Age ain't nothing but a Number

Just when i was full of zeal about the Olympics they had to give me some controversial news. The news that i am referring to cites the women's Chinese gymnastics team with underage competitors. Some report has one of the gymnast at age 13, the minimum age required to compete is 16. Before this was even an issue i queried in my head, "man why these Chinese girls look so little". And now i have my answer. Just nine months before the Oly's (that's what im callin em, O-lees) the Chinese government's news agency reported He Kexin was 13. Of course Chinese delegates refuted the claim. Sorry China im going with my gut on this one.

China has gone through a lot for these Oly's, after reading reports and listening to accounts of what took place before these games it is clear that China has placed a large amount of pressure on it's athletes to have great showings. China appears to view these games as a chance to show the world how high on the totem pole they really are. That was evident from the opening ceremony, which was stand out material. Journalistic reports have outlined the burden that some of the Chinese gymnasts carry as they are implored to do well and bring back GOLD medals. Im not insinuating that this is the reason they have gone to what i believe to be dubious measures to inch closer to gold, but i will say that it is not a stretch. For instance America values the Oly's but i don't know if we use it to define us as a nation, we just take it for granted that our athletes will do well and nobody is extremely overjoyed when we win because we're supposed to--aside from Phelps who is growing gills day by day.

As brought to my attention by Autumn Jones, mumbling has been going on about China's attempt to mask a lot of things for the Oly's. But that is just part of the process, when the games were in Atlanta efforts were made to remove unwanted street dwellers among other things and present the best possible image. I know China has infamous places like Tiennamen Square which seems to be revered now despite the many executions that took place there. However when any guests comes to your home you want to clean up a bit.

Let's enjoy the Oly's and take it all in. If the ladies used gymnasts slightly below the age suggestion, hey what can you do. We'll just know the next time not to trust them with anything, like i don't know....a WMD.

The World is Ours

The Olympics are the greatest spectacle on earth! Watching the numerous nations assemble together in one location is humbling. Frankly, everybody in the world is so beautiful. Im real zealous right now, looking at the pride all of these nations have for their respective homelands. An event like this is truly magnificent and urges us to realize how small of a world portion we sample everyday. I love these people!

I need to develop a broader palette of friends. Im about to get a correspondent or a friend in 15 countries so i can keep tabs on the pulse of the world, or at least im going to try. I suggest we all make an effort to expand our circles and step out of our comfort zones. Im trying to learn spanish by the way and whoever wants to help me do it let me know, perhaps thats why i had a dream last night that i was buying Pimsleurs Spanish program. Lets step our world game up.

God is love
Rev Run

Naw im just clowning- PEACE, literally and figuratively.

Hotmail is China's friend

Small piece of information here, Microsoft is not letting potential email users utilize the word "tibet" in their email address. Microsoft insist that this barricade is in existence to prevent users from imitating financial institutions and employ "phishing schemes" or impersonations of that nature. In this case a spokeswoman from Microsoft commented that there is a bank in Florida, TIB Bank and that is why names with "tib" are not accepted.

Now the cynicism begins, just as the Olympics are on schedule to begin tomorrow (unofficially). With China looking to chivy away from all inquiries about their treatment of the Tibetans its awkward timing that this would surface now. Especially when you consider the amount of money the Chinese have lent the American economy (hundreds of billions of dollars), we almost have no money. You wonder why everything says made in China and although many complain we still send everything over to China to be produced, its not only for the cheap labor (I think im going to embark on that dialogue another day). Anyhow its not as if someone with the word "tibet" in their hotmail address is a threat to the freedom of all nationalities everywhere. Maybe Microsoft is being honest but i find this whole thing ironic. Im just imparting the little information i have, from all angles.

Some Men's Fashion Commentary

This post is for the guys, (sorry ladies, but you may want to check it out for your man) I came across 8 Men's Fashion Mistakes to Avoid. Since im an exceptionally yet unconventionally dapper individual, I "Wallo the Fresh Doctor", the fashion savant, have taken initiative to add my commentary to their suggestions. Check out these faux pas and make sure you're not perpetuating these errors.

