HATERS TO THE LEFT, PLEASE.
I've been a Mariah Carey fan since...probably birth.
I've never met her, but I probably like her more than I like you.
Just kidding!
Maybe.
Anyway, I swept this album up ASAP when it came out on Tuesday. After listening too her for most of my life, I figured I would not be disappointed. And I was right.
As I expected, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is just good R&B. Period. Yes, her lyrics are a little silly at times - RE: "Obsessed" - but would she be the Mariah we all know and love if some of the lyrics weren't like that? No. She wouldn't. And I know you don't want Mariah to change.
Stand out tracks for me right now include the first single, "Obsessed", "Betcha Gon' Know (The Prologue)", and a cover of "I Want to Know What Love Is".
I got the Deluxe Edition of the CD, so it came with the jacket that was a mini Elle magazine. I'm not sure if every CD has that or what, but...I dig it. It's basically an overview of house successful Mariah's been, the sexy clothes/drinks/shoes Mariah has, and her relationship with her husband of over a year, Nick Cannon.
(Did anybody else not see that marriage coming? Still can't believe. He's so corny. She's so amazing. Where did it come from?)
ANYWAY, buy this album. Don't download it from Limewire. Don't go pick up the bootleg from dude on Montgomery Street. Don't wait to burn it from your girlfriends when you go back home for Thanksgiving break.
Buy it.
I mean, I shouldn't even have to tell you. You should just know.
- K. Rocka
If you haven't noticed, Nelly Furtado is the bizness.
I didn't start riding her train hard until her last album came out - YES, I KNOW I'M MAD LATE - but I say better late than never.
Mi Plan is a Spanish album and no, I don't speak fluid Spanish. I speak enough, but I don't flow like I'd like to. But that's how you know an artist is that good.
I bought a CD performed in another language and I still bump it continuously. This too is an addictive album.
Stand out tracks for me include her first single, "Manos Al Aire", "Fuerte", and "Silencio" with Josh Groban.
Step outside your box and buy it. Now.
- K. Rocka
I've been seeing images of this album for months. I always told myself that I'd go somewhere online and investigate their music to see if I liked it.
Never did.
But when I went into my favorite store in the entire universe, Best Buy, I saw it on sale for $7.99. I was hesitant to buy it and stalled for a few minutes while what I thought was a new Amy Winehouse song played over the speakers. I dug the song. Nice tempo, nice flavor, etc. I told myself that I'd give myself to the end of the song to decide whether to take a chance on the album or not. When the song ended, the Best Buy DJ said that the song was "Never Forget You" by The Noisettes.
Thank you, Best Buy DJ for giving me a preview. I bought the album right away.
I was not disappointed. The CD stayed in my car's player for almost a week. It's like audio crack. They sound pretty retro, but an updated retro with a little alternative mixed in. Think Amy Winehouse meets...I don't know. Maybe Pink. Their music is different.
Trust me. You'll like The Noisettes.
- K. Rocka
Netflix knows me so well.
Not only do I love documentaries, but I also love socially responsible films and stories about gangs.
And this movie more than satisfied me.
The world of the Crips and Bloods is territory I've never been too familiar with. I just know the basics: which wears which color, which rappers allegedly identify with which gang, etc. I've never heard the back story or the positive stories about the efforts to end gang violence, which is one reason I watched this doc.
As I predicted, it was a great film. It provided an intimate (but not too intimate) look into some of the lives of the Crips and Bloods of today and yesterday. Some of it is sad, but the ending offers a message of hope that the cycle of gang violence will eventually come to an end or at least diminish a little.
It was directed by Stacy Peralta, who wrote Lords of Dogtown, which is another great film.
If your Netflix doesn't have the sense to suggest Crips and Bloods: Made In America to you, just find it for yourself and check it out.
- K. Rocka
Don't know where these dudes came from, but I'm glad they came.
This tape is so nice.
The artists mixed some of their favorite verses from some of their favorite artists (Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, and 2Pac to name a few) and mixed them in with their own work.
And it sounds great.
They're not just fans who know how to mix. They're fans who know their hip-hop and appreciate it and learn from it and use that knowledge to come up with their own creative verses.
I most definitely was jammin' to it at my job.
Not even supposed to have iPods at work. Didn't even care.
Don't know what else to say except get your download on for $FREE.99.
- K. Rocka
When listening to mixtapes, my usual mind pattern when it comes to songs goes a something like this: hot, skip, skip, hot, skip, hot, skip, skip, kinda nice, skip, skip, nice, skip, etc.
You get the point. I skip a lot of songs. Few mixtapes are worth listening to all the way through. Hell, few official albums are worth listening to all the way through.
However, Wale's (pronounced "Wah-LAY") mixtape, Back to the Feature kept my head noddin' the whole way through. I know I'm mad late on this one, but...the production is tight (it's produced by Grammy award-winning producer 9th Wonder). His flow is nice. The rhymes are way above average.
Wale is somethin' else. He's not your average lyricist.
The album features a lot of other artists or friends or whatever, which I am usually opposed to. But this mixtape has such a nice, clean flow. The underlying theme of the tape is "N---as be rappin'". And yes, these dudes do be rappin'.
You like that old school hip-hop sound? You'll like this tape.
Wale is someone to look out for.
As he so eloquently states on the mixtape, "You want that bullshit, turn the radio on."
You want that hotness? Download Back to the Feature.
- K. Rocka
Until very recently, I used to date around quite a bit. Since freshman year of college, I’ve almost always had a boyfriend type or a dude to talk to. Being a good girl automatically got me a certain level of respect from the guys I was involved with and I knew it. I’ve gone out with or dated or re-dated (a mistake) a lot of young men in the past couple of years and have been successful keeping my cookie to myself…if you know what I mean. If not, ask me about it at a later time and we can discuss it.
I didn’t so much fancy myself a female pimp or playa, but I was pretty confident that I knew a thing or two about relationships and dealing with the opposite sex.
Turns out I didn’t know shit about men.
One day at Barnes & Noble, I snatched up one of the last copies of comedian Steve Harvey’s new book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like a Man. He’s hilarious, thus I figured that the book would also be hilarious. Plus my family is on some Barnes & Noble plan where you save 10% on every purchase and I love to save any percentage of my money, so I bought it without thinking twice.
After realizing that it was a love and relationships type book, I’ll admit I got a little less excited. Unless it’s coming from a female that I know and love and/or respect, I really don’t want to hear advice about relationships. Think about it. If men cause problems in my relationships, why the hell would I want to hear advice from another man? I was not trying to hear it.
But then I started reading it. In addition to being humorous, the book has so much information about men that I had never thought about. It also discussed some things that a woman may want to do to make a relationship more enjoyable. Harvey was straightforward and reasonable as well as entertaining. I was very impressed and would definitely recommend this book to any woman who either likes Steve Harvey or wouldn’t mind a little insight into the mind of a man as it pertains to relationships.
The last fucker (for a lack of a better word) that I dated kind of turned me off of pursuing relationships for the time being, but should I find an acceptable young man in the months to come, please believe that I will be using the information acquired from reading Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man to get my date on.
- K. Rocka
R&B is my bread and butter, but to be honest, a lot of stuff that’s been released in the past few years has been, to put it nicely, garbage.
Don’t get me wrong! I envision myself one day asking my lover to put on Jeremih’s “Birthday Sex”. Not even gonna lie. I probably will.
