One, Two, Three, Four, FIF!!!

          It's said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Well in this day and age with all that's going on; Wars in Irak, Iran, North Korea, pretty much the whole world, Possibly the first black president at our doorstep, Hilary fighting dirty, Congestion Pricing, MTA raising fairs and tolls, this economic depression, the real-estate market, the US dollar being reduced to one level above mud, and how can we not mention GAS!!! With ALLL of that, I feel like this picture is worth more than a 1,000 words, it's one of the best satirical representation of these harsh times EVER!!! If this doesn't encompass the day to day sentiment of an average american, scratch that, the average human on the planet, what does!?!?

Yours Truly,

~Harlem H.~

Tell 'Em Why You Mad Vol. 1

     Ok, I'm back to being the angry Black man screamin' through your screen! I'm mad, no, I'm seething about this issue. Alright, right to the nittiest of the grit, WHY THE FUCK ARE WE STILL TAKING ABOUT GOVONER SPITZER?!? But more importantly why is everyone trying to absolve this woman Ashley or Tricia or whatever, of all blame and responsibility?!?!

         So, I'm watching my daily TiVo recording of The View (that's right, I said it... the VIEW) and they are talking about the "Spitzer Scandal," again.  They were condemning this man with NO remorse for doing something that should NOT have been a surprised for ANYONE. I mean lets look back at the history of men, really people... I'm not saying that he should be proud of it, I'm not saying it was right, I'm not even saying it's excusable. What I AM saying is that if we look at things like Jerry Springer, Maury, Jenny Jones (during her run), and even Ricky Lake (towards the end), we see these redneck, hill billy, trailer park, hood rat, project ass people making fools of themselves with the SAME situation [man dates woman; woman has baby w/man; man sleeps with woman’s sister/cousin/roommate/co-worker/best friend; man and woman make asses of themselves on TV]. We all watch these shows, we all expect exactly what happens and no body is indicted or wrapped up in "scandal." They are just some scalawag type people and that's that. We go on about our daily lives and men go on living and women go on making media induced, sweeping judgments like "all men are dogs" so-on and so-forth. Now, with that said, what makes ANYONE think that politicians are ANY different, at least in the fundamental basics of "maness," from these men on television or in real life for that matter?! He is a man with more money so, ok, his ho's gonna cost a little more, look a little nicer (not like Rhaneaita from up the street with one canine missing and a bad weave), and be "well spoken" 

 

COMPLETE SIDE NOTE::: I wrote on a friend’s Facebook wall a few days ago and she wrote back "I'm impressed by your vocabulary." In essence saying "You speak so well." Really, I mean for real?!? I thought to myself, "You must not have any Black friends." LMAO! Just for the record though, I'm not offended. I think she was just trying to be nice in that awkward way that white people can sometimes be around Black folks. I mean I must admit, if I was white I wouldn't even talk to Black people. That would be too much pressure, lol. All-in-all, I just thought it was hilarious... ok, aaaannnnnndddddddddddd

 

We're back*

 

       Another thing…. Now I know what all you ladies are going to say "Omg, I can't believe you said that!?" "How dare you be so machismo and chauvinistic in this day and age?!" blah blah blah... Just for the record EVERY man thought this when they showed the pictures of the "woman in question" (I'm not going to say her name. I don't want to give her ANYMORE hits on google). But yeah, I mean lets be practical here. Have you SEEN Mrs. Spitzer?!?! I mean she's nothing to look at. She's one smile line and a crows foot away from being that guy in the "You Don't Always Die From Tabacco" ad. So you going to tell me that nobody saw that coming, this man controls one of the most, excuse me, THE most high profile state in the country, has a stressful day EVERY day, you KNOW Mrs. Spitzer isn't really getting it like that. Let’s be real here. I'm not saying it's right but I'm just saying people don't expect that much from priest in terms of sexual fortitude and self control but the governor is supposed to be a saint? This man has the resources of an entire state government at his hands and almost an unlimited ability to cover his actions! I mean I've seen ray-ray from up the block do more with less, ok people! I'm not saying let's excuse the man. I'm just saying lets be fair. Nothing he did was crazy! He didn't kill anyone. In the spirit of a great comedian, "when this girl was going to suck the Govs dick. Mrs. Spitzer should have already been down there taking care of business" lol. Ok that was a bit wrong on my part to say. But do you at least get the point... It's just not that big a deal, really. Let's just call a spade a spade; not call a spade a spade then BLOW THE SPADE TO PEICES, BURY IT, LET IT ROT, and BLOW IT UP AGAIN!!

