RUN SWEETBACK!!!! Blaxploitation Soundtracks Part I

IFC keeps playing Foxy Brown, Coffy, and Across 110th Street. (Would it kill them to play Friday Foster and Cleopatra Jones and the City of Gold?) Something about the opening strains of "Coffy is the Color" has thrust me into this blaxploitation soundtrack phase; I just can't shake it. And really, despite the varying quality of the films from this era (and the gorgeousness of the men, but that's another thread for another time), the soundtracks are almost universally good, some even stellar. Been surfing the nets hankering for 70s soul strings? This is your lucky day. I present some of the best taco meat n' polyester tracks from that good ole era.


Coffy -Roy Ayers
Coffy is the Color

Coffy Baby
Across 110th Street - JJ Johnson & Bobby Womack
Across 110th Street (Like everyone else, I love this damn song.)

Live Version w/ California Dreamin'


Black Caesar - James Brown
Down and Out in New York

Mama Feelgood w/ Lyn Collins



Foxy Brown - Willie Hutch (RIP, I love this man. In the vein of another of my favorites, Johnny Taylor, most of this man's material is that funky southern soul. This soundtrack may be my favorite of them all.)
Give Me Some of That Good Ole Love

Ain't That Mello (Mello)


Cleopatra Jones - JJ Johnson/Vocals Millie Jackson (Tamara Dobson didn't get enough credit for being a gorgeous woman. Anyway ...)
Main Theme

It Hurts so Good






Come Back Charleston Blue - My Main Man Donny Hathaway, overseen by Quincy Jones
Come Back Charleston Blue w/ Margie Joseph

Little Ghetto Boy

Tim's High

I REALLY Love Food, Bacon Especially

Perhaps the most appropriate post considering the name of my blog. I like food. I like eating it, watching shows about it, talking about it, and, sometimes, fixing it. I'm not too expressive, but the right meal can bring tears to my eyes. (See my post about the salted caramel cupcakes from More.) You see that blurry shot over there? That's a dancing bacon man ... on my arm. I don't regret it and I doubt I ever will. As a matter of fact, a cannibalistic cheeseburger and stick of butter on a throne will be joining him soon.

I figured I'd give bacon the place it deserves on my blog, center stage. See, it appears I am so not alone. The people love bacon. Apparently, there's this bacon frenzy all over the innanets. Who knew? Why not count the ways?

Bacon Extravaganza!!!!

There's a seasoning available to make anything taste like bacon. Now, how convenient is that? Honestly, is there anything that shouldn't?

The same company gives you the opportunity to smear it on your favorite sandwich in naise form. Really, these people are saints. And no worries for those who give not one muck, there is a full fat version.

Lazy? Too busy to bother with bacon yourself? No problem. There are robots who will shop and come to your house to fix it for you. Hilarious, but I'm not making this up. Go here and type in your zip code for an appointment.

Eating aside, I'm sure some of you have felt the need to be swaddled in bacon, to smell like it even. Here, my dears, is the answer to your dreams, a bacon-scented, bacon print tuxedo. A darn good price, only 100 bucks at Archie McPhee's.

Or maybe you'd rather luxuriate in pig in the privacy of your home. This too is possible. Chrischunski over at Etsy would love to accommodate you with this bacon-patterned scarf knit from merino wool.

Maybe you just wanna stay in the know. No problem. Bacon Today is an online magazine dedicated to daily musings about this magical meat. Stop by.

Yeah, So?

Uh huh, I bought jellies. Say something!

For a while now, the Brazilian shoe company Melissa has been cranking out jellies that somehow aren't throwbacks. A few years back, I got a pair of red ones flocked with velveteen. The people loved them. More recently, Alexander Herchcovitch collaborated with the company to come up with an adorable oxford, and I just had to have them.

Available at Kaight

See? Mad cute.

Hip Hop Honors

Of course I watched and was amped the entire time. It was great to see everyone getting and giving love from/to each other, regardless of preconceived musical/coastal differences. Great to see Paul on the tables, Pos smiling, Cee-Lo rockin silver.

I was especially happy to see two acts being honored. De La and Rick have been my favorites forever and are two acts that still maintain their greatness. If you want a rundown/review of the night, go here. Monica's covered it all. I just wanted to pay a little homage of my own by giving shine to some of Rick and De La's greatest songs. Enjoy.


Behind Bars (Dum Ditty Dum Mix)


Mona Lisa
http://www.divshare.com/download/5533374-199

A Love That's True Pt. 1



Let's All Get Down f/ Nice & Smooth




Declaration
http://www.divshare.com/download/5533408-9be


Oodles of O's
http://www.divshare.com/download/5533417-29c

Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa (Full Mix)


Keepin' The Faith (Straight Pass) f/Vinia Mojica


In the Woods
http://www.divshare.com/download/5533472-5ba


Church
http://www.divshare.com/download/5533438-f50

Tagged?

Honestly, I'm not too sure about this tagging thing. I mean, I'm just as socially unaware online as I am offline, but eff it. New leaves turning and whatnot.