But many songs like “Boyfriend #2”, in the very first line of lyrics, set the mood straight to sex and fully bypass the more subtle and, in my opinion, more important 'sexy'. There have been times that I’ve listened to songs and felt like my innocence was snatched away and that somebody should have had a damn condom on. That’s what the mood is. Just feel like sex. It’s horrible.
However, friends, Trey Songz’s mixtape Anticipation has me feeling sexy again. It came out nearly a month ago, but as I am a working woman with dreams and responsibilities, I didn’t get a chance to download and burn it until last week.
Sure, it talks about sex, as most R&B songs do. However, the music and his vocals and the lyrics are just so silky smooth, I listen to the tape up and down and over again without feeling like I’ve been violated. It makes me feel like I want go there and not like I was already pushed there. It’s sexy. Not sex.
Which is why, young men, you should play this for your lady. If no other track, bump “You Belong to Me”. I’m just sayin’. Just tryna help you out a little bit.
As always, this mixtape is $FREE.99. Enjoy!
- K. Rocka
I love black & white films. And I love black & white short documentaries even more.
If you buy the deluxe version of Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night, there is a DVD with a 23 minute documentary on the making of the album.
It's beautiful.
It's simple.
It compliments both the artist and the music.
I'd love to work on projects like this after I graduate. I only say after I graduate because according to SCAD film criteria, this "wouldn't work".
Well, it works for me.
- K. Rocka
I love Harry Potter.
Although the books are a little better than the films, I can't hate on the movies. I get lost in them instead of (like I often do with other movies) checking my watch every ten minutes and wondering when the hell the credits will start rolling.
The film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince wasn't as good as the other films, but it was still worth seeing if you're a fan.
I think what made it a litle disappointing was that the most dramatic and important parts were cut short and lacked the drama I think that they needed to be effective.
But other than that...like I said, it was cool for the fans. Good comedy, good suspense for the most part.
Also.
The shots were ill.
- K. Rocka
I don’t know if I’m just getting short tempered or if people have just lost their minds.
While I was sitting at the front desk at my internship, a young woman walked in. Upon seeing her, my internal ethnic alarm went off and rang, Yay! Another little cocoa girl! Sistas helping sistas. Hello, friend!
Well, my little alarm was crushed and blown up when that woman looked over the desk at me. She gave me the fakest, smallest, most forced smile in the universe and looked me up and down like I was some street urchin begging her for money.
I could just see it in her eyes. She was thinking, “Ugh, another ghetto bitch. I don’t have time for this. Let me sashay away.”
As she turned and walked away, her 1990’s extensions bouncing on her back, my eyes narrowed.
I was thinking, “I’MMA SHOW YOU A GHETTO BITCH, BITCH.”
To whip or not to whip that ass? That was the question. While a picture is worth a thousand words, I am a firm believer that a body slam and/or an old-fashioned beat down is also worth a thousand words.
But I kept my cool and I let her slide.
Moving on.
Today at the shoe store, I encountered an undesirable young man. Or, more precisely, two undesirable, too old to be looking at me, crusty, Plies/ODB-looking men.
I was turning a table corner and one of the men, dressed in a wife beater, ATL hat, and pants half way down his legs, was coming the opposite way.
Now, it is good form and good human practice to give people their personal space. If you can see the pores on the other person’s face, you’re probably too close.
Apparently, this man missed that memo. Because was came around the corner the same time I did, about 2.5 inches away from me, and looked down at me. Grunting a sorry excuse for “excuse me” (sounded like “skew me, shawt”) and flashing the toothpick and bootleg gold grill in his mouth.
Needless to say, I was disgusted. And needless to say, I was mad.
When I turned to give him the proper “WHAT THE F—K WAS THAT!” facial expression, I saw his friend, the broke down fusion of Jazze Pha and E-40, looking at my behind like I had offered it to him.
It was at that moment that I not only scurried away, but plunged into deep, deep thought about why I sometimes attract the dustiest, crustiest, oldest, most broke down men.
Hopefully I will find the answer some day.
And hopefully, before the summer’s end, I will not have any more episodes like the ones mentioned above.
I will keep you updated. And if you catch me on the news or in the paper, you’ll know that I had to slam somebody.
- K. Rocka
These are poppin’ for me right now:
1. Summer paychecks!
2. Shorty shorts.
3. Being single. And checking out your boyfriend.
4. Robert Kardashian, Jr. from Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
5. 80’s/90’s hip-hop mixtapes.
6. No alcohol or soda for 21 days.
7. Finally being able to say “no!” to coffee.
8. Sending calls to voicemail.
9. Trying new things & foods.
10. High heels + bell bottoms + cute top + cute jewelry.
- K. Rocka
…and these are not:
1. Ryan Seacrest.
2. 90% of the 2009 BET Awards.
3. Cute, cute clothes/accessories that I can’t afford right now.
4. Starbucks strawberry creme two days in a row.
5. Hos.
6. Michael Jackson & other celebrities passing away + the media’s inability to let them rest in peace.
7. Beef (cows as well as animosity).
8. Dating.
9. Completely unpacking.
10. 30 min. runs for lacrosse.
- K. Rocka
I love Lady Gaga's music more than I love a lot of people. True story. Maybe.
But when I saw this cover of Rolling Stone in the grocery store, I politely released a gasp of surprise and thought:
Hell naw. Who the hell and what the hell and why in the hell?
While I'm not diggin' the photo and I don't get the concept behind the photo, I did enjoy the article. Some of the information was predictable, some of it was news and shocking to me.
For example, how many of you knew that "Poker Face" was about her being with a man, but wanting to be with a woman?
Not I. That one was a surprise to me. And I promptly listened to the song after reading that. And I still don't get it.
It's a good read for Gaga fans.
And if you're not a Lady Gaga fan, I don't know why. I need you to get on it.
- K. Rocka
She would look great with a short cut or with the flowing locks.
But both at the same time should not have been an option.
- K. Rocka
I don't have Showtime, but I do have Netflix.
And man, that Netflix has me hooked on Showtime shows like I was hooked on crack.
First it was The Sopranos. Then it was Weeds. Now since Netflix streamed the first episode of its new show Nurse Jackie, I'll probably be trying to hunt down episodes of that when it comes out on DVD.
The star is Sopranos actress Edie Falco. Honestly, her character, Jackie, personality wise, is not too far a jump from Carmela Soprano.
Maybe.
She pretty much still speaks her mind, edited or not.
Well, maybe that's where the similarities end. But I say this was a good transition for her as far as character goes.
Nurse Jackie snorts painkillers. She flushes jerk patients' body parts down the toilet. She has sex in the hospital.
...
The show's a dark comedy. But from my messy description of the show, you wouldn't be able to tell. She is a nurse and a caretaker and is deeply cynical of the doctors around her. In addition to all of the ludicrous things that she does, she does try to do the right thing most of the time as far as her patients as concerned.
But she does it her way.
I'll be interested to see what the rest of the season is like. If you have Netflix, you can watch the first episode until June 22. I don't know how Showtime functions as far as reruns go, but if you have it, try to catch this show.
- K. Rocka
A buddy of mine, the pimptastic John Grizzy Wilson, wrote about this mixtape a couple weeks back.
He gave it a nod and I must agree.
