"Love's Gonna Getcha" (c) KRS-1

As of late, one of my many obsessions has been trying to figure out why I buy only certain brands - sneakers (Nike, Adidas, or, occasionally, Asics in the form of Onitsuka Tigers), underwear (Vickie's), detergent (Tide). Am I just a brand whore? Or do I really feel that there is a significant difference in quality?

I tested out my strength this weekend by going into a Duane Reade & buying the store brand heavy duty foil instead of the Reynolds brand right next to it. Hey, I'm saving like a $1.50, right? That's a $1.50 more added to the 'I'm treating myself to dinner at Masa' fund. But I almost couldn't do it. At the register I had to fight my impulse to run back and exchange it for my trusted, familiar blue-metallic package with the pink corner (notice use of 'my'). After a brief struggle, frugality prevailed and I brought the "impostor" home but I can't comment on the quality as I haven't yet opened the package. I think I'm scared.

I'm also reading "Lovemarks" by marketing magnate Kevin Roberts, a very likable (lovable?) book about the future of brands or, rather beyond them. It's as much about Mr. Roberts' love affair with consumers as it is about marketing products and services and that's how it should be - there's a relationship there that needs to be examined. But maybe, like most relationships, we rely a little too much on packaging and "gut" feelings without examining our decisions. Do I really think Tide is the ONLY detergent that can get my clothes clean? Is it solely because my mother used Tide and therefore linked to feelings of nostalgia? Why do I sneer at my roommate (LOVE YOU!) when she dares to put a store brand, or merely a brand I don't use, in the cart? Why do I not trust anyone besides myself to go grocery shopping? (Again, LOVE YOU!!)

Dunno. Maybe it's just part of my OCD, I say to myself then I come across this in the NYT. The skinny: dead brands are being revived not only as items for consumption but as "pieces of Americana."

Fade in KRS-1 talking about "love with material items..."

I went to an LRG/Courvoisier event at Reed Space this past week, looked at their maxim "A positive social contagion" and wondered aloud (again), 'what's so positive about conspicuous consumption?'

Dunno. I'm sure it has something to do with perspective. Maybe I'll work this all out by the time I go down there today & pay way too much for a passport case I'll use sporadically and that matches nothing other than the inside of my HP bag, which I "love" but also paid way too much for.

Ah, another song pops into my head - "This is how you get got" (c) Mos.

This Week(end) in NYC...

Lots of chillin' and inspiration this weekend....
My boy Wil, ever the lucky bastard, happened upon this De La Vega gem on the street -
disposed restaurant chairs turned street art on a random, rainy NYC night. Best in a series of rarities.
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More inventive art in "Studio 54." A salvaged original by Beau, the renaissance man.
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Apparently there's a politician running for office who throws mini-parades along B'way to rally support every weekend. The sound is anything BUT mini so, roused from bed by car horns and cheers this lazy Sunday morning, I decided to go out on the fire-escape and take some pics. Whoever he is, he'll literally kick corruption in the ass, or so the banner says.

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Which led to going on the roof and making a new friend...
His name is Waldo.

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Ending on a good note, Beau, Afton and I watched Sordid Lives. No describing it. Just watch it. And yes, that is Jeff Bridges in a bra with Delta Burke looking on.

Colbert v. Rain Dance-Off

Enjoy.

Green pill, please.

I give up. I want to be stupid and happy like the rest of the morons out there eating up everything being served to them - whether it's a debate over whether or not Obama was discretely flipping off Clinton (above), complete with 3 news correspondents debating the "gesture" while repeatedly slowing down the clip, or a gas-tax holiday proposal with as much legs as the No Child Left Behind Act (remember that one?!). It's got to be good with such a sensational, unbelievable title! Or how about paying farmers to grow food for fuel and NOT consumption, as both food and fuel prices continue to rise and people are starving. Now even drinks with High Fructose Corn Syrup are gonna cost more. I WANT OUT!

If, when someone tells you "I want the oil companies to pay the taxes this summer" and you shout "YAY!" without thinking (in the least) about what happens when the summer's over, please tell me what Kool-Aid you were drinking. 'Cause I want some. And I'm not even going to be picky about it. Grape, orange, kiwi-strawberry, red...I don't care. Just give it to me and give it to me NOW!

