My sistas, you have already worked too hard to blow away your dreams.

Oh My God ! Its Venus Again














Venus is back with another Pod Cast click here only if you want to hear cool

Global Teens Growing

Indifferent

to "Brand America"

Over at Adbusters. Org they featured an article on how there seems to be a great ambivalence towards America among global teens.

While none of this spells out-and-out doom for US brands, being forced to stop drinking from the poisoned well has left marketers scrambling to uncover new formulas for generating teen cool...more

The Influence of Positive Black Women





















I found these comments at Teen Voice and it was incredible to hear what young sisters had to say about themselves as defined by their feelings not the media's negative bull_ _ _ _!

Collage by Gladys Fashote, 14, Massachusetts Sable Bing, 17 Georgia

Black women are more than just attitudes, sexual visions, and the loud mouths the media makes us out to be. Some people may think that finding respectable black women in the media is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but there are black women in this industry who stand by their morals and who hold important positions in our communities. Some of these women take into consideration that young women, especially teenagers, may watch them and they try their best to show responsibility, honesty, respect, and positive leadership.

Monica Kaufman is an example of a distinguished black woman in the media. She is a news anchor in Atlanta, Georgia with WSB-TV Channel 2 and also does television specials. Kaufman is an encouraging figure in the media and she gives black teen women hope that they can achieve any goal that they set.

Many women in the music industry wear skimpy clothes and use the motto "sex sells." Unlike the majority, Alicia Keys stands out without having to use sex to sell an album. She relies on her talent and shows teens that using sex appeal is not the only way to make it in the music industry. Keys also helps the community by contributing to a national AIDS campaign to create awareness about the virus. She inspires teen women to feel comfortable without feeling pressured to have sex and to use their mind to attain success.

Another woman of color who is not only successful in the media, but also gives back to the community is Oprah Winfrey. Long-time talk show host and one of the richest people in America, Winfrey helps people around the world with her Angel Network. Winfrey also pays for the education of 200 scholars at Morehouse University in Atlanta, Georgia. She inspires teens and gives them the will to accomplish any goal with a lot of hard work and overcoming the negative attitudes of others.

Monica Kaufman, Alicia Keys, and Oprah Winfrey are examples of women in the media who follow their moral standards and deliver a positive image to audiences across

Black Women are Dignified

Nneka Obiekwe, 15
Georgia

Black women are dignified, family oriented, intelligent, and rooted in their faith, but they are not always portrayed this way in the media. When thinking about black women in the media, one would imagine the women who choose to trade in their names for the label "video ho" in order to get a spot in front of the camera. They have no identity, and they suggest that their only skill is to shake their butts and flaunt their bodies. These girls bring shame upon themselves and black women. Yet, they supposedly reflect black women. The public has a natural inclination to take notice of the negative, rather than the positive. One bad move can ruin the reputation of an otherwise successful career, or in this case, an otherwise positive group of people.

We have very strong and influential leaders in the black community who make me proud to say that I am a black female. These women should be a prominent reflection of our black women, but their message—that beauty is not just skin deep and that intelligence can be sexy—is often overshadowed by the video girls who send a more glamorous message, which suggests black women use sex appeal as a tool to get men, cars, and clothing. These video girls are the women who do whatever it takes to get their fifteen seconds of fame. Nevertheless, the true message sent by these actions is that by compromising self-respect and dignity, you can receive negative attention and serve as the models of what most black teens don't want to be.

Black Women Negativity

Briana Williams, 13
California

Over the years our people have changed,
from the way we dress to the way we say our names.
Black women have come so far,
from being mistreated to becoming doctors.
There are so many black women today trying to be something in life,
yet, some of them make money the wrong way and don't do what's right.
Our people are misjudged because of the negative images they see on TV,
and so now positive people are suffering because they know others won't want to see
how much we can do in life,
how much we can become.
We want to show others that we are the ones
who deal with our fellow sistas who dance on TV
so provocatively,
next to unknown men and women,
to earn a quick dollar,
So I try to holler out to my fellow sistas who want a bit of money and fame,
nothing is wrong with happiness,
but you don't need a weave in your hair,
you don't need to shake that thing like your mama taught you,
in front of men who won't care about you.
You don't need to be ghetto fabulous.
Instead, do what comes naturally
because, my sistas, you have already worked too hard to blow away your dreams.


