Bringing It Back.

Raphael Saadiq has been the man for a long time. One day I'll sing some of these songs to some unlucky lady. Ha.

Wow Mao!

There is a new Mao in town. The "Great" Mao's grandson Mao Xinyu. Some Chinese worship Mao Zedong and accredit all the new wealth to the Cultural Revolution and communism. Other's remember the millions that starved to death because of Mao's harsh rule. I believe almost all will agree that this grandson of his can take just about anybody in a White Castle eating contest.

Hair Revolution Will Most Likely Be Televised.

Dreadlocks really are one of the wonders of the world. But it's no wonder that dreadlocks on white people are absolutely foolish. The picture has been painted many times: the stoner, the Dead-head, the bored suburbanite looking to piss off parents, etc. We all know the stereotypes that go along with white people who think their hair serves as a legitimate symbol of a revolution so I won't waste time attempting to explain.

But I do wonder. Just what point do people think they are getting across by not washing their hair? Is it the chemicals that are harmful to the environment in shampoo? I bet not, because there are environmentally-conscious alternatives available. Is it supposed to be a "cool" look? I thought these were the very people who don't care what they look like, that's why they stopped washing their hair in the first place. Are gung-ho capitalists thinking of changing their greedy ways because they feel threatened by unwashed hair? HA! Let's not be silly.

Women who don hairy armpits are too part of this hair revolution. I'll be the first to say, women have every right to flaunt their natural beauty. And it doesn't really bother me if they decide to not shave their armpits. I just often wonder why so many of them go out of their way to wear anything sleeveless. It must be a requirement that if you decide to let your armpit hair grow, you must go the distance and make sure every single person with useable eyes knows it. I mean, what would be the point of having hairy armpits if nobody knew?

By our attempt to seem different, or promote our individuality, or take a more "natural" approach to the way we look, we are just attempting to hide the very basic fact that we want to fit in with a group of like-minded people. By our actions (or inactions when it comes to shaving or washing) we are just fighting a superficial world with just another form of superficiality.

It is what it is and I understand the desire to be "original," so I accept all of these attempts. But maybe we should stop using our heads as billboards and start using them for what they are there for. (Hint: Thinking. Oh yeah. And maybe wearing hats. As long as it's not one of those hats with the fake dreadlocks attached to it.)

Oh my.

Towel Foul.

I never understood the rules of masculinity at the gym. Everyone exaggerates how much they can bench press, or curl, or leg press, or how many sit-ups they can do. And of course, this sort of talk usually carries over into the most popular topic men discuss...women. Again the exaggeration continues because most guys falsely (99.68%) believe they have the ability to "conquer" any woman they set their third-eyesight on.

These guys that are the ring leaders of "dude talk" are the same guys that shamelessly walk around the locker room. They spend hours at the gym calling each other different variations of popular homophobic insults then share a wonderful 45 minute conversation completely naked in the locker room. Why is it OK to make fun of men who are attracted to men and talk about how many women you've had intercourse with (and how you had intercourse with) while standing without a towel wrapped around your waist? And if this is you, stop lying to yourself. That jungle between your legs is neither impressive or tolerable and I don't mean that in a homophobic way. In the grand sense of beauty, it ranks right next to this on the low end of the scale. Give a towel a home and wrap it around your waist when you're done showering, it's really that simple. Then you can carry on with the lies about the intimate details of your life.


If you get this work done then I'll get over my insecurity and gladly applaud your towel-less adventures in the locker room.

Indeed A Saint.

Pat attention because Annie Clark aka "St. Vincent"has figured out something the rest of us haven't.

Beautiful Struggle?

I've always been profoundly confused by the shelves of "Flaunt Your Inner Beauty!"-type self-help books. The idea that they exist isn't what puzzles me, it's the authors. The men and women writing these books are most often celebrities who have used their looks to the point of exhaustion, to pave their way for success. If Tom Cruise (quite possibly the whitest man alive) wrote a book explaining how to be comfortable as an African-American in a predominantly white America, nobody would read it expecting to find life's answers. They would read it because it would be an absolute joke and unbelievably hilarious. But to me the idea of Tom Cruise penning a self-help book for brown people is as idiotic as Tyra Banks giving advice how to "flaunt" your inner beauty (an expression that just might be an oxymoron). Tyra Banks' latest publicity stunt is to finally shed her weave and show her natural hair to her audience and of course, people are applauding her for it. Really? Ms. Banks used her physical appearance her entire career to get ahead so she can now have the opportunity to be a self-promoted "leader" to women searching for advice.

I do not doubt that Ms. Banks worked hard to get to where she is but I firmly believe that people would be better off building confidence and self-respect learning from people who have actually struggled through life. If Tyra Banks wants to promote well-being through her television show, that's fine. But I would hope that her audience would start to wonder if the air-brushed pictures of Victoria Secret catalogues are the pages that honestly reflect their desires in life. I have faith that women will realize (if they haven't already) that these catalogues and self-help books are hiding behind the wigs, weaves, and makeup that cover up any glimmer of true inner beauty.

So off comes Tyra Banks' weave and here comes the applause and criticism. I just hope the applause is directed at the idea that we might begin to see Tyra's inner beauty that has been covered up for so long and not applauding her publicity-soaked "courage." Either way it's still going to be a struggle for me to believe that she isn't removing her weave to dress up and hide her fading celebrity status.

I'm not at all against weaves. Wear whatever makes you feel genuinely beautiful...as beautiful as Ray Finkle.

Don't do drugs or Nascar.

"President Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to public school students on Tuesday has set off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are asking school officials to excuse the children from listening.

The uproar over the speech, in which Mr. Obama intends to urge students to work hard and stay in school, has been particularly acute in Texas, where several major school districts, under pressure from parents, have laid plans to let children opt out of lending the president an ear."


It's depressing that this doesn't surprise me. How has American society gotten to the point where parents are furious at the idea of someone telling their children to "stay in school" and "work hard"? My assumption is that the parents who are keeping their children home (and away from all that devil-inspired socialism) were the ones who cared more about the racing stripes on their leased cars than their grades when they were in high school. At the same time, I know I'm incorrect. I know there are well-educated parents out there who are simply keeping their children at home because of the simple fact that many of their beliefs are shaped around their racism. Let's be as straight forward as possible about it. I'm sure the Elisabeth Hasselbeck's, Rush Limbaugh's, and other misinformed of the world will say that the President is trying to impose some ultra-liberal socialist propaganda to our nation's (white) youth but let's be honest. Someone, pretty much anyone, telling your son or daughter to stay in school and work hard is not a bad thing. I would let Mel Gibson tell my niece to stay in school and work hard, and nobody likes Mel Gibson. Oh wait that's right, people do, and they're the ones that are furious.

Stay in school and work hard, so when the ignorant think its a bad idea to tell our kids to stay in school and work hard, we can scare our kids into the idea that that could be them some day.

Read More here.

Adrian Peterson.

This is astonishing.