4/29/2015
"Peace" Inspired by Injustice
Peace My peace has been disturbed I sit quietly, but my heart and my mind are constantly racing They race simply because of my race See, it's the first thing people see when they look at me Some may say they don't see color, but those who do seem to go out of their way to make up for the others I am feared and I am hated Not because of what I've done or who I am, but because of my skin Contrary to what some believe, I think my people are beautiful But we are always being told we are not I believe my people are brilliant But we are constantly being fed a buffet of b.s. that fills us with inferiority With mediocrity With the idea that we aren't worth the air we breathe So we are always gasping as if we are expecting our next breath to be our last As if we're drowning And if such is the case, it's no wonder we can't keep our heads above water We are looked at very differently Some see us as a virus Better yet.... a mutation We are looked at as something many in America wish they could get rid of So, they try to They try to kill us off They have spread so many lies that they have most of us believing them So, many of us are helping with their objective We are getting rid of ourselves It's as though we are committing suicide For when we shoot and kill one another, we might as well hold a gun to our own head It may take a village to raise a child, but that's not needed to destroy one We are endangered But some of those hired to protect us want us gone They want us to see how powerful they are They serve us with judgement as they try to beat us down mentally And beat us up physically It's a chilling thought, but people always say it's a cold world And I won't lie, I get heated The pain burns me I know my "hurt" will not heal by hurting others So, as much as I'd like to, I don't Instead, I pray I pray as they try to handcuff me My spirit will forever be free I pray that as they try to destroy those who look like me God continues to find a way to build us up I pray, not because I'm strong enough to do so But I'm weak enough to know I need help I pray for direction that I can never find on my own I pray for ideas on how to help change this world I know there are those who want to disturb our peace But we have to find a way to carry a piece of God with us When we do that, we can't be defeated This world is crying for peace When will we finally pay attention? by Jacob Grovey
John Lehr, along with his producing partner Nancy Hower, co-created Hulu’s comedy series “Quick Draw,” in which he also stars and executive-produces.
Lehr is a comedic performer, writer and producer working in television, film and theater. Lehr starred as Leslie Pool in “10 Items or Less,” the half-hour improvisational comedy series from Sony on TBS. Lehr also co-created and executive produced the series, which ran for three seasons. Lehr is one of the original Geico Cavemen from the wildly successful commercial campaign. He appeared in dozens of spots, including the first commercial as a caveman boom operator, the caveman in therapy with Talia Shire, the tennis spot with Billy Jean King, Superbowl spots with Phil Simms and many more. Under their banner Howler Productions, Lehr and Hower have created multiple projects, most involving their unique improvisationally-based “hybrid” style found in “10 Items” and “Memron” (a Slamdance award-winning mockumentary). With Lehr starring and Howler directing, the team recently completed “Let It Ride,” a half-hour comedy pilot set in Las Vegas for Comedy Central; “Retreat!,” a half-hour comedy pilot set in a corporate retreat for NBC; “King of Beers,” a half-hour comedy set in a brewery for EUE/Screengem; and “JailBait,” a web series for Sony and Crackle.com. In addition, Howler Productions created the pilots “Team McPhearson,” an animated series inhabiting the world of Nascar for Fox starring Jeff Foxworthy; and “John Lehr Movie Club” for TBS. Recently Lehr and Hower completed a pilot script for Sony Television in association with the BBC. As an actor, John has appeared in numerous television series, including “Friends,” and was a series regular on “Jesse,” both for Warner Brothers/NBC. His feature film roles include “The Sweetest Thing,” and three Noah Baumbach films, “Kicking and Screaming,” “Mr. Jealousy,” and “Highball.” Lehr’s critically acclaimed Comedic Lectures solo performances have had sold out runs in LA and New York. He is also a respected improvisational performer having worked at the Organic Theater and Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, The Montreal Comedy Festival, Chicago Improvisational Festival and multiple venues in Los Angeles and New York. John’s hosting credits include “News Weasels” for E!; “I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” for ABC; CBS’ special "Clash of the Commercials” with co-host Heidi Klum; and “John Lehr’s Movie Club” for TBS. John is married to author Jennifer Lehr with whom he has two children. The Lehrs reside in Los Angeles.