T.I. definitely didn't cheat the fans. What a surprise and gift to get an album from the self-proclaimed king before he went off to serve his year and a day!
If you listen to any tracks, bump the first full song, "Don't Forget Me" (featuring Mary J. Blige) and a song later on in the album, "Still Ain't Forgave Myself". The first is epic, so blast it in the car. The latter is just a nice, reflective piece, so listen to it.
One thing A Year and a Day could do without is input from T.I.'s friends after each song.
Talk about irritating. Damn.
I think an interlude after every song was a bit too much. Especially since the interludes from everyone covered the same basic thing:
"T.I., we're gonna miss you. But have no fear! We will hold this thang down. The haters will not get to us. We got ya back. You are the king in and out of prison. Can't wait 'til you get back!"
But if you're a T.I. fan, you will probably be able to tolerate all of that and enjoy the mixtape.
And if you were wondering how, how you would be able to afford A Year and a Day, stop worrying. It is a mixtape, so it is $FREE.99!
Get to downloading before people start getting wild and try to charge for it. The link's above.
- K. Rocka
Yesterday I watched House Party for the first time.
Pause the drama. I know, I know. I shoulda been seen that, right? I know. But yesterday was my first time. Let's move on.
As far as storyline goes, I think that it was okay.
As far as dopeness, I must give props to this film.
I appreciated the following things:
1. The '90s clothes.
2. Kid's ridiculous high top fade.
3. A.J. Johnson, Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Robin Harris.
But what I really loved was the dancing. I wish dudes now would dance instead of grinding all the time at parties. I understand and respect that gangstas don't dance, but I don't think I've ever met any real gangstas, so the dudes at the parties I go to should dance.
I don't care if they bust out the Kid 'N Play. I don't care if they have a high top fade.
Just show me the '90s dancing. Challenge me to a dance battle. Make me think twice about wearing flats or heels out. Make me bust out the Jordans and have to practice my dance moves before going out. On the dance floor, let's dance, not grind. At least not all the time.
Fellas, I would appreciate it. Please and thank you.
- K. Rocka
Don't act like you don't wanna know about the old Nas/Jay-Z drama that sparked "Ether" and "Supa Ugly".
I saw this book for sale at Barnes & Noble and immediately proceeded to the checkout counter.
Yes, I am a little embarrassed that I was so excited about this seemingly high school, immature, ex-girlfriend drama book, but let's look at it this way: this book just served as an outlet for Carmen Bryan. A chance for her to speak her mind and tell her story.
I love a good story. Don't care if it's about Nas's ex-girlfriend's drama with Jay-Z and Nas. I bought the book. Hopefully she got some money from it. Sistas helping sistas. That's what I'm about.
Bottom line: I recommend it. Read it in about three days. Some parts drag a little, but they pick up again.
Was it better than Confessions of a Video Vixen? Not sure. There were definitely less men in It's No Secret.
They are different books. If you dig hip-hop or if you dig drama or if you dig some good hip-hop drama conversation material, read both.
- K. Rocka Cranberry Vodka
Since I've been back home, I've been watching hours of TV. No, TV is not that good. But VH1 Soul most definitely is.
I was eating breakfast one morning and was flipping through the music video channels on Comcast. MTV Hits was playing trash. MTV Jams was showing too much ass. Thus I went to what I knew usually had videos on that I like. VH1 Soul!
Some little neo soul video was on, and as a self proclaimed neo soul puff ball, I sat there and soaked it all up. After the video, Black to the Future came on. It focused on the Black pop culture of past decades. It's just like VH1's Best Week Ever or the specials about the '60s, '70s, '80s where celebrities give their commentary on aspects on that decade, week, etc. Not the best explanation, but if you watch VH1, you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I was excited because I'd never seen it before. So I told myself I'd watch the show for a bit. Couldn't be more than an hour, right?
No. There were multiple episodes. Went from the '70s to now.
And I watched all of it. Sat down at around 10. Didn't turn off the TV until around 2.
As hard as I've tried, I've devoted at least an hour to VH1 Soul since getting home last week. And what am I doing now instead of cleaning the house and applying for internships and working out?
Updating my blog and watching 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs on VH1 Soul. Been here for an hour.
Will I work out today? Will I clean the house? Will I take care of my business?
Well, after this show, Driven with LL Cool J and Storytellers with Jay-Z comes on.
We'll see how it goes.
- K. Rocka Cranberry Vodka
Let me begin this by saying that I am not a hater.
If I feel that someone is due props, kudos, dap, etc., I will give it to them. No hesitation. And that's all I have to say about that.
I've been hearing about this dude Drake for a minute now. Facebook kids were going crazy and inserting his lyrics into every. single. one of their statuses. And I know Juice wrote about him back in the dark ages. However, while I'm at school, I pay little to no attention to hip hop (especially underground) because once I get home, I will be caught up on all the new songs, dances, chants, etc. hot or not, in about three days tops.
When I finally saw a picture of Drake, I was like, Hell to the naw. That's Jimmy. From motherf--kin' Degrassi: The Next Generation. Been wanting to date this kid since I started watching that show about three years ago. Now he's a rapper? With Young Money Entertainment?
Hell naw. I do not date rappers and in my heart of hearts, we were dating. So what the hell was he doing rapping?
Anyway, Drake was getting a lot of buzz and I love mixtapes, so...wait, back it up. I love good mixtapes, so I got it from my brother and listened to My Name Is Drizzy.
(Note: Drizzy = Drake.)
I've listened to it all the way through (YES, ALL 30 TRACKS!) and I don't see what all the hype is about. I'd say he's above average, but not the FLYEST, FYEST NEW DUDE OUT as some claim.
I will say I love his R&B and/or autotuned songs though. Check out the song "Brand New" on his Myspace page. Is his voice silky smooth like Craig David's? No. But you know what it is?
Sexy.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for a man that can sing. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a man who looks good. Maybe I just love a man who looks good and can carry a note. Whatever.
All in all, his rhymes are cool, but his slower, R&B joints are better. He's worth checking out. You might dig him.
He's different, which is definitely a good thing.
- K. Rocka
Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road.
As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride.
With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.
Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally.
‘What in bag?’ asked the old woman.
Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, “It’s a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.’
The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said:
'Good trade’.
If given the chance, I would trade the last guy I dated for any type of alcohol.
No questions asked and no apologies.
- K. Rocka
Once again, the school year flew, flew, flew by. Finals weren't as big a pain as they usually are, but as usual, I think I would have preferred to skip them. Sometimes I feel teachers give us final projects just to give us final projects, not to give us an assignment that combines everything we supposedly learned over the quarter.
But whatever. It's over now and I'm chillin' and actually have time to sit here and write. I suppose I really can't complain.
I'm heading back to civilization AKA the ATLANTA area for summer holiday and to rebuild my pimpmanship. Atlanta summers, though hot as hell, are the best. They always feel like home. But that might be because it is my home.
Popsicles, ice cream, East Point, Collipark, tank tops, boys, capris, Calvin Klein denim shorty shorts, money are just a few of my favorite things about Atlanta summers.
I also realize that this is my last summer of naivete. I suppose I better enjoy it while it lasts.
I've got less than a year until I enter the world of real, too legit to quit adulthood. I'm excited to grow up, but I'm glad I still have another year to prepare. Can't chill on Congress for the rest of my life, but I will continue to enjoy barhopping while I still have the chance, energy and time for it.
