Raw Footage: Transformers 2

If I see one movie this summer...IT WILL BE THE TRANSFORMERS

Raw Footage: Sort of

Here is my FAVORITE Cosby Show Opening

The Octuplet's mother

Recently in the news a California woman gave birth to octuplets in

January. She's been getting a lot of flack for having this 8 children in addition to the 6 children who are currently with her ages 2-7

Outside of her being unemployed and living w/ moms, I don't understand why this is a story. My wife's grandmother on her father's side had @ least 10 kids. One of my best friend's growing up had 7 siblings in addition to him. Maybe this chick (I believe her name is Nadya) wants to be a mother...don't knock her for it.

for those of you who think she's dumb, I bet we all are currently living w/ at least 3 dumb decisions we've made in our lives. Do we need to get some cameras in your life and have ppl blog about your perceived mistakes?

That being said, Nadya...RIGHT ON TO YA. Don't know how you make it thru the day (b/c my 14 month old daughter be runnin me and the Mrs ragged). But that joy you get from the interatction of your 14 children must be priceless...

From the guy who's happy Omar Epps I mean Mike Tomlin won the Super Bowl

B. Holcomb

In My Mind Part II

1. Would Pepe Le Peu be considered a rapist in 2009?




2. So I'm excited President Obama gets to keep some form of a PDA...while he serves as commander in chief. But those people who have special access to the President's PDA (READ: email addy), will they have to get a special device on their end??




3. As of January 27th, 2009, how come in the tv show "Lost"; Walt doesn't have to come back to the island?

In My Mind...

Zoe 101




My wife will be the first to tell you, when I develop a celebrity

crush, I become a closet stalker of said person. So when I learned the news that Zoe Salanda (pictured above) will be playing the role of my old school Star Trek crush in the upcoming Star Trek movie (LT Uhura played by the lovely Nichelle Nichols pictured below) I was happier than R. Kelly @ a debutante ball



Zoe hit my radar around 01/02 when she played Nick Cannon's love intrest in the movie Drumline...then I remember seeing her in an episode of Law & Order SVU (a show I just began watching in 2006...I know. She was also in the first "Pirates of the Carribbean" movie. (she had a small role, and if you blinked you missed her). She was also in that movie "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks...ironically she played a Trekkie in that film (lol). Regardless, I'm hype for this new Star Trek Movie:

Sylar from "Heroes" is playing Spock. And the underrated actor Eric Bana is playing the movie's antagonist a Romulan (I think he's a Romulan) named "Nero". My only "concern" is that JJ Abrams is directing this joint. Brilliant Sci-Fi mind, but damnit if he doesn't quit confusing me w/ "Lost"...

Here is a teaser poster with Zoe as Uhura...






Super Bowl EX EL Eye Eye Eye (43)

I'm torn this year about who to root for in this year's Super Bowl. I'm

a fan of Omar...I mean Mike Tomlin (Head Coach of the Steelers) but I also like Kurt Warner (Our former QB, who brought us our first and only Super Bowl Championship). But I don't want the Bidewell family (Owners of the Cardinals) to win. Not only that, but b/c the Cardinals in the Super Bowl a lot of the "hype" isn't there this year...We'll see what happens. Peace to my man CJ who was able to score some tix to the big game...

The Inauguration

Courtney and I were fortunate enough to be in Washington DC "amongst the people" (Peace to my man Steve and his lady Rikah) during the inauguration ceremony. Below is footage from our point of view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr4OIbC18Gk

WARNING: I apologize in advance for the "Blair Witch" presentation...but this video is still worth sharing!

Twitter

Lastly...I'm on Twitter y'all! Peace once again to the Diva for hippin' me to "the next big social network device but I didn't get it at first". Regardless though, feel free to follow me on Twitter at: bholcomb

later

I'M BACK!

