Fiddy Cent and Portlandia....HOLLA!

As you know I don't like to post bad language here, but today at the gym the familiar spin tune "In Da Club" by the rapper/hip hop artist 50 Cent came on, and it reminded me yet again why going to spin class keeps me checked in with current music.

How timely, since Mr. Curtis Jackson was all over my Instagram feed today.  I'm not gonna research it, but my guess is he has a new album out.  He was on Good Morning America this morning.  No, I didn't watch it.  Yes, I saw some photos on Instagram.

I really love the beat of "In Da Club" and despite the cursing, here is the video which I have no idea what it looks like.  View at your own risk.

Remember when I mentioned my friend's husband Chad, who referred to this blog as hyper liberal?  If I were uber liberal I wouldn't post the lyrics to this tune, which I'm not.  But maybe it is pretty liberal of me to post this video.

So I will state again:  View at your own risk.  Not exactly wholesome stuff.





This week I finally started catching up on this season's episodes of "Portlandia," and while it is all so ridiculous, and I mean that in the best of ways, one of the funniest sketches is when Fred talks about how he missed hip hop.  And then he gets all academic on Carrie and learns all about hip hop.  That's how I feel:  I missed hip hop, too.  All 25 years of it.  I was busy with figuring out how to transcend my Phish newbie status by studying the Helping Phriendly Book.  I think I have graduated.  More so than Fred, at least I knew that it originated in NYC.  More like da Bronx.





Seriously.  So ridiculous.  So funny I want to pish in my pants.

Which leads me to Eminem's new tune, "So Far."  Gotta love how he samples the classic Joe Walsh tune "Life's Been Good" whose riff is so familiar to me, having been reared on classic rock.

Eminem sings (?) about staying true to his roots.  He likes staying in Detroit, eating Hamburger Helper, and just wants to be a normal dude shopping in his local grocery store (Kroeger).  Gotta respect that.  Though it would be healthier for him if he ate more healthful options and shopped at an organic market.  Point being, he isn't all about the shmancy food delivered on silver platters despite his success.

Again, lots of cursing, but he has a good message:  he's got the fame but he wants to just be true to his humble roots.





Here's the original tune it samples, which is along the lines of what I listened to in high school before I got to the better stuff later in life.





Back to Portlandia, I had the good fortune because of Instagram this week to meet (online) the very lovely Kittee Bee Berns.  She is a Portland resident, blogger, vegan, cookbook author, clothing maker, and overall funky hip person.  Her design style, from what I can see of her online photos, is vintage 50s inspired.  She knits (I think?), wears cool glasses, and takes colorful gorgeous photos of her life.  She's the real deal indie-sassy-funky-DIY type (not to label or anything)  and I told her that we decided numerous years ago that a move to Portland wasn't going to happen for us.  She gave me an infusion of creative energy that I simply rarely get to see and experience while living in the suburbs where the focus is on the soccer mom life.

Just when you thought you heard it all and thought I was hyper liberal, check out this lovely LV Damier zip around wallet I found today.  And gosh darnit if I wanna still wear flowers in my hair, I will.

Good Shabbos, homies.  Time to holla about some delish home baked challah.

Shtuff Ragers Say...Molly is My Middle Name (Ain't That the Truth)!

Already old hat, the genre of "Sh!t (fill in the name of some ethnic-social group) Say" has certainly been done.

I post "Shtuff Ragers Say" with full disclosure/warning that it is definitely filled with a lot of shtuss and chazarai (Yiddish words for, basically, garbage)





I recently posted my own $.02 about the use of the word rage, and now along comes this YouTube.  As I mentioned there, I like it when rage is used in a positive way.

Just a few seconds into watching that brings me to one of the things I like least about the music scene and popular culture in general:

The Excessive Use of Foul Language.

I really didn't want to go there on this blog, as I try to focus on the positive, but it is there.

In my adult life, I have made the conscious effort to limit the use of cursing.
It is just plain ugly and only brings out negativity.
A little bit, ok, yeah. A lot?  Nah.  No, nope no siree.
Why do they go there so frequently?  Find the light, folks!

I had the opportunity a few years ago to be on the set of the film Going the Distance, starring Drew Barrymore and Christina Applegate.  What a thrill to be among the cast and crew.  And yet, when I saw the film on screen, I was disappointed to hear so much cursing.  It didn't really help the movie, in my opinion.

Nanette Burstein, you were the director.  I think you should have toned it down.  Justin Long just didn't do much for himself with his excessive cursing.  My own humble opinion.

But, thanks for letting us borrow your chair.  It was SUCH a thrill being on this set two summers ago.

Fast forward about 20 years, and these boys and girls in the Ragers video will be talking about, instead of Pokeballs and Hello Kittys, the Louis Vuittons.

More V Magazine, And Oh the Advertisements!

I got to V initially because I was subscribing to W.

And I got into W because, like guys who read Playboy "for the articles," I found such interesting information there.  I learned about Richard Gere's B&B in Bedford.  And Michael Steinhardt's private animal sanctuary. And so much more.

I strive for information and it also helps me with my wardrobe.  I think Derek Blasberg would like all of this. Derek, I will blog about you another time.  You are *the best.*  I heart Derek, even though we haven't met in person.

But check out this awesome LV ad:

The see-through bag reminds me of what all the women have to carry when they work in the department stores.  A total upgrade for Bloomie's employees.  And the ice cream shop chairs:  Oh, how Peppermint Park (which I hope to blog about another time).  It was an end of a Manhattan era when they shut them down.  Derek, ask some of your friends who grew up in and around Manhattan.  They will tell you how much they loved Peppermint Park.  And, nary a good reminiscence online.

And of course, about one year ago I blogged about Smashbox Studios.

Factors got some style and class.

 

This is their newest ad in V Magazine.

I am grateful to be literate.