The Ultimate Spider-Man - Miles Morales

Well, will you dig the heck out of this... As a part of Marvel's comic book line up Ultimate Spiderman, which occurs in an alternate universe where Peter Parker dies, Spider man, one of the most recognizable superhero on the planet, is a black kid from Brooklyn. Axel Alonso, the new editor and chief of Marvel Comics, pulled the trigger... Never thought I'd see the day. I honestly ain't the biggest comic book reader but I can't think of ANY mainstream character of Spiderman's caliber EVER becoming anything CLOSE to black - not Superman, not Batman, not Iron Man, not Captain America. Nobody. Yes, there are black characters in the comic book worlds but this is the first time, in my short life, that I can recall this happening. Check out he video below.



There have been some comic book "purist" already up in arms about this, which is expected, but according to the new editor, many are welcoming it with open arms. Read the full write up here. The Ultimate Spiderman 4 is on stands now!

Places are starting ban kids

Lately there have been an influx of articles talking about how more and more establishments aren't allowing kids anymore, and I got to thinking... We have an aging population, a relatively low birthrate (I believe the black race is actually shrinking), the economy will (probably) begin being shot to hell in a couple of days - making it difficult for some couples to afford kids, and now these companies are making it difficult to even have kids with you by restricting where you can and cannot go with them? So its time to find a babysitter... one that's not a killer or a child molester or working two jobs themselves already to be able to afford the roof over their head. It almost seems as if there is an underlying agenda or some wicked form of population control.

Hmm...

After the conversions I've been having with some of my peers, I've determined that people have mixed emotions about the movement. On one side, when you wanna have a nice time at a middle class restaurant with that special someone (or just some friends if you're lonely), the last thing you want is some kid screaming and running around in full panic mode cause their parents wouldn't let them wear their Spiderman pajamas to the restaurant with their light up Sketchers. On the other side, well mannered kids are great. You have one good talk with them before you get inside whatever building you plan on going to, threaten them with death (not seriously) if they try you in public - keeping in mind that kids will be kids and, MOST of the time, bringing the kids along for the journey doesn't alter the experience enough to the point where they have to be completely restricted. So far, according to the article, there have been movements to ban kids at airlines, restaurants, movies, and even grocery stores.

Here's my honest opinion:

Airlines? Stop. People have to travel. The airline is loosing money by banning kids. Charge extra for kids if you wanna deter people from bringing them (and even THAT'S ridiculous), but don't ban the kids.

Restaurants? For restaurants I say "you know your kid". Most kids I know do pretty good in restaurants to the point where its not a problem to bring them to the restaurant at all. With that being said... If you know your kid is bad and there is somethin on the menu that YOU cant pronounce, its probably too fancy for the kids. I aint saying its cool for restaurants to ban them; I'm saying "make smart decisions." They're not gonna eat the food and, out of consideration for the other people who are ALSO spending their well earned dimes, leave the kids at grandma's house or go to Applebee's where the environment is a little more "relaxed".

Movies? For PG13 and up movies after 9pm, leave the toddlers home. They won't remember them and more than likely they'll fall asleep. They don't need to see certain stuff anyways. But everything else? Kids are cool. AND they give you an excuse to go see those kid moves that YOU really wanna see but don't wanna go in by yourself cause you're grown. Despicable Me was awesome.

Grocery stores? This is just stupid. I'm not even gonna address this. Instead, I'm gonna replace it with work.

Work? LEAVE THE KIDS HOME! I don't care how old they are. Leave them home. ESPECIALLY if its anything close to being considered "Corporate America".

But maybe Im wrong... What do you think?

The Work Out Kid

This 10 year old lil fella embarrasses most of us with his work ethic. No weights - just the will and drive to exercise to a degree that most of us adults probably couldn't keep up with. Every day this guy is going at it with an almost religious dedication to the performance push-ups, crunches, lunges, burpees, etc. Its garnered some attention... enough attention to get him his own personal workout video for kids. Watch the video and then ask yourself this question: How's that couch feel?



