Christmas Countdown: Favorite Christmas Songs

As I've told yall already, I LOVE Christmas.  The day after Thanksgiving, I unleash the Holiday playlist on my iPhone & I rock out until Dec. 25.  There are definitely Christmas classics that everyone knows:

1. Mariah Carey Merry Christmas is undoubtedly the best Christmas album ever
2. Anything by the Temptations & Jackson 5.  What can I say, they're legends
3. Donny Hathaway "This Christmas" is one of the most amazing songs ever written!
4. The Preacher's Wife Soundtrack.  What can I say, pre-crack Whitney was pretty damn great.
5. Chuck Brown "Merry Christmas Baby" for my DMV heads

And then there are some new jams that I think are instant classics.

Best version of "This Christmas": Chris Brown

  

Best Half on a Baby Christmas Song: Justin Bieber "Christmas Eve"

Most underrated Christmas Song: Katy Perry - "White Christmas"

My most-played Christmas Song: Rascal Flatts - "I'll be home for Christmas"

I couldn't find these videos on YouTube Honorable Mentions: 


Best Jesus is the Reason Song: Kelly Price - "Messiah has come"
Instant Classic: Stevie Wonder & India.Arie - "The Christmas Song"

Fried Chicken, Watermelon & Hip Hop

For those that don't know, fried chicken, watermelon & Hip Hop are the keys to Black people's heart!  Well at least, this is what advertisers think.

Exhibit A: Popeye's Lady

If she shakes her neck at me one more time!!! HONEY!  Besides the fact that this woman is selling fried chicken, she's doing it in the most stereotypical dialect possible.  She might as well say Come get this chicken fo massah see you.  Trust me Popeyes, Black people will continue to buy your chicken even without all the finger waggin.

Exhibit B: McDonald's
When I say 'Chicken', yall say 'McNugget' ... "Chicken" "McNugget"

We already have a McDonald's on every block in Harlem, there is no need for an enticing hip hop beat in your commercials.

Exhibit C: Sneakers

Now I KNOW Black people aren't the only ones who wear shoes...

Exhibit D - Z: Any commercial on BET

Do yall realize advertisers make different commercials for different channels?? Have you ever seen a Dr. Miracle's commercial on channel 4?? I rest my case.

In 2011, you would think that as a country we have progressed past tried and true stereotypes of yesteryear.  However, just read a newspaper cartoon, type "why do Black people" on Google, or in this case turn on the TV to see that we haven't really made it that far.

~@AllEyesOnDiv

Play for Pay?

Do you know how much universities make off of collegiate sports? A gazillion dollars.

Recently, college athletes & their programs have gotten in trouble for getting free stuff: cars, tattoos, houses, pre-marital sex. While this is against NCAA policies, can you blame these guys? They work just as hard as professional athletes but with 0% of the pay. Now I understand they get scholarships & stipends, but is it enough? Especially when you consider that collegiate sports has become such a big business and largely on free labor; these schools are profiting on the backs of their athletes.

The most pressing issue for me is that many of these athletes are Black...40 million dollar slaves, indeed. They're promised a world class education, prospects to go to the league, but how many of them actually make it? What happens to the athlete who has spent 4 years taking classes that fit around a practice schedule rather than fit into a major? How many athletes have tutors (and/or ho-fessionals) doing their homework so they can focus on studying plays?

While I'm sure this happens to students of all colors, Black males disproportionately get the short end of the stick (I know, tell you something you don't know.) As if K-12 educational options for Black males weren't challenging enough, now they're getting screwed post-secondary too?

I'm not advocating for these athletes to break the rules but we have to look at why they're are doing it. Would YOU work for a million-dollar corporation that paid you in homework, hoodies & harlots.

The Chick who Hates Chick Flicks

I HATE ROMANTIC COMEDIES!  I hate everything about them.  From the acting, to the horrible & predictable dialogue and story lines.  I'd rather potty train a 2 year old then watch one.

To me, romantic comedies just aren't believable.  There's no way a woman that looks like Scarlett Johannsen is living in an apartment in NYC and her next door neighbor just happens to look like Ryan Reynolds.  That's not real.  I've lived in NYC for nearly 3 years and my next door neighbor is a 70 year old Puerto Rican woman.  Also, all these movies have a happy ending.  Like seriously, all the problems in these people's lives are solved in 90 mins??  Nuh uh.  Not real.  What I dislike the most about these movies is that the 'comedy' in romantic comedy always seems to be missing.  I've never taken Meg Ryan to be much of a stand-up comedian.  And, I can figure out the whole story line after I watch the opening credits.  Girl meets boy, girl loves boy, sad stuff happens, boy loves girl again, The End.  Long story short (don't you hate when people say that), if you wanna take me on a date to see a movie, there better be a fart joke or a fine Black man; otherwise consider that your first and last date.

What kind of movies would I rather watch?  Well, obviously Tyler Perry films....they're more credible.

~ @AllEyesOnDiv

Everything's better with Bacon

Sooo, I LOVE food.  I love all kinds of food.  Chinese Food, Italian Food, Mexican Food, Soul Food, Seoul Food; I love it all.  But I especially love bacon.  Not turkey bacon, not Canadian bacon, pig bacon.  Food just tastes better with bacon.  Put a lil in your vegetables; from drab to fab.  Macaroni & cheese; as if it needed anything to make it better, but it does.  I've even heard rumors of a bacon & maple flavored cupcake.  ($20 to the person who gets me one of THOSE.)  Ahhh alas, this is my love song to bacon.

Tomorrow I will follow this post with a sonnet to carrots.

Christmas Countdown: Merry Christmas from Whitney Houston

Remember before Whitney did crack.

Then after.

In the spirit of Christmas giving, I would like to share with you all one of my favorite Christmas past times.  I hope you all enjoy this clip as much as my sister and I do.

Disclaimer: Before anyone gets all up in arms about this post, I LOVE Whitney Houston.  Ever since I was 5 years old I swore I was gonna be a singer when I grew up & it's because of this lady.

But, I can't get my hair wet

...the famous last words of every Black girl on the planet.

As Black women we are more attached to our hair then anything else.  Ask a Black women if she would rather be bald or lose an arm....9 times outta 10, she'd rather be maimed.  I get it, I too am extremely attached to my hair, but as Black women we miss out on some stuff simply because we don't wanna get our hair wet.

Swimming: Yeah, we go swimming, but there is definitely preparation that goes into it.  Not to mention those horrible looking swim caps which went out in 1924.  Riding in convertibles:  Well, I dunno if we're actually missing out on anything here, but I've never done it and probably never will.  Working out: I used this excuse for 23 years ... which explains how I ballooned up to 250 pounds.

Long hair, short hair, natural or weave; ladies we are beautiful either way!  Just please, oh please...

stay away from lacefronts!