Yeah, I'm a Tumblr

Due to the fact that I'm usually pretty busy and don't have time to think of a great topic to discuss here, much less wax philosophical on it, I've created a tumblr. Feel free to ask questions there, or comment on my mini-uploads.

Clickity

Enjoy

Shameless Self-Promotion (Quick Update)

Sorry that my first post of the year the is so late into the new year (after my 20th birthday, even). Stuff's been going on for me. Some of which I'm going to use this blog to mention in hopes that I can get an inch of publicity here.

First things first, you guys may or may not know that I am a certified makeup artist. I get jobs here and there (when I'm not working full-time), but I've got something planned that takes the cake: Bacchanal Jamaica 2011. Girls love having hugely dramatic looks for carnival and that I can achieve. I need as much help as I can get with putting my name out there so please like my makeup page and pass it on to your friends.

I also make miniature food jewelry now. There's more to it than what's been added to the page. I just need to photograph them. I also need to set up my Etsy shop so people can buy my stuff online.

This was just a quick update to let everyone know what's up with me right now. This is why I've been disappearing. This and my job. I'm coming back later this month or some time in April for the first official re-boot post.

A Much Needed Re-Vamp AND Race-Specific Roles

First things first, blogspot is acting up shit so it may take a while before this blog looks vaguely functional again.

I haven't been here for months because I have a life now and things (important things) have gotten in the way. I am still working on projects that were mentioned here previously (The Twilight thing, Alternatively), but going a different way about both. "Twilight" will be completed in full before I post each chapter here month by month. Alternatively is being completely re-written as a novel that may take me years to finish.

In other news, I've had a long year. A very long and meaningful self-searching type of year. And I've discovered that I really don't like most of this blog anymore. I want to change it. This blog has been very me-centric since its creation and I'm just about sick of that now. This blog started out being an unconventional method of me extending my trivial frustrations to the rest of the world and I have no reason to do that anymore. So no more rants about random stereotypes, if anything were to come out of that topic it would be a long article about stereotyping happens. That's not to say this is gonna some hippie "meaning of life" vibe to it from now on. Sometimes it probably will, but not always.

From time I might throw in a comment here or there about a project that I'm working on. But the point here is that this blog is no longer about that on a whole. Some of my older posts have been deleted for either exposing to much of my personal info or just serving no purpose whatsoever. I couldn't find it in me to delete a few of the old ones. But they just may go eventually too. I have no idea when I'll update this again.

____________________________________________________
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

I was surfing the net the other day and stumbled upon a Broadway fansite that had spawned an everlasting argument about whether some roles were race-specific. Specifically, Glinda of Wicked:

And while it makes perfect sense to assume that this character should be played by a white woman because the character has been casted almost exclusively as white women (and in some cases Asians), does this mean that the role is racially exclusive to white women?

I vote "No". I believe this role should be open to women of any race given that they have the talent and ability required to play it. It's been done before (there's been a few cases of understudies or standbys who are black taking over for a night). First of all, the argument that usually is brought up would be "G(a)linda is blonde. We can't re-write the script to erase all references to her defining feature."

Right. Because never...


In the history of forever...



Has there ever...


Been a dark-skinned woman pulling off the blonde look...ever. There are many different shades of blonde in the world. I have a hard time believing none of them could suit a black (or hispanic, or any) woman. Would it take a bit longer for wigmakers to do their job because they'd have to discover the perfect shade for the actress? Yes. But the point here is a black woman can be blonde and since there is no specific mention of what shade of blonde Glinda's hair is, it would be fair to give her any.

Glinda's main claim to fame in the musical is being blonde and aside from that, ambitious and rich. (Not her entire character, mind you, just the memorable bits) Being "ethnic" should not keep someone from being either of those things, and Glinda has never been given a specific race according to the script (Actually, the only characters that have come close are Elphaba- who is green- and Doctor Dillamond- who is a Goat). And while some roles (such as those in Hairspray or The Wiz) are pretty much exclusive to the races they were written for, the ones from Wicked are not.

At least I think so. What do you think? Leave a comment and don't be afraid to disagree.

"I've Got Nothing"

So, as you may (or probably may not) know, I'm a follower of several UK Tubers. And the big word in UK when it comes to YouTube right now is ChartJackers.

ChartJackers is a project involving a group of very talented and very popular UK YouTubers to help raise funds for BBC's Children In Need. Their aim is to jack the music charts and get their single to number one. (Note: I'm about two months late letting you know about this, but you can still help.) They're little adventure has been followed every week by BBCSwitch.

