to everything in life, there is a song. and if we’re lucky, a music video:

Send Me an Angel

Alicia Keys – MTV Shows

Alicia Keys sings Prelude to a Kiss in honor and in love for Haiti.
And she pierces my soul. She really does.

Incorporating Fuchsia

The color scheme in my living room is so gorgeous. 3 walls are painted with Behr’s “Antique Tin” – a smokey grayish-blueish hue. Very muted and elegant. And there’s a bright orange accent wall. Complementary colors I’m working with are: mocha, honey, cream and fuchsia. The former three colors I have enough in my collection to work with what I’ve got. But Fuchsia. Fuchsia. First of all, I had to find out how to even spell fuchsia. And now to figure out clever ways to incorporate it into my decor. Some inspiration:

Fuchsia shades:

Fuchsia decorative accents (picture frames, wall sconces, etc):

hmmm

To play Mas, or not to play Mas?

Trinidad Carnival is upon us. And yes, ladies and gents…i am going. Finally! I have wanted to go to Trinidad Carnival ever since I went to my very first carnival back in 1994 on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. My dear friend Tamara, a Trini, was the first to tell me that Trinidad’s Carnival is THE BEST Carnival in the world. 16 years later, I’ve received nothing but confirmation about this fact. My appetite for baccanal came in 2007 when I made my first visit to Trinidad. I rung in the new year on the streets of Marabella, where Mango fell from the tree in front of the house where I was staying on Jack street. After soaking up the sun in Tobago,and eating nuff doubles, I spent my last night at Fire Fete – one of the early pre-carnival celebrations. And … W-o-W! Hands down THE BEST party I have ever been to in my life. Ever. The spirit of carnival – the pride and honor of unity – and mind you, the party was thrown by the national fire department. The police department has its party, as does EMS. Can you imagine getting down with the NYPD? I most definitely cannot. That was my official introduction to “love for country”.

But more importantly, there are fabulous costumes:

So many options. So much freedom, flyness and sexuality. I’m all the way in. But i need a little help getting my ish together. Most bloggers say I’m way late in my preparations. They must not know how efficient a producer I am.

I found a great site to help me prepare for Trinidad Carnival. It’s a science. It’s a culture. It’s very serious.
AfroBella also has some great resources on how to do Carnival properly – which I have every intention of doing.

I will be showing off.

Stay tuned…

Listen >>>

“Our Love is Easy” by Melody Gardot

Heavenly Boudoir

I’m making some pretty major changes to my living space in the coming weeks. It’s decision making time, and first on the list is: finalizing color and treatment of bedroom wall (to be painted on Tuesday). This needs to be a paradise to wake up to, a dream to groom in, and a fantasy to return home to each night. Inspiration:

…and speaking of fantasies…

Avatar: Not quite a revolution.

Avatar.
(Note: I give the story away, so please don’t read if you want to see the film…)

I’ve got to say…for Hollywood, this film comes very, very close to the revolutionary borderline – thought it definitely does not cross. It’s inspiring to see the essence of indigenous life painted so poetically and in 3D! The spirit and the landscape of Pandora, the Na’vi people, the language, the animals, the flora and fauna…all of it is just miraculous. It looks and feels like how life should be here on earth – at least how it exists in the minds of fantasists like myself. Avatar succeeds in honorably relaying the heart of life and love as it exists in Indigenous people. For the first half of the film, I was totally in love.
The critique of American military, big business and even scientific research is keen – a sigh of relief from the Michael Beys of the world. I’m glad the film was so clear (without being too on the nose) about dissecting the imperial process by using language contemporaries understand. Redefining the word “terrorist” from an Indigenous-sensitive lens on a blockbuster major motion picture event platform is a noble step. Throughout the film, we were rooting for the Na’vi. The big bad USA was a cruel tyrant. An evil and sick, mindless, heartless dictator of the worst kind of philosophy.
But in the end… the story was Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai all over again. Meet these rich Indigenous people. Love them. Enter White man, give him a couple of months to get the hang of things, and bOoM! He’s running thangs, emasculating the Indigenous male characers – who consequently, all die – leaving him to, of course, become leader of these hopeless people.

It reminds me of the many wars that are going on in our world today – born of greed by way of a desire to deplete the world’s natural resources – imperialists plotting and planning an attack – sexual warfare (sleeping with the chief’s daughter) – sympathy – white guilt – NGOs and human rights organizations – the dilemma – “being the voice for the people” vs. being a microphone…

Stream of consciousness…let me explain:

I’ve seen the work of “Western” people who attempt to fight for the protection of Indigenous people. They are around, doing the hard work, and I give them much credit. But oftentimes, I’ve also seen people get on their own high horses, wanting to become saviors and Jake Sullys. They become so self righteous that they loose sight of the very people they are fighting for, and in essence, they become subtle machines of the cultural genocide they think they are trying to cure. They cannot deny the blood-work of their fathers in destroying God’s people and enforcing Eurocentrism the world over. This war is great and has been going on for a long, long time. It is simply white supremacy. In 3D.

The question I would ask Jim Cameron is: Once you recognized that you were following the formula of “white man leads the natives”, were you comfortable with the decision to stick to that theme? Are you comfortable now?

here’s a great article that goes a little deeper.