I met this guy at the club about 2-3 weeks ago. I had noticed him on weeks prior but had never had any conversation. I was dancing by myself when this one guy from Atlanta started dancing with me. We danced for a while until this other guy, who I will call J, came in between us and began dancing very provocatively. It was hot. We danced for a while until it became very evident that J wanted to dance with me by himself by "accidently" spilling a drink on the guy from Atlanta. Don't worry it wasn't that big of a scene but happened nonetheless. We danced a little longer and then went downstairs where there was ..... a lot of .... cavorting. I went home by myself (as I always do) but he was on my mind. Later while in my collection of videos (he he) I recognized a face. That's right, he was or is a porn star.
I know that it is considered taboo in the NYC dating scene but I called him the next day. He was so torn down that he didn't even remember who I am. However, we still talked a few times on the phone and had mediocre conversations . Last night I go out and I see him again. I go up to him and asked if he remembered me now. Of course, he didn't but remembered me from the phone conversations. He wasn't drunk this time so thought I would spend a little time with him to see what was up. We danced and talked for a while and it was not as hot and steamy as before but comfortable. He was more timid but still sexy to me. While dancing with him this time, I remembered that this is the same guy that I noticed dancing at another club over 2 years ago, before I moved here. At that time I was in a relationship but remember thinking that he was too phyne.
I am kind of at odds about what to do. One side of me says to just let go and whatever happens... After all I have been checking him out for over 2 years. The other side says, HE WAS OR IS A PORN DUDE.
Saw this and had to post.
Porno Dude/Funny Video
Events of Interest
Saw these on the Celebrate Brooklyn website. These are events that I plan on attending. These are free with a suggested donation of $3 and at Prospect Park in Brooklyn (of course).
JVC Jazz Festival
Saturday, June 24
7:30pm
SAVION GLOVER® & FRIENDS / ROBERT GLASPER
SAVION GLOVER® with his jazz band The Otherz, and other special guests. Opening is the young pianist ROBERT GLASPER's trio, which has the jazz world buzzing with its unique sound.
More info
Celebrate South Africa!
Saturday, July 1
7pm
ANGELIQUE KIDJO in a tribute to Brenda Fassi & Miriam Makeba with VUSI MAHLASELA and a very special South African guest
An all-star tribute to two of South Africa's musical legends. The great Beninoise songbird ANGELIQUE KIDJO joins forces with VUSI MAHLASELA and another very special South African guest to perform their own songs along with selections of Fassi's and Makeba's work to celebrate South Africa's rich contribution to the modern African sound. Presented with major support from the South African Consulate General in New York and South Africa Tourism.
More info
Evidence
Saturday, July 22
8pm
RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE
Brooklyn's own RONALD K. BROWN, "Brilliant...one of the major modern dance choreographers to emerge in the past 10 years," (New York Times) and his sublime ensemble perform three works: Come Ye, Upside Down, and Grace, which was originally choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
More info
Brooklyn Funk Essentials
Friday, July 28
7:30pm
LEELA JAMES /
BFE SOUND SYSTEM aka BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS
R&B's new queen LEELA JAMES, a direct descendant of Tina Turner, Mavis Staples, and Aretha, "has funk, soul, and a whole lotta church in those mighty pipes…(her) husky vocals ring out like a thunderous prayer for love finally answered." (VIBE) First, witness the triumphant reunion of BFE SOUND SYSTEM, aka the BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS, the borough's legendary funk/hip-hop/acid jazz collective.
More info
Washington Mutual Concert Series
African Festival
Saturday, August 5
2pm-9pm
KÉKÉLÉ / LÁGBÁJÁ / RAZIA / AFRICAN UNDERGROUND ALLSTARS / MARTINO ATANGANA & THE AFRICAN BLUE NOTE
This year's celebration of African music, food, and culture is cross-continental affair that will keep you dancing all day headlined by the Congolese rumba supergroup KÉKÉLÉ. The mysterious masked Nigerian LÁGBÁJÁ, heir apparent to Fela Kuti's Afrobeat throne, leads the rest of the lineup, which includes Madagascar-born and Gabon-raised R&B singer RAZIA, pan-African hip-hop with the AFRICAN UNDERGROUND ALLSTARS featuring CHOSAN of Sierra Leone, DOLA of Tanzania, and other special guests, and MARTINO ATANGANA & AFRICAN BLUE NOTE, whose fusion of funk, jazz and an array of West African styles throws a hint of NYC into the mix.
More info
The full schedule can be seen here. Mark your calendars.
The Bodies Exhibit
Don't forget to see my post below for the results from the Creative Challenge #1 and the topic for #2.
