2008...MY Year in Review.

2008 was a great year in many ways.
An interesting year if nothing else.
It was an important year.
A year that will certainly go down in history.
It started with the death of one my favorite up and coming actors Heath Ledger.
It was a complete shock.
I really admired Heath so his death hurt me.
I found some old friends. I lost some of the ones I had.
And I became a more open and forgiving person.
It was my 6th year of marriage.
My baby started Kindergarten and my little one began to speak.
I learned way too much about Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie.
Janet Jackson went on tour...briefly, but she went.
And I was there. And it was magnificent.
I saw the incomparable Erykah Badu in concert.
And I came to know Jazmine Sullivan, Durand Bernarr (youtube),
and Jennifer Hudson musically. And THAT was fantastic.
I had the misfortunate of coming to know Sarah Palin, Jeremiah Wright,
the ugly in Elisabeth Hasselback and the 'by any means necessary' Hillary Clinton.
Though, Hillary and I are on the mend now.
And I acknowledge that her run for office was extraordinary for women.
I discovered the joys of Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.
Hollywood went on strike.
We entered into one of the worst recessions in history.
Linens and Things closed.
California burned.
We marched for the Jena 6.
And 'The Dark Knight' reigned supreme.
Gas prices went crazy high and then wonderfully low.
We lost more entertainment greats like Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac, Paul Newman,
Levi Stubbs, Bo Diddley, Norman Whitfield and most recently Eartha Kitt.
Jay-Z married his Queen B.
And Mariah Carey married....Nick Cannon? Yeah, Nick Cannon.
Stars were having babies from J.Lo to Nicole Richie.
The Goldmans and em' FINALLY got O.J.
But the most important event was
Barack Obama being elected President of The United States Of America.
I'm still so speechless and overwhelmed that I'll stop here.
It's just a beautiful, beautiful, thing.
2008 was an important year. An amazing year.
A year that will certainly go down in history!

thoughtsandthings 12/29 Just do it

"Achievement seems to be connected
with action. Successful men and
women keep moving. They make
mistakes, but they don't quit."
- Conrad Hilton


I have many friends.
Most of them are extremely talented in the arts.
Many are in or are trying to get into show business.
Many are not where they want to be, myself included.
We spend so much time trying to make that thing perfect,
the photos, the music, the scripts, the blogs,
til we never get it out.
Meanwhile, others are just doing it.
They are just releasing thier art into the world
and letting the people catch it.
letting the people feel it.
And they are living thier dreams.
Being where they want to be, doing what they want to do.
We have to stop editing everything and just DO IT!
Put it out there and see what happens.
Puffy is my favorite example of getting your grind on.
While we're editing Puffy is doing the thing.
While we're making it perfect
Puffy is working, not sleeping, staying up on top of the game,
staying up under the game, trying to out do you before you do
anything.
Puff is getting the job done.
Every year we make resolutions that last about 12 days into January.
This is not a dress rehearsal.
Time is fleeting.
I don't want to look back on life and have a list of what ifs.
The time is NOW!
I'm chasing Puffy.
I'm chasing my dreams.
I'm going to get it done.
I'm going to just do it!

thoughtsandthings... 12/22 FACEBOOK!

I'm a Pisces.
I have an addictive personality.
I check my email, text messages, voicemails and the deephousepage 4,798 times a day.
FACEBOOK was the last thing that I needed.
I'm not even that open. I've never been the Myspace, Classmates.com type.
So how did I get addicted to FACEBOOK?
It's simple.
It's the Myspace for grown-ups. No music. No graphics. No bullshit.
It's a wonderland. It has me so open. I've found people that I forgot I knew.
People have found me that I forgot I loved. I AM SO OPEN right now.
The world is amazingly small and we're all here getting connected and sharing via FACEBOOK!
We are truly separated by a mere 6 degrees.
But like anything else it has it's drawbacks.
My Piscean skin is very thin.
So when I send a friend request and I get ignored, it hurts.
When you see that same person confirm someone else, it's like DANG!
And those boxes of People That You May Know...
Well it keeps rotating and just like you see those people, they see you.
So you know that they're NOT clicking on you just like you're
NOT clicking on them. And then the circle gets smaller and smaller and smaller.
You're all becoming friends with other people and NOT each other
and the list gets so tiny until FINALLY one of you breaks down to request friendship from the other. It's a funny thing.
On the flip side of that, there's this elementary school type satisfaction
when your request is accepted. Especially by someone that you didn't expect
would accept it. It's euphoric that feeling of inclusiveness, of belonging...to
anything, i guess.
It's a strange, but beautiful thing, this FACEBOOK!
Hanging out in other people's worlds...getting knowledge and inspiration from each other.
No Myspace for me. I'm cool right here on FACEBOOK!
Maybe I'll see you there...

thoughtsandthings 12/1 ~ 12/8 In the news...

O.J. Simpson is going to jail because he missed this memo...

When you kill a white woman ,or at the very the least, when the world thinks that you've killed a white woman....you go to Florida or Europe even and you sit yo narrow azz down. Play golf, read a book. But don't...do not get and beat and harass another white woman. Do not get into public fights with your kids. Do not write books about how you would have killed said white woman and friend. And lastly, you do not...you do NOT go and manhandle people even if they DID steal your stuff. You got away. You're FREE! Sit DOWN!
Had O.J. gotten and read this memo he wouldn't have been pleading for forgiveness in court. Some people just NEVER get it. It's sad really.


Cadillac Records~ a review

I was pleasantly surprised with this film.
Jeffrey Wright (who's often overlooked imo) did an incredible job.
As did Mos Def (of course) and yes, even Mrs. Carter did her thing.
To truly get the look of Etta James and that deep gut-wrenching soulful singing,
I feel that Faith Evans may have been a better choice.
But overall, Beyonce did better than I had anticipated.
She definitely held her own playing against Adrian Brody.
Brody, Cedric The Entertainer, & Columbus Short, also turned in
phenomenal performances.
What made the movie so good was that each actor went the extra mile.
They all gained weight to play the thier characters and they all used thier
vocals for the songs. I was thoroughly impressed with that.

I love learning new things about music. And the film taught me about
Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Both of whom I knew very little.
It also taught me the TRUE origin of rock & roll.
If I had to rate the performances, I would have to give them an A.
There could be an Oscar nod for Jeffrey Wright...That'd be cool.