By Bryan Cain-Jackson
Article first published as al-Qaeda Threat: Vigilance Or Prejudice on Technorati.
One week has passed since finding out the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. The country celebrated and rejoiced over the fact that he was dead. The rejoicing should always be about the justice that has been done and never about the fact that person has died.
Conspiracy theories fly rampant in the beliefs that Bin Laden was already killed or that he hasn’t been killed at all. In either scenario, once he was killed there was certainly a cause for concern.
Due to security concerns, there have been at least two passenger planes that have emergency landed. In one of the flights, a man tried to reach for the door while the plane was in the air. The plane landed and the man was interviewed by the federal authorities. The other plane was landed as a result of a suspicious note found by a flight attendant.
An incident aboard a plane to North Carolina is under investigation. Due to the discomfort of passengers aboard, two imams in traditional Muslim dress were removed from the plane prior to take off. Masudar Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul are both of very high importance in the Muslim religious community. They were on their way to a conference for prejudice against Muslims and Islamaphobia. Rahman is a professor at the University of Memphis.
There are definitely reasons to feel threatened after the US killed Osama Bin Laden; he was the leader of the al-Qaeda. Furthermore, the documented evidence proving the Pakistani intelligence team that led the US to Bin Laden as being linked to al-Qaeda terrorists. Why would they lead us to Osama Bin Laden if they had another agenda? How far along in execution are the al-Qaeda plans for the new act of terrorism against the US? There are so many questions and even few answers if any will ever provide a universal sense of satisfaction amongst US citizens. Everyone is being extremely alert and that is to be expected. However, are we being vigilant or outright prejudice?
That need for vigilance can also be a safe assumption as to why our troops will not be sent home yet. I truly fear the feeling of paranoia is rampant in our country; the need to point fingers and label those who are innocent as potential perpetrators is growing out of hand. We are in a climate that is plagued with uncertainty, not knowing what to expect from one day to the next can have this affect on people.
We should take great care and pride in not allowing the image of one’s customs and attire influence our portrait of what a monster is. Osama Bin Laden was a monster, but we should not label those with a similar name, attire, looks or any other aspect of superficiality to drain our perception of color and clarity. It’s important that the fine line between vigilance and prejudice be identified to avoid making an already critical situation worst.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day
By Bryan Cain-Jackson
Today is a day to rejoice in the appreciation of all of our Mothers. To all the beautiful women that we look up to and call Mom, we owe you our lives.
Those of us who aren’t parents really forget the challenge that being a Mom represents. Especially if you are a single Mom then even greater challenges are faced every day. I know a great deal of women that do a phenomenal job of being both mom and dad to their children. I bow to your greatness. I am not a father yet, but when I do become one I know that it will still not be as challenging as being a mother is.
I was blessed with two Moms in my life, my mother and my grandmother. I love you both very much. I appreciate the challenges that you have put in front of me, were it not for those challenges I would not be the man that I am today always being respectful and appreciative of the woman in my life.
To mothers everywhere, know you are more than appreciated!
Happy Mother’s Day to All!!!
Today is a day to rejoice in the appreciation of all of our Mothers. To all the beautiful women that we look up to and call Mom, we owe you our lives.
Those of us who aren’t parents really forget the challenge that being a Mom represents. Especially if you are a single Mom then even greater challenges are faced every day. I know a great deal of women that do a phenomenal job of being both mom and dad to their children. I bow to your greatness. I am not a father yet, but when I do become one I know that it will still not be as challenging as being a mother is.
I was blessed with two Moms in my life, my mother and my grandmother. I love you both very much. I appreciate the challenges that you have put in front of me, were it not for those challenges I would not be the man that I am today always being respectful and appreciative of the woman in my life.
To mothers everywhere, know you are more than appreciated!
Happy Mother’s Day to All!!!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Jackie Cooper Passes at 88
By Bryan Cain-Jackson
Article first published as Jackie Cooper Passes at 88 on Technorati
Another of Hollywood’s golden age has departed from us. Character actor, Jackie Cooper passed away on May 3rd at the age of 88. He is best known for his latter role in the Superman films portraying Daily Planet editor Perry White.
Starting out as a child in show business, Cooper became a hit in the “Our Gang” short films of the 1920’s and 30’s. In every decade he has provided quality entertainment as an actor, producer, and director. Cooper was one of precious few to graduate from the child star syndrome as some refer to it.
Cooper served with distinction in the military in World War II. He was married four times. The fourth time was a charm for Cooper when he met his beloved Barbara. They were married for 54 years until her passing in 2009.
Cooper retired in 1990 and very much enjoyed his life with his family post life of show business. He avoided industry retrospective and enjoyed his simple life.
