In the wake of this momentous victory I wanted to write a special Lay it Down – the YES WE CAN! edition.The results showed that We Can Change from the way things were, the way things have been in the past.Yes we can Lay Down the burdens that we have been carrying for centuries.We can Lay Down the shackles and dance.So in the wake of this momentous victory we can say Lay IT Down to . . . .
Lay it downdivisive politics
Lay it downsmear campaign strategies
Lay it downto the voices of hate
Lay it downto the race-baiting
Lay it downto desperation
Lay it downto fear mongering
Lay it downto religious condemnation
Lay it downto the lies and propaganda
Lay it downto the Bradley Effect
Lay it downto Red state vs. Blue state
Lay it downto name calling: terrorist, traitor, un-American, socialist, communist, The Manchurian candidate, sleeper cell
Lay it downto those who blame the downtrodden for their plight
This election was brought about by the grassroots.The thousands who realized the enormity of Decision 2008.The thousands who knew there was more at stake than just results from another election of candidates with homogeneous ideas.The thousands of volunteers helping the campaign – people like my father-in-law, Jose Laguna Sr.Although as a foreign-born resident he couldn’t vote, he hit the streets daily, for hours, informing his neighbors of the issues and policies, helping people register to vote, letting them know where the polling stations were located.
A new day dawns upon America.A new page is being written in American History.Dreams have been realized.Hope has been refreshed.Our minds have been opened up to new possibilities.There are new realities.The Paradigms have changed. The Restoration of the American Spirit.A Rejuvenation.
I previously posted a Lay It Down on Flavor Flav, denouncing the coonery of the show. This post makes an assumption that you are familiar with the subject matter, if not, apprise yourself with All-Knowing Wikipedia (be sure to follow the other links for the related items). As an aside, Bamboozled by Spike Lee is a fantastic movie to watch. It will help put things in perspective. Here are other takes on the Flavor Flav shows: Ablogs.sohh.com Bpoliticalpalace.yuku.com
In the post, I admitted watching the show. Just recently, I saw a new show, Real Chance At Love, that centered on the two brothers, Real and Chance, who were castaways from shows that trace their lineage to Flavor of Love. So I started wondering: How did we arrive at this point? Where did it all start?
It’s time to scale the VH1’s Family Tree of Flavor of Love.
Once upon a time music video channels used to play music videos. Then a show name The Real World came along and transformed the landscape. Since then, MTV began to shift its focus to reality shows as its staple product. VH1 followed suit. VH1 found its Goose That laid the Golden Eggs.
---click on the picture to see a larger image VH1 has been masterful! Plucking Flavor Flav from the WB channel and pasting him on the forefront of the reality madness. They created a Bizarro Abraham which spawned multitudes of shows. And Behold, VH1 saw that millions watched show, and said unto itself, what I have made is good!
Recap:
The Surreal Life: This reality show puts has-been, washed-up, and generally past-their-prime celebrities, stars, or athletes together in house (Big Brother style) and let’s the camera roll. The show records them as they navigate their way through tasks and activities assigned to them by the show’s producers while generating great TV drama with the inevitable conflicts arising from the varied personalities.
Flavor Flav is cast as one of the housemates on the reality show Surreal Life where a burgeoning romance with Brigitte Nielsen in spun off into another reality show called Strange Love. Strange indeed. After the relationship with Nielsen inevitably failed, Flav decided to have a pageantry of misfits, strippers, and all sorts of fame-hungry women on The Flavor of Love in hopes of finding love. Unfortunately, the “winner” Hoopz did not find you to be a desirable mate, so it was on to Season 2. Again, love was not to be, as Deelishas, was just using the show as platform to launch her music and clothing line of jeans for women with big butts. When that connection inevitably failed, Season 3 was thrust upon us. Hopes of Flav finding love the third time around were once again dashed – by Flav himself. Flav discards the winner of Season 3, instead choosing to return to the mother of his children.
The Flavor of Love formula breeds ungodly children of its own. A memorable castoff, Tiffany (known as New York on the show) was given a spin-off:I Love New York (Seasons 1 & 2) and New York goes to Hollywood (currently). Capitalizing on the success of the Flavor of Love, VH1, using the same formula, created the Rock of Love, with Bret Michaels (Seasons 1 & 2) and A Shot at Love, with Tila Tequila (Seasons 1 & 2). Additionally, some the castaways and rejects from these shows were brought back on I Love Money, where, instead of looking for love, they were competing for money.