1. Socks with Sandals- This should really go without saying, because really the idea of sandals is to give your feet a little liberation to indulge in the same air quality that the rest of your skin gets. Socks with sandals is a travesty through and through. By the way do not exacerbate the situation and wear socks with thong sandals.

2. Novelty Ties, Boxers, Shirts etc.- Symbols such as smiley faces, lobsters, or triceratops should not checker your clothing articles. If nothing else its redundant and counter-artistic. Not to mention it dates your clothes because its hard not to notice that pattern every time you wear it.

3. Blaring Designer Labels- This is one that the urban constituents struggle with...this will help you in your efforts to endorse or billboard your allegiance to the label, but then again why would you want to do that if you don't have any stock in the company. Bottom line it looks like your trying too hard and its gaudy.

4. Backpacks at the Office- I don't have much of a quarrel with this because im going to make backpacks cool. But with a suit and/or office attire it just looks like your going hiking... but only to the 28th floor.

5. Chunky Shoes- Now this really applies to men and women, just because you have a larger sole doesn't mean you have more support. But for your shoes gentlemen nix the square toe approach, although in the D(etroit) this memo probably wont make it to the gator pimps.

6. Shiny or Glittery Shirts and Suits- You shouldn't even have any of these in your closet because that's just wrong. If you're not on dancing with the stars save the glitter for the 5th grade art class.

7. Clothes that are too loose fitting- Now, THEY said unless you're a hip hop artist (I was offended too, just playing!) but really it doesn't do much for anybody outside of the nuns.

8. Unflattering Colors- You have to put your colors in the game subtly, for instance don't get the all lime green shirt, get the black shirt that has some lime green in it. Really you need a plan when you're breaking the special colors out, don't wing it.

You're welcome, YOU'RE ALL WELCOME!

This ain't Football!

There is certainly an excess of downtime in the summer for the sports media as is indicated by the ubiquitous coverage of Brett Favre. The sports population is so inundated with irrelevant and occasionally bogus facts about Brett Favre by the media behemoth ESPN that it is extremely transparent their infatuation has turned into obsession. In their anxiety to report anything, ESPN reported for multiple days that Brett used a company issued cell phone to call another team, well that was incorrect. When I speak of the media here I am referring to ESPN (ESPN2 or ESPN Radio basically all of its subsidiaries). They have talked about this approximately every week day in the month of July.

Where is the discernment? All of this stuff is not newsworthy. We get reports like there is a charter plane booked to leave Hattiesburg, MS therefore Brett might be heading to Green Bay. We get things like Brett SIGNED his letter of reinstatement, now keep in mind it hasn't been processed or sent in to the league office at all, he just put his john hancock on a piece of paper. They told us an approximate time his plane should land in Green Bay-for what!? Let me know when something really happens. This is pretty much a reality show and the Plushredsofa constituents know how i feel about reality shows. ESPN2 show First Take has deemed this a soap opera (appropriately) and has leterally taken the time to show pictures of actors who they would cast to play differnt roles in this story. They really have to find more topics. What ever happened to no news is good news?

The Best Rapper Alive by VIBE

Although you may already be familiar with this but, Vibe magazine has taken the liberty of creating an NCAAesque bracket for the B.R.A. or best rapper alive. The setup is slightly silly and almost railroading a preferred answer but nonetheless its water cooler conversation (who really sits around water coolers though). My quarrel with the whole thing is there is really no criteria and we all know that individuals view music differently, so although it's one question it is virtually a different question to almost every fan which will lead to a bogus answer.

However i guess its all in fun. But they better not make another bracket with Big Boi as a 6 seed and 50 Cent a 3 seed. I expect some hip hop heads to be upset because sometimes people get to wrapped up in fictitious and irrelevant contests that don't mean much at all. Enjoy.

Apology Accepted....?

This comes on the heels of a previous post but perhaps CNN's "black in america" was portentous due to the fact that now the House of Representatives is poised to pass a resolution to apologize for slavery and the era of Jim Crow. The resolution was introduced by rep. Steve Cohen who represents Memphis, TN. According to the report there have been states that have apologized but never has a body of the government acknowledged definite wrong doing.