Play
ZeFrank is at it again with the Scribbler more

Alfred Tatum Revisitied

NIU literacy professor works to close reading achievement gap for African-American adolescent males

DeKalb — As a young teen in the Chicago Public Schools, growing up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood a few yards from a federal housing project, Alfred Tatum became one of the fortunate ones.

He was blessed with empowering teachers who understood his surroundings. They cared about his life and not only his test scores. They encouraged him to read Dick Gregory's “Nigger” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”

Such passion for teaching – “Harvard dreams for kids living in hellish conditions,” Tatum says – made a difference: Tatum is now an NIU professor of literacy education with a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.

Yet his good fortune “is part of the problem,” Tatum says. “Children should not be fortunate to have quality teachers. We're not playing the lottery with lives.”

Tatum's book, “Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap,” released in May by Portland, Maine-based Stenhouse Publishers, is earning great attention among U.S. educators and netting several speaking engagements for the busy author.

Meanwhile, the mounting weight of the federal No Child Left Behind law and its focus on test scores is fueling Tatum's insistence that a successful school experience involves more than good grades.

“My phones have been lighting up since this book came out,” says Tatum, who also is an NIU alum. “Teachers want to know how to address these issues, but they feel handicapped by limited experience … or they feel powerless because they attribute it to factors they cannot control, such as parental involvement or poverty. They shift the responsibility.”

Tatum already has spoken to school teachers and administrators in Michigan , New York , New Jersey and Ohio .

In his home state, he has visited his alma mater Chicago Public Schools, where he began his career teaching eighth-grade for five years on the city's South Side. He also accepted an invitation to speak from the suburban Oswego school district, where “the other students” are succeeding.

He also has written a two-part article for Middle Level News, published by the California League of Middle Schools.

“It's a point of urgency. We cannot continue to stay the course we have been on for African-American adolescent males,” he said. “We need to rally people around the complexity of addressing the literacy needs, not only of African-American adolescent males, but of all students in the face of national legislation.”

Tatum's concerns are many.

No clear strategy has emerged for addressing the needs of African-American adolescent males, including the lack of a clear definition for the role of reading in their education.

Policy makers and educators focus more on instructional strategies and ignore other issues that affect learning, such as poverty or the cultural disconnect of the classroom.

Such a lapse makes for an “anatomically incomplete” body of teaching, he says, missing the head (the theoretical) and the legs (the professional development).

Many African-American adolescent males also experience an “out-of-school literacy overload and an in-school literacy under-load,” he says. They live amidst race- and class-based “turmoil” before and after school while their teachers fail to provide the texts that could “serve as road maps” to better life outcomes.

As a result, Tatum posits, the disengagement of these young minds and their disproportionate (and often inappropriate) referrals to special education services lead to their 50-percent high school dropout rate in some of the nation's largest urban school districts.

Their resistance to reading anything – whether to satisfy academic, culture, social or emotional needs – rises as they are assigned texts “that inadvertently contribute to their diminished status in schools and society.”

Rather, Tatum says, teachers should encourage interest in school through reading assignments that reflect their own situation and provide them hope to rise above their circumstances. “Young African-American men need to be reading more text,” he says, “not less.”

Teachers of African-American adolescent males need “the 4 Cs,” he says: compassion, competence, commitment and cultural responsiveness.

He urges these considerations in the selection and discussion of texts with African-American adolescent males:

• Establish a broader definition of literacy instruction that guides the selection of text. It must focus on skill and strategy knowledge, content knowledge and identity development. “It is imperative that these young men have the requisite skills to read text independently. It is also imperative that they become ‘smarter' as a result of their reading,” he says. “It is essential that literacy instruction helps these young men form an identity that allows them to resist some of the negative community forces that are part of their day-to-day realities.”
• Identify a core of “must-read” texts for African-American adolescent males. These include James Baldwin's “The Fire Next Time” and Ralph Ellison's “Invisible Man.”
• Discuss texts in culturally responsive ways. “Students benefit when they can extend the ideas contained in texts into their own lives,” he says.
• Identify texts that balance the out-of-school literacy overload. “Most of the texts they should be exposed to are co-opted by schools' focus to improve reading scores,” he says. “Black males are not exposed to text that leads to academic, cultural, economic and social uplift.”
• Examine your disposition toward using texts with African-American adolescent males. Many teachers back down when they encounter resistance from their students to read beyond the required material, Tatum says. “However, no research currently shows that having students read less advances their academic and other literacy needs.”

