I Love Coffee!

Hey Y'all!

I know I don't typically talk about food or drinks on my blog, but there is one part of my life and dialy routine that I simply cannot do without and that is a nice, steaming cup of coffee!


Alot of people don't really beleieve me when I say this, but I have been drinking coffee since I was 8 years old--though its not as regular as it is now.
I had always heard about coffee when I was child, but never really knew what it was. My daddy drank it every so often when he'd take me to McDonalds for breakfast and my mom spoke of drinking as she worked as a chef downtown at the country club (and later as a janitor in a welding supply company) And in school my teachers were always guzzling it by the cupful.
But I didn't get to try any until I was eight years old. I'd always ask daddy to taste his coffee and he's say no causeit'd stunt my growth. I'm five-foot-four now, the average height for the American woman, though I add three inches when in a pageant. Anyway, I finally got my hands on cofee as a kid when Starbucks first came out with thier take home iced coffees. I saw one in the store for like 2 dollars and asked my mom for it. That was at 3 in the afternoon. I drank the whole thing, 8 ounces as we walked around the store.
At 4 am the next morning, i was STILL awake and best friends with brown elixir.
Over the years, I've tried plenty of big chain brands and at home brands and I have a favorite for each.

My favorite big chain brand has to be Dunkin Donuts coffee.

I started out with the medium coffee, which I think is like 16-20 ounces but I eventually graduated to the large coffee, which I usually get with a bagel on the way to dialysis. I prefer an exceptionally sweet coffee since DDs is very strong. So--gasp--I add 15 sugar packets. That's not a misprint, I really do. I put in one creamer, stir and I'm good to go. If I had a particularly sleepless night, I get an extra shot of expresso in it. The most espressos I ever got in one cup was five, and had the shakes and heart palpiltations for a while. LOL.

My favorite at home brand is Folgers Instant. I'm lazy, I'm not gonna buy a coffee pot or a Kurig thing just to make a cup of coffee for a single person. My father can no longer digest coffee so I am the only drinker of it in my house. My mother has gone to heaven and doesn't need it as an angel.

I always get classic roast, as it has the nice, robust, slightly chocolaty flavor I prefer in a coffee. And it's always the regular kind. I don't understand the purpose of decaffinated coffee. It's like an oxymorom, like a tall midget. It makes no sense. And chew on this, in the so-called decaffinated coffee, it still has a 5 percent caffiene content, damn it.
I prepare my home coffee the same way.
I take a red dixie cup, and pour about 8 ounces of bottled water into it. I cannot drink tap water, it makes me sick.
Then I put it in the microwave for 90 seconds and put one heaping sponful of crystals in and stir it.
I had another heaping spoon of non-dairy creamer,

I use the original coffeemate creamer, as the flavored ones just don't taste right to me.
I add only 4 spoonfuls of sugar and a dah of Torani flavored syrup.




I prefer the Hazelnut or the Vanilla syrups. They're only 5 bucks a bottle, and make such a difference in the taste. I love it. You can also use them to flavor milk and hot chocolates.

Well, that's just a little bit about the coffee I enjoy so much. I know some people don't like it, but I absolutely LOVE it! Especually on a cold morning!

The Thin Man Series

Hey Y'all!

One of my passions in life, other than spreading the word of how great MJ is, is my love of classic films. And once again, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite film series that I've ever seen:

THE THIN MAN SERIES!


The Thin Man Series, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles is based on a series of detective books by the same name written by author Dashielle Hammett.
The film series spawned six films between 1934 and 1947. Although I have seen all six of the films, I prefer the first four and actually own the TCM set pictured above.
It was kind of a mistake really, how I found this particular series.
One of the things I like to do is go on Wikipedia and look up  different actors and actresses I like to learn about them and one day I was looking up Jean Harlow.


