Deer On A Plane

If I told you I saw a graphic of a deer and dandelions on the back of a plane you'd think I was lying. As I was waiting for my 9:30am flight yesterday, I thought my sleepiness was playing tricks on me...but it wasn't; this may be one of the most random things I've seen.

The First Japanese-American MLB Manager

Ichiro, Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Dice-K....now Don Wakamatsu. This is great for Major League Baseball, and it really opens up the doors for Japanese players. And if you know of Ichiro, Nomo, Godzilla, and Dice-K, you know they be killin (excuse my english, I just needed to stress that point).

Interview #5

This interview (interview #5), is the first audio interview that I have done. Usually I do the interviews through ichat or aol instant messenger, and then copy and paste the dialogue. However, due to the music and radio disc-jocking background of the interviewie, Matt Jennings, an audio interview just felt like the right format. I hope you enjoy it...

Prayer

Every now and then I have friends that ask me for advice, whether it's about relationships, or a job decision they have to make; and one of the first things I ask them is "Did you pray about it?" I know people can get frustrated by that response because it can be seen as a cop-out answer, but I give that response because there's a lot of power behind praying.

In Luke 11:9-13, Jesus says to the disciples:
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that seeketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask as fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

13 If ye then, being evil (in sin), know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

This doesn't mean you come to God with 3 wishes to be granted, but it means coming to God and genuinely asking and searching for the answers that you need...and you will get them.

Super Heroes

(I saw this poster on ffffound)
This lady was hilarious on The Incredibles. I loved when she was giving all the examples about how heroes shouldn't wear capes. Last year in my typography class, Sam Potts, a very inspiring and skilled designer, made a guest appearance, and gave my class the assignment of creating a poster for his store, Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. My poster never made it to the store, but here are 3 different executions that I did:

Do You Like Music?

Awhile ago I was having a conversation with someone about sports, and how I found it ridiculous that some people don't like sports; I wasn't saying that a person needs to like a sport in particular, like my love for baseball, but I just thought that you have to like at least one...even if it's a playground sport like kickball or four-square. Later I compared it to someone not liking music (I know that may be a stretch). But I thought about it...there are a lot of things that people can dislike or have no interest in: math, science, sports, blogging, scotch tape, etc; however there are a few things that I think everyone likes: food and music. Now food may be a given, just because it satisfies a necessity, but what about music? Why is it that everyone likes music?

Today in church, my pastor was speaking about how people can all be on the same accord (some may explain it as "something in the air") when there are major issues or circumstances that take place; for example: the current state of the economy. He then gave this example: if you have a piano on the right side of a stage, and another piano on the left side of the stage, and you strike a key on the left piano...the same string that's vibrating from the left piano will vibrate on the right piano. It's almost as if the piano on the right is in need to be played. It led me to believe that people work the same way. When musicians play music, there must be a respective string in all of us that vibrates. And maybe our way of expressing what we felt is to simply tap our feet, clap our hands, snap our fingers, or rock our heads.

Top 5 Creatives in Hip Hop and Rap

(above: words from Kanye on his blog, regarding a new mix he did for "Love Lockdown")

It's refreshing seeing statements like these, because it actually shows how that there are still music artist that care about their music, more than record sales; which led me to think, who are the top 5 creative individuals or groups in hip hop and rap. Jonathan (my nephew) and I came up with the following list (in no particular order):
1. Lupe Fiasco
2. Kanye West
3. The Roots
4. Pharrell
5. Outkast

Barack's First Press Conference

Just got done watching President-Elect Barack Obama's (that sounds good) first press conference. Everyone knows about how different he is in the political arena, but it is very impressive and refreshing to actually have someone at the podium who is intelligent and can evoke a sense of confidence into the American people...This is going to be an interesting transition. Stay tuned.

Inspiration

I don't know what it is, but every night around 1 or 2am I feel like I get in the zone, and inspiration is all around me. Sometimes I can't even go to sleep because I'm staring at the ceiling thinking about what I wanna do, day dreaming at night, picturing where I want to be. In that show I Want to Work for Diddy, Puff talked about how he's in-love with his work, and how when you're in-love you can't go to sleep...I can't go to sleep.

And the Winner is...

Q&A&Q

Because of the long preparation for this historic day (the presidential election; in case you were sleeping somewhere  in no-man's land), I want to have this "creative, social interview". Here's how it works: I'll start off with a question, and someone will answer the question either in words through a poem or haiku; graphically, through a poster, icon, or banner; audio or video, pictures, music or animations....however they want to answer the question. But I don't just want questions to be answered, I want for those who answer the question to then pose a question within or after their answer.

For example, if I ask "Where were you on November 4th, 2008?", you could take a picture of yourself in Times Square with your cell phone raised in the air, and on the phone it reads "Y aren't u here?"...Then whoever is the next person to answer will answer why they weren't there, and then pose another question.

If you would like to be apart of this, please comment on this entry. The first to comment will be the first to answer. The second to comment, will be the second to answer, and so on and so forth. Thank you, and I'm excited to see what comes of this.

I don't know what to say...

I'm so glad to be alive for this. All I can say, and maybe I'll blog more about it tomorrow, when I was a kid, the thing to say was, "I wanna be the first black president"....can't say that anymore.

State of Detroit Address

The newest update regarding my hometown is in reference to Detroit sports. But before I get to that, let me give you a little background about my pain being a fan of Detroit teams: Long ago when I actually used to like the Lions, we had a running back by the name of Barry Sanders. Barry was one of the best running backs of all-time...but he left the Lions because year after year he requested an offensive line (the big fat dudes on offense), and he never got it; Barry had enough, and Barry was gone. Since I've been alive the Detroit Lions have never won a NFL Championship....

Long ago I used to be a Detroit Pistons fan. My brothers and I loved Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, we watched almost every game, and my twin brother actually attended the game when Isaiah retired his jersey. My love for the Pistons ended in a playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks when Grant Hill injured his ankle, which led to the Pistons' defeat; and after that game (keep in mind this was the first time Detroit was in the Playoffs for about 7 years) I vowed that I would disown the Pistons for at least 5 years. I still don't like them now, but I'm getting closer to it after today's big announcement...

This past weekend the Detroit Lions didn't get a new offensive line, however they GOT A FREAKING GOOD QUARTERBACK. If you've ever heard of Charlie Bach or Gus Ferrot, you'd know why I'm using capitalization. Anyhow the Lions got Daunte Culpepper= a very good and needed pickup. And to conclude this State of Detroit Address, the Pistons made a trade to send Chauncey Billups to Denver Nuggets, for, you guest it, Allen Iverson.

I am not a bandwagon fan; I'm still not a die hard Lions fan, or a Pistons fan, but my love is slowly but surely coming back.

After 6

I guess this is what goes down after 6.