Music Monday 103 :: Amy Winehouse

Music Monday 103 :: Amy Winehouse

There's not much that I can say about Amy Winehouse, now that she's passed away, that hasn't already been said. Heck I said some things (good things) about her years ago before all of the cool kids picked up on her sultry singing.

Though I can't take credit for discovering Winehouse, I will say that I was an early adopter. Here's a blog post that I wrote about my first experience listening to Amy Winehouse; oh, and this one too with a few more details. The short story is that I fondly remember reading something by Questlove from The Roots where he was raving about Winehouse. So I went and searched online for her then latest project "Back to Black".  It was only avail from a UK website, but I bought it. I listened to it and thought it was okay; I proceeded to make a cd copy to give to my sister for Christmas. I thought that she would love it (my sister has recently admitted that she lost that cd ... smh).

Amy Winehouse (image credit: unknown)

I hadn't planned on listening to the cd again, but I did. Of course, I went on to love it and kept it in my heavy rotation for a quite while.

Looking back, I've written about Winehouse on this blog several times. But, boy, was I taken aback after re-reading this article about Winehouse in the Washington Post that was originally published in February of 2007. That was about the same time that I wrote my first blog post about Winehouse on this blog. The article ... well, the writer just nails it in terms of her future. But I think many music writers probably wrote this ending.

Regardless of how she died, we have lots of music from Winehouse to appreciate and videos to watch. Let's put a candle up for that girl with the great voice; gonna miss her sassy ass!

My fav: "You Know I'm No Good" Remix w/Ghostface Killah; "Frank" is also a fav.
Oh, and one more good read: A Tribute to Amy Winehouse from NPR's music blog.

Here's Winehouse's performance of "You Know I'm No Good"  - not the best quality (and her name's misspelled)!

Music Monday 102 :: Gigawatt {The Illuminated Mixtapes}

Music Monday 102 :: Gigawatt {The Illuminated Mixtapes}

I discovered this webbie via Delicious on my iPad. The layout of Delicious on the Safari browser on the iPad is different - at least it is to me. And I like that I've been able to discover lots of new links this way - not the most efficient use of my time, but I'm getting lots of info and inspiration.

What caught my attention was 'mixtapes' in the title. I love, love, love a good mixtape. Though the truth is that Gigawatt is not a mixtape in its true form complete (imho) w/some blending of tracks and scratching. What Gigawatt is is a curated list of music.

Gigawatt is kinda cool in that it's another way for me to discover - this time music and artists that may not have been on my radar, but those artists are mixed along side artists that I'm already familiar with like Atmosphere, Talib Kweli, Talking Heads, etc.

Also, the illustrations on the page is uber cool.

Gigawatt {The Illuminated Mixtapes}

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I've been threatening to make some cookies for several weeks now. The threat is an empty one since no one stands to gain from this but me.

That's partly why I used this Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin recipe from smitten kitchen. The recipes is a halfsy. The last time I made cookies in May, I had cookies for days. Not a good thing. I did end up giving lots of them away.  But it's not just the amount of cookies, but the amount of time it takes to bake them as well.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (July, 2011)

The cookies look quite tasty and they are, but they're not quite sweet enough; I mean, they are sweet, but this recipe only called for a bit of brown sugar (and I think I measured it inaccurately because it was clumped together). I did add raisins as well as some cranberries and walnuts.

Previously I'd used this Easy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe and though it makes a large batch, I'll continue to use it in the future because I liked that batch better. Besides, I can always freeze the batter or the cookies.

And that's it ... I need to bag these cookies to give away to my friends.

Music Monday 101 :: ‪Sade "Love Is Found‬‏"

Music Monday 101 :: Sade "Love Is Found"

Well, now that I'm just over the 100 mark for Music Monday blog posts, I can't slack off, right? Keepin it real and keepin it strong, here's one from Sade. Love this ... the vid in the background provides just enough illusion. And check out Sade gettin her dance moves in - love that!

Of course the song has just the right vibe: great beats, smooth and sexy~

YouTube - ‪Sade - Love Is Found‬‏

Feelin Geeky

I spend a good amount of time on Twitter. It's my source for current events, learning new things and basically eavesdropping on other people's lives.  Though it's true that I'm also on the G+ wagon.

But this post is about Twitter and specially this little infographic about my Twitter use (see image below). Since I gnerated this infographic, I decided to pull up my recent Klout Stats. Actually for my Klout stats (51 out of 100 for @KimFoxWOSU), I just went to my about.me page. But my Tweet.grader.com stats give me 98.2 out of 100. Whatever, I'm not even a teeny bit concerned about my ranking in the Twitter world, but it's obvious that Klout and Tweetgrader operate on different criteria.

You can also retrieve data on your tweeting from Twentyfeet, though it's not as cute as the infographic from visual.ly/twitter.