 

        I did NOT forget about the Govs. Call Girl (from now on to be called GCG). Why does everyone feel she is such a victim??!!?? On the View they clearly said that she is the victim. They were starting to question her motives, and rightfully so, then they stopped and back tracked like "wait, let's not look into why she's slobbing nobs for cash! Let's just look at the governor," who, by the way, is SURELY not her only client, hummm... think about that. This girl is 22 or close to that. When does that make you NOT a responsible adult or at least an adult responsible for their actions. This girl is SO not a victim by ANY means. If anything she's a benefactor! Let's look at the arrangement here. She sets a few nuts on her chin, high profile nuts mind you, and now she's getting record deals, lucrative offers for all sorts of TV shows, magazine spreads, interviews, ect, she's has relative stardom, all just from taking a few to the head so-to-speak (lol, that was a pretty good one, lol). Shall we look at the former Gov, he lost his job, his respect, his wife most likely (I mean she'll stay with him in form, but in the reality of their marriage, that shit is a WRAP) and now he's being seen as some quasi sexual predator, which I think is unwarranted, GCG was completely of age. Which brings me back to the original point. In what way is this girl a victim?!? That is the real question. I would like to see some comments about why she is a victim. I know I have a few "feminist" readers out there that I'm sure have an answer (UBfeminist, Sophia, Mona and all those "anonymous" commentators). 

 

       To wrap this all up; Gov. Spitzer didn't do anything worth damn near a month and change of CONSTANT news coverage. There was no surprise there. How about we focus on the egregiousness of "Congestion Pricing," the proverbial slap in the face of these erroneous reasons for MTA fair hikes, and a State budget that doesn't even BEGIN to address poorly funded schools, horrible health care, and a neglected aging population. All the while we are building a billion dollar baseball stadium, and pumping billions of dollars into the SYSTEMATIC gentrification of areas of the last affordable places to live. How about we focus on that for a bit and leave the person in charge of it alone so the motherfucker can concentrate. I mean shit, if getting some head on a yacht will help figure out a better budget for the declining pubic school systems and get us some community programs that are actually useful, Mrs. Sptizer might have to take one for the team on this one... lol. 

 

       Furthermore, we should NOT absolve this woman of responsibility. Prostitution is a joint venture. For all purposes it's a business transaction. She was selling something and he bought it. There was no theft involved. All he did was pay for SERVICES RENDERED. Moreover, he's not even being prosecuted for prostitution, he's being prosecuted under the "Man Act" (that's the REAL name people. I didn't just make that up) for transporting the pussy across state lines... I digress, all I'm saying is... let's put the blame where it belongs, and that's on both of them equally. If it were drugs for example, we would be sending the DEALER to jail and condemning them and giving the BUYER all sorts of outs, and redeeming qualities (i.e. sending them to detox, rehab, explaining away their reasons for turning to drugs) but with this it's conspicuously all about the person buying and the SELLER is the victim??? 

 

Ok, thank you all for listening. I look forward to the hate mail. ;-)

 

Remember: If you don't comment, you're letting the terrorist win!"

~Harlem Herald~

 

RealTime, nah... fuck that! Real TALK!!!

To see these two together discussing real issues was like an intellectual orgasm to me. I swear if they made an album together I'd have sex with it! I mean it's like to see such great BLACK minds speak on things that don't have to do with asses shaking or booties bouncing is great! It's almost like Mos Def was the Urban translator for Prof. West...

Listen to DICK!

I'm not even going to bias this with a comment. I'm just going to post it and hope that your minds aren't too far gone with "American Idol-Reality TV-TMZ-Let the media think for me" syndrome to form an opinion about it and/or to have it strike a cord with you. Especially given the racial turn the Democratic candidate's race is taking as of late... 

>Did bill ask to be thrust in to the Black Community?

>Did he encourage a "pro-black" image of himself?

>Is he responsible for not living up to the expectations of the Black Community as of late in regard to the presidential democratic nomination?

~H. Herald~

P.S. I would like to give a HUGE shout out to Brooklyn Sista for the inspiration. Harlem has MUCH love for ya, BK ;-)

What Has Been Shall Never Be...

    So I’m going to start early today because I inadvertently missed my post for yesterday. Long-story-short, I feel asleep and woke up at ASS CRACK in the morning. So, today I’m knocking out two of these bad boys!

