When will we move past stereotypes?

I'm Black/African American.

Yes, I am good at basketball.

No, I'm not a thug, gangbanger, drug user, drug dealer, or any of the like.

Yes, I like some R&B.

No, I hate rap music, especially gangsta rap.

Yes, I was raised Baptist.

No, I hate Gospel music.

Yes, I'm a very good dancer (I'm trained in ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, breaking, and various ballroom styles).

No, I don't go out in the streets dancing and get into fights out in the street.

Yes, I get very good grades. I'm also a college graduate, and I am proficient in multiple different instruments, mainly flute.

No, that does not make me an "Oreo."

In short, when are we going to move past the stereotypes that bind us? I'm a Black man, but don't judge me based on what you think you know about Black "culture" in general. No, we are not all thugs and gangstas who sit around smoking weed all day talking in ebonics. Many of us actually want to make something of ourselves and be respected. If you try to make predictions about who I am based on my skin color, I can almost guarantee that you will be inaccurate about me.

The only way that you can get to know what kind of person I am is by talking to me and getting to know me. Don't judge me based on my skin color or what I look like on the outside. Because there is so much more to me than just the color of my skin or the clothes that I wear.

And that goes for a lot of other stereotypes, as well. Watch this video, it explains exactly what I'm talking about.

My Fellow Blacks

I am an African American. And I am proud to be one, really, I am. But man, other black people really really piss me off.

WARNING: I'm about to get into the stuff that you probably REALLY don't want to hear. But I still feel that it needs to be said. Remember when I said you'd wanna throw things at me after this reading this one? Well... here's the stuff I was talking about. With that said... read on at your own risk. Or just skip to the end.

We live in a world where racial stereotypes are prevalent. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are widely derogatory and negative. Sucks, yeah, I know. At ACEN (Anime Central, and anime convention) a couple years ago, I went to a panel on Sunday afternoon titled, and I kid you not, "How to Pick up an Asian Girl (or Guy)". Now, I was immediately offended, and I'm not even Asian. I probably wouldn't have even attended the panel, but I had nothing else to do at the time, it was like the last panel of the day, and it was right after and in the same room as the Kaiju (Japanese movie monsters) panel that I had just been in. So I figured I'd attend out of morbid curiousity. And I'm glad I did. First off, the panelists didn't even show up. So there were six Asians in the audience who gladly volunteered to be the panelists, one of whom had led a panel the day before. It was a very intriguing experience. But that's a story for another time... ask me about it, I'd love to tell the story. But the point is, and the point that we made on Sunday was, that we are all just human! Like Bill Clinton once said, "The biggest problem confronting humanity is the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity." And that is the TRUTH. There's no real secret to getting with anyone, but if you think there is, let's talk for a while, and I'll be happy to share the thoughts that we all shared on Sunday. But I digest... err, digress.

Racial stereotypes aren't helped by the fact that society, and the races that those stereotypes describe, have already accepted them to be true. Black people, the stereotypical hip hop culture, noted for lousy grammar, being loud, blah blah blah, you know how it goes. Well, I look around and see so many acting the stereotypes out, and then people wonder why our race is looked down on. I feel like I have to work just that much harder to prove to people that I am NOT that stereotypical black man. Because believe it or not, people WILL have preconceived notions about us. And we can't prove them right. Cultural identity is great, and I am proud of my race. But not to the extent of making myself look like a fool JUST to say "Hey, I'm of a different race than you". It is important maintain cultural identity, but we should do so while still being part of the whole.

Now that was not meant to be an attack on African American culture, because like I said, I am proud of who I am, and proud of my roots. But seriously... the rights that our forefathers fought for... if those forefathers were alive today (and some of them are still), do you think they would be proud of the racial stereotype that we give off to the public? If you've never seen The Boondocks episode "Return of the King", you should really check it out. Sure, it's a very gross exaggeration of what I'm talking about, but it's still relevant. And by the way, I was originally going to make this a comment on all racial stereotypes and how we can't let ourselves live up to all of the negative perceptions, but I don't think it would be right for me to be talking to other races about their races. Remember when I said earlier that I'm an equal opportunity attacker? Yeah, I didn't forget about the other races. I did get some very nice insight on Asian stereotypes and how they feel about the stereotypes they get from people when we had that discussion on Sunday, but I still don't think it's my place to share any of that. But basically, we just have to watch what we say and what we do these days.

Well, so... I guess that's about all of the material that I can cover tonight. Believe me, I could probably go on for hours. But, well... I think by now, you've had about enough of what I'm saying, right? If you wanna talk about or debate any of this stuff with me, feel free to. I'm always open to hearing other people's opinions. I'm (generally) very easy to reach and talk to, so just hit me up. And, well... let the (hopefully) blunt objects fly!

Faith?