Their single and music video has been completed with the help of their subscribers. It's a brilliantly cheesey pop song and the video includes clips sent by fellow YouTubers. [Watch Here]
The song is now available on iTunes and iTunes only. Every dollar made from people buying the song will be going to Children In Need. I believe the song is only available in the UK right now, but that's temporary. Personally, I'm addicted to the song and would totally download it for free but my conscience would eat me alive.

If you are in a situation that prevents you from buying the song (like myself), you can still help. You can spread the word in your blog, on Facebook, on your Vlog, etc. Or you can print this flyer and post it around your school/workplace.

As a little bonus, if 3,000 comment on this video they will each do a dare this week. That should be fun to watch.

Just so you know...

[Warning: Rambling and Ranting are sure to follow]

So I've pretty much gotten used to the idea of being stereotyped no matter where I go.

In Jamaica, I'm the "brown" chick who listens to white people music and avoids dancehall whenever possible.

In America, I'm a black girl who listens to white people music and has way too many white friends.

In the Internet, I'm the Jamaican who likes jerk chicken, ginger beer, calypso music and limbo....wut.

Stereotypes seriously don't bother me as much as they used to. Because I do listen to "white" music and I can't stand dancehall. I love jerk chicken and yes most of my American friends are white (huge surprise, I lived in South Florida...so mostly white Cubans...), but just so you know, ginger beer, calypso and limbo are two of the least accurate stereotypes I've gotten yet.

I hate ginger beer. I can't speak for all Jamaicans here. A lot of people love it. I just hate ginger in general. It's like mint only disgusting.

Calypso? French music brought to Trinidad played mostly at their Carnival celebrations...oh yeah, so Jamaican. The music that we Jamaicans listen to at carnival is called 'Soca'. It's closely related to calypso and also originated in Trinidad...only it's not as annoying...While I'm on that note, I've always noticed that most people who imitate Jamaican accents end up with something that sounds vaguely Trinidadian or Bajan, with the exception of "Futurama"'s Hermes who sounds vaguely African. Goo'jahb.


Limbo is something that most Jamaicans just do not do anymore. It's tired and old. As a matter of fact, the only people in Jamaica who limbo anymore are 6-year-olds who watch more American television than probably necessary and the kind of tourists who spend their time in "Touristville" (aka. Montego Bay and Negril) and never step foot in Kingston where civilazation is. I mean the only reason the hotels put on events like limbo contests and shit is because they think that's what you want to see. It is not an accurate depiction of "real" Jamaica. (Neither is 'Shotta's'. Jamaica isn't always violent.)

If you want semi-accurate stereotypes, please stick with the Rastas, weed and dominoes. It's still wrong but it's closer than freaking calypso. >.>

Double Controversy

I feel terrible for not writing a post with any real depth for a while now. Most of them just update you on my social/home status...that's what twitter is for. But the truth is, there is not much to talk about.

So I started looking and I found that two movies for 2010 that are dealing with some controversy. Both are something that everyone can dig into, because everyone has something to say when it comes to the touchy subject of race.

The first is the controversial issue of the casting of 'The Last Airbender', an action film based off of a Nickelodeon animated television show named 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'. It's known to be the first of three movies in the 'Avatar' series and uses the storyline of the first season as its inspiration.
Personally, I think making 'Avatar' into a movie is a dumb idea. Apparently, Hollywood has learnt nothing from the reactions of the people to the 'Speed Racer' and 'Dragon Ball' movies. There are quite a few reasons why those movies sucked.

1.- They were based off of Japanese animations and produced in America.
-That's fine for Avatar, I guess, because the animation was created and produced in the US.

2.- The direction and costuming was shit (the first in the case of Speed Racer, both in the case of Dragon Ball).
- Avatar may not have that problem. I love the work of M. Night Shamaylan, who happens to be the director for this movie. And based on pictures and the teaser trailer, I'd say that the costuming shows a lot of promise.

3.- The casting was racist. Simple. The characters were Asian, created by Asian people for Asian people. The protagonists and majority of the casts for both movies were white.
- >.> Same thing here. The fictional world that the characters of Avatar live in is clearly based on Asian culture. The creators have said so themselves. So why is over 95% of the cast white?

Argument against the racism

Several people have arguments for this casting. The link posted above shows nearly argument and then shows just why it's wrong. I'll supply you with a few quotes:

-"But all of the nations are fictional, therefore the characters can be any race.

