Too Hot To Handle, Too Cold To Hold...

Gotta love the Daily News. Their headline for the Bill Murray story read "Slimed!" Hilarious. So apparently, Bill Murray has been beatin' his wife, doin' mad drugs, and gettin' overseas pussy. This is what the News wrote:

The estranged wife of the "Ghost Busters" star wants a divorce - and she's dropping stunning allegations that he smacked her around, guzzled booze and disappeared overseas to sleep with other women. In her most damning charge, Jennifer Butler Murray, 42, claims the funnyman hit her in the face in November 2007 - then sneered that she was "lucky he didn't kill her."

The "adultery, addiction to marijuana and alcohol, abusive behavior ... sexual addictions and frequent abandonment" got so bad that Butler Murray bolted from the couple's Rockland County home two years ago and moved with their four young sons to a South Carolina beach house, papers say.

Murray would "often" leave the state or country without telling his wife in order to have illicit "sexual liaisons," a complaint filed May 12 in South Carolina says.

The famously aloof actor, who doesn't have an agent or manager, shuns the Hollywood circuit.
And, apparently, his wife. Murray would "often" leave the state or country without telling his wife in order to have illicit "sexual liaisons," a complaint filed May 12 in South Carolina says.
Murray, 57, who still lives in Rockland County when not on location, was at his midtown office Thursday morning but did not return from lunch.

"Bill Murray is deeply saddened by the breakup of his marriage with Jennifer. He and his wife made loving parents, and they are committed to the best interests of their children," said his attorney, John McDougall. "He asks for the public's respect of his family's privacy at this time."

Electrifying conclusion: Gangsta how he doesn't have an agent or manager, right? None of this surprises anyone, I'm sure. To me, he's always looked like a cool, funny-ass dude who can get real cruel and sarcastic when high/drunk off of something. Like a middle-aged white version of K. Sprague (kidding somewhat!). Those guys are a ball as long as there are a buncha cats around who don't take things too seriously. And Bobby Brown's song "On Our Own" from "GhostBusters II" is a classic.

Man Dated Reporter Part 2

Well, as I sat waiting in the Chinese store for an msg and broccoli, I received a call telling me that the student I just wrote y'all about was flipping out in the office, and my presence was requested because her and I have a relationship. She was gone by the time I reached the office, but I was able to talk to the ACS worker. Gave her some details, some #s, and kept it moving. Hopefully, a parent or guardian will come in on Monday. This sucks.

This is unrelated, but related. I got a fade haircut yesterday (it's the new ol' skool!) which is what you see on the right (mine is very similar, but that aint me). In conjunction with my jewelry, tatoos, red-black-green wristbands, swagger, and babyface, you better believe I don't look like the head of any school program. So usually at the school, staff members not familiar with me react one of 5 ways initially:

1. Dismiss me, with no plans to ever take me seriously (stuffy whites and stuffy older black/hispanic women teachers).

2. Dismiss me at first, then give up respect when I speak (stuffy older black/hispanic women, young teachers).

3. Approach me cautiously, but with an open mind, until I give them a reason to make a decision as to what kind of relationship they want to have (mostly older black/hispanic men).

4. See me as an interesting addition to the school, and like to joke and talk with me as a way of livening up the day (young black/hispanic men and older non-teacher women, free-spirited whites).

5. Look at me surprised, intrigued, and turned on (young black women).

Why is this related to what I was talking about initially? The ACS worker definitely gave me a lot of #5. I could tell she couldn't believe I was the person they were waiting on, was turned on, and wanted to continue the discussion in an unsupervised stairwell. Though she looked like she could use a little awesome in her life, I was way more concerned about my favorite student, I'm engaged to a Pink Dragon, and I've been a little low on awesome lately. I still have a disproportionately huge amount compared to your average human, but I need to be careful who I'm just giving away awesome to.

Straight. Cheese.

I'm StarPower, and I approve this message.

Man Dated Reporter

When you are one, you don't think about the term much until a kid tells you something real serious. After that, you stay aware and pray you don't hear about any more fucked up things happening to your students. As a matter of fact, you just pray that nothing fucked up happens to your students. I had a really rough one a coupla months back, with all types of abuse and violence, and I hoped to make it through these last 2 weeks without anything similar happening. What happened today doesn't seem like anything close to that situation, but who knows what'll be awaiting me on Monday morning?