    The topic for entry one of this double header is fake people. Well, let me rephrase that… Not so much “fake” as, just trying too hard. I have been talking to this person, *WAIT*

***The LAST time I said I was talking to or about somebody (W.C. & Ike) I ended up getting a TON of emails and IM’s and facebook messages inquiring about who this person was, why I shouldn’t like her or why she wasn’t right for me, blah blah blah. I just would like to be clear this time around. I’m generally a pretty literal dude. So when I say I was talking to somebody, that’s EXACTLY what I mean, talking to! Not, in the colloquial sense i.e. dating, flirting, courting, or whatever… just talking i.e. conversing, exchanging ideas, communicating. So please, lets get OUT of junior high here people and as lil jon would say “Get on my LEVEL!!!”***

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog…

    So I been talking to them and it seems that they try to be something that they aren’t. Pleasant, honest, and seemingly genuine (although I’m still reserving judgment on the latter), but just not real ya know. For example, have you even spoken to someone who speaks like a little kid? I mean really, like in almost a “goo-goo ga-ga” type of tone (if that even makes sense. lol) or a man that speaks overtly like he’s 15 even though he’s obviously a grown ass man. As if they are afraid of growing up. Well, that’s the type of person I'm talking about here. How does one judge the sincerity of a person that isn’t comfortable being who they are or should I say as old as they are. Now, this person has explicitly expressed a fear of getting older, loosing their youthfulness, and not being as “excited” about life as they used to be. So, this is probably just my personal opinion however, I feel like it’s a great trade off. As you get older you do loose a bit of virility, sure, but you gain wisdom, judgment; your character really starts to develop and you just become a more secure person and the piece of mind that brings, I think, is worth losing a little youthfulness.

    To be fair they are a "she," at or around the “Quarter Life” mark (a term I despise by the way)! I know that makes a difference to some. People might think “Oh, well a woman at that age should be anxious. She’s supposed to be on her way to marriage, kids, a life, or whatever…” or “Well, I mean I understand where she’s coming from. I would be anxious too, I’m not old enough to be old but not a “”Spring Chicken”” any more either.” To that I would just say what’s wrong with just having wherever you are at that point in life just be ok. I’m all about setting goals, priorities and aspiring to those things but to put so much pressure on oneself that you have to almost FAKE how old you are! I mean that leads to so many other questions. IF you are acting like this, what else are you faking because you are ashamed of it or scared of the truth of it. It’s almost like she’s acting like a teenager, acting like what they think older people act like to appear older! *I’ll give you all a second with that one………………………………………..* Lastly, and most importantly, how does one know if people like this are even acting?! That is to say, I sit here and assume that nobody can really be like that or talk like that but who’s too say. Maybe these people REALLY are just this way. The really fucked up thing is, there is no way to know or find out without being offensive.

~H. Herald~


P.S. All and all this wasn’t really a blog that left much room for questions and comments I guess. However, please feel free to post your opinions and let me know what you think about the situation, people like that, or just something random that has nothing to do with this at all. Plus, if this doesn’t move you, you got one more left for the day! Ciao!

An ode to Hip Hop... well not really an "ode" just a cool comment :-)

As the the second edition to the "Hip Hop generation" (being that the true starters of the hip hop movement are probably about 5-6 years older than me) we like to credit people who have a good flow and good content and even some people that don't. But, I think we truly forget people who engineered the way rappers rap today. The style is SO different. Most of us remember Kid N Play right, the go-go rhythm and simple one two rap style... "Say Heyyyy, now say Hoooooooo! Now say Hey-Ho...." and so on. There was a time when a flow like Jay Z's or Nas' or Rakim or Keith Murry (also a SICK MC) wasn't even on the map; because it hadn't been invented yet. Crazy rapid fire styles like Bone Thugs' or even creative stop and start types like Kanye or Wayne weren't even in consideration. So, with that said, I'd like to pay homage to this Harlem native and a favorite rapper of mine from the days of way back. I mean like sitting in the house with a cassette tape in the Hi-Fi trying to catch his songs on the radio cause my mother wouldn't let me buy the tape... the FIRST RAP BATTLE EVER! More importantly though, a clip of time where hip hop went from being a entertaining musical style to a validated competitive arena where oratory stamina and mental power were necessity for credibility. Here's to you Kool-Moe Dee.

Sincerely,

~H. Herald~

Note To The Reader. . .

So for the rest of the month I'm going to attempt to post something EVERYDAY. I'm not sure how I'm going to respond to pushing out these creative juices. Normally I just write about whatever makes me excited enough to actually sit down and write about it. However, in my efforts to take my writing more seriously and to sharpen my creative expressions, I'm going to forgo the mood swings of my creativity and throw some D's on that bitch, so to speak... lol. So Look, out all! Here Comes Herald!

P.S. I was asked how someone could subscribe to my blog... Sadly enough I don't know how to do that myself. Any answers would be welcomed ;-)