Most recently, the Golden Goose has laid Real Chance of Love starring brothers Real and Chance, castaways from I Love New York and I Love Money. The brothers must choose from among contestants vying for their love and attention – or at least 15 minutes of hoochified fame.
Can we resist the onslaught of VH1’s swarming brood? Is VH1’s Flavor of Love progeny a truly unstoppable juggernaut? I would like to ask them to Lay It Down, but I fear nothing can be done to stop this.
Flava Flav- The greatest Hype man in Hip-Hop who told us, “Don’t believe the hype!”I think you are starting to believe your own hype.It’s over.Your run is over, Lay It Down!I will admit, it was a great run, but Tha Return of Flav has run its course.Let ‘er go!
We remember Public Enemy for delivering socially conscious hip-hop letting the world know that there was more to hip-hop than gangsta rap, gold chains, and the sambo hip-hop for the sake of selling music.For those of us old enough to remember Chuck D entreating us to “Fight the Power” and you echoing the sentiments heard in every hood, “911 is a Joke,” your return to the spotlight made us exhale in disbelief.You made a return to our collective consciousness as the personification of the images and lyrics you once eschewed. The anti-thesis what Public Enemy stood for.
That may not be your problem because you are having fun and getting paid, right?NO, THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM.That is the definition of SELLING OUT!Evidently,you had your price!
Let’s recount how it happened:
Flava Flav is cast as one of the housemates on the reality show Surreal Life where a burgeoning romance with Brigitte Nielsen in spun off into another reality show called Strange Love.Strange indeed. After the relationship with Nielsen inevitably failed, Flav decided to have a pageantry of misfits, strippers, and all sorts of fame-hungry women on The Flava of Love in hopes of finding love.Unfortunately, the “winner” Hoopz did not find you to be a desirable mate, so it was on to season 2. Again, love was not to be, as Deelishas, was just using the show as platform to launch her music and clothing line of jeans for women with big butts.
In the end, after two seasons of The Flava of Love, Flav discards the “love” he found on the show for the mother of his children.
The Flava of Love has spawned ungodly children of its own.A memorable castoff, Tiffany (known as New York on the show) was given a spin-off: I Love New York (Seasons 1 & 2) and New York goes to Hollywood (coming soon).Capitalizing on the success of the Flava of Love, VH1, using the same formula, created the Rockof Love, with Bret Michaels (Seasons 1 & 2) and A Shot at Love, with Tila Tequila (Seasons 1 & 2).Additionally, some the castaways and rejects from these shows were brought back on I Love Money, where, instead of looking for love, they now compete for money.
VH1 has been masterful!Plucking the Flava Flav from the WB channel and pasting him on the forefront of thereality madness, replaying the show every couple of hours daily.
And now, you have been granted a sitcom?And there is talk of you dropping an album?WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END??!!
Flava you stand at the summit of the Mountain of Buffoonery.Please accept the crown of King Sambo, the Maestro of Coonery.
Sadly, I admit that I watched the Flava of Love, Season One and Season Two. What can I say? It was entertaining!
To the new category of faux-celebrities that are titled “Celebreality” I wish to say, “Know your role and shut your damn mouth!” This goes for you Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth. Do us all a favor, LAY IT DOWN!
What is your claim to fame? Oh yes, being an obnoxious biatch with an over-inflated sense of worth with an ego that could rival Kanye West's. You were terrible on both Apprentice segments that you appeared on, but your showing on the Celebrity Apprentice set a new standard for despicable behavior. You claim to be so smart and possess so much business savvy, yet showed nothing to support such a claim. In two stints on the Apprentice your record of 0 wins in 4 tries as a Project Manager, with one of the defeats being called the worst thrashing by Trump. I know that everyone has a right to eat - and this is "character" of yours, as you claim, is your bread; but please, do us all a favor - LAY IT DOWN! A TV Guide survey voted you the most reviled reality show contestant. That goes right along with the People Magazine story on your real life concluded that your [unstable nature resulted in your banishment from four jobs in two years due in part to your inability to get along with people]. (Thank you Wikipedia)
I will concede this to you; no one has milked the "bad guy" character this side of WWE, like you have. As we watch the clock tick down on your fame clock (14 minutes and 59 seconds), we’ll see you on The Surreal Life. Oops, we already did. Next stop . . . the Elephant Graveyard (i.e. any of the celeb-reality shows on VH1)!
