Oh My Oprah

Today me and Ravi went out shooting on the bicycles for a story he is doing on the vast types of art. Planning on graffiti murals, paintings, music, and dance. We did the graffiti and the mural today. We saw old graffiti from Kayslay on a basketball court. Met some of Big L running buddies. Yo I aint rode a bike in like 4 years and I definitley felt the burn after I got off. Editing Ruth's poetry video. Not much else to say. On to the rant...



Fuck Oprah. Oh my God, blasphemy! Oh no he didn't just say that about Oprah. Don't nobody talk bad about Oprah. Who he think he is? Everybody shut the hell up. I don't see what the big deal about Oprah is. Yes she's a billionaire. Yes she gives lots of money to poor African children. So the fuck what? She helps out every African she comes across but she wont pay her sisters light bill? The sister had a job but couldn't afford her light bill and she asks Oprah to give her the money for it. Oprah says she isn't paying because the sister shouldn't be a moocher and should pay her own bills. What tha FUCK? Are you high? What the hell is 100 dollars out of your billion. she's not mooching. She has a job shithead. And even if she was mooching she's family. WTF else are you gonna do with your money? You don't have any kids. You aren't married to Stedman and there are only so many African kids wit flies in their eyes you are gonna save from the clutches of poverty and oppression.

Besides that I have kind of selfish reasons for hating Oprah. Oprah says she would not have a rapper on her show because they use offensive language. But she will have a killer on her show asking stupid questions like "What was going through your mind? Is it hard on you? I forgive you. The world forgives you." But she wont let Jay-Z on her show because he said "ho". And when she finally did invite Ludacris on her show she played a bitch move. She basically brought up all of her criticisms of hip hop (sex, violence, mysoginy) and edited the video to maker it appear as if Luda did not have a defense. She made it seem as if he just sat there saying nothing when he in fact did have a response to her comments. Your beloved Oprah lied.

Last week I was walking with Long and he was giving me advice he heard from Oprah. Apparently Oprah knows everything. Omnipotent Oprah. You worship Oprah. Can’t breathe without Oprah. You live for Oprah. Oprah is your god. You depend on Oprah. I shit on Oprah like Depends. That really chunky shit with corn in it. (TMI? I sense I have gone too far. I'll just stop here)

George Carlin For President

Last night and Ruth and I went to the Harlem tea room to shoot a story on a poetry slam thingy. I was really expecting it to be wack but it was crazy. They had this one dude from BK (ALL DAY) who had the illest flow. I was really surprised and ended up enjoyin it. Shout out to Melvin who hosted and just so he knows back when I was in them Batman draws (hehe) I was fuckin wit Power Rangers and Voltron. Had the robots and all that. n e way...

After the winner was announced Ruth Had an interview set up wit tha winner who turned out to be Soulful Jones. Only problem was she didn't have any questions set up so I had to half D-Block her interview from behind the camera. I couldn't leave her there looking stupid with the camera rolling. And I asked her on the way there if she had questions ready. She said yeah. From now on I'm not even packin up the camera until I see questions WRITTEN OUT ON A NOTEPAD.

OK Thursday and Friday I was really stretched thin so I didn't have time to post anything long which is why I came thru with the video. But now I have time so here goes...

Everybodys all worked up into a frenzy over the upcoming presidential elections. Everybody wonderin who they're gonna vote 4. If ur a woman do you lean to Hillary? If ur black do you roll with Obama? What if ur a black woman? Then which one do you choose? You could always go the traditional route and vote for the 50 something year old white guy with a bad haircut which in this case I think is John Macain. Bloomberg is considering a run do we support him cuz hes NY?

I don't know about any of that but I do know 1 thing. I'm sure as hell not voting for Rudy "Under The Table" Giuliani. Since when did he qualify for the title "Americas Mayor"? Apparently he's "Americas Mayor" because he guided us during our tumultuous times of 9/11. He was the one that took care of everything and held the city up. We just wouldn't have been able to survive without him. That's the biggest piece of bullshit ever. He didn't do anything extraordinsry. He did what either of us would have done had we been in his position. He just so happened to be the guy who was in office when the planes hit. He didn't help out at ground zero cleeanup. He didn't get the volunteers medical attention. He didn't sort out the insurance claims on the building. He didn't do shit. Oh I forgot he did have a panic room built for himself downtown, so he could hide like a little bitch while the rest of us breathed in god knows what. Other than that the only thing he did was get on TV and hold numerous conferences where he reminded us how bad it was. He didn't have to do anything bcause Bloomberg was taking office a few weeks later. All he had to do was wait and stall wit his bullshit press conferences until his time was up. Giuliani is a fake ass hero of circumstance. And I'm sure as hell not voting for someone who maried his cousin. That shit is nasty like pillow slob. I don't care how distant she is.

Besides me not voting for Giuliani I'm not voting at all. Why you ask? y should I? The popular vote (that would be the votes me and you put in) don't count. Yeah they count and tally them but at the end of the day electoral college decides who the president is. They don't have to listen to who we the people vote for and they don't. Because if they did we wouldn't have George "Inbred" W. Bush in office. the thought of voting for Obama just because he is like half black doesn't entice me either. We all know politicians get in office and don't do shit. I do not want him to get elected and all the white people go "see we gave you niggers a chance and look what you did with it." Plus the fact whoever is coming into to office is gonna have a job on their hands bigger than Micheal Jackson's lawyers. Bush is leaving a sloppy mess behind for the next president to clean up and i wouldn't want to put Obama into that situation. As far as the other candidates go (Bloomberg,Clinton, and Macain) you get one you get the other. They're not too drastically different and if they get in office they will pretty much make the same decisions. ur day to day life will be the same and no matter what they say TAXES WILL GO UP. Especially with the bill bush is leaving behind with his war. Taxes are the only way the govt can raise money. They can loan money to other countries but its not enough to kee a country running.

Besides that I have no faith in government and when all of ouy inevitably complain about how much the new president sux it will be ur fault because u voted for him. That way I can bitch and complain without being hypocritical. My friend fatboy tells me this is the most retarded rationale I have ever come up with. What do yo think?

