Dang, for a bloke who calls his site “iBLOGalot” (& I still can’t believe that domain wasn’t already taken when I tried to register it), I sure don’t seem to be blogging a lot, lately. Here it is, Jan. 22, and my last post was Jan. 11. That’s no good. Don’t you hate it when Real Life Stuff gets in the way of precious blogging time? Well, I’ve got a bunch of reviews that I need to post, but first let me just sort of look back at some recent stories that have been in the news.

So, Beyonce gave birth to a girl, and Jay Z may or may not have vowed to never use the word “bitch” in any of his songs again. When I first saw this reported through Facebook, my initial thought was, I hope he and Beyonce have a boy next time, then maybe he’ll stop using the word “nigga” in his songs, too. I was (mostly) joking, but I do think that the reactions I was seeing were interesting. Many people seem to still want to criticize Jay Z, pointing out that he already had a mother, and then a wife, both of whom are just as female as his new daughter, so why didn’t he have this revelation before? I suppose that’s a valid point but, on the other hand, if it were true, that would still be a good thing, wouldn’t it? So, some folks may not reach enlightenment until a certain event happens to them, in this case, it’s the birth of his daughter, that’s better than nothing. Richard Pryor didn’t come to the personal conclusion that it was wrong to use the aforementioned word “nigga” until he famously visited Africa, later in his career. I could argue with that and say why’d he have to go across the world and see Black people in another country before he made this decision? But, really, that shouldn’t matter. But, back to Jay Z, if he were to make that vow, I’d want to know if it would just be a personal choice, or would he try to convince other rappers to join him? Would he forbid the artists he’s signed to his own label from using it on their records? Would he not record songs with other artists, like Kanye West, who use that word? If he really took a stand, I’d be more impressed. But, either way, I still like Jay Z (as I’ve said before).

Everyone online was talking about the Stop Online Piracy Act last week, with several websites shutting down for a day in protest. I’m a bit torn on the issue, as I do firmly believe in free speech, and I like the freedom of information that the internet brings, but the characterization that I see of this as “the big greedy corporations trying to silence the little guy” seems simplistic to me. Maybe this particular bill was a bit of an overreach, but I don’t think many of the crusaders want to admit that online piracy is a problem. I mean, personally, I someday hope to make a living as an author, but I’ll never be able to do that if everyone just reads my books for free. And I’ve seen this happen far too many times, as I’ve participated on multiple message boards and blogs over the past 10 years or so, whenever the issue of piracy comes up, people will go out of their way to justify stealing content. Full disclosure: I will confess that I have illegally downloaded music and movies before. But I know it’s wrong. I admit that. What I hate are the people who refuse to admit it, and don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. There are far too many people who seem to think they have a right to get stuff for free. Or they’ll say something like, “I never would have paid for it (whatever it is they’ve illegally pirated) anyway, so they’re not losing money from me.” Which is just a ridiculous argument. But I don’t have the energy trying to argue with people like that anymore. It’s too depressing to see that sense of entitlement in action.

Everyone’s also been talking about George Lucas’s movie RED TAILS, which premiered this weekend and seems to be doing well. I’m glad, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty that I really don’t have any interest in going to see it at the theater. See, I happen to have a lot of online friends on Facebook and Google+ who happen to be Black folks that are either professional or amateur (or aspiring) actors, actresses, writers, artists, producers, models, or just in some way involved in the entertainment industry. And they’re all very excited about this. And it’s become like a racial cause, that all Black people must support this movie, to show Hollywood that quality Black films can be successful. But…I’m just that interested. As I said on a person’s profile, in my defense, this isn’t the type of movie I’d go see even with an all-White cast. I’m not a big WWII buff. I didn’t go see Saving Private Ryan or Pearl Harbor, either. I mean, I am interested in the topic, I watched an old cable movie called The Tuskegee Airmen years ago and enjoyed it, but just not enough to pay to go sit in a theater and watch it. Frankly, few things get me to the theater lately. I just no longer enjoy the experience. I’d rather just wait until a movie comes on cable, or sometimes I even buy the DVD, and then watch it at my leisure in my home. So that’s what I plan to do with Red Tails. But, again, I do hope it does well, at least makes back its budget, because I would like to see more good Black films getting made. But I want more genres, not just comedies or dramas, or standard action films. I want sci-fi. If this were about The Tuskegee SPACEMEN, I’d be all over that.

Hmmm…that’s not a bad idea. Don’t anybody steal it! It’s mine! I’ll have to get to work on that soon…

Speaking of buying DVDs, yesterday I was skimming through Amazon, and decided to buy the Ghost Rider film on DVD. I found a cheap used copy, for under $5, so I went for it. Nic Cage is one of my favorite actors (2nd only to Neil Patrick Harris, of course), but I’d never read any Ghost Rider comics, so I wasn’t really familiar with the character, which is why I never saw the movie. Then today, at about 11am, I was switching channels on TV and Ghost Rider is about to come on! So I quickly cancel my order on Amazon, which luckily hadn’t shipped yet, and started to watch the film on TV. Man, that sucked! I didn’t even finish, I turned it off about halfway through. So I’m definitely glad I saved some money on that one.

I noticed from my blog stats my old blog about Cindy Roldan has been getting new hits. Since I’ve switched blog URLs twice since I originally posted that, I’m glad if any friends or family of hers are still able to find it and read it.

But the biggest news I’ve missed is in regard to politics. Apparently, I spoke too soon in my blog about Mitt Romney, when I remarked how lucky he’s been and how his opponents have self-destructed. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina GOP Primary.

Newt. Gingrich.

NEWT F***ING GINGRICH.

Seriously. This is ridiculous. Y’know, some of my best friends are Republicans (or at least identify as “conservatives”), but if anyone actually wants that man to be President, you’re a moron. I can’t believe any sensible person could hate President Obama that much, that they’d be willing to put this maniac in the White House. I don’t support Romney, but I could accept him as President. He may be a flip-flopper who will say whatever he has to, in order to get elected, but he ain’t bats**t insane. So that’s something. But I guess that anti-Mormon contingent in the GOP is still pretty strong. Oh well.

And, to make matters worse, A Judge in Georgia is ordering the President to appear in court to prove he’s an American citizen. Unbelievable. This nonsense is still ongoing. Y’know, for 3 years the Birther Movement was shouting “If he has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he just release his birth certificate?” So he finally did, and they STILL don’t believe it! Let’s face it, nothing will satisfy them. And we all know what this is REALLY about, don’t we? And I’ll bet you anything that the judge in this case was appointed by a Republican. If they really try to force the President to personally respond to this, it will be open season. Every yahoo in every “red” state will be filing suits, from now until Nov., just to tie him up and keep him from campaigning. If anyone needs to have their citizenship revoked, it’s these Birther idiots. Frak ’em all.

Just my opinion.