Once the pending document transitions to active the House plans to commit itself to "the occurrence of human rights violations in the future." However the resolution will not address the controversial issue of reparations. This will not be the first time lawmakers have apologized as Native Americans, Hawaiians, and Japanese Americans have also received the gracious honor of accepting an abstract apology.

While this maybe a positive step it is clearly ambiguous concerning what this will now change. The current precedent suggests that an apology will change and/or neutralize nothing, but we shall see. Interesting to say the least.

What a sentence...How bout a paragraph?

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy received sentencing today and was awarded 15 months in a hotel, i mean prison for his involvement and orchestration of a gambling ring. Donaghy's lawyer said the camp is thrilled with the sentence received which is in large part due to Donaghy singing like his life was in jeopardy, perhaps it was.

The NBA is vivacious about Donaghy being a rogue official and considers him an isolated case, despite his 130 phone calls to another referee who has yet to be questioned. These are loose ends that remained tattered and need to be fused together. Let me say this first, the NBA has relied on the government investigation to find and analyze info up to this point. So far everything Donaghy revealed has been the truth even regarding details that have nothing to do with his plea and/or case, so if this man says that there are other officials then it would behoove the NBA to take a look. We shall see how the NBA mends this creeking and weak bridge with its fans, especially after Donaghy also stated the NBA has a proclivity to help large market teams. I think one man is breaking into the NBA mansion through the back door while everybody is looking out the front window at the nice flowers; point blank he is hurting them.

For my latest trick i have to ask which is worse, organizing a gambling ring and undermining the integrity of a billion dollar business or organizing a dog fighting ring on your personal property? Yup, we gon dialogue today! Vick=18 months, Donaghy=15 months, not that either is a heck of a long time but...

We shall see what ensues. Wallo for president in 08'

Black in America

What does it mean to be Black in America? CNN, courtesy of Soledad O'Brien took a stab at it and merely illuminated the the lives of blacks from one end of the spectrum to another, nothing more and nothing less.

To put the discussion in drive i will start by saying this, there are a myriad of "reasons" and depths that were not explored in this documentary but being as pragmatic as possible i realize that the show would have taken hours upon days to outline and detail the many catalyst and causes for the current state that blacks in America are in. For many blacks this served as a gratuitous reminder and reassurance for a lot of facts that we already knew, especially if you've lived these stories. An important thing to remember is that CNN is a potent national network and attracts many audiences; the airing of this documentary gave other races brief insight into what it is like to be black in America without actually living it (every little bit helps). In an effort to ease the tension among racial lines it is paramount that BOTH sides take initiative to understand where the other side stands in order to help better present solutions, reasons, and formulas to make things better. If dialogue is to happen and both sides are not privy to how the other side views the subject then you could be debating and in essence not even be talking about the same idea. So from that perspective it is good to see what kind of ideas other races are exposed to concerning us. Now lets move on.

I didn't see all of the first day so my commentary is limited for the women and families portion. For the women one of the points talked about dating outside of their race, and with so many black men restricted by bars, dead, or leading an unproductive life its a wonder that there aren't more black women dating outside their race, especially those women who have achieved a substantial amount of success. One of the things that hinders relationships is the lack of roles, traditionally women have played a more of a supplemental role for the man and been the foundation of the family. When everyone follows the formula everything is simple, but now with women breaking a lot of barriers and excelling more than ever black men have been slow and/or tardy matching their excellence and this has caused a void that it is often left vacant. What is a women to do if as she progresses professionally there become fewer and fewer black male counterparts in her circle, she is sure to relate to those that are on her level and those that are in her circle which can easily become exclusively another race. The scenario does not always happen like this but it is an example. Black men need to excel not only for the women sake but for the sake of the race. Just so we are clear i don't think that dating outside the race is problematic but at least give the ladies some more options to choose from.

For those who feel dating outside the race is detrimental you have to consider a few things, if you harbor the same ideas some of our ancestors held then we will continue to be stuck in their same situations. What im saying is that older black generations as a whole probably feel stronger about interracial dating than younger generations do, but they have a right to because of the reality that they lived. But if European Americans hold on to their same p.o.v. then you have a lot of potential fights coming, so if we are all going to live together than we have to be willing to move pass the past and try to reconcile, and not just live in two different realities but want everyone to be treated the same, that contradiction won't work.