Yes, but the default physical appearance for all heroes in live-action fantasy worlds should not be Anglo-Saxon, western European facial features and coloring. Fantasy does not equal Caucasian people only.

The characters in The Last Airbender SHOULD be diverse, but they’re not. The casting calls have ensured that both the Water Tribe and the Air Nomads will be white."

-"Didn’t they pick the best actors for the roles?

No, they did not. By writing “Caucasian or any other ethnicity” on the casting sides, the production made their preference for Caucasian actors clear form the beginning.
Normally when ethnicity is left open-ended, casting sides read “Any Ethnicity.”
THE LAST AIRBENDER labeled non-Caucasian kids as ‘Others.’
One of the casting side for extras reads “All Ethnicities”. See the difference?

Hollywood has a history of reserving lead protagonists roles for white actors. According to the research done by the Geena Davis Institute: 85.5% of the characters in G-rated films are white, 4.8% are black, and 9.7% are from “other” ethnicities. No differences emerged by character gender.

This is a powerful statistic that shows just how much Hollywood has insured that children grow up believe Caucasian is the norm, while other races fall into the sidekick, extras or villain categories. The Last Airbender is proving to be no different."

-"Many of the voice actors weren’t Asian or Inuit. If that wasn’t wrong, why is casting white actors in the live-action such a big deal?

You underestimate the power of visual cues. Visually, a cartoon is very different from a live-action movie – the former is less tangible than the latter. A grown woman can be the voice actor for Bart Simpson, because no one sees her. But if The Simpsons was ever made into a live-action movie, they wouldn’t cast the voice actor, they would cast a boy.

See the difference?"

If you want to read further, I suggest taking a look at the website. They have a lot more to say on the subject.

The next movie I want to point out is actually releasing on December 11th of this year, so my previous statement about it being 2 2010 movies is inaccurate, but I can't bother to change that. The movie is titled "The Princess and the Frog". It is produced by Disney and will be the introduction of the first ever African-American Disney Princess, Tiana.

That's right. She's black. And no, that's not the controversy. People are riled up because of a few other things in this movie. The first is this:

Something look a bit off to you? That's because the prince is white. The stills show him quite a bit darker than promotional imagery. Now, many people think that because the princess is black, it would've made sense to introduce a black prince alongside her. The question most people have on their minds is "Was this an attempt at reflecting the great melting pot that has become America, or is it simply a matter of representing- whether consciously or unconsciously- the idea that a relationship between two black people is simply not strong enough to last?" Supposedly, the character is actually from a fictional "Spanish" country and he is being voiced by a Brazilian actor. But, he looks more white than anything else in photos released by Disney. Personally, I'm not making a big issue of it because Disney has made a LOT of changes to this movie because of the amount of controversy surrounding it.

SIUcommunity on the white prince

Why did Disney have to edit their original story? It’s best that I point these things out and either leave them for you to research, or expand on this later.

-The princess was announced with the name 'Maddy' and her occupation was a housemaid.

-The movie was originally titled "The Frog Princess", which also received some bad reviews.

-The main character is a black girl placed in pre-Civil rights New Orleans

-Her features are stereotypically black.

-Disney’s first black Princess is a frog for most of the movie.

From what I can see, Disney has corrected the first two. I don’t really think Tiana looks stereotypically black. Sure, she has big hips and lips. But has anyone taken a good look at Megara or even Esmarelda? True, neither were princesses, but it’s a known fact that Disney perpetuates a specific image of beauty when it comes to women. Does anyone remember what the girls in Lilo and Stitch looked like? I’m just saying, it has nothing to do with her being black.

But it’s like I always say. Decide for yourself whether these movies have intentionally racist imagery.

..My Secret

Remember that list I posted  a good while back? The random list...Yeah, that one. It mentioned that I had a solitary secret that I don't really intend on telling anyone. I don't know why it's a secret. I'm not embarrassed or anything. I just hate getting hassled over crap, right? 

Here it goes...(wait for it...)... My real ambition in life is to be a mother. To have a happy family. 

Don't get me wrong, I have a list of things I want to do before I die. (Write a book, write/direct a movie, have a highly-rated web show,  join a trock band XD) The main thing I want from life is a loving family that I feel I can support full-heartedly without feeling like I don't have the time to spend with them. Kids go through their phases when it comes to careers, but this is something I've always wanted.

So there you have it. I'm out of the baby food aisle (geddit, haha). 

(++ "Alternatively" is going through a whole plot makeover, with the help of my best friend/soul sister Aisha)