The 'Goings On' Around Towne

Last night was another deemed to be another sedentary Tusday night in the Queen City. With the weather being as cold as it is, I was content in just staying in and watching Jeapardy!.

But thinking to myself, that there has to be something 'to do' on this cold Tuesday evening, I called up a friend of mine and we decided to check out the new McCormick and Schmick's Fish market that opened downtown.

Once there, the bar was our only option for seating. Which I should not complain about because it was only there where we could take advantage of the Happy Hour prices. Quite crowded, we waited close to 45min before we were able to belly up to the bar. This was just in time to receive the dishes that we orded. Fish tacos, friend claemary, steamed mussles and shrimp quesadilias, all for under $10!

After dinner and afew drinks, we walked out on to Fountain Square to see a couple of teams playing Broomball. I had tried to get a team together for this year, the teams were already booked for this season. It looked really fun, but I do not think that it would be too much fun playing in close to sub-zero weather. The announcers were pretty funny though. Ever so often they would let the spectators know what was going on in the game, but for the most part they were cracking jokes with each other and making comments about anything but what was happening on the ice.

I guess if I had planned ahead, I could have sat in on a talk with Maddy Albright who was just a block away.

A team mate by any other name....

Yet another altercation in the boardroom of the Trumpster has passed and yet again, Surya has stayed, this time more by the skin of his teeth then ever before. Usually, Surya had stayed in the background and had not said too much, therefore not making too many waves. This week, he was thrown into the spotlight when someone from his team was picked to join Team Arrow (the losing team) and help them out. I thought he was a goner for sure.

The task this week was to take over an El Pollo Loco restaurant and come up with a new dish to sell. The winner won the task. Team Kinetic came up with a Paradise bowl, a chicken/rice dish topped with pineapples, which I rightfully predicted would fail hardcore.

So far, Surya is the only person to have been on every winning team. I think that this bodes well for his future on the show.

Is There Any Comparison?

As some of you may know, i am in love with the song, "And I am Telling You" from the musical Dreamgirls. Never seeing the original Broadway production, and never really knowing the story behind the song, I was glad when i heard that the movie Dreamgirls was to be released last December. I did abit of research and found out what the story is all about and even found a clip from the 1982 Tony Awards where the original Broadway cast performed.




I was fortunate enough to finally see the movie, starring Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce and was finally able to compare the two Jennifer's performance of the same song. Take a look at the following Jennifer Hudson performance and tell me who you think is better.

Apprenticee...Update

Yesterday was the first major snowfall of the year here in the Queen City. So, of course, I decided to make a day out on the town of it. After brunch at Vinyl, I decided to take in a movie at Newport on the Levee. To my surprise, I made the decision to see Babel. Though this may be a great movie to watch in the comfort of your own home, while nursing a hangover, paying close to $10 to see it on the big screen may not be worth your while. At least it wasn't for me. What made the trip to the Levee was the dinner that I had at Aoi just before I went into the movie. Aoi is the new Japanese restaurant on the Levee. i was impressed with both its decor and it menu selection. opting to only eat appetizers, i had the following:

Vegetable Tempura
Shrimp Tempura
Spicy Scallops
Spider Roll

I got back to my house just in time to watch the losing contestant get kicked off the show, or should I say quit. I have to say that I agree with Mr. Trump when he says that quitting should never be an option.

Surya Update.... he is still on!

My Remeberance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Yesturday, the United States celebrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and reveled in the amount of good that he did for this nation and the world.

Some of you may have noticed my abscence of a post yesturday.

As I do feel that MLK Day is needed in this country, my life has been inundated with his teachings that, to me, every day is MLK Day.

"There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The 2nd One Bites The Dust

The second week of interveiws for Donald Trump's new apprentice have been televised on NBC's Sunday night and of course I was watching intently.