What exactly is faith, I wonder? I thought I knew what it was. It's taken on a number of "definitions" in my short 23 years of life. is it believing in deities? Is it believing in people? Is it believing in things at all? No, I think those are just parts of the definition of faith.

I've had a lot of time to do some serious thinking. And this word seems to keep popping up. Whenever I have "faith" in someone, they always to let me down. They disappoint me, or they turn out to not be what or who I believed them to be. Or maybe my "faith" was just me casting them in certain light, putting them on a pedestal, while not allowing myself to see other sides of them that truly bothered me. It seems to happen to me a lot, especially in the past few years, and I can't help but wonder why?

Whenever I have faith in a situation or an opportunity that presents itself to me, it somehow fails or inevitably winds up not being all that it was cracked up to be. But why? Did I do something wrong? Have I just not found that situation that I'm "meant" to be in?

I know that I still have some growing up to do, but I still don't think that I'm all THAT immature. So I wonder why I feel so... what's a good word for "not good enough" or "not up to the standards of everyone else?" Eh, it'll come to me later.

Maybe that's why I want to adopt a dog. Especially a Siberian husky. Very loyal companion dogs. I could have faith in them. I probably couldn't have faith that they wouldn't run away when they get outside, but that's what fences are for. Huskies are loyal. They love you (and really, pretty much everybody). They'd always be there to greet you, they'd always be happy to see you, and they wouldn't fight with you.

*sigh* I really want my husky now...

Dragon Ball Z Kai

So last night, I picked up Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1, Part 1 from Wal*mart. Being an avid DBZ fan, I'm always looking for new DBZ-related stuff like video games and DVDs. Now when I first heard about DBZ Kai last year, essentially the same DBZ with no filler and only story, my first reaction was "Okay, no big deal... once you've seen DBZ, that's it." So I was never really all that pumped for it, and I just basically said I'd eventually check it out whenever it was finally dubbed just to see what they did with it, but I probably wouldn't stick with it.

Boy, I could not have been more wrong.



I absolutely love this series. Yes, I'm only six episodes in (out of the 13 on this set), but wow. DBZ Kai is basically the same footage re-edited and re-dubbed to create a filler-less version of the series. Right from the get-go, we start off with a new beginning to the series, and by the end of the first episode, Raditz has already appeared at Master Roshi's island and such. By the second episode, Goku and Piccolo and already preparing to facce off against Raditz, and so on. If that's any indication, you already know this series is going to move much more quickly than the original series, with whole episodes devoted simply to dialogue and/or flashback filler.

That's not the only plus. The series isn't just re-editing new footage to create a faster-paced story. The footage contains a completely new dub track to create a more coherent story, not to mention it's more accurate than the original dub (as one review puts it, no more "drats, darns, or rats!"). The new scripts are also much better, in my opinion, and the voice acting this time around is very top-notch. Some characters have new voices, and they are quite strong and fitting, in my opinion.

Overall, I'm very much looking forward to getting more into this series, and I cannot wait for the next part of the series to be released! KAMEHAMEHA!

Smallville, a.k.a. "Is He Superman Yet?"

Ah, Smallville. One of my favorite shows on TV at the moment. I've been powering through a re-watching of Smallville season 8 lately. It's definitely better the second time around than I perceived it to be when I first saw it last year, but it is still very flawed. Even so, I still love the show very dearly.

Clark is slowly but surely evolving into Superman, though I still hate that every time he takes one step forward, he seems to take two more steps backward. Grr... Oh well.

The idea of Doomsday having a human identity was a very intriguing idea, and exciting, since it hasn't ever been done before. (Doomsday is the creature that was known for killing Superman in the comics back in the 90s. Well actually, they beat each other to death, but still, it was a really big deal.) However, the idea was completely horrible in its execution. I hated Davis Bloom, and Sam Witwer playing him certainly didn't help. And the final battle between Clark and Doomsday was really REALLY weak. Oh well. He's not Superman yet, so I guess they couldn't really have a TRUE battle yet.

Lana returned for five episodes, since she had left to play Chun-Li in the Street Fighter movie earlier that season, so she couldn't film the post-strike episodes of season 7. Therefore, she finished out her season 7 contract with those 5 episodes in season 8. They were... well, definitely the low point of the season.

But enough about the bad... Clark established his identity of "The Red-Blue Blur" in this season. He's become a symbol to the people of Metropolis! And Green Arrow was a main cast member, and Justin Hartley is an awesome actor. So that was exciting.

Season 9 has, by far, been one of my favorite seasons so far. Ma Kent and Perry White just returned last week, the season has been full of guest stars from the DC universe, and Smallville's world has just expanded as a whole all together. I can't wait to see what's in store for us in season 10 next year!

The Smallville-watching is going on hiatus while I'm in Florida (I'm going to miss the season 9 finale on Friday! Oh well...), but it shall pick back up next week. :)