This...shouldn't exist. The Manty Host.

Yep, this is really happening.

Please see previous posts:

bamboozled lately?

and

Be Wise Male Fashionistas

Zombie. Fela Kuti.

So...you'll have to excuse me. I just took the parents to the Broadway play FELA...and I have been playing the soundtrack on replay since. Which is something I do (you shoulda saw me after I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway- the movie, of which is also my favorite thing ever). Anyway, the play is about the Nigerian revolutionary activist/singer Fela Kuti and his life...more or less. That's all I'm giving you, cause this isn't a wiki page. The play itself, it's pretty good. The older folks love it.

So...I guess this is my cleansing. And it's about time this blog went just a little global. Pure africo beat (with a message). That's right...I'm cultured b*tches!

African American Relationships:Is there really an issue with black marriages?

So I have this friend, La Nia who just starting blogging. She's a really interesting person in real life, so I assume her blog will reach the same hieghts of...interesting-ness. But anyway, she raised a question very recently: Is there really an issue with black marriages? And she asked my opinion (I don't know why). She references a few articles, with stats like "According to statistics over 40% of African-American women over the age of forty are unmarried compared with 20% of white women and around 30% of Hispanic women...yada, yada, yada." But perhaps the most interesting/entertaining parts of her blog post are the two videos below. Sponsored and made by blackmarriage.net, the videos feature a black couple embarking upon a relationship, but first....they voice their standards of operation. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty hysterical.

Men's perspective (why they don't like black women: problems with the way black women think about themselves, what they could/would do to you if you dont comply and what they expect from a relationship)




Woman's perspective / the rebuttal to the above video (why they don't like black men: problems woman have with the way black men think about themselves, their needs personally (head) and what they expect from a relationship)

I mean...I would be lying if I said that some of the stereotypes put forth are not accurate depictions of what the sexes in our community think of each other. Stereotypes are...for the most part, true. That's why they are stereotypes. For instance...I know (personally) a girl of a lovely chocolate complexion who WILL NOT date a guy under 6ft. I also know dudes who don't want to date girls from an HBCU and complain that black girls don't give head.

My opinion, in the long haul, I think the needs of men and women in relationships are the same across all the races. Money, feelings of independence, feelings of dependence, kids, sex...you name it, we all go through it. The nuances picked up in this video of the African American race, are just issues that pertain specifically to our culture. Married dudes who want their wives to not nag them for staying out late with their boys....I believe all men want that, regardless of ethnicity. A feeling of independence, but still being "kept"...I think all woman want that. The only difference is the way we phrase it. The spin we put on it. And you can blame that on our culture. Honestly, there was a time (not too long ago) that an entire group of people were forced to band together as one single unit and fight to preserve themselves in this country. Being one black unit and fighting for the rights of that black unit was a necessity to survive. But now as the time goes forth opportunities have presented themselves that weren't there in the past. The ability to transcend cultural norms is now on the table (or atleast slowly being presented as such). You no longer have to go to an HBCU to get and education and women don't have to have 12 kids to make sure their husbands surnames survive all the lynchings.

So these videos, as funny as they are...reflect a shift in the social norms of the African American culture. The Black Unit is no longer as defined as it once was. the need for it, has decreased. There are many different types of black people now. We all don't have to join a fraternity or sorority to get higher education. We all don't live and die for hip hop. We aspire to other careers besides law, office administration and being a teacher (not knocking those professions at all), but we can now be renaissance men and women: graphic designers, actors, artists, and even...the president. As a race don't need to stay within our ethnicity or culture to date or marry anymore. That's a new thing. So maybe that's what is affecting the black marriage stats. New opportunities. And if you pair these new opportunities with some of the common ruts of stereotypical actions and thinking like we saw in the video (let's keep in mind that stereotype exist, because they are true) and taaaddaaaaaa, the decline of the traditional black marriage.

That's just a theory though. My major premise however, is that the needs and wants discussed in the videos above, are not just limited to the black race. And I think that is mportant to point out. There is a unique difference between men and women overall...and I think that is for the better. We (the black community) just have a more colorful way of making our points known....son.

And that's my opinion. I didn't mean to get all Malcom X on yall (blame La Nia). But generally speaking....

FYI, ladies..... "A man who can make me laugh, is a thug and can kick it with the boys in the boardroom." This shape shifting... X Man....mutant, does not exist. You need to pick one. FACT.

