Bring Back the Dead…Pretty Please.

 Ok, so after my speedy last minute Christmas shopping this morning I had a little time to spare before work so I decided to sit down and pop one of my DVDs in my DVD player and enjoy a little cinematic adventure.

I took some time to figure out what I wanted to watch. Comedy or Drama. Musical or Horror.

Upon filing through my many choice I came across my prized TV series DVD collection. All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all five seasons of Angel and the whole first season of Trucalling.

That’s when it all came rushing back to me. These were three fantastic shows pulled from our lives at their prime. (Buffy not so much as the last two)

Trucalling ended as soon as things started getting good.

And dont even get me started on Angel. After five loyal seasons to the WB, those jerks at the network decide to cancel it. Why? So they could replace it with more demoralizing, idiotic reality TV?

I know. I sound crazy and I’m over dramatizing the whole thing. But Angel was like a baby to me. I watched the show from beginning to end. A true and loyal viewer. As any Angel fan. Season five was the absolute best. Joss Whedon and his crew took the show where they had never gone before.

A soul-bound vampire running a major (EVIL) law-firm? What?

To make matter even worse the best episodes of the whole season have to be the last few episodes that end the whole thing.

What a cruel, cruel world!

The last scene of the entire series ended with Angel and whats left of his crew in an alley way about to face millions upon millions of demon soldiers looking to behead then all. A giant dragon sailing through the sky to top it off. And then fade to black.

This loyal and true fan was left unknowing of Angels fate.

yet again…..what a cruel, cruel world!

I have to admit, Joss is a genius. He truly left us wanting and begging for more. But sadly in a very unhealthy way.

I sat down to watch the episode one day thinking I was finally over my anger. An hour later my friend found me in bed wrapping in a comforter and screaming “No!! Why!!” She literally had to take the remote and pop the DVD out and hide it to keep me from rewinding and putting myself through that torture over and over again.

It’s like reading the most amazing book in the world, getting to the best part and suddenly realizing someone pulled out the last couple of pages.

One top of that, so many loose end were left…well loose in Joss’s effort to wrap the show up on such short notice. There were so many way things could of gone from there. So many parts of the characters to explore.

If I could bring back any show EVER, it would have to be Angel.

So here is my requiem, my ode to all those shows that were ended way too early. Who were torn from our lives and our hearts in their prime.

RIP

What shows would you guys bring back from the dead?

What in the Hell is it About a Man in a Suit?

 

As of recently, something quite strange has come to my attention.

Whats that thing you ask? Well, it’s the power of a man in a suit.

Something about a man in a suit has the ability to make the hairs on every inch of my body stand up straight. You girls out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Black and white tux. Suit and tie. Suit vest paired with a button down. Its totally hot.

Mucho caliente baby!

I was, as usual, fantasizing about my favorite man in uniform (David Boreanaz) today when all this came to me.

Just what is it about the suit that has the ability to turn a girl to mush?

Yeah, it looks dead sexy, but why? What is it about the suit that can make even the scruffiest unattractive male specimen look like sex on a stick.

Could it possibly be what the symbol of the suit embodies.

Wealth. Power. High Class.

Maybe so. What do you guys think?

Minorities in the Media

Here’s a little something I wrote for the school paper that got publish. pretty good stuff. Check it out.

