May 31, 2006

Guitar Hero Rocks, Man

Maybe I’m being self-indulgent, but I think some of you have wondered why I’ve been slack on posting lately. I would apologize, but I’m not sorry.

Since Monday, I’ve been addicted to a lil game called Guitar Hero. If you’re not hip to GH, get hip. It’s the greatest thing ever.

Basically, it’s like Dance Dance Revolution for the guitar. They give you a raft of pretty good songs, and you play them with a guitar that comes with the game. Costs $70, and it’s so worth it, especially if you were a kid that dreamed of playing the guitar like I was.

In fact, I played pretty well as a child. When I was 9, I accompanied my teacher at a show at Prairie View A&M’s Christmas show. I was so nervous that I made myself sick, but I made it through “The First Noel” without any hassles and got personally introduced to the crowd. Even with a splitting headache and a stomach doing backflips, I was extremely excited. One of the greatest days of my life.

Unfortunately, my teacher was later killed by his ex-girlfriend in a store parking lot. That was my first brush with tragic death, and it hits me hard now. Way harder than when it happened because I couldn’t grasp death then, but I understand more now than I wish I did.

(Random–ever look back on how you handled deaths as a child and regret that you couldn’t help the people close to you when those things happened? I had two grandparents die at ages when I couldn’t grasp the magnitude, and I still feel bad for that.)

But here’s the thing…does playing Guitar Hero make me like those DDR people? I would call those people lame, but Gary loves it and Gary’s not lame.

Cuz man, I’ll be in this piece killin that guitar. Killin it. It’s the most addictive game I’ve ever played, and the songs are largely fantastic.

One problem–not enough black people. They put a blues joing on there, but it’s from Stevie Ray Vaughan. Don’t get me wrong–he’s probably one of the five or ten greatest guitar players ever. But you gotta put more black people on here than Hendrix. That’s said and somewhat disrespectful.

May 30, 2006

Radio Tomorrow

Greetings, angry Caniacs!

Should you be interested, I’ll be on Raleigh’s 96 Rock tomorrow talking about the Canes and the piece that ran on Monday. I’ll be on the air around 7:15, so feel free to tune in if you want to place a voice with face and words.

Rest of ya–I have absolutely nothing to share today.

Wait, yes I do. Kobie asked why I haven’t “shit on Duke in a meaningful way” in the pieces I’ve written about the lacrosse situation. That has a pretty simple answer.

Go read the things I wrote and tell me where a randomly thrown opinion would fit in. If you can tell me where, I’d love to know. My job, before anything else, is to produce good work. There is nothing I’m so attached to that I will produce a substandard piece behind any agenda. Why not? Because if the work’s not good, you won’t read long enough to hear the opinion anyway.

If I’m commissioned to do something where a thorough discussion of race and class at Duke is warranted, I’ll do it. If it’s not, it’s not. My job is not to pepper you with opinions. It’s to bring you analysis. The trick to this job is to find significant angle that hasn’t been explored and bring light to that. After finding that point, I work to find ways to approach it. Only the approaches that are most effective are used. And no matter how passionately I feel about something, I will not put my personal desire to say something above producing a strong piece. Period.

Should that not be enough for anyone, I don’t know what to tell you.

Actually, I do. But I ain’t talking to nobody like that the day after a holiday. That would just be mean.

May 29, 2006

RADIO TODAY

Well, it seems this piece about the Caniacs has gotten more play than expected. I’ve been told many places to watch Canes games in Raleigh. However, I’ve also been warned a couple of times that I might not be safe at said places. Funny.

Anyway, I’ll be on Team 1040 in Vancouver talking about this piece at 4:40 EDT. Click, go and check it out if you get the chance.

Caniac mail call (!!!) coming soon.

May 26, 2006

10 Things That’ll Change When I Take Over the World

Business…check out this wild game hunt I had to go on to find the hockey fans ’round these parts.

(And forgive me for being ghost lately…been busy and all that stuff.)

