See & Say

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words but I feel like a picture of just a few words can say as much or more. That’s why back in my Philly apartment, I framed some passages, phrases, quotes, etc that resonated with me in one way or another. I’m also obsessed with those WallWords where you can get a stock quote or create your own and apply it to your wall like a big sticker. I’d rather the words be the picture.

That’s why I love browsing the I Can Read blog. They post up images with words/images made of words. Inspirational, sad, romantic, whatever. I can’t pick a favorite, but I can share some I like a lot.

my thoughts exactly

When you don’t have a job, you tend to spend hours online looking for work and after that you spend more hours Googling random crap or wasting away on social networking sites. One of my fave finds from those late night internet binges are blogs written by law grads who have either taken and failed the bar or have never elected to take it in the first place. Some of the blogs focus on gearing back up to take the bar while others talk about the gift and the curse of possessing a juris doctorate. As I am one of those law grads without a license to practice, I am amused to no end by the stories. More than anything, I think I like the fact that others out there have gone through similar things. It’s something how when life’s got you in a tight spot you think this has only ever happened to you. How selfish and small huh? In a way, these blogs are like my support group, except instead of standing up and saying Hi, My name is Kia and I have a JD (Hi, Kia!), I can click and read from the comfort of my own home aunt’s apartment.

One of my recent finds is Waitress, JD.  Unfortunately for me many of these blogs haven’t been updated in quite some time. Hmm, wait. Maybe I should look at that as a good thing for me. They’re not updating because they finally passed the bar or they finally got that job they were looking for. They spilled all their dissatisfaction, dissapointment, confusion, angst, and pride onto blogger or wordpress then they moved on. Maybe I’m on to something here? Ok, back to Waitress, JD. Apparently she failed the Colorado bar then spent some 7 months looking for work while returning to waiting tables. Eventually she did some paralegal stuff while preparing to tackle the bar again, which she passed. :) I used to wait tables and I’ve only been riding the unemployment train for two months but I feel like I can identify with Mrs. Waitress. Peep this entry after the jump in which she took the words right out of my mouth. 

Spotlight: StopNReflect

LOL @ this blog StopNReflect. I remember last summer when I was working downtown in Philly I was taking all kinds of covert camera phone pictures of fashion failures. Folks were getting on me saying it was mean and whatnot but damn they came out like that! Now I’ve found a kindred spirit whose camphone captures folks who should have stopped and reflected on what they were doing before leaving the crib… or at the very least should stop and look at their reflection between closet and the streets of NYC. Apparently the blog author is a law student so I wonder what that says about people in our profession? Hmm…

Some personal WTF faves below but be sure to check the site yourself.

 

Shame on the Colonel

I can’t view that KFC commercial for the grilled chicked the same way anymore. Not after reading this post over at Stuff White People Do. Really, the more I see it, the more ridiculous it seems. What IS the point of the Asian people dressing/acting that way? Read the swipe below and draw your own conclusions:

Perpetually Think of Asian Americans as Foreigners

I don’t normally post commercials, especially for a grossly abusive and unhealthy outfit like KFC. I’m posting this one because it exemplifies so well something that white people often do–think of Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners.

I mean . . . is this for real?

As Angry Asian Man points out about this ad,

As you can see, it features folks of varying size, shape and color debating the merits of fried versus grilled chicken… including two Asian dudes dressed in ethnic costume for no apparent reason. Seriously, everyone else in the commercial is dressed “normally,” but these two Asian dudes — speaking in heavily accented Engrish, for good measure — are going full Oriental.

What is the reasoning behind this? Once again, the Asian guys serve as the funny foreign element in the commercial — looking, speaking, and at the end of the spot, dancing like silly-ass fools. That’s racist!

I don’t know, perhaps KFC would like to hear from you about this. Customer contact info here.

Law Professor Frank Wu calls the racist phenomenon exemplified by this ad the “perpetual foreigner syndrome.” The term should be self-explanatory, but for many, it’s not. Wu’s label basically identifies a common American conception of Asian Americans as outsiders, as “un-American,” no matter how fully they signal their American-ness.