She always fascinated me, because she died in 1937, at the age of 26, from renal failure. (And I'm 26 with renal failure.)
As I was reading about her, I saw that at the time of her death, she had been engaged to William Powell--Nick Charles--and he had paid for her funeral. She's actually buried in the same hall as Michael Jackson.
I had heard his name before because I beleive the next day TCM was doing a birthday tribute to him and showing all the Thin Man films.
So, with Jean in my head and wanting to see the man she was supposed to marry, I sat in to watch The Thin Man.
It is one of the best cinematic moves I ever made.
I watched perhaps the first three movies, before I realized, that this was a good series and that the rapport between William and Myrna was special. They traded all kinds of witty comments and the mysteries were always entertaining. And I had never been that deep into mysteries. I only had a few Agatha Christie novels under my belt.



I do remember though, when I first saw William Powell, I didn't like him. He had a large nose and was so silly.And in the earlier films, he's drinking like a fish. His character is actually mixing a cocktail in the first film when he's introduced. I have since grown to like him, and have seen many of his other films outside the series.
Myrna Loy on the other hand, I knew from another film she had done a few years prior to this called "The Thirteen Women" a thriller based on the book by Tiffany Thayers (who is actually a man, and NO, I'm not named after him.) in which Myrna, because before these films she was marked as a vamp played a eurasian femme fatale killing off other women who snubbed her. (The film also featured Peg Entwistle, the woman famous for leaping ot her death from the Hollywood sign)

Don't even look like the same chick, right?
I liked Myrna in the Thin Man though because she made me think of how I'd like to be with my own husband, sparring buddies who always zing one another.
In the first film, Nick reffered to Nora as a "lanky brunette with a wicked jaw." (even though Myrna was a redhead) And we all know I'm a smart-ass, smart-mouth.
Myrna is one of my favorite actresses right up there with the likes of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. I just favor how she always dressed so well and was so classy. I remember seeing her once, when she was in her 80s, and she was just as pretty as an elder as she was in her 20s.

My favorite film from the series is the second installment, After the Thin Man, where Nick and Nora try to figure out who killed Nora's cousin Selma's philandering husband Robert. I especially like this movie because my fave actor, Jimmy Stewart plays a supporting role.

He was absolutely bad ass and played a brilliant role--he was only 28 years old here. And YES, that is a gun in his hand.

If you haven't seen these films, give them a try. They are awesome and I watch them all the time time. You won't be disappointed!

80s Friday: Motown 25

(Listening To Guilty by 3T)

Hey Y'all!

When I first came up with this topic to cover for my 80s Friday post, a part of me wondered if it would have been better suited as an MJ Flashback post
and I figured it would have been better in this cotext because that show really did set the stage for Michael Jackson to dominate the rest of the decade, and really, no one can mention "1980s"  or "MJ" without someone speaking about ir. It's just that signifigant.


Now we all know the story about my running around after Michael. Became a fanatic overnight at nien years old. But to be honest, I didn't actually see the footage that made Michael so famous until I was 12.
I had read about it and even seen tiny fragements of it whenever Michael would grant an interview here and there, but largely, I had never seen the actual program.
It was another blessed day in the video rental store when I noticed the Motown 25 tape just sitting there. And it was the VHS.
I had intially wanted to fast forward through the program, but something made me say no, watch the entire show.
Which I did, and it was kind of murder for me because I was eager to see Michael Jackson.
I really am glad I did slow down because as I listened to the other people singing, I realized I liked ALOT of the Motown acts--Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Debarge (before the most of the memebers found the wonders of drugs), Hi-Intergy...so many others. And I really loved that Richard Pryor was the master of ceremonies. He was hialrious and it was ncie to see him tak that long without saying the word "fuck".
So you know I'm sitting exactly where I'm sitting writing this blog, on the foor of my bed, all saucer-eyed and bopping along to the music and everything. I was really enjoying myself. (Now you see why I don't like music of today, I was brought up on THE GOOD STUFF THAT MEANT SOMETHING!)
The Jacksons were smack dab in the center of the program.
When Richard mentioned them and it went to the grainy, black and white video of the Jacksons in thier audtion tape for Motown, from way in 1969, my heart leapt, because I recognized them all immediately.

That blur is Michael at 9-10 years old.
There was a little montage of the Jacksons when they were the Jackson Five, and then, the annoucer was screaming to welcome the Original Jackson Five: Jackie, Marlon, Tito, Jermaine and Michael!!!