Greetings from Itta Bena, Mississippi, the collegiate home of Jerry Rice, Willie Totten and Ashley Ambrose. I’m back in the Delta for my niece’s high school graduation. If you remember when I came down last year for my nephew’s graduation, then you know there will be a post on this on Monday.

So coming over here required a lot of flying. The good thing about that was it allowed me to get into the infamous Game of Shadows, and I’ll have more on that later. But the airport always has this way of reminding me of how inconsiderate other people can be. People frequently do things on planes they ain’t got no business doing. Just too much of it.

What are those things? They are sprinkled on this list of things that are gonna change when I take over the world. Emperor Baba’s got a lot in mind, lemme tell ya.

No small children on airplanes. That’s right. If you can’t get the lil sucker where he needs to go in a car, then you’re SOL. I should not spend three hours listening to your kid scream just because you want your parents to see him. Send Granny and Grampa tickets and tell ‘em to come to your house. But when that lil joker decides he wants to cry and kick the seat in front of him and throw stuff, your lil joker becomes our problem. And i ain’t got the time for it. Shut it down. Shut it shut it down.

All questions in academic settings must be submitted a day in advance. I love people. I really do. But I’ll never forget this time in college when my class was discussing the legacies of DuBois and Booker T. One side of the argument said that Booker T. was a realist that understood the limited areas where blacks could advance academically and couched his platform from there. Others said that Booker T’s focus of vocation reinforced notions of inferiority among black folks.

Up popped this one girl.

“Well, if the black people felt inferior, couldn’t they just for support groups to talk about their problems?”

Only thing funnier than that was when she had some perspective on why Maya Angelou didn’t participate in the Harlem Renaissance that didn’t involve the fact that Angelou wasn’t born until 1928.

To prevent this, questions must be screened. This way, I don’t laugh in people’s faces.

Everyone will have wireless in their homes. Being tethered to my daddy’s computer? Not the heat. At all. And while we’re on it…

Every PC user must have Firefox. IE’s droppin like a brick, baby. I need those tabs.

Cashiers are required to say one word per transaction. No more of this shit where I go to the drive-thru and the folk at the window just look at you. Don’t give you a total or nothing. Just a stare and an extended arm displaying a cheaply done tattoo on the forearm, which I’m beginning to think is a prerequisite for food service in black neighborhoods. Either way, at least mumble a “hello” or something. Where I’m from, we get nervous when people look at us and don’t say anything. And where am I from? Earth. That’s where.

Day minutes and night minutes will all be the same. The phone companies have been jobbing on this for decades. Straight hustle. The strange part–that day minutes are verboten actually makes us want to use them more. Really, aren’t you at work?

All unattractive people will be required by law to have sweet dispositions. Sorry, but I don’t know where ugly people get off having bad attitudes. I mean, they’re entitled…but there’s no way in the world I’m gonna take the time to find out the goodness in your soul if I can’t stand to look at or listen to you.

Chappelle’s Show will be back on the air per my mandate. Hey Dave, you’re worried about how white people responded to the show and that’s why you stopped recording episodes? We’ve got ways around that. If this is what it takes to get you back on the air, Emperor Baba will make it illegal for white people to watch Chappelle’s Show, kinda like it was illegal for slaves to read. Why? Because without that show, I realized that all I watch on television is Law and Order and sports. I need some chuckles in my life, and I’ll do what I gotta do to get ‘em.

Duke would go 35-4 in basketball every year. I take general pleasure when Duke loses to anyone because, well, I’m a good human being. Good people don’t like Duke. However, there’s a particular satisfaction that comes from beating Duke while they’re trouncing everyone else. So yeah, I think I’d be much happier if Duke beat everyone…but lost to Carolina at Cameron, in the Dean Dome, at the ACC Tourney, and somewhere along the way toward the NCAA championship.

(Okay, I’m lying. I hope they lose every game they play. There, I said it. You happy now?)

I’d make it much easier to come up with an artist to do a top 25 list for. Been really slacking on that lately. I did a couple lists before and realized that I just didn’t have the knowledge base to the the things properly. That being said, I’m surely doing something music related next week. Just what? Not sure. Maybe 25 Dr. Dre classics.