Advertisements like this one play up to and perpetuate this syndrome. Ordinary Americans demonstrate that the syndrome has penetrated and infected their psyches when they laugh along with such portrayals, and when they think of those who object to them as oversensitive purveyors of “political correctness.”

I called KFC and complained. It took a few minutes to get through, but then I spoke to a pleasant and very cooperative person, who wrote down my complaint and promised to “pass it on to upper management.” I added my voice to what I hope becomes an indignant clamor, demanding that they take the commercial off the air.

Will you call? (I don’t see an email address on their contact page.)

U.S. 1-800-225-5532
Canada 1-866-664-5696

Tights

Less than a week in Tokyo and one thing I’ve observed is that females here LOVE to rock tights. Patterened tights, colored tights, whatever. I guess it allows them to wear those super short skirts in the winter. I know I love tights.  They can brighten up your wardrobe and help transition your wardrobe between seasons. Seeing all these tights made me think of a blog post my boy KH posted over at his blog Pulled from the Water. Check out this excerpt and then check out his spot when you get a chance. Funny dude.

SHIT I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IN 2009!

1. TIGHTS- Look sweetie . . . I understand that you need something to keep ya legs warm under ya long ass shirt cute lil freak ‘um dress or whatever you wanna call it . . . but seriously . . . no . . . look at me when I’m typing at you! SERIOUSLY-Tights are not jeans! Okay . . . once or twice every two weeks is cool . . . But if you got on tights in every nightlife flick you took for the last month . . . and had them on more than three times last week when went out the house – hang urself! –

I’m even going to give you instructions on how to hang urself . . .

all you need to do is:

1. take some of them tights – the ones you wear the most – yea the ones you think are jeans – yea they prolly not shiny no more like they supposed to be . . . yea dem ones!
2. tie them around the ceiling fan . . . if you a short join and can’t reach the fan, make the tights into a lasso like a cowboy . . . you make an outfit out of them, so I know you can make a lasso out of ‘em.
3. climb in a chair – the same way you climbed on this dick in the bed after ya nasty ass took off them tights you was wearing as jeans all last week to all the New Year’s Parties . . .
4. tie the tights around ur neck – don’t make any funny faces when you put those nasty ass tights on neither. Yea . . . they stink . . . I know they do . . . unless you washed the tights ten times last week . . . I see why Beyonce said a “Diva is the female version of a hustler” because y’all rock these tights the same way West Philly niggas used to rock Dickie suits . . . every god-damn day! – Triflin tricks!
5. jump out the chair – as much as y’all wear these damn tights I know they won’t tear! And if they do . . . the mission is accomplished YA DIRTY ASS CAN’T WEAR THOSE F’N TIGHTS ANYMORE!

As much as I like seeing y’all no panty wearing – booty like Judy- flusies rock them tights (but only in the house) PLEASE LET THEM DIE FOR 2009!

Whew. Sure am glad that I don’t over-rock my tights. BTW ladies, you CAN wash them jawns!

Spotlight: the heartbroke daily

I’m not just here to toot my own blog horn. I’m here to put you good people up on to some other good people out there with computers. Enter the heartbroke daily, a literary blog in which a serial lover named Knox Dupree relates the story of a different woman who broke his heart. Every day. Although a fictional character, Knox chronicles his “persistent lovesickness” with the hope that his escapades will shed some light on the “perplexing condition of humanity.”  Here’s one entry that I think illustrates the sad and funny nature of not only Knox Dupree’s life, but of Love itself.

I chuckled

I’ve already given a shout to Passive Aggressive Notes for being a cool blog to check for. I was looking around today and came upon this submission. I thought it was frickin’ hilarious. Peep Oliver’s two notes to his flatmates and Sarah’s succinct, yet witty, response:

the identity property of flatmates October 26th, 2008

sarah in new zealand says all three of these notes went up before 10 a.m. on monday (trash day). adds sarah: “we can only assume that oliver keeps some kind of detailed diary about everything that happens in our flat, but only refers to it when things haven’t been done.”

