Summer Movies

Nothing says it's summer quite like the movies - summer movies. The other night I was up late/early(1:30 a.m.) and couldn't help but watch (again, but) to the end - Summer Catch with Freddie Prince Jnr and Jessica Biel.

Click here to read Wiki's plot summary.

It took me back to the days when I spent the whole school year waiting for the freedom of summer to come back. The days when I had no big exams on the horizon. Days when I could spend couple days out of the week on a beach in Negril or Bluefields. Travel the countryside hither and thither with my Dad meeting new friends and reconnecting with old. Watch all those summer movies - all day and night: My Girl, Rags to Riches, Problem Child, Grease, Cry Baby, reruns of all my favourite teen-angst series. Morning reruns of 227 and The Jeffersons. Daytimes with music videos on BET, MTV's Summer Beachhouse and Beach Karaoke. Everything with kids happy, shopping, fun and boy crazy. Britney Spears, Missy, Timberland, Puff Daddy and Mase. Ahhh the days when the light bill didn't matter, neither did the price of gas, and fast food did not make me fat. The days when "I can't cook" was ok and didn't leave me starving.

Kingston Art is Happening

Still running is the Kingston On the Edge Art Festival. Lots of things to see, do and enjoy.

On tonight:

Final Year Show

Edna Manley College

1 Arthur Wint Drive

Admission: FREE

Dance On The Edge

Philip Sherlock Centre, UWI

8pm -10pm

Neila Ebanks, Stephanie Belnavis, Kerry-Ann Henry, Maria Hitchins, Dancers of Jamaica, Michael Holgate, Sodanne Professional Moves and Shady Squad.

Contribution: $500

Go on out and get inspired.

Writers' Block

(Via Oh Hello Friend)

Recently, a poet told me of a battle with what seems like a bad case of writers' block that has been running several months now. For a writer serious about your craft, this - I believe - is the ultimate torture.


It can be frustrating having a story inside of you that is trapped and wrestling to get out, but that just stops short when you lift your pen. Earlier this year, February to be exact, I had that problem. Determined to be a starving artist than to peddle my work, I set them aside in storage. So I went about my other passions. In fact, I went to a book launch (A Permanent Freedom by Curdella Forbes) and believe it or not, I fell beneath the drum of a drummer boy. Trust me, the melodious energy he hammered out of his hands left me sooooooo inspired. I had never experienced drumming like that. Better yet, I never really paid attention to the art of drumming before.


Point is, sometimes a story makes you restless but may not be mature enough to make its way to the page. Sometimes we may need to distance ourselves from the passion which fires up our writing. And then, sometimes we need to broaden our experiences and allow these to influence our sensibilities from which we write. Don't be afraid to feed off the energy of other artists and artforms. And that is why I have included again the picture above - so inspiring.

Wish List

The manager of human resources where I work has as her mantra: "What gets measured, gets done." I think there is some sense to it, but I also believe sometimes 'what gets measured may get dropped', but nonetheless, I admire her optimism - that's the way to go!

I have been travelling to various places on book pages and I have now decided that I am going to stir into some activity and try to actually see the places I've been dreaming about. I'm making my list and working to the cost. It seems that to get the reality I want starts with making that first mark on the blank page. Of course when I head off to a book store, I usually have some idea (vague or bold) of the some books I'd like to find, but then when I get there, I find so much more than I had bargained for. So, for a start - here goes:

Ride the Eurostar from London to Paris; Walk through the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican City, Rome; A bystander at the Cannes Film Festival; Jules Verne restaurant, Eiffel Tower, Paris; View the palaces in Versailles; Touch down on Dubrovnik; Live in New York City for a year; Somewhere in Germany; Somewhere in Holland; Gondola ride in Venice; Albarracin, Spain; Backpack across somewhere in Europe; Prague; The Louvre; Russia; Sweden; Greece;

Watch me add and do please, help me to add, if you wish.

Kingston On The Edge

This weekend plenty of activities will be held in keeping with the Kingston on the Edge Arts Festival which runs from today, June 20- Saturday, June 28. Every line up is looking really good. And the best part is that many are for FREE, my favourite word. Click on the detailed listing below and see which best suits your tastes.

(Via ArtJamaica)

Pineapple Watermelon

So you have been asking and I went digging about to get some info on this yellow-looking watermelon. I actually went back to the vendor (he has less of a crowd these days since he no longer has this watermelon variety) and he says this is a hybrid watermelon.