Interview
website: http://www.johnlehr.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnLehrFanpage twitter: @JohnLehr
Photos: cover; (July 30, 2013 - Source: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images North America, top (Still of John Lehr in 10 Items or Less (2006), bottom (taken from Hulu)
4/14/2015
#LuvStory : Episode 2
A little time has passed since I started my quest to find online friendship through Twitter. So far, nothing has happened, but it’s completely my fault. The only thing I've posted was me just saying that it was my first tweet. Nobody follows me yet and I only follow about 5 people, so what did I really expect? I told myself if I was going to do this, I had to get serious about it. So, when I got back to work, I decided to speak with my personal Twitter expert, Vivian. “Hey Vivian. I need to talk to you whenever you’re free.” “Oh, you need to get clarity about those reports we have to send off? I wasn't really clear about those at first, either. I’m ready whenever you are.” I was so confused. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. “What?” I asked. My face had to show how lost I was. She smiled. “Girl, you know everything about everything that goes on in this company. If there were any reports that needed to be sent off, not only would you know about them and understand them, but we’d probably be coming to you for help.” “Well, I guess you’re right about that.” I said as I started smiling right along with her. “Of course I am! But what did you really wanna talk to me about?” “Nothing important, just more of this Twitter stuff.” “Oh okay. That’s cool. We can talk during lunch, if that’s cool.” “Yep! It is.” And that was the end of that conversation. We went about our normal routine until it was just about time for lunch. I was looking forward to lunch more than normal even though I didn't really know exactly what type of things would be discussed. Then, at around 12:30, Vivian walked over to me. “So, where did you want to go?” Vivian asked. “Well, I’m kinda in the mood for some Chinese food. How does that sound?” I guess that’s exactly what she was thinking because it seemed like only a few seconds had passed before we were out of our office building and we were soon sitting down eating our meals. “So, how’s your quest for finding online “friendship” going?” She asked almost immediately. “It’s not really going at all.” She paused. “Carla, if nothing's working on Twitter, that just means you’re not really working Twitter.” “What do you mean by that?” “I mean, I know you, and there are a few things I’m gonna guess. Please let me know if anything I say is not true.” “Okay” “One, I would guess you actually set-up your account simply because you said you would and you're a woman of your word. Next, I know you like to think, re-think and re-think what you already re-thought about. So, it probably took you forever to come up with a name. Not only that, I bet you only have, like, a handful of tweets. Am I wrong on any of this?” “Actually you are.” I said. “Okay, I don’t mind being wrong. What exactly am I wrong about, though?” she asked. I almost didn’t want to answer, but I had backed myself into a corner. “You said you bet I only had a handful of tweets, right?” She stood up. “Oh shoot! You’ve been on your Twitter game heavier than that?” Although we were fairly close in age, every once and a while she would say a sentence like that. It seemed like the main purpose of those type of statements were to confuse me and make me feel old. Well, mission accomplished. I was lost for a few seconds, but I used context clues to figure she was asking if I had posted more than she thought I had. I had to tell her the truth. “I don’t have a handful of tweets because I only have one.” Vivian took a seat and shook her head in disbelief. “And how many people do you follow” she asked. “Probably like 5. I didn’t want to just follow anyone.” “Why?” “Um…well…I…” I stuttered as if she had given me a calculus problem. “I didn’t think you had a reason. Look girl, no disrespect, but you if we’re gonna use twitter, we don’t have time to overthink everything. Do you even follow me?” “No, I…” “That’s okay, we’re about to change that. Will you pull out your phone and sign into your mobile store?” I did as she requested. Once I was finished, I awaited my next set of instructions. “Okay, now go ahead and search for the Twitter app, download it, sign in and then give your phone over to me.” She took only a few seconds, then she was giving my phone back. I looked at her information. Her name was @_viv-i_am. She was following around 80 people, she only had 9 followers and she had a profile picture of a lady I recognized, but it was surely not her. Once again, I was confused. “I don’t get it.” I said “You don’t get what?” “Well, you aren’t following that many people and you don’t have many people following you. Why?” “Last week somebody hacked my old account, so I just set-up a new on a few days ago.” “That makes sense, but who is that woman in your profile picture?” She laughed. “You don’t remember who that is?” I thought about it briefly. Like I said, she looked familiar but I just