This week, the missions was to create a line of swimwear (men's and women's) to be displayed in a fashion show on Santa Monica beach and only in a few hours! Not quite sure how they pulled this off, but they did. Team Kenetic (the winners from last week) decided to go with a more conservative look, but Team Arrow wanted to spice things up abit. They designed a men's suit that was geared to a limited sect of the population, which was ultimitely the team's downfall.

Team Kenetic again, won, and for thier reward were able to attend a party at the Playboy Mansion and are exempt from participating in next week's challenge.

Team Arrow was again in the Board room and Carey, the cause and of the failed men's suit, was asked to leave.

BTW---My boi Surya is on Team Kentic and still on the show.

"Blood Diamond" Rocks!

The movie Blood Diamond gives us an interesting insight into the world of illegal diamond smuggleing and brings to light some of the reasons why diamonds are so expensive and saught after here in the United States and around the world. Though Leonardo DiCaprio is the headliner, Djimon Hounsou has an equal amount of screen time and gives just a good, if not a better performance in the film. Jennifer Connely rounds out the performers that create an interesting depiction of the diamond trade in Africa.

The movie starts out in the year 1999 in Siera Lione in a small hut where Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) is waking his son so that he can start his 5k walk to school. Along the way, Solomon conveys his wishes of his son becoming a doctor. Not too long after this heart felt sentiment is exchanged, the movie's pace shifts into over drive has the two are chased by a ban of rebels. After the two are over run by them, Solomon runs back to his village to save his wife and two other children, but to no avail. Solomon is captured by the rebels while his wife, son and two daughters escape and become refugees.

The next few scence are used to depict how the rebels are involved in escavating the diamonds. They enslave the people that they capture and force them to mine for diamonds. If one of the slaves are found to try and steal a diamond, they are killed on the spot. Solomon is placed in a conundrum when he finds an awfully large diamond. Taking his chances, he tries to bury the diamond for later and to his surprise is caught by his slave master. Before the slave master is able to steal the diamond away from Solomon and kill him, the slave camp is over run by the local African government, saving Solomon's life and giving him enogh time to hide the diamond. The local government detains all who are caught in rebel camps because they are unsure of who is truley a rebel and who is not.

Here enters DiCaprio's character, Danny Archer, a white-African diamond smuggler, born in neighboring Rodesia (a county now and then called Zimbabwe). We soon find that Danny is unabashed at using his whiteness as ploy to smuggle diamonds. It does not help when he is stopped crossing the border by the local African government and thrown into jail.

And jail is where the two meet.

Danny over hears that Solomon has found a 'pink' diamond and makes it a goal of his to help Solomon get out of jail in hopes that he will help Danny find this 'pink'.

To set up the ending of the film, the story cuts away to the psedo World Trade Organization meeting, where efforts are being enforced to curtail the selling of diamonds from areas that are in civil unrest due to the selling of the stones in question. In an false effort of heartfulness, Van de Kaapp, the world's largest sellers of diamonds appear at this meeting and make a vow to abrupty stop its purchasing of diamonds from "conflict" zones.

Once out of jail Danny tries to connect with Solomon and eventually makes a wager with Solomon. Danny pledges to use his savoire faire in Africa to help Sloloman find his family if Solomon helps Danny find the diamond that he had buried before his incarceration. While on this quest to find Soloman's family, Danny sequestures the help of a journalist, Maddy Bowan (Connelly) and makes a deal with her to give her the story of his connections with Van de Kapp if she helps ehm to find Solomon's family.

So as not to spoil the story, the rest of the movie takes you on a world wind journey deep into the forest trying to find the diamond and Solomon's family while being chased and accousted by African rebels.

This is definitley a must see!

New Classes...A new day...

Today was my firs day of new classes. I am taking two new ones, International Political Economy and the other class is called The post Cold War War. Sounds intersting enough. I just need these two classes (plus maybe one more additional one itn the summer) to complete my undergraduate degree. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The Apprentice

I think I have a new favorite reality show.