Bodies Exhibit
If you have the chance, you seriously have to check out this exhibit. For those who do not know this exhibition features real human specimens to better inform people of the complexities of the human body. It is a nice mix of education and art. It is at the South Street Seaport Exhibition Centre
11 Fulton Street,New York, NY, 10038 (at the corner of Front Street) http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/bodies.html
Even though I knew what the exhibit was about I was still amazed at the pain-staking detail and display of the pieces. There were pieces that were informative and interesting while aesthetically beautiful at the same time. I don't want to tell you about it so that it cheapens the experience but to give you an idea of what I'm talking about here are some examples. There were pieces where the they had taken the skeleton out of a body and put it on a stand and in front of it had the rest of the body (muscles, tendons, etc) in front of it holding the skeleton's hand. There were other pieces that had every nerve from the top of the head to the bottom on display. Even though there were not bones or muscles, you can still see the detail of the mouth, lips, eyes, and toes. Simply awesome.
I highly recommend it. My only regret is that I didn't take my family to it before they left town. Be warned, go when you have plenty of time to read all of the information that they have posted.
Creative Challenge #1 Results/CC#2
The theme for last weeks' CC#1 was "leaves". Here are the posts:
There weren't many contributions but hopefully it will pick up with time. If anyone has any input, questions or concerns, please let me know. Do you think that a week is long enough with everyone's busy schedule? Also looking for topics. As a reminder, this isn't a contest or for judgement. How we did it before was that everyday you had only 20 minutes to create something representing the theme for the week. So most of the work viewed was not finished. This is just to keep creativity flowing.
Creative Challenge #2
This weeks' topic is "graffiti". This can be ANYTHING created by you; song, music, writing, poem, graphic design, motion graphic, animation, video, picture, etc.
Plight Of The Cinema
Yes, I know that this is my third post this week. It won't be like this every week but have something on my mind.
I went to see X-Men on Friday. I loved the movie and thought they did a wonderful job staying close to the original comic storyline. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you about the movie for those still waiting to see it. Be warned, I just found out that there is a small piece at the end of the movie AFTER the credits. I am mad because we left during the credits.
I will say that the movie going experience was less than desired. I went with some friends to Jersey Garden's Loews. I went there for the first time about two years ago and it was really nice. This time it made me not want to go to the movies again. You had the people with babies at a 10:40 p.m. show. Then you had the people who had to respond after each scene not realizing that the buzz of everyone doing this makes it hard to others to pay attention to what is going on at that moment. Then you had the drunken group of guys who you heard entering the theatre talking loud and just being stupid. Why won't people act right in public? I just don't understand. Why can't you go to a movie and enjoy it without country, ghetto, ignorant, drunken, late night baby-carrying people messing the whole experience up? It makes me wonder, how long will it be before people who want to experience the movie, and not hear what the person in row 18 thinks, totally abandon the cinema experience. Will cinema be a thing of the past like the drive-in movies because of rude, inconsiderate people? Will it lead to there being two screens, one that you pay more for in order to keep out the "undesireables" and then the "common" one?
Posting Option for Creative Challenge
I found a friend of mine who created a site that works great for what we need for the challenge. It was created to allow families to post pictures and create a family tree but he said that we can use it for our purpose. It is really awesome in that you can post pics, music, and even movies (up to 5 mb).
Instructions:
1) Go to http://aspire.amiglia.com/
2) Enter password (aspire)
3) Click on my pic
4) Go to the bottom right and you will see the upload box
5) Once pic is uploaded you can click on pic and add captions
That's it. Nice, right? I will post some things today to get it started. You can post as much as you want.
BTW here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend.
Believe this was at the Roosevelt monument.
The gang in front of Bob Evans
Derron
ShawnQT
Fuzzy when he isn't acting silly
Why are so many people attracted to this monument?!? Hmm......
Believe this was at the Roosevelt monument also.
Derron and ShawnQT having fun with a harmonica.
Creative Challenge #1/Weekend
Well folks, I'm back like a bad dream. Had a very relaxing weekend in MD and DC. Mostly MD just hanging out with ShawnQT, Fuzzy, Omar and Derron at my friend David's house. Sorry folks, nothing really exciting. We went to some of the monuments in DC, ate out, shopped and rested.
While we were there I was able to introduce them to Bob Evans' restaurant. They were instantly in love. Hmmm. I miss those restaurants that I grew up on. However while I was there I remember why I moved. The stores were sooooooo far away. It was probably a 10 minute ride to get to the nearest grocery store. I like my one block walk that I have now.
Anyway, like I mentioned in the last post, I am trying to get the Creative Challenge going on my blog. It works like this; I will post a subject (i.e. gum) and the goal is for as many people to create anything with gum as a subject. This can be a song, video, animation, graphic art, picture, drawing, etc. Everyone will have a week to send or post their project. This is not a contest but a creative outlet. No judgements or criticisms. The theme for this week is "Leaf" or "Leaves". Feel free to creatively push the theme's boundaries.