couldn't place her face. “Girl, that’s the original actress who played the aunt on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” "For real? But why did you decide to use her as your picture?" "Well, do you know who the rapper J. Cole is?" I knew most of the world listened to rap, but I didn't. I have absolutely nothing against it, but I'm just not a fan. Maybe it's because every time I try to listen to it, they just seem to be talking so fast I can't even understand what they're saying. I'm sure Vivian didn't' want to hear all of that, though. So, I simply answered her question. "No, I don't know who he is." I expected her to look at me crazy because of my answer, but she didn't. Instead, she just continued with her explanation. "Well, he's one of my favorite rappers and on his new cd, he has a line that says, "I want that real love, that dark-skinned Aunt Viv love!" When I heard that, I freaked out because normally people consider darker to be...well, not as cute. So, I was glad he said that. And when my account got hacked, that line was stuck in my head, so I just found a picture of 'Aunt Viv' Plus, the fact the name Viv was used, I pretty much had to use it!" Her explanation didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I guess it really didn't have to simply because it didn't concern me. So, I just casually moved the topic of the conversation back to me. "So, how do you think I should get more followers?" "Like I said, you have to put yourself out there by posting. And you have to follow people. Like, you can't meet someone by just following me and a few celebrities. Don't take this the wrong way, you're a beautiful woman, but if you're only following people like Kevin Hart, I don't know that you'll be able to start any new meaningful friendships. I mean, I doubt Kevin is gonna leave the chick he's with, leave Hollywood and move out here to Austin for you." Her words were a little harsh, but they were honest. I respected her for speaking the truth. "Okay, So, help me, Viv." She looked around the restaurant before responding to me. "How do you feel about asking a stranger for their phone number?" "It's not really something I do, at least not at this point." I said "What about giving your number out?" "I will, but...." "But you don't really feel comfortable doing either of those, right?" "Yeah....I guess." "See, social media lets you get over your fears and insecurities. You control what the people see and know about you." She paused and looked around the restaurant again. "What do you think of that guy?" she asked. She was pointing at someone that had to still be in his 20s and to a 43 year old woman, that's still a baby. "I'm gonna take your silence to mean you at least think he's okay. Carla, here's what you're about to do. You're gonna go over there and see if he uses Twitter. If he does, you're gonna get his info. I know it seems stupid, but if he has info and he gives it to you, then you'll be on your way. So, go ahead and get up, go over there, introduce yourself and get his information." I didn't questions her. As dumb as the whole idea seemed to me, I got up and headed in his direction. I was nervous, but I continued to walk over. "Hello....I..." "No thank you, ma'am. I don't need anything. I'm good." It was so embarrassing. I wasn't even looked at as someone attractive, or someone there to have an adult-to-adult conversation. He assumed I had to be an employee in the restaurant. By no means was I saying there was anything wrong with working there, but....well, I just was hoping for a different reaction. I put my head down in shame and started to walk back to Vivian so I could tell her what happened, but then I was stopped. "Excuse me ma'am! Excuse me!" I wasn't going to turn around, but for some reason, I did. "Ma'am, I apologize for thinking you worked here. I just don't get approached by very many pretty women." I couldn't believe what I just heard. "I'm sorry, are you speaking to me?" He smiled. "Of course I am!" We exchanged some laughs and a great, but brief conversation. After a few minutes, I saw Vivian stand up. Obviously, she was ready to go. So, I had to go ahead and try to accomplish my goal. "Ummm, this may seem kinda weird, but are you on Twitter?" "Yeah, I have an account. Why?" "I know people generally would try to exchange phone numbers or something, but I'm trying something new in my life, so I just want to get your Twitter name, or you can have mine. Whichever you think would be easier." I didn't know how he would respond, I just stood there hoping it would be in a positive manner. "I like the way you operate, Miss" he said. "And I like...I..umm... thank you." I replied nervously. I knew my sentence made me sound anything but confident, but the person I was talking to didn't seem to mind. "I know you just asked for my Twitter name, but I wanted to tell you, my real name is Dawayne." "Well, Dawayne, my name is Carla." "Carla, you have a beautiful smile, and I would like to be able to see it again sometime." Wait! Was someone showing interest in me? My heart was beating very quickly and I was ready to agree to going out on a date, but I knew that