BLACK DARIA REVIEWS: 2009 AMA'S

Too many things happened at the AMA's. I didn't watch the whole thing, but I'll start with what I caught, followed by what was online:


J. LO BUSTS HER ASS



No words. I'll let Whitney get up in that ass, maybe a little Thanksgiving Special of "Keeping It Real, Whitney" is in the works. Stay tuned.


WHITNEY IS A DIVA



I refuse to say anything bad about Whitney "THE DIVA" Houston. She gave her best live performance I've heard since promoting her album. Let's face facts. She's just not the Whitney we used to know, but she was the one we remembered last night. Take notes Bey and co.


RHIANNA'S AD FOR BAND-AID/ACE BANDAGES



I hope Johnson & Johnson broke her off for this...was it a coincidence that I thought of Band-Aids and my mind shot back to a bruised up Rhi? Or was I just supposed to be stupid and that was just supposed to fly over my head. And I guess the shoulder pads were to distract me from the lack of singing she actually did while on stage. OK, cool. She sucked anyway. I don't care what happened, she sucked and that's that.

LADY GOO-GOO-GAA-GAA

I mean whatever. I don't hate her, but don't really love her either. I don't know, just always so freaking distracted by the massive amount of shit that she wears, like that alone needs a show. Someone sent my co-host Courtney Brown a picture of the chick from The Fifth Element, and that's a perfect comparison to this outfit GooGaa is wearing.

EMINEM AND 50 CENT - BECAUSE HE CAN'T GET SHOT AT THE AMA'S



I assume that's why 50 performed, otherwise I would have been OK with just Eminem. Maybe 50 fit the quota. Or something. Em's last verse is the best part, IMO.


ALICIA KEYS & HER CHASITY JACKET



I don't really know why the show felt that after she performed with Jay, we needed to see her by herself. Filling that quota I guess, plus Bey wasn't available. Could be a reflection of the music, which kinda sucks, but somewhere Jazmine Sullivan or Chrisette Michele could have filled in a blank.


***THINGS I MISSED (AND THAT'S OK):


JAY & ALICIA



Sounds like Alicia is pushing through her voice...just isn't smooth to me...and I just am kinda like Jay-Z's broach is bothersome.


***PERFORMANCE I WISH I'D SEEN LIVE

TIMELESS JANET



People were hard on Janet about this performance but I thought she did her thing, isn't she over 40? Shiiiiiieeet, if I could remember five dance steps in a row, I'd be proud of myself. This was a mini-concert. I felt Mike's energy in this performance...yeah yeah, I know that sounds wack and clique, but that's how I felt about the performance.


Signing off,
Black Daria ;/

Gangs take it to the Social Media sites to get it on...

Photo Source: Daily News

Just when you thought people got hip to the computer forensics of things, enter gangs.

I was watching NY 1, and this article appeared and somehow it caught my attention. Anytime I hear the word Twitter, my ears perk up. Gangs are taking their beef to Twitter, right around the corner.

I dunno, I'm amazed. You?

Read the article here.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

Since EVERY other F'ing blogger is gonna post it...

So will i...why not get a few freaking hits on my blog too?

I still think that Beyonce is too much. I also like the Sweet Dreams video better than this one, even though that one looks like the other four she did before that one.

But I digress from my point.


Beyonce, featuring Lady Gaga. Here's how I imagined this went down:

To: Bey
Date: September 14, 2009
Time: 1:04 PM
From: Gagabitches


Hey Bey-

Can I call you that now? Good seeing you at the show last night. So, I'm rethinking this whole Kanye tour after the stunt he pulled. Hope my management gets on that before they start releasing the promos, although you know shit like that makes for good press.

Anyway, let me get to the point. After your father practically squeezed my ass several times to get my attention despite my security... Your father Matthew (nice man, please send him my regards) suggested I speak to you about a duet. He thinks it would be big for both of us.

Maybe we'll go on tour?

Let's do lunch.

~GGbitches

**********************
From: Bey
To: Gagabitches
Date: September 15, 2009
Time: 2:12 PM


Dear Lady Gaga-

Please be advised that this is Beyonce's assistant typing for her, as she does not care to type unless necessary. She's also not very smart, and couldn't write a sentence to save her ass, however, she's gifted and I'm honored to work with her.

As per your request, Beyonce's management will be in touch soon. As soon as we find a song to recycle, we will schedule a call with your people immediately.

As per Beyonce, she "Will pass on lunch. I'm not as desperate as Ciara yet, and I'd rather pull that Trump card later." (Sorry, she makes me write these things.)

Sincerely,
Beyonce's Assistant (awaiting her clearance on calling her Bey, please refrain until obtaining notice, as per her lawyer who reads every email I write.)