Ok, I'll be honest. Life just got in my way. Everytime I had

an idea to blog about, something else came up, and then my idea became stale. Let me give you some brief updates as to what happened since I gave my review of "American Gangster"

1) The Patriots lost the Super Bowl & Eli Manning won a Super Bowl Ring
2) Tiger Woods won the US Open on damn near one leg
3) Knight Rider came back to TV (and man, K.I.T.T. simply does too much for even my standards
4) Barack Obama, defeated the Clinton legacy & the Republican party to become the 44th president of the United States (see immediate blog below)
5) and lastly, my wife Courtney gave birth to our first baby girl named Ava Rose. She was born on Sunday November 18th, 2008 @ 3:47am. 4lbs, 10 oz (I forgot how long she was; but here is how she looks 50 weeks later:




So that's little mama, ready to turn 1...now, directly below is my post about the rise of Barack H. Obama, our 44th President

B.Holcomb

This wasn't supposed to happen like this

It all started for me back in October, 1984 when I first heard Eddie Murphy draw the comparison as to how "in shape" Jesse Jackson would be because he’d constantly be running while delivering his state of the union address if Jesse were elected president of the United States. A black president…even 21 years after the “Dream” speech was still a laughable topic amongst the American culture.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

July 28, 2004. While my then fiancée and I were laughing about possible personality clashes to occur during our wedding, I had turned on the tv and there was this man speaking at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He fit the description you’re all too familiar with from the storybooks…tall, dark & handsome….but damn his ears were big. However, his voice was Oprah Winfrey, Master Yoda, Keith Jackson & EF Hutton. A voice that commanded your attention, and the more he spoke, the more people listened. Then he was running for (and would win) a US Senate seat from the state of Illinois. His message was constant through his speech “Hope is on the way”. His name was Barrack H. Obama

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

December 14th, 2006. Courtney & I hosted a white elephant exchange gift party at our home. During the gift exchange, one of the attendees unwrapped a gift that was a book penned by the man I described above. The title “The Audacity of Hope”. Jokingly I shouted “That’s our next president everybody” and Courtney and I entered a stance that mimicked John Carlos & Tommie Smith on the medal podium during the 1968 Summer Olympics. The rumor was slowly turning into a strong buzz, but nobody took it seriously then.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

February 2007, Springfield, IL Barrack Obama announced his candidacy for president of the United States. “No way” your average Californian would say. “who is this guy?” would be Kobe Bryant’s response. “He’s a long shot” your Fox News correspondent would say…the democratic nomination was all Hillary R. Clinton’s. December, 2007, my sister (who maybe one of 31 black people in the state of Iowa) called me to let me know she had received a Holiday card from the Obama family. On the front was a picture of Barrack, Michelle, & their daughters Milea & Sasha. This guy won’t win. But that’s an earnest effort to get my sister’s vote during the upcoming Caucus. Later, Oprah Winfrey would endorse Barrack Obama, the reaction…Oprah’s a traitor.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

January 3rd, 2008, Barrack Obama won the Iowa Caucus..”. Then Barrack split the delegate count of the New Hampshire primary w/ Hillary. Then Barrack would win South Carolina. Then Barrack would emerge as a legit contender from the infamous “Super Tuesday”. Suddenly states that never voted in the primary had a voice in the upcoming months. People who couldn’t tell you what an electoral vote was, began quoting political blogs they read on huffingtonpost.com We were experiencing something unreal. A movement unlike anything we’ve felt before.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

Forced to denounce and disown the Pastor who married his wife and baptized his children. Forced to deliver a dynamic (yet necessary) speech about race relations in America. Forced to defend himself because “he delivers great speeches”, defend himself because “he’s out of touch w/ the common man, and has never had to struggle…an elitist if you will”. Yet come out on top as the 2008 Democratic nominee. No, it wasn’t supposed to happen.

A black man, being called a Socialist, and being associated by others labeled as anti-American. Others who hatched internal plots within the United States while Barrack was 8 years old. While campaigning against the personification of what the American dream by the alias of Joe the Plumber.

“Do you understand he wants to tax you forever?”
“Do you understand he wants to engage in civil talks with our enemies abroad?”
“Do you understand that he’s never had to work hard in his life?”
“Do you understand he’s not one of us?”

No. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

The night of November 4, 2008, Courtney, myself and our then 11 month daughter Ava went over to a friend’s house to watch the Returns. I wore my “THAT ONE 08” T-SHIRT, Courtney had on a t-shirt with a picture of her family that was taken at a family reunion decades ago. At that time, I didn’t understand why THAT T-SHIRT of all t-shirts? But it would later make sense to me.