May 23, 2006

Olbermann says Bomani’s Piece Was “Ridiculous”

So I was sitting here yesterday working on a piece I want to run this week when I got a text from Big Rell.

“Olbermann just talked about your Ruth/Bonds column on ESPN Radio.”

That was a shocker. I wrote that weeks ago. You can’t even get to it now without an Insider subscription.

Anyway, I asked Rell on the computer what Olbermann said. Turns out he didn’t mention my name, but he did say the idea that Ruth’s records are are illegimate as Bonds’ was “ridiculous.”

That was interesting. I actually got more of a kick out of the fact that he disagreed than if he had. When folks remember the things they disagree with, you’ve really hit them. I can dig that.

But is that premise really ridiculous, that Bonds and Ruth’s records should be viewed with equal skepticism? I don’t see how.

What Olbermann seemed to miss in that piece was my belief that the culprit in this steroids stuff is baseball. Bonds may have cheated according to commonly held notions of fairness, but he wasn’t breaking baseball rules by using steroids before 2004. They weren’t illegal at the time. So there’s really no knock there on Bonds.

It’s not his fault that the players’ union never allowed ‘roid testing.

And in the case of segregation, the culprit was baseball. Segregation was cheating according to commonly held notions of fairness, but it was the law of the land of baseball. Judge Landis and the boys kept the momentum going on the color barrier.

It’s not Ruth’s fault that blacks weren’t allowed to play.

What people haven’t considered is why steroids should have been illegal. We know that steroids have adverse health effects. And you don’t want a league where players have to endanger themselves to compete at the highest level. The problem with them is more than just performance enhancement. The regulations have to be in place to protect players from having to go to unreasonable lengths to succeed.

If you believe Jeff Pearlman’s Love Me, Hate Me–which is only my shelf but still unread by me–then you believe that Bonds started using steroids because McGwire and Sosa passed him using drugs and it killed Bonds inside to see that. So while he’s painted as the villain of this era of steroids, he could just as equally be painted as the reason why steroid testing was so necessary.

But even with that in mind, his numbers will be–and should be–viewed with a bit of skepticism. Claiming steroids were legal doesn’t change that baseball was full of funny business for a long time. That’s baseball’s fault, but that doesn’t mean the business wasn’t a little funny.

At the same time, Ruth’s records should be viewed skeptically. Not just that he was #1 when it’s possible that Josh Gibson was every bit the hitter he was, but exactly how many of his 714 home runs would have still been hit had there been tougher, deeper competition. That’s baseball’s fault, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t funny business going on.

So would someone please tell me what’s ridiculous about that? And if all you’ve got is “Ruth didn’t cheat and Bonds did,” you’re not just working on a technicality. You’re working on a fallacious technicality. Remember–steroids weren’t illegal until after the 2003 season.

Sorry Keith, but I don’t see what you’re talking about on this one. If you see what Keith was talking about, just let me know. He may be right, but someone’s going to have to explain it to me.

May 19, 2006

25–The Team

Business…check this admission that Nike has won control over my basketball mind.

Moving on, I was gonna do a list of 25 slept-on cities today. I might still do that later since it’s such a public service. I mean, I don’t want anybody talkin’ too much noise in Port Arthur, Miami, or Newport News without knowing that the boys in said places don’t play no games. But that’s for later.

Today, I’m going through the numbers and naming one of my favorite players ever that wore a given number. Call this a dream team of sorts. The number I choose for each player will be from a cat’s most noteworthy stop. So if he made this list, I’d use Roger Clemens’ Red Sox 21 instead of his Astros 22.

1. Ozzie Smith, St. Louis Cardinals. Young folks–you haven’t seen defense until you’ve see Ozzie play shortstop. The most amazing thing I saw from him was a feature he did with ESPN where he would throw the ball from short to first without looking, but still hit the middle of the glove every time. Unfair.