In other news, my return to civilization will enable me to type up more interesting and pop culture-related entries. I haven't watched real TV for an extensive amount of time since December. I expect to be amazed when I turn that TV on again.
- K. Rocka
Gotta love Gina Prince-Byethewood. (Remember Love & Basketball? She directed it. Now you're caught up.).
Not many women of color get opportunities to work in positions of power in film/TV (and do it well!), but she does her thing. She writes, produces, and directs. For both feature length films and for television. And she's good. Talk about having your shit together.
I won't give a synopsis on The Secret Life of Bees because I am neither Netflix nor am I imdb, but I will say that I highly recommend it. It's a very sad film, but by the end, I think you'll go away with a little more hope and faith in your heart.
Queen Latifah plays yet another sweet, older character and yet again, succeeds. I don't think I've any complaints about the Queen's acting. Ever. Except for Last Holiday, but...that's in the past and it wasn't her fault and I'm sure even she wasn't diggin' that film.
Alicia Keys might be able to follow in the footsteps of Queen Latifah and Will Smith and just do her acting thing. I love that little neo-soul angel. She plays a bitch very well in this film. And yes, of course she's a musician in it as well.
Sophie Okonedo, I think, is still overlooked. She's a wonderful actress and has been around for a while. She chooses to play great characters and will break your heart on screen, which is a sign of true talent. Check her out.
Dakota Fanning's ass was also in this film. I haven't much to say about her except I really can't stand her ass. Someone please point out to me a performance of hers that earned her all this hype. I don't even want to talk about her anymore. I'm getting mad as I type. Please contact me if you would like to have a more extensive discussion on this subject.
It's gonna be raining a lot in the coming days. Go rent (or buy) The Secret Life of Bees.
- K. Rocka
Somebody please tell Kim Kardash to get off my man. I don't like no disrespect. Thank you so much.
I went home this weekend. I think I more than needed that. Savannah drains me. Or, to be more accurate, I drain myself when I'm in Savannah.
It seems that I can never, or to be more accurate, will never see the end of my work. I'm so hellbent on being successful that I always seem to tire myself out. This has been a habit since forever, but it got worse when I started college.
This could be one reason why I keep feeling like I can't or shouldn't settle down into an intimate relationship.
...or could it be that the majority of the boys down here are just stupid and not worth dating? That could be it as well. In fact, that probably is it.
Maybe if Reggie would stop cheating on me with Kim Kardashian, I could have it all. You see what I have to deal with? The stress, ladies and gentlemen, is so stressful.
On a side note, when I went home, I watched a little bit of TV and caught this new(?) show Keeping Up With the Kardashians. My first observation?
They could not be my kids. All that cursing up a storm and talking back? Could not, would not tolerate it. I would get arrested for slapping them all in their smart, smart mouths every three point five seconds.
The girls are beautiful and the son could be my baby, but they're wild.
I'm not sure why, but I like the show. It's not exciting or visually interesting or filled with unimaginable drama. But I like it and would watch it again.
However, I'm still unsure of why they're famous. I know that their stepdad was an Olympic star, but he's rarely on the show.
In other news, it's time for finals.
I have but one thing to say to SCAD for these finals and that is:
Give me liberty or give me death.
I may go crazy. It is hot outside. We should be out enjoying the weather. Taking walks. Drinking amaretto sours. Making money. Eating ice cream. Not writing screenplays and learning about the Northern Renaissance.
...I'll probably have more than a few drinks to get me through it all.
Who's with me?
- K. Rocka
Ladies and gents,
I never realized how good saying
I quit. Good luck, bitch ass!
could feel. I feel so much better.
Do it at least once in your life. :)
- K. Rocka
Often times I wish I were in the Atlanta area rather than in Savannah, but rarely do I ever just feel like dropping everything and leaving and never coming back.
More than once this week, I seriously considered doing that.
I'd drop school. I'd drop my friends and associates. I'd drop lacrosse. And I wouldn't even say goodbye.
More than once this week, I thought, Suppose I just left. That would make me so happy.
I wouldn't care if I inconvenienced anyone. I wouldn't care if anybody would be mad at me. I wouldn't care if anybody would miss me.
I think it's just end-of-the-year blues. Which I know will go away in a few weeks, but I don't even want to keep this routine up that much longer.
I know I can't leave. I know I'll finish all of my homework and get good grades, but sometimes I really wish I had the ignorance to not think about consequences and the courage to just leave.
I want to go home.
The seasons have changed. You know what that means.
Crack!
Here are some of the cracked out events that I have experienced/observed over the past week:
1. I went barhopping with Nick, Trimbell, and Amy the other night. For the most part, it was all pretty boring, save for the fact that Trimbell kept expressing how she wanted “that bitch with blonde hair” in Rooftop to say something to her so that she could punch her. Wow. Calm down.
So we went to The Bar Bar at the end of the night. We were standing on the wall. You know, doing what we usually do. Talking mess. Taking names. The usual. All of a sudden, SURPRISE, two unattractive young men in our faces. They say something like, “Hey, we don’t mean to intrude, but…will you guys dance with us?”
The fact that I was there with a male friend was enough for me to immediately pass.
The other three weren’t so lucky. So Amy ping ponged back and forth, trying to tell these unattractive guys that she couldn’t dance, but Nicky could. And Nicky said she couldn’t dance at all, but Trimbell would be interested. And Trimbell was drunk, so she just laughed and said she didn’t want to dance.
And I just laughed in the background. At them all.
Anyway, I went away for a while.
I come back and Nicky is talking to a newly appeared unattractive guy. Yes, he was a friend of the other unattractive guys. Amy is trying her hardest to be invisible so that the very awkward guy who is trying to talk to her will go away.
Trimbell is really close to one of the guys. Like they were star-crossed lovers or something who found their connection during that five minutes that I was away. I was not aware that they were Romeo & Juliet. But okay.
And then the guy pulled out what is perhaps the worst line I have ever heard in my life:
“When your eyes shine, I see the reflection of the earth.”
No, seriously. He really said that. Fail. We laughed all the way home. In fact, we're still laughing.
So the guys followed us to Sweet Melissa’s after the bar closed. Could not escape. But then they went home alone. Crisis and disaster averted.
2. There has been some kind of stupid game going on in the dorms here. It’s like Zombies vs. Humans or some wild mess like that.
I have very little patience for zombies in books or films or even pictures. So can you imagine how I felt when I saw people dressed up and pretending to be zombies?
These kids have been running around campus with Nerf guns and shooting each other. For several days. I think it just ended last night. When about fifty of them gathered in a room next to the lab.
Okay. I don’t know where this game came from, but I’m glad it’s over and I need it to stay where it came from.
Maybe I’m a jerk, but I believe that we’re all too damn old to be chasing each other around with Nerf guns. And be dead serious about it. Maybe I’m a jerk.
3. Speaking of the lab…ladies and gentlemen, let’s discuss hygiene.
I know that at least two hundred different people come in and out of that lab everyday. With that many people, you know germs are running rampant.
Last night I saw not one, but two people walking around that lab with no shoes or socks on.
…
You are not at the house. This is not the beach. That is nasty.
PUT SOME SHOES ON.
Crack!
It’s midterms and I’m so ready to get back to Atlanta.
Somebody buy me a drink.