By the time we arrived @ our friend’s house, including us there were 6 people, 6 cell phones, 5 cupcakes, 4 bottles of Gatorade, 3 laptops, 2 televisions, 2 pizzas and 1 overall feeling that we could potentially be witnessing history. The night began troublesome, as Ava was under the weather, and McCain had jumped out to an 8-3 electoral vote lead (he won Kentucky, Barrack won New Hampshire)…but it was early. As Ava began to feel a little better and the pizza began settling into our stomachs, more “projections” were coming in…McCain had a slight lead over Obama. The room…was cautiously optimistic but prepared for thse worse

As 7:35pm CST approached, a game changer happened…Ava suddenly felt like a brand new baby, and began pushing her stroller like she had been walking for 12 months! As she laughed & paraded around the room, George Stephanopolis had just announced to us that Barrack Obama had won the state of Pennsylvania. It’s 21 electoral votes suddenly gave Obama a lead…more projections would come in, a state here to McCain…a couple of more states for Obama this was the pattern until about 8:30pm CST…where suddenly Obama had 207 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win…McCain had 83.

As the conversation changed to dynamics in our workplace, to commonalities shared bw the two married couples to “What if Obama wins?” I immediately replied “we need to scream our loudest pop champagne like we won the championship!”. More projections were coming in. McCain was inching closer, but John King had said “at this point in the race, it looks bleek for McCain” But I knew from past elections that anything could happen. I encouraged the members at our party to “Wait until the PST (pacific Standard Time Zone) close their polls.” Barrack stood @ 207 electoral votes still.

At 10pm CST, Wolf Blitzer made 2 announcements. The first being that New Mexico was awarded to Barrack Obama, and the second one BARRACK OBAMA WINS THE ELECTION. Immediately Courtney asked “What does Fox News call?” As we flipped to Fox News, (whose fair & balanced reporting were lapdogs for John McCain & Sarah Palin), Brit Hume announced “and as the polls in California, Oregon & the state of Washington close, Fox News reports that Barrack Obama has won the 2008 presidential election. As Ava was asleep, the remaining 5 adults in the room were in stunned disbelief…then I uttered softly “…he did it y’all.”

I looked around the room and sound the quietest sound of joy I’ve ever experienced. From smiles, to tears, as we sat and watched Fox News show the cheering from Grant Park in Chicago, to the students in Indonesia, to people in Kenya dancing, the pure elation was unparalleled, then a cell phone rang, then a text message indicator went off. “He did it ya’ll”

History was made. Suddenly it made sense why my wife had a picture of her family on her t-shirt…they saw what she saw. They saw what we saw.

Overjoyed
Blessedness
Amazement
Monumental
Admiration


How do I feel?

As we approach the 48th hour of the announcement that the 44th president of the United States is named Barrack Hussein Obama, I’m still in disbelief. But I wanna shout like I just just won the Masters Golf Tournament by a record 12 strokes. I wanna sing like I’m the greatest pop artist of my time opening up for Super Bowl XXV, I wanna cry as if I’m one of the greatest players in NBA History and I finally won my first NBA title. But I can’t…I’m still on the barstool @ my mans house on Tuesday November 4th @ 10pm CST

I’m still receiving emails from people who I thought didn’t know what a filibuster was
I’m still receiving text messages from people who have never donated one cent to a political campaign
I’m still receiving phone calls from friends who are expressing their happiness as pure silence. Friends who always have something to say to me

I never appreciated the importance of Jackie Robinson’s legacy until I was 9. But I can imagine seeing a Negro play professional integrated baseball was at one time a joke to my grandmother and others of her generation. But very common place in 2008

I never appreciated Thurgood Marshall’s legacy on the United States Supreme Court until I was 14 years old. But I can imagine seeing a Black man nominated as a US Supreme Court Justice was at one time a joke to my parents and others of their generation. But very commonplace in 2008.