In Tatum's case, reading the works of Dick Gregory, Richard Wright, Booker T. Washington and others “released me from a stigmatic trapping of poverty. My teachers connected text to my life,” he says. “It's really something I didn't forget.”

Play

My how time flys (in honor of Google buying YouTube)

The Stench of Exploitation

The Wire Episode 42


Late night in a rear alley, Dukie leads Michael and Randy to the vacant house he spied Chris escorting one of his victims. Prying the plywood off the door, they creep inside, making their way to the decaying bodies in the back of the house. "He dead," Dukie says, pulling away the plastic cover. "They all is." As they file out, Dukie proves his point to Randy, who, still childlike in many ways, seems relieved to know that they are not, at least, zombie spies ready to haunt his dreams. "There ain't no special dead," says Dukie. "There's just dead." There are various stories unfolding in the Wire, butthe storylines that depict the young males, all from vsrious backgrounds losing their innocents as they are slowly devoured by the system are the most chilling, What becomes painfully evident is that these young men have very few options and none that have promise. Not a warm and fuzzy thought, but one we can do something about

The Stench of Exploitation

I coudn't describe VH1 favlorof love better than USA Today writer DeWayne Wickham

There's more proof that Neil Postman knew what he was talking about.

In his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, the media critic and educator suggested that futurist Aldous Huxley, not George Orwell, had a better vision of where life on this planet is headed.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books, Postman wrote in the foreword to his book. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. … Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture.

The success of Flavor of Love 2, a VH1 reality show whose second-season premiere last month brought the cable network its highest rating for any opening show, is a crass and tasteless descent into the abyss that Huxley saw the world hurtling toward. And it is proof positive that this nation is at risk of amusing ourselves to death.

The show is built around Flavor Flav, an aging rapper whose real name is William Drayton. A classically trained pianist, he found stardom as a member of Public Enemy, a rap group

It also offers us the kind of caricature of black men that makes Stepin Fetchit and the Amos 'n' Andy character Algonquin J. Calhoun look like straight men. With his ever-present mouth full of gold teeth and oversized clock that hangs around his neck, Flavor Flav is a cartoonish figure that only a mother or VH1 would believe might be hotly pursued by women with an IQ above room temperature.

On one level, his buffoonery is laughable. But more often than not it makes my skin crawl to know that as Lincoln Perry (who played Stepin Fetchit) and Johnny Lee (who was TV's Algonquin J. Calhoun) did, Drayton has to assume such a shallow black role to find stardom in Hollywood.

If you think Flavor of Love 2 is innocent television fare, you're wrong.

We do not see nature or intelligence or human motivation or ideology as it' is but only as our languages are,Postman wrote. And our languages are our media. Our media are our metaphors. Our metaphors create the content of our culture.

And shows such as Flavor of Love 2 dumb us down and define us to others in ways that ought to cause an awful churning in our national gut. to read the entire artlce click here

Don't watch this show, and if you do, don't let your teens watch you watching this show

Money Matters

Parents of University of Minnesota students are signing up this fall for their own course, one they hope will teach them tools to help their children manage money. click here to read more

Play

Need the sound for a car beeping and don't know where to find it

click here to go to find a sound dot come

Legends (Ezra Jack Keats)

Growing Up with Peter
EZRA JACK KEATS
1916-1983

Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy were born in Warsaw, Poland. However, they did not meet until they had both emigrated to the United States. Continuing the Polish custom, their wedding was arranged by a matchmaker. After the marriage, the two settled in the Jewish quarter of Brooklyn, New York. In a two-family house at no. 438 Vermont Street, their third child, Jacob Ezra Katz was born on March 11, 1916.