- K. Rocka
I went home for the weekend because, to put it simply, Atlanta is just better than Savannah. I’ve been told that had I grown up in Savannah rather than Metro Atlanta, I might feel differently, but…I disagree. I stand by my statement that Atlanta is just better.
The drive to Atlanta has always been one of my favorite parts of going home. For one, I usually drive alone. Therefore, I can play whatever music I want, stop whenever I want, answer/not answer my phone whenever I want, etc. It’s good stuff.
However, this drive was, at best, cracktastic.
My friends, I will give you some valuable advice should you ever decide to drive on I-16 W from Savannah to Macon on the way to Atlanta: drink no liquids.
Since the beginning of my journey into the world of lacrosse, I have developed a habit of drinking mad water everyday. The coaches recommend two gallons, but I usually do only a gallon and a half. Which is still, like I said, mad water. The coaches also teach us that if one is going to drink a substance with caffeine (or, you know…alcohol) in it, one must drink even more water to sort of cancel out the negative effects of the caffeine.
I don’t always listen to the coaches, but their advice has definitely worked in the past to cure some alleged hangovers that I may or may not have had on practice days. So I knew it would definitely cancel out (or help me rehydrate) an energy drink.
So when I purchased a Full Throttle to keep me awake on the ride home, I filled up my water bottle (about half a gallon) as well. I drank them both within an hour.
Fail.
If you have never driven on I-16 W from Savannah to Macon, I will give you an idea of what one will see on this stretch: trees. Cows. Other cars. Police cars every ten miles or so. Grass.
What one will not see much of is civilization and most importantly, gas stations or rest stops with restrooms.
So I drank the drinks and about an hour into my drive, surprise! Had to go to the bathroom.
Those blue signs that let you know what stops are coming next had long since stopped popping up, so all I was seeing was trees. Cows. Other cars. Police cars. Grass.
So I took the next exit, so sure that a gas station would be right there on the corner. Wrong. Nothing but trees and concrete and very few cars driving by. So I took a chance and hung a right. Where was I? I don’t know. Some little country road that just happened to have highway access attached to it.
I plugged in my GPS system (which I call Estelle because she’s a Brit), but as soon as I got maybe a mile down that little country road, Estelle said “LOST SATELLITE RECEPTION”.
Whatever, I thought. A gas station can’t be that far off. Wrong.
About two and a half miles down the road, I decided that OKAY, THIS AIN’T CUTE ANYMORE, WHERE IS THE GAS STATION?
About five miles down the road, I felt that I couldn’t take it anymore. I was a mess. I was starting to sweat. I was moving all around in my seat trying to hold it in. All I was seeing was grass and country homes and farmers on tractors way in the distance. Estelle kept telling me “LOST SATELLITE RECEPTION” when I kept pressing her to tell me where the gas station was.
About six miles down the road, I cut the CD player off because it was messing up my concentration.
About seven miles down the road, I pulled over by a ditch because I really couldn’t take it anymore. But then a voice said to me: Okay. Go ahead into that ditch if you want to. There is probably a killer or an alligator down there and you will get sliced and diced. Plus, a ditch? It’s just not ladylike. Don’t do it, girl.
So I didn’t do it.
About eight miles down the road, I saw a little dirt road back in the cut off of the road. I pulled over onto the road until a voice said to me: Okay. Go over onto that isolated road if you want to. The killer or the alligator from the ditch is probably back there. Plus, a dirt road? It’s just not ladylike. But go ahead if you want to.
So I didn’t do it.
About nine miles down the road, the prayers went from being internal to very vocal. I had yanked the power cord from Estelle about a half a mile before, so my voice was the only sound in the car.
Finally, around mile ten, I saw a Shell station. Praise be to God! I thought. Of course the little country town made it so difficult to get to the gas station. I had to take the strangest left turn to get on the road perpendicular to the station, and then I think in my desperation, I probably took an illegal left turn and U-turn. Not sure how I got there.
However, I do know that once I parked, I sprinted inside and I made it to my destination.
And so the moral of the story is if you drive up I-16 W from Savannah to Macon…don’t drink a lot of liquid.
- K. Rocka
Before my post, I would like to announce that I am subletting my 1 BR apartment this summer. Please let me know if you’re interested and I’ll give you the info.
Now:
I started my new job and it is so easy. Beyond easy. Although it is an easy, virtually stress free job, I sometimes feel the need to snap and cap some of my customers AKA some students in the lab.
Especially this one girl who, thankfully, just left.
However, it is my firm belief that one must maintain a high level of professionalism in an out of the workplace.
But if I didn’t have any self-control, here is what I would say to her:
Dear Unnecessarily Loud Freshman,
I would like to point out to you that you seem to have absolutely no control over the volume of your voice. Girl, this is a problem. I don’t know if you were born without the common sense to take it down twelve notches, but please let me know if you need help determining what is and what is not an acceptable “inside voice”.
Clue: Use my glares and sighs of annoyance as a hint sometimes.
The computer lab is primarily a place for students to complete work. You and your girl are looking at YouTube videos. I dabble in YouTube. I understand the hilarious material available on the site. However, you have been laughing at an obnoxiously loud level for nearly an hour and a half. I am going to take a stand and say that nothing in the world is that funny for that long. If it really and truly is, please show it to me and I will retract my statement.
Most humans were born with peripheral vision. True, some people do not have it. However, I am not one of those individuals. I see you looking at me. You are not slick. I would like to know what you keep peeking over here for. Please send me an e-mail addressing this issue.
Kindly adjust your distracting and aggravating habits before stepping into this lab again. Thank you so much.
- K. Rocka
I suppose the sole purpose of a blog is to express one's thoughts.
Therefore:
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Ladies and gentlemen. Please get your children.
Are they running around unsupervised in the grocery story, K. Rocka?
Well, no. They usually stay right beside you.
Are they doing some slick mess behind MY BACK, K. ROCKA?
Well, no. It's not really slick. I mean, you see what I see.
Let me explain.
This past Sunday I went to what seems like my second home, Kroger. I got out of the car and stretched. Looked around. Families, families everywhere. It was Sunday after all, so I got to Kroger with the church crowd.
How sweet it is! I thought. To take a family trip out to church and errands. These kids are lucky. They will fondly remember these moments in their childhood.
So I was watching and enjoying. Until this small family walked by with a little girl, no more than six or seven, leading.
Please tell me why girlfriend was sashaying it harder than I ever have in my entire life. She hadn't half the hips I have, but she was working it. I kept watching her just to see if she was just playing, but she surely was not. And her guardians surely did not say anything.
Usually I will give girls props for such a mean walk. I'm not a hater. However, not this time. Why? Because girlfriend was about six years old. Her hips should not have been telling more than mine ever have.
So I shook it off. I was a little bit upset that nobody in their little family said anything. I mean, I didn't wanna start any drama, for there will be no drama in this time of Obama. But that hurt me a little bit.
I went and got my groceries. Loaded up the car. Cranked the car. Prepared to back out. My music was bumpin' as usual.
Please tell me why I looked up in my rear and saw the same family walking back to their car. But this time...upon hearing my music, the little girl started dancing. She had no chest, but she was poppin' it. She had no hips, but she was thrusting them. Being six years old, she had no signs of development whatsoever, but she was dancing like she was up in the club somewhere.
And still: none of her adults said anything.
Ladies and gentlemen. Please get your children.
