“Mr. Wackie a di teacher but a Ice a bus’ da piece ya.”

This is the line from the “Gully Creeper” song made popular by Jamaican Grammy Award Nominee, DJ Elephant Man.

Translated from Jamaican patois into English, means:”Mr Wackie (Bogle) is the teacher but Ice is releasing this piece.” The ‘piece’ is the Gully Creeper dance move made popular by fellow Jamaican and friend Usain Bolt after he won his events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both Mr. Wackie and Ice are now deceased.

36 year old David Alexander Smith popularly known as ‘Ice‘ was shot and killed this morning in the Waltham Park Road area of Kingston, Jamaica as he went to purchase cigarettes at a shop. His car was stolen. The dancer and choreographer is the creator of the popular Gully Creeper dance move.

Gerald Levy aka Mr. Wackie aka Bogle, Jamaica’s most revered dancer/choreographer at the time was also shot and killed 3 years ago. Bogle created several dance moves including the Bogle Dance and the Wackie Dip. Both men were from the Black Roses Corner in Arnet Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica.  It is a tough inner city area where dancing is one of the tools used to escape poverty. These dancers get to perform on live shows and go on tours with famous dancehall artistes, earning what amounts to a comfortable income for someone with previously little or no income.

The gun keeps robbing us of of our talented citizens. the senseless killings point to the fact that there are too many illegal guns in the hands of the poorest, most uneducated citizens. How they came to afford these guns is a mystery.

There has been 1509 murders reported between January and November 2008. In a country of 2.7 million, we are firmly rooted in the top 3 per capita in the world. Co-incidentally, there is a news report on the television that the Jamaican Police has accepted that there has been under reporting of crime, so that figure should be much higher.

In the meantime, Jamaican Dancehall has lost a great contributor, but Ice will always be remembered for giving Usain Bolt and the world the ‘Gully Creeper.’

Online dating or Internet dating is a dating system which allows individuals, couples and groups to meet over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a romantic or sexual relationship. In recent times, we have seen the growth of mobile cell phone dating using SMS and text messaging.

Many of these phone dating communities are now growing rapidly, keeping pace with the incredible popularity of the cellphone. Users flirt, chat or date through the cell phone network and it is becoming a great way to start relationships. These kinds of services have become extremely popular, and the “try before you buy” technique of marketing mobile phone dating is making it extremely popular.

Club M8 Mobile Dating Service claims to be the leader in the cell phone dating market. One of their biggest selling point is that Club M8 does not require use of a credit card.

How it works

Members have access to all of the top singles that meet specific criteria within a given area. They have access to other member profiles through the internet or by their cell phone. Users must enter their phone number, carrier and who they are looking for. Once this is done, members will have access to others within the database. Members are then free to contact each other via mobile communication.

Depending on the carrier, users will be charged a maximum amount per text message or per month for unlimited texts. Users are billed through their cell phone provider. The following carriers support the service: Alltel, AT&T, Boost, Cellular One, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless.

PRO
- Lots of profiles
- Easy Sign-Up
- Good price
- No Credit Card needed
- 100% real profiles
- Convenient service
- Easy cancellation
- Clearly states terms of service
- Upfront pricing
- All help messages are free of charge.

CON
- No preview of profiles
- Vague terms of service
- No FAQ page

Recommendation: Club M8 Mobile Dating is a unique dating service to find suitable dates within your area. With the growing popularity of cell phones, that is potentially a huge profile list to choose from. Sign up is easy and you are not charged unless you use the service. When you join, you can get unlimited dating tips via text message for as low as $6.99 per month. Unlike other types of dating services, you will not require a credit card, which adds to the simplicity and convenience of the service.  If you can live with not having a FAQ page and not being able to preview profiles, you may just find your love using Club M8 Mobile Dating Service.

Visit their Site

You should look at this Singorama review to avoid making the wrong choice. It is always important to conduct research to gain knowledge and be happy of a product such as an online singing course like singorama before making a purchase.

Many customers don’t know that nearly one hundred percent of all reviews of Singorama found on the internet are given by people who never even purchased the product.

I personally own the Singorama program, I will give you a first-hand account of what you can expect from this singing course.

Prior to getting the Singorama program, I never had the courage to get up at karaoke nights, regardless of how much my friends tried to push me, or how much I was drinking. If the truth be known, I would only sing in the shower, before I signed up for the singorama lessons!

