Nerds, Cars, and Old Musty Books

This past week has been marvelously rainy and cold here in Mandeville. It was almost as though I lived in a tiny cottage somewhere on the coast of England, just like in the Enid Blyton books I so loved as a child. It just felt so natural to be wrapped up in my blanket with my cuppa tea, listening as the rain pattered and the wind howled. Incidentally, the power went out for quite a few hours on one particular day, and I decided that I would read a book, one that I've had for quite some time. I'm still not quite clear as to how I actually procured said book. Anyhow, I delved into what is unfolding to be a rather riveting story, and even though the power came back on a mere 15 minutes later, it was only after I lost the battle to my fierce addiction to ice pops did I put the book down.

Suffice it to say, it was somewhat cathartic to actually hold a book, getting a whiff of that good ol' musty book smell each time I turned a page. Call me what you will, but I do believe books will be quite the treasure if the world ever ends up in any one of the many portrayed post-apocalyptic scenarios.

That said, here's a brief excerpt from my recent writings:

Daniel’s eyes flew open as he bolted upright from his sleep. Where am I? What happened? Oh God, what did I do this time? As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he racked his brain for memories while silently praying this wasn’t another blackout. His last blackout didn’t end well and he was still not entirely sure how or why he’d blacked out in the first place.  He felt his damp shirt and quickly ripped it off, scanning for any signs of blood. He instinctively reached to push his glasses up on his nose. Then he began to remember.

The body. The house. The woods.

Changing clothes on the train. Dying his hair. Putting in contacts.

Doctor Lucas.

He was at Dr. Lucas’ house. He should never have agreed to stay at her house. How stupid of him to put her in danger! He got up, shaking off the remnants of sleep and gathered his clothes and shoes. He had to go; he couldn’t risk the consequences of another blackout.

Let me just hasten to remind you all that this is still in the most infantile stages of writing. Mayhaps some would call it "fan-fiction" as I am, after all, woefully in love with Hugh Dancy, er the new TV series Hannibal...

I also had the pleasure of viewing two blockbusters at the cinema last week. Thanks to the awesomeness of Jamaican customer service, one was a free box ticket. That was my attempt at typing in the sarcastic font by the way...

Here's what I thought of them.

Star Trek: Into Darkness                4 stars

Having no prior knowledge of Star Trek, besides knowing of Spock thanks to Dr. Sheldon Cooper of TBBT, I must say that I was not expecting much from the film. It however turned out to be quite a gripping, action-packed spectacle, with riveting performances from Benedict Cumberbatch (my new favourite actor), Christopher Pine and Zachary Quinto. It also didn't hurt that they all wore tight leather pants. A solid story that didn't confuse non-Trekkies, at one point becoming a space version of Titanic--with a happier ending. Witty, well directed, much less "nerdy" than most would expect. Loved it.

Fast and Furious 6                           3 stars

"Vehicular warfare"....for the die hard, cargasm speed lovers. The flying cars and destruction began early, perhaps in an effort to make up for the predictable lines of strained humor. Between The Rock and Vin Diesel, there was so much muscle I'm sure I left the cinema with more defined abs. Kudos to the men who took their women to that droolapalaza. A great load of Paul Walker's self-sacrificing blue eyed blondness, with a huge dose of Tyrese and Luda's comical quibble, it wasn't the best of the franchise, but the action certainly lived up to its predecessors. All logic and realness aside, it was indeed fast and furious, with two surprise plot twists that made it just a smidge better. A smidge.

And here's a really accurate picture to finish off today's entry!

For the Love of Words and All Things Imagined

Wow, one whole month since my last post. I can't deny it; I'm a slacker.

I can tell you though, that in my absence, I have found yet another wonder of the world wide web: Wattpad.

It's pretty much an online library where you can track the progress of books as they are being written by their authors, professional or non-professional and where aspiring authors can post their work. 