As most of you know, i am a relity show junky from way back. I even applied to The Real World :Boston. I the past few years, i have continuously been disinterested in seeing real people living together and more intersted in shows that engaged a bit of brain work coupled with bronze to win. This is why "The Amazing Race" has accupied my attention for so long.

One show that has slipped under my radar for the past 6 seasons is "The Apprentice". This season, the show that shows Donald Trump's efforts to choose a new apprentence to run one of his companies has a local vying for the job. Surya Yalamanchilli is a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and lives here in Cincinnati. On the first episode he was quiet on the first episode, though having the advantage of being on the first winning team. I was lucky enough to be Suyra's personal trainer just before the holidays. He is a nice enough guy and I hope that he succeeds in the show. During our workout sessions, I tried not to ask him abnout the show because I knew that he was legally obligated not to leak the outcomes.

Now that the show is on the air, I am sure that Suyra is busy with appeareances for the show, which is probably why he has discontinued his workout sessions with me. Either way, it was neat meeting him and I wish him all the luck on the show. I'll be watching.

Writing Is Back On...

A friend of mine sent this to me. I think I am going to have to go. Maybe I'll pick up a few things.

Ropes 2007 Lecture Series
English

Jan-09-2007

Location
ERC 427
Start Time
8 p.m.

The Ropes 2007 Lecture Series, titled "Writing Sex," opens Jan. 9. "Writing Sex" is an introduction to the study of the representation of sexuality in a wide variety of literary forms. Drawing energy from lesbian and gay studies and from queer theory, "Writing Sex" casts a critical gaze over the construction and representation of all sexualities, not just queer ones. In the process of studying the representation of sex and sexuality, we hope to learn more about one of the most important dimensions of how contemporary Western individuals define themselves, both individually and collectively. The series begins Jan. 9 with David Halperin, whose lecture is titled "What Do Gay Men Want? Sex, Risk and the Subject Life of Homosexuality." Other speakers, dates and topics are: Scott Heim, Jan. 16, "When Personal is Too Personal: Confessing in Fiction Without Alienating the Audience"; David Román, Jan. 30, "Archival Drag"; Judith Halberstam, Feb. 7, "Penguin Love, Doll Sex and the Spectacle of the Non-Reproductive Body"; and Mary Gaitskill, Feb. 27, "The Nasty Bits: A Last Dab of Color." All lectures begin at 8 p.m. in ERC 427. The Ropes 2007 Lecture Series is sponsored by the Nathaniel P. Ropes Endowment and the Department of English and Comparative Literature, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences.

Contact Info
Jonathan Alexander (513) 556-6173 mailto:jonathan.f.alexander@uc.edu

Nothing To Do

I just had my annual exam at Cincinnati's VA hospital and I am feeling great. Though I really have nothing to do for the next few hours. I thought I would touch base with my readers and say Hi.

I think I will work on my article for the Covingtonian Magazine. It is due in a few days so look for it to be published first here. I think I am allowed to post it....I will have to ask about that.

Toodles for now.

Nothing To Do

I just had my annual exam at Cincinnati's VA hospital and I am feeling great. Though I really have nothing to do for the next few hours. I thought I would touch base with my readers and say Hi.

I think I will work on my article for the Covingtonian Magazine. It is due in a few days so look for it to be published first here. I think I am allowed to post it....I will have to ask about that.

Toodles for now.

Happy New Year!!

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway...

Happy New Year!

Can you beleive it is 2007? Just seven years ago, I was living in Texas and thinking that the world was going to end.

Don't laugh...you know that you were doing the same thing.

I was celebrating the incoming of tthe New Year with a few friends and the question of if we had any regrets over the past year?

I thought that was a weird question, being that we were moments away from ringing in the New Year. Moments after a coalesced that conversation, we all held our shots of champagne high and watched the crystal ball drop on Time Square once again.

Over this past year, I thought that having friends was not going to be a part of my life. Several minutes after we toasted in 2007, I realized that having a group of friends that love you is not a right, it is a privilege, and I am privileged to have a number of friends in my life and should not shut out those other potential friends.