2. Charles Woodson, Michigan. I wasn’t really the biggest Woodson fan, but him winning the Heisman over Peyton Manning in ‘97 made me smile. I like Peyton more than I used to, but it was impossible to tolerate him while living in Atlanta.

3. Dale Murphy. Childhood hero. If you were a Braves fan during the ’80s, Murph was ’bout the only reason for happiness.

4. Chris Webber, Michigan. In spite of all his shortcomings, he still gets this spot. Before that timeout, he was the coolest dude I’d ever seen play college basketball. Now? Let’s talk about something else.

5. Reggie Bush, USC. Most exciting college football player I’ve ever seen. I can only do this because USC lost the Rose Bowl, though.

6. Avery Johnson, pick-a-team. Because of family ties, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for the arrogant bastards at Southern University. Plus, I don’t know how you can’t have a serious respect for all that Avery’s pulled off.

7. Michael Vick, Virginia Tech. I love Vick the Falcon, but the ‘99 Sugar Bowl remains one of the most incredible one-man performances I’ve ever seen, even though the Hokies lost.

8. Steve Young, 49ers. If you’re willing to run a play without a helmet, the least I can do is put you on this list.

9. Terry Pendleton, Braves. 1991 NL MVP!!! Did I mention I’m a huge Braves fan?

10. Vincent Young, Texas. Vick in the Sugar Bowl was one of the best one-man performances I’d ever seen. Vince in the Rose Bowl might be the greatest one-man performance in college football history.

11. Isiah Thomas, Pistons. I actually don’t like Zeke that much as a person, but I absolutely love his game.

12. Joe Namath, New York Jets. Super Bowl III was okay. But those clips of Joe on the sidelines in that white fur coat? That’s ’bout as cool as it gets.

13. Wilt Chamberlain. Thought about Dan Marino, but nope. I’ll take the Dipper.

14.

15. Tommie Frazier. Favorite college quarterback ever.

16. Bo Jackson, Royals. When you’re a kid and your name is Bo, it’s not hard to find a favorite player. It just so happened that Bo was just gross.

17. Charlie Ward, Florida State. Coincidentally, he’s a bit of a family friend. Even if he weren’t, he’d be one of the illest. Honorable mention–Doug Williams.

18. Randy Moss, Raiders. He’s an absolute moron. One of this new breed that’s too stupid to lie. But goodness, he’s one of the few players I want to see play every game, no matter the opponent.

19. You tell me. Can’t think of anyone, but I ain’t listin Keyshawn. I’m just not.

20. Barry Sanders, Lions. I would prefer to list is Oklahoma State 21, but that number’s taken. Unfair, Barry was.

21. Dominique Wilkins, Hawks. I’ve been star-struck twice in my life. The first was when I saw Chuck D. hangin’ at Lenox. The other was seeing ‘Nique in the same place, walking through the mall and being mobbed like he was the king of the city. That’s because he is the king of Atlanta.

22. Clyde Drexler, Blazers. You know you’re the Man when you can’t dribble with your head up but people still can’t stop you.

23. LeBron James, Cavaliers. Sorry, Mike. You’ve been trumped. If Jordan hadn’t said that ridiculous “Republicans buy shoes, too” line, he might have gotten to keep his place.

**Note–that link’s just to provide citation for that Jordan quote. The rest of it, I’m not endorsing.**

24. Ken Griffey, Jr., Mariners. Not sure anyone’s made something as hard as playing baseball look so damn easy.

25. Barry Bonds, Giants. Greatest baseball player of this generation. Period.

May 17, 2006

New Pieces

Business…today’s BSN piece is on the most pathetic man alive, Orenthal James Simpson.

Yesterday, I had something on Page 2 about another pathetic man, the one that sued the Angels for discriminating against men last Mother’s Day.

Maybe something later. Got a few things to get handled today.