wasn't what I was supposed to do. "Do you have your phone or some paper or something?" I asked. He pulled out his phone. "Okay, so could you put it on an app that'll let me type in my info?" He did, and within a few seconds, I typed @jaded_carla into his phone and handed it back to him. He looked at his phone and then looked at me. He repeated these actions before asking me a few questions. "Is this how you feel? Is this who you are?" I didn't really know what to say. I felt I had just taken our great conversation and threw it out of the window. "Honestly, Dawayne, that is who I am. Life has not always been great to me and so, that's just where I am right now." I know it may sound a bit cliche, or maybe even corny, but I felt at that moment, honesty was the best policy. If anything were to actually grow out of our meeting, I couldn't have a lie about how I was feeling about life come back and haunt me. "Well, Carla, you may have to change that Twitter name." "Why?" "I just don't think you'll be feeling that way much longer. At least, not if I have anything to do with it." I thought the statement was incredibly sweet and I was sure that showed on my face. "See, I've already made you smile a few times and we've known each other for what, like five or ten minutes? I'm off to a good start, if I do say so myself." Still smiling I said, "Yeah, you're off to a good start, but we both know it ain't how you start, it's how you finish." He let out a loud, very nerdy laugh that included a snort at the end. "You can't have me snorting out here. You may ruin my reputation." He said. "What kind of reputation?" "I guess you'll learn more about my rep as we get to know each other." He paused and reached out to shake my hand. "I think your friend is ready to go." he said as he pointed over to Viv. "Yeah, I guess it's about time for us to get back to work. It was very nice meeting you." "Likewise, Carla, likewise." "Make sure you contact me." "Don't worry, I will. Right after that, Vivian and I left. The entire way back to work Vivian excitedly asked me how everything went. I kept it cool by only responding with one or two word sentences, which I could tell was killing her. I guess that's why I kept doing it for the rest of the day. Before we left for the evening, though, I felt it was necessary to fill her in on how the conversation with Dawayne really went because if it weren't for her, we probably wouldn't have spoken in the first place. On second thought, I knew we wouldn't have. She was super happy when I told her things went well and I gave him my information. "So, has he followed you yet?" she asked as we were walking out of the door. "I don't know, I haven't checked yet, but it's only been a few hours, so I doubt he has. I'll check right now, though." I fumbled my way through the Twitter app Vivian downloaded during lunch to see if Dawayne had gone to my page. Surprisingly enough, he had. My notifications said he (@driley1989) started following me. Not only that, he had already sent me a message. "So, did he say anything? Did he follow you?" "Yes...to both questions." "Oooohh, that's good, girl. What did he say?" It was crazy. I felt like I was in high school. I was already excited, but Vivian's level of excitement was even greter and it was contagious. It made me more anxious to see what had been written to me. What I was saw was both simple and sweet. @jaded_carla it was nice meeting you today. You really should tweet more often, though. While I was reading, I hadn't noticed Vivian was looking over my shoulder. "That is so nice! What are you going to say back?" I had literally just read the message, so I had no idea, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, I responded. @driley1989 nice meeting you too! maybe we can hang out one day... Viv patted me on my back, smiled and walked away. She didn't say anything, but she made it easy to see she approved. From those two simple sentences we sent to each other, things just grew. The restaurant where we first met became the place we decided to meet again. I don't know how long it actually took for him to see my tweet to him, but I do know when I got home I saw I had another notification. I couldn't wait to see what had been written. @jaded_carla let's not waste any time! we can meet up at the same restaurant we met Saturday night if that's cool! I was smiling so hard it hurt! I thought to myself, "Maybe I have actually found a friend." as I typed in my reply. @driley1989 yep! that's cool! i'll see you around 8! #LuvStory And I didn't know if it was a 'date' that had just been set up or not. I didn't really care what it was called, but I did know I had a very small sense of hope. At the same time, though, I wondered if life was going to screw me over again. Come to think of it, I was almost sure I would get messed over after all, the consistent inconsistencies of my life so far are the reason the title jaded is currently tattooed to my heart. I don't want to carry that sort of negativity with me to my date, but I have to. My pain is my baggage and life, just like the airport, requires you to keep an eye on your baggage, whether you want to or not.