I Feel Like Dre After The Chronic 2001

Ahhh. We won. With everything stacked against us as the underdogs we won. Everybodys schedule conflicted with shooting time and half our group was absent but with that drive and longs help we won out the competition. I would like to send out a mmiddle finger shout oit to all of the tother team members who put us inthe underdog category. We won by a few points but next week, I'm looking for the decisive crush!

Okay I know I usually do a rant, but today I have a video for you to watch. Don't worry it's not amusement park or lipgloss. this is a real music video. Not 1 ass shaker in this video. Enjoy and if u dont like it go to hell and burn with the fire of a thousand suns.

This is deep apology to DEFT FUSION

This blog should have actually been posted yesterday... no, actually last night but my excuses wont do my group any good...
My excuses were that I arrived home late from the poetry slam, when I got home my moms started yelling then to find out later I have no internet that just made my night even worse... so I forgot about the night climbed into bed and couldn't sleep...


THE POETRY SLAM:

I attended the poetry slam on Tuesday and participated in but didn't make it to the semifinals therefore didn't make it to the finals tonight at 7 pm. But I made it my responsibility to make it a story from my team... So tonight Kevin and myself will interview THE WINNER...


ONE OF MY POEMS:

Daddy Yeah RIGHT
I never found the reaon to call you daddy so I call you Sir
To: Sir "my father figure"
Somewhere, Anywhere.
At the edge of the earth, I don't care
From: You! "your daughter, your seed, your world"
In care of Yo Bitch "my mother, your wife, your second world"
Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens you figure it out!!!!, NY
You see Sir,
I won't go into the how are you doing bull shit because that is not necessary... S I'm jus going to get straight to the point at hand... Every year I update just this one poem half is true and the other half is not the half that is true though haunt my reasonalbe doubt of living... So let get it stated
You left my world when I was 4 came back for me when I was 6 and left again. Came back for me when I was 12 and left again. Came back for me when I was 15 and now I'm 17 you left for good.
I felt like you disowned me as your daughter, out of your mouth you told me dat I wasn't yours; but yet you are the one who named me. You never used my name, you perfered to call me ey gurl, like I was one of those $2 whoes on the street trying to make a quick buck to feed my family if I had any.
You use to be a churchaholic addicted to church now you are an alcoholic addicted to the curse.
I use to believe you when you made promisses now I realize that your promisses were shit! trash! and never had no meaning...
You left my mom to handle all your shit, like paying the mortgage and everything else to do with the house. My mom became my father and my superhero once you stepped out of my world. She managed to get me up at 8:00am in time for school with breakfast and lunch or maybe send to aunty so I could get some hot food in my stomach.
My moms did all of this and still went to work. Although she never made much because people don't know talent when they see talent but we made it through. I made to 17 with Gods and my mother's help didn't I? I sure made it without you or the other kid you claimed that is yours and yet I haven't seen him or her.
I call you Sir because you never been a true father figure to me. You never been the father figure I see everyday with their little daughters and sons trying to teach them a new sport by the way my sports are basketball, softbal, golf, and tennis or answering questions like "why the world go round?" so daddy why do the world go around... I daydream of having those same walks in the park or those father daughter moments with you but they never came true. I wish atleast 1 did...
With God's help so for I've graduated from pre-k, k, and grades 1-8 which you atleast got pictures to. But at every time on graduation when I walk down those isles I look for you but you never been there. Now in 10th grade lookin to go to 11th grade this September, imagin this was last year nowthis is my last year of high school. I'm wondering if God spear my life and I graduate from high school will I still be looking for you?
I can't look for you now because you because you are forever gone... You never got this, but I wasn't planning on giving it to you anyway cause probably like my pictures you leave it there on the counter and never open it. I love you daddy I never cried at your funeral but I cried when I called you Sir...
Yours truely
Your one and only
Your daughter, Your seed, Your world
Ruth
P.S. USE IT!!

Stories and more Stories

As a group we are spread really thin. We are having last minute problems with completing our presentations, and all trying to be here together. I feel that we are putting more effort into trying to write more stories and work together as a group, but our only problem is that our schedules are clashing.
At least we are trying with what we have and it just may be working. My biggest concern with our group is that for the rest of the friday's to come Ruth and I will not be able to attend. We will be going to see the movie Sicko, and visiting Yale and Trinity college. I am not sure when the last day of this program is, or when Harlem Live's last day is but I wll use these trips to our advantage.
For every trip we go on, I will do a profile on them. Hopefully I will be able to get pictures but I am not sure. I really hope this wil help my team and I hope they will be happy with what I give them. Today we only had three people but we tried to be as productive as possible. Tomorrow i will not be able to make it to presentations
I really believe in our group, and hope that these last fridays wont interfere with our groups work. I will try my best to give as much as possible to my group so that it wont seem as if my life may be getting in the way. The last three weeks of this will be as productive as possible and i will try my best to be as productive as possible!

What The Hell Is Going On?

You know sumthin smell fishy in this bitch. Somehow The Fusion been losing for 2 or 3 weeks now (I lost count) and that shit just aint addin up. You know I been givin props to team swagg and gure but nah fuck dat. yall suck like crackhead prostitutes. No lie the Fusion fell off but we comin back. Me and Ravi comin son. Crush. I was lookin at the point chart today and that shit is just not even makin logical sense to me. Somebody must not know how to add cuz The Fusion #1. Watch ya mouf. I sat in the class today and watched frankie laff at everybody else presentations and then he got up there and bombed. His shit had to be less than 60 seconds. (laughs to self) I saw him tryna sabotage somebody else shit. That shit is petty. I got up there did my presentation and came out clear winner. If Hasha and Swag is readin this don't worry son. Chris you know I just be talkin dat nonsense. I'm just playin. You know I aint got no motivation and shit like that. (haha)

Moving on... today I was doing my presentation on why people shouldnt support the daeth penalty and i talked about how the lethal injection is a nazi invention. I guy by the name of Karl Brandt (I dont know if i spelled his name right but who gives a shit? hes a fuckin nazi.) invented the lethal injection. he was a Nazi and he was also Adolf Shitlers' personal doctor. Mr. John McKay seemed surpried like he didn't know that. You know its amazing what people will support if they don't know their history. Well for those of you who don't know the IQ test is also a Nazi invention. Harvard or was it yale? Who cares? Tomato, tomato. Americas favorite college hired the nazi to come up with a test that would keep out minorities especially Jews. So he created a test that would have questions that jews, and blacks wouldn't know the answers to. For instance: Name all of the Saints In Roman Catholicism. How the fuck should they know? They're Jewish! Still today we measure a persons smarts with IQ tests. Am I the only one who sees something wrong here? I don't know if you saw it but our miltitary was showing off its shiny new toy on aol news earlier this year. Its a ray gun that makes you feel your on fire with microwaves. You guessed it. The nazis were workin on that one during ww2. Poison gas too. Also we are the only country to have use our atomic bombs against another country. (Iran may have shitload in storage but they never went beyond test drops in the middle of butfuck nowhere) In case you didn't know the Atomic bomb wa alreadly in development by the germans when we thought of biulding one. in fact the only reason we built one was becuase the germans were building one. I betchu if they woulda finished thiers first we woulda cried no fair. Hypocritical whiny bitches.

