Updates

I've really fallen off but I'm trying to get it right again. I've been super busy but I'm recomitting to my plans and my goals and this is an attempt to explain it. Right now I’m trying to get a million things done. I gained a lot of weight recently because of a lot of new changes that sort of stressed me out so I’m trying to lose it the healthy way which is also the slower way. I’m also trying to finish different projects that I put on a backburner when things changed this year. I’m trying to edit my stories in order to compile them the best way, also writing new ones and trying to polish them, and I’m hoping to have that part done by my 26th birthday (August 2). I’ve also been knitting a lot, trying to perfect my craft and doing some projects that take me out of my “safe” zone (I’m attempting a bikini for a friend and a big blanket but I’m also seriously considering doing a knit dress for myself, as incentive to lose the weight in a timely manner).

I didn’t get my house! A week before closing the deal went bad and I withdrew my offer but my mom got hers. I’ve been living in her house since April 1st and that’s one of the new changes that was much more stressful than I let on or really new. I’m getting it together though, and I have another post planned for this week, about a real topic (meaning not me) too. Take good care!

Buying A Home The Maria Way!

Okay, I'm not having the best year so far. Stories are coming for the book, but there are a million things to do in any given day, especially with the new semester and my constant desire to own a home. I decided last year that this year would be the year I buy a home. I'm so tired of living in this townhouse and renting, so I decided to make that the one present I give myself for 2008; anything else I want is pushed back (though I think there may be money for a Plasma screen TV on Black Friday). But, I am great at getting things done in the hardest way possible.

The rundown is like this. I'm looking to buy my own home this year and find my mother a home (she's still renting too), but I want us to be close to one another in proximity and I don't want a townhouse. My lease is up here March 31 as well, so I'm on a pretty strict deadline. That's right around midterm time for school and, of course, I'm intent on getting my full security deposit back, which means I have 5 years of damage to cover up before then, not to mention packing and such.

Like the rest of my family, not only do I work well under pressure, I actually seem to prefer it to having a lot of time. Therefore, I am sure I will get moved out by my deadline, but I cannot control the red tape with buying a house, and that has been my holdup. It's a cute little fixer-upper, at the right price (for me, this means LOW), so I'm excited about it, but there is a lot of work left to do to even get the seller to accept the offer, so who knows!

I don't have anything of substance to add at the moment, but I doubt anyone is complaining (cue crickets chirping), but I have a lot of stuff I want to cover in upcoming entries. I really want to do something long on the presidential race and I'm also really dying to get some news items covered (though at this rate they'll hardly be news anymore when I get to them). One thing is for sure, nothing stops, so there will always be something to discuss.

Hm, maybe I'll also do an entry on home-buying tips, if I ever get one bought. Take good care!

Mud Cookies

I'm online today, on AOL catching up on my news. I open an article I'd read earlier on another site (way to be first AOL) about people in Haiti eating cookies made of dirt (which costs about $5 for enough dirt to make 100 cookies), oil, salt, and sugar, baking them outside in the blistering sun, and selling them for $0.05 or eating them. Dirt obviously can be "dirty" and eating it is a health hazard (though I pray the sun is killing at least some of the bacteria), but people have to because the price of food is too high for the average Haitian family.

My heart was as broken as it always is when I read things such as this and I was curious about how my fellow Americans felt about such an atrocity. Silly me. The vast majority of posts (of which there were over 900, and climbing) made fun of the article (I'm going to celebrate tonight with steak and lobster while they enjoy their dirt"), were extremely racist ("This is how every country run by blacks is, how is this new?"), or just plain stupid ("This is funny. Poor people suck"). These examples are very real posts by very real Americans and I am wondering how we can even claim to be a country at the top (which, let's face it, we lag behind on pretty much everything positive). How can we claim anything (The land of the free? The home of the brave?) when the common citizen feels this way about the world around them??

I'm so angry. I want to curse, fight, maim, kill. I don't understand the hate, the lack of compassion, empathy, sympathy, peace, anything in these monsters. I don't want to be like them but it is hard to try and live a life of peace when everyone else seems to enjoy chaos so much.

