Sunday Synopsis: Why Straight Outta Compton is the Movie that Saved My Summer

I rarely ever go see a mainstream movie in theaters on opening weekend. Yet Straight Outta Compton, the biopic about the rise and fall of rap group N.W.A (comprised of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, DJ Yella and MC Ren) somehow managed to get me out to the cinema.

Of all the reasons to see this film, I was mainly hoping that it would afford me a two-hour vacation from a challenging summer. In a few different ways, the summer of 2015 has been harsh on several members of my family, as well as that of one of my childhood friends. Then in late July I had a bit of an accident that put me out of commission at an inconvenient time. Suddenly, there were injuries to tend to and I was not able to work as often and as well as I planned. Since then I’ve done what I could where able but updating this blog was among the things that fell by the wayside during these last few weeks despite my attempts to finish writing drafts of a blog post for the Popcorn & Paninis series, here and there.

As you can imagine, not being able to operate at 100% in even the most basic of activities is no fun. If you take one thing away from today’s post, remember to always take good care of your body, never take it for granted, protect it in every way you can and pay attention to the things you’re doing, everyday, when you are doing them. The human body is such a magical machine; its amazing the kind of things it can do and I’m grateful that it has all sorts of superpowers to repair itself like other things in nature such as crops in a garden, forests, land, etc. Still its also worth keeping in mind that just because something can be reborn anew doesn’t always mean it will return in the same way.

Often I’ve gone to bed these last few months thinking this year sucks. The thing about life, however, is that if you keep moving, you will also have experiences that remind you it’s not so bad after all. I can think of maybe 7-9 days I’ve had this summer so far where things seem to be looking up and one of them is when I went to see Straight Outta Compton over the weekend. Ever since watching the movie trailer months ago, I’ve anticipated its release because I’ve been an Eazy-E fan for a long time. Funny enough, I was not introduced to his music by N.W.A but rather from the work he did with my favorite rap group of all time….Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

My familiarity with N.W.A came from vinyl record covers my mom had in the house, urban radio stations, MTV -- back when they were actually a music television channel -- and rap magazines sold at pharmacies like CVS, but I didn’t pay much attention to their songs.

Growing up, I knew more about the music of Ice Cube and Dr. Dre from their solo careers than any of the content chronicled in the movie about their early, and rocky, journey to putting the West Coast on the map, as far as the music industry is concerned. The fast paced Straight Outta Compton plays like a visual timeline of events that shaped music history while bringing our country’s political and social matters to center stage....

One day, a group of friends are uniting to make music and earn money through legitimate means during a time when the LAPD’s war on gangs made the future very uncertain for minorities regardless of their innocence. The next day, these same friends incite a nation of activists fighting to exercise (and maintain) their freedoms against censorship, violation of civil liberties, racial profiling and police brutality.

The biggest takeaway I gleaned from this movie is how important it is for disadvantaged youth around the world to have access to quality education and opportunities. There is a scene in Straight Outta Compton where Eazy-E (played by Jason Mitchell) bails Dr. Dre (played by Corey Hawkins) out of jail after Dre, who was working as a local nightclub DJ, was arrested without cause. In this scene, Dre convinces Eazy-E to leave his days of selling drugs behind to build a record label. Both of these young men are motivated by money and believe in their dreams enough to recognize an opportunity in the combined skills of their friends -- namely the writing abilities of Ice Cube (played by O’Shea Jackson, Jr.) and record spinning talent of DJ Yella (played by Neil Brown, Jr.).

All five members of N.W.A may not have looked like your average college graduate but they were still smart where it counted....channeling their own individual knowledge and talent into a more promising future for themselves; one that stretches beyond the most dangerous streets of Los Angeles. Straight Outta Compton depicts the lives of young men who speak up for the voiceless, marginalized members of society; people like them who are struggling to rise against a culture – be that in law enforcement, government, media and/or communities outside of their own -- that is intent on stereotyping everyone as criminals and people undeserving of respect, based on zip codes or appearances.

Chris, an L.A. native who also came to see Straight Outta Compton told me this is the “best hip hop movie” he’s ever seen. Chris just happened to be in town visiting and is probably on his way back to California right now as I write this, so having never been anywhere on the West Coast myself, it was nice to be surrounded by that L.A. life both onscreen and off-screen even for a short moment.