No ridicule, no worries - that’s how I feel when I sing in church and karaoke since I picked up Singorama.

Review of Singorama - Take A Look Behind The Scenes

As soon as you buy Singorama and enter the website, you will love it! My very first impression was how simple and intuitive the navigation was, and how organized all of it is.

To begin with, the introductory section will give you all the information you might need on how to properly use this course. This will include how long and when to practice, and how to develop the right singing habits.

The section titled ‘getting started’ contain more than 425 minutes of audio training. Twenty-eight classes cover topics such as proper posture and breathing methods, and using different techniques and styles to manage your own voice.

The following area has some amazing learning activities. Your routine in warming up your voice will benefit from the helpful audio in the vocal exercises section. A few sample techniques you will learn are The Lip Roll and Scales 121. Your vocal cords will become stronger if you practice these every day.

The Singorama team is really quite innovative in their program by fitting three original songs in a song chapter you can effectively use for practicing. These tunes should enable you to learn efficient use of melody and harmony. You will also be given the change to learn how to sing along with an instrumental backing.

Besides the other products already described, you will be given even more wonderful extras. The ebook selection and choices of software they include are excellent.

You will be happy to know that the software is 100% free,including pc and mac versions.

Singorama Review Recommendation

The reason for my writing this Singorama review is because I earnestly believe in this on-line singing course. If you follow the product’s directions and practice, you singing will definitely improve. And the bottom line is that you don’t lose anything at all by trying this as you can always turn it in for a full refund in the first 2 months.

Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, two great African-American entertainers died within a day of each other last weekend.

Bernie Mac, the accomplished comedian and movie star who starred in over 50 films including his feature role in the 2004 hit, “Mr 3000″ died on August 9th of Pneumonia. He was 50 years old.  In honor of his memory, here is a clip from one of his stand-up comedy shows.

Isaac Hayes, the bald headed, baritone-voiced soul singer and actor who laid the groundwork for disco and whose “Theme From Shaft” won both Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon, August 10th after he collapsed in his home at the age of 65. I would like to remember him with his most famous song. “Theme From Shaft.”

Dancehall Divas in Concert, a live reggae dancehall event at Club Naz in Falmouth, Jamaica took place last night.It showcased the leading female artistes in Jamaican dancehall. Miss Thing, Diva, Sasha, Spice and D’Angel were there, but missing were Macka Diamond, Patra and Lady G. The undisputed Queen of dancehall Marion Hall, aka Lady Saw was not billed, but gave a surprise appearance and as expected, stole the show and made us forget about the two absentees. Here are a few of the photos I took, but the full photoset can be viewed here on my photoblog, amateurphotoblogger.com.

The rest of the photo set can be viewed here

It just dawned on me that I have a relatively unused Panasonic GS-90 in my drawer. I bought it 2 years ago at Abe’s of Maine with an extended life battery, all the accessories anyone could need and hardly ever use it. I’m so in love with still photography and my Nikon D40, that I sometimes forget I have this camcorder. Yesterday (Independence Day), there was a wonderful civic ceremony that included a marching band made up of teenagers.

Drummers perform at Independence Day Ceremony in Falmouth

The band did a really good job, especially playing the National Anthem and there was no video camera there to preserve that exceptional rendition. I took still photos and they will be uploaded to Amateur Photoblogger.

The importance of the camcorder became more evident to me today when going over some old DV tapes used last year, I saw a brief but absolutely priceless clip of a close friend who was killed earlier this year. It was really touching and made me realize that if I  had not used it that day, I would not have such a precious memory preserved.

I will have to start using my camcorder again and upload videos to YouTube as a motivator so that I can preserve and share all those memories. Learning YouTube stuff like editing, outputting and uploading video to the web should be fun.

The day in Falmouth was a memorable one, starting with a civic ceremony (that was poorly attended as usual) and then a Street Dance and concert featuring L.U.S.T. (Tony Curtis, Singing Melody, Thriller U and the 4th member that I can’t recall right now ) and Turbulance. I finished the night at the local hot spot, Club Nazz, ending up at Donna’s till daylight. Incidentally, there will be a live concert inside Club Naz on Friday called Divas of Dancehall featuring Macka Diamond, D’Angel, Patra, Lady G and Sasha. I should be there taking some photos which I will post to Amateur Photoblogger. Well, got to go catch some well needed sleep!

