Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crushes Part VII.

Elaine Lu of Laineygossip.com.

Who? Blasphemy, go kill yourself.

Before we begin, just check out this TEDxTalks video please.
Also, you may want to read this interview:

And last but not least, check out Laineygossip.com.

Alright, now that you have been given a crash-course in awesomeness, we can begin.

What can I say about Lainey? I can write a whole book about her but I'll keep this post short because she'd want that.

I discovered Laineygossip.com later than most people. I then proceeded to read every post she's ever written that's available online.

I never want to meet her because if she disliked me, I'd want to die (I have a tendency to over-use exclamation points and because she hates that, I'm now very careful about it).

Straight up, I want to be her. She is fucking awesome. Even if you don't like celebrity gossip, you'll appreciate her writing. You'll respect her as a human being, you'll want to go and get a drink with her. She's too boss. She is cool as hell.

I love her.

For the longest time my family thought I actually knew her because I'd always start a conversation like "Lainey said-" So when they asked me what I wanted for my birthday, the answer was simple: a smutty shout-out.

And will you look at that, I got it!

Sigh. One of the highlights of my life.

*Photo courtesy of Lainygossip.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crushes Part VI

Christine Teigen of Sodelushious.com

I follow Christine Teigen on Twitter because she's unapologetically judgy in a funny way and I love that in a person. It makes my inner-bitch happy.

Anyway, I knew Christine had a food blog but I'm a vegan and Christine doesn't "fux with vegans". What would be the point of reading about dead, rotting flesh soaking in different sauces?

Um, you so silly Juwon. Christine is hilarious. Everything she writes is awesome.

New bucket-list item: become Christine's friend.

I'm currently reading all of her posts and it truly is a great read for anyone who loves food. Do something nice for your inner-fatty!

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crush Part V

Jillian Harris of Jillianharris.com 

Most people who know me know that I am a former Bachelor addict (no I did not follow Sean's season. After Emily and Jef ended things, I decided a break was necessary. It still hurts too much).

I've been watching the show for years and while Emily turned out to be a pleasant surprise, my favorite bachelorette of all time is still Jillian Harris.

The Canadian cutie made me a fan because she seems like a cool gal. She came onto the Bachelor already established in her career and content with her life. I'm all about the girls in the world who don't expect men to complete them.

Now try not to hold the fact that she was on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette against her. Jillian's website was launched in the vein of Goop but I actually check hers out more frequently.

She has great interior decorating tips, yummy recipes and cool fashion tips. Personally my favorite part of her website are the photos of her and her friends and family. Jilly's a "Live Laugh Love" girl and her photos remind me to enjoy the life I have instead of moping about the things missing.

*Photos courtesy of JillianHarris.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crushes Part IV

Ashley Madekwe of Ring My Bell. 

Why do I read RingMyBell.com? Helloooooo, she's Ashley from Revenge people.

She's as pretty as a doll and she dresses the way I would dress if I weighed nothing and she's part-Nigerian so I'm supporting one of my people okay?

If you like fashion blogs, hers is a good one to check out. She pairs clothes in unexpected ways but she's not so avant-garde with her style that it's unwearable.

And she'll inspire even the biggest lover of flats (that would be me) to embrace heels and walk the streets like you're Naomi on a runway.

Sigh. Serious girl crush.

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crush Part III

Fabiola of Diary of a Third World Fashionista 

ThirdWorldFashionista.com is a blog I stumbled upon while I was procrastinating like a champ. I don't frequent lots of style blogs because I usually can't afford the clothes the girls are wearing but what's so amazingly awesome about Fabi is the fact that she sews most of the clothes she wears.

And they look fantastic.

Besides her boss skills behind a sewing machine, I find it comforting to read about another girl's struggles living in a third-world country.

Now let me make something clear: there are parts of Lagos that are like any other city in the states. People who live in Lekki, Victoria Island, things people take for granted until it's no longer available.

But I live in Alagbado.

We don't have those fun things in the boondocks and it can be a bit boring on my side of town. But Fabi, who lives in Honduras, would tell me to dress up, head to the market and have an impromptu photoshoot among the bootleg DVD stand.

Reading about her adventures in an underdeveloped country motivates me to take my lemons and make a tart yafeelme?