Still not satisfied with such a shallow explanation, I got in touch with one field officer at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), St. Elizabeth who had a more satisfying explanation. According to him, this 'yellow'-looking watermelon is in fact a hybrid/genetically modified watermelon called Pineapple Melon because of its sunny yellow colour.

They are grown in the main melon-growing area in Jamaica - Flagaman/Pedro Plains in the parish of St.Elizabeth. They are not cultivated on a large scale, often to satisfy the fascination of hoteliers and their guests and some leading supermarkets. With a glut now on the melon market, the vendor probably found himself with a couple. Anyone interested in growing a few of these Pineapple Melons may obtain seeds from farm stores in the Flagaman/Pedro Plains area, Jamaica Livestock Association or Carib-Gro Agro & Garn Supplies.

I hope this fills the curiosity. It has for me.

On being 27

(Via Oh Hello Friend)

At ages 16, 18 and 21, I tried desperately to find the special somethings about being that age, but didn't. Then after I crossed the 25 line, I felt like a dinosaur going downhill. So up until April, I had spent the last two years answering the question: 'How old are you?' by saying 'I'm 25+'.

Then I turned 27 and believe me, I suddenly feel alive, free and adult. Twenty-seven positively feels like the best time in my whole life. I've been serenely ecstatic even to the point of having the impulse to get something to mark it, something chosen by me. So, I went out and got two new ear piercings. My first piercing was done by my mother when I was all of two months old, so I had long forgotten about how these things feel and now have a ridiculous fear of pointed edges -needles, ear piercing guns, etc.

Needless to say, four gunshots through my flesh was terrifyingly-painful sweet. A trillion thanks to Elizabeth Ramesar who supported the cause, warmed my cold feet and kept company on terror's threshold. I now have a total of three piercings, one to mark the total decades I've lived less three years. [(30-3=27)I'm not the sort to sit through 27 x 2 shots.] At this point, I believe things will only get better; in fact, the best is yet to come.

p.s.
I'm still trying to get a good pic of the piercings taken.

Summer Fruits

Since it's always summer here on the Rock, it is not something extraordinarily special (unless you're a student). Except, that it brings the widest variety of fruits at their cheapest: jackfruit, pineapples, melons and of course, mangoes! But of all the melons I have seen in my lifetime, I had never before come across this; and due to crowd fascination, I could only get one pound to try out, not the chance to ask the local name.

Last Sunday in Bookends

This came to me 1:30 one morning, right as I was riding the bus of a dream. I grabbed the scrap paper and pen at my head, and used my cell phone for lighting and then...

Chalkboard Dreams

My bedroom door is an ordinary ply, but of late I've had a serious urge for a chalkboard conversion to stream lines to a poem that have been swimming around inside me for more than a couple of days now. Right about now, the simple page of even my favourite notebook just will not suffice. I'm craving wide open surfaces on which to plot big letters, words and those somethings else that also need to get out. Lest I become feverishly frustrated, I went picture shopping on flickr and found some neat ideas I'm saving for future use in my dream loft.

I'm particularly loving this first one up. THIS is how I feel ... like writing from ceiling, wall to floor.


Chalkboard gorgeous and a neat door idea.

... and then, magic happens...

Own the look...

I'm also loving these looks from Forever21. Personally, I prefer more length on dresses but I LOVE how the subjects own the look of these über formal dresses with the most unlikely pairings - denim jacket and khaki vest.

Casual Chic

Janina Top .... Love. Love those shorts and that necklace ... all from the twenty8twelve collection at Bluefly. See ... short shorts can be classy. Take me shopping, pleaseeeeeeee.

Readers Bookshop

I'm glad the day I discovered Readers Bookshop - a little used and new books bookshop tucked neatly inside the Liguanea Plaza, Kingston. Housing a wall of tightly stacked books, this used books bookstore allows you the freedom to experiment with new genres, authors and styles at less than half the price. Trade in your already-read novels for a discount off your choices. Trade them in again when you're through reading or when you're simply ready to part with possessing them, and get a further but smaller discount off your next selections. These have been some of my finds: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Girl With The Pearl Earring, The Kite Runner and Midnight's Children, The Sound of Blue, Breadfruit, Promise Me and many others. Since the local parish libraries aren't exactly the places you can rely on to get those novels you've heard of and have grown anxious to read and with books now attracting a tax, Readers Bookshop is really a good trade off.

