Controversial Matters!

Let me just say for the record I am a Chris Brown fan from the word GO. Pre Rihanna I have seen Chris on talk shows and having a very good perception of people I will always feel that he is a really sweet guy that was raised right by his mama that had an unfortunate event happen in his life and for some reason the world wants to crucify him for it. I feel if you are a true fan you would have been able to separate the artist from the man. This sentiment applies to radio stations who chose not to play Chris's music and advertisers as well... Case in point…I don’t take the time to do stuff like this often but you can bet when I do it is sincere. I sent Wrigley’s (gum)an email to tell them how much I really enjoyed the commercial featuring Chris Brown. They responded back which was cool. A week later the Rihanna incident happened and the very next day that commercial was pulled off the air. I was so pissed I sent another email not so nice…because advertisers are notorious for this type B.S.

Chris grew up watching his mom’s boyfriend abuse her and that may have had some influence on why he reacted to Rihanna as he did. I also feel that Rihanna was not good for Chris and even baited him a little. Does that give a man the right to put his hand on you? No! but you also shouldn’t taunt him. In any case Chris is not the only entertainer to ever hit a woman but damn I guess everyone decided he was the one they were going to make an example out of because he is still paying for it and apologizing for it. Me, personally I would have stopped apologizing after the first time. I feel it only made things worse to apologize over and over again. Not to say Chris has not been sincere in each apology because I believe he has been but he didn’t do sh*t to John Q public and he who is without sin and all that other good crap. He may be in the public but that happened in his private life which makes it his business.

This brings us to the BET Award show. Was Chris sincere, I think he was and I think his tears were as much for himself as for Michael because I’m sure Chris can identify with the man in the mirror. He’s had a really rough year trying to live down his shame, resurrect his fake a** fans and recoup his fantastic career. *I think Chris is a beautiful person and I also believe that what does not kill us will make us stronger. Chris had his public release when he broke down at the Award show and hopefully he can move on now and if you’re a true fan you will support him in this endeavor.

For this article I found two really good videos…no not Chris performing…one is a recap of the BET awards and one is some words for Chris. I found them both interesting and entertaining and thought I would share!

This week on SYTYCD the judges made an excellent choice when they sent Cristina home! My bottom 3 and the judges bottom 3 weren't an exact match but Cristina was in both and my choice and their choice were unanimouse that she should be the one going home.

On a high note I loved the performance by Brian Gainer and Remote Control. Great entertainment for us, great exposure for them. See ya next week!

So the big night finally came! Memphis Beat is going to be my all-time new favorite show this summer for a lot of reasons. I love My name is Earl because Jason Lee is just funny & entertaining, period. Now I know he’s also a serious actor. He plays the main character Dwight Hendricks (who loves his mama, his city and his music). His character is an “outstanding detective with laid back style and radar like intuition” and he sings Elvis! Cold Case and Without a Trace were two shows that made me cry by the end of every episode…this show will be no exception. It’s got laughs, drama, great characters (besides Jason they’ve got Alfre Woodard) and great music. It’s another TNT original that airs on Tuesday Nights 10:00pm EST.

First let me address the issue that Nigel was in a funky mood at the start of the evening and was it me or was he especially nit picky with Travis Wall’s choreography because he hinted at it again later in the evening when Tice Diorio’s routine was danced? As most of you who have been watching the show since its inception know Travis is an all-star and an amazing choreographer but Nigel’s problem seemed to be that he couldn’t tell if the routine was contemporary or jazz. It’s not Travis’s problem if he is stupid. One thing that you will notice about the choreographers is that they are somewhat American Idolish, meaning that they create these routines for the dancers but they wait to see what the judges think of the routines and this is important to them the way the American Idol contestants don’t really care what the other judges say, what is important is what does Simon have to say. I think the criticism kind of sucked the air out of Travis’s evening judging by the look on his face every time they panned the camera his way…and usually the judges don’t put down their choreographers work even if the routine wasn’t that great…and this one was actually very good! **To clarify: since the main problem wasn’t the routine but what classification the routine fit into Nigel was really negative about Travis more so than the routine itself.

