Chikezie Eze from Inglewooood!

Last week I was under deep pressure to get the blog out on a certain date from MrsAnswer on her birthday. I delivered with that, so this week I had to come back to my senses. It's time to relax and just go with the flow. Now that it's nearing upon 2 weeks, I'm having the fans demand more. It was slack time and I need to get the ball rolling again. I've already heard from Corndog and Carolina that are fired up, dedicated readers, so I best get to typing out something good, it's what they want. See, that's just a reason to get some characters into the blog. JK Rowling has nothing on me, you know you want to find out more on such people as Corndog and Carolina, so stay tuned.



I'm going to start out with a good story from my boy Clark. His uncle just finished up his degree and he either is writing a book or this is part of a paper he had to write. Growing up, my Dad (everyone knows him as Dude if you were wondering when ya read this section) was older than Clark's uncle, but they were around the same group of buddies and neighborhood. Hot Sam is my uncle when you get to that part for the non-locals who don't know the crew. First off, it makes it easier to write the blogs when people give me ideas. Most times I can think of something, but every now and then, I go into a brain freeze. That's where Clark comes into the mix, so props to him on sharing this story:

Clark (7:12:21 PM): Not much ... I have a story for ya
Clark (7:12:57 PM): My Uncle Pat just finished up a college degree to become a librarian and he just sent my mom a Word file called Ch. 1
Clark (7:13:43 PM): I'm not sure if he is writing a book or if this was part of an assignment he had due, but he talks about the Mahlon Street Gang ... and has a part in there about your dad
Clark (7:14:35 PM): It's about 14 lines, so I'll type in a sentence or two and let you read along ... let me know when you are ready
Me (7:14:43 PM): Go for it, that's great.
Clark (7:15:31 PM): Prelude ... he just got done taking about Johnny Bruce or otherwise known by his locally famous sobriquet of "Hot Sam"
Clark (7:16:36 PM): Dude is his older brother, and lucky for the rest of us he was about 7 years older and didn't hang around with us too much. He did pause long enough to teach us his rules of wiffle ball, touch football, and "Dude ball".
Clark (7:17:29 PM): Dude ball consisted of five or six of us younger guys lined up against a wall in a postage stamp size yard with our faces to a wall, while he would wing a ball at us.
Clark (7:18:10 PM): You were not allowed to peek. Dude's rule. Another one of Dude's pastimes was having us run up Mahlon Street while he shot at us with a BB gun.
Me (7:18:24 PM): Hah! That's classic right there.
Clark (7:18:50 PM): I was excused from this test of young manhood when my sister, Ann, came out and explained to Dude that he would not be using me for a target.
Clark (7:19:52 PM): He would ask my mother to go bird hunting with him, and one time when our front door was left open, he fired a shot into a white plastic planter in our front hall. He was the one who hung the unfortunate name of "Maynard: on David Riley.
Clark (7:20:35 PM): As I said earlier, lucky for us he was older and that he quit bothering with us about the time his parents sent him to Hargrave Military Academy
Clark (7:20:49 PM): Last part is a good one too ... here
Clark (7:21:41 PM): In the eighth grade, I had to do a report on a neighborhood hero as part of my preparation for the Golden Horseshoe test. I chose Dude. My mom suggested other people.
Me (7:22:12 PM): That end line is great.
Clark (7:22:33 PM): I thought it was great ... my mom sent it with Payton's Valentine's Day gift ... It's about 9 nine pages and just a snipit of a look into his past ...I thought you would enjoy.
Me (7:22:55 PM): That's blog style right there, sounds like he's pretty good. I'll have to use that.

Now time for last week's Idol Recap. The fans can't wait to read, while the people who bash it still read as well. We have a good mix. We're in the Dirty Dirty, the ATL for the first night. Josh the glassmaker is the first person to go. His eyes freak them out and they have him sing with their back to them. Simon is frightened, but the others vote him on. JP was 2 seats away from Carrie Underwood in Season 4. He claims to be a music major and he's awful. Asia'h, her dad died 2 days ago and she comes in to do it. Asia'h huh? Weird. Anyways, she's hot and gets through since the judges like her singing and her story. Paula has to walk away from bawling. Miss South Florida is a dumb blonde, but makes it. A good singer. "Possibly the most annoying person I have ever seen in my life."- Simon. Eva busts herself while singing and Simon says she's putting on an act. He tells her to come to him and say she's serious. She says she still loves Simon though. Alex, a 16-year old chick comes in with a posse and 93-year old grandma. She's in for sure and granny is pumped. Nathan says he's 16 and a 9th grade repeat student. Simon says it's a bedroom audition. Him and Simon go at it, he cracked me up. Seacrest asks what a bedroom audition is. "Maybe it's the fact that I refused to spoon with him that he called it that."- Nathan. Amanda is a biker chick/nurse and Randy gives it a trillion percent yes. Paula says she's the real deal and the female Daughtry. She's hardcore and impressive. Josiah dropped out of school and has slept in his car for the last 10 months. He loves living in his car and goes around playing shows. His family has no clue he's living in his car and breaks down crying. He's American, but sings with a British accent. He's my favorite of ATL just because he's interesting, but has talent too.