And for me, imagining a black man, a demographic who the United States society expects NOTHING from, assume the position of president of the United States on January 20th, 2009 was certainly a joke to me, my wife, my best friend and others in our generation as recent as January 2007
.
But to my daughter Ava Rose Holcomb who turns one year old in a fortnight, and others in her generation, will they appreciate this by 2012? Maybe. 2016? Perhaps. But when she and her generation are old enough, to know that they can reference Barrack Obama as their example that people can truly be judged by the content of their character, and can achieve anything in their lifetime…makes the shock and awe of what happened this past Tuesday night slowly transform into quiet joy for me. I guess it was supposed to happen...just like this

American Gangster: The Jay-Z album

When I first heard of the news that Jay was going to drop yet another CD; this one based off the film American Gangster You can imagine that I had reservations . These reservations were further confirmed when I heard the first single Blue Magic which lead to my questioning in the previous post below.

Then I heard "Roc Boys (..And the winner is)" and absolutley LOVED IT!! So as of October 17th 2007, Sean Carter is 1 for 2 on the new album. At this moment I have to shout out my man Jamal Jackson (b/k/a Jay-Z Zombie #4) for letting me know that this new album is supposed to be a concept album . So I'm lovin' the "Roc Boys" single and can't wait to HEAR the rest of the CD.

In preperation for this CD, I watched BET's American Gagnster profile on Frank Lucas on Wed Oct 31st. On Friday The Court and I doubled w/ Jamal and his now finacee (CONGRATS TO YOU AND JAMYLAH) (Editor's Note: You can check Jamaylah and the the thoughts of her crew right here )

and saw the movie American Gangster starring Denzell Washington & Russell Crowe

(BTW I wonder if in some circles, Russell Crowe's name appears before Denzell Washington).

So now I have some background. On November 6th, I purchased the CD, processed it, and I have to say it's pretty damn good! Below is a brief song by song snynopsis of what I feel Jay-Z was trying to convey in American Gangster

Track #1 intro An Introduction.

Track #2-Pray . Here I believe is where a man is at the crossroads of either staying in the drug game or living a legitimate life. The song goes on to weigh the pros and cons of both situations, and the man is asking you to pray for him
(This song also features Beyonce' doing the speaking parts)

Track #3-American Dreamin' . By now the man in track #2 has decided to continue in the drug game, and the stage is set to begin the conquest of becoming the ultimate Kingpin
(Editor's Note: The production on this track is wonderful!)

Track #4-Hello Brooklyn 2.0 f/ Lil Wayne . Okay first and foremost, I believe there is an industry ploy to make everyone believe Wayne is a good lyricist. No Wayne really sucks! Ok now that that's off my chest, off first instance, I couldn't stand this cut...but after listening to what this song is trying to say. I'm a fan of this joint

This song goes into the man's start of the drug game in Brooklyn, NY. It's sort of ironic in the sense, that he's speaking about his love for the borough, but @ the same time his familiarity w/ the borough makes it a perfect place to serve as homebase for his drug operations. Thank you Brooklyn, NY

Track #5- No Hook . This song is demonstrative of Jay-Z's raw flow. The song is entitled No Hook, and it speaks to The Man's process in building his empire. He's made the decision to stay in the game, he starts in Brooklyn, making a name for himself now he wants to bring his family in and begin his own Kingpin family

Track #6- Roc Boys (...And The Winner is). Again, I absolutley love this song! This song is a celebration of the success the family has gained through the drug game.

(The Fortissimo sound of the horns are ridiculous crazy )

Track #7- Sweet . So after the party is over, this is a reflection of the product...the product of being a drug kingpin, the product of drugs, the proudct of the customers. Listening to the lyrics it takes a reflective view now that the man's family is in the game with him...does he feel bad they followed his footsteps? Does he feel bad the community is slowly tearing apart? Not yet...b/c it's a sweet life

(Production on this track is great also!)
Track #8- I know . My man Jamal and I had to agree to disagree on this song (although I believe I'm correct). Jamal believes this song is a personfication of Heroin...which if you listen to the first 3 lines of the song, one could draw that conclusion easily. However after listening to the entire song I felt that this song is a personification of overall "addiction". The addiction to drugs, the addiction to stay high...the overall feeling you get to stay high.
(Initially I didn't think this song fit w/ the overall mood of the CD, b/c it lacked that 70s feel that was being heard up until this point. But again, after I listened and understood this song I grew to appreciate it...and the beat does actually work w/ this song; in it's own unique way continuing w/ the 70s vibe) Editor's Note: Hello Brooklyn lacks a 70's vibe also