At some point during the J5 medley, Randy joined his brothers onstage, and all six boogied.
(l-r: Tito, Marlon, Jackie--behind Michael--Randy and Jermaine.)
It was great, the whole place was bouncing and it made me happy to see the entire room coming together.

Cant you feel the love in the room y'all? I'll Be There...

Finally the rest of the Jacksons exited the stage and left Michael to mumble a little speech and thank the crowd before tearing the roof off the damn place:

BILLIE JEAN!
(Michael was the only performer on the show to sing a non-Motown song, as BJ was recorded for Epic records.)

When the music kicked up and Michael started moving on the stage by himself, I was up and clowning and making noise like I was there. It was like a bolt of lightning within me to see Michael doing that song and just doing his thing onstage alone. I had never really seen Michael perform outside of a music video at the point and see that...was just phenomenal to me.

Nothing could be as riveting or excellent or completely astounding as what I saw. Like this sent my ass into maximum overdrive with Michael Jackson, and literally kicked off my three month obsession with all things Thriller.

And who could forget THIS:

The MOONWALK! It took me two years, because I have absolutely no rhythm, to learn to do it, but I can do the moonwalk, as every good MJ fan should do.
It really did help cement me as a fan and see what a big deal Michael IS--IS, not WAS, IS, damn it!--and I really am proud to be into someone like him. Just sheer genius and talent and blessing from God above.

For your viewing pleasure: Michael Jackson and the Jacksons!

MJ Flashback: BET Awards 2003

(Listening to The Bad Tour from Wembley--MJ)

Hey Y'all!

I am constantly trying to come up with different series that will help to keep my blog interesting and you my readers entertaining.
And I got thinking, I have been an MJ fan for 17 years. The last nearly 2 decades of my life, I have been following Michael and seeing his appearances and stuff and why NOT share them? So I am.

JUNE 24, 2003

The 2003 BET Awards stands out to me as a watershed moment in musical history because had not only Michael Jackson on a stage but he was with his own childhood idol, James Brown:



Michael presented James with the Lifetime Achievement Award--I think. I'm not really sure, I usually only pay attention when Michael is the one recieving an award...
But my memory of it is, in 2003, I was a senior in high school(well switiching to it over summer break)  and for weeks, online in the MJ community--as I stayed so up on Michael's activities, that if he sneezed, I could have sent him a Kleenex.
The comminuty had been buzzing with rumors of Michael making an appearance at the BET Awards that year. As I do NOT watch BET at all--I know alert the media a Black person who does not watch BET--I was only going by what the clubs said. And I was fairly excited.
Anytime Michael went anywhere inportant like an awards show, I always wondered what he was going to wear and how the papers would treat him.
Lately, in public Michael had been wearing nothing but black and I expected himt o really wear some variant of his "Billie Jean" ensemble.
I was exteremly agitated while watching the BET awards. I'm not a huge fan of rap music--and rap music live just sounds like loud screaming to even louder thumps.
If it wasn't for Michael, I'd have changed the channel.
Eventually, James Brown came on, and my entire how was watching it, me, Mom, Dad--because we appreciate REAL music in my  house.
And my heart was popping out my chest because I knew if JB was onstage, Michael Jackson was somewhere close by.
That's when the music broke and out walked...Michael.


Even James looks surpised.

It was bedlam. Everyone went crazy. The folks in the audience. I was leaping up and down on my bed. shouting at Michael. It was great.
And even greater was how amazing Michael looked.
I mean come on, Michael was wearing the hell out of those bespangled jeans. Only he could work something like that. (And I heard that belt cost over a million dollars. Only MJ would put that kind of dough on his HIPS!)
It was even cooler when Michael bewgan dancing with James...it was just a completely abstract, unrehearsed, candid moment in television.


Michael rocking James' Cape.


Shaking that Pancake Ass God Father of Soul Style!

And after allt he dancing and going on, Michael got tearful making a speech praising James as a genius, a claim I don't dispute. JB was a true genius, and contributed to much to the music world. Everyone cites MJ, but before MJ, there WAS James Brown.

For your viewing pleasure--the video!