MY FIRST DAY

My first day at Harlem Live was very interesting. i saw a classmate from my school,got introduced to the rest of my team,and went out to do a story and take some pictures. The people here are extremely outgoing,fun, and young and we get along well. my team is one of the teams that have less members but with our work ethics the other teams won't last. The staff is extremely cool and hospitable. They have tried to make me feel welcomed since i walked through the doors and asked to volunteer.I feel extremely comfortable due the amount of youth here and am happy to be able to work in an environment. I plan on coming back and maybe make journalism or video taping a permanent career.

AHH MAN

Shits getting crazy yesterday I got here at 10:30 or so as usual and as usual no one from my team was here. I think its crazy how everyone wants to when the compition and no one is putting forth effort atleast on my team. Shits getting crazy i dont know what to do anymore. ITS CRAZY HOW PEOPLE SIT ON MYSPACE ALL DAY AND EXPECT RESULTS BUT MAYBE ITS ME. Monday I posted a blog called "What Is A Team?" or some shit like that in an attempted to lift up and motivate the team as a whole but that didnt work now did it? . . . -_- Any whooo!! Monday Kevin and I went to the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture and saw a exibition called Stereotypes vs. Humantypes and I'm currently working on a article on what I saw.

While at the "Burg" though there werent alot of people at the exhibit it was truly amazing to see the affect it had on everyone who saw. Its amazing to see how blacks were portrayed then and how there are simularities to how we're portrayed now. But before I get to in depth i'll save the rest for the article.

Yesterday part of Deft Fusion went out to pass out 400 flyers so its going to be real interesting to see how people's respone to us will be. I'm Currently workin on a bunch of Projects my favorites being The Art of Expression . . . which will hopefully be a video and an article title the same thing. It is currently 1:22 pm and my team is getting ready to go out no one is here besides me and my group leader as usual so yup I'm signing out for no PEACE

I Repeat: I AM NOT A RACIST

Today me and Kaira did the flyer handout competition. Nobody wanted to take a damn flyer except for some of the young people and women with their families. I was getting really tired of the rejection when I noticed this guy giving out fans. You know the paper fans on wooden sticks? Well he was giving out Lion King musical fans. And everybody loves the Lion Kings so his shit was going like hot cakes. ( hell, even I’ll admit to owning a copy of the Lion King) So the hustla in me walks to him and goes " Hi, people seem really receptive to your fans and I was wondering if I could help you out by taking 50 or so of them off your hands." Of course he accepts. So I started luring people in with the Lion King fans and giving them the HL flyers with the fans. But eventually i ran out. He gave me even more. I did get this one asshole lady who took a fan and gave me the Hl the flyer back and says “ I don’t want that I just want the fan. I which you could see how far I mentally shoved my foot up her ass. I ran out again and he only had like ten left so I saw this other girl giving out the same type of fans but they were Mary Poppins. You already know what I did. She wasn't quite as willing to share her fans with me but she gave me like 10 or so. See kids cross promotion works. That’s why dora likes marlboros. And Ozzy Osbourne likes coke.......... Coke as in Coca-Cola.... What you didn’t see the commercial?

Last night I was tralking to my friend Javien and he was telling me how his girlfriends’ father doesn't like him because he's black. Or rather he doesn't want his daughter dating him because he's black. Ummm Javien had higher S.A.T. scores than Lunar and he's not even one of the loud ignorant black people that I blogged about yesterday. The nerve of this close minded bastard. (sorry Lunar) I don't get how minorities get off being racists to other minorities. Ur Asian. He's black. At some point both of you have been fucked by white people. (sorry Rich) I really don't see the logic in it at all. I know alot of Latinos who hate Mexicans with a passion. Right now they’re probably upset that I capitalized the “M” in Mexican. I don't see how. WTF makes you so better? Both of you had fat Spanish colonial c%ck shoved up your ass for all your gold and riches. If anything the mexicans should hate you. (Disclaimer: I AM NOT A RACIST) They take all of the really brutal, grimy, low paying jobs just so they're daughter can afford a pair of skechers. Just as hypocritical are my fellow black people. We're the first ones to complain about our civil rights and how we shouldn't be hated for the color of our skin and shit. But then we will beat a dude up cuz he likes Michael instead of Mika. Who the hell cares? As long as he doesn't direct it towards you or me; we should be happy. Yes thats right I said happy. Happy because the more guys go the other way the more girls there are for us. Eventually it would backfire though because less children would be born but I’m not attracted to preschoolers anyway. And by the time we see any real birthrate decrease we'll be too old for sex anyway. Fuck viagra we would need to tie it to a splint. Selfish isn't it? Who cares? Everybody should be like me.

I'm not a Racist I just have a deep disgust in the pits of my heart for everybody. (I repeat: I AM NOT A RACIST) I have a genuine reason to hate everybody. But I make sure that hate is equally distributed among everybody and that is what makes it okay. So Vote Kevin Bell Independent candidate of the 2008 election and I will make sure that all of America is oppressed equally. God bless you. And God bless America.

Is this the end of summer?

