Jumping in Headfirst

Not even sure I'm going to stick with this, but I like this chick's flow and I needed an excuse to throw her up on the site.  I'll admit, she's British so she's a little difficult to listen to, but she's a talented woman.

You're going to have to bear with me on this one folks, 'cause I'm not really sure where I'm going with this but I have to ask...what the fuck happened to black television?   I don't get it. It never really occurred to me when I was younger, and I guess because when you're young you assume that what's going on around you is the World As It Should Be, but looking back now I realize how spoiled I was a 90's child.   And while I could go all hipster and say I was one of the first people to notice that years ago, that's nowhere close to my point, which is what I already asked: What the fuck happened to black television?  (Or television in general--but I've got some other stuff I need to get out first.) At the dawn of the last decade of the 20th century, television had no shortage of programming for African-American audiences.  And unless you just DIDN'T have a television or cable, you saw at least one: The Cosby Show and it's spin off A D...

Bear with me, true believers.  This is a new thing I'm attempting, and I'm not wholly confident I can do it, but you won't know if you don't try.  Four Color Marathons is a series of columns I'll be doing where I discuss various "runs" on superhero characters that, to me at least, personify not only that character, but just a good example of superhero comic books in general.  I'm not claiming to be the be-all end-all when it comes to comics, but I hope after I finish each one of these columns you'll want to go to either Amazon or your nearest library because I've given you a new series you're excited to read. So, without further adieu, let's get started.  This week's Four Color Marathons is about one of my favorite superheroes of all time, even if he doesn't actually have any superpowers: Robin, of the famous dynamic duo, Batman and Robin. Robin Run Length: 1-100 Writer: Chuck Dixon Artist: Tom Grummett, Phil Jimenez...

So like I said, this month I'm intending to make things a bit more musical. I'm starting with discussing one of the newer artists I discovered on YouTube late last year, D-Pryde. An 18 year old artist from Canada, he's easily one of the most popular rappers on YouTube and also one of the most developed, with dozens of videos both rapping solo and with other artists, and with the release of Flagship June 3rd, two mixtapes under his belt. D-Pryde's sophomore effort is a fairly solid effort from a young artist.  While far from perfect, he easily jumps over some of the missteps that can lead to a boring release from an "underground" artist.  For starters, there isn't a track on here that doesn't have a dope beat to listen to.   The song above, Mobbin', wouldn't be out of place is most clubs.  A lot of underground artists end up picking "real hip-hop" beats with the idea of going against the grain or wha...

I like to think I keep pretty current with hip-hop/rap, but I'll admit to missing things sometime.   To some extent its because I don't really touch the radio and the club scene in Starkville (no matter how many teenagers call this place "Starkvegas") leaves much to be desired.  And then in general I tend to avoid ignorant shit when it pops up, so when some hip-hop related fuckery rears its head I usually miss it since it tends to be a fad and all fads fade. But lately, something new has been appearing involving rappers I actually respect, and I can't quite figure it out: a fear of being labeled a 'conscious' rapper, and worse yet a nasty, anti-intellectual undertone from fans and artists alike about people who ARE labeled as conscious rappers. If you were unaware of the term before now, conscious rap refers to music that discusses social issues.  You might have thought of it before now as "rap with a message", if you'd heard of it at all...

So, thanks to a friend of mine I've become a fairly huge fan of Sherlock Holmes.  As a result, when I saw this game pop up on RPGFan I couldn't help getting a little excited.   Admittedly, I'm used to games that involve stuff blowing up, shooting guns or hacking stuff with swords, so a game where you actually use your brain to discover clues and figure things out is going to be new to me, but [insert crap about life being about trying new shit]. Anyway, I love the idea of being able to wander around Victorian-Era England, and the fact that the game appears to be designed for consoles makes me want to buy this.  Let's see if my wallet agrees when the game actually comes out.  >_< 

So yesterday I talked about DC's relaunch and some of the mistakes I felt they made with their marquee characters.  Today I'm going to get into something a little different.  Something that focuses less on the stories and more about the creative teams. 2. Not Enough Talent So, The New 52 meant DC was going to launch 52 brand new titles, which meant they needed 52 artists and close to 52 writers working for them.  But then you look at the list of writers and any long-time fan has to start asking questions? Questions like where's Mark Waid?  Well, apparently DC's screwed him over so many times he doesn't appear to have any desire to work for them anymore.  So he's over at Marvel writing the best Daredevil run we've seen in years. Kurt Busiek?  Apart from health issues, the guy's happily working on creator-owned projects.  Greg Rucka?  Left DC a few years back and like Mark Waid is over at Marvel, making an amazing Punisher run.   Great....