Although I have not watched many hip-hop movies in total, this film is definitely the best summer movie I’ve seen lately thanks to F. Gary Gray’s strategic assembly of a story that is bigger than hip-hop. That is where Straight Outta Compton shines for me.

For example, I vaguely remember watching news reports about the Rodney King beating and subsequent court verdict on television. I was just a kid then and didn’t think much of it except for the remarks I overheard from conversations between my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other elders. Straight Outta Compton helped put some things in perspective in terms of the significance of that incident and what it meant for the state of affairs between citizens, government and law enforcement.

Historical factors aside, this was a very entertaining film that made me laugh, cheer inside with excitement and jam out to classic tunes more times than it made me angry, nervous or want to cry. All despite the woman and her accompanying group of theater goers whose rude and ignorant outbursts were unwelcome by the rest of us who came to actually watch (and hear) the movie. It was a joy to learn more about how some of the biggest names in music known today got their start. So although this summer brought me some unexpected setbacks and painful times, the day I saw Straight Outta Compton was indeed...a good day.

R.I.P. Eric “Eazy-E” Wright.

Straight Outta Compton is now playing.

Find showtimes for movies in your area!

It’s a Wrap! My 2015 Blogging from A to Z Challenge Reflections

“Would I even tell me story, would I even sang my song, if nobody sang along? Would I take the time to write it, would I say what’s on my mind, if nobody sang along?” – Chrisette Michele from the album Let Freedom Reign

Singer Chrisette Michele. Photo: Zandoka Photography.Some of the lyrics in R&B singer Chrisette Michele’s song “If Nobody Sang Along” strike a chord with my discerning whether blogging is a waste of time, especially where the A-Z Challenge is concerned. Among the factors leading to my “Mixed Bag of Tricks” theme for 2015 was my refusal to write a blog post for April that involved any more extraordinary work than necessary for me.

I made this decision in an attempt to cut back on the amount of effort, time and energy involved in writing A-to-Z Challenge posts on this blog. After receiving little response from the A-Z community overall last year and again this time around, on many of the posts that I worked hard on (spending hours and sometimes days even, writing and assembling them), I believe it would behoove me to continue blogging in the best interest of my readers and myself.

Who’s All this for? 

I started doing the A-Z challenge because it seemed like a fun way to add some structure and consistence to my blogging activities while building a more disciplined writing practice. Aside from also being a requirement for Co-Hosts, I continued doing the challenge because it has always motivated me to blog more often throughout the rest of the year. I gladly credit the A-Z challenge as one of the influences behind my decision to make editorial calendars – sometimes I follow these blogging plans, and sometimes I don’t but it’s still nice to have ideas floating around for those times when you experience a case of writer’s block.

Ever since being invited to Co-Host the A-Z Challenge by its founder, Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, I’ve been Co-Hosting because I view it as a great way to support the man behind the annual event that brings people from all over the world together. Co-Hosting has also served as an effective way to give back to the blogathon that helped me find some direction as a blogger.

Doing the challenge this year put many blogs on my radar, as they featured interesting topics including Manzanita’s post on Aging at Wanna Buy a Duck, Lisa’s recount of her days aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln while working as a postal clerk for the U.S. Navy at Tales from the Love Shaque and Notes Along the Way – Mary Montague Sikes, who made 19 paintings during her journey through the alphabet! It was refreshing to see an artist participating in the A-Z Challenge this year since the blog hop is usually dominated with themes involving books, poetry, short stories, writing tips, publishing tips and related areas of the literary field.

The Tim Burton movie ALICE IN WONDERLAND was included in Jeremy's Disney theme at his blog titled Hollywood Nuts during the A-Z Challenge.David Powers King at The Cosmic Laire of Science Fiction and Fantasy collaborated with Al Diaz at Dragon on a Mission for a nice tribute to Tina Downey in his A-Z Challenge theme presenting character portraits from on his novel Woven.

My fellow Co-Host Lauren Hennessy's "Movie Smackdown" was one of my most favorite of all A-Z themes; I always looked forward to reading her posts, had fun voting for the flicks I thought should win the battle and enjoyed learning about what other participants thought about the competing films. During one of the A-Z Twitter chats, Co-Host Csenge pointed out Hannah Givens’ cool A-Z theme on LGBT Comics Characters at Things Matter. It was nice to learn some things about Batwoman including some DC Comics staff quitting when the company took marriage off the table for this superheroine.