I later went to Wal-Mart, where getting hit on is the norm. However, getting hit on by twelve year old boys is not the norm.
I was looking at some items and just felt eyes on me. It went on longer than was appropriate, so I looked up, eyes ablaze.
...twelve year old Lil Bow Wow...why are you caressing my thighs with your eyes? And licking your lips? And where is your mother?
He finally got the point and continued on his merry, unsupervised way.
Ladies and gentlemen. Please get your children.
Please.
- K. Rocka
Dear friends, When my dreads get this long, you won't be able to stand it.
- K. Rocka
The new quarter's not even a complete week gone and I've already encountered failure. Once on my part, once on another person's part.
In the form of twenty questions, I will share these failures with you:
1. Q. For whatever reason, I decided that Friday night, perhaps the most inappropriate night to party in Savannah, would be a great night to go out. Why did I think this?
A. I like to party. And I do what I want.
2. Q. Did I not remember that Fridays in Savannah are usually trash?
A. Well, yes, I remembered.
3. Q. Did I not have practice early the next morning?
A. Well, yes, I did.
4. Q. Did I not have anything more productive to do? Like homework perhaps?
A. Well, yes...I did.
5. Q. But nonetheless, I ventured out. How many beverages did I say I would allow myself to have?
A. Oh, you know. One. Maybe two. Neither strong.
6. Q. Why did "one, maybe two" turn into two and three shots?
A. Fail.
7. Q. How did that go?
A. Amy, the responsible one for the evening, had to drive me home. World was spinning. Apartment was spinning. I hope the neighbors were asleep when I came in.
8. Q. How was the morning after?
A. Extraordinary failure.
9. Q. How do I feel now?
A. K. Rocka + Alcohol = NEVER AGAIN.
10. Q. Have I got a problem?
A. According to Amy & Kelly, no. I am not Amy Winehouse. I am just 21 and was having a good time.
11. Q. How's my job going?
A. Nonexistent.
12. Q. What happened?
A. After a week of trying to track down my "boss" to get things rolling, I finally caught up with him. Turns out he's got to train other people to do other things so that he can make room for kids like me to work the basic jobs. Which will take approximately two weeks. Which equals the continuation of being broke for at least three more weeks. FAIL.
13. Q. Why couldn't he have told me that when I first talked to him about about the job?
A. GOOD QUESTION.
14. Q. Will I make it to question 20?
A. Probably not. That hangover is still hangin' on.
- K. Rocka
Long hours in the computer lab led me to pictures of this young man, J-Lie.
Usually I don't get into dudes with tattoos. Especially dudes with several tattoos. Like ones that cover their entire chest and arms. However...I fell in love with him immediately.
Why?
I couldn't tell you an exact reason. He's a rapper. Is he talented? Eh. I like the first joint on his MySpace, but that's about it.
I guess I just got to, got to, got to fall for a thug sometimes.
Please enjoy the photos. I know I will.
First days of school made one thing clear: Spring Quarter will be another ten weeks of no sleep.
It will also be another ten weeks of mean muggin' at certified teacher's pets in my classes.
How do I know this already?
I'll tell you. It all started in my art history class.
First of all, there are entirely too many doggone people in that class. I'm used to small classes where I can raise my hand at any given time and rack up participation points or ask a question and get an instant answer. However, not in this class. Now a sista can't even raise her hand. She has to think of an answer to the professor's question and hurry up and clearly blurt it out before people like her arch nemesis, Always Got A Damn Answer For Everything Girl answers it first.
I pride myself on always being prepared for and participating in my classes. But how can I compete with this girl who, as an international student, can relate to the things that we talk about in lectures?
I don't know. But I will figure it out before next week's classes. Might have to actually read every single sentence on every single page of the assigned 120,000 pages of weekly reading. Might have to do some Wikipedia searches on the countries we're studying so I know the culture before we study it. Might have to do that. Might have to get that intense.
But I will triumph. And I will get my participation points. She may have run the lecture responses this week. But next week...I got some class discussion for her ass.
In other news, I got a job. And it's right on time. Because I am so broke.
Will keep you updated on my adventures in class and at my job.
Hope classes are going well for everyone during this first week!
- K. Rocka
...is officially over.
It went by too fast, which I suppose I can credit to spending a week inside of the world of Coach's version of Spring Break.
And that equals...travel + lacrosse.
I went to a new place. St. Louis. It's a cool city during the day. I wish I could have been able to check out the night life.
I learned some new things about my teammates. Some cool, some interesting, some I would have preferred to never find out about. But I guess we're closer to one another for it.
Whatever.
Would I have preferred to stay in Savannah? What would I have done?
I'll tell you: party, sleep, and drink.
And as I learned last night and today, partying, sleeping, and drinking are all overrated sometimes.
So here we go: new quarter, new classes, new job and perhaps a new boyfriend. I'll keep you updated on how all those go.
Hopefully failure does not occur in every category.
- K. Rocka
Having to miss St. Paddy's because of the lacrosse Spring Break trip = :(
Last night was great. Can't even describe how great it was. You guys shoulda been there.
Well, Amy was.
Ken was for 3.5 seconds. And he missed out.
Go out and party this week, friends. I'll be there in spirit.
- K. Rocka
In that box to the right side of my blog, you can type in a keyword to help you find any of my past entries.
Before I even start today’s post, type in the word ‘crack’ and see how many entries pop up.
Unacceptable. Whatever.
Anyway, it is finals once again and as always, I have been functioning and walking around like I am, on what? Crack!
Por ejemplo:
I called Toshiba to see if they received my laptop for repair. So the man asked me for my last name and I told him. He said, “Hm…I don’t see that name. Hold please”.
Immediately I thought:
What? Don’t see that name? What the hell does that mean? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T SEE MY NAME? FedEx said they delivered my package, therefore it should be sitting in your lap right now. What if FedEx delivered my laptop to the wrong place? Like to somebody’s house? Oh, okay. That’s okay. It’s just a grand worth of laptop. And I will deliver a grand worth of ass beatin’ to FedEx. Problem solved.
And then, just like that, in three point five seconds, the man came back on the line and said, “Okay, I found it”.
Overreaction? No. Finals.
Ejemplo numero dos:
I have been in the computer lab doing work til o’dark thirty every night for over a week. And lately, I have been thisclose to going off on a girl every single night.
It is my belief that if you need to be on the phone in a public place, especially in a place that is designated for studying and working…you should be respectful and maintain some level of quiet.
But no. Every night, some silly girl decides to have the conversation of her life and talk for hours on the phone. At her computer. Where everyone can hear.
Unfortunately, my looks that usually communicate the message, Girl, shut it on up must be out of order because they have not been working. And as we just finished Black History Month, I cannot follow certain urges to ring the alarm and go off.
You know what I’m talking about.
In other news, I have been watching some bomb throwback music videos while procrastinating in the lab. Videos by Dru Hill. Videos by Whitney Houston. And then one of my favorite sexed out pop lyric songs by Jordan Knight.
Yes!
- K. Rocka
It is basically a collection of photo and video evidence as well as personal accounts about the inhumane treatment of prisoners (also known as "suspected terrorists") in Afghanistan.
It is pretty graphic and wildly unbelievable. I knew warmongers such as the fools in the Bush administration would do pretty much anything to "protect Americans from terrorists", but never did I imagine they would okay the kind of behavior shown in this documentary.
