kareem abdul-jabbar has a blog on the LA Times

today he answered the question “Kareem, why are you always so angry”?

An excerpt:

One of the common myths about me was repeated last week when a friend of mine was playing in his weekly basketball league and a teammate asked him, “Why was Kareem always so angry?” That’s not the first time I heard this charge. What’s weird about it is that every morning when I get out of bed, bluebirds, squirrels, and deer help me get dressed while we sing “We Are the World.” By the way, squirrels really suck at tying shoes. And deer often mumble the lyrics.

Even that doesn’t make me angry.

What’s interesting about the question is that the person who asked the question is white. In fact, no black person has ever asked that question. That’s because they already know the answer.

you can read the rest here on the Kareem blog.

yesterday i was so busy that i couldnt tell you that


2 live crew at sxsw at the levi fader fort

my 2 Live Crew concert review got up on the LAT’s Soundboard, and they were nice enough to accept my headline

Still Horny After All These Years

which strangely enough was not precisely the headline I was mulling over. i was considering “Still So Horny After All These Years” which my editor Margaret, i think, wanted, but she chose the former, which is totally fine with me.

im a weird writer in that once i write it down i couldnt give a fuck what you do with it. you can change the headline, you can rearrange the words, you can change everything. once i make the poop if you wanna sculpt it into a castle or a snowman, its all you. i have thousands of more in me and theyre all gonna get out at some point, so no use fighting over this one or that one cuz like doritos i will make more.

also i trust and respect my editors and copywriters and i value their opinions, no shit. also sometimes i have to make hard decisions and i always appreciate it when my cohorts just let me do what i need to do without a lot of ‘splaining.

another story that got posted yesterday was my Flatstock photo essay.

Flatstock is this huge concert poster convention which is better than a kid in a candy store cuz its art. and everything is pretty much reasonable. and cuz it doesnt turn to poop after you enjoy it.

flatstock 16 at sxsw in austin
flatstock 16 at sxsw in austin
flatstock 16 at sxsw in austin

why are things so poopy in my mind today?

anyways its very nice to be able to bring my love of photo essays to the LA Times.

and its totally awesome that I am the one who gets to do it.