja turtle? "

Classic

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Broke Phi Broke...We Ain't Got It!

OK so I hate New Year's Resolutions because as soon as I call them that then they don't happen. So let's just say that these are my 3 goals for the year (yeah I know it's 2 weeks into the new year, but better late than never):
  1. Stop being broke. The broke college student thing has run it's course and I'm really getting tired of this. By the end of 2006 I need to have a good paying job and a least one money making side hustle. I'm currently accepting ideas...
  2. Stop being big. OK so I'm really losing weight this time. Last time the only thing that stopped me was my damn thyroid going outta wack again and messing up my metabolism, which is part of the reason I'm over weight in the first place. But that's in control and I've started eating right and working out. Note: water aerobics is no joke. Who needs free weights when you're surrounded by water. I've done the class twice in the last 3 days and body is screaming! But I'm still going back tomorrow...it's fun!
  3. Stop being a student. I love USC and you all know that, but it's officially time for me to be an alumnus...again. It's just really time for me to move on. My classes this semester are really cool (damn when was the last time I said that) and I'm extremely confident that 14 weeks from now I will officially hold a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

So there you have it. If you see me at any time and I'm slacking on reaching any of the above goals, sock me and make me get back to work. But don't hit me too hard...I'm sensitive =0)

Friday, January 13, 2006

Quick Thought

If you are at the gym to workout and get in shape, why do you use the elevator instead of the stairs?

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm....

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The Babies Are Leaving!!!

I hope Pete Carroll is recruiting his @$$ off right now cuz ALL THE BABIES ARE LEAVING. Yeah I knew Reggie and LenDale were leaving, but it's officially now and that makes me sad. Then I went to ESPN and looked at the list of players on the NFL Draft board. It's officially time for me to leave USC, cuz damn everyone else is! I didn't really realize how many people were graduating or leaving early. I'm not mad @ 'em though I hope they all end up somewhere great. I'm a little scared about New Orleans picking Matt Leinart though. Who the hell plays for New Orleans? Nobody wants to see that! OK I'm supposed to be all nice about it cuz of the hurricane and stuff even without a hurricane I think they're season would've been not so hot. Maybe they'll pick Vince so Matt can go to Tennessee and play with Coach Chow again. Now THAT'S real television!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Quarter Life Crisis

I'm posting something that many of us have already read, but I'm putting in here because I've been feeling like this a lot more lately. Could have a lot to do with the fact that I'm graduating in May (for real this time) plus I'm just tryna make a lot of life changes at the same time.

Started the weight loss plan for real today. I realized that I'm not as out of shape as I thought. I'm just lazy when it comes to working out. I don't ever wanna go work out but when I start I usually don't wanna leave. I said I was gonna work out for 20 minutes and left the gym today an hour later. I know I'm strange. And hopefully by the end of 2006 I'll be skinny too. I'm giving myself an entire year because I got on a scale today for the first time in a cool minute and realized that I have a lot more to lose than I thought.

Could also have to do with the fact that I'm taking classes in so many fields this semester not directly related to my field. I sat in a three hour intellectual property class on Monday and came out ready to apply for Law school. Who knows how I'll feel in May. Tomorrow is my first entrepreneurship class. Surround me with 70 MBA students and who knows what I'll start thinking about. Plus I just took one of those random internet quizzes that tells you what advanced degree I should pursue. Guess what the results were...yup an MBA. The only good thing about all of this is that I know that these options are still open to me should I decide to pursue them. Nothing worse than wanting to do something and then figuring out that you can't do them.

So here's to indecision and confusion! God I love being twenty-something!


Being Twenty-Something
They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.

One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty something friends.... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion.....