As the busy month of July starts to come to an end, the days at Harlem Live start to become more difficult. Our group seems to be having a bit of trouble producing stories, and getting back on top where we once were. It is hard to do a million things at once, and not be slacking a bit on a couple of things.
Even while we worry about stories that need to be produced, we still have things on the side that STILL have to be done. Things like open house invites, projects for the next presentation and starting on a sign for Harlem Live are all still a must and have to be done soon.
Our group is capable of doing all these things but to everyone else it doesn't look like we are even trying. What are we to do? This is really hard. It is a group effort and i am pretty sure we can all do it and come together. All Deft Fusion needs is a push in the right direction, and some more hard work done should do the trick.
No one is giving up or giving in and I hope that never happens, everyone in our team is talented and everything we do is produced with thought and care. All we have to do is try again.

Way Too Stressed

Okay so we did not win the presentation. I can not lie I am extremely pissed about that. I think the amount of effort and hard work that all of us in the team put into the preparation for friday definetly did not show in the presentation before the judges. I was heated friday night for a reason, and I'm still angry. I almost cried friday. I'm not sure but i think our other teammates really did not feel as emotional as I was. I'm not going to say any names but it was really difficult to work with one of my teammates that wanted the team present theway he wanted. If Everyone voted for the different idea, i understand you would get upset. But he should not have taken it so hard and still worked with everyone. I can not talk about the other teams but there really isnt any teamwork going on in Deft Fusion, and I believe it's not fair to everyone.
I can't even finish my stories that i have been working on because I have to keep track of what everyone else is doing. It's too much stress on myself and everyday I keep thinking that i'm not cut out to be the team leader. No one except me is stressed in the group. Every day the work load continously piles up for Deft Fusion and we constantly get goof points everyday. I dont know how we are ever going to get back on point if no one can be here at on time more than once a week.
It's too much on my shoulders and I dont appreciate getting blamed for something I told Ravi more than once to do. It's not fair...it's not fair.....IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!
I almost thought to say F it all and never come back. But I'm here today so that's that.
So the whole team had a meeting type conference with Melvin, Shelise and Richard. Basically no one had anything to say and everyone was tight lipped in the group. Though Melvin and Richard kept reinterating what I know that everyone has heard before. But i guess it goes in one ear and out the other. Shelise told us something that I think was really helpful to get us organized. She said that we should basically split up the "to do" list for the stories we work on and share story ideas amongst each other. I think that will definetly help stay a team and keep on track.
On a lighter note Ravi and Kevin went together on a story hunt to the Schaumburg Center. I'm really glad that they did because we really need to get our content up and give in more video. I hope we all will get a lot of work done today and for the rest of this summer because I truly did not know where we were headed.

What Is A Team?

What is a team? Is it simply a four letter word or does it have more meaning? What makes a champion? Is it one star player trying to carry an entire team and when things don’t go as planned he/she bitches up and requests a trade or a change ie; Kobe Bryant. Is it Kobe or the Lakers, a team or a player? Is it one person that wants all the glory for him or herself? Does a team necessarily have to win? Is there a star on a team or does that team create the star? All of these are a series of questions that all come back to the title, What is a Team?

The word team means a distinguishable set of two or more individuals who interact dynamically, interdependently, and adaptively to achieve specified valued and shared objectives.

So ask yourself as I did. Do you have a team? Whether family, a cluster of friends, or co-workers, no one can make it by themselves, everyone needs has or had help at one point or another. So to all “teams” whether professional, major or minor to excel you have to be an alliance or a fusion. When Team Swag member says, “Deft Fusion/ Best Losin’ you have to ask is it a dumb nursery rhyme or a harsh reality.

A fusion is a coming together of two or more element to create one more powerful than the original. We are Deft Fusion but what is Deft Fusion? Deft Fusion is simply two words until proven other wise. Most successful teams are successfull because they have chemistry. A marriage is a team that is successful because of chemistry. This is a wake up call to anyone and everyone on any team, this isnt disrespect but simply a motvie to redirect. . . . . ~Holla~

I Am Not A Racist

Remember the last post when I said the judges would either think our video was completely hilarious or completely stupid? Well lets just say, they don't think crackheads make for good comedy. Our audio was screwed up. But beyond that they just didn't like our presentation much. I was thinking they might not find our video funny so I put up actual numbers as insurance but it wasn't enough. Oh well that's a possibility when you take a risk. It either works out well or it completely bombs. Everybody on my team was stressed and yelling and I was the only one calm not on edge. I had to keep it together for the group. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. We bombed. And we bombed bad. We bombed like Osamas' birthday party at a Chernobyl power plant on August 6th, 1945. (Its called Wikipeda. Use it.) I'm just taking in the comments from the judges and applying to next week. Its in the past, I’m moving on. No use having any feelings about it. Props to Chris though for leading team hasha to a win.
Me and Ravi went to the Schaumburg museum to see the stereotype vs.. humantype exhibit on blacks in media. The jackass security guard wouldn't let us record video or take pictures. I bet if I had a CBS press badge he would been drooling for me to take video. Asshole.

Disclaimer: I am not racist. I am Black. And I do not hate other black people or any other group of people for that matter. I merely think some of the things we do are stupid.

Yesterday I was on Pennsylvania Avenue and Atlantic Avenue and there was this black lady with a ford taurus. There's nothing wrong with that except for the fact that she had rims. Spinning rims. Spinning rims have been retarded since the first day they came out but at least people once thought they were hot. Basically everybody now has come to the consensus that spinning rims are wack. And she didn't even have real spinning rims but spinning rim attachments. 10 inch rims attachments. Ok the ford taurus came out in like 1997. That means that it qualifies for hooptee status. a hooptee with spinning rim attachments. Which reminds me of the stupid spinning rims sneakers. I knew somebody who had a pair and for the whole day of school walked around lifting his pants leg so that everybody could see his rim spin. I've seen Jim Carrey do smarter things than that. There are also spinning rim chains and watches. I basically hate spinning rims with a passion. Speaking of watches... Why do stupid black people buy watches that tell you what the time is i Tokyo? You know yo broke ass aint neva gonna leave New York, let alone Harlem so why do you need to know the time anywhere else? You don't know anybody in London, Los Angeles or Paris. And how much did that watch cost? Oh really? Don't you live I the projects with ur mother? Isn't ur rent 3 months late? oh it is? Oh o.k. Ur a dumbass. Go back to sleep. One more and then I'm out. What the hell is it with black people and fur coats? First of all fur is only for women and rappers. You are neither so take off that tacky piece of shit. And since when do rabbits grow in royal blue? and just so you know chinchilla is a rodent. You just paid $3,000 to wear a bunch of rats. Didn’t ur baby run out of milk formula? I bet you feel really smart. You know what's really funny? These are the same people who complain that they're broke and get the court appointed lawyers when the get into trouble because they couldn't afford it. LMFAO!!! Oh my god I swear I love black people.