Full original story

PMS Milk Ads

Saw this the other day and couldn't help but laugh at some of them. Do I think its appropriate? Absolutely not. Somebody really pushed the envelope on this one. A woman would have to have a heck of a sense of humor to be able brush this off and not get mad. I could be wrong tho... To the female readers: Would this upset you? Peep the photos below.

Swimming from Cuba to the Florida Keys

I don't care what type of mid life crisis I'm going through... I couldn't do this. 103 MILES?! That is a LOT for ANYONE! Let alone someone at 61 years old... But Diana Nyad's done stuff like this before... and she's an excellent, award winning, long distance swimmer. On that note, I wanna see it done; I wanna see her do it. I hope she conquers this great feat. It would be a truly inspiring achievement. At any rate, check out video below.

Juror number 3 speaks

OK... So I saw this last night... and I have no words for it. This juror almost upset me a lil bit while I was watching the full segment of her interview on ABC news last night. There was one silly statement in particular that stood out in my mind. She said the words "Not guilty does not mean innocent." .............. Are you serious? I don't know much about law, and I could have my facts skewed, but I DO know that there's something called Double Jeopardy, which says that you can't be charged for the exact same crime twice. She got off on all her charges (except the charge where she lied to investigators in her attempt to hide something that may have gotten her into trouble...). If she gets off on the charges, and she can't be charged with them again, isn't she permenantly innocent of those charges? Maybe I'm wrong... Well, the lie may get her 4 years... and her attorney is pushing for time served... so she could be out on the streets in a few days. Honestly, that may be worst for her though. An emotional person hell bent on street justice may alter her sentencing... And the death penalty given by street justice tends to be executed a lot faster that the death penalty given in the legal system; people stay on death row in prison for YEARS before they are actually laid to rest.

The Cell Phone Movie

And this is for the hopeless romantics out there... I guess there are some people who will go the distance for what could be love...

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

But honestly, the real reason I posted this was that the ENTIRE film was made using a cell phone video camera - the Nokia N8. Is that crazy or what? Apparently Nokia held a contest in which they were searching for who could make the best short film using only a cellphone camera; director JW Griffiths created this work of art for it. Goes to show, with time and a little "know how", amazing things can be done. The making of the film can be seen here if you're curious.

SuperGilles

Meet SuperGilles… He is a lawyer by day… And a Rapper by night…

I'm Serious… Peep the video.




You can download his promotional cd by clicking the DOPE photo below, you can get his app by scanning or clicking the bar code, you can follow him on Twitter by clicking HERE or go to his official webpage at www.supergilles.com

The Instant Deal Breaker

So after my last post, I had a young lady contact me and tell me a story. This story was about some dude who she "loved" giving her the run around. I listened as she went over the details of the problems and how he basically hit her with the "I love you... but I just can't be with you." yet still manages to text "I miss/love you" every now and again to keep her holding on to something that isn't real.

While interesting, that's not what we're here for. We're here because, at the conclusion of the story about the dude who was doin her dirty, she began talking about a new guy she was talking to. The new guy was a guy from the past that, according to her account, has "EVERYTHING going for him." He has a good job, nice car, lives alone in a house that he's paying to own instead of just renting, a good personality, no kids, etc. But, after one visit that lasted too long, he was shut down.

Why? She basically said that his manhood looked like it had been dieting for about six months and she ain't wanna "snap into a Slim Jim". Now, according to her, they didn't do anything because she stopped once his secret was out (no pun intended); based solely on the assumption that he would be unsatisfactory.

At this point I asked myself a question: If I had a woman who gave me everything I was asking God for, would there be any ONE thing that would be an instant deal breaker no matter what other qualities the person had going right for them (assuming that their face is cute)?

Is bad sex, bad head, or no sex at all an automatic killer of relationships? Does it negate everything positive about the person? Can killer sex completely smooth over every character flaw a person has? I'll let you all answer that.