Most of the dancers were out of their element tonight, but most of them did okay and some really stood out. One thing I keep in mind from past season is that sometimes it’s not the dancers. They have to dance what they are given so even if they dance the routine on point they still get a bad critique. My favorites tonight were Adechike, he danced a very nice contemporary routine with Allison. Ashley who danced with hunky all-star Mark (what a body) did a really good job and I became a fan tonight. Melinda who danced with Ade (He’s a favorite all-star) in a contemporary number was really good. I agree with the judges about Jose, my favorite who danced with Kathryn, he was bad but oh so good. I saw his little hip hop bounce add-ins and he is such a joy to watch it didn’t even matter. Last but not least, my second favorite Kent who danced with another favorite all-star Courtney. He was very good tonight!

It was hard to pick a bottom 3 but since I had to I did…Cristina, Billy (I thought technically he danced the krump very well but the judges don’t seem to understand that he’s a white guy who dances contemporary and he could do no more than he did with this routine. You can’t really make yourself hard if that’s not you. A different person might could have pulled it off better and I thought Billy did a good job. Lauren I’m just sick of…I thought she did a good job on the routine but there is just something kind of phoney about her. There you have it…we’ll see how it turns out on results night!

…Loved the fact that it was another double header this week. I think the choices to go home were good choices. It was nice to see Autumn calm down although I’m no longer a fan but Scott just couldn’t seem to get it together for someone who had so much potential…but he said it best himself he has the technical ability…but apparently he couldn’t cook! Maria…I was just glad to see her go…because like Chef Ramsay, I just thought she was weird. I saved the best for last Fran is 2 hotel floors from the 13th floor and gearing up for a meltdown! ~ciao~

Leverage is one of my favorite television shows since they premiered 3 seasons ago. It’s rare that you like all of the members of a team but I like this entire group of characters. I like the banter and I’m not a banter kind of person, I like the cons they pull. They’re just a likeable cast so if you haven’t checked them out…you should. They are on Sunday Nights at 9:00pm EST on TNT.

This gist of the matter is this. General McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan had his feelings hurt when he asked for additional troops in Afghanistan and didn’t get them…then to add insult to injury because the president was not as familiar with who he was as McChrystal thought he should be he let his frustration or shall I say his a** overload his mouth. Apparently as indicated by the remarks made he had been stewing in these juices for sometime and either his staff felt somewhat the same or went along with the program because that’s what some people do and you know how the old expression goes…kill the general and the troops will fold. Now because the president is a smart man and somewhat very classy he of course he was not going to stoop to the level of the general. He spoke very highly of the general and allowed him the dignity of resigning (when we know he really got fired).

Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his fucking war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."

I’m a Huge believer in the first amendment (our right to free speech) so my first thought was that you shouldn’t fire someone for speaking their mind and if the president fires the general it’s going to look like he’s doing just that…and being petty, kinda junior high school, but when I thought about it some more I’m sure the president was mad but not for the reasons we think and he didn’t lose his job for the reasons we think. I would have let him resign as well because he apparently was good at what he was doing but just like in the rest of the world no one is irreplaceable…I can attest to that (let me tell you how good I am at what I do and then I’ll tell you about the times I was let go, most of the time with severance pay) but he definitely had to go because you cannot have (especially in a position of power) the people working underneath you undermining you and your decisions. If there had been any other outcome I think the president would have been the one that people were saying wtf…We wish the general the best and this too shall pass.

In closing I want to remind people that President Obama became president at one of the lowest times in our countries history and since then all the things that have happened it’s a wonder he can keep up with all of it. So on occasion he will make decisions that we don’t agree with but that doesn’t make the decision a wrong one (such as the moratorium on drilling off the Louisiana coastline). The same people that were pissed off so much about the oil leak are the same people that are pissed about the moratorium. You can’t have it both ways! …and he may even make actual mistakes from time to time. There was the disaster in Haiti which although not part of the US we played a big part in their recovery. There have been all the areas that have had horrible tornadoes and flooding. He worked on the credit card policy change which was a big help to the American people, the medical reform bill which doesn’t seem like much to most people but ask someone who has a pre-existing condition and could not get health insurance before because of it and then there was the automaker bailouts. So a lot has happened in his 2 years in office and everything he’s done or tried to do is more than Bush did in eight years…because all his attention was focused on weapons of mass destruction which if I recall…didn’t exist :(!