Ski Beatz name may not be known by the casual hip-hop listener, but his work is. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the game like Fat Joe, Camp Lo, Curren$y, Jay-Z and a ton of others. Global Genius Society recently had the opportunity to speak with him to see what's going on his world. Take some time to listen to this in depth interview as he talks about his production, who he's worked with, sampling and using live instruments as well as some of his new ventures. WEBSITE: sounblock.com TWITTER: @skibeatz Produced:
There has been a lot of hype surrounding Wale's latest project (partially due to his friendship and the placement of Seinfeld throughout the album). When you add that to the fact that I'm actually a Wale fan, it's easy to understand why my expectations for "The Album About Nothing" were extremely high. Before we get into what was on the album, let me briefly talk about what I hoped was on there. I simply hoped to hear great lyrics, a little bit of the DMV go-go sound, some poetry, Seinfeld with some comedic words of wisdom and a little of that MMG influence. Sounds simple, right? Did he meet the expectations I had? Well, let's go ahead and get into this 1st Listen. "The Album About Nothing" starts off with a brief interaction between Wale and Seinfeld, followed immediately by a nice, mellow, piano driven intro track in which Wale spits the poetry I was hoping he would. So, already something was marked off of my musical expectation list. In my opinion, it was a very good way to get things going. Great album intros don't necessarily mean a great album, so I was ready to see what else was in store. I'll admit, when I first heard Seinfeld would be on the album, I didn't really know how it would work out, but the more I listened, the more comfortable I became with the concept.
It became evident early on that Jerry would serve as a guide as we traveled through the depth's of Wale's mind. We all know Seinfeld is a smart guy, but I did not expect him to throw out so many words of wisdom that I could relate to. For example, in the song "The Success," Jerry says "The worst thing is when you get comfortable, that's why success is the enemy." To me, if I hadn't heard him say it, I could have easily believed that was a line from one of the old school gangster movies (like Scarface). Who knows? Maybe he got it from something like that and I'm not aware, but either way, I thought it was brilliant. Another jewel he dropped was on the song "Matrimony" feat. Usher. He was speaking to Wale about marriage. Wale basically asked him even if you plan your wedding, can you actually be ready for marriage. Jerry replied, "It's like any growth, you can't be ready for it because it's growth. It's gonna be new, you're gonna have a new life, you're gonna be a new person." That was wonderfully said. Although Seinfeld was dropping words of wisdom as if they were breadcrumbs in the forest helping Wale find his way home, and I appreciated them, they were not why I really wanted to hear the album. There's a fine line between great placement of conversations and clips from the iconic show and that line was walked perfectly. They did not take away from the messages and lyrics Wale was trying to get across to his audience. In fact, they were so well placed that they really did add to them. Also, it didn't change at all who we know Wale to be, as a rapper. As a fan of Wale, I know he's not the type of rapper to let you know everything that's going on in his "real" life. In fact, he'll convey the fact that he wants people to just leave him alone sometimes. The song "Middle Finger" was that song. To me, Wale made a song which would have been very comfortable on a Kid Cudi album, (which is a compliment because I'm a fan of his work as well). You can hear that he craves to be the best, but doesn't want to sacrifice his individualism, and you can't really fault him for that.
The last song I'll point out individually is "Glass Egg." This song was about how carefully you must be when you're trying to make it to the proverbial mountain top of whatever your field is, and how things may change if/when you get there. Wale said sometimes he's left wondering "if those around you are actually for you, who's on your back or who's got your back?" Similar thoughts have probably crossed our minds at one time or another. Wale isn't scared to say what he's thinking, regardless of how people who hear his music may take it. That's one of the reasons I'm a fan. He says things we all can relate to, no matter how much money we have. The same cannot be said for the content of most of the rappers out there. I could go on and speak more about the album, but I want to have more time to sit and listen to it. Wale says a lot of clever lines and I want to make sure I catch them all. So, overall what did I think of the album? It had everything I was hoping it would: poetry, lyrics, MMG influence (listen to the 2nd part of "Helium Balloon"), go-go (on "The Bloom") and Seinfeld gave away a boatload of wisdom. The overall flow and fluidity of the album was great, which made it almost like an audio book. In case you can't tell, I like the album and I think you will too. Well, at least that's my opinion after the 1st listen. Tracks 1. The Intro About Nothing 2. The Helium Balloon 3. The White Shoes 4. The Pessimist 5. The Middle Finger 6. The One Time In Houston 7. The Girls On Drugs 8. The God Smile 9. The Need To Know 10. The Success 11. The Glass Egg 12. The Bloom (AG3) 13. The Matrimony 14. The Body
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