80's Friday: Make Up!!!

Hey Y'all!

You knew it was only a matter of time before I got to talking about make up from the 1980s!
I strongly love the make up the 80s because it was basically like anything went. You could wear a rainbow of shadow on your eyes lips and cheeks, draw anything on your face...your face was your own canvas on which to execute art.
As a child, as i wrote about before, my first real 80s influence was Prince's Purple Rain where I dreamed of one day doing my face up like Apollonia.


She really is what I wanted to look like when I was a kid. Glamorous, sexy with a hint of sweet. She looks like the kind of woman you could be best friend with and still have to guard your man anyway. LOL. I wanted to emulate that.. Occasionally when I wear red, and have an extra hour on my hands, I do wear my "Apple Face" as I've dubbed it. And I haven't heard a complaint yet.
But besides Apple, what appealed to me was even more wild and daring looks.

Singer Cyndi Lauper

Strop drooling boys, this ain't a sexy fashion model. It's Kulture Klub front MAN, Boy George!

I didn't know YELLOW shadow even existed before I started exploring the 80s.

And Joan Cusack is the bravest woman I know to walk around looking like THAT, damn it! And that was her characters, AT WORK face!

And I cannot forget lips. All I knew of the 80s was the word "FROSTED".
Everything was frosted, mostly pinks. Black for the punks and goths.
I even owned a red frosted lipstick before the shade was discontinued.


Every so often I dare a frosted lip. Every so often. Not like that, since I'm Black and a shade that light will look like I've done something I shouldn't have!

Tragic model Gia with a frosted lip. Scary thing is, I've copied her eye make up more than I'd like to admit.

And last but not least, a VIDEO of yours truly sporting an 80s look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu7gnTpknVA&feature=youtu.be

Attending a TCM/Fathom Events Screening

(Listening to Enjoy Yourself by The Jacksons)

Hey Y'all!

As most of you know, I am a classical film enthusiast and love all old films.
So you know when I heard that TCM was teaming with Fathom Events to screen classic movies every month, I had to jump in on it.
And I was so lucky that for the month of October, at a local theatre in my town, they were showing thw great films
Frankenstein from 1931


And

Bride of Frankenstein from 1935


Both starring Boris Karloff as the monster.

It was an extra special treat for me in that even though I had seen Frankenstein many many times since I was maybe three years old, I had never seen Bride of Frankenstein before.
At the same time I was with my friend Ebonie who had never seen either picture and couldn't understand how I could be so excited over films that were in black and white as she put it.
We made a day of it. Going out to eat a nice restaurant across from the theatre, and running over to the theatre.
It was kind of a poor turn out--only about 10 people for a 2'o clock matinee, but more came for the 7 pm showing.
Any way, before the film began, Robert Osbourne, the IT man for Turner Classic Movies appeared in a short interview in which he spoke to Bela Lugosi's son (Dracula in 1931), Boris Karloff's daughter, and master make up artist Rick Baker. (best known for turning Michael Jackson into a werecat in "Thriller)

Lugosi as Dracula

A young Rick Baker working on a young (sexy) Michael Jackson.

Any way, we settled in with our popcorn and drinks--I noticed we were the only Black people there--and enjoyed the films.
I can't even start to describe what it felt like to see a classic film I grew up on, only seeing it on TV my entire life and then seeing it on the big screen.
It was really kind of like being transported back to the 1930s for me. Back when films were films and none of this CGI, fake mess was generated.
I really do appreciate the amount of work that went into making these sorts of creatures.
It took Karloff 8 hours to be made into the Frankenstein's monster. And there were no computers to make the costumes or creatures or anything. It had to be done by hand, by it's self.
And I appreciate things like that. It really was a wonder and spell binding to me.
Another thing that was so good about those two films were, they were creey and you didn't see a single drop of blood spilled anywhere.
Sure people got murdered, but it wasn't a rip roaring gore fest either.
I know I must sound like an old person and if I do, I don't care. I know what i'm talking about when it comes to things like this.
I appreciate people who go the extra mile.
That's what seperates good actors, like those kids in the Twilight movies, from GREATS like Karloff and Lugosi and Peter Cushing and the whole lot of fellows like that.
Walking out of the film, Ebonie stressed to me how much she liked the films and how good they really were.
And we've already made plans to go see Mr. Gregory Peck in "To Kill A Mockingbird" next month.