I am a thinker....
I am a dreamer and an idealist. I am much more concerned with how things should be than how they actually are. I believe that what people do is much more important than what people say. I take careful notice of everyone's actions.

I tend to be quite rational. I try to think with a clear head, and I don't like it when my emotions get the better of me. I confront challenges head on. I actually enjoy solving problems - even when they seem impossible.

I did the above exercise on someone else's blog. It's kinda cool and pretty accurate which is why I posted it here. I'm also posting the link in case you'd like to find out what kind of er you are!

Just a quick note to let you know that I was so sad to see Alexie going home on the show tonight. She tried out for four seasons to get here and was the first one to go...not only that but I thought her performance was really good. I would rather have lost Cristina. Melinda would have been my first choice but her solo was nice. See ya next week!

Tonight was amazing! This show is amazing! because even if there is a dancer I don’t like so much I still admire them and wish them well! I’m hard pressed to pick a bottom 3 but I managed because it’s a contest and that’s how it works. I chose Billy, Ashley and Melinda. As for whom I want to go home that will depend on who America puts in the bottom 3.

My favorite of the evening was Jose and he got most of my votes, ok Jose is my all time favorite because not only is adorable with a likable personality but so far his dancing is impeccable and he's a hometown boy…but don’t forget I adore Kent so he got a lot of votes from me and Robert was really good so he got some votes. Alexie danced with Twitch (who is one of my favorite all-stars and the season he danced I rooted for him to win but he missed it by one) and became a favorite tonight because contrary to what the judges said I think she danced that hip hop routine fantabulously! So I voted a lot for her. I also gave 3 votes each to Ade`chike1 and Lauren. They both danced their routines very well technically but like the judges said Ade`chike` had no chemistry and Kathryn is hot (loved her from last season) and Lauren played to the audience too much instead of focusing on her partner. Ade is an amazing partner!

My Opinion: She got what she deserved! I’m not a major police fan for a number of reasons. They are not above lying when it suits their situation. They like abusing alleged criminals and unlike back in the day where they considered themselves servants of the people and they gave as much respect as they got, unlike today where a large majority of police think they are above the law and will tell you in a heartbeat what they ain’t to the people…oh and let’s not forget that small group that are just downright criminal.

Now since I’m old school so one thing that I do know is if you’re going to disrespect them you better make sure you’re in the right state to do it (because some states don’t play that) and don’t forget today they have tasers and they are more than happy to use them and second make sure you know just how far you can go. If you shove a policeman you’ve stepped over the line and you are fair game because you’ve given them probable cause to use force. Personally I thought the girl that got socked was met with excessive force but I’m also of the opinion that 1) They must have been giving the cop a really hard time in the first place because no one gets arrested for jaywalking (that’s a ticket offense) 2) The cousin should not have jumped in 3) The cop looked like he was just doing his job and my hats off to him for doing it too…while surrounded by a crowd that could have turned on him 4) Although there was just an ever so slight hesitation before the cop punched her it looked like it could have been instinctive and lastly I think he pulled the punch and it wasn’t a direct hit and as intensive as it looked.

Finally, I will say this Florida cops are a different breed altogether and if you had put your hands on one of them you might have gotten worse. Remember Florida police tasered a 6 year kid, they tasered a mentally ill, elderly, wheelchair bound woman 10 times (she died shortly thereafter) and last but not least their favorite command is get down on the ground and if you don’t or let’s say you move a little too slow they’ll put you down with force and they’ll have a few friends help them do it. If you make them chase you they will dive 5 on your head and do real bad things to you out of sight of any one filming the arrest. Don’t get me wrong some Florida cops are good cops and they do their jobs well but it’s like a can of mixed nuts…you never know which one you’ll get.