1. What are your nicknames?
Very few nicknames. People tend to just call me by my name. If not, they just opt for the first initial, Q, or, in the country, I'm either Rita Mae or Lil Tootie Boot.

2. What game show and/or reality show would you like to be on?
None. I'd love to have a Food Network show or be on one of their specials so that I could meet Alton Brown though.

3. What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD?
VHS? 976-EVIL, I think. DVD? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

4. What is your favorite scent?
Anything citrus-y and vanilla-y. The only fragrance I'll wear, Sugar Blossom, is a combination of the two.

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
Pay down my debts, buy a house on that swank strip of Rockwell near Sunnyside, and figure out a way to exploit this recession, rape the hell out of Miu Miu's and Prada's fall shoe collection, take a trip to Paris to shop, and commission old women to knit stuff for me. A million dollars is not nearly enough for my desires.

6. What one place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back to?
Haven't been there yet, but I'd maim old ladies for some of that coco bread from the spot in Atlanta near the AUC.

7. Do you trust easily?
Not at all.

8. Do you think before you act, or act before you think?
Definitely think. I have twisted myself into a fibrous and super-stressed knots with all the thinking I do. I still make bad decisions anyway.

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Plenty. As soon as I get the money, therapy, here I come!

10. Do you have a good body image?
Sometimes

11. What is your favorite fruit?
Muscadines and Rainier cherries

12. What websites do you visit daily?
yahoo, very smart brothas, okayplayer, gmail, facebook, notcouture, popgloss ( I have a bit of a surfing problem.)

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Tombstone pizzas ( despite the ubiquitous commercials in the 80s and 90s, who knew?), Fuze green tea, and oatmeal-banana shakes.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
It's just Monica. She's adorable and has a zest for life. *snicker*

15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
"Can't Do Without" Peven Everett

16. What's your favorite item of clothing?
Assuming that shoes don't count, sweater dresses (generally), my Joe's Chelsea jeans (specifically).

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?
The commercial ones, yes. Probably because of the the myriad types of sugar in them.

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground?
Slyly ease down, pick it up, and keep it moving.

19. What items could you not go without during the day?
Cable, my computer, and food.

20. What should you be doing right now?
Looking for a job and calling my mom.

Pop Goes the Weasel

Things have gotten pretty bad. Banks are collapsing, home prices have hit rock bottom, loan institutions are going belly up. Unfortunately, as is expected, there hasn't been much meaningful conversation on what led to this crisis or how to escape it; rather, as expected, there's been a lot of sentimentality and finger pointing, when, in reality, almost everyone is complicit, just in different ways.

I can't say that I'm affected too much, though the institutions and businesses around me will make me pay. However, I'm not a home owner and ironically having no assets to speak of is kinda (not really, but kinda) working for me right now. Buying a home in a couple of years will prove to be a problem, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Anyway... I love NPR and locally, CPR. They provide pretty good coverage of things and stuff. I suggest anyone looking to gain a little understanding of what happened to listen to This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money.

A Quick Synopsis of This Program

• Traditionally poor countries start making economic gains by increasing productions (oil, tvs, etc.)
• The big pool of money the world relies on for insurance purposes doubles to $70 trillion in only six years after being relatively stagnant for decades
• After Greenspan makes it clear that interest rates will remain pretty stagnant, investors look to more lucrative investments
• The housing boom provides investment opportunities for these investors, but the market becomes saturated (most people eligible for mortgages pretty much have them)
• Lenders create less responsible mortgages to accommodate investors (NINA loans--no income, no assets--become wildly popular. You have people with little to no assets borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars with no real way of paying it back.)
• Eventually, when the housing bubble pops and home prices start to plummet, these investments prove to be very imprudent
  
• Mid-sized banks who borrowed large amounts of cash to sell these investments can no longer sell them to Wall Street and become bankrupt. Larger financial institutions who invested heavily in these options lose large amounts of dough and need to be bailed out. That large pool of money, the $70 trillion mentioned up there, decreases considerably and people start freaking out, looking for security rather than profits.
• We're screwed.

What Does This Mean

I'm not really sure and will be tuning in to find out more, but we already know that as taxpayers, we'll be paying for it though we are much less responsible for this crisis than the government and Wall Street. It'll also be pretty hard to borrow money for anyone seeking to buy a home or a car or to get money for school.

The real problem, though, is that we're American and greedy. Greed lies at the bottom of all of this. The Wall Street suits who wouldn't stop buying and trading bad mortgages when they knew better, the middlemen who exploited the unassuming and overly confident, the everyday folks who borrowed way more money than they could ever pay back--all greedy as hell. In a way, it's the American story, the something from nothing fairytale that pulls people from all corners of the globe to our humble, ramshackle piece of earth (though, of course, with outsourcing people can just stay at home and benefit). This story needs to be written with disclaimers and all sorts of warnings, but no, the cycle will continue because this is who we are, a bunch of money-grubbing, whiny-faced toddlers who need just one more piece of pie.

Fall is for Flyness

Miu Miu and Prada are killing it on the fall shoe front.
























I need these shoes. Somehow, someway, I'm gonna have to make at least one pair of these a reality.

(I'm taking donations.)