He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else - Benjamin Franklin

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

OURBLOC.com: Quote of the Day

Never be apologetic for working hard to achieve your goals. This may make you a boring person for a short time, however, once the goal(s) is/are achieved....You will automatically become the most popular.

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

the VID BLOC: Melanie Fiona Prelude to "The Bridge"

Melanie Fiona - "The Bridge"

Available on iTunes on 10/20/2009 , and will have it here for you to listen to shortly thereafter.

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

the SHOPPE: Really a Blackface? Really?

"French Vogue does blackface: Since when is this OK?" This is the title of the article on Yahoo referencing French Vogue's October issue set to honor Supermodels minus the appearance of the many Black Supermodels within the fashion industry. Instead, Dutch model Lara Stone poses in a 14-page spread in blackface. If you're not familiar with blackface, take a look at wikipedia.com where they classified it as a former theater method that portrays Blacks as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon". No matter how you look at it, theatrical or not, its just plain offensive, ridiculous and straight foolery. It depicts a portion of our American History that I thought we were past; Silly me, I guess I've been delusional.... But ummm, what is the purpose?

Seriously though, there is NO other way to honor Supermodels? or Better yet, how does this even honor Supermodels at all? There is an enormously fine line of being edgy, unique and even, controversial and something tells me that this is what French Vogue was going for - But at what cost? We all know for ages that Blacks, African Americans, etc. have been made a mockery of but what baffles me is that despite this ....Fashion has ALWAYS shunned such ideas and has always looked at all races as sources of beauty. Despite the racial barriers, black supermodels have still existed and have set the precedence for the models we have today. See Naomi Campbell, Veronica Webb, Tyra Banks. Be that as it may....Its frickin 2009! It is not slavery times and when will enough be enough? From portrayals of the Jackson 5 in blackface, racial slurs from known politicians and DJ's, to Pornos that emulate our Black president - there is a fine line of 'edgy'. I have the crazy idea that if Essence or "O" magazine announced a "White Trash" issue, those magazines would be torn apart by CNN, MSNBC and definitely, FOX AND I would even suggest that they would be closed down for business that following day. Why? Because that's offensive.

While the photos are by no means depicted in a negative way, it still comes down to being offensive. I'm just baffled at why this would even seem okay for that very reason. This decision totally makes me think of the "Really?" skit from SNL. But seriously, with all the black models that could have depicted other famous black supermodels, why did the final cut come down to this?


What's your take?

LIVE it, LOVE it, SHARE it - OURBLOC.COM

Written By: Autty
theautty@ourbloc.com
Follow Autty on Twitter @theautty

the SHOPPE: Fall Trend to Try!

From regular girls to Gossip Girls, this Fall is all about colored tights and funky knee high's to liven up any look! From reds, yellows, blues to hot pinks, You can achieve this sexy, youthful segway into Fall with a classic shape, cold-weather coverage or even a mod print....Matching is totally not a REQUIREMENT, however, in the words of Rachel Zoe, “ They don’t need to match, they just need to make sense”.

Happy SHOPPING ;p!

@theAutty on Twitter

LIVE it, LOVE it, SHARE it - WWW.OURBLOC.COM

the STADIUM: High School Team Wears Pink Jerseys

Here is a great story about how a high school team in Arizona and the Arizona Cardinals came together to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Normally, the writing team at OURBLOC.com will paraphrase the story however, this is a story that can not be condensed.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1001714

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

OURBLOC.com: Quote of the Day

Friendships are important; however, never believe your friends are perfect. We have to enjoy the good and the bad that comes along with friendship. Now if the bad outweighs the good then maybe it's time to seek some new friends. Let's not make the mistake of putting individuals on a pedestal because sometimes our expectation of someone else is what fails us not necessarily that individual. - Jouran Crosby

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

the SHOPPE: Internet Sales this Week!

Sales this week from HAUTELOOK-www.Hautelook.com!

Sales this week from Editors' Closet -www.editorscloset.com!