Captain America

Raise your hand if you're tired of Superhero movies? I know I am. 2 reasons: 1) A lot of girls don't enjoy them - I like dates. 2) They tend to lack good writing and have boring/predictable plots (but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the explosions). That's why I've skipped the last few of them and I wasn't really looking forward to this one... Until I saw the second trailer. The first preview looked like more of the same "random guy who needs counseling jumping around in a ridiculous costume"... but this one actually makes the movie look like it may be worth watching.

Chasing after the heart of a woman

So Im reading online and come across this blog post. On it the writer is questioning whether or not men are still interested in chasing women. After the questions, she just lets her readers flesh out the rest of the post with their comments and dialog between one another. One bit of conversation caught my attention because the homeboy had JUST complained of this behavior last night; that women want to be sweated for the sake of their ego/self esteem more than they want an actual relationship.

One male reader responded with this:
Are guys still interested in chasing women though? I think the problem with the chase is some women confuse being chased and pursued with being SWEATED. Some women like the attention that comes from giving your number out and never taking the guys calls, always flaking out on dates, playing games, etc. This makes some women feel like they are in DEMAND and gives them an ego boost. I think if you are interested in a guy, you should be receptive beyond just showing up for the date. I think the woman should reciprocate a conscious effort because if she doesn’t the guy will eventually wise up (no pun intended) and realize he is doing all the work and then probably move on.

A female reader responded to him and said this:
It is something to say for maturity. I’m not talking necessarily age, but mindset....Start off relatively small and work your way up. If she’s into you...she’ll have no problem reciprocating.

Personally, I feel like relationships should be like breathing - completely natural and fluid. The moment you start to feel like "if I don't call/text this person, we won't talk" is the same moment you might wanna re-evaluate the position that you might currently be in when it comes to that person's life. The last thing I would recommend to ANY individual is to be a consolation prize, "back-up plan" or "ego stroke" for someone who has no intentions of allowing you out of that much maligned area known as the friend zone - and that goes for both males and females.

On the flip side, you must consider how emotionally banged up most people are these days (again, both male and female). Oftentimes, people can be quite hesitant to let people into their inner circle just off the strength of your word; especially after being deceived by some of the worst people on this side of Hell. Things may not be as simple as they use to be when all you had to do is write "I like you, do you like me? Circle one: yes or no". This is something that HAS to be account for. With that being said, I think the REAL question that has to be raised here is not "are men tired of chasing", but instead, what are the motivations of the woman who is making the man chase and how long is long enough before she breaks the news to him - good or bad? We don't hate the chase; we hate the FRUITLESS chase. The whole purpose of the chase is the need to fulfill our hopes of eventually capturing the prize that we are after.

In the end, my advice to everyone who finds themselves in a situation like this is to.... wait... I don't really have any advice because it really just depends on the heart of the person you're chasing. I don't imagine a good person would intentionally string you along once they get an inclination of your intentions. I guess the best thing to do is to try to only attempt to date people who have high self esteem so you won't be needed as a "boost" and pray to God they don't have stupid friends in their ear giving them bad ideas about how to deal with the opposite sex.

Satisfying the Insatiable

As I walked in my office today, I was greeted by someone who I use to frequently talk to. He hit me with the "Man... we gotta do SOMETHIN!" I kind of knew where the conversation was going... I made light of it and keep it moving. As I ran up the stairs, it dawned on me: until you're happy within yourself, no amount of growth/blessing/success will ever satisfy you. As soon as you reach the level that you think will make you happy, you'll just want more. A negative outlook on life will serve as a locus that will eat away at time that you SHOULD be enjoying.

This man tried for YEARS to get this particular position within the company. He went to school, finished and began doing excellent in the job that he had before his promotion. The company then gave him a shot at this new position that he had desired for so long. A year hasn't passed yet and we're right back where we were: complaining with a hint of frustration from being unsatisfied with his current state.

Please note that I am by no means saying wallow at the bottom of the barrel and never attempt to strive for more. This post isn't about stifling your dreams and settling for mediocrity; it's about learning to have a positive and appreciative attitude and disposition WHEREVER you are so that your level of joy is not determined by the quality of your circumstances. There may be quite a few things that don't go according to your plan, but you must make a decision to NEVER let those disappointments lower the quality of your day to day life.