 Love her.

*Photos courtesy of Thirdworldfashionista.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crushes Part I.

The true test of whether I'm obsessed with a blog is if I read all the old posts. I have (sometimes more than once) with all of the blogs I'll be writing about in this series.

If I could invite anyone I wanted to a dinner party, these are some of the ladies that would be on my list. I not only love their blogs but I have a major girl crush on all of them as well.

Speaking of girl crushes, shout out to Jenna Marbles, an honorable mention on "my girl crush list". For those who don't understand the concept of a girl crush, I'mma let Jenna explain it.:

Are you schooled? Great. Shall we begin?

My Blog Girl Crushes: Laney Crowell of Downtownromantic.com

I first "met" Laney through her blog "Dating a Banker Anonymous". I followed her when she started FaLoMe.com which later became (Downtownromantic.com) because getting a glimpse into Laney's life was way too addictive to stop.

Laney frequents the restaurants you'd eat at, wears the clothes you'd buy, cooks the food you'd make and is the person you'd be if life was fair.

It's not by the way.

AND she's incredibly nice so you can't hate on her. She's kind of like to me what Gwyneth Paltrow is to Lainey (I'll get to her later). I trust her taste. I have actually emailed her before picking a venue for my birthday, before heading to LA for vacation and before moving to Nigeria. The crazy thing is, she gets back to me! How crazy is it that someone who is as busy as she is, takes the time to reply to an email sent by someone she's never even met?

 I'm a fan for life.

* All photos from Downtownromantic.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Ara by Brymo

So I'm totally that person who will listen to a new song, gush about that song and find out that "new song" was released two years ago.

Since I'm trying to transition into entertainment writing, I'm working on becoming the person who already listens to the music other people will be obsessing over in a year.

For now, I'm still that person gushing over that not so new song but for the sake of my non-Nigerian friends, I have to.

"Ara" by singer Brymo is currently my jam. I am LOVING this song and so is the rest of Lagos if the amount of times it's played on the radio, at parties, and on people's phones is any indication.

I actually discovered the original because of the remix (which is just as catchy in my opinion). Saeon was scheduled to perform during AMFW and I wanted to read up on her just in case I managed to snag an interview. I heard her version of "Ara" (which means Wonders) and fell in love.

"Ara" is Brymo's (real name Ashimi Olawale) first single under the label, Chocolate City and was released this past September.

Because I am a pathetic excuse for a Nigerian that doesn't know Yoruba, I have no idea what most of the lyrics actually mean. But no matter, it's still gooooood

Click here for the lyrics.

And here for Brymo's Wikipedia page.

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: The American Dream: An African Tale

Hey guys! I've been meaning to blog about this for months but my internet situation made it difficult. Since I'm in a hotel with awesome wifi, I'm taking advantage and uploading as many posts and vids as possible!


A few months ago, my sister Shola (the one who's a filmmaker) started interviewing Africans living in the United States about their experiences for a web series. The result is a honest and sometimes funny look into living in America as a foreigner, or in my case, a first generation American.


I recommend everyone check it out not only because Shola is my sister and I love her to pieces but because it's good to learn about other cultures; there's a whole world out there!


Episode one is below and the other episodes can be found here and you can listen to more from each interview, here.


Let me know what you guys think!
Episode 1: Olajuwon Ajayi from The UR4Africa Project on Vimeo.
The American Dream: An African Tale is a web series about the African experience in America.

Africans!
Share your stories with us!

Email us at:
ur4africa@gmail.com
or
info@theur4africaproject.org

Episode 2: http://vimeo.com/34386653

Geek Warning: This Is A Battlestar Galactica Post.

Look what I saw today on Facebook!

Aww, I miss BSG.


Sigh...


I'm rewatching the series again with my sister this time.


Of course she loves it.


During my EW interview, one of the editors asked me if I watched Caprica. I didn't. Should I? I just couldn't get it up for Caprica when it first premiered but maybe I'll try again.

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Urbanbushbabes.com

 

I am OBSESSED with my hair people. It's the healthiest relationship I have. I spend more time on my hair than I spend on any other part of my body because it's important to me that it's healthy.

Haha, I like how I just outed myself; "fuck exercising, my hair is more important".

But I'm sure I'm not the only woman (or man) that feels that way...