Underneath that anger is a fear that I have a problem admitting. The same fear people must face when they look in the eyes of someone who hates them for no reason. The fear in the hearts of men swinging from trees, women hiding their babies from masters who will sell them (even when they are the children of those masters), the fear Black men must feel when the lights and sirens go off behind them and they wonder "What did I do?", knowing that even nothing may be too much.

What is winning in a world like this one? How can you believe in God, in Love, in anything? Today is one of the days when I just feel like giving up. I don't understand this world.

Oscar Nomination Review

The last two weeks have been pretty because of the amount of stuff I am attempting to get done. In addition to the book preparations, the new school semester started this past Wednesday and I'm trying to buy a house. I have also been packing for my upcoming move (April 1st, but if I don't get the house I don't know where I'm actually moving to), and I wanted to see all of the movies that have been nominated for major Academy Awards.

So far I've seen many of the Oscar nominated movies for the top categories. I've viewed Eastern Promises, Sweeney Todd, and the first 20 minutes or so of Michael Clayton (I just can't seem to watch the whole thing), all of which has nominees for Best Lead Actor. I viewed No Country For Old Men and the first half of The Assassination of Jesse James, with nominees for Supporting Actor. Juno is the only movie I watched from the Best Lead Actress category, and American Gangster and the first part of Gone Baby Gone for Best Supporting Actress. For Best Picture, I've seen three out of five nominees.

What I learned from that experiment is this: the writer's strike must have something to do with the nominations of the year. I'm used to more subtle (for lack of a better word) movies being nominated for Academy Awards, but this year it seems like only movies with great writing were nominated. Plot seems to matter little (No Country For Old Men is an example of a great movie with no real point other than the message the name suggests) and even great writing can be made better with a bit of energy or something. I use Atonement to explain that point. The story is good but I guarantee that you will look at your watch because it's so slooow. This is the reason I have yet to finish certain films, they are movies that are trying too hard!

I also took the liberty to watch several films that were overlooked this year (there can only be one Little Miss Sunshine or Juno a year it seems) and one of my favorites was He Was a Quiet Man. Much like Thank You For Smoking of a couple of years ago, this movie is a sleeper that never quite made a mark, but Christian Slater is like you've never seen him and the film was great. I also intend to see The Martian Child and Talk To Me, two movies I heard good things about via word of mouth but both suffered a lot from lack of promotion. Talk to Me earned serious praise, and everyone I know who did catch it says it was an Oscar worthy performance by Don Cheadle. One day that man will get the respect he deserves from the masses, though on an interview he said he likes to live a low-key lifestyle, so perhaps it's for the best.

A movie with a big budget that had some controversy but didn't seem to do great in theaters was The Golden Compass. I felt I had to see one child-oriented film (though I did see Ratatouille) and I was quite pleasantly surprised. It really is a good movie and I truly enjoyed it. The book the movie is based on is the first part of a trilogy, so I hope the other two will be adapted as well.

This year's "throw the Black folks a bone" nomination is Ruby Dee for American Gangster. It seems like this was quite the stretch for a supporting role because she really had a bit of an extended cameo. I must say, an old woman playing an old woman shouldn't require much, and the only time she had more than a line or two was the cry/slap sequence, and really, what did that take (other than tears and a slap)? I would be much more satisfied with Don Cheadle in the 9/11 movie if they wanted to throw a bone. If she wins, which I truly can't imagine, something is wrong. I know Ossie died not too long ago, but a lifetime achievement award would be much better suited for her. We'll see what happens.

Take Good Care!

I Am Legend Review

Okay I know I planned to get online yesterday and post about my news and various news items. But I got off track, went to the movies, and decided to do a review.

I bought the dvd Blow on black Friday (or sometime around then) because it was on a really good sale and I enjoyed watching it in theaters years ago. I opened it and I was shocked to find a free movie ticket to see I Am Legend. I was pretty sure I wouldn't use (it was for non-AMC theaters and every close theather is AMC) and I didn't but it did pique my interest in the film. I hadn't heard anything about it because I don't watch TV and the only radio I listen to is NPR and WPFW so I always hear about movies late.

