James Joseph Brown, Jr.- May 3, 1933- December 25, 2006 (In Loving Memory)

Courtesy: Dersu/YouTube

As we all mourn the loss of James Brown, let us remember the great hits over the years. I Got You (I Feel Good); It's a Man's World;
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.

Here's footage from the CBS Sunday night staple, The Ed Sullivan Show (yes, I know, you've just watched I Feel Good on the previous video, and he sings it as part of a two song medley, but just look at that funky footwork).

zlud/CBS/YouTube

And here he proves that he's a Sex Machine:

sexyonion/YouTube

We know of his troubles with the law and what not, but let's not focus on that. Just listen to the music. Enjoy the music. Dance that funky dance, and get on that Good Foot, as if you were James Brown.

Words cannot describe the enormous impact Brown had on the music woirld. Rap. Soul. Even disco. And the rock world. It's just too much...the loss of this music legend is just beyond enormous. Way beyond enormous. Way beyond comphrension.

Here's To The Merriest of Christmases (Thus Far)

Here's something to entertain you as we all enjoy the Christmas holiday.

ANd let's here what Vanessa has to say:



And Suzanne...

Note to Rosie O'Donnell: Open Up a Can of SHUT THE HELL UP!

First, Roseann O'Donnell- you know, the bloated bitch we know as 'Rosie O'Donnell'- makes fun of Chinese people on ABC's The View. Making a lot of Chinese folks very happy, no doubt that she's followed Seinfeld alum Michael Richards' lead.

But now, Kelli's (soon-to-be-ex...that is if Kelli comes to her senses) spouse may have really outdone herself.

For the last 2 weeks, the drama on Mount Hood (fifty miles east from where I write this entry) has the country holding its' breath for the remaining two hikers- Brian Hall, 37; and Jerry Cooke, 36. And mourning over the recent loss of the third, Kelly James, 48. James' bosy was found Sunday in a snow cave. (At press time, the search has turned into a recovery effort).

The Queen of Not-So-Nice said on The View that money- around $2.5 Million thus far- shouldn't be spent on finding the hikers.

Well, Rosie, let's see you climb Mt. Hood- or let Kelli climb Mt. Hood (or any other mountain) and get lost and see how you feel. Will all of those millions you enjoy save your fat, ignorant, and barely pea-sized brained ass if you were to get caught in an avalanche or severe snowstorm? You're freezing your wart-infested* pussy off, and cannot be found for days, perhaps weeks. Let's see how you handle that, Ms. Queen of Bitchville! Bet you change your mind when the shoe's on the other foot.

*as for as we all know, Ms. O'Donnell doesn't have genital warts. Just a tounge in cheek comment. Don't go a-bitchin', folks.

Perhaps Cyn McKinney Deserves Another Chance

A quartet of black Capitol police officers talk about trouble in the Capitol Police Department, in Washington, DC.

The Sadness of Sex- My Distraction

As I was working on the year end review- it'll be out on December 31- I watched this episode of the spoken word comedy The Sadness of Sex.

Here's the final episode I got courtesy of iFilm.com.

Perhaps We Should Impeach Cynthia McKinney Instead

Oh, that Cynthia Ann McKinney. What can I say about her except:

1. She's still a fucking crybaby
2. She's still a goddamned race-baiter
3. I'm glad she LOST her bid for re-election.

Now, she's attempting her latest act of...er, jackassery, perhaps. Her political career already in flames, she's bound and determined to go out in a blaze of glory by joining the bandwagon of those who call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

Now, do I think that Bush deserves to be impeached for starting a pissing match with Saddam Hussein, al-Qaida; and the Taliban? Honestly, I think not. After all, unless we want America to be a vast wasteland that's uninhabitable for 100-plus years, it would be better to fight those al-Qaida pussies abroad than here (of course, what's not to say that some aren't already here? Thank God for the Second Amendment. I'll be damned if I let some Islamofascist cross the line in the sand. Celebrate the bullet, pricks!). Admittedly, we do need a change of course in the War on Terrorism. One where we shoot every insurgent on site. Either that, or go for zero tolerance, which in and of itself is risky. But unless the Iraqi forces are clearly on the side of the Allies (US, UK; Australia; etc.), how are we supposed to know who our friends are. But I don't think Bush needs to be impeached for what he believed to be the right course of action.

But Cynthia McKinney, to me, is performing her last act of desperation and is trying to make a name for herself- a friend says that she's fighting for the common man, woman, and child. What a load of horse manure! Until I see otherwise, until Cynthia McKinney proves to me- and many others!- that she's not some race-baiting, conniving crybaby, I'm not going to cut her any slack. I'm doing the same thing to her that I do to every politician- no matter the race, gender, political affiliation, ideology; etc.

I'm holding her feet to the fire. After all, until she leaves the halls of Congress next month, she's held accountable.

Peter Boyle- An Appreciation

This scene is from the 1974 hit comedy Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle.

Last night, we lost this comic genius to heart disease and multiple myeloma, a cancer that causes the body to create too much plasma.
Boyle is also know for his role as the cantankerous father, Frank, on the CBS hit Everybody Loves Raymond.




Boyle also acted in films such as Joe (1970), where he played an Archie Bunker type (Susan Sarandon co-starred); Slither (1973); Taxi Driver (1976; co-starred with Robert You Talkin' To Me DeNiro and Monster's Ball (2001), where he played the racist father of Billy Joe Thornton. In his career, he won an Emmy for an appearance in The X Files
and was nominated numerous times for his role on Everybody Loves Raymond (but never won. He was the only cast member not to win an Emmy during the show's 10-season run). His final appearance will be in Shadows of Atticus, which was completed at the time of his death Tuesday night. His last film appearance was in this year's The Santa Clause 3, co-starring Tim Allen and Martin Short.