Anyway, I've been growing out my curly hair for almost two years now. I love going on Youtube and watching tutorials on ways to keep it moisturized, combat split ends and stuff like that. And I have a whole folder of pics of women called my "Hairspiration Box"(which I've written about before). Nothing motivates me more than seeing someone with a head of big hair.

That's why I'm loving Urbanbushbabes.com.I discovered the site after browsing besties Cipriana and Nikisha's hair videos on Youtube.

The two ladies write about their hair journeys, and give great tips on getting the best hair ever. EVER.

Both women take turns posting which is great because they have different hair types and therefore different hair regimens.

Cipriana and Nikisha aren't only rocking some enviable tresses, they are super-cute!

I love their style, I love their personalities, I love their site. Love love love.

Check it out and let me know what you think peeps : )

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: The Sookie Stackhouse Novels

In honor of the season 4 premiere of True Blood (thank you God) this Sunday, I decided to write a post on the book series the show is based on. I don’t give anything away so don’t worry about spoilers.

I happen to live with someone who happens to be a bigger book junkie than I could ever hope to be. She’s what I thought I’d become after a liberal arts education.

Because of her love of books, I have access to a pretty impressive book collection in the apartment. I need never visit a library again.

If you like southern gothic novels or if you like novels about vampires, you’ll love Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse Novels. They’re pretty awesome. No, they’re not going to win any points in literary circles but they’re written well in my opinion, with lively characters, funny dialogue and rich story-lines.

I’m going to refrain from stating they are better than the Twilight series. The two novels are obviously for different readers. So I’ll put it this way:

The Sookie Stackhouse Novels are what readers graduate to after the Twilight trilogy. In other words, the Sookie Stackhouse novels are not for kids.

Would you let a 13 yr old watch True Blood? Exactly.

While I think HBO did a pretty good job with the show, I prefer the novels so much more which isn’t surprising since most adaptations suck (no pun intended) in comparison to the books they are adapted from.

What’s my favorite thing about the books? The heroine, Sookie Stackhouse.

I love the fact that Sookie is a pretty normal, modern female. Yeah, she’s got some fairy in her but she’s not a kickass slayer who can kill a vampire without blinking and she isn’t this weak, helpless little thing that doesn’t grow a pair until she becomes a vampire.

She’s a human (in all 11 books) who makes mistakes but doesn’t let the supernatural people in her life (vampire, werewolves, shifters, weretigers) control her.

While I enjoyed reading the Twilight series (I never felt the need to analyze it; that’s like trying to find meaning in a Kesha song), the main character’s dependence on the boys in her life irked the hell out of me. Then again, Stephanie Meyer’s heroine is only 18. She’s insecure and needy but hey, weren’t we all when we were teenagers?

Anyway, I also think the books are just funny as hell. They’re entertaining, sexy and smart without being pretentious. They’re pretty much everything that makes True Blood so popular (two more days people)!



If you love the show, read the books.

Not Mandatory but Freaking Good: Santigold

Okay so this is old news by now but I don't really care. Raise your hand if you know who Santigold (formerly Santogold) is.

If you don't know who she is, that's okay. If it wasn't for Pandora.com, I wouldn't know who she was either.

I personally have never been one of those cool people who just have an ear for new music. My ass is still jamming to music from the 90s.

Anyway, Santigold is this amazing amazing AMAZING singer/songwriter who has been rocking my world since I moved to New York. Her sound is a little funky and most of her music will make you want to dance. But to be honest, I haven't heard a song I didn't like.

Bottom line, her music is gooooood.

I'm excited for her because she was recently signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation management. Now Santigold has the opportunity to reach even more people with her music which is great because some of the music being released right now stinks worse than a diaper left out in the sun.

I can't wait to hear some new music from her but until then, check out SOME of my favorite Santigold songs.











It's that serious people.

The Pretty Reckless: Pretty Good.

I like to pride myself on being impartial. I try not to pass judgment if I don't know the whole story. If everyone says a movie sucks, I have to watch it before I can agree.

So you would think I'd actually listen to the band TPR's music before deciding I hate them. But I found lead singer Taylor Momsen so annoying in interviews, I didn't bother.

