on catching vampires…

Andy, the agent of Diana Laurence was kind enough to offer to send me a copy of How to Catch and keep a Vampire late last year to review, upon discovering my previous vampire musings and I’ve finally got around to posting on it. First off, let me say that I plowed through this book while easily engaged and came out on the other end with a bevy of handy knowledge that I can now use to my advantage, should I happen to encounter one of the dead and presumably dreamy kind.

Here, I also have to tip my invisible hat to Ms. Laurence for taking the reader on a journey into the minds and hearts of some of her most entertaining vampire friends. With the contemporary relationship wit of say, He’s Just Not that Into You (minus copious snark), the hetereo-chick-lit insight of Bridget Jones’s Diary and the Gothic overtures of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, comes Lawrence’s text. (For the record, I do love me some chick lit and while still majorly problematic, I do think it does some valuable things well–good chick lit that is, but that is a whole other story).

more words to live by…

i am currently reading warrior poet: a biography of audre lorde and came across these words, from “her journal notes for 1975-76″, (bold & other emphases are my own) :

“I have a right to be black. I have a right to be different and I have a right to survive. I have a right to join with other different human beings who are also black. Blackness doesn’t mean we are one lump of chocolate poured on the face of eternity. Until each of us can love herself & himself, in all our contradictions, we will never survive as a people in this land because we will never survive as individuals” (p. 159).

resolution. [or something like that]

1. in the new year, i will stop letting awful people crawl up into my head, sit there and take up residence. unless you are an incarnation of positive vibes—otherwise, just like the mucus family—you hadda pack up and go.

2. i will be on time.

i will.

with school work & other writing appointments. on sweet baby jesus, mother mary and multiple decades of the rosary—i swear i will be.

3. i will continue to love love. i will heal. and i will flourish.

d.i.y. recession proof magic

what you need: any hoop earrings that you want to breathe new life into, fabric that you like, glue.

what to do: cut a piece into a wide enough strip to cover the circumference of the earring, wrap the fabric all the way around earring tightly any way that you want, glue ends. wait to dry and there you have new reconstructed earrings! if you’re an earring-aholic like me, then you’ll probably have oodles of fun using all the earring frames that you have lying around. 

these are the ones i made from old hoops that once were worn by my mummy [these days she says that she is not able with wearing anything so big. ] and some faux-african print fabric from one of the cloth stores at home. wadada!

stylee, stylee

arguably, i am not one of the most stylish persons out there. possibly because i am too much of a nerd. with self-esteem issues (among other things). a busty nerd. with a bosey back from carrying around too many bags like badu’s bag lady. but this here site, makes me feel cooler and more stylin’ just by looking at it.  plus the whole site with its assault of colors and textures and trinkets and movement and good food and awesome folk add up to be oddly, immensely inspiring to a fellow creative-minded soul. for anyone else who also needs to up the cool.funky.artsy.stylee quotient in life.

i just wanted to lick my pc screen, open my mouth real wide and ingest all of the cool stuff on here (if that were at all possible). check out all the uh-mazingness posted by andrea pippins here at  http://flygirls.typepad.com/

in lieu of another random facebook status update…

just saw a chimp about to be released into “the wild” (that is to say an open sanctuary) for the first time in its life on nat geo—getting fed a large McDonald’s fries on the way out.

sigh.

what’s wrong with that picture?

yes, i watch a lot of national geographic. if anyone had noticed.

brouhahas and caustic interruptus

so, i didn’t watch the infamous broadcast but i heard about it then saw some of the footage via youtube. i think it’s interesting how some of the legions of people out there fussing about kanye west’s outburst the most, are largely some of the same people, most vocally promoting these swaggerific ideals on other days. and what’s swagger anyway? but a kind of aggro ego on steroids, masquerading as superficial threads, or “stacks” or the ‘way one carries one’s self.’ swagger (as we know it now) is NOT ever just confidence, which can be quietly internal–this is external and show-offy. it’s oftentimes a kind of corrupted self indulgence and self-absorption too. and worst of all, you can never have too much of it either—allegedly (when realistically you totally can).

swagger is ego dressed up as something and too many people are erroneously proposing it to be some enviable quality all over the place. it revolves around your view of how the world [people, friends, so-called "haters" etc.] views YOU. it’s brash. it’s cocky. and lauded. and for the possessor, probably eats away at certain other constructive ideals like a hungry catepillar—i’d imagine. you can’t have your swagger on high AND be self-reflective at the same time. then when you add some henny into the mix–well, for some folks, it’s a wrap. i mean, people are acting like it’s just kanye but truly, there’s a culture of ego that is popular everywhere you look. since unchecked swagger is so widely promoted in hip hop culture and other kinds of lifestyles: why are people surprised? and suddenly aghast all of a sudden?

or are they?

there are some aspects of contemporary pop and hip hop culture that desperately need new vocabulary and new frames through which to view and understand the world. because the ones they’re working with are sort of problematic to say the least. of course, this being america and kanye being black AND a rapper and taylor swift being who she is, it’s no surprise then that the racial element is being gleefully thrown into the mix by certain kinds of people on top of everything else. he is a product of his industry and american culture, no doubt (among other factors). everyone should just calm down—they’ll both be fine. kanye’s a resilient dude. and maybe ms. swift, upon seeing what happens when the eternally cranked up morning swag goes woefully awry— will surely hop out of her own bed in the morning, with way better things to do. [<--- in case you missed this reference entirely, this here unfortunately, is how you turn your swag on and up.]

Chomping at the Bit Wondering: Where have All the Black Vampires Gone?

I have been watching True Blood since it premiered, unlike some of the legions of never-see-come-sees out there and while I have never read a single Charlaine Harris book yet—surprisingly. I have skimmed them in a book store and I do think that I would enjoy them very much. About as much or even more than I enjoy the shows which are very entertaining. I also watched and enjoyed all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so go figure that I would jump at the creation of a new vampire show. I may not be at all Gothic and stuff but I do love imaginative story-lines and great characters. Ok, and I might be slightly, admittedly emo too. I’ve come to that realization. In a way that a quirky black West Indian feminist with a bit too much internal angst can be—without the requisite Hot Topic staples, dark clothes and strangulated countenance. Alas, but I do love me some black eyeliner. I know I have too much boobies and ass to be emo, swivel too much when I walk apparently and have an affinity for most variations of hot pink. But the whole emotionality thing? So got that.

in case you [or someone you know] had been thinking about it…

so i was watching a new locked up abroad recently and from the get-go i’m thinking:

out, LESBIAN couple drug mules, one visibly butch, en route to JAMAICA—probably not a good idea.

[almost anywhere in the region actually] but especially there. i mean, ANY attempt at the airport nonchalance routine would just, like, fail. isn’t part of drug-mule-ism, not calling attention to one’s self? [i think] 

you had to know it wasn’t going to end well.

besides staving off the aspirations of  any ill-prepared, drug mule-ees out there [thank me later], i’m going to try to get an interview with my friend yoly to blog about later—-she’s an american i met through school friends, who just moved to trinidad and tobago and i think with her personality, it might be fun to get some insight into how that process has been thus far, aspirations etc. exciting stuff huh?

[on the other hand, if it turns out to be all, "you trinis are sooo much fun!" type crap, then i will NOT be posting jack. just an idea. we'll see how this all pans out]

words to live by…

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” — Martha Graham