PRESENTATION ALERT!!!

Tomorrow all the groups have presentations. I am just now learning that the presentations have to be about funding for Harlem live. I will have to catch up with the rest of the group tomorrow to find out exactly what we are doing.
I am hoping all goes well. As a group we are very strong, we each have our own individual style and we are all well spoken. I think we can use each presentation as a building block, to help make every other presentation even better than the first.
I think what would really help our group is feedback from others. I don't think we need to criticise each other but, give each other helpful tips. I am very excited for what tomorrow's presentation will bring, but it only gets better from here.

Satans A Necrophiliac

Today me and kaira spent the whole day editing our presentation video with shelise (My bad if i spelled that one wrong). The most important thing i learned today was that Kaira makes a good crackhead. It was a really funny video and I'm hoping the judges don't mistake our sense of humor for stupidity. Time will tell.
I was riding the bus today and i got madd pissed at this lady. Apparently she wanted to stand where I was standing. I could have easily moved but i just didn't want to. Why should i? I was there first and she could stand anywhere else on the bus. I'm mad this lady argued with me over a place to stand. not even a seat. She goes "I'm a lady. Your supposed to let a lady stand where she wants to stand." Getthafukouttaherrre. You must be takin too much of whatever drug you on. This is the same shit wit the train. At like 8 in the morning on my way to school and the stupid passengers don't understand the concept of space. If I can feel your ass its time for you to back the fuk up. get the off the gaoddamn train and wait for the next one. I dont care if you wife can fit and you cant. wait for the next one. this phenomenon is one those few things that stretches across race, age and and class. When I see on overcrowded train i let it go and wait for the next. What is so hard to grasp about that concept? Empty. get on. Full. Get off. I pray for the day that one of these trains goes too far underground until it reaches the pits of hell just to find out satan is a necrophiliac mass rapist who has a complete collection of techno music. Damn. thats kind of fucked up... Even for me. But you see what i mean.

Schizotypalic Rants

You know just when I think It's over and I can't think of anything to blog about today Poetically Inclined Ruth comes thru for the team. We needed two blogs to avoid goof points. At the end of the day my brain felt like butterscotch pudding. Couldn't think of anything to blog about and I didn't want to do one of those skimpy posts. You know the ones that go "The weather was nice today I'm happy and I had chicken for lunch. And by the way, I turn 15 in September." Who gives a shit? I know i don't. Thats why I don't post generic ramblings. I post slightly Schizotypalic ones. (http://www.4degreez.com/disorder/schizotypal.html) (by the way i know that this blog is kinda late. i had it saved as a draft and i just decided to put it out there)

I'm sure you have heard on the news that some cop got killed. Supposedly 3 kids killed him. Everybody wants the kids to get the death penalty but I heard a very good arguement from Chris today. The cops who killed Sean Bell didn't get the death penalty. The thought was never even seriously discussed. Nobody has even proved that these kids were all involved in the murder. Can we as a society at least prove they are guilty before we talk about killing them?

The whole idea of capitol punishment is stupid anyway. If its wrong to kill someone and the state of New York aka "the people" kill these kids; are we not murderers also? Follow me. If murder is wrong, and we kill our murderers; should we not be killed? There is obviously some type of double standard at work. Blacks and Latinos account for about 25 percent of the U.S. population but they are 60 percent of the jail population and 52 percent of capitol punishment recipients. It isn't even financially logical. It cost millions more to kill a person than it does to just lock him in a cell thanks to multiple appeals and the slow process that it takes to carry out a capitol punishment. Last but not least is the imperfect human factor. and that is that we are humans and we make mistakes. What if we make a mistake and kill the wrong person. we can't undo that. Sometimes a prosecutor just wants to make a name for himself and he will lie or bend the truth for a guilty verdict. Since 1978 121 capitol, punishment sentences have been overturned. Why? because we made a mistake? Who knows how many more we mistaked on.

I do hate missing a day at Harlem Live

What was on the menu today at Harlem Live? That I can't tell you because I don't even know myself... What I do know though? Whatever Deft Fusion cooked up today was great... I wasn't at Harlem Live today but I do have to blog for my team

Calling all Chefs!!

What can i say, today at Harlem Live was quite a busy day. For me my day consisted of two things, coming up with how the open house invite should look, and cooking.Okay, at first we had NO CLUE what to cook but we worked with what we had, and the dinner came out pretty good.
Days like this are a bit tiring but you live with it. Everyone seemed to have had enjoyed the food and that's all that matters. I am still trying to figure out what else should go on the invite but I am sure that it will all come together soon.
I will not be at Harlem live tomorrow, and I hope this will not hold the group back. I will try to the best of my ability to help out with what could not be finished.
I enjoyed my day, and I really hope to have more days like it.I'm pretty tired but, it's all in a days work...... right?

No Fracture In The Fusion

Damn. You know lately i've been feelin like a ____up. Basically this is me apologizing to my group for my last post. Not for how I felt but for the fact that i aired it out on the blog. I should've kept it in the group. Just know that even though I was being an ass I have no ill feelings. I wouldn't want to be in any other group than the Fusion. Shalise said that i could just delete the post or apologize. I chose to apologize because i think it would be wrong to delete it. We all know what i wrote so why delete it from existence as if it never happened? It happened and I think it would be a lie to pretend that it didn't. The Fusion is still the best group around. I also wanna take this time to address our current point standing. I've been doing video classes all day so I didn't get your reactions. Don't worry. Stay calm don't stress it. Just focus on your story and well make the comeback.
You know I hate stupid poeple. I was out with Chris Glorioso and Jose shooting person on the streets for our stories. I was interviewing this guy who sells old school Hip-Hop and R&B. I explained that i was a part of HL and that i just wanted a voice from the cvommuntity relevant to my story. He agreed and did the interview. Then some idiot came talkin about "don't let that man put you on camera. what are you gonna get aout of it? Look at his camera man. i don't trust no white man. blah blah blah." If you're not gonna support me just shut the hell up. Don't knock what I'm doin. I could be out doin nuthin. Watchin Maury reruns, throwin water balloons out my window, robbin ur kids but I'm not. I'm doing sumthin productive and you tryna stop it. These are the same poeple who see people who just graduated from college and say " Oh, so you think you better than us cuz you went to college. Mr. Big Shot. Don't be comin around here readin and shit." Dumbasses. Willfully ignorant dumbasses.