Admittedly, I signed up just for the reading of books, because my last electricity bill was obscenely high and I figured I'd have to cut down (or just completely cut out) my daytime TV. Goodbye Steve. Goodbye Ellen. Goodbye Family Feud. In order to fill that new, gaping three-hour void in my life, I decided that I would re-open my mind to the world of words. Also, I figured it wouldn't hurt to strengthen my vocabulary because after finally reading The Great Gatsby (can't wait to see the movie!) I realized that I needed to brush up...and also to buy a thesaurus.

Now, I'm currently suffering from a double book hangover. And yes, I did say double. The first book I read on wattpad was Paladin. It's freaking awesome! And it was so cool to be interacting with the author while I read it. Amazeballs. Sadly, within a day and a half I was through reading (I'm quite a ravenous reader) and my love affair with the characters still continued. Foolishly, I tried to douse their memories from my mind by starting another book, The Amanda Project, that caused me to lose my mind for one whole hour, as I searched for part two which is not available online, or for any piracy torrent downloads! So naturally, the only sensible thing to do was to begin reading another book. Luckily for me, it's not as good as the last two, so it's kind of a way to curtail my previous hangovers. Kind of.

What I've been Watching....and Writing
So I've watched a few movies lately. All viewed from the comfort of my couch, before my prestigious 14" HP screen. Here's what I thought about em:
Life of Pi                            4 glorious stars
I loved this movie! It was really well written (it's a book after all) and the directing was superb. I'm not much for visual effects but it was pretty damned good. Excellent through and through! Totally naming my next cat Richard Parker.

Safe Haven                        2.5 stars
It's Nicholas Sparks, so of course it had the southern Notebook-esque charm. A pretty plain and predictable love story at most, that was completely destroyed by the weirdest plot twist.

Parker                                1 star
Jason Statham killed people and we saw J-Lo's butt.

Parental Guidance            3 stars
I'll admit that I didn't expect to find it funny, but it actually was. A wholesome family movie that leaves you with something to think about.

Beautiful Creatures          3.5 stars
Another adaptation of a novel, this was a surprisingly good movie. Though I wish not to demean the story or the actors, some will find that it's reminiscent of Twilight. The story is waay better though and that Ethan Wate is quite the charming Southern boy.

On the series scene, I finally decided to take 6 hours of my precious time to catch up on all the episodes of the new TV series , Hannibal. I'm hooked. It has all the characteristics of a perfect series, in my opinion:

1. A peculiar main actor

2. A spectacularly written script

Hmm, thought the list would have been longer, but yeah. 

That's what makes an awesome series for me. I do believe it'll make my list of Awesome Series, which only includes House, Monk and The Office.

It seems as if Hannibal is the spark that I needed to set my writing aflame. I mean, after watching the episodes I penned (on my laptop of course, coz who actually writes anymore?) four chapters in roughly three hours. That's 6 pages. Single spaced. And just so you know, it would take me dayyyys and sometimes weeeeks to even write four pages...double spaced. So, this is a freaking milestone for me! I really want to share an excerpt but I just can't decide what part to excerpt from! I'll try to do that in the next blog post though.

Until then, stay cool, old sport.

^That's supposed to be a Great Gatsby reference....

Easter Schmeaster

I'm not big on Easter really. Back in the day it was fun because we'd go to camp for the weekend and that was pretty much it. Then, we stopped going to camp, because let's face it, camp is pretty darned lame after age fifteen. Sooo, I guess for the past 8 years I've spent Easter doing nothing. I mean, I guess I used to watch the same ol' inaccurate Jesus movies that my beloved CVM and TVJ would show every year. And, I guess I'd eat some bun and cheese too, as that is the national Easter dish in Jamaica. Though I'm not currently fond of the treat, I am always thrilled to see my favourite bun and cheese commercial, where the guy sends the bun to his girlfriend in Colorado and she goes:

"Maxfield Easter bun clear uppa yasso inna Calorado? But how come?"

Sadly, I didn't see it this time around. And I can't find the link on youtube.

Anyhow, I did find out the true meaning of Easter, thanks to Facebook.