May 15, 2006

Oprah Gets a Bad Rap

First, let me start by apologizing for the harsh tone of the last post. I don’t think any of you are dumb, stupid or illiterate. I do think a few people had lots to say without reading, which is particularly frustrating for someone in my line of work. But Kobie hit me with something I hit him with months ago–never write something you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

And I probably wouldn’t say that stuff to the faces of those I directed those lines toward. Not because I’d be scared to, but because I don’t know you. People that know me, I would have dropped those lines on in a heartbeat. Strangers? They don’t know that’s how I roll.

But if you thought I was praising No Limit, I can’t help but wonder what post you read.

Moving on, I see that Oprah went on Ed Lover’s radio show to talk about the perception that she hates hip hop.

I don’t see why it would be such a big deal if she hated hip hop. I have no qualm with a woman saying that she’s tired of hearing the language and imagery in rap music. If a homosexual man said the same thing, I wouldn’t bat an eye. No rational person would argue that hip hop is not littered with abusive language and imagery toward women (and gays, for that matter). So as a woman who has focused much of her work on improving women’s self-esteem, she’s got a very valid point.

The counterargument is that rap is no more misogynistic than society, and there’s some credence in that. But really, that doesn’t matter. If Oprah doesn’t wanna hear the word “bitch” over and over again, I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t listen to white folks call me a “nigger” and then say, “America’s racist! Why you singling me out?”

There are questions to be raised about why rappers get singled out. But that doesn’t mean that rappers aren’t wrong when they go the misogynist route.

On the other hand, I agree that she was foul for editing out Luda’s comments when he went on the show with the cast of “Crash.” It was also wrong to put “Crash” forth as some piece of intriguing social commentary, but that’s another post. I also can understand why Luda found it inappropriate for Oprah to use that opportunity to talk about his music. But if I had a talk show and Axl Rose was on it, you better believe I’d ask him about “One in a Million.”

But where Luda’s wrong is in asking how Oprah could have Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle on and not treat them the same way since they use the same language. They do, but I don’t think anyone would argue they do so with the same connotations. The language isn’t the full problem. The meaning behind it is what’s far more problematic. Just the same, I think Eddie Murphy’s old routines are far worse than anything Ludacris does.

Long of the short–Oprah’s right. Cats may not wanna admit it, but that’s undeniable. At some point in the near future, we’ve got to fix those things and increase the level of humanity in rap music. But to do that, those of us that hold the music near and dear to our hearts–and publish magazines about that music–need to take some accountability for what we’ve got going.

I’ll admit I ain’t no better than most people. I listen to the stuff, quote it, and appreciate the artistry in it. And like rappers, I argue that the art is a mirror of society. But those folks holding that mirror are more than welcome to fix their acts themselves. No need to wait for the masses to follow us.

May 13, 2006

Arie, Pt. II–For the People that Don’t/Can’t Read

I view this site largely as a community. And in a community, I prefer to have some manners and respect for people. Those manners and respect typically preclude me from overtly saying that people are stupid.

But a few of you are really testing me.

As Stephanie points out, being “positive” isn’t enough to make a good record, nor is “negative” enough to make a bad one. Before doing anything else, music should be entertaining and interesting. Whatever message that someone chooses to drop within that music is cool, but I don’t give a damn what it is if it isn’t entertaining. To me, India.Arie isn’t entertaining. And from the looks of it, she’s not that entertaining to her defenders, either.

Where many of you seem to stray is by assuming I blasted her message. In fact, I did not. Quoting me…

I guess I understand that women are forced to deal with so many negative images of themselves that there’s some measure of empowerment that comes from someone blatantly rejecting that stuff.

Is that blasting her message? I don’t think it is.

But I went further and challenged you to do more.

So without talking about the positive qualities of her music, could someone please tell me what there is about India.Arie that deserves anyone’s attention?

And interestingly enough, only a couple of people could do that. Thanks, Rex.

I don’t feel one way or another about what Arie’s out there trying to do. I think her message of self-love is good, even though that “queen” bullshit is just too much for me. So let’s say that all us dudes are “kings.” Somebody in Nubia had to take out the trash, yanno? If it was just a bunch of kings, then that would be like a King Family Reunion.

Have you ever been to a family reunion for the King family? If you have, you know that shit don’t look like a gathering at the kingdom of Kush.