FYI, for other statistical data I use Statcounter for a quick and general peek at who's checking out my blogs. It's a bit creepy though, since I can see also exactly where the traffic to my blogs and websites is coming from. It provides ISP addys, OS info and a lot more and yes, that's a free service (though obviously, with some limitations).

Of course, there's Google Analytics for the uber geek. I have a lot of accounts on Google Analytics, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the information there; or maybe just the organization of the information is confusing to me. But I do pay attention to that bounce rate; it's a bit unwieldy.

Yeah, I'm just a little bit geeky. How about you?

Oh, and btw, that girl should have a skirt on ... and I'm not quite a gamer ... just some Words with Friends, BeJeweled, Sudoku and Fruit Ninja and all on the iPad.

The Egyptian Way :: #Jan25 Protests Photo Essay

The Egyptian Way :: #Jan25 Protests Photo Essay

I've been living and working in Cairo for two years and I'd just returned to Cairo and specifically from a Nile Cruise when the #Jan25 protests broke out earlier this year.

Although I was in Cairo on Tuesday, January 25th, I didn't go to Tahrir Square until Friday, January 28th - the truth of the matter is I was having my apartment painted and the job had been rescheduled numerous times over a three month period; I had planned my entire holiday break around getting my apartment painted. So I sat at home and while the painters painted, I monitored the protest activity on my laptop, mostly via Twitter. But then ... from Friday, January 28th until Friday, February 11th, me and my friends went to Tahrir nearly every day and all day.

Despite being a former journalist and a professor teaching journalism, I haven't written much about my experience going to Tahrir. I have lots of mixed emotions, but I've finally pulled something together.

I'm thinking that this is just one version of this photo essay.  I have hundreds of images to sift through and I also have some sound and a few interviews.

But this is where I begin ...

You can also view a larger version of the #Jan25 Photo Essay.

Music Monday 100 :: 2011 BET Awards by guest Kevin C. King

Music Monday 100 :: 2011 BET Awards by guest Kevin C. King

Wow, it seems like just a few weeks ago that I drummed up the idea to write a weekly blog post about music: something simple, but fun. That was in November of 2008 and the first Music Monday blog post was Will.i.am's "It's a New Day".

Sometimes, weeks go by and often the only post that goes up is the Music Monday blog post. Lately it just seems that life away from the computer is way more fun than being on the computer - and then there's the part about recuperating from all of the fun.

At any rate, I was trying to come up with ideas for the centennial blog post and this idea just fell in my lap: I'd seen the tweets and Facebook status updates about the 2011 BET Awards that aired on Sunday, June 26th and I was curious about a few things: Rick Ross taking off his shirt, Alexander O'Neal and Cherrelle's not so stellar performance, Anita Baker's tried and true black dress and more. Then my brother posted on FB that he had missed the original airing too, but then he saw a repeat of the show. He then sent a note on FB with his thoughts and comments on the show - hilarious. So I'm re-blogging his note from FB.

I did finally watch many of the highlights, though I did not see the clip featuring the Smith kids.

Here's the link to the official 2011 BET Awards • Hosted By Kevin Hart.

And here's my brother, Kevin C. King's debut blog post:
2011 BET Awards Breakdown:

OK I just watched the BET Awards since I heard so many things, good and bad about them and here is my BREAKDOWN of the show.

1.     Mary J and Anita Baker love them both but it was blah-say to say the most.

2.     Who the hell put the nominee list together? I mean who are half of these people.

3.     Jill Scott’s Big Sexy Ass Set was the sh*t!!! It was like it was just dropped in there from somewhere else.

4.     My Boy Chris Brown did his thing…Side note "Aye Chris. Leave that (edit) alone she mean you no good. DIG UP YOUR DRAWS MAN, DIG THEM UP!!!"

5.     Willo Smith must still have had some of that paint left in her hair from waving it back and forth. That’s the only thing that could explain that hairdo. And the tie sh*t…. COME ON!

6.     Didn’t the home wrecker Alisha Keys hair look like frizzy straw and weren’t her arms looking kind of on their way to Elephant Ears?

7.     Nikki Minaj won? No sh*t, who were those no name (edit) she was up against. And since we on her ass “What the HELL was that Nikki and Justin Beiber thing. CORN!

8.     Who was the black baldheaded chick in the tutu? NOT A GOOD LOOK!

9.     Loved Cherelle and Alexander O’neil but he looked like he was back stage with Bobby and Whitney doing a little something, something. And did you see his mouth…OMG! Life after the 80’s did not treat him well. I actually thought he was dead. Ooops.

10.  Trey Songs took all of 2.5 seconds to get half way naked…LMAO

11.  Kelly Rowland YES but you better stop being hot and outshining BeOynce before the Knowles family DEMAND a Destiny’s Child reunion to put out your fire.