As far as posting, I am still trying to find the best way to have all entries in one place. I know for videos, animations, etc you can post to YouTube and link them in a post. Or if you want to put the images on your own site, you can do the same. For those who don't have the space, I am looking into Flickr. There is a way to create a group (private) meaning that we would be the only ones looking or adding comments to the images. By being private we can be as, how do you say, explicit as we want. The problem comes to be that everyone will have to create a Yahoo account and the process of posting an image requires a few steps.
Those of you participating, please give your input. I will then finalize a way and then we can post. In the meantime you can begin working on it.
Memorial Day/Creative Challenge
I am heading out for the weekend on tomorrow morning. It has been a long time since I have done an escapade but is much deserved (if you ask me). I am heading down to DC for a couple of days and am very excited. I haven't really been out of town since I came to the area because of my school schedule. I hope this is the first of many. If anyone else is going to be in DC, let me know. Hit me up by email before tomorrow morning and we can exchange info.
I will be posting on Tuesday but thought I would give everyone a heads up since it will be my first time attempting this. I want to post a creative challenge to everyone. I will post a subject (i.e. gum) and the goal is for as many people to create anything with gum as a subject. This can be a song, video, animation, graphic art, picture, drawing, etc. Everyone will have a week to send or post their project. This is not a contest but a creative outlet. No judgements or criticisms. In the post I will tell you how to place your projects as well. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know too.
Have a good and SAFE Memorial Day weekend.
Dating Dilemna
Being new to this area (about two years now) and just really getting into the dating scene only a few months ago, I find myself a little frustrated. Frustrated because I'm torn between how dating has been for me in other regions of the country and what I perceive it to be here. And with that, trying to find a space in this arena that is me, in other words a compromise without losing self.
In other places, I have dated people and all the while we are dating all energies have been concentrated on each other. That is to say that from the time we discovered an interest we would put off meeting other people (at least for dating purposes) and focused on getting to know each other better. My experiences here in dating has been that people call themselves dating you but are still taking numbers and trying to split time up between you and boyfriend number 2-5. This is definitely a paradigm shift and I have to admit that I don't quite understand completely. I understand that you want to keep your options open but can you really get to know a person this way? There isn't enough hours in a day already with work and all of the other things that we have to do and then have to try to split your time up between so many different people, how is this done?
It also seems to me that some of the people that I have dated here remind me of monkeys. No, that isn't a racial slur but describes a behavior. Monkeys can have a diamond in their hand but if you flash a mirror at them, they will drop the diamond and chase after the new shiny object. People seem to be that way to me. They will have a functioning and meaningful relationship with someone and see a "shiny" new face and will drop their relationship, leaving behind the hard-work and time that it took to develop and chase after the chance to develop something with this new face. When does it stop?
Lastly, I have only dated African-American and Latinos in this area which is unusual for me because I typically have not restricted my dating options because of race. I've seen people of Indian, Asian and Middle-Eastern descent that I am attracted to and would even possibly date them if the opportunity arose. My concern is that I haven't been attracted to any Caucasians. At first I thought it was because I haven't met the right one. But I noticed that when I search on-line and profile search, I completely leave them out. Why? My God, I was raised in Indiana so you know that I have dated my fair share of them in the past but why has this changed?
In a place where everyone seems too busy to take time to intrinsically develop a relationship with someone, how do I meet that special person? How do I adapt? Should I adapt? Am I sending signals contrary to what I expect? Where is my drink?
Funny Whitney Posts
I love to laugh and these posts from one of my numerous other blogs still cracks me up. So here they are:
New Blog/Graduation
OK. I finally got the hint and decided to post one blog that will encapsulate all of my other blogs. People complained that I have way too many blogs and they don't know which ones to post comments. This will be the one. The others were created as a necessity for class projects. Now that I have graduated I can combine these and actually make time to create posts that will be more of interest. Over the next few days, I will put some of the other blog posts here to help consolidate.
Speaking of graduation, I finally did it ya'll. I received my masters in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU. It is so hard to comprehend it right now, the last two years have been a blur. But I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my education at NYU. It was/is expensive as hell but there are an enormous amount of benefits.
Graduation was a riot. The first one (Salute) was just for the graduates of Tisch School of the Arts. It was awesome. The speakers, the dancers, and just the presentation was beyond my expectations. Even my family applauded the ceremony. The second graduation was NYU-wide. It was so hilarious because so many of my classmates were hung over from the night before.
The ceremony was so dry that I couldn't stand it. It was as dry as shredded wheat with no milk. But it was nice being out in the park and I am glad that the weather held up. I'm grateful that my family was here and to see my dad so proud brought tears to my eyes. Thank God