Happiness is a gift. It is a gift that many choose to forfeit by paying so much attention to the small things that aren't quite going perfectly. If you find life difficult and/or unfullfilling, take a few seconds every night to strictly reflect on everything that DID go right that day. Make room for happiness in your life by reducing the time spent focusing on disappointments. Or like the old William DeVaughn song says: "Just be thankful for what you've got".

Sometimes you just have to try…

Today, the thought popped into my head: "What REALLY happens to dreams deferred?!" I googled it to see what people had written about it... a blog appeared amongst the search results. After reading it, I peeped at a small quote listed above the author's self-portrait on her page. It said this:

“It’s impossible.” said pride. “It’s risky.” said experience. “It’s pointless.” said reason. “Give it a try.” whispered the heart.


This is a quote in the "about me" section of Judy Kinney on her blog titled"Live in the Heart of life". It moved me to say this: Even when its a road that's never been traveled on, a journey journey deep into the unknown, and you have no idea if you will be successful or not... sometimes you just gotta try - especially if its to get somethin that you've never had.

The World will end… Eventually

This is probably the REAL reason this fella keeps saying that the world will end ASAP-ishly.

"Harold Camping offered no clues about Family Radio's finances Monday, saying he could not estimate how much had been spent advertising his prediction nor how much money the nonprofit had taken in as a result. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities." Source

Yeah...

Sounds like somebody has found a way to get fast tax free money legally... and his next prediction will be his third time doing so (first done in 1994). Needless to say, he continues to be wrong. And again I quote: "...no one knows the day or the hour..." Mark 13:32

Here's a question: Why did ANYONE begin listening to his prediction anyway and how did it reach a national scale?!

BEWARE of single friends

Hadn't really sat down and wrote for a while... Partially because life has been so crazy. Nevertheless... I noticed something the other day. I noticed that a lot of great people are single because of the foolish mentalities of their very close single friend. I recognized I had a FEW of these in my life and, once I started making sure I didn't let their words carry too much weight (or stopped talking to them completely), my perspective on things changed TREMENDOUSLY. As a result, I was able to look at my actions and I began a thought process that rings true 99.9 percent of the time. It became evident that if you look at anyone long enough, you're bound to find at LEAST one thing wrong. At some point you have to stop.

An extremely critical eye can be quite detrimental to the cause while on the hunt for the "perfect" person. She's too tall, he's too short. She too fat, he's too skinny. Her feet are ugly, his feet are too small. She broke, he broke-er. She too serious, he play too much. The list could go on and on, but the truth of the matter is you're gonna have to accept SOMETHING. The trick is to determine who you are, what you need and what the absolute "deal breakers" are. This can be easily and quickly done... if you didn't have the "close single friend".

To help you recognize this person on your life, I'm gonna describe this person as I have seen and experienced them in the past.

Trait number 1: They are perpetually single.

Trait number 2: They complain about EVERYONE they meet AND everyone YOU meet (whether or not you're happy doesn't matter).

Trait number 3: They constantly remind you of what they "wouldn't deal with".

Trait number 4: Physical attraction is the end all and be all... And they make a note to point out everyone's flaws. (Note: ugly is never whassup, but "cute" and cool always beats gorgeous and evil.)

Trait number 5: They hook-up with people based on that superficiality and use that one wrong person's character flaws to justify their mentality once the relationship fails.

Trait number 6: They rarely stop to look in the mirror, do some introspection, and realize that they themselves aren't perfect.

Trait number 7: They tend to live by a "one strike and you're done" policy, which is one of the main catalyst behind trait number one.

I could be missing some things but, receiving counsel from a CLOSE single friend with the above traits will keep BOTH of you single...

There will be those who read this from top to bottom and disagree with me on everything. I want to express that I am not an advocate of settling; just an advocate of opening people's eyes to the fact that a person's CHARACTER is what is most important. Don't hook up with anything or anybody just to say you have somebody. Just make sure to take notice of a person's efforts. If the person is LEGITIMATELY trying, give them the benefit of the doubt.