At an early age, Jacob, known later to the world as Ezra Jack Keats, became interested in art. His mother encouraged Keats' talent, but his father seemed only to criticize Keats' ability. Working at Pete's Coffee Shop in Greenwich Village, Benjamin Katz knew how hard earning a living could be. He felt that his son could never really be successful as an artist. However, his father did purchase tubes of paint for Keats under the pretense of having traded bowls of soup to starving artists. "If you don't think artists starve, well, let me tell you. One man came in the other day and swapped me a tube of paint for a bowl of soup."

Keats did win the approval of his father when he was paid twenty-five cents for painting an advertisement for a local store at the age of eight. Finally, Benjamin thought his son might be able to earn a living with his art, as a sign painter.

When Benjamin Katz died on January 1935, Keats, on the day before his high school graduation,

had to identify his father's body. For the first time he learned that his father had been proud of his work. In his Caldecott Medal speech in 1963, Keats shared the experience. "I found myself staring deep into his secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newpaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."

Keats worked on a book featuring a little boy named Peter. Peter was inspired by an article Keats had clipped from Life magazine in 1940. "Then began an experience that turned my life around--working on a book with a black kid as

hero. None of the manuscripts I'd been illustrating featured any black kids--except for token blacks in the background. My book would have him there simply because he should have been there all along. Years before I had cut from a magazine a strip of photos of a little black boy. I often put them on my studio walls before I'd begun to illustrate children's books. I just loved looking at him. This was the child who would be the hero of my book."

The book featuring Peter, The Snowy Day, received the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book for children in 1963. Peter appears in six more books growing from a small boy in The Snowy Day to adolescence in Pet Show.

Keats authored and/or illustrated more than 85 books for children. In 1980, he was awarded the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for outstanding contributions in the field of children's literature.

Keats link

Keats Link

Play
Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our database of real readers'
favourite books (over 20,000 and growing) to suggest what you could read next

What to read next
http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/books/search

Sound, Vision & Good Reads

Who is the Black Panther?
With the exception of Spiderman and Silver Surfer, Black Panther is one of the coolest creations to come from the minds of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. An African King ruling in a country light years ahead of everyone else was an incredible concept. Great concept but it never went forward. Years later other writers tried their hand at Black Panther never able to capture the essence of the character. (My mind still has the image of BP being burned on a cross by the KKK etched into my mind, Thanks Mr. Don McGregor, do you think anyone black would’ve wrote something like that?)
When Christopher Priest introduced the Black Panther in 1998 he created the foundation that BP's future would be built on. (inclding the Huddlins current run)
BP was no longer a loyal, jovial team player but a King that was a master strategist always looking for angles that would benefit his nation, in most cases BP was several steps ahead of all of his opponents
Priest also understood the idea of an African ruler of an advance nation spending all of his time fighting bad guys in America’s ghettos was at best stupid, at worst insulting. Wakanda became the focal point of the series not the character. Priest's BP was not written for kids, the storyline were filled with multiple plots changing timelines and filled to the brimmed with political intrigue, in short it was as dense as an episode of HBO's The Wire. But like the Wire that is often compared to the Soprano’s and Star Trek Deep Space 9 that is compared with TNG. History will reflect on Priest run hailing it as an accomplishment along the same lines as Frank Miller's Dark Knight and Alan More's The Watcheman
Check out his trade paperbacks the Client and Enemy of the State


Radio No Longer for the Masses (they're not paranoid)

Click here to hear how Corporate Giant Clear Channel used its muscle to prevent a song that encouraged youth to both register and get out to vote from being aired click here


Play

Yeah another Honda Commercial, and Yeah its another good one click here

Check out Breathing Earth and Get Active Click here

Hyphy & the Little Shop of Horrors

The Horrors

I referred to Congressman Foley as a Vampire
Senator Allen as Dr Jeckell and Mr Hyde
and our inner city youth as Frankenstien monsters
after watching yesterdays episode of I'll blame anyone just as long as I stay in power, I can only refer to the Congress as a shop of horrors

This Lizard knows Hyphy

Venus the water dragon does a weekly music blog which I will beging offering here, each Pod Cast features her list of top 5 songs
So if you want to know what cool music sounds like just click below

link

Sunday Night Jam Sessions

Music in the Classroom
Outkast’s Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin) unveiled his new animated series “Class Of 3000” at a recent Cartoon Network press event, set to debut in November.

