Working from the home front this morning. Cutting a video (with another one in line shortly afterwards), a group meeting to compose scripts and then perhaps a very merry celebration of the Twisted Ankles bboy crew… but from the looks of the McFlurry goodness just outside my bedroom window, I might never leave this cozy home today…

I’ll post something later on today… for now, I’m cozying up to Lipe (my Macbook Pro), sippin’ on the good ol’ caffeine deliciousness, and letting Curtis Mayfield inspire some productivity…

Be easy, ya’ll. It is, after all, Friday… =)
I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.

FINALLY! FINALLY!!!!!! It is done. After three months of edits, re-edits, and waiting… it is liiiiiiiiiiiive.

If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll remember that I was in New York last November [click for post here] working on a video for Old Money. One, this song is RIDICULOUS. Produced by Fonda. Two, WE WAS IN NY SSSON. and Three, It was one of the illest experiences being in NYC working with these homies. A collaboration of the moving minds will happen in the near future again, no diggity doubt!

GRAHHHH!!!!

Here it is, it’s debut:

DJ MENSA EPK from Char Loro on Vimeo.

Tell me what you think!!

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.

My body is FREAKING OUT right now. I swear I will punch a baby. My heart feels like it’s an alien trapped in my chest trying to kick it’s way out. Someone get this girl some blue Powerade and get a hoover, put the nozzle on my armpit, and try to suck out the four cups of coffee I had today. Strap me to a chair and cover my face with a dirty sock. I DON’T CARE. If the two Beetles weren’t sound asleep in this household, I’m preettyy sure I’d be screaming every two seconds throwing post-its everywhere. I’ll squirt non-scented hand sanitizer in your eyeballs and let it burn. COME HERE. I’ll throw you down my two flights of narrow stairs and feed you to Billy the ‘Coon.

I FEEL SO CRAZY.

All thanks to Miss Lara Zapata, who thinks, “HEY, I’M JUST GOING TO MAKE EVERYONE SCRAMBLE LIKE MICE AND POST ON FACEBOOK THIS 2 FOR 1 DEAL AT AIRCANADA, ONLY UNTIL MIDNIGHT! FLY WITH ME FOR $272 ROUND TRIP!!”

… Umm, I’m sorry, WHAT?!?

… GEORGE CLINTON AND THE PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC…

APPARENTLY… They were in TOWN LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you know how hard it is to see my most favorite classic funk bands live in concert anymore?! People are getting old, retiring, passing away, breaking up, families… I’m lucky that IF they do concerts, a majority of them happen pretty close to me (New York, Detroit). I’m pretty giddy STILL that I was able to go two years ago to see the P-Funk, and Morris Day and the Time. I would love to see Fatback or Gap Band, you should even see their webite… NOT with the times at all, and tour dates are ancient! So that’s what I’m saying!! If George Clinton is still alive and his rainbow dreads are still groovin… I GOTTA BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the most insane moments in life. And by that, I don’t just mean the actual event was super crazy effing bombtastically NUTS… I was… not all there… Insane in the membrane. (Just a tidge.)

[CLUTCH is a free six-month arts-based program for young Filipina women to start a dialogue with each other, get mentorship from professional artists within the community, have access to professional tools to hone their creativity, define their identity, explore their cultural heritage, and tell their stories on their terms. CLUTCH aims to provide hands-on artistic and leadership development, through the exploration of cultural identity as the foundation for empowerment.]

“Inspired by the pre-colonial creation myth about a Filipina goddess, Alunsina is an exploration of cultural self-identity and an excavation of the mind manifested in various artistic forms. The works in this exhibit signify the resilience of the young Filipina and the tireless re-invention of her narrative. Alunsina is our creation story.”

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

World, let me introduce you to my newest and youngest child: Blue Daniel Caboto II. Also known as Blue. (Why the “II”? Blue Daniel Caboto the first was the name of my very first pet, a brilliant blue fighter fish. My brothers and I all chose one name and combined them. Thus, BDC.)

Blue is now the sixth edition to our family:  Beedjo (camera), Sisqo (camera), Ruben (blackberry), T.I. (camera), and Lipe (laptop.) Why do I have a weird obsession with personifying my gadgetry? … Who knows. All you need to know is that Blue is beautiful, compact, 14.1 megapixels, 1080i HD video, and can take wonderful panoramic photos.

I have been without a point-and-shoot digi for more than a year now and let me tell you, it has sucked immensely. For this on-the-go, on-the-fly, anywhere-and-everywhere kinda girl… I am in NEED of a handy piece of equipment that I can fit in my purse to document the crazy ins and outs of the life I live. I came to this realization today during a digital media conference I attended. Now THAT… is a whole other story. Perhaps I will write about it tomorrow, but for now, let the introduction continue:

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace!