************************

Well, you be the judge on the end product. Courtney Brown, my co-host on Thursday's Return of the Black Daria Files radio show, seems to like Bey, and no likey Gaga.

I think everyone knows how I feel about this, and I think it may have been a reach to get Taylor Swift. Or something.

Your thoughts?



xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

A moment with Author King Dhakir: Black Daria's First Interview

Black Daria loves a good book. I just finished reading Twilight and I'm looking forward to reading New Moon before it comes out...those werewolves in the commercial...oops.

Anyway, I met King Dhakir at a friend's going-away party, and when he told me he was a writer, I was impressed. It wasn't until about a month later or so that I took him a tad more seriously...most reviewers are given free books to review, but I actually believe in supporting people, so I did things the old fashioned way. Not true, I was actually forced to buy the book...even Black Daria wasn't worthy enough of a free copy (somewhere I can hear King saying "Why do black people always want something for free?")...

The title is captivating, especially at a time when you're afraid to say out loud "I Hate My Job." It also sounds like you know what it's about, but I guarantee there's a lot more to the title. I read it expecting the typical story but was already thrown by the fact that the book had over 300 pages...but I interrupted my Twilight Saga and indulged.

King currently lives in Brooklyn, but hails from Chicago. He's now making the rounds up and down the East coast promoting his book. And Ladies, he's also single, and advertises this on the back of his book. You can talk about that amongst yourselves.

Black Daria: There's a theme throughout the book, the red cardinal, can you talk about its signifigance?

King Dhakir: The cardinal symoblizes resurrection, and red symbolizes death. When things are about to change, the cardinal appears as the warning. It can also be seen as a spiritual cleansing, I believe it's the Cardinal who proceeds over the Catholic church.

BD: Tell us something about the main character, Justice, that we wouldn't know from reading your book. We know he's a college graduate now working a retail job to try to make ends meet. We also know he lives in Brooklyn and works in Harlem. What else should we know about him?

KD: Justice is striving to find his way like a lot of men. He's trying to find an identity without being complacent in his current situation. Even though he has a lot of women in the book, and carries himself as a lion on the outside, when he looks in the mirror, he still sees a kitten. Justice is a go-getter and is going after a vision, not just a dream. Justice is looking for the greatness within himself to get to the vision.

BD: Bloomberg was just elected mayor for a 3rd term in New York City. One of your supporting characters, Felicia, is an activist; how would she feel about the current state of affairs in NYC today?

KD: Felicia would have been on the front lines educating people about the changes happening right under their noses. The book itself takes place in two boroughs that have seen enormous amounts of gentrification taking place. Prices are still increasing, and gentrification is still taking place, displacing Black Americans to make room for a different class of people or big businesses. I hope that when people read the book they will feel empowered with knowledge on this topic.

BD: Where did the title of the book come from?

KD: The “I” stands for individual or identity. Hate is an emotion, and job stands for “just over broke.” When you start a new job, the first day you are usually bugging out, sitting at your new desk or standing at your new post, asking yourself if you belong there. Sometimes as you are there, you begin to feel stuck, like sort of a prison you’ll never get out of, trapped or hopeless. On the cover, the heart wrapped in chains recognizes the conflict, but the journey is to release your heart from the trap or chains to live your true visions.

BD: I read an interview you did with Urban Reviews where you mentioned that writing was barely discussed in a public forum. Can you touch on that and discuss your process?

KD: Mathematics are the key to life, and keeps gravity in check. I subconsciously wrote the book with a beat in mind, to keep people interest and make it a read that follows through without breaks. A lot of people don’t talk about the mechanics of writing anymore because the writing game has become money driven, so that’s what their focus is: if street fiction and erotica are selling on the streets, that’s what they choose to write. It isn’t fair to readers to get the same stories, and what’s happened with rap music, specifically gangsta rap, has happened with this book genre. It’s now flooded, and it’s time for something new.

I also took the time to have the book professionally edited, another area where I see a lot of corners cut. It doesn’t serve the reader any justice if your book has inconsistent paragraph structure, spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors. Writers need to know the mechanics and the passion has to return. I feel these are the tools of an influential writer.

BD: How have you used the digital age to promote your book?

KD: Right now, I have over 2000 friends of Facebook, and about 5000 MySpace friends, however, I know that when I have a book signing, I may only get 1 percent of those people. I don’t rely completely on those outlets to sell my book, but I do continuously advertise, as I have gotten sales from talking about the book online. The key was consistency. Otherwise, I am out in the trenches.

BD: So what you are saying is, you don’t just stay behind your computer screen…

KD: Jesus and Elijah Muhammad were amongst the people, so I have to be as well. I always carry a book to sell, I’m like Clark Kent almost. But I don’t rely on just being online, I know the importance of talking to the people, and I do that as well.