Cheers.

The Women of SNL do Real Housewives.

Pretty genius.

VIA stuffflypeoplelike

The Situation Shirt.

This will save me alot of time when someone accidentally says the word "situation." You have no idea how many times I have to lift up my shirt a day.

VIA theworldsbesteever

"Some Guy."

This has nothing to do with anything (maybe we can put it under Wimbledon coverage). I just think it's funny how on this "urban website" the caption reads "Serena Williams hugging 'some guy'..." Ummm, you mean the only notable male professional tennis player that has represented USA in countless international tournaments for at least a decade...ANDY RODDICK?????

It's funny how our cultural melting pot of a country, no matter how hard we try is more like a stove oven. We are all on the same stove, but we all cook up or own sh*t on completely different burners. And when we finally see each other on the plate, we pretend to know about each other. This coming from a man who has had to describe what a line up was at least 10 thousand times in 26 years.

Side note: Andy Roddick is the most popular professional male tennis players in the world right now. Andy Murray and James Blake, I could see someone not knowing them. And I'm not counting the past...Sampers...Aggassi....etc.

VIA mediaouttake

How to Explain the New Arizona Laws....

...so even the smallest Children understand. No but seriously. When I was a kid....I couldve used this box of crayons. When you have to draw your family in first grade...you realize the crayon wax does not blend together.

VIA steelcloset

LOST Tarot Card.

by ALEX GRIENDLING. See more here....

VIA KMBA

The Most Badass Alphabet Ever

“The A-Z of Awesomeness,” a series of illustrations by Neill Cameron, where he takes each letter of the alphabet, crafts an absurd sentence around it, then brings it to life with an excellent drawing that dabbles in mutliple cultur points at once. Truly cool.

VIA KMBA

Culture.

VIA kmba

You know what Australia...you are Racist.

I'm not sure how I missed this but....

"Ever find yourself in an awkward situation with those noisy negroes that just won't shut up. You've tried watermelon waving, introducing new dance moves and even hypoglycemic coma inducing, sugar thickened, "red" flavored Cool-aid. Nothing seems to work! Well KFC has the deep fried solution for all your rambunctious crowd dampening needs. See the B.S. above."- KMBA

And then we move onto the KFC spot in Korea. And then the American KFC spot pulls out this sh*t. It's like the world KFC conglomerate got together and was like, "let's see how insensitive and racist we can be." Shocked and Appalled. Shocked. And. Appalled.

VIA kmba

X-Mas in India (according to Nick).

Xmas in India from provato on Vimeo.

Ok...so it's after christmas. But this spot for Nick by Nick is just so fun and light hearted I had to post it. This is the first mental footprint of the Indian culture (dot dot), that has been imprinted upon the brain  of thousands of kid across the nation. Hey, it's gotta start somewhere, right? Even if it's boarder line racist.

I kid. I kid,

So I watched Jersey Shore.

I have alot to say about it. I swear I will write a comprehensive post very soon. It almost made my brain die....but I just needed to get this up. It's the Notorious clip of a girl (respectfully known as Snookie) getting close fist punched in the face at a bar by....some random douche bag dude. Because if you thought worrying about the Guido douche bags that you share a house with was enough....you actually have to worry about every Joe Schmo on the shore.

Hurry up and watch it before it gets takin down. 

VIA theworldsbestever

 

No Hair (but still a 6 head).

Our favorite Tyranasaurause Banks took her hair off on a recent episode of her show. For all of you who don't know...Tyra is well known for wearing a sh*t load of weave. Why is it on this blog? Well...I can;t answer that. All I want to say is that she looks 10 million times better in this 1:29 minutes than she has in a long time. There is a deeper seeded cultural issue at hand, but I refuse to touch it. 

Integration.

"...Have we simply traded one form of inequality for another? Before we had separate and unequal and today we have separate and still unequal, but you can go to the Starbucks without being attacked by a firehose?"

Danielle from The Blacksnob has a seriously interesting post about the double edge sword of integration in America. Every point made was valid. Is it better to go to a historically black college (if you are a minority)? Or is there some impeding gain to integrated institutions? Or is the black community just all screwed up (and it's kinda integration's fault)?

I have an opinion. Do you? If not...still an interesting read.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” 

-said Texas State Rep. Betty Brown.