Track #9-Party Life . This song is more like "I know" part II. Just delves deeper into the game, that feeling of addiction, and continued attitudes from getting high.
(Unforunatley, this song could've been left off the album, as I'm really not digging it all that much)
Track #10- Ignorant Sh** f/ Beannie Siegel . This song is pretty special to me, as it was the last song I heard before I walked down the aisle on July 30, 2004. So why is this song on this album in 2007? I don't get it. As much I love this song, it just doesn't fit on this album. The only rationale I can provide for this is this song explains that the drug game can get you so messed up that shit (life) just becomes ignorant? That's a stab...and I consider myself pretty good at turning the abstract into tangible thoughts and ideas.

Editor's Note: So by now I've heard 3 versions of this song:

• The first version I've owned was a version w/ DJ Don D'Marco (a mixtape DJ). And it's great; minus the fact that in classic mixtape fashion Don D'Marco (or DMiggs for the Snoop inclined) is shouting over the mixtape...not necessary, but you still enjoy the vibe
  
• The 2nd version I recently heard came from my man FP. Many of you have seen these intials before in previous blogs as I reference him as being one of the only people who catches my dry humor moments and random pop culture references. FP gave me a version of the song w/o a mixtape DJ...but right before the hook of this song it sounds like the folks in the engineering booth were like "OKay, pause the track right here and put an explosion sound...RIGHT THERE FOOL! YEA THAT'S HOT; NOW UNPAUSE THE TRACK". So the sound is very discombobulated
  
• Lastly is this album version on American Gangster. I understand Seigel is about to drop an album in the first quarter of 2008, and Beans (Seigel) is one of the more productive members of the Roc-A-Fella family (although I thought Beannie Seigel went w/ the Dame Dash Music Group); but I feel it was a mistake to let him get on this song. I think if this was my first time hearing this song, I wouldn't mind; but pre conceived notions have runined the song for me
  

Overall, I'll stick w/ my little mixtape version that's on my iPod ; back to my breakdown

Track 11-Say Hello . Every gangster film, piece etc. needs a "Say Hello to the Bad Guy" anthem right? Well here it is.
(Sorry I don't have much to say about this track, but I always find myself stuck on the Ignorant Shit point made above)

Track 12-Success f/ Nas . So this is the part of the movie where everything is going good, and the producers, directors are setting you up for the big fall. But this is usually that last big party, where something is said to the wrong person and you know the kingpin is gonna pay in the end. This song reflects on the evolution of the kingpin and describes what success is @ the ultimate peak. This is far and away my favorite cut on the CD...But when is Jay-Z going to learn to not have guest artists who do better than him on his own isht? (i.e. Renegade f/ Eminem...which btw, you've never seen a Jay-Z Eminiem collaboration again have you?)

Track 13-Fallin'. So Track #12 was the Climax, and now Track 13 "Fallin" details the Falling action (for my English Lit inclined). This too is an enjoyable song, and can you believe Jermaine Dupri produced this song?

The remaining tracks are bonus tracks. ONe is the very terrible "Blue Magic" that I refuse to comment on, and the other track "American Gangster" reminds me of the 1992 classic "Tonite" by DJ Quik "Cause as soon they come, we doin' the same ol shit TONIGHT!!!"

Peace to all who continue to shout me out in your respective blogs, conference calls & happy hour conversations. As I tell people, I'm not really a funny dude, I'm just the guy that speaks about all the activities happening in my life

On a parting note, wifey is due by December 12th. I have no idea how many weeks she is, but she's due by December 12th. I will do my best to update continue to update the blog once a month about the redefintion of my life (B Holcomb: The parenting chronicles) in addition to my commentary of the game we called life..but keep in mind that creativity cannot be forced (Peace to Aaron McGruder)

oh yea The American Gangster album...I give it a solid 4.25 mics! (out of 5)

From the guy who always wonders how do seeing eye dogs know exactly where to go

B. Holcomb