Another Good Day

I got tickets to the Thunder game this past Sunday from a good friend. Its was suppose to be a group thing but he couldn't get enough, so he gave them to me. I always wanted to go to a game with my Dad so I decided to take him and make it a father/son outing. This was my first Thunder game but his second, when I told him, he was very excited and started making plans for the whole day. As the day approached, I had set schedule to attend to for our busy father/son day.
We were to meet at Spaghetti Warehouse at 3 p.m. down in Bricktown, where to my surprise he wasn't alone. He told before that a couple of his friends were going to the game as well. I knew of this but I didn't think that they would be going to dinner with us. I wasn't upset or anything but I just thought it was gonna be me and Dad. The food was great, I had Chicken Parmigiana because that's what usually get when I go to an Italian restaurant.
After dinner we all went to Maker's cigar and piano lounge, where I've been several times but it's my dads usual hangout. I was ready for the game so I really didn't care if we went or not but we had some time to kill so we went anyways. It was a cold day so we all Irish Coffee which was very good. I got a couple of phone calls from friends saying they were going to the game as well, so I'd probably see some people I knew.
The game started off good but in the end we lost, which sucked but I had a blast going to my first Thunder game with my Dad.

A Good Day

Today was a good day. The night before I was in Bricktown for a birthday party, so this morning I woke up with a little headache. I promised my dad that I would go to church with him since I haven't been in awhile. It was cold enough to bring out my new pea coat so I wore that with some slacks and a white polo shirt. Church was enjoyable, I saw alot of people I hadn't seen in awhile and after church my dad and I went to Cattleman's Steakhouse some of his friends. I got a ribeye, salad and baked potato, best meal I had in awhile.
During all this I had a lot on my mind. This past weekend was very interesting. I was in the company of two beautiful girls that I'm very attracted to. I don't know how this will play out but it's kept my mind off of other things and feeling good. Another thing that I'm excited about is it's almost Thanksgiving break which means I get a little break from school and start making some extra cash at work.
But not everything is exciting, a good friend of mine is moving to Florida at the end of this month so where having a little party at Skky Bar Tuesday night. It should be a crazy going away party because if you know me then you know that I can get pretty crazy at Skky, plus I don't have to wake up early and go to class. Only thing is I work a double Wednesday, but I'm not worried I've stayed out late and then woke up the next morning to handle business.
So I guess this week will be a very interesting week, since I've got family coming in town and just having fun on this Thanksgiving break, it should be very interesting.

Back Then....

As I was watching this movie called The Wood, it reminded me of how I use to act when I was in high school. It's about three friends who reminisce about them growing up in high school. I must admit, I'm totally different then what I was in back then (high school). Even though I'm only six years removed from high school, I still remember those crazy days. I use to wear shirts two sizes to big for me and pants that were baggy. My dad use to tell me that people aren't gonna take you seriously when you wear stuff like that, at that time in my life I never listened. I was always good at making friends but I use to follow the crowd.
I can remember the bus rides to and from school. Mostly all my friends had cars and at the time I had my license but car. What sucks was the fact that as a sophomore I still didn't have a car so I could get rides from school but what sucked was going to school, waiting out in the cold waiting for a bus, it really sucked!
As far as girls, I felt like I had a little game but my game worked different from my friends. They were the types that could go up to random girls and start mackin'. I on the other hand was a slow starter, who tried to get to know the girl first. I had girlfriends but at that time I just couldn't settle down. Even now I know of a few guys who are either married or engaged to their high school sweethearts.
From what I was in high school to who I am now, I do feel like I changed for the better. I felt like I was one of the lucky few that grew up. I wouldn't change anything back then, maybe being a better student, but I have fond memories of my old high school days.