This image had been circulating a lot so of course I read it and man was I edified. I mean, I always knew the Easter bunny was a fluke (like, how the heck is a rabbit related to Easter?) but it was my first time seeing the "facts". Of course I promptly verified it on Wikipedia because we can never trust the internet.

But, enough about bunnies and bun and cheese.

This weekend I spent my time doing two things: eating junk food and watching movies.

I ate a whole giant bag of Lay's, half a tub of vanilla ice cream, five ice pops, lots of cereal, yogurt, Doritos, and a host of other things. To stay on the healthy side though, I made sure to drink my pint of water each day. 

I saw quite a few movies over the weekend and I'm still considering whether or not I should become a movie critic. Here's what I have to say of them:

Cloud Atlas

Probably the weirdest and somewhat most confusing movie I've ever seen in a while (this could have been due to the Russian captions-torrents for ya!) The picture was good though and the multiple characters that each actor played was....um, interesting to see. I give it 3.5 stars.

Silver Linings Playbook 

Good, in a "crazy people can find love too" kinda way, but I don't see how Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for that role. I mean, she was just being herself. 3.5 stars

Beasts of the Southern Wild 

I could say that this was almost as weird as Cloud Atlas but I quite enjoyed the fantasy within. The star of this movie, Quvenzhane Wallis should've won Best Actress. She did an amazing job for a five year old. And she has a long ass name, so some recognition wouldn't hurt! 4 stars

The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

That was some depressing sh*t. 1 depressing ass star

Finally, the most interesting part of my weekend was finding a new time-wasting site called Incredibox, thanks to Pinterest. I am a chronic pinner by the way. The site is amazeballs. Both sites actually.

Check out my first tune! Just go to Incredibox, search for Creepy Love (not sure why I can't post the link directly here) and then like and share!

And until next time, good luck and good night!

Sunrises, Cows and Backpacks

The ONE day I decide to get up before dawn, specifically to see the sunrise, it's cloudy as heck! Well played Mandeville, well played. And I mean, if anybody out there truly knows me, they'll know that I'm a midday kind of gal....so this was truly a huge effort on my part. The film I've been working on is due for submission on Thursday, and seeing that it is entitled The Sun Rises, it would be good to at least have footage of a sunrise. Right? Well, we sure as heck aren't getting up before dawn tomorrow so I see a name change coming.

In any case, we decided to not let the morning go to waste so we went over into some "nearby bushes" to get some nature shots, specifically of goats and/or cows. After trudging through the dewy morning grass and lush red dirt, we came upon, yeah you guessed it, an empty field! Please note that I shed no tears for not seeing any cows. They are, after all, my mortal enemies. Anyhow, we proceeded to get some nature shots (of the grass mostly) and shortly after, a lovely gentleman passed us by with his three goats, who were later the subject of our HD filming. Whoopeee.

On my way back home, I sat beside a little girl in the taxi. She wore a pink JanSport to match her pink school uniform. I gave the bag a once over, realized that it seemed pretty authentic and almost said out loud "You better prepare to have that backpack for a loooong time little girl. Well, if you were my kid anyway". For the remaining three minutes of the ride I fondly remembered my school days and my exploits with a certain JanSport bag.

You see, my older brother got a JanSport bag for high school. It was army green, with tan leather at the bottom, which made it that more awesome than the regular ones. It had the the "authentic" zipper string-thingums, that I would later find are extremely valuable and should be tied tight enough to withstand theft. I was in awe of that bag. Fast forward a few years, my brother was leaving high school and I was just getting in. Of course I didn't get a new JanSport and that same beloved JanSport was now being worn by my other older brother. Whomp whomp. I was distressed. 

But not for long, because the bag was getting rather worn (and there was an enormous ink stain on the leather part) so my brother decided it had done it's time. Boy was he wrong. I wore that bag until it's dying days. Though it may have been only for a few weeks, I was one of the "cool kids" just for wearing that old, green, severely pen-graffiti modified bag. And I was happy. I eventually got another one, but it wasn't authentic, so I didn't care much for it. Then I began to care about school a lot less so my backpacks were the very least.