Andre explained that the cartoon revolves around a group of gifted music students who look up to former graduate-turned superstar Sunny Bridges, voiced by Dre. One of the characters, Lil D, is loosely based on Dre’s childhood.

“I come from the projects and [I used to] go all the way across town to school, which is in Buckhead, a prominent part of Atlanta,” said Dre. “I went to school with mayor’s kids and commissioner’s kids, so it was a mash-up then. One of my best friends, he was French. Another best friend was Indian.”

“So when we created show, we didn’t want it to be just all Black characters or all White characters,” he said. “We just created a world and it kind of mirrors what’s going on right now. Everybody hangs out with everybody. It’s not like you just stay in your own little clique. There’s a huge Crayola box going on.”

Andre says he’s also looking to drop a soundtrack for the series, and is already searching for artists to make guest appearances during the show’s second season.

"We're reaching out to a lot of people," Dre said. "A lot of people are interested. Every time you drop an album, you kinda go through this whole run. You do TRL, you do all those shows. I think 'Class of 3000' will be one of those places that record companies will say, 'We want our artist to be on this show.' It'll be a cool place."

Play



HOW RICH ARE YOU?

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world.
Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where
would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out.

Click here

Foley & Allen Urban Horrors

Monsters
I’m asked quite often why did I title my blog Urban Horrors?
My reply is usually because I’m trying to sell my self published book and because in the novel there are monsters of both myth and reality.

The following is not about parties but irresponsible leadership.
Vampires

Fiction: A mythical human that sustains itself by draining the life force from another

Reality: Congressman Mark Foley of Florida. Foley quit his job on Friday after word of sexually suggestive e-mails he sent to teenage boys working on Capitol Hill.
The scandal swirling around the former Florida Congressman continues to widen. The FBI has opened an investigation into whether Foley violated federal law by sending sexually explicit e-mails to male congressional pages under 18.
ABC News obtained Internet messages sent by Foley to three different pages since that warning was issued. Messages sent to two pages contained sexually explicit messages, most too graphic to be broadcast. Below is a copy of the then 17 year old pages email response to Foley’s emails






























Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Fiction: A noble man that becomes a monster of unbelievable evil

Reality Senator George Allen and allegations of racism
Allen’s history of racist remarks are blooming like a mushroom cloud
Allen denies that he knew of his mother was of Jewish descent. Called a Virginia born male of East Indian descent Macaca, a slur against East Indians then denies it
Had a noose in his office, wore a confederate flag on his lapel in college
And now there are individuals stating that they heard him use the N word
But continues that it’s all a big misunderstanding



Frankenstein












Myth: a man made monster that once is given life destroys

Reality: Our educational system as depicted on The Wire
America’s schools are in crisis producing too many minds not prepared to take this nation into the future. Leaders like Foley and Allen only make matters worse

Still Wired

Staying Wired












The series continues to inspire with its depth and multi-level story telling, watching The Wire is like riding a bike, it takes forever to figure it out but once you do, there's no going back to the way things were.


A character worth noting is Denis "Cutty" Wise played by Chad L. Coleman Who without any support from any systems may be the only character that sees saving the boys from the neighborhood as more than just a game or 9-5 He is a ray of hope in an otherwise very dark enviornment



Sisters Step Forward


The Occult Crimes Taskforce follows the exploits of rookie Detective Sophia Ortiz (modeled after Rosario Dawson), who is recruited into the ranks of a covert police investigation unit established to monitor and control supernatural activity in the Manhattan Underground. The series is co-created by Rosario Dawson, written by David Atchison and illustrated by Tony Shasteen. OCT has also been optioned as a movie by Dimensions Films which would star the actress
.