So. My favorite participant (yeah I got favorites, and what?) in the attendance program I run at a Brooklyn High School came in with bruises. Her bruises were not at all consistent with her story of falling down stairs. I’m a mandated reporter, of course, so I told her that I have to report this to the proper authorities, since she didn’t want to tell me what happened to her. I kinda sensed that she wasn’t feeling this revelation as I watched her run through the hallways away from me and her Guidance Counselor. Gotta follow up now. She might never talk to me again. Which is ok since we are both leaving the school. But I do feel like a hypocrite, especially in light of some of my personal experiences, and decisions I’ve made. She expects me to keep all of her secrets. Some, I never would, but I can’t front, I’m very reluctant about leaving the fate of these Black/Hispanic families in the hands of “the system.” The system hasn’t been so good to me, so I don’t have much faith in it. But at the end of the day, I gotta convince myself that I did the right thing. No amount of support I get from people who explain to me why I shouldn’t feel bad can change how I feel…nah, that’s not true. Sometimes, people give me perspective I don’t have, and it makes me feel better. But right now, I feel like a villain. I don’t even wanna follow up, to tell you the truth. She said that I don’t know what kinda hell she’s about to be put through. I believe her. And I also believe that that hell could be bad enough to make a kid keep abuse to herself. I mean, why should she believe that she can be helped? She’s never seen what help looks like, only hurt. She probably doesn’t even believe help exists. In that case, she chooses the lesser of the hurts. And then I come and tell her that she doesn’t really have a choice.

I Used To Think Spam Was Short For Space Jam

The Associated Press is saying that "Spam" sales "are rising as consumers are turning more to lunch meats and other lower-cost foods to extend their already stretched food budgets." Food prices are skyrocketing, with white bread up 13 percent last year, bacon up 7 percent and peanut butter up 9 percent. "Spam's" maker, Hormel, is rolling out an advertising campaign for the first time in years.

Electrifying conclusion: Makes perfect sense. Eating out and eating in is hurting the pockets nowadays. How much higher can these prices get? Food like "Spam," ramen noodles, grits, and "Cream Of Wheat" can really hold down a household (speaking from much experience, folks). But like Merc said, "Wasn't 'Spam' name brand?/ Poppy, give a nigga a quarter-pound of spiced-ham!" The real have-nots know that Spam is a luxury to some. We bought spiced-ham, my dude. By the quarter pound. Wrapped in wax paper. Word.

After shooting "Sliver," Billy Baldwin summed up kissing Sharon Stone like this in Cosmopolitan magazine: "thin lips, okay breath." Ouch. Let's add "self-important," "simple," and "ethnocentric." This is what Ms. Stone had to say following China's recent earthquake:

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Bitch! Who cares what you're unhappy about. I'm unhappy about your filmography and the fact that you're famous at all. But I aint sittin' around waiting for karma to strike your monkey ass. She of course, retracted these statements. I mean, what are these stars made of? Who's telling them that their views matter, and then letting them embarass themselves? And if she felt that way, why won't she stick to her guns? I'll tell you why. Because China has 1.5 billion people and a thriving economy. After Christian Dior dropped her as Chinese spokesmodel, do you think she's willing to risk any more paper in the name of her silly principles? I think not. In typical Chinese fashion, they went in on her; The official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary Thursday she was the "public enemy of all mankind." They don't want any kinda brouhaha heading into these Olympics.

Electrifying conclusion: I guess when you start to stop being pretty, you have to actually have something to say. Unfortunately, this is the kind of shit some idiots say. Don't they know that there's only one place where you can say all of the ignorant, dumb, inflammatory shit in the world, and no one can penalize you for it ('Big Brother' is probably laughing at that one)? Haven't they heard of the blogosphere?

I'm StarPower, and I approve this message.

I mighta got things twisted yesterday. Mariah and Obama aren't multis, but they aren't regular light-skinned. My boys the Hester brothers are regular light-skinned b/c even though they are Obama-colored, their parents and grands are black, just light-skinned. Mariah and Obama are multi-racial however, but not multi-cultural. Black parent+white parent= 2 races, 1 culture b/c white isn't a culture? Or is it?

Maybe being half-black/half-white does make you multi-cultural. Depends on your perspective. I mean, if one parent's black and the other's Irish, you're a multi. But if one parent's black and the other is "regular white," are you multi-cultural? Seriously. I know some white people whose parents and grandparents, maybe even great-grands were born in America. They know that there's some other nationality mixed in somewhere, b/c only Natives are indigenous to this land, but they just consider themselves white. Is white a culture? For better or worse, we know that there's such a thing as black culture in America, even if it does (erroneously) get substituted for "ghetto" or "hip-hop" culture. I would say something like soul food is a universal in the black community. Our ways of manipulating language to keep others at bay is also universal. But how about white culture? Does it exist? Does being white mean you don't have an inherent culture? Maybe the question is invalid and irrelevant because eventually, most of us choose which cultures we want to involve ourselves in anyway. Some blacks never eat soul food and use little slang. Some whites are immersed in hip-hop (that's a bit off topic though, b/c hip-hop has long become youth culture, instead of inner city culture, if you ask me). These are choices some folks have made.

But you know, maybe there is a "white culture." And since I'm not white, I wouldn't understand. Many people claim to be experts on these kinds of subjects. Though I do talk a lot of shit about this sort of thing, I know I'm no expert. In fact, I hate experts. I love humanity though, and I love understanding humans even more. So any perspective is appreciated, holla at me. Just remember that your views are opinions, and no matter how eloquently you can explain something, if I don't feel it, I don't feel it, and if I don't believe it, I probably have good reason! Peace!