Behoove....that's a word you don't hear every day. Luckily...ignorance is, a common bi-product of us Americans. How about you just learn their names so that they can have a rights they deserve. Do you have this problem when they are paying their taxes every year?

AIG's Easter.

EASTER AIG HUNT from ABOVE on Vimeo.

goabove.com

Every Father's Nightmare.

Picture this: The precious dumpling of your life has finally reached the ripe age of 18. She has gone from pampers to pigtails to plastic jewelry to meandering with the likes of hormone-driven, booby touching, internet porn watching boys- yuck. And you have been there every step of the way guiding and coaching her toward attributes like self worth and strength. It's her big night...Prom Night. The last chance for her to show her maturity and present herself to the world as a semi-adult (also the last chance for her to loose her V-Card before going off to college). All dads are aware of the impeding implications of prom night. We were there. We helped plan the after party. We brought the booze to sneak into the limo. We rented the room from the left over tuxedo money. We....you....know the deal.

And as you wait at the bottom of the stairs...death staring an eighteen year old child that is holding a box with a frozen flower in it....your lovely daughter rolls out of her pink room in this....THE SWEETHEART PROM DRESS.

Good day.... and goodnight.

UPDATE: The dress has seemingly been altered (i.e. photoshopped).

Remember me?: While I was gone

I feel the pressure to keep up with my posts, or else they will get buried!

So some of these may be a bit old but they were interesting nonetheless. So get off my back! I'm just a guest.

Terrell Owens: Same shit different team

Ciara: Maybe people will quit hating on her for losing weight. Or they will forget she's in the song and buy it b/c of Justin. He's a good enough reason for me to download. ;-)

Some songs make me wish I was a dude so that I could run around quoting all day long. Take "Every Girl" for example. No video yet but stay tuned. If you think it's a display of male chauvinism, you're porbably right and you'll just have to get over it.

On a more serious note, the Chicago Tribune examined the fact that African American stock ownership has lagged that of whites; however, in this economic environment that's a good thing! Wait, what?!?! 

Finally, proof I'm a giant dork: WEST SIDE STORY! I know the song that corresponds with each photo. High School Musical has nothing, NOTHING on Maria, Anita, Bernardo and Tony!

Meet the First African American Princess.

It was about 2-3 years ago when all the girls I knew posted aim away messages (that should date me) about the news of a "new African American" Disney princess. I am an avid fan of Disney and the entire creative process that fuels it. I also have a heart string attached as my grandmother use to give me a new Disney movie each and every gift giving holiday. As a kid, I even wanted to be a cartoonist. So...I never pulled the race card on Mr Disney. I do recall having one or two jovial middle school conversations at the lunch table about The Lion King being the "black Disney movie." You know- cause it's in Africa. Just like Pocahontas was from a general woodland area and Jasmine and Aladdin were in the Middle East. But it was all a joke. I never really thought about the Princesses. Cause you know....I am a boy.

But apparently this movie is being made. Disney has started production on the animated musical fairy tale called “The Frog Princess,” which will be set in New Orleans and will be the first hand-drawn film Disney has committed to in quiet some time. And from what I have seen, it seems to have all the good characteristics of the oldies. Anika Noni Rose (girl 3 from the movie Dream Girls aka not Beyonce or Jennifer Hudson), will be doing the voice the character of Princess Tiana (or Maddy, depending on the source). I hope it's Tiana, because I can name 3 Tianas that I know personally off the top of my head (and if it were Kiana, it would be like 10). Not only is this Disney's first black princess, but it is Disney's first American princess. Oh yeah...and Oprah is in it-duh. But of course, it doesn't end there for a new black heroin. There is some drama about the race of the prince.

It appears that while the rest of the cast is black, Prince Naveen from Maldonia is not. And it is causing a commotion of sorts. Critics say the the Prince, voiced by a Brazilian actor, is "a cop-out," and "an implication that black love isn't good enough." What do you think my avid readers? Is someone slipping something into the purple drank of these rabid consumers? Or do they have a point? I mean, Princess Tiana already seems t0 have some baby hair she needs to worry about, and now she can't find a good ole southern gentleman who just graduated from Morehouse? Or is Naveen just light-skined-ed? Or maybe he is just Naveen from the Block- use to have a little now he got alot. Or maybe this is a sincere representation of the times. Or of America today...

Thoughts? Opinions?

I think Prince Naveen looks like a young Rick Fox.

VIA bossip