Another fellow Co-Host, Susan Gourley introduced me to a good quote by Marilyn Von Savant in her A-Z blog posts...

"Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent." - Marilyn Von Savant

Thanks to Adriana Gabrielle at The Librarian Files, I learned about a movie called The Maze Runner that I’ll now probably watch. Luther M. Siler’s music theme for the A-Z Challenge at Infinite Free Time rocks and took me back to the 90s when women, particularly female rappers like Queen Latifah and MC Lyte, had something to say and weren't afraid to say it. After meeting Debra McKellan during one of the A-Z Twitter chats, I enjoyed her theme of “colors for descriptive purposes in writing,” the hospitable nature of her posts and her very brief and concise posting style. I also enjoyed learning about what it's like to live overseas in A Beginner's Survival Guide to Living in Maui.

Ellen with her wife Portia de Rossi. It was great to see themes revolving around the LGBT community, while visiting blogs during the 2015 Blogging from A-Z Challenge.Although London-based Julie Fisher ran out of steam soon after reaching the A-Z Challenge midway mark at From Julie with Mixed Feelings, I like her April theme on Lesbian Culture and its portrayal in media. Julie’s blog post highlighting Ellen Degeneres and the comedian’s career as an openly lesbian actress, talk show host and author, is one that I especially enjoyed reading – partly because I’ve always loved Ellen’s style and hair and partly because Julie’s use of "celesbrians," when referring to her favorite lesbian celebrities, is cute and made me laugh.

Although Sridevi Datta at The Write Journey is among the many who didn’t complete the challenge, the blog posts she did put up were interesting to read and I think she had something good with her theme on "tracing the inner journey of being a woman.” I also have a lot of respect for travel blogger Michelle Tran at Michelle Tran Writes, who did what she could and then bowed out of the A-Z challenge gracefully while honoring the give-and-take nature of participating that’s meant to benefit everyone involved in this April blogathon.

Unfortunately, my participation in the A-Z challenge left much to be desired in terms of traffic, comments and/or subscribers. More people visited my blog during summer 2014 and in December 2014 than they did last month. I wish I could say I’m surprised but given the dismal results from my month of Why We Make Movies, this drop in traffic appears to be a trend during spring. The lack of visits in April concerns me, considering that there were nearly two thousand blogs on the 2015 A-Z Challenge list. That’s a LOT of people, many of whom obviously didn’t make their way over to my blog within the last thirty days.

Is it my song or yours?

While visiting A-Z Challenge participating blogs, I noticed many with little to no comments. There were times when I was the first or third person to comment on posts written by people who were actively blogging every day in April. That makes so sense given that there were a lot of other blogs with at least 40 comments on their posts, if not more. Due to these experiences, I think there may be a significant amount of A-Z participants who are doing the challenge but are not visiting other blogs on the list.

While I understand that being located near the top of the signup list may have affected the amount of comments, visits, etc. I received, other blogs near the middle or bottom of the list had similar experiences.

Based on these findings, my guess is the visiting activities weren't spread as evenly as us organizers hoped, even after we urged participants to visit five-blogs-a-day starting with the blogs near their position on the list. Co-Hosting  brings with it the responsibility of making the challenge a fun experience for all participants involved, which meant I’ve spent a lot of time in April 2015 fielding questions and troubleshooting issues on the backend while also promoting the challenge, despite not really benefitting -- in the ways I thought would -- from this very same event that I was telling other people to join. As a result, it felt like I was in a position where I had to make everyone else’s experience a pleasant one despite mine being pretty lackluster in comparison.

Am I the Superstar, or are You?

I Blog for myself and for my readers -- to provide them with entertainment, inspiration and knowledge. Thus, I must make sure that my blogging activities are in line with what best serves this purpose. Trying to engage A -Z Bloggers in profound conversations or even getting people to visit has come at a great loss of some of the joys I find in blogging. I prefer to not sacrifice the solace that this space provides me nor the type of content provided to my readers, just to participate in a month-long sprint that causes frustration. I get enough of that dealing with the madness of independent filmmaking.