And that was just my randomness for today!

What Really Grinds My Gears

I'm not the kind of person that gets annoyed easily...most of the times. So when something annoys me, it really grinds my gears! What I'm also not, is the person who posts these random pet peeves on Facebook, or onto the walls and under the photos/posts of the individuals that cause my gears to grind so terribly. I marvel at the immense level of restraint I show. With that said, please allow me to harp on the two most recent cases of my annoyance:


1. "Professional" photographers who upload blurry/out of focus shots 

I put professional in quotations because the term is quite relative, especially on Facebook. Let me also declare that I do not put myself in any higher esteem than anyone in the capacity of photographer. 

So, you tell me now, why on God's green earth would you put out sub-par work? WHY?!? I mean, you own (or are in the process of starting) a business and your aim is to showcase your work so that you can attract potential clients. Right? So naturally, the best course of action would be to put forward samples of your best work. Right? Apparently, for some folks, I am dead wrong. 

I literally cringe when I see these crappy photos. I mean, what goes through your head when you upload that blurry-ass-possibly-Sasquatch-looking-photo? I don't know. Then, I think to myself, maybe they didn't intentionally upload those photos, because certainly no business person in their right mind would consciously put out bad products for consumers to view. But then, I think to myself again, why on earth would you just upload a bunch of photos without first going through them to ensure that they are at a certain standard that should reflect the quality of your work? WHY?!? Furthermore, let's say these photos were "accidentally" uploaded, do you not see it fit to go through the uploaded album to ensure that what you're putting out is good enough? 

I don't know. I don't freaking know man. But this crap grinds my goddamn gears!!!!

2. Professional entities that put out work with errors

Notice here that professional is not in quotations, because I am referring to the real money-making industries out there. Then again, there are some others that don't fall into that category, but they are guilty of the same crime.

Just today, I was viewing an album on Facebook that was uploaded by FLOW Jamaica. I was appalled. I wouldn't say that I'm a grammar Nazi but I tend to take those things seriously. The gross number of errors that I spotted, after just glancing over once, was unbelievable. The one that really got me though, was this incorrect spelling: Jamaiaca.

Even writing it here, it got the squiggly red line beneath that indicates a spelling error. So I really can't see how that is excusable. In this instance, I didn't even stop to think to myself of any circumstances that could forgive these shortcomings. Because to me, they're just that: unforgivable shortcomings. But before you rush to crucify me and say that "everyone makes mistakes", let me go ahead and agree. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, especially in this age where internet short-hand is the new normal. But, doesn't every writing device or app have a spell-check option? As far as I know, yes. Even if I'm wrong, whatever happened to proofreading? Aren't there still persons employed as Editors? 

My point is, if you claim to be a professional, the quality of your work should be at a certain standard. If you can't hire a proofreader (I'm totally free to do that by the way), at least make it a point of duty to have your work viewed by another pair of eyes before putting it out. Is that too much to ask?

Why do YOU blog?

Welll, guess who's lost the urge to blog? Anywho, as I read and re-read a draft of a post I've been working on for a while, I began to wonder why I really blogged anyway. Is it because I just want to write for the heck of it? Or is it because I want to share my thoughts with the world (my 5 followers and a few FB friends)? Or, is it because I want people to applaud me and say, "Wow, you write really well!" or "Great stuff you wrote in that blog there!".

Even as I write I'm still trying to figure out which one it is, or if it's a combination of all three. I mean, I know I write really well (didn't get my BA in English with an emphasis in Writing as a gift!) and sometimes recognition would be awesome. But, that's also the reason I'm writing short stories and screenplays, which are still works in progress. Granted, I could submit my work to the Gleaner and Observer and wherever else, but I just don't think that's anything awesome. I used to write poetry back in college-mostly because I had to for class-and sometimes I thought of getting them published....well, when someone asked me why I haven't done that yet. Even now I ponder about publishing....for a whole 10 seconds until my mind wanders off.