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US!!!!!
- Brenda Della Casa

Monday, January 09, 2006

Celebreality

Over the past year or so I've started watching Vh1 a lot more, not for the music really but more for the hilarious shows that these people have come up with. Although I'm extremely disgusted by all the shows that have included Flavor Flav making out with anybody (it's nasty) I do have to so that my favorite show is Celebrity Fit Club. Maybe it's because I enjoy watching fat celebrities struggling with their weight in the same fashion that I do...who knows. What I do know is that it actually helps me feel like getting up and excerising. It also makes me wish I had enough money to hire a personal chef to make all of my meals for me...le sigh.

But I digress. I wish that they sold the episodes of the show on DVD like every other TV show that has been on air in the past 3 years. But alas all they sell are workout DVDs and books with their diets in them. I'd love to buy one but I don't really feel like reading a big 'ol book about losing weight, just tell me how to do it. OK I'm being lazy on that one, I guess I'll just start by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. But now that a new season of Celebrity Fit Club has started, at least I have a couple of months to watch new episodes and watch fat celebrities melt the fat away....YAY!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Cleaning House

OK classes start on Monday (my last semester at USC...thank GOD!) and I'm determined to get my apartment clean before then. Not the "its good enough for now" clean where you take all of the papers and put them in stacks to deal with later, but really organized. I know I'm not gonna do it once school starts because I never do. It's time to start throwing away crap that I don't want or need. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of Clean Sweep and Trading Spaces, but I feel like cleaning and decorating. I might as well take advantage of it while I can.

Yesterday I bought a five shelf bookcase and put it together myself. Just me, a screwdriver, hammer and the directions. Again I think I've been watching Trading Spaces too much, but hey at least I got the shelf together. When I started putting all my books in the bookcase I realized how many books I've bought that I haven't gotten a chance to read. Damn I miss those summers commuting to San Francisco on BART. That was quality reading time.

Anyway let me get up and actually start cleaning before I change my mind. Anyone wanna come over and help?

Friday, January 06, 2006

Mourning The Loss....

OK It's taken me almost 2 days to recover from what I will only refer to as the "Pasadena Fiasco". Although I've finally gotten over the fact that one of the greatest streaks in college football is now over, I'll still slap a Texas Longhorn fan in the streets of LA. You won...now go home. However I'm attempting to take our loss graciously as Pete Carroll would want us to. So I've decided to look at the bright side of the entire situation. So in my best Pollyanna impression, here are the best things about the "Pasadena Fiasco":
  1. No more media coverage. I'll admit that I was the first prson on espn.com, foxsports.com, si.com and every other sports page reading everything they wrote about USC and how great we were. But dammit it really was overexposure. It was too much. Now the team can live in peace and just be college students.
  2. Easier to get seats in the Colesium. Now that all of the bandwagon fans have jumped off and gone running after Vince Young all the way back to Austin, the real fans won't have to fight football groupies and celebrities just to get close enough to the field to see the game. Hopefully the prices of student tickets and season tickets go down a little too. Or at least they won't raise the prices again.
  3. The end of one era means the beginning of a new one. Pete Carroll is loving this right now, because he gets to rebuild his team again and show how great of a coach he is. Let's be real about this people. We know Matt Leinart has to leave, and don't be shocked if Reggie and LenDale go too. All kinds of other players are graduating. It's a fresh start and Pete loves the challenge of being able to rebuild his teams. And as long as we keep beating UCLA, I OK with that.

And since the football team has started fresh, I think it's time for me to start fresh as well. I'm taking everything in life now as a sign of what's going on in my life. Last year at this time, USC had just won a National Championship and everyone was wondering how far we could take this streak. I remember thinking, man I wish I was gonna be a student next year so I could go to games and see them win. Next thing I know, I'm not graduating and I AM around to see them for another year (be careful what you wish for). But the "Pasadena Fiasco" has put an end to an era and it's time for a fresh start. Matt, Reggie, LenDale, and a host of other Trojan football players will get their fresh starts in the NFL. They've brought closure to it all, which means one thing....it's time for me to go too! I'm outta here in May no matter what. Hopefully I'll be in a city where I can watch at least one Trojan play in the NFL. I think I'll be paying more attention to this NFL draft more than ever before.