Spotlight: Smitten

Glamour magazine online has a blog called Smitten. it’s alright but I mostly like the new feature which shares tales of awkward sexual experiences. Let’s face it, we’ve all had them. This had me literally laughing out loud. Can’t wait for more.

“My Horribly Awkward Sexual Experience.”

…First up is a hilarious 29-year-old editor in New York. Her steamy tale, after the jump…

One summer, I was interning in D.C., and I went out with a junior politician. He was a total pleaser–didn’t drink, very handshake-y, a really good guy.

At the end of the night, I went home with him, and we started hooking up.

So he goes down on me. I don’t particularly like that; it’s not my thing. But I have to throw a kid a bone because it’s nice of him, and he thinks he’s doing something fabulous. So I faked this elaborate orgasm. My fake orgasm had two messages: One, thank you, and two, you’ve done your thing, let’s finish up.

VOTE OR DIE!

It’s time for the Black Weblog Awards! It’s like, all the fun of your regular Black awards shows without the shitty audio and east coast v. west coast or everybody v. the south beef.

Now, since I’m pretty new and I don’t blog about anything groundbreaking, this is not a personal plea for votes. HOWEVER, if you are so inclined, you might want to toss my name out there for the “Best Personal Blog” category just to show that you like me.

My real motivation for posting this is so that you can big up all of the other blogs you visit. If you’re like me, blogs help you pass the boring work/school day and keep you updated on the latest politics, news, fashion, gossip, humor, etc. Furthermore, Black blogs are becoming the BETTER way to get information in an age of infotainment news shows more interested in spin and ratings than presenting the real.

Have I fired you up yet? How about VOTE OR DIE!!!!!!!!!!!
Have I scared you into it yet? Good.

Nominations are open at http://www.blackweblogawards.com

Cooking for Real

Move over Rachel Ray.

Finally, the Food Network has put someone on who is not as annoying as Ms. Ray, but who still embodies that friendly, accessible, (sista)girl next door feeling: Sunny Anderson (Not to be confused with NCCU alum and recording artist Sunshine Anderson of “Heard it all Before” fame).
Okay I admit, Sunny’s got that little giggle reminiscent of Ray, but unlike the Queen of Corny, Sunny’s giggle doesn’t appear at just the slightest provocation and it isn’t accompanied by annoying Rachel’isms like “EVOO” and “yummo.”

Sunny has two shows on the food network, Cooking for Real (Sun 10:30am) and How’d That Get On My Plate? (Mon 9:30pm). I don’t really watch the shows on the Food Network that feature one or two (shout out to the Neelys) cooks doing their thing. I pretty much watch the challenges and Iron Chef (comedy). I like Sunny’s style, though. She cooks in a really uncomplicated way and blends flavors from her experience living all over first as an Army Brat and as a member of the US Air Force, herself. She also cooks semi-homemade, which is taking things boxed/canned/bottled and using them in your recipes. This is imperative for those of us who like to cook, but live busy schedules. It’s okay to use a cornbread out of the box if cornbread isn’t the main dish you’re rolling with.

She so hood

Oh, and the girl eats. She’s stuffing cornbread in her mouth and talking! She’s encouraging us to drink the leftover beer after we’re done using it for batter. She’s thick in the hips (shout out to Nigella Lawson) and rocks a honey blonde weave. Hayyyy Gurrrrl!

Not only is Sunny nice in the kitchen, she’s nice on the mic. No, she’s not a rapper, but she has done some voice-overs and had a career in broadcasting which kicked off in the Air Force, landing her at HOT 97 in NYC. Vibe Magazine rated her show as one of the top 9 to listen to nationwide and crowned her, “Ruler of the Airwaves.” Sunny’s hip hop cred extends further as she was the Food & Lifestyle editor at Hip Hop Weekly Magazine.

Check out some Sunny Anderson for yourself and set your TiVO/DVR.

Sunny’s Blog. Sunny’s Myspace.

Aside: Sunny kind of puts me in the mind of Tracie Spencer. Yay or Nay?