Public Speaking "101"

Have you ever stood up in front of your class to read an essay or speech, but felt sick to your stomach with fear? I bet you wish you had a Public Speaking classes to help prepare you for days like this don't you? Well guess what? I had one today!!!!! A group of us from Harlem Live attended a public speaking class hosted by Minnette Colman. This class was very interesting and it had a very effective message.
The message that was sent was that we are not just a group of bratty children, we are a group of children with a purpose. We can do whatever we want if we set our minds to it and believe in ourselves. The most important tips in this meeting today were: Be able to present yourself in a good manner (dress appropriately), do not apologize when you do not know certain facts for a specific question, and mingle with EVERYONE!!!!!
I really liked this class because it taught me things i could have used many times in school, and I can still use them now. I hope to have many more classes like this including outside of Harlem Live. This class taught me A LOT, and hopefully I wont feel sick when I present another essay in school!!

poetically inclined at you live:

So how is it going blogger world... I haven't been here for a moment so I am going to start off by saying "greetings and salutations"... my thoughts are scattered all over place at this moment... I am going to edit later...

Hours Later...

I do have to apologize to my teammates for not being here yesterday... Teams have there ups and downs we can say that Deft Fusion needs communication to keep the fusion going, but it only time will heal this bump in the road for Deft Fusion... I have been working on some poetry lately maybe some time soon you will be able to read a few of my work. can't get my thoughts together my thoughts are everywhere at this moment but I will blog again...

The Nerve Of These Motha(bleep)s

Earlier today i went and did a public apology to all of my group and they turn around and kick me in the nuts. Ms. "Iron Fist" Kaira bitched about how i wasnt at the presentation and then leaves me with all the chores.
How tha hell the whole team left me wit all tha chores knowin goddam good and well that we have chore duty this week. That meant washing and rewashin dishes, sweeping, cleaning the bathroom and mopping. I dont wanna hear shit from no body. I dont give a pandas ass if your the leader of the group or the journalist or whatever. Do not look to me to do no more chores the rest of this week. I dont wanna hear nobody mention the fact i wasnt there for the presentation anymore either. Had me feelin like Bill Clinton apologizin for the lewinsky scandal. then you turn around and purposely leave. hypocritical asses. you know in some countries there are no traffic laws. go play in Ukrainian traffic.

A Public Apology

I would like to take this opportunity to make a public apology to all of my group members. Especially Kaira and Ravi. I wasn't there for fridays presentation and all held the group down on your lonely. I acknowledge my mistake and i have the decency to be honest about my absence. I woke up late. that's it. No crazy made up explanation I was just really tired. I wanted to go but i had no means of contacting you and i had no clue where it was being held. I know the folks at HL was probably looking at me a bit funny. I cant be mad at that. I let the team down and all i can do is listen to everybody's comments and just let them know that i understand why they're upset and i'm sorry. but im sick of the rest of you.
That means team Green and team blue. Just shut the hell up. I do not need your smart ass comments about my absence. My absence does not affect you so i do not need your grief. If anything my absence helped you. that means you team Blue!!! quite frankly i don't feel threatened. im back and me and my team are going to crush. So don't get yourselves all worked up all happy because you a few hundred points ahead. The Fusion can sneeze past your little lead. The nerve of these people. who run it? We do, keep that in mind next time you got sumthin to say.

P.S.: I must also thank my brother from another mother Damian for motivatin my ass out the bed this morning. He read Captain Kairas blog and told me that she said me and her iron fist were gonna have a little talk. so this morning I get a voicemail and it says: "Kevin get yo ass up and go to work. If you don't get up im gonna stick my IRON FOOT up yo ass." I proceeded to laugh and got ready for work.

You know some mornings everything just goes wrong. I woke up and took a shower but the water was cold. I ironed my shirt but the wrinkles just wouldn't leave. when i ironed the back side the front side got wrinkled. i must have ironed that shirt for at least a half an hour. then i go to the elevator and the stupid poeple are holding it a couple floors down. If your not ready why don't you let the elevator door go? after waiting for an elevator for 17 minutes I walk across the street to the bus stop. im listening to my music and I hear this loud noise. Out of the corner of my eye I see this green thing skid across the cement. these stupid project people are throwing water balloons out the window. Who throws water balloons out of the window at 11 in the morning? I ignore it because it didn't wet me thanks to the fact i was standing under the bus shelter. But then these jobless losers throw another which hits the roof of the shelter and makes a thunderous boom sound. The white guy at the bus stop gets worried and walks to the next bus stop. I could easily done the same bit then I stopped and thought... this is my block. why am I gonna leave my block because somebody else wants to be a jackass? So I step from under the bus shelter and I look up. I will omit the profanities but you can basically fill in the blanks. You punk ___ _______ need to come come out outside and do that ____ in my face. They shout back "____ you". and throw another. An orange one. I told them If that's how you feel get at me when you see me. Don't throw bricks and then hide your hand. _____." The 7 bus comes and I get on. I’m so pissed because I know if they see me they gonna just keep walking. Punks. Speaking of punks...
Yesterday I was leaving Forte Greene projects in Brooklyn when I run into my dude Shane. He told me that a mutual friend we had from night school was dead. His name was Carlos and some people he had problems wit killed him. I remember Carlos limping into class one day and telling me that he had been gone for so long because he got shot in the leg. He had a friend I don't recall the name. Lets call him Barry. Barry had a beef wit some people and they shot Carlos since they couldn't find Barry. The beef escalated and Carlos got gunned down. The audacity of these people to take a life. Everybody wanna go get they gun at the first sign of tension. These idiots don't even fully understand what it means to take a life. Yes, on the basic level you're stopping his life. He no longer breathes but it goes deeper than that. He had a family. He has a mother who will never get to see him again and a sister and brother. You have sentenced all of them to a life of sadness when you pulled that trigger. Whatever the beef was about, was it really worth harming his grandmother? His grandma will never get to cook for him again. His kids don't have a daddy anymore. I can’t even explain the magnitude of what these idiots have done. I think I do understand the magnitude of murder. That's why I don't engage in nonsense beef. If you thow a water balloon out the window I’m not gonna stop your life. If you kill my moms you have a problem. That's why when I tell my family that I would kill for them it means so much more. That means I am willing to risk jail my life and soul. It is the greatest promise of loyalty i could ever give. But these idiots don't get it. I guess life is only worth the price of a bullet.