Educational Graphic Novels

After Art Spiegelman's Holocaust memoir Maus and the more recent release of The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, we now know that even the most serious subject matter, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, can be rendered clearly and dramatically in the comics medium. But Oprah Winfrey?

Rosen Publishing Group has about a half-century's worth of experience in the educational publishing field. Most of the New York-based house's product is focused on school-ready material, available through its Power Kids Press imprint. But it also offers a growing list of graphic nonfiction, including biographies, mythology, real-world mysteries and even a series on Civil War battles. The newest, and arguably most interesting, addition to this part of the business is the half-dozen graphic nonfiction biographies released in September covering the lives of important African-American leaders. more-

Play

Watch it all come together Click here and be amazed

Keys 2 My 40 Acres & a Mule

From author Jess Mowry

My sixth book (fifth novel) Babylon Boyz, is somewhat of an enigma, and some might call it a regression into the "guns, gangs, drugs and violence" of my earlier (and apparently more "popular") work. This "regression" was neither intentional nor a sell-out, but rather the result of a good story idea that was what it was.

Babylon Boyz is about Dante, a 13-year-old boy, and his two homies, 14-year-old Pook and 13-year-old Wyatt, who stumble upon a pack full of pure cocaine abandoned in a major drug-deal gone bad, and must decide whether to use the money it could bring them to get out of the ghetto (Pook wants to go to medical school and become a doctor, and Dante, born to a crack-addicted mother, needs a heart operation) even though selling it will only bring more pain and suffering to their Brothers and Sisters.

Unlike Six Out Seven, Babylon Boyz does have a "real" gay character, who was based upon the friend of one of my sons. Babylon Boyz was published in the U.S. as a hardcover "young-adult" book by Simon & Schuster in 1997, and seems to have done fairly well-- it is currently being reprinted in trade-paper format.

But, once again, I came up against the fact that the white, mainstream publishing industry is not about to publish "just stories" black books, or books in which black characters-- especially young black males-- do not behave as they are (apparently) expected to.

Despite the fact that Babylon Boyz is doing well, Simon & Schuster rejected my next manuscript, titled Skeleton Key (a book that is still looking for a publisher) on the grounds that it would "feed stereotypes" (of black kids).

Fortunately or finally, Skeleton Key is scheduled for publication in January 2007. The image above is not the book cover. I will post the actual cover and more information when it becomes available. For now, here is a description of the book and excerpts from various chapters. These are only parts of chapters, and not all chapters have been excerpted.

Skeleton Key may be ordered now (pre-publication) from Amazon, other book-sellers, or directly from Windstorm Creative - Young Adult Books. Advance orders are one of the best ways you can support authors.

These excerpts may be regarded as uncorrected galleys.If you are interested in reviewing this book when review copies become available, please contact Windstorm Creative - Main Page.

Ya Dig?



















Honoring the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee's 40 Acres & a Mule production company, Marc EckoWhat's Really Good Magazine is selling the collection for a limited time (through 23 October 2006) from their online Pop-up shop. T-shirts start at $55. Here's to 20 more years of Spike
recently lent his sartorial flavor to a new line of sportswear that debuted this week. Inspired by memorable cinematic moments from Spike Lee's films, the collection of varsity jackets, rugby jerseys, graphic t-shirts, french terry hoodies and light jackets share the same in-your-face humor and bold looks that make a Spike Lee Joint. Details like an embroidered skull emblem and a mule patch on the Wake Up Rugby and the shout-outs to Lee's legacy on the Sho' Nuff fleece (pictured, middle), are well-made tributes to the films of a seminal American filmmaker.

The hands of Love and Hate is the tale of good and evil each one continuously fighting each other for the title . In this great piece we see the classic fists of Radio Raheem the most memorable character of "Do the right thing".