My favorite summer show so imagine how excited I was when they served it up twice last year. Everything about this show excites me but I must say that I am a little disappointed this year with the change of letting only 10 (11) dancers into the finals and using all-star members. I feel it does the competition a disservice because there were some really amazing dancers that didn’t make it into the finals because of this change and the limited competitors. Two that I especially liked and hope they will return next year are “Adrian Lee” and “Anthony Burrell”. From what I have heard from people who read the article with details of the why the change was made it all comes down to them trying to get more viewers to watch the show which is so unnecessary because word of mouth is how all the people in my family started watching the show. It was also stated that they felt the all-stars would be a draw for the new audience. My opinion is that if no one knows who the all-stars are they are less of a draw because they are not competing and if you know who they are you’re already a watcher of the show.

Two things I’m most excited about this season are “Kent Boyd” and “Jose Ruiz”! These are two guys I was really rooting for to make the finals. I will be supporting them throughout the competition along with Lauren Froderman and Adechike Torbert. All in all I’m looking forward to an awesome season!

Tonight Saturday June 5, 2010 WBA match up at “Yankee Stadium” between Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman ended with a 9th round TKO 42 seconds into the round. This was an excellent fight for Cotto proving that he still has what it takes. I never doubted it for a moment but to listen to the commentators lose two fights in a row and they have you heading for retirement.

Cotto is a 4 time world champion but has had a rough couple of years. He first had the devastating loss to Antonio Margarito which based on several factors it was more likely than not that Margarito had illegal hand wraps for which he was later suspended for a year after the Shane Mosley fight. For me regardless of the reinstatement Margarito will never be a credible fighter in my book, nor will he have my support as a fan. I have followed Cotto’s career from the beginning and he is a skilled, adaptable fighter so his loss to Margarito was unprecedented. It has taken him a long time to recover the confidence he once fought with although he continued to fight and it will always be an undeserved loss on his fight record…and there was the loss to Manny Pacquiao. Cotto has also endured some legal issues within his family with his uncle as well as the death of his father not too long ago who was also his trainer.

I think that Cotto is getting back to normal and although I don’t have a lot of respect for Emmanuel Stewart as a trainer (look what he did with Wladimir Klitschko (European Spelling) and don’t really think he can bring that much to the table as Cotto’s trainer this is who was in Cotto’s corner tonight.

A little bit about Cotto’s opponent. This is my first time seeing Yuri Foreman fight but I doubt that I will become a fan. He is a nice looking guy and the first Israeli World Champion. Tonight’s loss was the first blemish on his otherwise undefeated record.

Now the chaos came when someone threw a somewhat white (it was the dirtiest towel) in the ring and then people started to clamor in the ring. The rub was that corner men in Foreman’s corner said they did not throw the towel in the ring and Foreman said he was okay to continue in spite of the fact that he had been beaten pretty good during the fight and was hobbling around the ring because he had hurt his knee. Now there was some indication that his corner had left a large amount of water on the canvas but Yuri prior to his knee going out fell twice making him clumsy in my book. In any case it was undetermined as to where the towel came so the referee heralded everyone from the ring and the fight continued. I’ll say this by staying in there until the final body punch when the fight was stopped was either Foreman showing heart or Forman putting on a good show because he was tired of taking a beating and I will leave it at that.

I don't believe the nonsense about men were born to cheat because it's in their nature...because just as many women cheat. I actually believe that if you truly care for, notice I didn't say love although as far as I'm concerned that goes without saying...again if you truly care for your partner (married or not but I do mean in a relationship) because people that are playing the field as it was formerly known back in the day but currently comes under the heading of friends with benefits should have no expectations of exclusivity, you will not cheat on them because you respect them too much. Doesn't mean you won't see someone that you might like to be with because after all you're human but you won't act on it.

Now I believe that there are a small percentage of people that will always be faithful no matter what because it's in their nature. There's an even smaller percentage that will be tempted to cheat but won't give in to that temptation. The rest of the population will cheat and the majority of them will do it more than once. I feel that most of these people will just think of what will make them feel good with total disregard for the people they will hurt if they get found out. A large part of the time alcohol or drugs factor in the equation hence the expression get high, get stupid.