Anyway, I’m okay with her message. In fact, I’m okay with pretty much any message people put out there so long as it’s done in an interesting manner. Compelling would be nice, but I’ll take interesting and entertaining. On this site, I’ve publicly mentioned my personal attempts to curb the destructive images I consume. However, I will not replace those images with boring stuff because its “positive.” The following people figured out how to make positive stuff while still being entertaining.

Stevie Wonder
Bob Marley
Aretha Franklin
Sly and the Family Stone
Public Enemy
Living Colour
Lauryn Hill
The Beatles
Neil Young
Queen Latifah
Kanye West
Jill Scott

And I listen to all of them fairly religiously (except Latifah, who I dig but don’t love). But not because they’re so positive. I listen because they’re music is good. If I want to consume something primarily to educate me and enlighten me, I’ll go read a damn book. Entertain me first. That’s something Aaron McGruder dropped on me in an interview, and it has stuck with me. If an artist is not entertaining, he or she is useless.

If I were pooh-poohing Arie’s message, then I would have been one of the first people to champion Jill Scott when she dropped in 2001. While folks were barely hearing about her, I was talking to her backstage with my man Cory Brown trying to figure out ways to get her music to more people and to spread the word. Why did I do that? Because her music is great! Her methods of presentation are unique, her voice is incredible, and she can sing her ass off. But if the music wasn’t great, I wouldn’t try to listen to her a second time. That’s not a rejection of the message. That’s a rejection of the music.

My man Kobie went so far as to call me a chauvanist for this view I have. This is a months after he sent me an e-mail essentially calling me an Uncle Tom. Clearly, he came around on that one so I have faith he can come around on this one. When did not liking someone’s music make someone a chauvanist? If I’m a chauvanist, tell me why I’m into Jill Scott so much (even though her second album was booooooooring). Thanks.

Others of you have asked how I could criticize Arie and then praise No Limit. Anyone that asked that, quite frankly, is either illiterate or just doesn’t read close. The entire No Limit post is littered with digs at the label. In fact, I couldn’t even finish teh whole damn list. That’s praise? What are you talking about? No Limit was historically significant, and all of you know what a buff I am for music history. You also know that most of you had never heard half of the songs I listed, and you know I like to list things that people might be interested in learning something about. None of that qualifies as praise. The responses sound like a bunch of people that just didn’t read. And my very good friend alldaydre who left that post just to sound crazy and pick on me, and a couple of you were dumb enough to ride along with him (and I know he feels that way because we talked on the phone about it last night).

I was hoping that more people would get the underlying point of the Arie post, and it seems most of you didn’t. Every day, I hear somebody complaining about how music isn’t creative anymore and how people just find a theme and talk about it over and over again and how bored they are.

But then those same people love India.Arie, who does the exact same thing!

If you’re going to say the problem in this is a lack of creativity, be real with yourself. It’s just like those underground hip hop fans who claim to be so enlightened because of the music they claim to like, even though they’re sheep to beats like everyone else. You know those folks–the ones that claim to be so positive but listen to MOP three times a day.

And I don’t knock you for listening to MOP or India.Arie. I personally wondered if there was something about Arie beyond the “positive” schtick that would make her compelling. And for all this “you have to be a black woman to understand” noise half of you talked, only a white man in Hawaii offered something other than “she makes me feel good.”

I appreciate those that said she made them feel good, because that illuminated something I alluded to in that post but didn’t fully flesh out. If anyone needs an indication of how hard it is out there for black women, it seems you just need to peep the success of India.Arie. After being battered and bruised by people and the media for centuries, all it takes is something saying “love yourself” to make many black women happy. That’s all it takes. And it’s not because the message is unique or profound. It’s just because someone’s actually saying it instead of saying things that are obviously harmful and heartless.

And if all it takes is someone saying something nice to you to pull you in, we’ve got serious problems. The sad part–I don’t blame folks for jumping on her for that reason. It’s just a damn shame we live in a world where people will willingly embrace someone as boring and pedantic as India.Arie simply because she exists.