I'm naive, I suppose. Perhaps I had too much faith in our system and leaders.
Hopefully, now that the issues presented in the doc are out in the open, the horrors of the US prisons in these foreign countries have stopped.
And hopefully...there will be no drama in this time of Obama.
- K. Rocka
We watched the documentary War/Dance this week.
It won the 2007 Sundance Documentary Directing Award, and with good reason.
It focuses on three northern Ugandan children as they cope with the terrors and tragedy of living in a war zone. As escape from the darkness of their everyday lives, they work toward winning a national dance and music competition.
This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite films.
It's heartbreaking, but also presents a message of hope.
The doc also made me realize that in my life, I pretty much have absolutely nothing to ever complain about. The kids in the film have lost so much: parents, siblings, and childhood. Yet, they can still smile.
It made me think: am I that strong? Had I been placed in their situations, would I have survived?
I wonder and pray I never have to find out.
Check out the trailer and rent it.
- K. Rocka
The weeks since midterms have been, to say the least, crystal crack.
I've had some adventures. Two adventures include interaction with the law. No, I didn't go to jail or anything like that, but they were experiences that I could have done without.
I have a habit of speeding. I completely believe that my driving habits developed from living in the Atlanta area where not only does everyone drive fast, but they also drive crazy.
So I was a couple cities over from SAV doing a location scout for my documentary class.
First off, I had planned on not attending this scout because I found out about it the night before and I really don't do last minute excursions. At all. I plan my days out the night before, so the scout messed up my whole program. But instead of saying 'Hell naw!' and throwing the deuces, which was my first instinct, I said, 'Okay, I'll go if it doesn't take long'.
Well, it didn't take long, but I sure did get lost coming back to Savannah. Apparently in this city the speed limit is the speed of walking, so what do you think I saw when I checked my rear view mirror?
Flash, flash. Police.
Pulled over. Guy was nice enough. I told him I was just lost and trying to get back to SAV. Oh, he didn't care. Ticket, ticket, ticket.
Fortunately, it's not for too much. I've heard of my friends getting $400-$900 speeding tickets. Mine is under $200, so I'm thankful.
But please put ya hands up if you feel me: SPEEDING TICKETS ARE WACK.
At practice the next day, this guy whose film I'm co-producing called me asking if I could front him for some tapes and he'd pay me back. I'm not one to lend out money. Especially when the dollaz are running low. So I told him, after he kept asking, that I got a doggone speeding ticket on Monday and I really don't have money like that right now.
Well, I suppose I was talking a bit loud. Or some individuals were listening a little too closely. Why do I suppose that?
I'll tell you:
The next day at practice, I suppose I was driving a little too fast for my coach. So as soon as I get out of the car, she says, 'K. Rocka!'
She was very loud, thus everyone stopped what they were doing and listened.
She says, 'Did you not just getting a speeding ticket? Slow down!'
...
My business. Released into the air.
So I have to pay that ticket. I just had to pay a little bit for a camera rental. Apparently gas in my car instantly evaporates, so I have to pay for gas on the regular.
And then.
Due to lack of sleep in the past few weeks, my nap from last night turned into a ten hour coma. I meant to get up and go to the lab. But no, I fell asleep. For hours. And my car, which I meant to drive off in later that night, stayed in its spot all night.
Unfortunately, its spot was in the sweep zone last.
Sunrise, sunrise. Ticket on my windshield.
Why did I even have to go to the lab last night, you ask? Because my laptop is broken. Break, break, breaking down. So I have to get it fixed.
...which will cost over $300.
Whatever. Maybe I can just wait and fulfill my dream of buying a Mac. When I get some money.
Money is running low. Should I just become a college dropout and just go back to Atlanta and try to eliminate all of these random, wild fees?
I can't. Because moving back home...costs money.
The drama never ends.
So the Spring quarter job search begins. I hope you're ready to hear about it. I'm sure searching for a job will be, to say the least, very interesting.
On the flip side, tomorrow's Thursday. Which equals party. Which equals amaretto sour followed by a vodka Red Bull.
Which someone else will be buying for me.
Why?
'CAUSE I AIN'T GOT NO MONEEEEEEEY.
- K. Rocka!
First off, check out the joint on Juice's page. I think today it became my favorite song.
In other news, I took an unannounced, unplanned hiatus from Blogger due to an amazing amount of homework and lacrosse. During said hiatus, I learned and realized the following things:
1. I should more readily incorporate the phrase "Shut the f--k up" into some of my conversations.
2. No, many people do not understand that when I press Ignore on my cell phone, that means I am busy or just can't talk or just don't want to be bothered. Obviously getting my voicemail = send some text messages. Which is the wrong answer 95% of the time.
3. Even the sexiest of boys look corny as hell when they talk slow, lick their lips, and then wink at me when I just inquire about the smallest thing...like who made their cologne.
4. All-nighters are the wackness. I cannot survive just on naps for four days, but I did it the week before last. And oh yeah, I'm doing it right now. I don't even know how I'm functioning right now. Which brings me to my next point:
5. I think someone should investigate the energy drink companies because I truly believe that they use at least a small amount of crack in their products. I don't think I should be that intensely alert after drinking a drink.
I wish that, instead of doing homework and preparing for my future right now, I could just take a nap and then party like it's 1999.
...but I can't. 'Cause the show and the grind must go on.
OMG.
- K. Rocka!
Last night was the last free night of the pre-season.
Based on something one of my teammates said, I decided that yesterday would be the perfect day to indulge in every single bad habit that I have one last time before the season starts.
I think I did okay destroying my health. I ate maybe two healthy things all day. Some grapes, some carrots, a little orange juice, some water. Other than that, I had an omelet, some ice cream, two biscuits, a slice of pizza, a cappuccino, a huge (and disappointing) brownie, and at the end of the night, a number six with a Dr. Pepper from McDonald's.
I think that that was a great idea. Because now I don't ever want to see or eat any food except for lettuce and tomatoes.
Of course the last free night before the season would not have been complete without a venture out to the downtown establishments.
Below are the top 3 moments from last night:
1. I am in love with a boy and I saw him and talked to him not once, not twice, but three times throughout the night. And on the third time, he invited me to come see him DJ at an establishment next weekend.
I love him.
2. The boy that I love has a friend who thinks Nicky is cute. As is always the case, Amy, Rach, Nicky, and I were standing in a circle in the establishment. You know. Talkin' mess. Takin' names. Lookin' around. My boy's friend walks over to the outside of our circle and floats there for about ten minutes. You know...just standing around. Bobbing his head. Trying so hard to pretend that he wanted nothing or was not looking at Nicky. At one point, Amy moves to the side to let someone pass.
Boom. Opening to our circle.
My boy's friend sprints inside the circle and immediately asks Nicky, "Hey, do you want to dance?"
What does Nicky immediately say to this kid?
"No."
And that's it. I think she broke that boy's heart. Good job, Nick.
3. Later I went to a house party. Unfortunately, this house party was full of a bunch of drunken fools. Within the first ten minutes, I encountered a young man whom I will refer to as Drunk Nerd Johnson.
This kid darts in front of me, slicks his hair back with his hand and we have the following conversation:
Drunk Nerd Johnson: Well, hello there!
K. Rocka: (disgusted) Hi. How are you?
DNJ: I'm great. You know, I'm having a great time. This is my party and you know. So what's your name?