Get referred from me to join the sale - comment below or email me at theautty@ourbloc.com!

Happy Shopping ;p

- @theAutty on Twitter

LIVE it, LOVE it, SHARE it - WWW.OURBLOC.COM

OURBLOC.com: Quote of the Day

Who cares what car you drive, how big your house is, or where you shop at...it matters not if you aren't liquid - Jouran Crosby

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

the WALKMAN: New Heat from ATM ft Jim Jones and Cam'Ron ft Vado !!!!

NEW FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATM ft Jim Jones - Fast Money 

Follow ATM on Twitter @NewYorkAtm

Follow Jim Jones on Twitter @JimJonesCapo

Stop it 5 - Cam'ron ft Vado 

Follow Vado on Twitter @Vado_MH

No known Twitter Account for Cam'ron just yet

Powered by Podbean.com

Music Editor: Dayne Dash
Follow on Twitter @DayneDash

Credits written by: Ran
ran@ourbloc.com
Follow on Twitter @Rannyran

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

OURBLOC.com: Quote of the Day

"Support can be beautiful" - Theresa Hill

Remember to support positive works in and around your community, home, workplace, and enviornment. By supporting positive works, great things can happen.


Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

CLASSIFIED NEWS: Solange Knowles Needs A Graphic/Web Designer

OUR BLOC readers LISTEN UP!!!!!!

If you are a graphic/web designer or you know of someone who is one, Solange Knowles is in need of a designer for a special side project. Solange just sent a tweet on twitter looking for someone ASAP. If you are interested, tweet her @Solangeknowles with a link to your online portfolio.

Many don't understand how to use Twitter, but there are 1000s of opportunities like this out there. Do not wait, do not hesitate, @Solangeknowles is a verified twitter account, so tweet her your information now.

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

Written by: Ran
ran@ourbloc.com
Follow Ran on Twitter @rannyran

the PICTURE HOUSE: "Paranormal Activity" movie review

We finally got an opportunity to see this very hyped movie and to say the least, it was quite entertaining.

The hype of this movie draws comparisons to "The Blair Witch" project which was a horror film that duped everyone into believing it was true. The premise of the movie is based on a couple in California that is haunted and they decide to record everything to see if the occurrences are paranormal activity or some other circumstance. Needless to say, there were a lot of things that went bump in the night that caused the audience to scream.

Now the film is not meant to be an Oscar winning piece, so do not expect Academy Award winning acting or cinematography. However, you can expect to jump, scream and laugh a lot throughout this film. The best part of the film will be how the audience reacts to the unraveling events on the screen. We saw people getting up running out of the movie, you heard whimpering from both men and women, plus at the end of the movie you could see some people were visbily shaken. Yep, I don’t scare easily, but I watched parts of the film through the cracks of my fingers lol. I will admit it made me scream like a school girl a few times lol. I guess one can say that the best summation for this movie is it’s comparable to riding a pretty cool roller coaster. After the first run, you may just want to ride it again and again.

It’s hard to run a play by play synopsis of this movie without completely giving the film away, but I will say “Paranormal Activity” does a great mental job on whoever is watching. I listened to the skeptics saying it was whack, not worth the money, yada, yada, yada, but the funny thing is these same skeptics are jumping and hollering in the movie. If you enjoy a film that will make you scream, twist your mental like a pack of Twizzlers, and has climatic parts that will draw you deeper and deeper in, then you will probably want to see this movie. If you are an analytic person that can not enjoy anything without breaking it down, then pass on this movie and go watch a documentary on wild boars.

Paranormal Activity is crazy fun, entertaining and just may have you sleeping with the lights on for a few nights lol. Enjoy it and share your experiences on the film here.
written by: Ran
ran@ourbloc.com
Follow Ran on Twitter @rannyran

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com

OURBLOC.com: Quote of the Day

You can't be lazy and expect great things to happen.

Live it, Love it, Share it - OURBLOC.com