Minorities in the Media
The media is a huge contributor to our culture. It tells us what to think about things like politics, health issues, foreign affairs and entertainment. The media has managed to have a mix of positive and negative effects in this country and its people.
According to an executive summary put together by the Building Blocks for Youth website in April 2001, 76% of the public say they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news.
It also points out that six out of seven studies that clearly identify the race of victims found more attention was paid to white victims than to black victims but that in nine of twelve studies minorities were overrepresented as perpetrators of a crime.
Although journalism and news has a profound effect on how we view minorities, film and TV seems to have an even bigger effect.
Although Hollywood has come a long way since its rise there seems to still be a lack of non-stereotypical roles for minorities in in the film and television industry.
According to Carlos Cortes’s article, “A Long way to go: Minorities and the Media”, in six decades of the Academy Awards only three African Americans, two Asians, one Puerto Rican and one Chicano have won Oscars for acting.
Often in movies and television Native Americans are depicted as lazy, unemployed and alcoholics.
Since 9/11 people who appear to be from the Middle East are usually seen as terrorist and Hispanic and African Americans men are usually portrayed as misguided, usually brought up in a broken home in a poor neighborhood somewhere.
The women are usually shown as loud, bossy and obnoxious. This image can be compared to that of the “mammy.” One really clear example of this is Martin Lawrence’s Big Mama’s House. Martin plays the character of Big Mama. She’s loud, doesn’t take any crap, is seen doing all the things a maid or housewife would do, (like cooking meals for the entire family and cleaning), and she is seen as the matriarch of the family. Other examples of the mammy image can be seen at breakfast, when you pick up your box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix or bottle Mrs. Butterworth’s pancake syrup.
A major industry of media that has a huge influence on the representation of minorities is music.Over many years we have gone from lyrics like,
“you grow in the ghetto, living second rate, and your eyes will sing a song of deep hate. The place that you play and where you stay looks like one big alleyway. You’ll admire all the number book takers. Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers. Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens, and you wanna grow up to be just like them. Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers, pickpockets, peddlers, even panhandlers. You say, I’m cool. I’m no fool, but then you wind up dropping out of high school.” ( lyrics from “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the furious five 1982)
To songs nowadays that revolve around drugs, parties, women, sex, money and cars.
Although there are a few artists that talk about more than material things, it seems that over time hip-hop has lost its message.
At one time hip hop was an art form that under privileged youths in inner cities used to speak out against powers that held them down. The creation of this art form even gave women a way to speak out as well. Take Queen Latifah’s 1989 record “The Evil That Men Do.”
“A woman strives for a better life, but who the hell cares because she’s living on welfare. The government can’t come up with a decent housing plan so she’s in no man’s land, Someone’s living the good life tax free cause some poor girl can’t find a way to be crack-free. And that’s the message I thought I had to send to you about the evil that men do.
These lyrics make the majority of today’s lyrics look like a modern day minstrel show. Instead of black face paint and white gloves were getting grills and “bling-bling.” Its all just show. Corporate gangsters putting on a show produced by corporate America because that is the image they want you to see. That is the image they want our young men and women to look up to and admire. Not the image of strong, self-dependent, educated men and women who have the brains and courage to make the changes no one else will.
The media has a very big effect on how we think, how we see things and how we feel about them.
It is an ongoing cycle that even until this point has not stopped.
And the only way to break this cycle is to prove them wrong, to break free of stereotypes, to do all the things they say you can’t do, and be all the things they say you can’t be.
Surprise the world.

Single on Christmas

As a single gal among an array of couples, the holidays are usually the hardest time of the year for me. One of my best friends is living in pregnant bliss with her long time boyfriend and the other is getting ready to welcome home her traveling, intern of a boyfriend for good and settle down. Being around the constant cuddling, kissing, and the “aw baby”s is worst than watching those extremely cheesy jewelry commercials every Christmas.
It doesnt held that somehow I always find myself on the hotseat because Im lacking a fella when we’re all together.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually don’t mind being single. To me, the shelf life of a new boy is kind of like milk….it’ll start to go bad in about a week. Th efreedome of not having to constantly touch base with someone else whenever I make plans or having to constantly be considerate of their feelings all of the time.
Seeing my friends totally in love doesn’t make me crave an actual relationship, just the attention of course. That heated glance or passionate kiss. Someone to take pictures in front of the fire place with and to exchange gifts with.
But of course this isn’t the worst part.
Coming home to a family of match makers is!
Is it just me or is standing around with old friend an family, enjoying a delicious meal while having to hear “so, do you have a boyfriend yet?” only a million times, not sound like the perfect way to spend Christmas eve?
Really?
Well maybe it’s just me.
To be honest Ive had enough of being hung for being a single woman in this day an age.
So single women of the world stand up with me and be proud to be on the prowl. Go out tonight and flash a little leg. Bat your lashes and give that hottie on the end of the bar the “sexy eye.”
Have fun.
Live life.
Oh..and have Merry Christmas

Music for the Soul

Music is life and it is death. Music has the ability to bring forth your most guarded emotions. It can make you laugh and it can make you cry. Upon hearing just a few bars of a particular song you can be immediately carried back to a specific time and place. When you hear that tantalizing chorus, the one that circles endlessly in your head for days, you can remember feelings of joy, anger, sorrow, defiance, hatred, perfect happiness, confusion and completion. Music is a primal force. It’s international. Music has no boundaries. No barriers. All humans understand music. Every soul feels music. Feeds off of music. You can feel it when your chest pulses from the deep, never ceasing vibrations of the beat.
Music is like food. There is no such thing as bad music. Music is art and always serves some kind of purpose. But there is a somewhat hierarchy when it comes to the different genres and the separation of mainstream, independent and underground. Just like food there is the nutritional stuff and then there is the junk food. The nutritional stuff serves a deeper purpose. This is the music that teaches you things, that touches you. This is the music that has the ability to draw strength and power from out of your soul, strength and power that you had not always known was there. This is the music lifts the veil of ignorance from the shielded eyes of the people. This is music that fuels the mind and soul. This is music that makes a difference. Then there is the junk music. Fluffy pop and ridiculous party songs that sound good and feel great to dance too but make no real difference or contribution in the world. This kind of music is ok in small dosages as long as you keep in mind the fact that it is of no really value and a lot like junk food, too much of it can have a negative affect on a persons mind and soul.