Well yesterday, I went to their website to listen to some songs. I loved all of them. It's not life-altering music but it's pretty good.

There I said it.

Check out The Pretty Reckless.

Not Mandatory but Freaking Good: Water for Elephants

Have you guys read this book? My roommate Amber let me take it to Nigeria and thank God for her; my sleep schedule didn't change for about two weeks so I spent the first couple of nights reading Water for Elephants before heading to bed.

Sara Gruen's novel is the story of Jacob, a 93 year old man who joined a traveling circus during the Great Depression.

While the novel didn't rock my world, it was a great and entertaining read so I recommend it.

I'm sure I can't imagine all the ways the film is going to suck in comparison.

Books Will Never Go Out of Style

I read this interesting opinion piece about book covers and I thought I'd share it with my readers.

What say you people?

I've never given book covers much thought. I consider the removable ones (that usually cover hardcovers) annoying.

But I can close my eyes and the image of my favorite book pops up. I guess it means more than I originally thought.

I've been talking to people about living in a world where books don't exist for years. Call me an optimist but I don't think that time will ever come. Like Bob Greene mentioned, at the very worst, books will be what old records are to some music enthusiasts. I know a Kindle could never replace a book for me. It doesn't have the smell I love, It doesn't betray its age the way a book does.

It's not the freaking same.

Sure I guess it would be more convenient to carry the electronic reading machine thingy around. Especially on the subway. But I would take the slight discomfort of a book's bulk over an electronic one any day.

But that''s just me.

Quote It

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."
Santiago.

Why is a Good Question.

My sister posted a fantastic article on her blog about women in Nigeria getting shit done.

I'd love for you guys to read her post and the article.

You'll be hearing a lot from Shola Ajayi in the future and I'm super proud : )

More to come...

xoxo,

Juwon

Not Mandatory but Freaking Good: Diary of an Unpaid Intern

As many of you know, I was born and raised in Florida but I’m Nigerian. My parents were born and raised in Nigeria and I went to secondary school there.

So I’m an American Nigerian, a hybrid, a cultural mutt.

Anyway, I thank God every day for the path I’ve been on. I often feel like things changed for me when I attended Home Science Secondary School.

Going to school in Nigeria was one of the best experiences of my life because I met some of the most amazing, intelligent, driven people. These people – my peers – challenged me to do better in every aspect of my life and represent not only myself and my family but Nigeria with everything I do.

ANYWAY, I want to start writing about some of the blogs and websites I frequent. I know I don’t always get super personal in my posts but I feel you can tell a lot about a person by what they read.

One of the blogs I read happens to belong to my fellow classmate and friend Neefemi (Betty pictured above). Her blog Diary of an Unpaid Intern is awesome. Now let me tell you why:

If you’re anything like me, you’re not exactly in the know when it comes to music (still listening to the same stuff from middle school). I have to be led to the water because I’m not going to find it on my own. Thankfully I’m more well rounded musically thanks to Pandora, Perez Hilton and Diary of an Unpaid Intern.

Music Mondays have reintroduced me to the classics and exposed me to music I wouldn’t have access to because I’m too lazy to find it on my own.

With Diary of an Unpaid Intern, people are bound to discover music outside of their usual tastes. I listen to Dolly Parton now. Yes, Diary of an Unpaid Intern introduced me to someone I used to associate with triple Ds and peroxide.

And I wouldn’t listen to Nigerian music at all if not for her blog and that would be a shame because most artists from Naija are freaking talented.

By the way, Neefemi wrote a great article on Nigerian artist Banky Wellington for Angonemi.com. Check it out.

Besides her ear for good music, Neefemi’s posts are bravely honest. I love her candid talk on everything from boys to being independent to friendship. She’s not pretentious; she calls it like she sees it and her observations are spot on and hilarious. I feel like she lets her readers in and tells us what’s on her mind. She shares her life with us; the good days, the bad days, the random thoughts, the poetry she wrote in the middle of the night, excerpts from the book she’s working on.

So Diary of an Unpaid Intern is one of the blogs I frequent often and I’m suggesting you guys check it out for a peek into the life of a young, independent, Nigerian woman who’s making shit happen.

That is all.

R.I.P J.D. Salinger

Here's a terrific article written by the New York Times about the The Catcher in the Rye author.