As long as they keep putting up good old films to see, I'm going to see them!

That’s Nerve!

I am so fucking mad my head is about to blow off of my shoulders in a shower of sparks. I am so angry, I don’t know what to do with myself. I am literally beside myself with anger.

I want to projectile vomit like I’m in the “Exorcist”.

There’s a lot of things in the world I don’t care about: Who’s running for President, how the debates went, who’s banging whom in Hollywood.

But is there is one thing, one person whom I feel passionately about and get a fire lit under my ass every time I see something bad going on in relation to him, it’s Michael Jackson.

And the thing that made me so mad is the last thing I expected to.

Law and Order: SVU

For the last few months, I’ve been raving about this show to everyone with ears because I liked the drama of it. And I know I’ve seen dozens of episodes, often watching their marathons on USA for hours at a time.

Today, I’m lying in bed, still completely wiped from dialysis, when they haul in a little boy. Long story short, it came out the boy had been molested.

Even shorter what caught my attention was he spoke of the man who messed with him as having a “Treasure Room” in his house and paying off the boy’s parents so that they were all rich.

My ears began ringing:

Did they? Did they really? They couldn’t have!

In my mind, I was fighting myself saying, no, they wouldn’t actually parody Michael Jackson and the whole mess he went through with the gross and discusting accusations that he was a pedophile.

No. Not the people on SVU.

How fucking wrong was I?

The minute they hit the door of the abusers house, what the hell do I see? Wild, exotic animals running here and yonder, little mannequins in costumes.

Even Stevie Wonder could see it was an attempt to remake Neverland in a brownstone.

Up in the bedroom, it was made to look like something out of pirates of the Caribbean.

Made to look like a big treasure hut.

At this point in time in in cold sweats, I’m so blitzed. Really? Really? They low-balled like that? Seriously?

What ate my ass up even more, was they started hauling the guy out of his company--he owned a toy company, how convenient, I guess it was too much to name him Michael and throw a spangled jacket on his ass.

And he looked like Michael Jackson:

Tall, skinny, pale. He acted like Michael. Soft spoken, a bit childish..

HE WAS WEARING EYELINER AND LIP GLOSS LIKE MICHAEL!

I mean you’d have to be a fool not to see what the hell was going on.

I mean they were parodying Michael Jackson.

And it’s the most evil fucking thing I ever saw.

Michael’s been dead for three years!

It’s been stated over and over--unfortunately after the goddamned FACT--that there was NO WRONG DOING ON MICHAEL JACKSON’S PART IN ANY WAY!

All I can think about, is not me. Not me at all.

Is his kids.

I’m, sure they watch TV. What if they ran up on this?

Saw someone dragging their father’s name through the mud?

Haven’t they suffered enough?

Didn’t Michael suffer enough in his life?

Everyone I know with eyeballs watched the trial.

Saw how traumatized Michael was.

Damn Gavin Arviso--Michael was the one hurting.

Near a nervous breakdown, paranoid, fearful of his life, not eating.

Wasting away, growing thinner and thinner as the weeks passed.

He went through hell.

Fearful of going to jail, losing his children. Losing everything.

And that’s made light for the sake of a few pissy Nielsen Rating? Like am I being fucked right now? Am I being punked?

Where is Ashton or whoever in the hell is running that show now?

It’s too late for April Fools!

It just makes me want to yell out loud and jump up and down.

I respect Michael so much and to see his good name being besmirched in such a fashion.

God, I feel like I want to vomit.

It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.

I don’t care if that program aired within Michael’s lifetime, or what.

Once the man went to heaven, it should have been taken from airplay.

Out of respect damn it.

You have to respect the dead, damn it. You just have to.

It’s not fair.

It makes me physically ill.

Michael Jackson was a real person. With real feelings.

Even if he was a…a public persona, a performer, he was still human.

A real human with real feelings damn it.

People forget that.

Michael Jackson was a person.