In summation: People cheat because they are either:

• weak (just can't fight the feeling)
  
• greedy (wants to have their cake and eat it too
  
• characterless (will basically sleep with anybody
  
• stupid (make bad choices (i.e., a married man who sacrifices his family for one night of sex with someone other than his wife)
  
• petty (I cheated because my partner cheated)
  
• immature (I cheated because I was feeling neglected)
  
• just don't care (don't care about the consequences)
  

Women, especially if you're married, treat your man like you're his outside woman and he will have no reason to stray. Partners should talk to each other if something is missing from your sex life after all sex is in the top 5 of the most important requirements for a relationship to work. Tell each other what you need to be happy in the bedroom. Above all else be honest with each other and if cheating means that much to you maybe you shouldn't be with the person you're with.

The Jude Alex show premiered on September 12, 2005 (doesn't seem like it was that long ago but it has been almost 5 years)! Now I’ve been watching court shows for years starting with the original People's Court with Judge Wapner so when they announced the new judge in town I just wasn't that excited and might have even been determined in the back of my mind that I wasn't going to like him. Could this maybe be because men judges tend to be boring? Judge Wapner was a stern, no nonsense, and uneventful man and believe it or not the show actually seemed geared to the older generation. Don’t get me wrong I loved watching the show in spite of this. This was also the case with Judge Gerry Sheindlin; unlike Judge Judy (his wife) he had no funny bone. Judge Joe Brown lacks entertainment value because his ego is bigger than he is therefore he can only be taken in teeny tiny doses. Judge Mathis has a good show but one thing he has done for many years that I hate (and he has toned it down in the last season or two) is he belittles the people that come through his court. I understand he is there to entertain and there is a lot of court show competition but I feel there is a line you should not cross because at the end of the day you are 1) still a judge and 2) these people have real feelings. Also alot of his cases have all seemed to blend into one type of case and about 50% of them are boring and predictable. Don't get me wrong, I still watch the show, I just mute certain cases.

...in walks Judge Alex and after watching the first episode I didn’t watch again until the 2nd season when I found myself at home during the day and what do you do if you're at home during the day. You watch, soap operas, talk shows or court shows or a combination of all 3. Me, I watch court shows so I gave Judge Alex another shot. What I thought while watching Judge Alex the 1st time around was that he was boring and his cases were boring but when I started to watch again it was like watching a totally different show, the atmosphere had changed. The cases were intriguing. I realized more than anything that Judge Alex is a fair judge with a lot of integrity (and that’s important to me because it says a lot about who he is as a person), he doesn't make fun of the people in his court room, he's ALWAYS fair and always in control of his courtroom. I guess the first season he was getting used to the new gig and we were getting used to him. As time has gone by I also find Judge Alex to be a very handsome man, charming, funny, and exciting as well as still being the fairest judge on TV. He is a very likeable person and sometimes he comes back with lines that are just so incredibly funny but he’s laughing with the people not at them! Not smile or giggle funny but actually laugh out loud funny. No other judge on television can entertain so well on a daily basis and according to half the women that come through his court room they feel the same way.

So if you've never checked out the best judge on television you really should it will be worth your time! Judge Alex is a former police officer, trial attorney and Florida Circuit Court Judge. The show airs at 12:00 noon Mon-Fri on the east coast.

I have been a fan of this show since it premiered in 2005 and have not missed an episode. Last night’s season opener was as mad and engrossing as ever, new twists, finishing a dinner service on the first night and sending almost half of the staff to the dorms in the middle of service.

Do you ever get the impression when you hear the chef’s talking smack right out the gate that they have not watched past seasons of the show? They all come with the attitude that they are the best and of course chef Ramsay has to shatter that dream during the “signature dish test”.

Autumn and Mikey became two of my fast favorites. Autumn I liked because she has a take charge attitude but she wasn’t overbearing and Mikey because he’s different with the weird hair and tattoos but I think he has the talent. I didn’t agree with the choice to send Stacey home, I thought it should have been Fran.