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.