And now you are releasing a book?!! The Bitch Switch: Knowing How to Turn it On and Off. Do us all a favor, just GO AWAY!
Hasselbeck, 31, served as the official emcee at a luncheon for Cindy McCain just hours before John McCain's big speech. Hasselbeck also showed off vintage-style "McCain '08" T-shirts she designed herself, and spent time on the floor of the convention taping a segment that will air on Monday, Sept. 8, on The View. "She was a bit of a rock star," a source tells PEOPLE. "The Republicans were all over her, fawning over her, telling her she was the best, clapping and cheering at her speech at the lunch. She wrote it herself, by the way." [People.com, RNC, by Mark Dagostino –Sept. 5, 2008].
Elisabeth Hasselbeck, LAY IT DOWN! Who are you? No, seriously, who are you and where did you come from? What did you do before you joined The View? And why do we care about your viewpoints?
I guess the same can be said about me right? But there is a difference. I actually think about what I’m going to say before I say it. By the way, did you notice People had to emphasize that she wrote the speech herself! I guess that must be a notable accomplishment for her.
I know The View needs you - someone must serve as the resident narrow-minded, lame-brained idiot. I have watched The View a number of times and leave with the same dissatisfied feeling lamenting the hour that I will never get back. I watch it hoping that the few moments of insightful comments from Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters and the humorous simpleton comments from the simple minded black lady (who I can’t for the life of me ever remember her name- oh yeah, Sherri Shepherd) can counter the obnoxious and ill-thought out comments from Hasselbeck.
Your scant life experiences and sheltered background compounded with your ill-read worldview collectively produce some of the narrowest minded comments to be spit out on TV. I invite different viewpoints as much as the next person, but come on?!! Are you kidding me?
I understand that you are a conservative, but you walk the party line like a mindless drone. All I’m asking is for you to THINK a little. Are you reading from the Conservative’s Daily Digest? Were you given a list of talking points? I consider myself an independent so don’t try to lump me in the liberal box. Contrived and regurgitated.
You the reader, might ask what am I doing at 10am during the weekday to have time to watch the View anyway. Well, my work schedule is flexible enough that it allows it! And at 10am, my options are limited. After watching an hour and half of CNN Headline News (which loops every 30 minutes) and Your World Today, my options are down to baseball highlights on ESPN, the start of the soap opera lineup, the various court shows (Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown and the like).
Your appearance outside of the View, at the Republican National Convention, as a self-appointed spokesperson, is a just a little too much for me to swallow. So please, for the sake of sanity, LAY IT DOWN!
Mr. Phillip Berg filed a lawsuit, on Aug 21, 2008 against Sen. Barack Obama alleging that Sen. Obama was not a natural born citizen, thus ineligible for the presidency. The Berg case requires Obama to present birth documents proving otherwise (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066207/posts).
Sen. Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, the 50th state of the United States of America.
Sen. McCain was born on Aug. 29, 1936 on the Coco Solo Naval Air Station, in the Panama Canal Zone, in Panama. On the Indonesian argument: Berg posits, even if he was “natural-born” in the first instance, by going to school in Indonesia, he forfeits his US citizenship, and would have to go through the immigration process and become a “naturalized” citizen afterwards.
Berg starts by alleging that Obama was born in Kenya not in Hawaii. He then goes acknowledging that Obama is a citizen, but forfeited his citizenship by living and going to school in Indonesia.
I guess you can lose your citizenship by living and going to school in another country.
I respond to this not because it warrants attention on its own merit. I respond instead because this is yet another example of diversionary tactics and fear-mongering.
This lawsuit is baseless and absolutely ridiculous. I don't want to waste anymore time talking about this. The lawsuit should be thrown out with the trash, with Berg in tow.