12.  Steve Harvey usually. No is ALWAYS Very Polished in his dress but that shirt with that suit was not it.

13.  Why was Al Sharpton trying to walk like President Obama? It’s only room for one pimp sir. You cool but fall back.

14.  And then they took them hethans to church LMAO

15.  And Yes Lord Mary Mary…Hmmmmmmmm

16.  But did anybody notice that when they started singing the gospel songs the camera was only on no name brands in the audience?

17.  Now them Hot Mess Braxton’s! Them (edit) do got some harmony for your ass.

18.  Cello Green has lost his mind!!!!!!!!! , but he “did” Patti’s song.

19.  Didn’t the girl who sang “If Only You Knew” look like the lady that took her leg and wig off and eyes out in ‘I’m Gonna Git You Sucka “?

20.   Shirley Ceasar wasn’t playing!!!

21.  I love Patti LaBelle with her Turn Out Ass!!!! and them (edit) looking right nice! And she sing effortlessly!

22.  Why when Patti was singing “Lady Marmalade” (the hoe song) the camera, mind you, that hasn’t been on a so called  “star” for many minutes, zooms in on Nicki Minaj? LMAO.

23.  Home girl did Tina Marie justice!!!!! I think that was Ledisi.

24.  The Hollywood Husbands was HILARIOUS!!

25.  I am quite sure I caught Lil Wayne and Drake lipsyncing a few times and was Lil Wayne “FROLICING AROUND” on stage? HOLLARING! Yeah he was “On One.”

26.  OK, let’s she what BeOnyce got for a (edit). Ok girl get off of that “We Are The World" Girl Power shit and get to the HUNCHFEST !!!!!

27.  HERE WE GO !!!!!!! ... but the song ain’t shit.

THE END

Blogging Made Easy ... thanks to the iPad

I don't know about you, but blogging has become a bit easier for me over the past few months. I have my iPad to thank for that.

I have two blogs that I try to post to at least twice weekly: The Radio Girl blog and Indy Hip Hop World. I have a third blog, Radiogirl Cards, that I haven't been very attentive to, but I aim to post there more regularly in the near future.

One thing that's made blogging easier for me lately is that I'm taking advantage of the email address for blogging using Blogger and that way I've started emailing articles and blog posts to the different blogs.

Now, in terms of apps for the iPad that are specific for blogging, I don't use any of those. What's working for me are the following apps - all of them are FREE:

My iPad Feed Reader Apps

Zite: Love the look and feel of Zite. I have several sections including and iPad section, journalism section and DIY section. I like that I can give articles a 'thumbs up' or a 'thumbs down' and that I can kick out the article to Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Delicious or email.

What I don't like about Zite is that it seems to take a bit of time to load in; I'd say 20 seconds or so.  Also, I don't like that you can add a subject, but not a specific feed. That means in my 'hip hop' section, I have to constantly go in and give a 'thumbs down' to some of the seedy stories that end up there. On the plus side of that, Zite does allow me to discover more stuff than any of the other apps.

Flipboard: I've always liked Flipboard ... though it was getting on my nerves just prior to the most recent upgrade. But what I recently learned (thanks to @AmrAdelAmin) is that I can create a flipboard for individual folders from my Google Reader. That's what I've been wanting (and the ability to use multiple Twitter accounts).

News360: This is not my fav app; it's just wonky and it doesn't offer much in the area of personalization, but I like it for getting the most current news headlines. You can also publish the stories to the various social media platforms and send via email too.

Pulse: I used to be a big fan of Pulse, but after a recent upgrade, the feeds are no longer updating. Pulse is aware of the problem and tried to assist me in fixing it, but it's been such a hassle. I may just go in and re-install the damn thing, but ... doesn't that defeat the purpose of being efficient?

What I did like about Pulse was the feed lines that I'd added and the look of the app. Now, I think I'll just take the feeds and add them to my Google Reader and go from there. Good luck to you Pulse.

That summarizes my use of some of the feed reader apps that I use. Again, they're helpful to keep me up to date and in keeping my blogs fresh with content.

What other apps are you using or would you suggest? Or is there some other tip that you're using to keep your blog current?

Music Monday 99 :: ‪Blackstreet "Love's In Need‬‏"

Music Monday 99 :: Blackstreet "Love's In Need" (1994)

Taking you back a bit to 1994 when Teddy Riley's "Blackstreet" came on the scene. Boy bands were hot and these boys had the vocals. They didn't stick together long enough, but this version of Stevie Wonder's "Love's In Need of Love Today" is fabulous. It has just enough rhythm and some beats, but mostly the singing is exceptional!

The YouTube vid is not an actual video, but you can at least listen to the track.

YouTube - ‪Blackstreet - Love's In Need‬‏