Sports Gripes: Kobe’s One-Man Show Falls Short

I’ve been peeking in periodically to see what’s going on with the biggest things going on in sports lately- the NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup. Over the weekend, I watched as Germany destroyed Australia with four goals to nil and as the U.S. and England scored one goal each. The soccer matches have been much more exciting to watch than I had anticipated and watching them on Univision has provided additional opportunities for me to learn some Spanish. There are words that I hear every couple minutes and I can now add “pelota” and “sigue” to my ever-expanding vocabulary. Now, I am naturally rooting for the home team and would love it if the U.S. actually had a chance at winning but I am not particularly concerned about the outcome of the matches. I am however very much concerned about the outcome of the showdown between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.

I’ve always thought of Kobe Bryant as a selfish player but even I had to feel bad for him that his teammates practically left him out on the court by himself during game 6 on Sunday night. And if he got angry with them about it, he’s justifiable. The Lakers’ game was nonexistent! I’m no fan of Kobe and the Lakers but there was a time when I would have cheered for them over all except the home teams. Back when Shaquille O’neal was still there. When Shaq moved to the Miami Heats so did my cheers. I no longer have any reason to cheer for the Lakers and I’ve taken great pleasure in the beatings that the Celtics have laid on them over the last two games. Although things started off a little rocky when they lost the first game of the series, I was confident that the street-tough team that I had first come to admire when Kevin Garnett (arguably one of the best players in the league) made the move (finally) from the sorry Timberwolves a few years ago, would gain their footing and rally back to victory. Whatever Boston had to trade to get Garnett was worth it because they’re doing just that! Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and other supporting cast are great players but I truly believe that Garnett is the difference-maker. With two games left in the series and only one needed to win it all, I’ll be tuning in to see the Celtics clinch the title in L.A. and send Kobe crying and cursing for the last time this season.

Music Gripes: Drake Fesses Up, Rihanna Played Him!

G. gave me the heads-up about an article that’s supposed to be coming out in the N.Y. Times on Sunday. Supposedly, in the article, rapper Drake admits that he had a fling with Rihanna and goes into some details about the singer’s treatment of him. According to the news circulating the Internet including on this site, Drake says that Rihanna used him as a “pawn” and strung him along. Just like’s he’s done with many women. It may be little of me to admit this but it’s always good to hear when guys get a taste of their own medicine.

The fact that the industry-proclaimed ‘second coming of hip hop’ got his heart broken is not newsworthy to me but it got me wondering about how many celebrity relationships are really built on love and mutual attraction and how many are generated in some publicity machine. Obviously, since a lot of these people are in the same industry they are bound to see a lot of each other. It’s not farfetched to believe that they would form mutual attractions and develop true feelings. In fact, there are many celebrity couple who seem to be blissfully happy together (whether they really are is another story). But you have to wonder about some couples. Are they together because of something real or because of what the other person can do for their career?

We can look at Rihanna’s situation and see why being paired with Drake would be a good look for her. I mean, he’s garnered a lot of publicity surrounding his music even before he put out his first album! I’ve heard of other artists who’ve made a name for themselves from mixtapes but none of them were the answer to the claim “hip hop is dead”. Not before Drake. Or so they say. I’ve heard the singles that Drake released and they’re okay but I don’t really know what all the hype surrounding him is about. Who really knows? I just know that if it’s true that Rihanna really did give him a taste of what he’s been dishing out, she did womankind a good turn.

TV Round-Up: “Glee”, “Huge”, "Drop Dead Diva"

Glee's season finale aired last night and I have to say, I loved every minute of it. I loved every performance and was particularly touched by the last two songs from students to teacher and the one from Shuester to his students (I particularly like this version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel "IZ" KamakawiwoÊ»ole ever since I first heard it during an episode of Cold Case). Undoubtably, this season has had it's ups (Idina Menzel) and downs and I haven’t always been pleased with the song choices or the cast’s rendition of them (ex. “One” - hated it!) But last night I was not at all disappointed. I’m a child of the 80s so having the New Directions group perform a Journey mash-up was the way to go to hook me. Frankly, pretty much any pop/rock/easy listening songs that came out in the late 70s through the 80s is A-okay with me. But Journey is definitely one of my favorites. I didn’t mind the set performed by Vocal Adrenaline either (I can see how they could have won). And although I didn’t like Jesse’s voice too much the first time that I heard him sing, I ‘m taking a second look after last night. Santana is another one who has been steadily growing on me. To me, Rachel’s voice tends to get whiny at times and Mercedes is the diva with the big voice but characters like Santana, Puck, and Tina continue to draw me in with their rich unique sounds. I really liked that everyone got a chance to showcase their voices in the finale and I look forward to seeing what's in store for next season.

While watching Glee, I happened to look up long enough between commercials to notice that ABC Family is premiering a new show, Huge. Gee, I wonder what this one is all about? And who else but Nikki Blonsky would star in it. I seem to recall a lifetime movie that was based on a similar premise-accepting yourself for who you are beneath the surface and so on -and you know who was the star there as well. But I’m not complaining. I happen to like these type of shows, where you know that everything will be okay in the end, and I actually think that Nikki is a good choice to play the lead. Will it be a good show? I don’t know but I’m hoping.

I haven’t gotten around to watching the complete premiere episode of Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva as yet but what I saw during the first ten minutes is causing me to pause. Seriously! An impromptu song-and-dance number featuring Paula Abdul? Is that how they really want to start the season off? I’ve heard Jane sing in past episodes and why not, old girl has a good voice. But seeing it in this episode, the whole dream sequence in the food court strikes me as just a tad…cheesy. Here’s hoping the rest of the episode is better than the first ten minutes.