This paragraph should tie into male and female and cover a lot of ground, hopefully. Let's put this out there, some people are forced into situations by the way society works and they don't have any options, that needs to be acknowledged. They sell cocaine, crack, weed or whatever to support the family members they do have and they're forced to carry guns to protect the dope and it becomes a vicious cycle. Some folks do have options they just choose to ignore them because the illegal route seemed like a better solution to their problems. With the laws set up against black (as CNN reported harsher penalties for crack rather than cocaine while cocaine is a purer form of the drug) a lot of people dabble in that game to long. Its nothing to sell a few bricks, keys, ounces whatever to get yourself in a better position to make other moves and put yourself back on the playing field but we don't do that, we milk the drug game for everything we can until we get caught. Now at this point we are no longer doing it out of necessity, it is out of greed which will eventually do anyone in. In the "hood" you can have countless transactions take place and the police won't be on to anything because its nothing major happening and lets face it, the majority of the "hood" ain't saying nothing! So everything is copacetic. The other problem that compounds this societal injury is that we don't have the education or societal acumen to know how to do anything else because we have dropped out of school and if we were going we weren't learning anyway, which brings me to another point that a lot of inner city schools are already behind the eight ball as far as resources and class sizes. Where most suburban schools have adequate funding which will allow children to do things such as take the books home and give them additional learning time, as opposed to being in school and whatever you don't learn in class you have to chalk it up as a loss because you don't have the luxury of taking the book with you. Not to mention on a standardized test particularly in the english section a lot of the jargon can be ethically biased. I could get into affirmative action here but i digress, so now you are stuck and where do you end up? Like Kanye said "its only two places you end up either dead or in jail". Then this puts the pressure on the women once again, so while we thought we were "man-ing up" we are really running away and putting the burden back on the women. With all due respect it can be extremely hard for a women or any one person to raise a family. You don't have the time and usually scarce resources, so who ends up raising the children? You know the answer. And with so few leaders there is nobody for the youth to turn to. Children literally can not be accountable for themselves unless they are taught to be accountable. They are at the complete mercy of the parenting before them. And with so few people willing to step in and help the saga continues, remember it takes a village to raise a child.

A lot of the problems that people have been screaming about concerning hip hop is all redundant and almost irrelevant. It is true that a lot of those messages guide the youth and heck even some grown folk. But the most effective way to alleviate the problems in hip hop is to build stronger family units and values. As horrific as this may be some of hip hop is just reporting and observation, if we create better realities then hopefully we create better messages. Unless we continue to let record execs feed us foolishness and we okay that agenda. As hip hop started out it was a creative expression of a deprived voice. How can those that are not connected with hip hop at a fundamental level dictate to those that are what is good hip hop and what is not. With stronger values one is able to determine the difference between real and fake, what is right and what is wrong. And another problem is that nobody is ever willing to speak about anything they feel is wrong because most blacks have a "cant knock the hustle" mentality, and i think a lot of that stems from the truth that most blacks have done some dirt and who is to say my "hustle" is more legit than yours. But there is nothing wrong with imparting knowledge upon others if you have learned otherwise throughout your travels, once again a lack of accountability.

The point is we have to do better and stop accepting the status quo as good enough. There are so many more topics and directions this could go but i have to end it somewhere. I just ask that you hold us down and try to do better everyday and as long as we do that then we will be ok. Although black in America was only a snippet for those of us that know, we get it, and this is just a reminder to us that we need to get on our game and take this thing further than we have before. Hopefully this wasn't excessive chatter but i just had to come back with a bang.

They don't make em like this...seriously

For the guys out there having a little trouble among the ladies, they are working on your solution. There is a new humanoid robot debuting next fall, called EMA, "Eternal, Maiden, Actualization". Im not sure why they named it that. But this is coming from Sega Toys out of Japan, perhaps its the same company that produced the video game system in the 90's.

According to a press release the robot can sing, hand out business cards, and walk "like a lady". However most impressively it has some kissing feature that is activated when the head gets close to the robot, apparently it goes into love mode. Its a battery powered robot and also uses infrared sensors to get around obstacles. I don't know exactly what you would do with this but i just thought you should know, should be available next fall if you need one.