Well its june 2008

And I have decided to start back blogging here, mostly just for something to do with my time now that it is summer and all. Going to university next year which is kind of exciting. I will see if I can keep blogging while I am there also.Am planning a couple of programming things this summer so there will be that to talk about.Also the Crop-Over season and any other web content that grabs my interest i guess.It should be fun overall.

Its a tad late but………..

Ok before I start I should probably state that I don’t think I should promise to post regularly anymore as I obviously can’t keep it.Suscribe to my RSS feed though so that you can get my posts as soon as I put them up.

This post is primarily about some thoughts I had concerning the music this past Crop Over season with a comment on  one or two other issues.Generally I thought that the standard of the soca music this year was higher than it has been in quite a while with there being enough good songs to crowd out the usual plethora of “hand, rag wukkup” chants.It became increasingly clear this year however that there has to be a more rigid delineation when it comes to the specific genres of music that come out during this season.

The first obvious separation and the one that there has been the most attempt at making is that between “soca” and calypso.Year after year I hear people calling in on Fireworks talking about soca as if it were just a faster paced party version of calypso and lamenting things like lack of brass and lyrical content.The fact of the matter is soca and calypso are increasingly diverging and both evolving as separate genres.I say evolving but truthfully the calypso scene in Barbados seems to be stagnating.I personally attribute this to the lack of separation of “soca”and “calypso” which contributes to youths seeing calypso as the old folks thing.What calypso in Bim needs is New blood and a wider spectrum of topical focus.

Within soca, I think that lines need to be drawn to separate, “groovy” soca, “fusion soca”, fast-paced party soca that has good lyrical content and “de pure wukkup” tunes like the aptly named “30 seconds of wukking up” or “wuk-up psycho”.Each of these sectors have their place within the genre and it would help alleviate the controversy over the standard of the music coming out of the festival these days.

One issue I would quickly like to touch on before I end this post is that of Saskia Griffith lounging topless in chocolate at that Power X Four event.On a hygienic basis , I would not be eating anything dipped in chocolate with a touch of half-naked woman.Generally, I thought the whole affair was rather and lacking in class or substance.Having a good time is one thing,but this was excess on an unnecessary level. Saskia herself in the Nation newspaper says it was supposed to be “artistic” and it was acceptable because it was Crop Over.I say mosey over to Boyce Voice and judge for yourself.

Well thats all for now so catch you later whenever that comes to be.

Toots & the Maytals - Sweet & Dandy

Just came across this….if i hadn’t mentioned I recently “discovered” Toots and The Maytals….i reckon the rival Bob…..or maybe you can’t compare them…sorry I’m amateur not connoisseur

5 Soca flavours of the minutes

Ok, so personally I think that this season was a step up from a string of bad years crop-over has seen of late when it comes to music. Just going to give you the 5 songs that for me are catchy…..even if they don’t exactly display lyrical mastery.

•  Big Red-Que Sera Honestly I cannot tell you why I like this song. The entire thing is based a very simple and childish play on words…but the chorus[also known in this case as practically the whole song] is just one of those that gets stuck in your head.
• Gregory Ayuen-Shake It  It is lyrically commpetent when you put it one  the relative scale, he seems to be able to sing and the melody and production are great.
• Mikey and Lorenzo-Clap This is a fun track that is just the right tempo and although creative levels wavered throughout the song the inspired parts outweighed those that were pretty base and standard.
• Sicky-Who say badman caan wuk-I can’t account for why I like this song…….i really want to not like it…..could’t find a link sorry.
• Bashment Bachannal- Khiomal and Mikey - Must stick in a Kadooment song here.This is a good collaboration, Mikey is doing good this season.

I know…i’ve been gone a while

Ok so if you are a regular reader of this blog or if you just happened to read the date of the post below this one, you will know that despite my earlier fervent promises, I’ve been gone awhile.I really will try from now on however to make this a continuous commitment. So..what have I been up to? well lets see………first things first if you haven’t already make sure to get firefox 2. By far the best browser out there right now.Love it.

My reading campaign is still continuing in earnest…expect a slew of reviews pretty soon but for now I would like to highlight a short story I read today.Ever since I picked up David Starr, Space Ranger by Issac Asimov, I have been a sci-fi fan or at least a classic sci-fi fan because I don’t really take to alot of the more modern stuff that I have read. Anyway, Project Gutenburg has a list of classic sci-fi they have avaliable on their website and I decided on the spur to tackle one of the shorter pieces. It was entitled “The Edge of the Knife” by Henry Beam Piper and concerned a history teacher who had “memories” of the future and quite frequently taught things that had not occurred yet to his class. He is generally ridiculed until something he has said comes to pass and thats when all the commotion starts. Honestly, I found it quite a substancelss, but well written and enjoyable yarn. The ending was if this makes sense, the most anti-climatic pleasant surprise I have ever encountered. Anyway, if you are a fan of sci-fi check out the story and tell me what you think.