As for sharing my thoughts, that would certainly be a trip if I decided to lay out my thoughts as they came. I might actually try that for a future post. But what I really mean about sharing my thoughts is that I'd give my opinion on stuff. Stuff that I care about, or don't care about for that matter....stuff that's trending...once in a blue moon, stuff that makes the news. Because I'm really not a follower of the news. I only read the Classifieds in the paper and I'll watch news on TV if....well, if the TV got stuck on the channel. So much for that.

So, I guess I really blog for the heck of it. With a slight need to be applauded. I guess. I don't know.

So why do YOU blog anyway? 

Black American History Month

It's that grand and awesome time again when our televisions are overwhelmed with all the movies ever made about black people, slavery and all those topics that can cause one to strongly dislike whites. Yes, it's Black History Month. 

I never really had a problem observing Black History Month back in the day, because hey, that was always my time to watch these movies (usually the same ones every year...thanks CVM and TVJ!) and remember why the white folk are hated so much learn about those who contributed significantly to the upliftment of the black race. Now that I am older and wiser, the significance of Black History Month is becoming more and more questionable each year.

History of Black History Month

Black History Month first began as "Negro History Week" in 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson declared the holiday to be the second week of February, hoping that it would eventually be eliminated when black history became more fundamental to American History. In 1976, the expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was acknowledged by the U.S. government. Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1987 in the month of October. In 1995, Canada's House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month and in 2008, the Senate approved the motion for it to be recognized.

The American Reality

After recently finding out the information above, the following questions suddenly ran through my mind:

1. Why are we celebrating Black History Month in Jamaica? 

2. Do they even celebrate Black History Month in Africa?

As the History clearly denotes, Black History Month was created with the intention of recognizing African-Americans who contributed significantly to.....well, umm, the history of black Americans! So, technically, the celebration is just for a select portion of American History.

 But the question still remains: why do Jamaicans celebrate it? I could give many answers. For example:

1. We are the proverbial "bench" to the "batty" of the United States, so anything they have, we must have also.

2. We want to celebrate our black heroes too, so since they use February in the States, maybe we can borrow it.

3. Our country somehow has a connection to African-American History.

4. I don't really know.

Let's now move on to question two. The answer is NO, Black History Month is not celebrated in Africa. Why? Again, I could only give a set of answers that may or may not edify or enlighten anyone.

The Jamaican Reality

Black History Month has been met with a lot of criticism and each year the number of critics grow. I suppose I just added myself to that list. One of the main points of debate is the usefulness and fairness of dedicating one whole month to the history of just one race. Some may argue that it [Black History Month] is necessary because blacks suffered greatly at the hands of the whites, what with all the slavery and oppression and segregation and such. Additionally, blacks played a significant role in American History. But while all this is true, are there not other races that suffered? Are there not other significant contributors to American History that are from other races? So then, why isn't there a Native American History Month? Or an Asian History Month? 

As for celebrating Black History Month in Jamaica, I may see it differently from the average person. Yes, we want to recognize and remember our forefathers who struggled and fought to get us where we are today and yes, we want the future generations to be aware of their heritage and culture. BUT, isn't that what we have Emancipation Day, Independence Day and Heroes Day for? Is it absolutely necessary that we join hands with the United States and accompany them as they skip down their memory lane?

At the end of the day, I believe that a nation with such a rich history and diverse culture does not need to be so closely tied to the American interpretation of Black History Month. It should not come down to a set 28 days where we urge our children to learn about their ancestors. The last I checked, History was a subject taught in High School. Hello? 

If we do indeed desire to use February for the dissemination of information regarding our history, we need to stop showing Roots, The Colour Purple, and all those other American-slavery-based films and get some Bob Marley, Miss Lou and other Jamaican cultural icons on the television. I will also suggest that we stop harping on the dream from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama and focus on what happened between Bustamante and Mama P, if we want Jamaica's history to be something noteworthy.