REFLECTION & REASON

Beyonce Knowles Carter just came in and stole the entire MTV Video Music Awards show! Just stole it. To the point where I forgot it was an awards show, and felt like I was at the "On the Run" tour itself. And it's a good thing she came on stage, because I was feeling otherwise pretty dismal about the state of popular music and the images these poor young females are being bombarded with. It was all pretty unsettling...but then Queen B came out and did the damn thing with the right mix of confidence, talent, sexuality, and stage presence that these girls can learn from. She paid her dues, however. She did the Destiny's Child thing as a young woman, and has now proven to be a lady of class and grace, so even with Beyonce shakin it up and down the stripper pole on stage...there is enough context of her behaviour and her persona as a performer, that it was embedded in the right amount of context to make it OK . Great performance.   The appearance at the end from B...

I'm the first to watch it, first to believe it, first to be inspired by it...and first to be upset when it all falls down. Back in July of 2012 I wrote about the powerful image of the celebrity couple , and how folks like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, or Beyoncé and JayZ, could motivate and inspire us commoners to find love, sustain beautiful relationships, and create empires based on mutual interests and such. I totally believe the hype! Every time! In fact, I enjoy the hype . Kim and Kanye...fantastic! A great mix of egos, and expensive clothing and vanity and beaucoup bucks. Completely entertaining as far as I'm concerned...but, if the current patterns of power coupledom are consistent, even those two will be wrapping up their nuptials by about 2018. I don't take celebrity world too seriously, but I do enjoy it. As I've often stated, I can appreciate the power of an image, a message, and the brainwashing and manipulation that goes along with the presentation and...

I don't even have to hear what Anderson Cooper is saying right now, I am just happy to have him "on the scene" live reporting out of Ferguson, Missouri tonight on CNN instead of bitchass Don Lemon. The reporting thus far has been maddddd shoddy. The locals are angry. Americans are on edge. Canadians are like, WTF? African-Americans and Blacks all about are tired. The police down there are probably gearing up ten-fold for another night of perceived/potential/feared trouble. And I am glued to CNN, yet again. I have a very intelligent Jamaican bredren that says he only reads the Toronto Sun, because he knows that it's the paper geared towards a 6th grade reading level and comprehension. He knows that the National Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star are slightly more reputable in terms of journalistic integrity and even the level of dialogue that takes place...which isn't a diss at all. Even the headlines and front page photos and captions of each newspap...