The musings of a madman...

No exceptions offered here... My major question is why DO people hate Kobe Bryant? 5 Championship rings for the only NBA team I have ever been a fan of. Among the only players that any 'elite' player in the league names in the "who do you want to take the last shot" conversation. That little Colorado kerfuffle? Expensive sneakers? Mimicking Jordan? His wife is not black? He buried your favorite team? At this point, I am LOST on reasons why people claim to dislike Kobe Bryant... For what it is, I am and always have been a Lakers fan. About 2 weeks shy of 31 years old (July 1, paypal link is over on the right). and Magic Johnson IS the reason for my fanship, his tenure matches my BIRTH, so get with it... At this point at current, Kobe is installed as the best Laker to do it, pending points, influence, one more championship and the league logo. I am FINE with the man doing what he does for the team I cheered for before and will cheer for without him... 1 - "rape&quo

As a great many of the two of you know, Father's Day is an odd one for me... Damn, this is going to be a tough one to write. For one, we left my pops when I was eleven, and that is not to say that there was much there before that, as far as father son moments even are concerned. Otherwise, I guess there wouldn't have been the need to bounce. Pretty much, he was only there when someone had fucked up and needed an asswhoopin' but I don't particularly recall much beyond that now that I think back, other than learning to punt a football. Complicating things, as far as Father's Days are concerned are near death experiences . So, bookending the whole not having much of a pops thing and damn near dying, I would be inclined to give the praise to my grandfathers on Father's Day. Except one of them passed when I was 4 months old. While I am sure that his remaining may have had a positive change on my own dad and his approach to it, I am only able to offer that as an opini

First off, this is me eating crow... And boy was I wrong ... [ Phlip note - twice at that] However, it is not often that I am so pleased to have been incorrect in assessments. In previous posts, I was SURE that this was The LeBrons' year to take that ring, then he would immediately resign in Cleveland without issue. Boy, was I gladly (and hilariously ) wrong about that one. Now, on to the business of things, here. That, my two faithful readers, is what it feels like to be the BACK-TO-BACK champs! Yes, I took shit from all angles on the Facebook and various forums for my undying fanship of the Lakers, up to and including the finals, in which I expected Paul Pierce to famously fake something like a hyperextended gall bladder and go to the locker room only to make a "heroic" return, as he is known to do. Alas, it was not to be for them... I will not say that the taking of this one was without worry. Decisively taking game one was nice, especially with a house full of well-

One of the things I do not keep secret to anyone who has seen pictures of me is my height. I have been photographed standing with people of all shapes and sizes and readily tell people that I am 5'8"ish -- all the way true to my sense of extra-averageness... Save for, um... 3 or 4? girls I have dated or otherwise seen in my time, my stated preference is to women who are at most my height or shorter. [ Phlip note - this will be the first time I tip my hand to my answer this early in one of these discussions] Speaking in specifics, the question presented to the Book of Face was as follows: "Question of the day... How much is TOO MUCH of a height difference for a man to be shorter than his woman? " The homie Jason (6'4" by the way) came first with... "If your eyelevel with breasts your girls to tall for anything serious , but she's fair game for diggin fence posts" Next was former coworker Kianna, with... "for me, maybe about 3 inches...i

I know we're witnessing the largest buzz we've seen for an artist in recent memory, but I am just not on the bandwagon... Drake's album drops today and I, like dozens of friends (as discussed on Facebook ad infinium) , caught the leak every bit of a week and a half ago. Unlike most of them, save for two or three, I am just not feeling it, try as I might. Look, I know I am no rapper, but I never claimed to be either. I DO, however, claim to be a bit of a connoisseur, and can readily name why I feel the way I do about things that I do or do not like. As it were, the sing-songy, soft-as-a-bag-of-wet donuts presentation does not appeal to me. Perhaps that is owing to the fact that I was born before 1985 and without a vagina. I thank my parents for both, but that is not the point of this blog. Conversations on sites like XXLMag.com go on and on about how many copies the album might sell this week alone. [1] [2] [3] , just to name a few... It is being said that the album is (sm