BD: Talk about your next book.

KD: It’s called “Cracked Mirrors are Good Luck”; I don’t want to give the plot away, but it will be five short stories based off the words of the title. “Cracked” will be the first, with crack being used as a metaphor, but will be a person in the book. It’s a science fiction book based off real life situations. That’s all I will say for now.

BD: Lastly, who have been some of your writing influences?

KD: Actually, MCs have been more influential in my writing than other writers. When I tried styles like Donald Goines or Eric Jerome Dickey, I failed terribly, and realized then I had to find my own voice. I took four years off from the time I’d written anything last to find my own voice. That’s been the most important voice in my writing; my own. Through writing as an MC, it helped me to make the transition, and find my own voice.

-fin-

My first interview, I think I did pretty damn good. If you buy his book, then that means I did really well.

You can find King online at www.kingdhakir.com, as well as on Facebook and Myspace. It's worth your money, and a quick read...so go on, buy the book.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

It's Natural...

Depends on who you ask, but in the end...this is definitely a classic case of not understanding what love is...how old are you again, Rhianna?

It was time to hear this story, and I didn't say it, but my homegirl Courtney Brown pretty much reminded me of the fact that Rhianna's album is dropping later this month.



I would like to know the following:

1. Who hit who first? Not just that night, but in general?

2. What was it that you loved about him?

3. Why did you think it was Normal? Got the part about telling yourself it wasn't happening...but I need more details.

4. Are you going to therapy? Spirital advisors?

So mant questions guess we will learn more tomorrow. Sigh.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

Winter Boo Informational Video

See, here's the thing. They DO put a Parental Advisory at the beginning of the video. That doesn't change the fact that this video is very easy for little eyes to find.

However, Trey Songz and I may need to talk about this...you know, talk.

Hot. Damn. My winter boo needs to just watch this video, then holla at me. That includes Trey Songz. He's not currently in play, but he certainly can be after watching this...these are the moments where I's young, single, and wants to mingle with something like this...



xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

Always happens on a Monday.

Why do companies always pick a Monday to fire you? Is it because your chances of drinking yourself into oblivion and walking in front of a cab, with the company and your boss getting the news of your untimely passing is what COULD happen if they fire you on a Friday?

Well, as a person whose been fired a few times (I know, shocking) I can tell you that it's probably better they do it on a Monday. Per my background in e-recruiting (before I found my long lost sister, Daria) a candidate has hope if the firing happens on a Monday, as it thus increases a chance for a lead to a new opportunity that week.

Of course we said shit like this when dot-coms were going out of style, but nobody quite knew for certain until we were sold to this larger company, and well, you know the rest. But I actually was never fired from that dot com, so I can't say bad things about my experiences there.

Know that most firings are usually unjustified, and happen for the following reasons:

1. You've pissed you're boss off.

2. You've pissed your boss's boss off.

3. You've cost said company too much money, and you're now more of a liability than an asset.

For Charlemagne Tha God, I believe all of the above happened. You can click here to hear the initial interview. It's been said that the mighty wizard of J-Oz or something made a call. All really good press for Jay, keeping him out there as that dude to be feared. Or something.

Of course, the media whore that I am allows me to see past the tomfoolery, and get to the point.

So here we go.

Cthagod (thanks Google)

I received the "bat-text." I then, (like 200+ other people probably asked at the same time if it were true) sent him a tweet. I guess it was because I had high hopes for @cthagod, especially having known him a few years back when he was still Wendy's sidekick and I was texting him, begging him not to tell her my name as she talked shit about me for repping "nobodies." You'll have to go in the archives to find that one. I'm sure he's not gotten too big for his bridges to remember that moment.

No response to my tweet, so I finally decided to just grow up and click on the page, where I saw the tweet. And that's that. The most talked about interview last week somehow equalled someone getting fired.

For the record, that wasn't the explanation. The station decided to "go in a different direction..." It's the classic legal way of firing someone without liability because they can't tell you that you're a jerk-off, or someone else from a different place needs your job more than you do. At least, that's Corporate America. Or something.

Below is an example of how to conduct an interview that isn't airing on a corporate-owned network. Keyword in the sentence is corporate.



You know, I have a whole bunch of things to say about this, but I'll let you all do that. Thank Rhymes With Snitch for today's contribution of this fuckery we all love so much.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

P.S. Did Beanie mention the name Karleen? Isn't that Diddy's current assistant, young lady who appears in the new episodes of I Wanna Work For Diddy 2? He yells her name but really is joking, for those whom watched it tonight, or you can catch it somewhere online. Could be a coincidence...could be nothing at all. Hmmm...