Summer Memories

Summer 'o6 was my best ever. I was lucky enough to fly into Maine experience my first camping trip, wallpaper a bathroom for the first time and attend the first ever bonfire held just for me. A lot of firsts - I know, Maine sure makes me sentimantal, as do its charming memorabilia. My favourite store was The Smiling Cow in Camden. I decided to make a virtual stop by and found these charming charms. The humour, sentiment, lobsters, and scents ... they all say, come back, come back!

Making Modern

Goodbye traditional. Goodbye cute. Goodbye figurines. I've long fallen in love with the clean, modern lines and geometrics of these ceramics.

Penny Wise

These aren't exactly pennies. We don't have that sort here on the Rock. They are actually $10 and $5 coins. And let me hasten to add that the idea of saving in a bottle at home appeals to me only because money happens to look good against glass. Agreed?

The World's Iriest Fashion Week in the Trendiest Island City - Kingston!

Just when I was beginning to worry that boutique sales would crush custom creativity, events like Fashion Block comes up, takes over Knutsford Boulevard and restores the confidence and relevance of locally designed and made fashions.

Fashion block is an annual fashion show which takes place in New Kingston, showcasing the collections of local designers on the longest catwalk in the region. The fashion show on this catwalk of all of 120ft running down the backbone of the boulevard's dual carriageway marks the climax of a Saint International-created Style week Jamaica. The event's biggest achievement is making the designs accessible to simple, common people of the streets in the streets - no discriminations, no cover charge or entry fees. It also affords design enthusiasts, dressmakers and tailors with that high fashion sense, edge and plenty of unique creativity the possibility of sharing the platform with other big names as Dexter Pottinger, Les Campbell and Yola Grey. Out of this has come names as Pablo Palair and White Skky who have used the opportunity to spread the respect and acclaim they enjoy on the ground in the dancehall into the mainstream.

This year's collection I loved the most were that of White Skky, Pablo Palair, Dexter Pottinger and of course, the very fierce HOD (Head Of Department). The unapologetic swagger of White Skky was a dancehall hit revealing sharp interpretations, all a celebration of white. The designer who is known for styling the likes of the King of the Dancehall - Doctor Beenieman also welcomed the artiste on the catwalk as one of his models. Designs from HOD included accessories of javelins and clubs. He also put a fierce twist on the headscarf reminicent of retro days of the 50's and 60's, khimar - the muslim headgear, veils and at times even the guillotine. Little wonder then that the 21-year-old designer's entire collection was bought by a fashion house in Paris and is due out next spring.

Of course no Fashion Block could have been complete without music and a concert of some sort. New artiste Chino decked out in a striking Les Campbell belted out some of my favourites: Protected and Never Change. And wherever there is Chino, there is rising star Laden who served up Ina Life with just the right level of hype. The dancers on the ground did their moves and there was even a chorus carrying the tune of Britney Spear's Circus, hmmm. Fashionistas were also on hand. But the real fashionistas stood straight in their stilletos and platforms for the whole 3 hours.

Weekend Finds

What should have been a slow, quiet day of sleeping on the beach - in between a few rounds of dominoes - turned into a weekend of running around town, making two very good finds.

I recently thought it would be nice to collect in one special place those sweet lines that have tickled my fancy, altered my perspective and inspired me in one way and others. Just some little treasures I find in songs, in an email, or read in a novel or poem. So while my collection had begun, I still hadn't found a notebook special enough to save them. Part of that was perhaps because I had certain specifications for the book I wanted: size -18.5cmx13cm, unruled paper, textured hard cover. I had even contacted a finehand bindery to have one custom-made, that did not get very far. Then it appeared, when I least expected.

Lying beneath is a cross-section of two squares of decorative paper I also found in the Liguanea Drug and Garden Centre. I love the sense of nostalgia captured in the designs. It reminds me of that special romantic charm of old handwritten letters from vintage times, written in French and rich in sentiment. There is a fair variety and the squares retail at a mere JMD$50 (-USD$1). Thinking on them gets me loving this Monday.

Now to get the perfect pen. I was hoping for a black Pilot but none of the places I've been into lately seem to have this brand -at all.