Halloween Costume

This past Saturday was Halloween. One of my friends was having a Halloween party and you had to dress up. At first I was going to be Tiger Woods because I get a lot of people saying I look Like him but that all changed one day at work. I was talking to my roommate at work one day and he told me that he and his friend wanted to be the characters from the movie Bad Boys. When he said that I asked him, why don't we go as the characters from the Miami Vice tv show. Since I'm black and he's white I thought it would a good combination.
Being James Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs sounded easy enough but it was finding all the right accessories to go with the outfit. Ricardo Tubbs wore nice suits, so I decided to go with my black slacks with a light blue button-up shirt. My roommate wore a lime green v-neck t-shirt with some khaki pants. We both wore white belts and topped it off with some jewelry. The items that set it apart were the BB gun and shoulder gun holster we bought from Academy. We also wore sunglasses too. We couldn't find any police badges, so we had to do with those.
We knew we had a good theme going on with Crockett and Tubbs but we wanted to do more so we got and burned the theme song. My roommate had a little boom box so we thought we'd take it with us so people could get the full effect of our costumes. We didn't tell anybody what are costumes were so everybody would be surprised. After hearing what people were going to be for Halloween, I knew ours would be original and different. Everything came together that night and the entrance was pretty bad-ass, we even did it twice for people to see. It turned out to be a crazy Halloween party.

Tuesday Night for St. Judes

Every year around this time Chili's has their annual St. Judes fundraiser. We try and get guest to donate money for St. Judes Children's Hospital. We usually have t-shirts and key chains people can buy or they can just donate. Usually each Chili's has a big fundraising event. This year our event was at Dan McGuiness Pub , where we had a live cover band and drink specials. People could donate at the door come in and enjoy good music.
It was a large number of people that came out, even servers and managers from different Chili's came out to celebrate. I wasn't going to go because I had to work but I was conivced to go. I'm glad I went though, I was in good company and got to drink with managers. I remember teaching some girls some of my famous dance moves and joking around with them. I got to try some fried pickles for the first time, which didn't taste all that good to me.
Eventhough this was an event for St. Judes, it turned out to be just another fun night at the bar. Some random person who knew bought everybody at the bar shots of Starry Nights which is Goldschlager and Jager, not the best tasting shot but you feel the affects later. As the bar was closing down, a goup of us decided to take the party to IHOP at around two in the morning. Only problem was Half of us were drunk.
I decided not to eat but needed some coffee to sober up. As I'm walking to the bathroom I walked by two stained glass windows that had the earth on them. One side had North and South America on it the other had the rest of the continents. As everybody was eating and talking , I studied this globe closer and noticed that Antartica was missing and I decided to tell our sever. I wrote my findings on a comment card.

Movies and Me

Have you ever watched a movie and realized that the movie you watched sort of symbolizes your life or a certain situation you were in?
Well today I was watching this particular movie, which I'm going to leave out the details and the name of the movie but I will say it is a romantic comedy. As I was watching this movie I realized that in some crazy way that this movie represented me. It was as if you could use my situation for a movie. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've had plenty of LOVE situations that could be movies. I do consider myself a flirt and it has gotten me in to some trouble from time to time but I really consider myself a romantic as well.
In the movie there was a love triangle that involved a guy and two girls. Now I've had my far share of love triangles and they don't turn out nearly like what this guy had. The movie had roles reversed where the girl was the player and the guy felt used. It's funny because this guy, who was a player himself finally met his match and got wiped. Like any other Hollywood movie everything works out in the end.
As I look back, I realize that the movie was like some sort of guide on how not to be a player and fall in love. I'm not saying that I've been played before (maybe I have) but its about realizing the things you go through to find that special one. People do crazy things for love. I should know because two of my close friends went through some crazy situations to find it and so far it worked for them.

So as I look back on this romantic comedy, it shows me that sometimes Hollywood can get it right......sometimes!

Good Friday....Until!

This past Friday started off really good. I made some good money and after work I got to hang out with some good people. I worked a double and from the look of things my lunch shift was anything but good. A high school near by had an hour long extended lunch, with which our store was filled with high school kids that don't know to tip. I only had three tables, two of which were big tops filled with high school kids and only made a total of 14 dollars. Not a way to start off the day.
But I had high hopes for dinner because Friday nights are our busiest night. I knew I'd get pretty tired through out the night so I invested in an energy drink that got me through the night. Besides making some good money on my night shift, I was in good company of friends from work, who made the shift exciting and fun. As the night was ending everybody was asking what everybody was gonna do after work. As usual we all decided on Buffalo Wing Wings, where we usually always go after work to hang-out.
It was about 15 of us that went out there. It just so happened that the girl I either still am talking to or was talking to was working that night. Everything was going well, we were drinking, laughing, telling jokes, and having a good time. Now I'm a very flirtatious person and it didn't help that I was drunk too but I got myself in trouble with her by being that way. What happened was I hugged and kissed another girl that we knew on the forehead. Well she got pissed off at me and didn't want to talk to me, now I know I was in the wrong but really didn't mean anything by it, it was just a friendly kiss on the forehead.
Being me I tried to talk about it but she just was having it. Eventually we did but its been two days now and things seem different. So what started off as a good Friday night turned in to a disaster for me.

