Do you remember Soul II Soul, PM Dawn, Digable Planets, Heavy D and Monie Love? Do you remember Queen Latifah in that tall headdress that let you just KNOW she was a Queen even before she was a glamour queen? Do you remember C&C Music Factory and Arrested Development and Terrance Trent D’Arby? Do you remember when MTV never really played black music? That’s how video soul started I believe. Do you remember wearing big African pendants, Malcolm X hoodies, and combat boots like Janet in Rhythm Nation even though you know you were boiling in the Trinidad heat? Man I had some big ass gold Malcolm X earrings – just a big gold ‘X’- and a big baby comforter pendant ‘cause Monie Love said I was born to B.R.E.E.D (Build Relationships where Education and Enlightenment Dominate… oh and have babiesJ) and I eh even start on the Hip Hop… now THAT was the golden era of Hip Hop!

And I eh only talking about American music even though I eh shame to say that American R&B and Hip Hop were then and still remain so much a part of the soundtrack to my growing up. Later when we started secondary school it was the Kiskidee Caravan that was sooo important for us growing up. Those of us who were raised on Soca music that our parents listened to- the Blue Boy and the Stalin and the Carl and Carol Jacobs- only had Machel as a youth. Then suddenly there was Kindred and Homefront and Edu Rankin, Queen Omega and Supa Chile. Suddenly we had our own beat, our own soundtrack since Kindred tell us that this Trini could flow too.   And since the Yard Fowl crew told us to Dan it Up we wore Rasta sandals from the drag  and park up Janet’s combat boots and bought airbrushed T-shirts, big leather Africa pendants and those crotchet bags also courtesy of the drag.

I will never forget Ataklan coming to my school to perform in some concert or the other and getting MOBBED by screaming girls. Of course by that time I was at the grand old age of maybe 16 and was therefore to old and too cool to mob and scream, although I desperately wanted to. I remember my aunt saying that when she was young there were no young local stars to mob like that. She was amazed and so proud.  There was still an old school desk that was in use that some teenage Trinidadian girl ages ago had lovingly etched country singer Pat Boone’s name with a heart around it. We used that desk as one of the many to bar round the stage so the teenage mob would not eat Klannie alive.

I real hate to sound nostalgic and I hate to think of becoming one of them old people who always talking about how our generation of music was better or our style was better because I know that everyone hadda have their own thing and find their own rebel music.  But same time I like to talk about them days, like to remember how the music was and how it changing, how it getting better in some ways and in others how it getting worse. It makes me feel good to see Klannie and Gillian and Ozy still making music; to see Patrick Mr. Vybe Gordon still making music, to see Rubidiri still making music and even better to see a whole new set of artists doing their own thing- Orange Sky, Gyazette, 12, Cabezon and all the others.

Man I glad to be a child of the 80’s and 90’s.

Aya’s Photostream.

New Flickr posts. got some helpful critique from Eloquator. Need to work on more creative angles; plan shoots sometimes instead of just catching people off guard to be more experimental with angles. looking at this in retrospect I think it would might been more interesting if i was above and she was giving me a nice strong stare up into the camera… Hmm.. try that next time

Despite this I found myself at some kind of car show this weekend. I know right? Random. A new engine oil on the T&T market, ENEOS Nippon Oil in conjunction with CARS – an organization that produces these type of events – hosted “ENEOS HI-SPEED DEXTERITY – CHASING THE SECONDS” at the Arima Race Club Car Park on Saturday 28th June. How did I end up there given my total lack of interest in cars? Basically the bf woke me up and suggested we go shoot some cars. Cars I don’t really get but shooting? Hell yeah. So off we went.

It is events like this that I sometimes end up at, totally off my beaten track that make me realize that Trinidad, as small as it is, is composed of parallel universes. There are so many little sub-cultures, entertainment genres and interest groups that exist, a little off the mainstream, all with their own unique vibe, that if you are not into them you may never know they exist. For me this event was one of them. Cars with engines loud as lawnmowers painted in even louder colours and designs; old looking, beat up cars in nondescript grey that I would usually zoom past on the highway roaring menacingly as their owners proudly popped their hoods and showed off the car’s insides to appreciative spectators; girls in shorts milling around looking cute (eye candy?) and girls in jeans and caps striding purposefully around ordering the guys with the cars around (organizers?) and the Japanese reps from ENEOS walking around beaming at everyone. Cars seemed to come with crews of 5 or 6 guys who stood around it looking cool or checking out the competition. I even saw a girl whom I went to school with – a quiet girl, did her school work, never got into trouble. Turned out, she was one of the bossy jeans clad girls with a mean car of her own. Go figure?

Even for a non-enthusiast like me, you can’t help but appreciate the hard work, skill, talent and money that must go into the maintenance of these vehicles.  I saw Audis and BMWs outfitted for racing amidst the Suburus, Lancers and Suzukis. Now even though I don’t know much about cars, these are pretty expensive luxury vehicles. For the life of me I don’t get why anyone would  spend that much money on a  car only to run it into the ground.

The event mainly consisted of the cars racing around a course marked with cones  set in what looked to me like a pretty intricate pattern, each one aiming for both accuracy in making the turns without knocking over the cones following the set route and doing all of this faster than I have ever driven in my life. There were some pretty impressive displays and some not so impressive ones. I was pretty happy to see a lone female competing in the event and doing quite well too.

There were also quite a few photographers there (every event has its photo groupies, I guess☺) and we spend some time surreptitiously checking out the sweet lens wielded by on one  photographer, wondering if together we could take him and jack him for his lens (ok joking.. really)

All in all it was pretty exciting and I am glad I got to check it out. I also got wind of a Rally event due to take place next month. Guess who’ll be there?

Check out more photos from the event on my Flickr page.

First look: What a weird ‘Wonderland’ Burton’s made – USATODAY.com.

This has got to be one of the scarier things I have ever seen. Something is wrong with these folks. Do they not watch TV?   Have they never seen Chucky? The Shining? Don’t they know that children can be creepy even under the best circumstances?

Click  for more if yuh brave.. or just like weird crap

The Puppet Show By Photographers Winkler + Noah.

IMG_2067, originally uploaded by AyaRoots.

One of the recent shots of Kibwe

It happened purely accidentally when one of the flashes died (batteries died not really the flash) which accounted for some kind of dramatic lighting. Then i just punched up the black and white contrast in Lightroom.

I like how it turned out. Makes me think of a still from a documentary. Like someone famous according to Eloquator lol. Is it just me or do i see a little Walter Rodney-esque tinge?The glasses maybe? Or some writer/filmmaker talking about his ‘process’.

I for one thinks he looks scrummy

Guilty as charged at least my bf is worse than I am.

10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse | GeekDad | Wired.com.

Matt Levinson: Schools and Facebook: Moving Too Fast, or Not Fast Enough? – Teachers.Net Gazette.

Now two more teaching practice days  to go and  I will be finished with academic for a bit… yeah right! New Media and Society here I come!

10 Great Books For (Traumatizing) Children | Cracked.com. Lets hear it for good  literature!