The Rise Of The Multis

You know, I was kinda blind-sided (no Christopher Rios intended) when I saw the sight-impaired claiming Gov. David Patterson as one of their own after the whole Eliot Spitzer scandal erupted. (Not from New York? quick summary: our gov was a real dickhead, not in office that long, who made a career out of going after scumbags as Attorney General, then come to find out, he's been buying wil' expensive 22-year old ho's, even though he's married, and charged it to the state allegedly. He lost his job to a black blind guy). So where was I? Oh yeah. So, I mean, sure, he's obviously not eagle-eyed, but I was ready to claim Dave for being of a darker shade, not seeing a darker shade. I kinda felt like the blindness was secondary. I know it's a prominent part of who he is, but apparently so is bangin' all types of underlings; I aint see all of the secretary-fucking Wall Street bosses and check-out girl-smashin' Walmart managers claimin' him, did you? (some background on Dave for you non-NYers: he admitted that he's been known to bang a skirt or two himself outside of the marital bed, at the Days Inn on 94th St. next to the movie theatre. Gangsta. Well, us New Yorkers could be worse off. I mean, look at New Jersey!)

But then I thought about it. Maybe I'm the one that needs perspective. Maybe times have changed, and blackness is no longer the leading handicap. I thought to myself, "who does Dave identify with most?" Maybe he feels more blind than black. Brings me to this article about the explosion of multi-racial Americans, whose population is rising 10x faster than whites. First off, a lot of these multi-rats are really just white people made up of different kinds of whites, which really just makes them superwhite, like ultraviolet or something. Furthermore, cats who consider themselves white in a Latin country, and then come to America and are now regarded as Hispanics, but really don't identify as such, really fuck the game up. And how about those Moorish Spaniards? I'm sliding down the slope now, so I'll retreat before I get too far away from what I originally intended to speak on, but let me just say this. Race might be the most real-life affecting thing that actually isn't real. I know that wasn't so eloquent, but I'm sure you understand what I mean. Then again, maybe you don't. There is no definition for race that, as a rule, can always be accurately applied. It is impossible to group humans into races, because using all established categories, some folks still won't be covered. So it isn't really real, although it's ingrained in almost all of us. I once was told by a professor that an attempt to definitively categorize everyone led to over 7,000 different categories. According to established standards, who isn't multi-racial in America? How many generations do you have to trace back to consider yourself multi-racial? There's possibly an answer for this, but if you leave it in my comment space, you are about as far from awesome as possible. Anywaaay (remember, when I write that in italics, you're supposed to imagine me sayin' it like Movado in "Weh Dem A Do"), in the article I read, the multis claim Sen. Obama as one of their own. At first I got defensive because, yeah, he's mixed, but he's a brother, he's black. Just light-skinned. I fear the rise of the multis might eventually pull legit blacks, light-skinned ones, away from the ranks just because many blacks like to identify with anything but being black. Where do you think the "I got some Indian in my family" joke originated? Many blacks love to be able to latch on to something else besides blackness to show that they're exotic (which is funny because true out-of-Africa blackness was probably for many years, to many Europeans, about as exotic as one can get). I once heard a girl, after hearing a guy was black and Hawaiin say, "that sounds hot, I bet he's fine." Because black and something else is supposed to trump black and black. That's why tan beats dark brown in Hollywood for the most part. But back to the multis. Some, like the guy pictured her, say that they aren't a racial or ethnic group, and to describe them as so would be a mistake. I say "pish-posh, Peter Tosh" who the hell cares ? (that should be said like 50 Cent in "I Get Money"). Don't lecture me, multi. Just make sure y'all claimin' the right folks, like Mariah Carey and Beethoven. Don't make us initiate a race draft.


Electrifying conclusion: My ignorance knows no bounds, but you gotta admit, with the rise of the multis, my Tragic Mulatto Harem/Opium Den aint lookin' so silly now, is it? Don't remember that? Go back a couple hundred weeks on the myspace blog (myspace.com/starpowerhouse).

The Random Encounters Series - Part 1

I gave Michael Wright a pound in a Midtown lounge Saturday night. He's the guy on the right. You know him - he was Eddie in"The Five Heartbeats," Omar in "Oz," and Raynathan in "Sugar Hill." That's quite a trio of roles in my neck of the woods, so he gets much respect. I aint too cool to act like a fan, not by any means. I smiled in acknowledgement, and he nodded and extended a hand. He actually kinda tried to scoop my ol' lady. As I broke the seal after a few gin & grapefruits/redbulls, he asked her if she thought anyone recognized him (she said yeah, but everyone there was cool), and then invited her to the back to share a bottle of something. She then let him know that the guy he gave a pound was her ol' man, and he fell back. She said he wasn't really tryin' to holler, and by the way he looked, I kinda believed her when she said that he just wanted to chill away from the crowd. With a li'l company. But she's my company, so that wasn't a go! He looked a bit bewildered and on edge, but celebrities, big and small, usually look like that when I see them in normal settings sober.

Just wanted to share that before I forgot.