But Boyle will forever be immortalized as Igor and Frank.

He is survived by wife Lorraine, and daughters Lucy and Amy.

Boyle was 71.

Talk About a Life in the Shitter II: Should've Gone to Church Instead

More details have surfaced on Joe Jackson, the man who shot four people- three of them fatally- before being shot fatally himself.

A church deacon. Trucker. He thought that if he invented a toilet seat for truckers- to put in back of a truck, I presume, he would see riches.

Instead, he felt that patents attorney Michael McKenna- one of the people he killed- gave him a raw deal. However, it turns out that Michael McKenna wasn't the lawyer (another lawyer of the same name, patented the toilet years ago. And that McKenna lives in Boston...).

Click on the title for the full story from Chicago's NBC 5.

Talk About a Life Ending in the Shitter

Friday night, a man who thought he was cheated out of a patent decided to go on a rampage. In the ensuing carnage, three people were shot dead before the gunman himself was killed.

In the Citibank Building in the West Loop area of downtown Chicago, 59 year old Joe Jackson took a guard hostage, then forced the guard to take him up to the 38th floor, where a law firm- Woods, Phillips, Clark & Mortimer is located. The firm specializes in patents.

Police stormed the floor, and shot and killed Jackson.

The patent Jackson thought he was cheated out of was of a toilet for a truck, probably a big rig (after all, those 18-wheeling guys and gals don't always amke it to the next rest stop- or for that matter, truck stop...).

The link to this story can be found by just clicking on the title.

A shitter for a rig...sounds rather interesting. Just don't let the waste fall all over the cargo.

Joe Jackson apparently was pissed that someone else was awarded the patent to something he himself (apparently) invented. I don't know the full story behind the invention, but...when it comes to money, sometimes fights deteriorate into deadly force.

Why I'm Mixed on the Word 'Nigger'

Time columnist John Ridley- who like myself, is African-American writes an excellent essay on the word nigger in the latest issue of Time. (click on the title for the link). He cites examples from the 1975 Saturday Night Live skit with comedians Chevy Chase and the late Richard Pryor, to Dick Gregory's desensitizing the word ( Gregory did this in his preface to the Robert H. deCoy book from the early 1970s The Nigger Bible).

But for so many of us, nigger is an insult. Yes, I know, a lot of us black folks use it, mainly in the form of nigga, and such, but even as I speak for myself here, I also speak for countless of other black folks and will say that I don't like the word- in any form- coming out of anybody's mouth. No matter what racial orientation the person/people claim themselves to be.

Michael Richards- and more recently Andy Dick's- use of the word hurt many of all racial proclivities. In Richards' case, it was because he was frustrated over hecklers. Dick tried to make light of it, but like John Kerry's recent joke about education over Iraq gone awry, it bit him (and Richards) right in the ass. Sure, we hold celebrities to a higher- or lower- standard, but like the rest of us, they're human, too. Whether they like it or not.

Now here's why I'm mixed on the usage of this word. For one, although I don't like hearing it from anyone, I still believe that they have a right to say it. The First Amendment, which I very strongly believe in and strongly defend, gives a person to say whatever they want, in any shape or form. Including the words nigger; coon; jungle bunny for a black person. Or honky; peckerwood; ofay; trailer trash; or cracker for a white person. or any other epithet. Of course, we should be intelligent enough not to use these slurs, and a lot of us are intelligent enough to tell the offending party that such words are offensive (though, that probably still won't change the fact that your ass might get kicked by a member of a minority racial group should you use a slur against them...).

There's this excellent book that came out about five years ago- written by an African-American by the name of Randall Kennedy- called Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word (Pantheon Books, 2002). It explains the origin of the word- which as we all know, wasn't originally meant to for use to insult black people (just like the swastika wasn't originally meant for a symbol of white supremacy or hatred. The swastika originated from Tibet...another discussion for another day...),and cases where such usage of the word got folks in hot water. Plus, it discusses the double standard the word has (hence, the nigger/nigga connection). A recommended read, indeed.

Race relations here in America are- at best- chaotic (at worse, perhaps nearing the boiling point. Those white supremacists just may get that RaHoWa- Racial Holy War- yet. But as the saying goes, be careful for what you pray for. You just might get it. Only the results may not come out the way you had wished for. And you know that a lot of us black folks are viciously sick and tired of getting the short end of the stick). If we are to be the greatest nation on Earth, then we must drop our weapons of hatred and bickering, talk out our differences, work out a concensus or two, and continue the healing. Otherwise, the al-Qaidas, the Talibans; the Hezbollahs; possibly the Iranians and North Koreans; and the Hamases will take care of the problem for us- only none of us will be around to fight them. Or each other.

In closing, many of you have heard of Jerry Springer, and the crazy talk show he does daily. Here in this clip from WMAQ-TV NBC5, Chicago (where the show is produced, he tears a new ass hole into a fellow employee who quit over the station's decision to let him do periodical commentaries on the newscasts. I think that his argument is pretty relevant here. Ladies and gentlemen, Jerry Springer.

ValienteVejete/YouTube/WMAQ-TV, Chicago

Clip: Copyright 1997 NBC Universal, All Rights Reserved.
This entry: Copyright 2006, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights reserved.