WonderFall Magz... Complex & Giant

After overturning nearly every magazine section from Westwood to Inglewood, I FINALLY got my hands on the August/September issues of Complex and Giant. Whew... this could've gotten ugly reeeeallly quick, if I didn't. Big ups to the 7-11 on Palms & Overland to always having what I need.

I'm sure you're thinking, why not just visit the websites? Who actually buys shit in 2008? ME! A friend once described me as being a 'tactile' learner and person in general... Don't go to dictionary.com - its just a nice way of saying I like to touch stuff. And it's true - I buy CD's (not because I need the music - chances are I downloaded it anyway), because I like having the booklet in my hand, reading who wrote the song, who produced it, arranged it, where it was recorded, and the lyrics, if they're there. Same thing with mags. So after my exhausting hunt was over, I settled and dug into two magazines I enjoy.

Here's what I found:

Complex Magazine (Lu's edition...Sorry N.E.R.D.)

• Cover art - the shit.
• Good Laughs: The cast of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Guide to Bar Etiquette.
  
  • "Getting the Bartender's Attention"
    
  Charlie: Being a girl helps. Kaitlin: One or two titties. Charlie: Just get as many titties as you can. If you cant get titties on you, get the titties as close as you can.
• N.E.R.D. Nose What's Up: A pretty sweet article, big ups to individuality (and again, dope artwork!). It's funny though, how the article played out just like an N.E.R.D. album - Pharrell's vocals dominating, Chad behind the scenes 90% of the time, and we're still not sure exactly what the hell Shay does. BTW, check out the Famlay Reunion on the sidebar, for a few chuckles and some "hmmm's...."
• Lupe Fiasco's Cool World: I can't lie - I read the article and wanted more. But thats exactly how I feel after I listen to Lupe's albums and mixtapes, so I guess it's expected. The article opens and closes just how I speculate his career will - sparking thoughts, a thirst for more, and a whole lotta "what the hell did he just say???"

• Why I luv Lu: "Every life is good, man....Style is what you are, but everybody has life. And everybody's life should be good. Some of the happiest people in the world have nothing. Nothing. And they find happiness in being in the world. They wear the world with a smile. I feel bad for all the people standing in line with all that shit on and they not smiling. And somebody walks past who knows nothing about it with a smile on his face got the freshest shit on in the world."
• In all fairness, and against my better judgement, I flipped the cover over, and read the Cassie article. My time would have been better spent playing Brick Breaker on my Blackberry. Sigh....
• Through all the meaningless things she had to say, I found this to be excited about:
• Complex: What would you like to ask the Presidential candidates?
• Cassie: "How does it feel to be the first black presidential candidate?" *SMH*... Don't let your ignorance go down in ink...at least Wikipedia it first. (And for those of you who don't find this question to be problematic...scroll down and read some more.)

Overall Rating: Sweet. The collector's edition covers, art and interviews more than made up for the purposelessness of the flip side.


Giant Magazine

• Cover: Delicious... my love affair with Don Cheadle has been re-kindled.
• Good Laughs: Black Planet's ad boasting over 18 million users, the title of "the world's original social network", and Kimora Lee Simmons, Mary J. Blige, and Barack Obama among it's users. I wonder if they are counting the millions of unused profiles from back when we were in high school, that everyone has long since forgotten about, in that 18 milion....
• Michelle Williams, T-Pain, and Nina Sky shorts... about as lackluster as their raw talent and careers thus far.... (well, except T-Pain)
• Don Cheadle, Inside Man: This article oozed grown-man swag. Amazing photography and insight into what makes Mr. Cheadle so damned good. It's nice to read a background story every once in a while that doesn't start with hardship, and that some people are still genuinely humanitarian. I can't wait for his next movie, Traitor. Mr. Cheadle plays a former US Special Ops officer... but hes Black, and Muslim. I'm excited.
• Notable Quotable: "You can also say yes. But it has to say yes to you, too...It's about choice. It's the confluence of events." Take that, and apply it!
• Kerry Washington, Wanderlust: A pretty good article, considering I didn't know much about her in the first place. It's nice to see a Black woman not to be played up as a one-trick pony. I just wished they would've covered more of her work on the Obama campaign. I actually met her during an Obama rally on campus this past year, and she is incredibly beautiful, down to earth, and passionate.
• Terrell Owens, Invincible: It's nice to see a softer side of T.O.... too bad no one else does. I never knew he was an Alzheimer's research advocate. The article didn't get too deep, so I won't either.
  
• Sorry, but I felt less than compelled to read the article on Solange. So I didn't.
• I am ABSOLUTELY outraged at the music reviews.... There are three categories: buy it, burn it, and skip it. The reviewed artists anticipated albums: Nelly, Gym Class Heroes, and Raphael Saadiq. Guess who got what rating? All I'm going to say is that Mr. "Where My Party People At" got the 'buy it' rating, and Saadiq manages to snatch the 'burn it' label. WTF? You've got to be kidding me....

Overall Rating: Meh. This is one of those times I prrrrobably should've just left it on the shelf, and drooled over Don Cheadle online.

Til next time,

-- Crown Royal On Ice --