Working a double on Saturday

I've worked plenty of doubles in my life but this past Saturday was by far one of the worst. First of all, we had a mandatory employee meeting at 7:30am which sucked because usually are meetings last about two hours so I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep and I started my double at 12pm, plus It didn't help that the night before I went out. As far as the meeting went, we got to have a good breakfast, but still lacking sleep from the night before. After leaving the meeting all I had time for was a shower and then ready for work. The day started off slow until we got are lunch rush which was pretty steady never going on a wait. I was in a four table section with a large eight top booth, which ever server in the store hates.

My first table I had, the lady asked me to wipe off the seat next to her because it was sticky which I did but she never put anything in that seat so I was like seriously, I figured then it was gonna be one of those days. As the my lunch shift progressed I started to get tired, the ticket times were long, and I had a young couple around my age stiff me! This is what the restaurant business is about crappy tips and rude people. My lunch shift, I ended up with 39 bucks in only three in a half hours of work. I didn't have a break because I decided to work straight through since I had to be on for my dinner shift immediately after lunch.

At night I had a five table section but I knew we weren't gonna be that busy because of the OU game. I downed an energy drink someone bought for me and felt revived, even to the extent that when I burnt my finger on a hot skillet I brushed it off and went about my business, until later when the pain was to much to handle. I ended up making 69 bucks off of 17 tables at night and making a grand total of 108 bucks all day which I wasn't to happy about. It didn't help either that after I was off the store got busy and other severs made more than I totaled in one shift.

Oh how I love working doubles on Saturday!

My first accident!

Last Thursday I was in my first car accident. I was on my way to work, around 5:30, taking a different route on I-240. The rain was just letting up and I needed to get off on the the Walker exit. I was in the far left lane carefully inching my way to the right exit lane. As I got in the right lane the car in front of me suddenly put on its breaks, the roads were very slick from the rain, so I slammed on mine almost hitting him. For a split second I thought I was safe, narrowly missing his back bumper, not realizing that the car behind me would not have the same fate as me.
The 1994 yellow Mustang hit the side of my back bumper. I knew I was going to hit something, I just didn't think someone was going to hit me. When I checked my rear-view mirror I noticed three young girls getting out the car, all in a state of shock. As I got out of my car all three girls were in tears and on their cell-phone. I went over and asked them were they okay, each girl seemed fine, so I got on my phone and called 911. The highway patrol had already been notified and already on their way. My second phone call was to my job because I knew I was going be late to work or either not make it at all. My manager was cool about it and I reassured her that I was okay. As I looked at the damage of both cars, I realized that the damage to my car wasn't that bad but her car looked like it would probably need some major work.
When the highway patrolman came I was relieved that we could finally get this accident mess going and I could finally get to work. As the patrolman asked me what happened I told him my side of the story and then he asked for my license and proof of insurance. As I gave him that information he noticed my out of date car tag, which should have been renewed in January. By the grace of God, he gave he a warning and went and went to get the girls information. When he was walking away from me, the whole time I was thinking he could have taken me to jail and impounded my car.
After everything got sorted out he sent me on my way with the information I needed to file a claim with my insurance company, now I'm just setting hear trying to figure out what to do with this information since I've never been in an accident before!