Going forward, my plans are to focus on the activities and people who are paying attention, so I don't know what's in store for me in terms of whether I'll do the A-Z Challenge again or not. We’ll just cross that bridge when 2016 gets here, as it will be determined in part by (regular) readers of The Madlab Post and whether participating fits with any April blogging plans that I may already have for 2016. New visitors are icing on the cake but the people who return on a regular day prior to, and after, April are the ones for whom I continue to update this blog with new content. Much like Chrisette Michele, I’ll continue to tell my story and keep singing my song. This time around, however, I will be doing it for (and with) the people who actually sing along.

Thank you to all who have visited my blog during the 2015 A-Z Challenge including Co-Hosts such as C. Lee McKenzie at The Write Game, Jeremy at Hollywood Nuts, Pam at An Unconventional Librarian, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, AJ Lauer and John Holton as well as those of you who came by for the first time. Also thanks to my Mighty Minion Bureau assets Sydney Aaliyah Michelle, Vidya Sury and Melanie Shulz for helping me monitor the list and offer words of encouragement to participating bloggers.

Yes You Can! What Drake, Sports Movies & 94 year-old Track Stars Know About Battling Complacency

“You can still do what you want to do. You gotta trust that shit!” – Drake in ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha)

Drake performing "Too Much" from his album NOTHING WAS THE SAME on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.Lyrics in rapper Drake’s song titled ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha) remind me of how we tend to live life on autopilot – not necessarily complaining but not really enjoying our days on earth either. It’s as if we’re just going through the motions and basically waiting to die. It’s a said reality that also has me thinking of Benjamin Franklin’s quote about how most people die at 25 but are buried at 75.

The more I learn about American history and that of the world at large, the more I start to think that people from generations past seem to be much more resilient and ambitious than those of us living in today’s time, despite the fact that they had less resources than the luxuries we enjoy now. What happened to modern-day women and men? Why are so many of us quick and content to just throw our hands up and be asleep at the wheel on the highway of life? I recently watched a TV news report about a 94 year-old man named George ‘Scotty’ Scott, competing in the Penn Relays – the longest running race in the world. He ran with men and women between 75 and 98 years-old!

When the newscaster interviewed George following the Master’s Men’s 75+ 100m dash, he said “I just do the best I can.” Chances are, however, that only a few among the rest of us go to bed every night with the same amount of satisfaction for how we spent our day. Complacency is a choice that prevents far too many people from living up to their full potential. Each day we are lucky to receive on this earth is an opportunity for us to create the kind of lives that we can look back on and smile.

Hilary Swank as Maggie in MILLION DOLLAR BABY.If you ever feel like you’re stuck on a bumpy road that doesn’t line up with your abilities, values and passions, know that you don’t have to sit back, grin and bear it. Anything in life is possible if you believe in yourself enough to try.

That goes for aspirations big and small across the board such as traveling, home ownership, starting a family, landing some type of dream gig, fitness training, healthy eating, learning sign language, teaching Yoga or whatever floats your boat. An underprivileged waitress named Maggie believed that, with the proper training, she could become one of the world’s most boxing champs, in the sport drama film Million Dollar Baby starring Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood. Despite having no moral support from home – even being ridiculed by her own mother – Maggie still put her best foot forward.

A teenage boy named Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger pushed himself to the limits in the pursuit of playing football for Notre Dame, in the biographical drama Rudy starring Sean Astin and Jon Favreau. He was too short and surrounded by people who had very little expectations of him and of themselves, yet, that this not deter him from shooting for the moon. Maggie and Rudy share the common thread that is an unrelenting quest for all that life has to offer beyond the limitations that society and/or their circumstances place on them. Deep down, they trusted themselves in having what it takes to give life their best shot.

Y is for YouAlthough the results of Maggie’s and Rudy’s efforts may not have turned out exactly as these two bold characters had in mind, they still preferred these journeys over the alternative of growing old with regrets, wondering what could have been. Drake wasn’t lying – you CAN do what you want, go where you want and be who you want in life. Just like those 90 year-olds at the Penn Relays, Maggie in Million Dollar Baby and the main character in Rudy, you just have to trust that you have what it takes and then do your very best to make that happen.

Does watching sports movies motivate YOU in any way?

Are YOU the master of your own destiny?