May 12, 2006

A Few Magnificent Technological Innovations of My Lifetime

To aide my workout kick, I’m eating more fish now. It’s high in protein, and that’s good for building muscle. With that in mind, I’ve started eating a piece of fish with breakfast. Catfish and grits sounds country to some, but it sounds like good eatin’ to me.

The other day, Kroger had catfish and salmon on sale, so I loaded up on each. I know what to do to season catfish, but I didn’t know anything about salmon. I knew my buddy Clarence cooks salmon, so I asked him what he seasons the pink fish with. He told me what he does, and then he told me what he does when he cooks salmon in a pan.

And that made me think–when’s the last time I cooked meat in a pan? Outside of browning ground beef or turkey to do spaghetti or something, I have no idea the last time I put a piece of meat in a skillet.

Why not? You know why not–the George Foreman grill, one of the greatest innovations of my lifetime.

So that got me thinking of innovations, large and small, that have come around in my lifetime. Here’s 13 of them. Too busy today to do 25, so feel free to help me out with twelve more.

The George Foreman Grill. With the Foreman and another entry on this list, it’s possible to do a full, healthy and tasty meal in about ten minutes with little to no effort. Think of how much time you have to spend hovering over meat just looking for the moment when you have to flip it over. What a waste, man. I’d rather be watching TV while waiting to hear that beep from the Foreman saying the food’s done. The other beep I wait to hear from in the kitchen is from…

The Microwave. It can bake potatoes in eight minutes per. It can turn last night’s dinner into tonight’s nourishment. And I honestly have no idea what people did before it. A couple Christmases ago, the microwave at my parents’ house broke. I really had no idea how to heat up anything. I would have starved in that house had no one been able to tell me how you heat up turkey or dressing with old school kitchen appliances.

Cleaning Wipes. Maybe I’m just lazy, but I really dig the convenience of opening a package of wipes and cleaning my kitchen, furniture, or bathroom. I wonder why it took so long for them to get hip to this one, though. Baby wipes have been around forever.

The .mp3. I’m sure the record label’s not to fond of this one, but I’m a big fan. The .mp3–and the ease of its distribution–might be the only reason I have the career I have. Napster and friends gave me the grounding in all types of music from all eras that I used as a music critic to provide somewhat unique analyses. Plus, I got to jam a bunch of great shit.

The CD. Before the .mp3, we had CDs. Digital sound, small package, and the ability to jump from track to track. Small problem–one could argue that the ability to easily get to a song made strong, continuous albums less important. After the album boom of the ’70s, we saw that wind back toward the old single model. Why? Maybe because the CD turned every song on an album into a single.

Hybrid Automobiles. I don’t have one, but it’s amazing to me that they make hybrids now that run like regular cars. It was also a great hustle for the carmakers. Think about it–it’ll take a while for someone to make up for the higher cost of a hybrid in gasoline savings. So instead of that money going to gas stations, they go to carmakers. Very wise move.

Really good stereo cables. The other day, I upgraded all of my cables in my entertainment center. If you’re using the red/white/yellow joints that come with your electronics, go to Best Buy and take care of that. Cheap cables simulate sound according to the limited sounds it can create. Optical, digital coax and other nice cables do a much better job of streaming sound as it actually sounds. So don’t scoff when you see the high prices on cables. They’re actually doing good things for you.

The wireless router. More on computer stuff later, but the router actually makes laptops worth the added expense. If you’ve got to stay tethered to a desk, than the laptop’s only real advantage is portability between locations. With the router, you’ve got portability within locations. That’s crucial.

The 808. The bestest sound ever.

The Internet. This is just as important as the printing press. Both greatly decreased information costs, allowing pretty much anyone to research easily to find out what’s up on a range of issues. It allows for instant cross-referencing. And oh yeah, good looking women are always one click away. And I didn’t even get into YouTube!

ScotchGard. Cuz I’m just a junky mother sucker.

Please add more. And if you haven’t already, check the India.Arie post below. It’s been interesting.