On another topic entirely, despite my extreme negligence[well not that extreme really] of this blog, I have started another one, “nerd dust” basically where I nerd out.You can check it out but there isn’t much there yet unfortunately.Give it 5 months lol.

Recently in my trawls across the internet, I discovered what I have suspected for many years…..poetry.com is a scam.Now I’m not much of a poet myself unless we are talking about nonsensical haiku or limericks but I’ve had several friends who submitted their stuff to this website and were thrilled when the recieved responses ensuring them that they had made it through to the semifinals and that they were going to be published.Characteristically, I never actually had the heart to voice my opinion.Ah well.

Lastly, over that past couple of days, I have embarked on a quest to improve my html knowledge and learn CSS. I did some online tutorials and am now in the process of trying to build a test webpage of sorts to practice my not quite completly acquired knowledge.The result…..the process was long and tiring, but ultimately quite satisfying.More on this venture to come i suspect.

Opinion:The Double-Entendre Outcry

Hey..if the Nation thought it was headline worthy news surely I can comment?

So on the front page of the Nation and on page 16 there was an article about controversy surrounding the many songs this year that utilize double-entendre and concern that they were sending a negative message to the youth and to paraphrase the words ot Richard Stoute “mabye these lyrics should be restricted to the tents and the radio should concentrate on playing more positive youth friendly music.”

I personally have very little problem with most of these songs,they show more creativity and wit than a lot of the standard crop-over fare and I think that “de sweetness is in de sauce” is less offensive than say “everybody up in de jam, girl jucking up all pun dem man” which is a theme common in the lyrics of the many low-quality songs produced every year to which there is no massive outcry.I reaslise however that there is perhaps an protest against these tunes because of their massive popularity.But then what about the raw, explicit dancehall that currently plays on the radio throughout the year on stations geared towards the youth.Now even though I do listen to dancehall, readers of this blog will know what I think about a vast amount of it and its wild popularity among young Bajans. I guess the difference in the level of public outcry occurs because Crop Over is targeted to the general population while dancehall is mainly targeted to the 13-26 age range.I thought I would be interesting to compare the lyrics of a dancehall song to one of the crop over songs in question but am still in the process of procuring lyrics so look out for that.

Its Soca Season!!!!!

Actually this is a list with comments on the soca songs that seem to be getting the heaviest airplay this season

De Sauce-Timmy

• sounds nice and grows on you
• based on a thinly veiled double entendre.

Wuk-Up Psycho-Pong

• Once again this year comes with a song on which the singing is awful but is still widly popular.[well i cant talk really, i sorta like it]

That Booty-Malcom X, Ramses, Styles P

• Huh…isnt this the same topic as their song last year….and the year before that?
• sounds nice tho
• yes they r ripping off T-Pains You and Dat
• Yes it does quite objectify women
• But who objects to objectification these days huh?

Sweat-Hypasounds

• Hez gonna make her sweat
• Apparently,she likes to be sweaty

• The melody is nice tho.

Ya Sweet One-RPB

• Nice rhythm, melody and beat
• What I would call a safe standard tune tho
• As In not bad but not daring, just enjoyable.

More l8ter

Back with a book review:The Space Between Us-Thirty Umrigar

This was my first step in a quest to read 50 books this summer.On a quick note before I start the review, I have decided not to publish the full list of books I will be reading mostly because I dont quite have it[:)].

The Space Between Us is set in India and is told through the eyes of Sera, a well off Parsi and Bhima her poor servant who lives in the slums.The story revolves around them, their familes and their pasts.The main storyline concerns the pregnancy of Bhima’s granddaughter Maya and how it affects the lives of the cast.In between this story however,through numerous flashbacks[i would venture to say they make up like half of this book] we delve into the lives of Bhima and Sera, explore their mistakes and regrets and we see how their societal status is reflected in their behaviours.The book illustrates how while certain problems make no class distinctions social prejudice is deeply ingrained within their society.It is a fairly quick read and the flashbacks,while some may drag abit are generally quite interesting.Near the end of the book, thier is a twist that seems to reinforce all the points made throughtout the story and raises the topic of “Appearance vs Reality”.

Where can you find out more?

Realising that my review probaly did not provide enough information for the prospective buyer, here is a link to its amazon page.

Rating?

7/10…poignant but prone to loosing the reader’s interest.

As I said above my review was probaly not the most succint however hopefully over the process of reviewing the 50 books it shall improve.I think that perhaps it was to my detriment not to have taken a language course this year as i’m quite sure I was better at this.Perhaps it will only take time to get back the knack.

Yawn…….

To everybody(…well anybody) that reads this blog regularly, sorry for the lack of updates and short posts.One word.Exams.Many late nights and early mornings and information cramming lol.Anyway, i’ll be back relatively soon,and I have a couple of plans for the blog, so that will be interesting, at least for me.In the meantime so this post is not completly useless, here is an interesting link.

Barbados Topix Page

Catch you in about 3 weeks!

Barbados Tourism Minister Storms Out Of Radio Show

Yeah this happened a while ago but i only came across the youtube version today….only in Barbados lol.Make what you will of it