To My Dear: Meet Adele

Granted Brit songbird, Adele, has worked the NYC circuit in the past couple of months, personally I discovered her in an episode of Secret Diary of A Call Girl (love it!) with the ballad "Hometown Glory". However, since her powerful performance on SNL, Adele's got the internet going stark raving mad! I wanted to give her the N1DIR official cosign (trust me it means a lot). I haven't stopped playing 19, her debut album, since I...um... acquired it. So far I got one G digging it, so you should consider doing the same.

Click here for her SNL Performance.

One Fuzz...

Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power, & Respect

With the emergence of Obama as an iconic figure, the black community now has 2 prototypes for masculinity. The documentary below dissects and compares the two symbols of manhood. Barack rises above the tainted image of what it means to be a black man, while Curtis Jackson is the antihero, gaining respect through fear, and cementing the idea of violence as the weapon.

We dig it?

Grace Jones - Corporate Animal

I'm just obsessed with the bizarre...

Fool's Gold

We generally keep this blog lighthearted and simple, so the following might be hard for some of you to digest. Last night I was able to check out the D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival featuring art exhibits in most of the little shops and restaurants in the neighborhood. The exhibit that obviously stood out to me was that of Ed Kashi, a photography exposé of the current oil crisis in Nigeria (my homeland). The images portray a land devastated by oil drilling, a people living on less than a dollar a day while residing on the some of the most valued oil reserves in the world. One could look at the pictures, and yell propaganda, fabrication, or any other number of terms denying the reality of the inhumane conditions under which the people of the oil rich Niger Delta currently reside in. Easy to do when you're sitting in the safety of your office, or apartment, where these problems seems light years away, you couldn't even see how this could directly affect you. The economy has been shit lately, that must be what's causing these extremely high gas prices...wrong. The area has recently been taken siege by "rebels". Resorting to setting pipelines ablaze, and kidnapping Big Oil employees, the rebels have managed to significantly diminish the country's oil production, causing scarcity of fuel and you guessed it...elevated gas prices around the world. The UN along with other institutions are calling for a resolution of the problem, and bringing peace to the area. The issue, however, was never one of peace, but one of exploitation, and unfair gains by everyone except those who suffer the consequences of the drilling. Take a look at the disparity these people are living in, and you be the judge of if who is the criminal in the situation, and who is simply partaking in civil disobedience. Look for more prints on Ed Kashi's site.

The Incredible Kathy Misick Misick

The madness of fashion week is long gone, but I cannot allow myself to shelf the topic before giving you the Kathy Misick's Spring 09 collection. I could go on a rant about how exquisite, and well crafted the gowns are, but I'm sure I won't do the collection any justice. Check it out for yourself.

Phone.Google.Com

Has the IPhone finally met its match?? So the Google Empire birthed its new baby today, the G1 Android phone. Despite its chunky design, the G1 is said to provide better functionality than its sleeker competitors, combining the touch screen of the Iphone, along with the qwerty of the Crackberry, Google hopes to put a dent in the cellphone game. The phone come with a touch-of-a-button-access to all google apps (google maps, gmail etc) and is run on the "Android market", the first open source technology, allowing users to download and upload civilian created mobile applications. Critics believe that this dream phone may have a problem acquiring the cult following of other smart phones i.e Iphone, but only time will tell. I'm willing to give this gadget a try. More updates to follow.

Also check in on CNET's Live Blog
Here's a breakdown of Android technology.

HOLLA BACK CREEP!

For all the ladies out there who have been harassed, oggled, creepily stared at, inappropriately rubbed up against or worse while traveling around NYC--there's finally a place to spread the word about that creep on the 4 train.

HOLLBACKNYC.com is a site for you to send stories and photos of those horrible instances and disgusting guys who treat you like a piece of meat. As the site proclaims, every woman (and man) has the right to live their life and get around in peace, and HOLLABACK is a way to re-empower those who are left feeling so small. So be armed and ready with your camera phones the next time you find yourself in one of those all too-familiar situations; send all stories and photos to hollabacknyc@gmail.com

If you can't slap 'em, snap 'em!