Movie Influence: Do the Right Thing circa 1989

Play
Pardon my French
Quand les poules auront des dents is an insane and funny animation about what can happening when a chicken with teeth gets crazy in a small farm planet, by Julien Borde, Matthieu Cordenier and Henri Danjou. There is something in this animation that makes me remind of Le Petit Prince, probably the image of a very small planet, and, of course, it makes me remind of Chicken Run too. (via NicoSite)

In the year 2014 the New York times has gone offline

The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned

What happened to the news?

and what is EPIC

Click here

Whats Next? Watch Your Head

Boondocks is dead, (at least the strip) long live the king
Boondocks absence may provide other black cartoonist the opportunity to see their strips serialized

Watch your Head

WYH scheduled released Jan 2007

The strip chronicles the lives of six teenagers as they awkwardly negotiate the unfamiliar terrain of adulthood. They come from different backgrounds and cultures, bringing their unique perspectives to the campus of Oliver Otis University, the purported Mecca for black intellectuals.

The strip follows their development as they begin the process of growth and venture on their individual paths. They face their inexperience, insecurity and idiosyncrasies and gain enlightment
Check out his site here

Life's Little Victorie

Keith Knight's strip Life's Little Victories are tiny little daily occurances that make one quietly say "YES!!" What began as a one-shot strip has bloomed into a regular reader favorite.
Knight is part of a new generation of talented young African-American artists raised on hip-hop; artists who infuse their work with urgency, edge, humor, satire, politics and race.

Learn more about Keith here

JustUs

Speaking of edgy and the closes to Boondocks and my favorite is Justus comic - a concious comic for the unconcious world featuring Katrina Comics to read more click here

House Broken

A lot of rap stars go broke. A lot of rap stars own pitbulls. Housebroken tells the story of a pitbull rap star who went broke. Now living in suburbia with the family of his attorney, DJ Dog, A.K.A. Doggie Soprano A.K.A. The Notorious D.O.G. struggles to adjust to his new lifestyle

To see the animated House Broken short click here

SAY WHAT?!


In the tradition of coming of age tales like COOLEY HIGH and irreverant urban comedies like BARBERSHOP and FRIDAY comes the hilarious misadventures of Mort and the gang as they leap into one of life's greatest challenges… life after high school!

Fresh out of high school Mort has the passion of becoming a journalist. While most of his friend's have already decided on their path in life, Mort remains unsure. Although his passion is journalism, he can't imagine being under the thumb of a big corporation.

COMING SOON From GETTOSAKE

Play

For those of you who are into Soduko I present Jigsaw Soduko click here

Boondocked

Boondocks Not Coming Back in Foreseeable Future

NEW YORK Because Aaron McGruder has made no statement about whether he'll resume or end "The Boondocks" comic strip, Universal Press Syndicate announced today that newspapers should not count on it coming back in the foreseeable future. click here

What is a creative environment?
A creative environment is one where people feel comfortable in expressing their ideas and where constructive support is given in the development and analysis of those ideas.

You are in a creative environment when

• Your ideas are listened to and investigated before being judged.
• You feel appreciated when you suggest new ideas.
• You can suggest solutions to other groups without feeling like you are intruding.
• Your manager spends time with you and explains the reasons and politics behind projects.
• You are given the freedom to do your work in your own way.
• You are not observed or judged all the time.
• You do not have to pass all of your messages through your manager.
• Experimental methods are encouraged.
• You feel comfortable talking with anyone in your organization (top managers included).
• You feel comfortable talking to your subordinates without having to order them about.
• There is someone that will listen to your ideas.
• The generation of good ideas is rewarded, verbally or otherwise.
• You are treated with respect and as someone who can contribute to the organization.
• You are appreciated for what you do.
• You are appreciated for who you are.

Source brainstorming.co.uk

Doug Braithwaite













The comic artist from London talks about all things comics including his start in the UK, his work with Alex Ross and Jim Krueger on Universe X, Paradise X, and their newest best-selling series, Justice. click here

Play

Minature Earth

Click here

You Named Him What?