I'm also not a major Will Smith fan. I watched The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Men in Black, and Bad Boys but he just isn't my favorite actor when he's not being funny. I grew up with Parents Just Don't Understand and Nightmare on My Street etc so he's still a goofy teenager in my mind. His movie choices have kind of sucked in my opinion. For every Ali and Pursuit of Happyness there's a Bad Boys 2 and Wild Wild West. Not to mention he turned down the role of Neo (though Jada didn't, girlfriend knew to jump on that money train for the sequels)!!
So it was a matter of hoping the movie would be a good one. I never read the book nor had I seen any of the other film adaptations, but the idea of Will and a dog seemed pretty harmless.

I am happy to say I enjoyed the film. Though I can't speak on how well it kept to the book and I HATE CGI, the film told a good story in an interesting way. The storyline has been done a million times, of course, and that particular story is getting old, but the way the story was told left some points to the imagination. You were required to pick it up along the way (other than obviously major plot points) and you had time to consider some theories of your own along the way. I also enjoyed the lack of many explosions, blood, gore, etc.. The movie has a PG-13 rating and that was refreshing. Not nearly as many pop culture references as in recent movies either (read: Transformers), but the few there were were sort of cute. The first half of the film was really good. I almost missed his life and watching it in the second half, because it was interesting to just see how he made his life livable. In fact, I could have watched that story all day. The second half added the excitement and plot twist, but some of the soul seemed to have been left behind.

Will Smith is doing his "grown man" too. His voice tripped me out throughout the film because it sounded nothing like him. I keep typing words to describe it and deleting them, but it's a mix of something and old. There were very few supporting actors, which was good, because he needed to prove himself without a back-and-forth (though I guess the dog did some of that). Overall, I liked his acting but I sometimes couldn't figure out if he was overdoing it (as he seemed to be) purposefully or accidentally.

Hm. You may think I didn't like the movie based on all of this, but I really did. I have a few more gripes though. The CGI people never looked even slightly realistic and some of the CGI scenes looked pretty bad too. There were some actions and apparent plot lines that went unexplained and the ending in some ways could've been better (without adding a spoiler I will only say that I liked the ending overall but it left some questions unanswered as well). The flaws I mentioned are nitpicky things, however, and when I do that I know I liked the film. I will get this on dvd eventually (though like Blow it may take several years, but then again I'm cheap).

I really did like it!

Music & Me

Last post I ended my rant with the (good) advice to get Lupe Fiasco's new album. You should also, if you have yet to do it, get his last two (Food&Liquor and It Was Written). I got a chance to listen to his newest album "The Cool" in its entirety this week, and it really is spectacular. This rant I wanted to talk about an album I almost bought as well last week and the way I tend to feel about past favorites.

Everyone has their favorite artists of any sort. Goodie MOB, for example, is my hands-down favorite rap group. But what happened to Goodie MOB happens to a lot of music artists to some extent or the other. After Goodie's sophomore album "Still Standing" (which is a CLASSIC, ya dig?) I was too excited to get their third album. I doubt I've been that excited about an album ever, with the exception of Jay-Z's "In My Lifetime Vol III" and Nas' "It Was Written". Goodie's CD was a phenomenal disappointment; to this day I can't listen to it. I can't think of one song I like or can remember the words to on that album. This led Cee-Lo to leave the group and put the group on the Wall of Shame in my mind for many years.

Now, there have been other major upsets in the industry, in my opinion, and other upsets that didn't include horrible CDs. The astist whose album I almost bought last week is getting similar in terms of being personally upsetting to me. The artist is Alicia Keys. I am not arguing her talent; I want(ed?) to buy her album because of her single "No One" and her awesome performance on the MTV awards last year. What I am upset about is her new "sexy" image. I don't understand it really, she just didn't need a "sexy makeover" at all! But there she is on magazine covers, get more and more naked.

