Reunions, Barbecue, and Cool Films: The Extra Long, Super Crunchy, June 29-July 4 Wrap-Up

Friday:

I got off work and went to a family reunion "meet and greet" night. It was near me. It was okay, but I really don't know my family. I only see them once a year, and I pretty much talk to my parents and first cousins. This year, I got into a big argument with my mom and my cousin Nakia about Bobby Ojay, the DJ for WDIA-AM 1070 in the morning. I think he's a hack!! We also argued about Three Six Mafia. How a Church of God In Christ missionary (my mom) can defend Three Six Mafia (three sixes, people) is beyond me. I admit, I am not open to everyone's opinions when I know that I am right, and telling my cousin that her comments were dumb, stupid, and this side of mentally challenged was mean. Too bad!!! People certainly don't spare my feelings. I couldn't even enjoy my family doing the new "Cupid Shuffle: dance because of my frustration with my family. The day that they realize that I am more intelligent and usually right, the better off they'll be. God bless them.

Saturday:

My brother and I went to the family reunion picnic. It was cool, we hung out in the shade. I saw people I kinda knew and I kinda enjoyed myself. Afterwards, I hung out with my good friend Tamara Wicks at her house. It was cool. Shout out to Ralph, Rudechild, his finacee, Yolandalyn, and everyone's favorite Angry Kappa. It was cool, but I cut out and went to the karaoke bar for a minute. I sang a few songs. It was groovy.

Sunday:

I went to the comic book store and I saw Die Hard With a Vengeance. This movie is so awesome!! I loved it. Bruce Willis is great, I don't care what anybody else says. The action was great, and Kevin Smith's small role was funny, too. Finally, a sequel that blew me away...literally. Okay, Ocean's 13 was cool, but Die Hard 4.0 rocked!!! After that, I went to karaoke night at The Vault on Highland in good ol' Memphis, Tennessee. Shout out to Jamie and Niki and the rest of my karaoke friends that were there. Shout out to filmmaker Timm Scalita (Last Call Lovin, Moon Landing), who was celebrating his birthday, and shout out to filmmaker John Pickle (Pickle TV) and the rest of the filmmaking community that came out to help Timm celebrate. Shout out also to Sean from my favorite comic book store, Comics and Collectibles, who did his thing that night. Sean sang "I Believe In a Thing Called Love" from the Darkness. I sang "Around the Way Girl" by LL Cool J. Classic hip-hop, boys and girls. David and I teamed up for Gym Class Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold", and I also sang Jill Scott's "Long Walk". The crowd loved it. It was another awesome performance by King Indie. After that, I called it a night.

Monday:

I pretty much hung at home until about 5:30 PM. I headed out, went to Target and bought The Boondocks Season One on DVD (Sales are cool), and I headed over to Starbuck's for a meeting with local filmmkaer Nazeeh Majeed. Nazeeh is the cofounder of Pittstop Productions (http://www.pittstopproductions.com/), and he was inspired by a spoken word piece that I wrote called "Damn Love". We had a very productive meeting. I then went to the GameStop nearby and bought the movie Totally Awesome for the totally awesome price of $1.99. As you have probably guessed, the movie is a parody of 80s films. Saturday Night Live alum Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan are in it, and it was written by Neil Brennan, Dave Chappelle's writing partner on Chappelle's Show. After that, I headed home.

Tuesday:

I met Nazeeh around noon and I went to his home. I was a bit distracted, so this meeting was not as productive. From there, I ran some errands, and I saw Transformers. That movie freaking rocked!!!! I felt like I could die a happy man, seriously. After that, I went to a party at the home of Chris McCoy and Laura Hocking-McCoy, the founders of Oddly Buoyant Films (Automusick Can Do No Wrong, Eat). They were having a going-away party for actor Talbot Fields (Eat) and his wife. Talbot's day job is transferring him, so the whole family's moving to Knoxville. I came in all excited about Transformers, and I had to hear all the filmpeople's disgust for past Michael Bay movies, like Armageddon (which I loved), Pearl Harbor, and The Island. I'm sorry, but sometimes I need simple, butt-kicking, explosive films. I can appreciate Half Nelson and Spider-Man. It's a little thing I like to call balance. After that, I met up with Rod Pitts, Keenon Nikita, and his daughter Ashley, and I saw Transformers again.

Wednesday:

I got my hair cut early in the morning AND I purchased a bootleg copy of TI's album TI vs. T.I.P. I kinda like TI as a rapper, but he's still a bit too ignorant for me to buy at full price. After that, I went to Comics and Collectibles for their July 4 sale. Comics are cool!! After that, I went to the mall, then Spin Street I ran into this rapper who named Phantom Shino. It turns out that we have mutual friends in Memphis' hip-hop "scene" (Imagine that), and he is working on an album. Good luck, man, chase the dream.

After this, I went to a cookout at my friend Shomari Gant's house. His family was there, too. I played some Uno (greatest game ever) and watched Dreamgirls. Shout out to Paul "P-Dub" West, Will, Terra Hollis, "Angry" Nick Jones, Courtney Wright, her sister Layla, Jamaica, and some friends of Shomari's mom that helped me learn some dance moves. I learned the "Cupid Shuffle" and the "Walk It Out", I also did the "Cha Cha Slide". Shomari's cousin Jerrold showed us the "2-Step", "Superman", "Spiderman", and "The Heisman". Apparently, if you are in "Da Club", and you are talking to a cute female who has bad breath, you should pose like the Heisman trophy and keep her back, or "Do the Heisman on that ho". Yeah, I'm not concerned about the youth at all. The song was kinda funny, though. After all that fun, I headed home and chilled out.

Hopefully, Nazeeh and I will get our short film together. Also, I may be assisting Rod Pitts (http://www.pittstopproductions.com/) with his short, "The SCJ Project". Also, I may be assisting filmmaker Keenon Nikita (Just the Two of Us) with a project. I just want to keep moving. I have to succeed at this. I can't accept failure. Be easy, readers!!