Today's parents seem to believe they can alter their child's destiny by picking the perfect—preferably idiosyncratic—name. (Destiny, incidentally, was the ninth most popular name for girls in New York City last year.) The current crop of preschoolers includes a few Uniques, with uncommonly named playmates like Kyston, Payton and Sawyer. From Dakota to Heaven, Integrity to Serenity, more babies are being named after places and states of mind.Increasingly, children are also named for prized possessions. In 2000, birth certificates revealed that there were 298 Armanis, 269 Chanels, 49 Canons, 6 Timberlands, 5 Jaguars and 353 girls named Lexus in the U.S. The trend is not surprising: In an era in which children are viewed as accessories, such names telegraph our desire for creative, social or material success. It would be ironic if young Jaguar or Lexus grew up to drive a Honda Accord. read the entire
Psychology Today article

If you find that remembering the name you gave your child tough

The process of memorising information can be split into four distinct stages. These are:

1. The registering of information by the five senses – sight, hearing, smell, touch and/or taste.
2. The interpretation by the brain of the impulses that are generated by the five senses. This is what is termed understanding.
3. The temporary storage of the information in the so-called short-term memory.
4. Finally, the transfer of the information from the short-term, to the long-term memory. This is where a (theoretically) permanent record of the memory is stored.

Click here for why we forget

For Memory Improvement Tools click here

The Wire
Episode 40
"Home Room"

Captured the classroom environment in many of our countries more challenged schools”Some will say that the episode was extreme; others will say that it came up short but all will agree that it captured the essence of a schools system crying for help.

The Wire is without a doubt the most riveting series on television, and begs for a discussion on what is this country’s commitment to education.

Play






Make Your Own Movie click here

Legends (Leo & Diane Dillon)

Leo grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Diane grew up in southern California. They met at Parsons School of Design and spent four years competing with each other. That's why they decided to join forces. They began freelancing soon after graduation. For several years they also taught Materials and Techniques at the School of Visual Arts.

The Dillons have won awards, which has helped build their confidence over the years. "It's great to know people appreciate what we do but we don't work for awards. They are the result of doing our best." They have been illustrating for over forty years and have completed over forty books as well as many book jackets and posters.

Illustrating is a fascinating career. When a new manuscript comes in, we read it then discuss what the essence of the story is and how we can illustrate it in a unique way. There are many ways to interpret a story. We toss ideas back and forth for days, even weeks. When the right idea comes along, we both get excited. Then we start with sketches.

Illustrating is a mysterious process. The ideas that float around in our heads seem clear until we translate them into image on paper. Then we realize how amorphous they really are. At that point we find we are both agreeing on the idea but the images in our heads are not the same. When one of us starts a piece of art and gives it to the other, we're often surprised. We have learned to flow with whatever develops. That's part of the process.

Sometimes we think we know exactly what we want but when the picture takes form it might lead us in a new direction. Being flexible and taking advantage of accidents and surprises is important.

Our next step is to work out the drawing. A slight change in a line can alter an expression dramatically and we may do several drawings or change one, erasing and re-drawing until we get what we want. It's magical watching the image take form. Often young people believe they should do a perfect drawing the first time, but that rarely happens.

The drawing is then transferred to the paper or board on which we will do the finished art. Then we start the color. One color might dictate what the color next to it should be. Throughout the process, we discover new ideas and possibilities, and decisions must then be made. The process is sometimes scary but also exciting.

The most anxious time comes halfway through when the piece is not looking good yet. We have to keep working through that bad period with faith that we have control and will work until we're satisfied. At the end, when everything is painted in and the anxiety is over, the fun starts with refining the details and painting in highlights.

Every job is different with its own challenges. We go through the same stages of anxiety, the unknown, surprise, and discovery. It's never boring.

Some jobs require much more research than others so we're learning things too. For our latest book, Rap a Tap Tap, Here's Bojangles—Think of That!, we researched what New York City streets looked like in the 1930s and 1940s, and collected photos of dancers during that time. At the Shomberg Library, we saw murals by Aaron Douglas, a painter of the same period. We admired his work and were inspired by the murals' overlapping shapes and colors. His work triggered ideas of how we wanted to illustrate Rap a Tap Tap, and while our final work is different than Douglas' murals, he was the inspiration.

We are inspired by many things: sculptures, paintings, architecture, and design. Most of our traveling is through books, discovering the beauty people have created over the centuries and around the world. We're blessed to be doing something that brings us so much pleasure and can enrich others as well.

For a list of their complete works Click Here

Play
My Special Easter Egg
Go on be creative click here