Article first published as Jackie Cooper Passes at 88 on Technorati
Another of Hollywood’s golden age has departed from us. Character actor, Jackie Cooper passed away on May 3rd at the age of 88. He is best known for his latter role in the Superman films portraying Daily Planet editor Perry White.
Starting out as a child in show business, Cooper became a hit in the “Our Gang” short films of the 1920’s and 30’s. In every decade he has provided quality entertainment as an actor, producer, and director. Cooper was one of precious few to graduate from the child star syndrome as some refer to it.
Cooper served with distinction in the military in World War II. He was married four times. The fourth time was a charm for Cooper when he met his beloved Barbara. They were married for 54 years until her passing in 2009.
Cooper retired in 1990 and very much enjoyed his life with his family post life of show business. He avoided industry retrospective and enjoyed his simple life.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Romance is Dead; It's All About Friends with Benefits
By Bryan Cain-Jackson
 |
| From deviantart.com Just a thought that I wanted to share and everyone to consider… Does it seem that romance has died? Young men just don’t seem as chivalrous as they once were or as much as they should be. I hear this from lady friends all the time. Even in movies they tend to lack in romance these days. This in a way kind of goes back to an earlier post that I wrote entitled “That Irritating Thing That Men and Women Do.” When a young woman comes across a man that opens her doors and brings a rose for her on a date, it seems like the trip out alarm goes off. Women may still want romance but are so used to not getting it, that when they do they have no idea how to react to it. The same goes for affection, women are so not used to receiving it from a man that when they get it the suspicion alert goes off. Romance is meant to be that pleasurable and exciting feeling that is associated with courtship. Are men still courting women? Are they just dating with no future possibility of going any further? The answer is simple… “Friends with benefits” are supposed to be the most uncomplicated relationship out there, yet it tends to complicate. This is because there are supposed to be no strings attached to sex, yet it is human nature or it should be to feel an emotional connection with the person one allows to invade their body. Most of the time in these types of relationships one person will get attached, the other will get upset, and an opportunity for a quality friendship or relationship is truly lost. I personally feel that romance is important for foreplay, foreplay is important for sex, and intimacy is best left with a connection rather than without. I am a very romantic man, and I am chivalrous with my woman. A benefits based relationship is not best for everyone. Some of you should evaluate yourselves emotionally before entering one. Romance and an emotional connection are phenomenal feelings when people allow themselves to feel it. Intimacy should not just fulfill a physical need if someone is drowning in emotional uncertainty. It should be that feeling like you are on cloud nine and nothing but good will come from it. If people started treating each other’s bodies more like a temple rather than the Easy 8 motel, there wouldn’t be so many scorned women and STD’s. That makes sense, right? |
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Bin Laden Death Rules Social Media
By Bryan Cain-Jackson
Article first published as Bin Laden Death Rules Social Media on Technorati.
When something is the buzz, you’d better believe that you’ll find it on a social media network within seconds. It can even be said that this is how many people in the younger generation get their news.
The current buzz is of a very different nature. It’s normally about what happened on “American Idol” last night, or who got fired on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and a host of other mind numbing television programs that lure interest. Fortunately, this time we get treated to a different fare; the death of Osama Bin Laden has ruled the web ever since the news was announced shortly after 10:15 Eastern-Standard time May 1st. In particular it has ruled the social media sites. The increase in conversation over Bin Laden’s fate has increased over 75,000 percent since the first announcement. It’s no doubt a combination of celebratory spewing, mad ravings, negative remarks about the Obama administration, and the trademark conspiracy theorists. Perhaps, Donald Trump will lead the conspiracy theorists into persuading the President to produce an original death certificate for Bin Laden.
The death of Bin Laden represents something different to many walks of life. For some it’s retribution, for others it’s an eye for an eye, and lastly there is always going to be a universal sense of justice.
I have read clever Facebook postings, and some not so clever or even politically correct. Among the most memorable I have read is: “It took Obama to get Osama.” It was quite a thrill to see everyone speaking up on more intelligent fare versus the normal dribble.
This not only demonstrates that much needed sense of unity and of patriotism; it clearly demonstrates the awesome power of the social media world. The news is at our fingertips. We no longer have to wait until we get home to get in front of our TVs, or even listen to the radio. I need not mention that newspapers are on the brink of total extinction. This can all be credited to the advent of the social media world. It’s a place where everyone has a voice.
It’s changed the way we communicate. If you call or text someone on your cell phone, you might not get an answer. If you really want to talk to them at that moment, you might have to “Facebook” or “FB” them. If you want to know what one of your friends is doing then just check Twitter. They might have “tweeted” that they are taking a shower. Scary thought though; updating a Twitter status while taking a shower? I have a friend who does this.
Social media is a world that I truly believe in. It’s been used for intelligent discussions and an exchange of information. Many non-profits even use it as a way to get petitions signed and getting various causes supported. Businesses use it to advertise and connect with their clients. Major corporations use it to introduce their new products for the first time. It’s not something that will be going away anytime soon. It will grow and continue to advance as time passes.