Why is it, that whenever a usually white people start talking to/about a usually black person, whether or not -- but most usually when -- that person is in the room, they've already started trying to figure out what OTHER black person(s) that individual looks like? It might not be so bad if this was a once-in-a-while thing, but it is damn near every couple days and when it is on, everything available is applied to the completion of said task... News stories are scoured, every celeb, every little fucking Thing? WHY?!!? It goes in cycles... I'm 5'8" and wear glasses and have a beard and waist-length dreadlocks, so it is often that I avoid even leaving my house to avoid the inevitable. "Wow, do you know who you look like?" "Look, please don't say T-Pai-..." "T-PAIN!!!" "FUCK!!!" **shudders and walks away** [ Phlip note - I REALLY need to work on my non-verbals] If not that, it is -- again in the presenc

There are some things that EVERY straight male should make a point of doing before they leave this planet. Some friends I pressed for opinions and myself came up with a short list... Not one to care if I am called a homophobe, the fact remains that we can only write this list from the point(s) of view of heterosexual men, while a lot of these will be applicable to more than just that group. These will be in no particular order. #1 - Visit a country in which you do not live... This is not and does not have to be a terribly expensive proposition. Visit another country at least once. Be it Europe or Japan (should your money be big enough), Canada, Mexico, etc... Wherever! Experience that at least one time (or more). You will find that the world outside of your own set of personal experiences presents a multitude of new interests for you to take in. What, with the advent of vacationstogo.com and sites of their ilk, not to mention that any travel agent worth their salt should be able to

Yeah, digging through my RSS feeds this morning, I happened upon a post on a friend's blog about Stacy Dash talking about how each of her 3 failed marriages went down. [ Phlip note - we're talking about Stacy fucking Dash here... I am thinking these dudes are borderline zesty for allowing themselves to fuck that up] AnyStacyDashDaydreamingway, I thought about a question of the day as a result of the otherwise short post. I knew my opinion on the whole thing already. But these conversations, as they were, are a solicitation of opinions to get some discourse in the air about the things that we might all think about, but don't quite know how or where to begin talking about. The question was posted on Friday as... "Question of the day... Does sex on the first date make for a relationship or a jumpoff agreement?" I would then sit back and attempt to get some work done on my shortened day while the people discussed it. First respondent was light-skinnded Brandon's

You know what? I just noticed that I have not cooked for you wonderful folks since a week before the Superbowl. Not that I have forgotten about you, or that I have not cooked at least 3-4 times a week since then -- as is my habit. It's just more or less that it has become second nature and I am usually waiting on The Katie to get home from work so we can eat before I think "damn, I should have posted this." Oops... Well anyway, in route to continuing a more healthy future for My Katie and I, I have not deep fried anything since the week of the last time I cooked and posted anything here. In the course of spring cleaning, we rediscovered the grill and it gets used twice a week or more, adding grilled chicken or turkey to our usual vegetables and/or rice affairs. As many of you know -- or could click here and surmise -- I am a fan of basketball before any other sport. The same would inform you that I am absolutely on the hook for the Los Angeles Lakers. Excitement about t

Disclosure: This is an album from a good friend of mine, I received my signed copy in the mail a couple weeks ago... Busy with changing items in my life to be discussed in a blog this coming week, I am just now getting to finishing the review. Different from my usual fare, this is what one might categorize as Electronic music, though I know full well that Mike is just as capable of hip hop, even raps a bit himself. All songs written, produced and arranged by the big name on the front of the disc. As I live with a seething hatred for iTunes, I had to name and tag all the tracks myself in order to rip them using Windows Media Player, which I have learned to hate less. [ Phlip note - feel free to ask me how it is I am syncing my iPod in private and I will share] Now with the introductions out of the way, let's get down to business. 1 - Heavenly Bodies We start things off here with a very interesting string arrangement. This is followed a couple bars later with the introduction of mor