K: K. Rocka.
DNJ: (tells me his drunken name) That's a great name! So where are you from?
K: Atlanta.
DNJ: OHHHH, YOU'RE FROM THE A-TOWN? Me too!
K: ...yeah.
DNJ: You ever heard of Athens?
K: Yeah, I know where that is. That's not the Atlanta area though.
DNJ: You know Madison?
K: (thinking he's talking about a person) Which one? I know a couple of Madisons.
DNJ: Madison, GA. I'm from there.
K: (thought: Okay: 1. Madison is not near Athens, so why did you bring up Athens? 2. Madison is still not in the metro Atlanta area.) Oh, okay. Well, I have to go to my friend. Right now.
DNJ: Okay, cool! Nice to meet you, K. Rocka! Hopefully I'll (wink, wink, slick back hair with hand) see you later.
...disaster.
Many more things occurred, but as always, to protect the innocent, I must keep those events to myself.
I would say that the last night of the pre-season was a success.
Happy midterms!
- K. Rocka
I have been called passive before.
And just as a passive person would respond to such an accusation...I said, "Oh, okay."
End of story and discussion.
Am I:
A. Really and truly passive
B. Void of the other people's passion for things that they love but I care or know little about
C. Just mean
Let's cheat and I'll just give you the answer. It's B.
I often feel that while other film kids are jumping up and down and crying tears of joy and blogging about certain things and people...I am somewhere in the background with maybe one or two other people looking like, What the hell?
For example: I don't know what it is, but it seems that I am one of the only film students who isn't standing in line to ask Steven Spielberg or Francis Ford Coppola on a date.
I mean, I like a lot of Spielberg's films. Amistad, The Color Purple, the Jurassic Park joints, Hook...but I'm not a superfan. I won't go see a movie just because he directed it. And I love The Godfather (PART ONE and ONLY PART ONE) just as much as the next kid...but damn.
Yesterday in my doc class, we screened Hearts of Darkness, which the professor claimed was just great. It's a documentary about the making of Apocalyse Now.
You would have thought Coppola was coming to the class.
People were like, "OH MY GOODNESS. Apocalypse Now? YESSSS!" and "Francis FORD COPPOLA. I AM SO GLAD I CAME TO CLASS TODAY." and "Oh, YES. This was the documentary that Tropic Thunder was based on! LET'S WATCH IT IMMEDIATELY."
...okay, I exaggerated a little bit, but you get the idea.
My thoughts upon hearing the class's reaction:
1. Wait...I hope this isn't in some way connected to the book Heart of Darkness. Because I effin' hated that book. With a passion. Let's talk about boring.
2. Y'all need to sit down and be quiet.
3. Stop it. Y'all really liked Tropic Thunder.
But yes, Apocalyse Now was loosely based on Heart of Darkness. And yes...they really did like Tropic Thunder.
So we watched it. And I wasn't feeling it. It was long. And watching Coppola change his mind five thousand times and waste millions of dollars was frustrating.
So I'm still not a superfan.
And I will still be with that group of kids in the background not being excited about certain things.
If that makes me passive, well...oh, okay.
- K. Rocka.
The whole world (or at least all of Savannah) is sippin' on gin & juice today.
I don't know if it's the fact that it's MLK Day or the fact that tomorrow's the presidential inauguration. Maybe it's a combination. But just during my forty-five minute trip to Kroger this morning, I noticed a few things that support my gin & juice theory.
First off, I noticed an abundant amount of weave in the streets today.
No, I'm not kidding. I mean, like mad weave.
Now, I'm not too naive to ignore the presence of prostitutes in the Savannah area. They are loud in manner and in dress, so how could I not know about them? But never before have I seen so much of their artificial hair in the streets. I stayed in the past two nights. Was there a night stalker celebration that I didn't hear? Did they yell "Obama!" in their pimps' faces and throw their weave and tracks in the air in protest?
Must have. Because there was mad weave in the streets today. Some with hair ties still in them.
They must be sippin' on gin & juice.
At Kroger, I was trying to be a good, healthy lacrosse player. I was making all of the right decisions and just needed to get some orange juice to complete my shopping trip. Well, couldn't. Why? Because the Pepsi man was blocking all of my way with about twenty boxes.
Usually when the soda men bring the products into the store, they stay out of the way as best as they can. However, not today. Dude was chillin'. He was leaning up against displays, moving all slow, and acting like he was all alone in Kroger. Or more accurately, like he was all alone at his house.
You know who he reminded me of? Bruh Man from Martin.
So if I had asked him, "Excuse me sir, but...what are you doing?"
He would have responded, "Nothin'. Jusssss' chillin'."
...moving on.
I finally made it to the checkout counter after navigating thirty miles around Bruh Man and his boxes. The guy that checked me out was nice. He moved quickly. Got me my Kroger Plus savings. On the other hand, the woman who bagged my food was on some other stuff.
Please explain to me why she stuffed my bags to the maximum. Bagged things all wrong. Put my hard, boxed things in the same bags as my soft, crushable foods. Then said have a nice day and floated away like she was at a spa somewhere.
She was sippin' on gin & juice.
I hope that this bizarre behavior gets wrapped up pretty soon. I don't think I can live in a world where everyone is jusssss' chillin'.
- K. Rocka
As the title states, a sista saw Notorious. And a sista was not disappointed.
I don't know what to say except that it was engaging from beginning to end.
Now, I wouldn't say that it was a completely original formula for a film. (Kid rises from a tough situation and finds fame and fortune). If the movie had been about anyone else and had had different characters, I probably wouldn't have gone to see it.
However, since it was B.I.G.'s story and that story included Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, and my future husband Puff, it was nice to watch. It's a film that any hip-hop fan would enjoy.
Jamal Woolard, who played Biggie, did a great job. He definitely made Big a likeable, realistic character. Derek Luke played Puff Daddy and nailed it. Puff's swagger? Got it. Puff's corny dance moves? Got it. Puff's enthusiasm for...pretty much everything? Got it.
I could nitpick and criticize a few things, mainly a few acting/editing choices, but I won't. The point is that it was a good film. It held my attention and I will probably be purchasing the DVD when it's released.
Go see it.
Side note: Naturi Naughton from 3LW played Lil' Kim and did a great job as well so keep your head up for her. She definitely portrayed Kim as the nasty, nasty, angry, and nasty woman that we all know and love today.
This side note brings me to my next topic:
Where is Lil' Kim? She is the emcee that you listen to in private and never, never, ever let your mama know you listen to. I thoroughly enjoyed The Naked Truth...even a couple of the more raunchy tracks. I was so hype off of that album and have been looking out for a new single since her last album single's release. Well, I've been waiting since 2006. Haven't heard of a new single. Haven't heard of a new mixtape. Haven't seen a film appearance. Have only been seeing the Queen Bitch hanging out with Donatella Versace and Marc Jacobs.
This is a problem. I want another album.
Speaking of 'bitch'...let's move on to my next topic:
The trailer below ran during the previews:
Obsessed.
...
1. That ol' lady is 'bout crazy.
2. Beyonce pushed to snappin' and cappin' a chick? I will be there.
Speaking of snappin' and cappin'...let's move on to my next topic:
There was a lot of snappin' and cappin' in Notorious.
Go see it.
- K. Rocka.