Last Words

I thought that what we learned in this class is very vital to our growth as young media professionals. In taking this class, I enjoyed the topics we covered. Some I knew nothing or little about. One topic was the Tim Wise video and white privilege. Wise had so much passion on his subject matter, that made me re-think on a lot of things. Looking back on subjects we discussed in class, I can see things more clearly, especially in broadcast news. In during our group project, which was over the good and bad in broadcast, I look at the news in a different light. I can see the news trying to reach out to minorities on and off the camera, giving new and more opportunities to them.
Even in our blog assignments we did, were not only enjoyable but very informative. One that was very entertaining was hip-hop. Now I am very familiar with hip-hop and its roots but I never really broke things down to its image and how it was marketed to the public. Another blog was the minorities in Ads. This one you clearly had to actually break-down commercials and see the underlined meaning behind it, and you see that most commercials are not directed to, or didn't have any minorities at all.
I thought the minority power points were pretty informative, discussing how the media portrays and stereotypes different groups. I found the Latino power point very interesting, I wish we could have devoted more time in discussing that minority group. I liked how we had open discussions on just about everything we talked about.
Now I know this is a journalism class that deals with these topics in the media but a lot of this information could be thought as a class outside this profession. The subject matter we discussed in class could be talked about anywhere because it deals with topics outside of the media as well. Its stuff that everybody at least hears or sees on TV. Race and gender have been touchy subjects for years and I think that this class is a prime example on how things are and how they can be fixed. For example the Kerner Commission paved the way for minorities in the media and from what Ive seen today, it has done good so far.
This class has opened my eyes to several things in the media. I look at commercials more closely, to see how minorities are portrayed in them. Ive taken a closer look at broadcast news to see how we (minorities) are portrayed in them as well. Also looking to see if minorities are viewed in negative or positive ways then whites. Not only do I see race differently in the media but also gender as well. Ive seen some crazy Ads in my day portraying women as objects but in putting to use what Ive learned in class, I can clearly see and judge more closely on the subjects underlining message.
Last but not least, I want to talk about our group presentation, which to me was by far the best thing I ever did in class, and the class response was crazy. In doing this group presentation I had my doubts. The subject that we covered, I knew nothing about it. My group was the best and we got the job done. Are subject was about the catsuit of Serena Williams in the 2002 U.S Open, and how the media portrayed it in the media. We had a good power point that discussed a lot on the subject. The thing that amazed me the most was the class response to the subject matter. I think a big part of our grade we got was probably because of the classroom participation. I felt that we hit on good points ant the class reacted.

In all this was an enjoyable, entertaining and informative class. This is a class that should be taught to everybody in college.

Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop to me is a culture, a style that is different than any other thing we see or listen to. Hip-Hop is a self-expression of yourself. It is a language that has grown on us over the years.

Five artist I've never heard of,
Some people may have heard of these artist before but I never have.......
1) Madcon
2) Bojofloja (Mexico)
3) Dorrough
4) Flobots
5) Souls Of Mischiefs

Five videos I have never seen before.
1) Pharcyde
- Runnin'
- The video uses different stereotype senerios. Basically its about how you cant keep running away from your from your past or problems.

2) Biz Markie
- Just a Friend
- Basically the premise of the video is how a guy finds a girl he likes and it just so happens that she's unfaithful to him, and she has a guy friend that she's actually cheating on him with.

3) Sugar Hill Gang
- Rappers Delight
- The video is just a feel good party at a little disco club. Everybody having a good time.

4) A Tribe Called Quest
- Check The Rhyme.
- Just some good old hip-hop. The video is just like a block party setting. Good rhymes!

5) The D.O.C
- Its Funky Enough
- The D.O.C was part of N.W.A. Typical video set in Oakland, early gangster rap.

Radio stations: Power 103.5, Wild 104.9

Other then the corporations you listed , I cant think of any others.

I think everything now has become or trying to become mainstream. With the corporations you listed earlier, they know that hip-hop is big. Even in what we say; slang is becoming more and more common in how we talk, with words such as bling and bootylicious and even the word gangster is now used in a different sense then what it means.

My Parents are from the old school. I grew up listening to their kind of music., stuff from the 60s' 70s' and 80s'
Al Green ( All-time Favorite) Classic R&B
Earth, Wind, Fire Funk
Prince Disco

I enjoyed this blog assignment by far the most. In doing this, you can see that hip-hop is evolving everyday, its an international culture now, with hip-hop growing from Mexico to China. I can see the early changes from hip-hop to how it is now. In watching and hearing artist I'd never knew, it kind pf opens your eyes to see how hip-hop is a big deal. Hip-Hop is not only music but its a business tht is used in a lot of what we see today whether in commercials, billboards, or movies. Hip-Hop has become a thing for all ages and races.