I started writing this at 11.37 pm on the 5th of August; by the time I am done, it will be Wednesday, the 6th of August, Jamaica’s Independence Day. It is a time to reflect on where we are coming from, where we are now 46 years later, and where we’re going in the future,

Jamaica was a British colony before gaining independence and it is a regular debate as to whether we would be better off still being a colony.

For the independence, I decided to write a  top ten list of what is right and another top 10 about what is wrong. I’ll start with what’s right so that if you get tired of reading, at least you will be left with only positive thoughts about this small country.

Best Things About Jamaica (Top 10)

1. Music: A natural number one. We have been musically inclined even before the days of Mento then Ska in the 1960’s then Rock Steady (late 1960’s) then Reggae (1970’s to the present) then Dancehall (1980’s to the present). Bob Marley is known the world over and his music still lives on after his death from cancer in 1981. His album “Exodus” is described by Time Magazine as the “Album of the 20th Century” and his single “One Love” was voted “Song of the Millennium” by the BBC.
more about “Bob Marley “One Love”“, posted with vodpod
2. Sports: Jamaica is one of the powerhouses in world Track & Field sprinting boasting the two fastest men ever over the 100 meters (Usain Bolt & Asafa Powell). We just keep getting better and are expected to give our best performance ever this Olympics. This little island of 2.7 million people with an area of only 4,411 square miles, consistently beats countries several times our area, wealth and population in the Olympics and World Championships medals table. Our Reggae Boyz football (soccer) team became the first team from the English speaking Caribbean to qualify for a World Cup Tournament in 1998, defeating Japan 2-0 and in the process also became the first (and still only) one to win a game at the tournament. Our netball team is ranked 3rd in the World, only behind Australia & New Zealand.
3. Food: Jamaica has it’s own unique dishes and there are Jamaican restaurants all over the world. Our original Jerk Chicken (grilled in a used oil drum) is world famous.
4. Culture: We have a unique culture which includes the food, music, language, dress., etc.
5. Beauty: There is a thriving tourism industry here, all because of the island’s beauty. It has drawn millions to our shores and many just can’t stop coming back. Whether it is the beautiful Dunn’s River Falls the green ferns of Fern Gully or the 7 miles of endless white sand beaches of Negril, it is truly a beautiful country.
   
6. Friendly People; We are known for our friendliness to strangers and our hospitality towards visitors is one of our greatest assets. We still haven’t found a way to tolerate each other, though, so we keep killing one another sometimes for little or no reason.
7. Democracy: We are a very democratic country and although you cannot go into certain areas and express opposing political views, our transfer of power from one party to the next has always been smooth and without incident or dissent.
8. Climate: although totally natural, this is what has contributed to our strong tourism industry (along with the islands beauty and the friendliness of the people).
9. Press Freedom: Our press enjoys a total freedom that would be envied by most countries. Government generally stays out of the media houses and they (the media) are free to crucify whoever they want (as long as they abide by the Libel Laws).
10. Rastafarianism: the idea of a black god as the second coming of Christ on earth (in the person of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Selassie I of Ethiopia) was born and bred in Jamaica.
    photo credit: max_thinks_sees

Honorary mention has to be made of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, that great black power leader who from his base in Harlem, USA, taught negroes the world over to take pride in themselves and stand up for their rights

Read the rest of this entry »

There are addons and there are addons, but my very favourite of all has to be the StumbleUpon Firefox Addon. Firefox is the only browser I use, so I don’t know if it is available for any other. Once you’ve tried it (StumbleUpon), you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

The concept is simple: sign up for free, download the browser toolbar, and check a few boxes to tell it the kinds of sites you like. You can choose your site or channel then hit the stumble button….a random site (previously recommended by a fellow stumbler) will open. You have the option to give it thumbs up if you like it or thumbs down if you don’t. If you do, it will be added to your profile as a list of sites you like. It is also added to the toolbar as a Favorites (Star) Icon for future reference.

The more stumbling you do, the more StumbleUpon understands what you like. It uses community-based ratings to compare your results with people having similar preferences so that it can make quality recommendations.

It is great for when you want to surf and don’t know where to go or when you want to view different sites from a specific channel. When I want to view different blogs, I just select the WordPress or Blogspot category and just keep hitting the stumble button. The Stumble Images Icon is perfect for the times I want to look at some beautiful photos. You will find your way of using it, depending on your preferences. This is an addon every browser should have.