Natalie (1969)

My camera is the only anachronism. :p

A 3 yr old self portrait, revised. (Surreal)

Taken with my fuji finepix digital camera. Edited in CS2.

Super cool stuff! My work has been published on CONCRETELOOP.COM

Kudos to the CL staff for keeping up the dopest celeb blog on the web!

Rocket Mic

In the past 48 hrs, I'm estimating a good 8 that I probably slept. Crazy right? But I'm still as energized as I was when first beginning edits to this image! (and for the smarties, No, I'm not on drugs. lol) After a few times of looking at the first one I did, I started to hate it. So now, here we are. I'm thinking about doing a series of these with other images I shot...

If it wasn't 6.38 in the morn, I'd phone my sister to see if she'd like to join me for a run.

Feel free to critique/ comment. =)

p.s. There is a slightly different edit at http://flickr.com/photos/aarika

Rock Wonders

For more images click here .
~~~~~~~~~~~

As she begins, "I-I-I-I-I I'm an alien from outerspace!" there's a insane breakout of madness while I'm trying my hardest to keep uncontrollable dancing body parts of mine from knocking down those who tightly surround me.

The incomparable, Janelle Monáe, whose music cannot be categorized or boxed into any one particular genre, put on an electrifying performance this past Thursday night to her fans and supporters alike at "The Blender Theater" in New York City.

She is successful today because she didn't listen to many music industry "BigWigs" who originally didn't want anything to do with her unique sound and image, telling her that "black people just won't get it". Fed up, she started her own independent music label "The Wondaland Arts Society". As a result, over an astounding 10,000 copies of Metropolis: Suite I (of IV)- The Chase were sold within weeks of it's release! Now partnered with Diddy's BadBoy label, she's expected to do even greater things this year.

She's previously taken us through the heart and mind of her alter-ego, a cyborg, Cindi Mayweather, who falls deeply in-love with a human named Anthony Greendown. Doing so, she "breaks the rules" which causes havoc in the city of Metropolis as government officials and outraged citizens try to hunt her down. She sings about finding hope and freedom in a unjust society, yet, cleverly, uses Mayweather's character as an underlining political message to stand up for civil rights, to get a better education, to respect our neighhbor and most importantly - ourselves.

Since discovering Janelle in the summer of '06, I've been following her career ever since. I must say, it's always a delightful pleasure to be in the presence of this special young lady.

Go see her live! It's quite the experience!

For those of you who are still "walking dead", Wake Up! You can find all things Janelle Monáe and the rest of the Wondaland Arts Society here and here.

"Happy Hunting!" ;)