Minority Advertisement

Oklahoma Gazette: Print Media
Number of Ads- 98
Minorities in Ads/Ads - 5

At of all the ads the minority ones were that of restaurants, mainly Chinese Buffet. No ads featured minorities in it at all.

Entertainment Weekly: Print Media
Number of Ads- 9
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 0

No Ads featuring minorities at all. I picked this magazine because it was that of my roommates and It deals with the Entertainment Industry.

Reality TV: Making the Band- MTV- 8pm Tue
Number of Ads- 6
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 2

The Oklahoma Daily: Print Media
Number of Ads- 6
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 0

Im not that surprised that there are no minorities in any ads in the daily. Even though OU is pretty diverse, I dont think there is a big enough diversity in the paper for that.

The Midwest City Sun: Print Media
Number of Ads- 13
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 0

The Sun is a community paper with no ads of minorities at all. Though it features blacks in sports articles, it has no ads of diversity in the paper.

NCAA Basketball (NIT Tournament) ESPN 6pm
Number of Ads- 15
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 6

NBA Basketball (Cavaliers vs. Magic) ESPN Fri 7pm
Number of Ads- 10
Minorities in Ads/Ads- 2


Im really not that surprised about the lack of diversity in ads. It's what the reading talked about, A majority of ads have minorities in the background and if it is an ad featuring minorities its associated with alcohol, food and cars. I feel like a majority of the time people dont want to see minorities because the feel like if they cant relate to them then they cant relate to the product. I dont think things will ever change in these situation as long as people have there issues about what they see.

What I think on TV

I was unable to watch the Grammy's this year due to the fact that I rarely ever watch the Grammy's. Though I am kinda upset that I missed the Al Green, Justin Timberlake and Boyz II Men performance. I heard that the T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye and Lil Wayne performance was very good.
I love watching TV especially reality TV. I've watched shows from Flavor of Love to I Love New York. I've wondered if people think that's what black people are like on TV, when comparing those shows to the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. When watching these shows, I've noticed the class of people on these shows. To me, the Bachelorette and Bachelor have more classier people unlike that of Flavor and New York, which contestants are a little less classy. I know that seems wrong to say but that's the way I perceived it. It seems to me the contestants of these shows are dominated by one ethnicity, and if their is a small minority on either of the shows then that person or persons don't last long.
In changing the subject, I read White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh. I understand were McIntosh is coming from, her article list key points in with privilege. Number twelve is one that I can relate too. I remember back in high school, where my dad would tell me about how I'd dress. He told me that first impressions are lasting impressions, the first thing people notice is how you dress, its how you present yourself. I didn't understand it then but now I know. I do think people are stereotyped by what they wear, its sad but it is how you present yourself.

Things on my mind

Yesterday was the first day of Race, Gender, and the Media class. This class seems very interesting dealing with topics people know about but dont want to talk about. I hope this class touches deeply on these issues. Seeing that I am of a different race, I hope we will be able to talk about race and gender in the media. No matter where you turn, you are always influenced by media.
This past Sunday was the Super Bowl, though I was not thrilled about the game, what I was excited about were the commercials. This years bunch were, to me very weak. My favorites were the previews for upcoming movies: G.I. Joe's, Fast and Furious and Transformers 2. This year, I thought that a lot of the commercials, though pointless, were not as sexist as they have been in the past. From what I remember there weren't any commercial dealt with any race/color. What I mean is that most or all of them dealt with the majority not minority. My least favorite were the Budweiser commercials with the horses, to me they made no sense at all. None really stood out, in all the were OK!
This month is such a wonderful month, not only is it Black History month and Valentines Day in February, but my birthday is during this month. I will be turning 24 years old and I know 24 isn't a milestone but I love going to birthday parties and having them. This year a lot of people will be coming (so far). I will say this, I love to party and have a good time!
In all I'm looking forward to a good semester in this class and a good birthday. I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy myself in class.