RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 6)

There are days when I feel like I've betrayed the legacy of Rosa Parks, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and everyone who participated in the year-long Montgomery bus boycott.  As much hell as Parks endured for sitting at the front of the bus and as much walking as the boycott participants did in lieu of financially supporting the Montgomery City Lines, I should at least sit in a spot halfway between the front and the back, right?  Well, ever since I've been catching the Metrobus, my inclination has been to either sit at one of the window seats or in the middle seat at the very back of the bus.  The reasons have varied between looking out the rear window of the old school GMC "Fishbowl" and Flxible "New Look" buses, having more space to sit on the five-seat row because passengers often don't sit between people and (perhaps the most noble reason of all) leaving the seats closer to the front for the elderly, the disabled, women to have first dibs.  No matter the reason, I usually don't feel but so bad because I fully exercise my right and my choice to sit at the back of the bus in lieu of being ordered to sit there, and that's what gives me confidence that Ms. Parks isn't turning in her grave.  Now that I've given the most introspective and serious intro to a "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" post ever, let's have some fun, shall we...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: A Countdown for Mrs. Scribbler

If I've said it before, then I'll say it again: as much as music keeps me going on my own, music is often the life blood between me and my closest family members, friends, lovers lost and lovers kept and Mrs. Scribbler is certainly no exception to that rule.  Whether it's been on long road trips, date nights, hanging out in the house or just random moments, there are so many songs and albums that have provided the soundtrack to our life as best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend and eventually husband and wife.  So to kick off the celebration of our eighth wedding anniversary, I share with you all a special "Rave & Favorite Five" dedicated to my Babushka.  Be warned: the majority of it might make you need a barf bag and be on your Ice Pick from Don't Be a Menace "aiight, that's enough of that sentimental sh--" flow.  Let's go...

Get Down or Sit Down, Part 3: The Great Distraction (The Numbers and Blame Games)

In a July 18 interview with DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God on The Breakfast Club, Dr. Umar Johnson made this one of many poignant statements: "Before you begin TAKING the Black life, you must kill the IMAGE of the Black life."  Now there are those of you who might discredit anything that I'm about to say in this post because I quoted "Dr." Umar, but there is no denying that "the powers that be" within the United States have contaminated the waters of social and political thought as it pertains to Black folks and people of African descent for centuries.  Even on Celebrity Family Feud when former WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster filled in the "Black and [blank]" with beautiful, not one person out of 100 people surveyed agreed with him and that serves as a microcosm of America's mindset as it pertains to the positive imagery associated with Blackness.  So when you bust down what's happening in the conversations surrounding police brutality and inner city crime, many of the natural inclinations are either for people to hype up how police are killing us but we somehow deserve to be treated in that way or how we as Black people appear to care so much about police brutality but not "Black-on-Black crime".  In many of these instances, you have folks who will use numbers and statistics to validate their arguments that we are a violent people who need to be policed and controlled by any means necessary--even by excessive deadly force.  Therefore, in Part 3 of "Get Down or Sit Down", I will attempt to annihilate the foundations of those distractions in order to emphasize the need for justice--regardless of whether we are the perpetrators or the victims...

In Heavy Rotation (July 2016)

After knocking the Black Music Month post out of the park in June, I kinda laughed to myself about the July lineup like, "Dang...I sure do have a lot of White people on this list!"  Then, looking at two of the five picks, I later thought, "Somebody is gonna think that I curse like a sailor and say some of the most offensive things known to man when nobody is watching!"  At the end of the business day, I don't care either way because, if anything, it shows that nothing is out of bounds for my listening pleasure and that I have quite a few screws loose--but y'all already knew the latter, so that's not breaking news.  Before we begin, here's a programming note: I tried my absolute best once again to give Desiigner a chance beyond "Panda" and "Timmy Turner".  However, his New English mixtape sounded more like new gibberish with all of the same machine gun ad-libs from both of the aforementioned singles all throughout and I just couldn't subject y'all to that.  I can tolerate those two singles on their own, but an entire project of that is a bit much for my ears.  So now that the disclaimers and the insufferable mention are out of the way, let's start the show...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Tuesday Night at the Movies, #1 The 40-Year-Old Virgin