The Presentation - A total bust

I can not believe how unprepared my team was for the presentation today. First of all only myself and Ravi came to Harlem Live to prepare. From the start we were doomed. I was not only livid but I was utterly disappointed that Kevin could not even show up, let alone contribute to the presentation, to help with the powerpoint presentation. Ravi and I think that he could of at least called My iron fist is going to have to talk to him on Monday when he finally comes.
Ravi and I had to start from scratch making the powerpoint slideshow. We worked the whole day without breaks. It was extremely stressful and a lot of weight were carried on our shoulders. I definetly did not have fun doing that, because I had to constantly stay focused with all of the confusion going on here. We also had to do the team logo today too. Thank God to the fullest that Kisha the web designer came today or else the logo would not have looked as good as it did. Shout out to Kisha thank you so much Kisha for helping me with the logo on photoshop.
During the presentation I was sooooo nervous leading up to the presentation though I was positive that my team, if infact we are a team at all, was going to lose
Well in conclusion, Ravi and I will definetly take the feed back from the judges into consideration and work harder as a team including the those who were absent. Over and out.

A day in the life of Deft Fusion

At Harlem Live, the red team has been putting the pedal to the metal. We are going strong and working hard. Today we took group pictures for our blog, worked on our presentation, and spoke to a group of children that were interested in what Harlem Live is all about.
I plan on getting as much work done as possible before the summer is over, so I am trying to warm up to Harlem Lives rules and regulations. I am thinking up as many story topics as possible because i would like to start on my first story to see what the experience is like and what trials and tribulations I will have to go through in order to get my story done.
What I find the most challenging about Harlem Live is keeping up with the busy day to day schedule that they have. I think that this Challenge is very good for me because it will prepare me for my first job, and it will test my listening, and motivation skills.
I am prepared for anything that comes my way,I will take the challenge, no matter how hard it may be. I am ready for anything.

Jerry Heller and Spaceships

Since I have last posted I've been doing Man On The Streets. I have also done some classes on the camera and tripods. Right after that I did some minor editting with Chris Glorioso. The M.O.T. have been going pretty well. Rich is catching me out there with the jokes. NEWS FLASH: Somehow Poetically Inclined Ruth does not like to read? By the way Orlando AKA Bloomingdales is out. Oh so is Jacob. Captain Kaira's ruthless like 1988 Jerry Heller. Oh well winners win. Losers lose. Moving on My stories can really get going once i get enough editting training. Once the classes are over I can go out and shoot these stories. HL is doing me good at home too. before HL I had the most sporadic sleeping patterns. Wake up 2 in the afternoon. Nap at 7. Up at 2 in the morning. Sleep at 9 am. Up at 2 pm. Repeat. Now I'm up at 6 am and sleep at midnight. I actually feel... normal. This has to be the first time in 4 years I have had a healthy sleeping pattern.

Oh I didn't forget about the rant. What? You thought I forgot? Cmon man. Deliver or go home:

I'm gonna jump right in it. I am so sick of the same ten songs on the radio. How is it even concievable to play the same ten songs all day long? And the songs aren't even good. People say oh kevin... oops im mean Dynamic, your just mad at the world. No I'm upset that every song I hear is about the same thing. Leanin and rockin, snappin and poppin, candy piant, his jewelry, and of course his car (which by the way he probably only could afford on lease). I must blast the daimond mouth grills. It doesn't look good. It looks like a retarted collection of cavities. I'm also sick of everybody wanting to rap or sing. You are NOT Jay-Z or 50 Cent or Kelly Clarkson. So do us a favor and shut Up. Do these people even listen to their own music. Obviously not. Cuz if they did my ears wouldn't be bleeding. Why do you think people hate Americans so much. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we bomb them on a daily basis condusive to clockwork. No of course not. They've gotten used to that. In fact I've heard they use the attacks to tell what time it is. They hate us because we make crappy music. Shouts to John who is currently playing such a song right now. It's called "Wipe Me Down". Who gives these poeple record deals? You know what? We should herd all of the people at fault together. Build a giant space Ship that orbits the Earth operating on solar energy. Load them in the spaceship. Blast them into orbit and turn on all of their music. Put it on random. That way they won't know what atrocious song is coming next. Broadcast it on HBO. No. Fox. Everybody watches Fox. That way me and all of societys really disturbed individuals can take part in my little experiment. Watch them cry their until their eardrums melt out the sockets. Justice is served. I know you love the idea. What can I say I serve the people?

The First Week for Deft Fusion

Hello all. I am the team leader of Deft Fusion. The name is Kaira and journalism is the game. I plan to take my team to victory kicking and screaming if I have to. So far I belive that every team member apart of Deft Fusion has the potential to shine and succeed individually while still contributing to the team. On that note let me introduce you to our team web designer Ruth Williamson. Ruth is a very dedicated and interesting young lady. She enjoys reading and writing poetry and her artistic skills will definetly be a positive attribute to our group. Next is our co-captian Kevin Bell. Kevin will be our video man in charge of shooting and editing video of course. HIs eagerness to learn about media, journalism and video is tremendously inspiring and brings so much to the team. Alongside Kevin is our other journalist Ravi Johnson. Ravi pursues ideas for stories and he is an extremely motivated young man.
One of the youngest team members is also a journalist. Her name is Talia. Talia is awfully clever for her age and has a good sense of humor. She is excited to be a new edition to the group and she hopes to write many, many, many stories. Another budding young adult part of the group is Jacob. Jacob was also on the winning team for the scavenger hunt, including Ruth and myself. He has fresh ideas that can help the team move forward. Orlando was also a new Edition to the team. He is really passionate about music and plans to explore his zeal for music through Harlem Live.
I hope everyone that reads this blog has a good view about all the members of Deft Fusion. In conclusion I have no doubt that everyone on this team is motivated and hungry to win the summer media challenge and show everybody else what they are capapble of. Over and out.