This is from the Archives, written on the eve of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
Olympic, Olympic, and not so Olympic: A Lay It Down Special Edition
I have watched as much of the Olympics as I possibly could, staying up late into the night to watch things live in Beijing time, going work late in order to watch the morning telecasts, and recording others so I could watch them later.
The Olympics convene every four years and the best of human focus, training, and performance are on display – representatives from 204 countries vie to earn a place in history as the best in whatever field they compete in.I love the Olympics!
Some of my favorite moments:
Opening and Closing Ceremonies – like a visual ice cream sundae: so many things going on at once, the individually pleasing but collectively Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Watching Kobe Bryant elevate his game to an even higher level to carry Team USA’s Redeem Team to gold victory of an excellent Spanish team.Kobe Bryant, Slam Dunk Giant.
Usain Bolt exploding the barriers of human speed – defying what we thought of human limitations in speed: a 9.69 100m sprint (World Record), 19.30 200m sprint (World Record), and 37.10 4x100m Relay (World Record).
The entire Jamaicancontingent in the sprints:Big UPs to Jamaica!Representing like never before.
Michael (M-fing Aquaman, the Man from Atlantis, the son of Poseidon) Phelps.Need I say more!!Brian Lezak- clutch.Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin.
US Softball upset by Japan.
Ivory Coastvs. Serbia soccer match.Best Soccer game I’ve ever seen.Ivory Coast won was 4-2.If every soccer match was played like this, it would definitely pick up more fans in the US.Both teams were relentlessly attacking; instead of the defensive-minded approach of the other teams.
Of course, Nigeriapicking up the Silver Medal in soccer.
Nastia Liukin and the US Gymnastics team, The US Volleyball Men’s Team’s win against Brazil for Gold- a game that would make an instant volleyball fan out of anyone.
There were so many compelling stories, triumphs, and performances – many of which we didn’t seen or know about because everything couldn’t be covered.
So despite all of this, I have some complaints – so bear with me.First of all let me preface the following by saying that my opinions don’t reflect what I think of the sport in question as a true sport.My contention is the decision to include it an Olympic Sport.These Sports should Lay It Down as Olympic Sports.
Let’s start:
BMX, Skateboarding – yes, it requires skill, but we have the X Games now, that’s the forum.
Badminton – I’m not saying playing it is not difficult, but watching it was!
Rhythmic Gymnastics – individual and team, I’m sorry, dancing with hoola-hoops is not Olympic.Besides, we already have regular gymnastics.
Trampoline – Are you serious?Again, some of this belongs in the regular gymnastics.Backflipping on a trampoline is for the backyard, parks, picnics, and carnivals, not the Olympics.
Synchronized Diving – you mean to tell me that people practice diving together?There are individual diving competitions at the Olympics, stick to that.
Synchronized Swimming – see Rhythmic Gymnastics above.I didn’t see/watch this at this Olympics, but this deserves mentioning.
Race-walking – ??!!! WHAT ???!!!I don’t get this at all.Racewalking, speedwalking, or whatever they want to call it is not Olympic.I want to walk up to one of the competitors and push them into a jog!I don’t know where to categorize this: are you too slow to jog?The hip-swishing for 30 Kilometers just offends my sensibilities – you can’t liftyour knees to high, you have to roll you foot from heel to toe.There were some people who were actually disqualified for going too fast! How does one figure out they are good at racewalking anyway?Do you get tired of jogging one day and say, hey, I can walk pretty fast.Matter of fact, I can walk fast enough to beat most of the people in the world.
Beach Volleyball- This last one is a little different.I really enjoyed watching this, both Men and Women’s competitions.But there is already a team volleyball competition (which was great by the way).But it should not be at the Olympics.If Beach Volleyball is included then there should be an Olympic 3 on 3 Basketball Tourney.As much as I like it, not Olympic.
There were some not so Olympic Moments:
You don’t drop your medal on the mat no matter how much you felt cheated!
You don’t roundhouse kicka referee in the face no matter how much you felt cheated!
I love Sports. I love the Olympic Games.
I call upon the Youths of the World to assemble 4 years from now, the year 2012, in London to celebrate the Games of the 30th Olympiad .