If I were to take a picture of my face right now I’m pretty sure you’d want to place an entire turkey dinner in front of me. I am pale. My eyeballs are small. I have been sitting in front of this computer for hours hating my work and absolutely annoyed with small minor mistakes that could have been fixed the moment of… and then of course, how could I forget, this is when I broke that $1500 lens. And bawled my eyes out. And then caught the flu. And then puked 5 times throughout the night.  And have been sick/recuperating all week. And cancelled on 7 important meetings. And have accomplished 1/12 things on my to-do list during a very vital reading week. Are you tired of my complaining yet? Wanna feed me some cheese with my whine? Ah… but Doc says stay away from dairy! Makes me queasy!

I’ve been trying all week to not let the negativity of everything that’s happened this week get to me. I had been doing pretty good thus far. But today… like… right now, at this very moment... I just want to cry.

I’m not very happy right now.

On Saturday, February 13th, The Main Ingredient put together a Valentines Day jam dedicated to all the Bonitas across the city who’s been puttin’ dem on, knawwmeaannn?? If you’ve never attended a Main Ingredient jam before, you need to seriously get yourself in check. (And by that, I just mean, get yourself out of Entertainment District already. Aren’t you tired of drunk crying/puking couples who are constantly missing their pants? I’m glad I learned that fast in the legal game.)

The Main Ingredient has to be one of my most favorite parties here in Toronto, giving you that old school R&B, reggae, soul, and classic hip hop vibe. They bring in acts like the Foreign Exchange, 45 King, and other up and coming DJ’s to be celebrated, like most recently, Miss DJ Lissa Monet (2009 Stylus Female DJ of the Year). Resident DJ’s of the Main Ingredient include my beloved DJ Mensa, DJ Agile, and Sean Sax; hosted by none other than Mister Wan Luv. Mr. Jesse Ohtake, one of the main organizers of this party, saw my superb flyer handling skills (although I absolutely detest doing it, lol) during the Manifesto festival back in September. Jesse took it upon himself to involve me with the Main Ingredient fam in someway and some form. Plans are under way for the near future, so stay tuned for what’s in store!

Saturday was stupid fun. Wan’s birthday with the most delectable chocolate cake (c/o Miss Cheryl!), multiple dance circles, DJ Surreal Sound and DJ Ariel tearin’ up Stone Lounge just downstairs, ah so good! Prior to myself boogeying down, I was asked to film some of the party action so here are a few still shots to share:

Lots of mixtape action went down on the night of as well. Miss DJ Lissa Monet released her Loveletters & Brokenhearts mixtape [click for deets to download] that she did with DJ P-Plus which is currently playing on my itunes. (Love, love, insta-girlcrush love!) and DJ Surreal Sound released his Biscuits & Dumplings mixtape [click for deets to download]. A tribute to real R&B and lovers rock reggae. Still can’t get over the name! So good!

The next Main Ingredient is said to come this March. It’s gunna be a good time, uhhh huhhhh!

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.

My mom emailed me on Valentines day to ask me if I had any special plans. “How was your day? Date? For sure you had a wonderful one with someone special!” She’s so adorable it makes me want to puke. It’s quite funny though, I feel like I was asked that seven million times over the past weekend. Plans with someone significant? Mmm. Nope. Nobody checkin’ me/I’m checkin’ them? Mmm. Can’t say that I do/I am. And then I get the response of, “that’s so surprising.”

But… is it really? What are people really implying? They’re surprised nobody’s scooped up this little bundle of joy over here? Thiiisss guuuyyyy??!? Lol. I’ll skip the part where I flatter myself with all my most attractive and likable traits.

I’m honestly shrugging right now because I feel that it shouldn’t be a surprise that one in a disposition as myself can be single… and choose to be single… and be really happy being single. Perhaps my mom says those things from that standpoint that one, she is my mother, and two, she grew up with boys calling, boys hanging out at the house, or me having a boyfriend.

Is it really so surprising that a 21 year old independent woman trying to conquer the world would find herself… doin’ it up solo? I don’t think so. If anything, I feel like that makes the most sense.

I’m not looking for love. I’ll wait for it. The inciting incident has yet to arrive.
Until then, there is some chicken noodle soup waiting upstairs to soothe my poor flu-stricken frail body.

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.

Written in a letter Dec. 2008.

“I am a mess in my own life. I am a beautiful disaster. I don’t have it as together as I make it seem, but I’m also not falling apart. I’ve been through enough to know that it’s never as bad as it seems, but it’s never as good as we want it to be either. It just is what it is. The moment we stop putting labels, is the moment we are truly present to what is actually happening. It is the moment we can become fully alive to reality.”