When you see previews for a movie, it's a crap shoot; some movies are exactly what they appear to be while others are either much better or precipitously worse than expected.  I knew that The 40-Year-Old would be special just from the trailer, but neither did I expect it to be a lifelong fanatic over it nor that it would eventually become my favorite movie ever.  Now I have many friends and fellow movie buffs who totally understand why The 40-Year-Old Virgin tops the list because they spit out their milk several times watching it.  However, I'm sure that there are those of you who have stayed the course with this edition of my "Rave & Favorite Five" and are thinking, "You had Friday, The Last Dragon and Coming to America on this list...you mean to tell me that this is your No. 1 movie of all time?!?!"  To the latter section of the population, I say two things: 1) it's my countdown and 2) have we met?!?!  If you've ever seen this movie and know half of what you claim to know about me, then how can you not think of me when the plot has me written all over it?  Furthermore, no matter what kind of day, week, month or year I've been having, this has always been one of those movies that has never not been funny.  Nevertheless, allow me to fill in the blank if you're still drawing one as I present my five favorite things about The 40-Year-Old Virgin...

Get Down or Sit Down, Part 2: The Great Distraction and the Erasure of "Black"

The need for understanding and recognition is as natural for human beings as eating, sleeping and dropping three hot ones a day.  (BTW...if you're not doing the latter, then step your whole grains and water games up, slim.  I drop PSAs within PSAs.)  However, Black people, who weren't even legally considered 100 percent human for 78 of their first 246 years in this country, have struggled mightily with those basic human needs more than most other races in American society.  Between erasing and replacing our entire heritage, language, religion and culture, it was clear from the outset that we were a disposable people.  Pepper in some of the most heinous acts in world history including but not limited to all of American slavery, the Black Wall Street Massacre of 1921 that killed over 3,000 Black people and the gruesome murder of 14-year-old Emmitt Till and it was even more apparent.  So when you have groups of people who insist on changing the hashtag as well as the narrative from #BlackLivesMatter to "#AllLivesMatter" or "#BlueLivesMatter", Black people are once again faced with the harsh reality of living in a country full of revisionist historians who don't understand why we've been saying variations of "Black Lives Matter" since forever.  Hence, as I soldier on with Part 2 of "Get Down or Sit Down", I will attempt to unveil how these assertions of which lives matter cunningly detract from Black people's issues...

Nothing to Fear? One Man's Reality of What It Means to Be Black in America

When it comes to other human beings, I tend to be a fairly intrepid person because the only being that I "fear" is God.  Even then, I'd rather say that I revere God instead of fearing Him because fear and faith cannot coexist.  However, I will say that I am realistically cautious of certain people.  If you let many conservative politicians and talking heads have their say, then everyone should fear Black people more because we make up only 13 percent of the population while committing a significant amount of the violent crimes.  If you let current media propaganda lead the way, then Black people should be more worried about being beaten or killed by law enforcement officers in lieu of suffering at the hands of another Black person.  As a 36-year-old Black man who has survived the ominous elements of the infamous "Murder Cap" era of Washington, D.C. and the "Mighty" Ward Eight, I've been confronted with the reality of both.  So if I were to be "realistically cautious" of anyone threatening my life, then who would it be: other Black people or the police?  Welp, let's talk about it...

Get Down or Sit Down, Part 1: The Loud Pack and the Silent Killers

Although Black people have constantly burdened the brunt of racism and discrimination since being brought to the Americas against our will, it feels like it's been open season on Black people since the death of Trayvon Martin in February of 2012.  However, since last week's senseless murders of 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and 34-year-old Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota by police officers, there appears to be an uprising in the making because Black folk just aren't having it anymore.  The pain of constantly being reminded that our lives don't matter has stirred up the need for urgent solidarity among our people to send messages to the establishment that we are no longer just marching or protesting, although none of that will cease or desist until justice is achieved.  The problem is that while some of us are heeding to the "all aboard" call, there are many in our own ranks and outside who are either inadvertently or purposely subverting the spirit of the movement and the efforts of those trying to make progress for our people.  Chalk it up to disingenuous behavior, apathy, confusion, distraction, ego, cynicism, ignorance or flat-out negativity, but either way, the attitude is simple: either get down or, like Jesse Williams insisted in his 2016 BET Awards speech, "sit down".  Hence, this series is dedicated to helping folks identify whether they truly care about justice and the advancement of Black people or if they're just in the way...

Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: Why Kevin Durant's Big Decision Gives Me Cause for Pause

I had every intention of keeping this post as simple as possible, but when have y'all ever known me to do that?!?!  I'm not afraid to admit it: I just don't do brief, especially when it comes to breaking news like seven-time All-Star, four-time scoring champ and former NBA MVP Kevin Durant signing a two-year, $54.3 million deal with the Golden State Warriors--yup, the same team that kept him, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder from what appeared to be a surefire date with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals.  It seems like more people have been talking about this and nearly choking on their burnt hot dogs and potato salad in the process than the news that the FBI has decided not to charge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information in her emails.  (You're probably thinking, "Well Dirk, you're doing the same thing."  My response: politics suck right now.  It's either going to be a shady Hillary Clinton or a baseless Donald Trump for President of the United States...who TF wants to talk about that?!?!)  My overall position, however, is simple: neither am I in love with this move for Durant nor the Warriors...yet.  Indulge me...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 5)

Unintentionally, Mrs. Scribbler gave me the alley-oop for this week's intro as we were watching one of my favorite movies that surprisingly didn't make the "Tuesday Night at the Movies" cut, the perpetually-hilarious White Men Can't Jump.  (Truth be told, I'm actually pretty salty with myself for excluding it because I'm always quoting it and I watch it every time it comes on TV, but I digress.)  So one of my favorite parts is when Billy (Woody Harrelson) has to shoot his way back into girlfriend Gloria's (Rosie Perez) good graces after blowing his stack on a bet that he could defy the myth that...wait for it...White men can't jump.  Sidney (Wesley Snipes) takes him to the b-ball court where his boy Robert (Cylk Cozart), who's a security guard on the lot where Jeopardy is shot, is willing to get her on the show if Billy makes a shot.  When he assumes that he's shooting toward a much easier goal, Robert's partner-in-crime Zeke (Kevin Benton) stands up and says, "No, no, no, no, Billy boy, this is Ghana.  You, my friend, are shooting for the Sudan."  After the always-funny "and a hook shot", everyone on the court waits with baited breath as Billy does his best Sky Hook from long distance, hits the difficult shot, the crowd goes wild and it immediately cuts to the old school Jeopardy music--and the best version of it, I might add.  Yeah, classic stuff right there.  Now that I've inspired you to go watch White Men Can't Jump, try to hold off for a while and tough out another edition of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" first...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Tuesday Night at the Movies, #2 Coming to America

Now I usually start off these "Rave & Favorite Five" posts with either some kind of sentimental tale about my storied past with a particular artist, movie, event, etc., or some excuse as to why you had to wait a few weeks for me to unveil the next slot.  However, instead of boring you with the minutiae, I'd rather kick off this post doing what I rarely do: shine a quick light on a much-deserved honorable mention.  Of all of the music for which legendary producer Nile Rodgers has been responsible--David Bowie's "Let's Dance", Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and pretty much everything by Chic (with one-time production partner Bernard Edwards) just to name a few numbers--absolutely nothing tops "The King's Motorcade" IMHO.  When King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) comes from the Kingdom of Zamunda to America looking for his son Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) after Semi (Arsenio Hall) requested "a cool million", "The King's Motorcade" was the ideal sonic depiction of the importance of his arrival in one of the most regal and bouse ways.  (By the way, you must say "bouse" like Rick Ross or Slim Thug because the pronunciation of "boss" just doesn't cut it.)  I fought myself over what this musical masterpiece could replace in the following top five, but I couldn't bring myself to knocking off any of these things that make Coming to America my No. 2 favorite movie of all time.  Without further ado, let's spin that globe, flip that coin and take a trip to Queens...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (July 2016)

Poor The Last Dragon soundtrack. You did your best to stay in my consciousness.  I wrote a solid post about your movie and constantly had you on my mind because, like The Last Dragon itself, you're pretty friggin' awesome.  You had a firm leg up on such competition as Miki Howard's "Baby, Be Mine"--which was only holding on until recently because of the TV One movie, Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story--by having not one but two songs stuck in my brain: Willie Hutch's "The Glow" and DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night".  In the end, however, you got beat out by party records, indie artists, originals and remakes, Philly soul and children's songs.  This was your best shot to make this countdown, but you blew it.  Maybe if I watch The Last Dragon again sometime soon, then you'll make the cut.  Okay...so now that I've effectively dragged a soundtrack as if it were a real person--yes, I'm a bit touched--let's get to the songs that harassed me even more...