When one of our politicians can say, without fear of castigation, that they would "obliterate" another sovereign nation on actions it isn't even capable of, much less taken, but that country's president can't even come here and participate in an academic forum to which they were INVITED without meeting with demonstrations, threats, and an inhospitable, possibly antagonistic, introduction for making remarks that may or may not have had military intent (albeit they were definitely about LAND but whether of actions or origins is what is debated), is more than a bit disingenuous. It wreaks of the ignorance toward national and foreign policy, the meaning of diplomacy, history, context, objectivity, critical thinking, and, well just about any form of rational behavior known in human existence. But it is indicative of one thing that is VERY human: SELFISHNESS.

My best friend and I were actually having a conversation about this last week. He was a bit despondent about his job - not the work he's doing but the lack of work and concern conspicuously displayed by his colleagues. He decided that if he could adopt a more cavalier or selfish attitude, then he could be "happy" too. Of course, he's not going to change his work ethic or reconfigure his moral compass to become a different person but there it was. The answer to at least not being angry, if not happiness, was to adopt a similar attitude as those around you. Or to lower your expectations. For some reason we felt that we just couldn't do it.

At the end of "Twinkle" on Erykah Badu's latest New AmErykah Part One: 4th World War, there's a powerfully reverberating interpretation of Peter Finch's Network monologue and I'm not sure if it's Keith David or not (sounds like him to me), but when he says "you've got to get MAD!" I think, well, I've been mad but if everyone else around me stays happy, then what good does that do? That, in turn, make me more upset. Someone asked me what I wanted from people. Simply this - read, think, analyze, act accordingly. Maybe if we took the time out on an individual level to do this there wouldn't be much need for group civil disobedience in the way of protests and demonstrations. Or maybe there would be but it would be organized, sensible, and have clear and distinct purpose and value.

And, lastly, I want my sanity back. And if I have to get that by swallowing (pause) the green pill, then at this point, I might just do it.

*PS - back to the whole Gas Tax Holiday thing - if you can't find ONE economist to publicly back something that aims to be essentially a type of "economic stimulus" plan (even by PAYING them), then your proposal REALLY sucks. Just an FYI...

(Oh no!) More Retro...

I know, or I think I know, that this is prolly more of a poke at himself, the forces of image and the impact of pop culture on well, everything hence the term, but it's still scary.


I've heard Mr. Mayer is very tongue-in-cheeky but I hope this "project" doesn't last long; the consequences of reintroducing such an accessible style could be pandemic! For those of us who grew up in the '80s, I feel I can safely say that the hair of that decade is definitely one mode we don't want to revisit. I mean, what's next? The return of big hair and the crimper a la Taylor Dayne?! Oh wait, Fergie already tried.

On Be(ing) a Nigger

Wish I had video from the show last night @ Bowery Poetry Club where Kasim Allah performed the above poem that sparked an impromptu exchange between myself and Autumn Marie (of The AM Group and more) juxtaposing it with Nas' "Be A Nigger Too".

Though brief, you always learn something in the exchange process. She commented about the need for more comprehensive dialogue on the subject - an inclusive discourse ranging from Dick Gregory to Randall Kennedy. I definitely agree that any discussion needs to incorporate contextual understanding, historical and social analysis as well as a basic understanding of relationships between collective memory and language, especially the American lexicon, historical (re)imagination, identity politics and what it reveals about how much we actually understand our past and present.

I also think (read: wish) at times that the debate would go away. Somewhere between the "burial" of the word and the glittering embossed matching outfits worn by Nas & Kelis, I became completely disengaged. In all honesty there really are much more important things to talk about.

But since it's not going away sometimes I indulge myself in the convo and run into refreshing perspectives. I mean, my boy B @ The Liberator thinks Nas "ripped it" and Autumn suggests another listen. I must admit, I did "cringe" when I heard it but I'm sure I'll listen to it again; living in NYC and having several Nas fans as friends, I'll damn sure HEAR it again. I'll let you know when/if the "cringe" factor changes.

One thing that won't change no matter how many times I hear it - my deep appreciation for Kasim's representation. If I were to ever co-sign forwarding anything, this video is definitely one of them.

I wonder...

what makes people so damn morally and ethically callous, ignorant, and selfish that they think they can replace one person's life with another's? Random comment made to a friend regarding the verdict in the Sean Bell case (paraphrased):

Friend: I don't believe they were completely exonerated.
White Guy: Finally getting them back for O.J.
Friend: How many Black men do you have to kill to get us back for O.J.?!

Not only was WG's assessment reckless and irrelevant but I would like to know what made him feel so personally vindicated when two of the three officers being charged weren't even white? Was it simply the fact that a Black man was killed and the killers were viewed as being part of a superior social strata, one which WG obviously identifies with?

Questions that probably can't ever be sensibly answered yet asked anyway...on anti-humanism.

On Anti-intellectualism:


RIP Sean Bell