I have to assume this is due to pressure from her label or handlers who want to up the sex appeal since people have said she seemed a bit "butchy", while ensuring album sales. How sad is that? I always loved her style; she had a swagger about herself that, to me, was sexy in its confidence. It also played against the complexion beautifully; she wasn't the fragile, light-skinned chick people expected her to be.

I felt somewhat similar with Jill Scott on her last album; those "tig ol' bitties" were up to her chin on every cover. I could understand it on a more personal level, probably because I assume that after going through a divorce you start to think of such things more. Flimsy perhaps, but that's the way I feel about Jill (maybe I'm biased; Jill is my girl!). Though Jill's last album wasn't my favorite from her (too many sex songs), she still had some gems.

I have no idea how good Alicia's album is, but the history of the industry tells me I may not lover her album. I have her first two, but honestly there are only one or two songs I love on them. She's always been a little more Pop than I'm into, in all honesty. To be fair, I was upset when I realized Erykah Badu's locks were fake, but she's never disappointed me. In my opinion, she can't make a bad album, so she's allowed to do whatever she wants in my book.

It took me a while to get into India.Arie too. She was a bit Pop, though I bought her first album for younger females I knew because I liked her message. Eventually I got it for myself, but I was more into selected songs on her album, a la Alicia Keys, than the whole thing. I don't listen to either of her albums all the way through, but those I listen to, I listen to regularly.

So maybe my expectations for Alicia Keys were too high anyway. It wasn't like her music changed my life, in all honesty. I am still undecided as to whether I will ever get her album, but I'm clearer on why I believe.

To wrap up this rant, go get Lupe's album, go get "Still Standing" if you haven't heard it, get any of Erykah's albums, but whatever you do, don't download illegally! You probably will anyway, but since Bilal's second CD still hasn't been released because it was leaked and downloaded illegally, the CD I have been waiting for for three years, I get pissed at illegal downloads. Bilal deserves his own post, so I'm not even going to get started on that!

Take good care.

PS-There will probably be another post tomorrow about news (my own and in the world at large) because I have to get a story typed up tomorrow.

Writer's Block

The purpose of this blog is mainly motivation. I need to write and I need to stop jumping on the net when I'm supposed to be finishing the stories necessary for my book. One of two things will happen (Insha'Allah). Either this will become the blog that I use to get my book written (and eventually noticed) or I will rant and get my book written. I won't even give the other million options any words to sprout from.

I should probably add a bit about me. I'm 25 (be 26 this August, getting old!), a sometimes-vegan (my weaknesses are hard taco supremes from Taco Bell and Edy's Rocky Road ice cream), and a writer of stories that have yet to be published (or copyrighted, for that matter). I am also Black and a Muslim (alhamdu'Allah). My stories are not the "new Black novel" CRAP (I'm sorry, I'm touchy about the subject) that are all over Border's and B&N with their glossy covers with half-naked chicks with sunglasses, drugs, murder, and sex. No, my stuff is entirely different (and better, in my humble yet informed opinion).

Okay, here's the goal. I'm going to finish writing the 15 stories for this book in the next 2 months (Insha'Allah, less), get them copyrighted, and have the book self-published by June. I will update this weekly at least with tidbits on how I'm coming along, as well as my biased opinion on the news of the week. Major Hint: I'm a registered green party member and proud of it, though I would love an Obama-Edwards ticket.

Though this page has been created for family and friends who keep asking "how's the book coming?" I appreciate any new readers as well as new friends. I want to meet more people like me...I know you guys are out there. I should add that I'm also a full time college student and psych major, so I am definitely one of those "what's on your mind?" people.

Good name for the blog right? As you can see, I'm a ranter. The last thing(s) I should say is/are by "people like me" I mean people who are interested in more than what is being force fed to us, mainly pop culture and materialism at all costs (get it?). I am interested in peace, as a state of mind as well as a state of being, love, friendship, moments of joy, sadness that helps me grow, and evolving as a person. Corny but true!

Take good care.

PS- For those who haven't been a Lupe Fiasco fan (though I keep telling you to), The Cool is out now, pick it up, it's a gem. Peace.