If you are an American citizen who isn’t into guns or firearms you may have seen the crazies on television shows like Piers Morgan and Anderson Cooper and wondered at the people who vehemently defend their 2nd Amendment rights. It doesn’t take a scared person, a paranoid person, or an illogical person to sum it all up to gun owners being a bunch of radicals wanting guns to shoot down the scary government agents that want to take their guns away. This is a false face of gun ownership that our media is presenting to the nation with only showing the crazy gun owners.  The men and women I personally know are not represented by the nuts on television, or on our Facebook timelines. The people I know are not paranoid, not overly medicated, and not any of the number of things that I see people push to defend their right to bear arms.  The gun owners I know are either trained… [Read more]

Ever wondered which movies and shows portray the profession of the individuals the best? Well a poll was taken up recently by me and a few other Cinephiles and the results were very surprising. Being a fan of shows such as The Wire, SouthLAnd, E.R., and Law and Order, it becomes very easy to allow the great directing and acting to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. The following list are the movies and shows that the people who actually are in the profession portrayed will tell you is true to the source or at least. Office Jobs Office Space – It’s almost scary how accurate this movie is. The IT Crowd – Apparently this British sitcom is a mirror of our lives in the computer field. Teaching The Wire: Season 4 – Accurate portrayal of teaching in a rough inner city school. Medical Profession Scrubs – JD’s inner thoughts and the random  issues… [Read more]

“I’m like, ‘Who’s calling my name?’ And then I look up. It was my dad and his friend, and I haven’t seen him in a while,” Gabby said. “They were holding up the flag. And I almost felt like bawling. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dad!’” When we watched tiny Gabby Douglas take gold in the all-around competition of gymnastics in London 2012, we were routinely reminded that her journey there was a rough one. The focus has rightfully been on her strong, single mother who was willing to take a chance in letting her child live with another family in order to realize her gymnastic potential and a heart as strong as a bull that allowed her to focus and keep it together. But nowhere in the narrative was her father mentioned and it led to many people assuming that it was the standard story of a dead-beat black dad running off while… [Read more]

I’ll never forget the day in High School after some big to-do about Martin Luther King (it was February, Black History Month) when I was in line for my lunch being stared at by a blonde haired girl who looked like she wanted to cry. Without warning this girl started asking me what I wanted for lunch and loading my tray up with items that I could have gotten myself, making me feel weird and uncomfortable along with the confusion that flooded my mind. I didn’t know this girl but I thought about it later (after politely telling her to leave me alone and putting back the items) and I realized that I was her chosen charity case due to the white guilt that comes along with tales of slavery, Jim Crow laws and lynching. Now I am not a veteran nor have I served in the United States Military but I can imagine that… [Read more]

“I didn’t play a villain; I played a man doing his job” – Stephen Lang That is how badass actor Stephen Lang describes his role as Avatar’s antagonist Col. Miles Quaritch. It was a brilliant portrayal, lost to many moviegoers due to being blindly distracted by the blue giants dominating the scenes and the protagonist Jake Sully’s quest to score some blue booty (he got it too #beastmode). All it takes is one look at Colonel Miles to know that he isn’t the type of man that you go to begging for a day off. The man looked every bit the committed military type that has been in the dance for so long that he is harder than penitentiary steel. Quaritch lived in a time when the technology allowed for a man’s scars to be removed yet he kept a visible scratch across his puss to remind him daily that he can never let his guard… [Read more]

Right now there is a documentary being run on The History Channel called “Vietnam in HD”; while it is easy to blow it off as yet another film on the old war, I have to say that as a history buff and documentary watcher this one is different. There has only been one other documentary to affect emotion out of me the way I felt watching Vietnam in HD and that was “Reich”. The context of these 2 shows is in giving it to us raw with no chaser, no punches pulled and most importantly the cause and effect of both wars. Movies and Documentaries – Depicting Life In Reich I learned of what Germany was going through prior to Hitler and how he systematically came in as savior, then moved on to cleaner, then finally became complete authority. The pace in which he moved and made decisions was blindingly fast and before you knew… [Read more]

There’s a guy that I know who seemed pretty cool and went out of his way to hail me up and chat to me at parties. Recently one of his closest friends that is like a brother to me told me how racist he was behind closed doors and while it was a bit disappointing, I was glad that I got the warning. Classic Art of War my dear denizens “know thy enemy”. Do I act differently towards this individual? No, but if he invites me out camping one night in Mississippi I would at least know to pack a Desert Eagle and some ninja gear. When people’s dirty underclothing gets revealed I do not know why people get so upset – I mean, the mask has been lifted and now you know right? We should be thankful! There are a few occurrences in life when the people that you don’t know all too well… [Read more]

Today’s entry is about the mighty elephant Hannibal, a man whose father instilled such a hate in him for the city of Rome that he would not only fight his entire life to try and destroy it, but took a draught of poison rather than be imprisoned within her halls. Hannibal absolutely loathed Rome, it was a deep, deep hate born and bred from the loss of his father, brothers and friends to their legions, and it all began from one legendary act. The act (that Hannibal reportedly loved to talk about) was when his father, the mighty Hamilcar held him aloft above a fire and made him swear to hate Rome or face the flames and oblivion. Being a young soldier within his father’s campaign, Hannibal at first fought whilst witnessing his father and older brother expand Carthage into Spain and beat back Rome like nobody’s business. He was sharp and ambitious which eventually… [Read more]