The biggest craze started with Myspace, the social media powerhouse of yesterday. Now, we are in a worldwide love affair with Facebook. However, it will not end there. There will be different variations of it, but social media itself will not be going anywhere for a while.
Article first published as Bin Laden Death Rules Social Media on Technorati.
When something is the buzz, you’d better believe that you’ll find it on a social media network within seconds. It can even be said that this is how many people in the younger generation get their news.
The current buzz is of a very different nature. It’s normally about what happened on “American Idol” last night, or who got fired on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and a host of other mind numbing television programs that lure interest. Fortunately, this time we get treated to a different fare; the death of Osama Bin Laden has ruled the web ever since the news was announced shortly after 10:15 Eastern-Standard time May 1st. In particular it has ruled the social media sites. The increase in conversation over Bin Laden’s fate has increased over 75,000 percent since the first announcement. It’s no doubt a combination of celebratory spewing, mad ravings, negative remarks about the Obama administration, and the trademark conspiracy theorists. Perhaps, Donald Trump will lead the conspiracy theorists into persuading the President to produce an original death certificate for Bin Laden.
The death of Bin Laden represents something different to many walks of life. For some it’s retribution, for others it’s an eye for an eye, and lastly there is always going to be a universal sense of justice.
I have read clever Facebook postings, and some not so clever or even politically correct. Among the most memorable I have read is: “It took Obama to get Osama.” It was quite a thrill to see everyone speaking up on more intelligent fare versus the normal dribble.
This not only demonstrates that much needed sense of unity and of patriotism; it clearly demonstrates the awesome power of the social media world. The news is at our fingertips. We no longer have to wait until we get home to get in front of our TVs, or even listen to the radio. I need not mention that newspapers are on the brink of total extinction. This can all be credited to the advent of the social media world. It’s a place where everyone has a voice.
It’s changed the way we communicate. If you call or text someone on your cell phone, you might not get an answer. If you really want to talk to them at that moment, you might have to “Facebook” or “FB” them. If you want to know what one of your friends is doing then just check Twitter. They might have “tweeted” that they are taking a shower. Scary thought though; updating a Twitter status while taking a shower? I have a friend who does this.
Social media is a world that I truly believe in. It’s been used for intelligent discussions and an exchange of information. Many non-profits even use it as a way to get petitions signed and getting various causes supported. Businesses use it to advertise and connect with their clients. Major corporations use it to introduce their new products for the first time. It’s not something that will be going away anytime soon. It will grow and continue to advance as time passes.
The biggest craze started with Myspace, the social media powerhouse of yesterday. Now, we are in a worldwide love affair with Facebook. However, it will not end there. There will be different variations of it, but social media itself will not be going anywhere for a while.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A Great Film Called "Psycho"
By Bryan Cain-Jackson
Of all the classic films made at the beginning of the end of Hollywood’s most glamorous period in films, none proved more shocking than Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."
This was clearly a film that had no interest in blending in with typical films of the era; for starters it was in black and white and had a budget under $1 million. Films presented in color were already a commonplace, and Hitchcock rarely made a film for under a million dollars at that time.
Rather than the usual glamorous setting with rich and well to do people, “Psycho” was cheap and sleazy looking. The characters were struggling and all had conflicts that crept deep beneath their surfaces. It was made in a time where people wanted to appear normal and without problems, these characters were no exception to that.
Janet Leigh portrayed Marion Crane. Her characters lives in Phoenix, Arizona and works as a secretary to a real estate agent. Marion is a fascinatingly eclectic portrait in the sense that she too wants to hide the problems that she is having, while at the same time publicly airing them out by committing a heinously sloppy crime. She is desperate to marry her boyfriend Sam Loomis, portrayed by John Gavin. Sam is a hard luck case. He owns a hardware shop in a small town in Central California. Sam is in debt up to his teeth; he is paying his wife’s alimony while she is living it up on the other side of the world, and paying what is remaining of his dead father’s old debts.
Marion is hopelessly in love with him and will lower herself to even the level of meeting him in secret at cheap and sleazy hotels during her lunch hour. Sam enjoys their relationship as it is; he drives to see her from California so that they can have their time. Since the kind of affair they were having was considered disrespectful at the time, they are not actually far from what would be considered today as a friend with benefits. The difference between Sam and Marion is very simple. She is an idealist, and he is a realist. There is no way that he can afford to support her, nor can she support him since this was a time where the man worked and was the breadwinner. The wife would stay home and tend to house and the children if any.
Then the day comes… Emotion takes over completely. In a fit of blind desperation, Marion steals $40,000 from her employer with the intent of taking it to Sam in California, but she never makes it.