poetically inclined from deft fusion

Team work is the biggest part of our group... communication is another important key to our success... We also are ready for whatever is there to come our way.
For example today we were caught off gaurd and handled it somewhat like professionals so imagine if we were told that there were guest coming to HarlemLive and we were the group to represent HarlemLive, we would have definately done a better job... We really did great as a team... Big thanks goes out to our team leader Kaira and our co-leader Kevin for holding us down as HarlemLive were basically interviewed.
As a first timer at HarlemLive... I had a sence of what HarlemLive consisted of because I do work there but I felt that I could have put myself in the audience today and learn a little bit more about HarlemLive... I was a little nervious at the time because I didn"t know what to say but as time moved on I realized there was nothing to be nevious about because they were just teenagers like myself and the questions they asked were for professional personel... And were ansered pretty well by Melvin and Kareem I hope I spelt their name correctly...
Today has been a long day for me and I am pretty sure it was for the DEFT FUSION CREW so see you next time in blogger world...
Yours Truely
The Poetically Inclined...

Media’s Affect on My Life by R.Johnson

What is media? According to pcmag.com a definition for media is any material that holds data in any form or allows data to pass through them, including paper, transparencies, multipart forms, hard, floppy and optical disks, ect. This also includes internet television and radio which are all common things that pass through our hands or ears daily. Fortunately or unfortunately for a teen living in 2007 thanks to internet, radio, television, magazines and newspapers I am exposed to things that previous generations couldn’t imagine. On that note please take a while I give you a glimpse on media’s affect on myself and others just like me.
Recently all eyes have been on a specific form of media the radio. Many feel that some of the music played on the radio has a negative affect on young people. The feel it contributes to the alarming amount of youth that find themselves in trouble with the due to the bad inspiration of the musical artist. Though I disagree with them you must agree that without media there would be no way for me to find out about these artists.
Media is a way of life and if it isn’t it surly affects my life more then anything else. It influences the way that I dress, the things I aspire to be, the way I act talk and even walk. So if I was asked does media as having a positive or negative affect on me. I would have to say both. But if I was asked to choose I would say media has more of a negative affect on me then positive.
Due to media and what we see through it via television, radio, internet and ect it cripples originality and who we are to be something that is acceptable to others. Though you might have picked your outfit this morning why did you pick what you picked? 9 times out of 10 it was because you like the style of it and you feel it would be acceptable to society. Though media is very affective in terms of updating local and world news quickly it still has an overall negative affect on us because we are becoming more and more dependant on it instead of experiencing and doing things for ourselves.
Most will agree that the listen to either the news radio or find out about the weather via internet or newspaper. Just to give an idea of how powerful the media’s affect on us is let’s say the information you received about the weather was wrong. Lets say that you heard that it would be 90 degrees outside and it really I will be 63. If you heard it would be 90 degrees you would most likely dress for 90 degree weather. Once you left your house I’m sure you feel the difference. Though this is extreme it just gives you an idea of Media’s true affect on our lives and how dependant we are on it.
In conclusion the radio, newspapers, magazines, internet and television are all great ways to retrieve information. But overall the media has a negative affect on our lives without us even truly seeing it. Through music, and television more and more people are according to many are “being corrupted” by the negative affects of both of the fields. People are becoming more and more dependant on the internet and many people aren’t original because the want to be accepted by others. We should find away for media not to create us and we should create it like originally planned.

bloomingdales

Hello everyoone. Today i worked on my blog for Deft Fusion and I had to take a picture for the new post. This day was my first day on the team and as you know my team,Deft Fusion, color is red and we compete against other teams like the green and blue team.
My nickname Bloomingdales is an american store for people to shop for shoes and clothes. The name bloomingdales is the name everyone calls me in my neighborhood.When I first got that name I thought about orlandobloom from pirates of the carribean. And it all started in a basketball tournament.

Monotony, Curry and Twinkie Creme

Ok so i just finished my workshop at Minisikink. Bore. The monotany of life is really starting to bug me. So to keep me from dieing of boredom I'm gonna work on my stories. I've got a buncha ideas but i guess for now I'll keep them underwraps. Oh yeah since I last posted Jacob has been added to our group... Oh Kiara and Ravi are in the kitchen. Curry. I'll let Kiara handle that. Im from brooklyn what I know about some curry? You know I'm thinking about doing a daily rant to accompany each of th ese blogs. Just to keep things interesting. Not for you for me silly!!! I'm the one writing it so I need to be interested. You people come second. Lol jus kidding. But no really if Im gonna get people to read this it has to be something that I would want to read. If I don't like then why would you like it? Exactly. Ok over and out. (Proceeds to salute with index finger and vanishes into a cloud of twinkie creme)

The Team is getting bigger

This is Kaira the team leader. Today we had two new team members aded to the group. Orlando and Jacob. We already have a good team made up and I hope they positively contribute to Deft Fusion. Peace. Until next time.

Harlem Live day 2, 7/10/07

Today in Harlem Live I had a journalism class. This class taught me everything I need to know about doing interviews. The class was very useful because all of my questions were answered. What I thought was the most effective information was how to rephrase questions so that you recieve a full and complete response from the person you are interviewing. I learned what questions should not be asked and what you shouldn't do in order to recieve a positive response from people.
I look foreward to having another journalism class because i want to be prepared for my first interview. I have also come up with new story topics to cover. The story I really look foreward to doing is the story on school lunch. I like to hear people's opinions about health and what they feel about the choices they are given throughout life because even life gives us MANY choices.

The Fight Is Fixed

First day of the new group. The name is Deft Fusion. I know I know its such a good name you wish you would've came up with it blah blah blah. Akiara, Kevin Ravi, poetically inclined Ruth, Natalie and Mary. I don't mean to sound cocky... O.K. I'm lying. Look at those names... how can we lose?

DEFT FUSION

Today I joined a group the name of it is DEFT FUSION can you believe we all came up with this... so talented with it with this group we can rock the world. my team constist of Kaira, Ravi, Kevin, three other females, and myself. I deeply appologize because I'm very bad with names. Smiles though Welcome...