Between Sleep and Social Life

I’m exhausted! I haven’t had good, quality sleep in at least two weeks. Between entertaining visitors and actually having an active social life, sleep is starting to seem more like a novelty than a necessity. I can’t remember the last time that I slept for more than a few hours at a time, even when I had the time to sleep. This would be okay if I were still fully functional without it. But no, I’m sluggish and it takes twice the effort to perform tasks that I mindlessly complete on a regular basis. But I don’t mind sacrificing a few hours of sleep if I have a good reason and lately, I’ve had some pretty good ones.

First, homegrown friends are always good company but having friends from out of town visit is one of the best reasons for hitting the town. Every night was a late night. And, with events like film festivals, cooking competitions, food tasting and wine consuming, it’s understandable why I would forgo a few hours of sleep. Just the other day I saw an indie film titled The Prospects at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and I highly recommend it. So funny! I was also hoping to see Cost of A Soul but alas, SOLD OUT! From the trailer I can tell that I would have enjoyed it. In fact, I don’t think I have ever been disappointed by any of the indie films that I’ve seen in the past. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about the film and so went in not knowing what to expect, only hoping for the best. Or it could be that only the best indie films are weeded out from among numerous other submissions before being presented to a wider audience. Unlike the drivel that the Hollywood machine churns out! Whatever it is, I’m all for the independent films that show that quality work is thus in spite of the budget, not because of it.

Interesting Lyrics: Lyfe Jennings' "Statistics"

I was going to let this song speak for itself but I feel that it is appropriate to share a brief exchange that I had about it:

G: I'm tired of men giving advice to women. Basically they are saying, we will take advantage of you if you let us. How about men use some discretion and don't take advantage?

Me: Interesting idea. However, we are responsible for our own actions. We cannot dictate what anyone else does. As nice as it would be for men to actually be nice guys who do the right thing, we have to do our part to not have the bad things done to us, even if we do mess up from time to time.

The Alicia Keys Situation: My Two Cents

Ok, so I’m super late to the party. But that’s never stopped me from putting in my two cents. G. just happened to mention that Alicia Keys was pregnant which led to a discussion about the ex- Mrs. Swizz Beatz and the open letter to A. Keys that she posted on twitter. Apparently, this was posted about two years ago and I somehow missed it. First, I must make it clear that I don’t condone anyone who enters into a relationship with someone else who they know to be married, celebrity or not. I do not abide cheating on the part of any of the parties involved. Still, I took issue with some of what Mashonda had to say.

First, this “open letter” is not something that I nor anyone else needed to see. I don’t know why she thought that A. Key’s tweets had anything to do with her but since she did and it’s out there, I also take issue with that fact that she seems to make this an issue solely between herself and A. Keys. Where is Swizz Beatz’ responsibility in all this? He was the one who made vows to Mashonda but yet, all of her ire is directed to the so-called other woman. As women, we sometimes seem to think that it’s the other woman who should bear the brunt of our pain and while I feel that they do have some responsibility, the man who committed themselves to us has even more so. Unless some woman drugged him, tied him down and raped him, any man can open his mouth and tell a trifling woman to back up off of him.

I also take issue with the fact that Mashonda seems to think that she and A. Keys need to get along in order for Swizz to be involved in his son’s life. In a perfect world, that would be peachy but I just don't think that she should make that a condition for them to be able to raise their son together. She has no right and who really knows if A. Keys will still be in his life 5 years from now anyway? If things do not work out, someone else will take her place. If Swizz is good to his son, he has a right to be in his life. It has nothing to do with anyone else, not A. Keys or anyone else who might take her place.

I get that in light of her personal situation the types of songs that Alicia Keys sing about seem to paint her a as hypocrite. But apparently, I have a much easier time of separating the artist from the person. Earlier this year, I went to see A. Keys in concert and thoroughly enjoyed myself. And yes, I admit to being titilated when Swizz made a brief appearance on stage. What can I say? I centainly didn't spend the three hours being mad at A. Keys for whatever's going on in her personal life. But I have friends who said that they no longer like Alicia Keys' music because she is a trifling broad. Hmm, I can’t remember what they said about R. Kelly and his penchant for peeing on teenage girls. We have this tendency to put celebrities on a pedestal and when they dare to fall, we give it to them hard! And maybe, rightly so. We like to think that they maintain their celebrity status because of us, the fans, and that we have rights to that image. I don’t think it’s worth arguing that point but I will say that we have no rights to the person underneath it all. At the end of the day, we answer only to ourselves and to God.

The Futon

This past weekend was a busy yet somewhat unproductive one. I had many errands scheduled- things that needed to get done inside and outside of my home. But I did less than half of them. It might have something to do with the fact that I went on an impromptu shopping trip that ran longer than expected or the movies that I just had to borrow and needed to watch before the weekend ended or any number of little things that I just had to do. Whatever the case, I had a good weekend and the one thing I needed to have done— the assembling of my new futon— got done.

‘Handy with tools’ is not a phrase that I would use to describe myself. In fact, my klutziness decrees that I stay far, far away from sharp objects or anything that could possibly do me harm and I have countless burns and bruises that will attest to what happens when I don’t. In theory, assembling a futon doesn’t seem to be a very difficult job. How difficult would it be to follow some instructions, to match my finished product to images of the one provided by the manufacturer? Even besides the fact that the parts for my not-quite-standard futon arrived in two packages rather than the one package that a standard futon would come in. Surely I could have managed! But I wasn’t taking any chances, I left the task to my brother. Really, what would I have done without him? Less than two hours after he started and with some fussing about wonky tools, he was done. And my futon was ready to be tested after which, I was even more happy with my choice. Happy Monday!