The Bates Motel is along her route to Sam. She stops and meets one of the creepiest and most mentally disturbed characters in movie history, Norman Bates, portrayed by Anthony Perkins.
During the conversation between Marion and Norman, there is evidently a sexual tension and a curiosity that is never acted upon. The reason being is that Norman is the one who is feeling it; Marion is merely unsettled by how much of a hermit he is.
Norman has a mother that doesn’t like the fact that he has warmed up to this woman, so the only way to end it is for her to kill Marion. The famed and historic shower scene takes place in which Marion is stabbed a dozen and a half times by Mother Bates aka Norman Bates.
That’s right! If you’ve seen this, you already know that Norman is his own mother. Is this guy a psycho or what???
Delving deeper into the themes of “Psycho,” one can clearly see that the director Alfred Hitchcock has his own obsessions.
Here is a short list:
1. Blondes
2. Murder
3. Sex
4. Food
The way that all these tie together is they all are forced to become an integral part of the story. Blondes are supposed to have more fun which would explain why everyone wants Marion. Murder is the theme behind the jealousy embedded in the schizophrenia that Norman has. Sex is one of the driving emotions why everyone is so reactive in the film. Norman’s Mother personality kills Marion because he lusted after her and wanted her badly. Sam drives all the way to Arizona often to have their relationship which is nothing more than sexual on his part.
I can go on and on about any Hitchcock film, I love them! They are excellent examples of what Hollywood used to put out. The stuff now just doesn’t make sense.
Of all the classic films made at the beginning of the end of Hollywood’s most glamorous period in films, none proved more shocking than Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."
This was clearly a film that had no interest in blending in with typical films of the era; for starters it was in black and white and had a budget under $1 million. Films presented in color were already a commonplace, and Hitchcock rarely made a film for under a million dollars at that time.
Rather than the usual glamorous setting with rich and well to do people, “Psycho” was cheap and sleazy looking. The characters were struggling and all had conflicts that crept deep beneath their surfaces. It was made in a time where people wanted to appear normal and without problems, these characters were no exception to that.
Janet Leigh portrayed Marion Crane. Her characters lives in Phoenix, Arizona and works as a secretary to a real estate agent. Marion is a fascinatingly eclectic portrait in the sense that she too wants to hide the problems that she is having, while at the same time publicly airing them out by committing a heinously sloppy crime. She is desperate to marry her boyfriend Sam Loomis, portrayed by John Gavin. Sam is a hard luck case. He owns a hardware shop in a small town in Central California. Sam is in debt up to his teeth; he is paying his wife’s alimony while she is living it up on the other side of the world, and paying what is remaining of his dead father’s old debts.
Marion is hopelessly in love with him and will lower herself to even the level of meeting him in secret at cheap and sleazy hotels during her lunch hour. Sam enjoys their relationship as it is; he drives to see her from California so that they can have their time. Since the kind of affair they were having was considered disrespectful at the time, they are not actually far from what would be considered today as a friend with benefits. The difference between Sam and Marion is very simple. She is an idealist, and he is a realist. There is no way that he can afford to support her, nor can she support him since this was a time where the man worked and was the breadwinner. The wife would stay home and tend to house and the children if any.
Then the day comes… Emotion takes over completely. In a fit of blind desperation, Marion steals $40,000 from her employer with the intent of taking it to Sam in California, but she never makes it.
The Bates Motel is along her route to Sam. She stops and meets one of the creepiest and most mentally disturbed characters in movie history, Norman Bates, portrayed by Anthony Perkins.
During the conversation between Marion and Norman, there is evidently a sexual tension and a curiosity that is never acted upon. The reason being is that Norman is the one who is feeling it; Marion is merely unsettled by how much of a hermit he is.
Norman has a mother that doesn’t like the fact that he has warmed up to this woman, so the only way to end it is for her to kill Marion. The famed and historic shower scene takes place in which Marion is stabbed a dozen and a half times by Mother Bates aka Norman Bates.
That’s right! If you’ve seen this, you already know that Norman is his own mother. Is this guy a psycho or what???
Delving deeper into the themes of “Psycho,” one can clearly see that the director Alfred Hitchcock has his own obsessions.
Here is a short list:
1. Blondes
2. Murder
3. Sex
4. Food
The way that all these tie together is they all are forced to become an integral part of the story. Blondes are supposed to have more fun which would explain why everyone wants Marion. Murder is the theme behind the jealousy embedded in the schizophrenia that Norman has. Sex is one of the driving emotions why everyone is so reactive in the film. Norman’s Mother personality kills Marion because he lusted after her and wanted her badly. Sam drives all the way to Arizona often to have their relationship which is nothing more than sexual on his part.
I can go on and on about any Hitchcock film, I love them! They are excellent examples of what Hollywood used to put out. The stuff now just doesn’t make sense.
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