Second night. Amy Davis, busting out. Plus, she can sing. That's not a bad combo if you ask me. Tiffany, the gospel singing chick just starts breaking the sound barrier. Crazy loud, not good, and her voice wasn't from god like she mentioned. We get twin brothers who had the same girlfriend. Yep, it's as weird as it sounds. She was with one bro before and now has been with the other for the past year. They do this rap duo and were laughed at. The girlfriend comes in next and she's way hot. She brings in a dog for brownie points. We get another dumb blonde and she is bad. "Can I be honest with you? It was excruciating!"- Simon. The twins say behind her back that they told her she was great, but they go back on that word. Cardin is up next. Cardin? Where are these names coming from this year? As Answer told me the other day, these prelim shows go on a few weeks too long. The bums are fun to watch for a bit and then it's more of the same. Joanne is next and she sang the anthem at MSG for the college hoops tourneys. Randy says she must be big time, they send her on. Alesha comes out and sounds like a little kid. Simon says it's dreadful. Randy says she sounds like Dolly Parton and he tells her to come back and sing a Dolly song. She came back and did much better, but Simon still hates it. They send her to Hollywood. Then Simon admits that Paula was right. "Jay Smoove" is a mix of a Kanye/Lupe Fiasco guy. He throws around glitter and rose petals for the ladies. Simon says it was over the top corny. Chikezie Eze from Inglewood, always up to no good. I honestly can't make up these names. He hits up some soul music and jams. I'm a fan. Danny Noriega comes up next with a gangsta name, but is far from it, I think he likes dudes, bad times. Anyways, he has a big voice for a dork. Randy approves of his singing.



Rob & Big you wonder? Last week, the theme is each of them want to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. Rob is after skateboarding and Big with food. Big breaks the peeling 2 bananas in a minute and eating all the way, he had 3 easily. Rob sets 19 world records. This goes to show you how many records are easy to break in the book, so you might as well get your certificate and name in the book, why not? Next week we Rob in a fat suit and he gets to feel what it's like to be Big.

Time for an update on drinks. Since I'm not an alcohol guy at all, let me add my expertise on Gatorade. Anyone tried the new Gatorade G2? This is a low calorie version. I figured I'd get it one day after work just to check it out and see what the hype was about. A big thumbs down from me. On first impression, it's too watered down for my standards since I'm used to regular style Gatorade. Some may like it, but I can't see myself getting this anytime soon. It's drinkable, barely I guess, but I'd steer you away from it, even if my boy Jeter advertises it.



Since I've had my new laptop, I've had issues with the built-in webcam it has. For some reason, it wouldn't recognize it at times and I'd have fits with it. When it worked, it did fine, but I had to switch over to the regular style of cams. The latest addition is a Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX Plus. This thing seems pretty smooth so far and it's real easy to setup. See, we're not just about watching TV and sports in here, we cover all bases of interest. Now you wanna go out there and buy this webcam. Kick over the Gatorade G2 when you see it on the shelves and save your money for this bad boy.

You know one thing I don't get? I've probably spouted off on this before, but hopefully not. It's when people read off of notes. I'm basically talking about speeches. Why can't some people just get up there and wing it? Make it natural instead of something so cut and dry that it serves no purpose. I realize at times it's necessary, but not too often. You see this at graduations, churches, and on TV. I want someone at a graduation to step up one day and say this line: "Everyone else before me did ok, I respect that. However, I'm just going to tell things how it is and not read off some stupid card. This is going to come from my actual opinions and not what someone else may have written up. Then maybe you people may actually pay attention."



Bird's Dirty Thug Ho of the Week: We're going with another fan suggestion. This week's edition comes to us from The_Freak. http://www.myspace.com/ooosexxxestooo

Bird's Video Moment of the Week: I'm not sure why this is funny to me, but it just is. http://youtube.com/watch?v=pOuumGX-6uc



3 Quick Thangs:

1. It's birthdays you want, it's birthdays you shall get. Let's go with Wednesday, February 13th. That also happens to be my parents' 37th anniversary, dang. Jerry Springer starts us off, he's now 64. Coach K of Duke, 61. I wouldn't have guessed quite that old, but he's doing it and should be the winningest coach in history before all is said and done. Rocker Peter Gabriel, I guess he was relevant in one time, he's doing it for his 58th. Henry Rollins who just screams and is a roid freak, 47. Randy Moss, straight out of West Virginia, 31. No locals to mention today or internet legends, but I'll give out an early shoutout to Bono of #basketball fame, Happy Birthday on the 17th!

2. American Gangster comes out on DVD next Tuesday, February 19th. You better load up, whether you've seen it or not. One of the best movies from 2007, the best I've seen for sure.

3. In the "I learn something everyday" genre, Jas gives us this one. Maybe I'm the only one that isn't up on this, but it's something to think of. Apparently, when you put a crab into a bucket, it will climb out of there. No biggie, right? Then, supposedly when you put 2 in the same bucket, they'll be stuck in there forever as they bring each other down. Hey, I didn't test it out, but I'll take Jas' word for it since she's all smart and stuff, hah. Until next time...