Independent of the discussion re Shakur's guilt and what she deserves, it was interesting to me that you frame her life as consisting of "hanging out on a beach in the tropics". Like, where did that come from? Do you think that all people who live on islands in the Caribbean just spend their days hanging out on…

I have no idea who Lil B the Based God is, but every time he shows up in Tweet Beat, I fall in love with him a little bit.

Fair enough. I can understand that.

As soon as I saw the headline I thought of this album, and was going to going to post this very image, but you beat me to it. This was one of my mum's fave records.

I get the point of your initial rhetorical question now, but (please don't take this the wrong way) sometimes on Jez (and probably in life in general), it's better to come right out and explicitly make the point you're trying to get at, so you don't have to keep re-explaining what you meant. Unless you don't mind…

Hello, fellow Bajan! I grew up around the coast (near Oistins) myself, used to go to the beach pretty much every weekend, took swimming classes for 5 years at the convent and still didn't learn to swim properly until I decided to take an adult swim class in my early 20s. And I made that choice because I totally agree…

I think that it has to do with being brought up to believe that the sea is dangerous (old Bajan saying: "the sea ain't got no back door", which is to say, that you might go into the sea and never find your way out) so children are generally not encouraged to venture into it to a depth where they can't comfortably…

One of her relatives (aunt, I think) works with me, and was telling me a few months ago about her relative who was a swimmer prepping (in the long term) for the 2016 Olympics. I had never heard of her before that, but I got so excited when I saw this news and made the connection. Well done Alia! Caribbean girls run…

I have listened to that Yuna song about a hundred times since I first clicked the link. It is so much yes. Thanks for introducing me to it.

Being a bit pedantic, but you mean "bricklayer" (as in a person who lays bricks) as opposed to "brick layer" (a layer/sheet of bricks), I think. I saw you give the "brick layer" example in another thread and was a bit confused until I read on and realized what you meant.

That wasn't what I asked.

So are you assuming that when Stewart says people don't want to talk to famous actors, by "people" she means "men"?

Not sure what geography knowledge has to do with it, but I don't doubt that what you describe is the case in some countries. Speaking specifically for the country I'm from, in the Caribbean, the literacy rate is over 90%, and international adoption isn't a thing, so what you describe isn't an issue. A fair amount of…

I think that in a lot of countries what are called "orphanages" are better thought of as "children's home" (which is what they called them where I'm from). So it's not necessarily that the kids are orphans or necessarily up for adoption, it's that their parents are, for whatever reason (lack of money, physical or…

I read somewhere a while ago that Meghan Trainor is a fan of soca music, and writes soca as well. Ever since then I've been apprehensively anticipating her attempt at a soca track. It was a relief that "Lips Are Movin" wasn't it.

I had the same thought. I was like, Meh, the suit isn't that hard to pull off, but to accessorize it with jellies (or shoes that look a lot like jellies), now that's a bold move.

Ha, Osho. I heard of him for the first time this year. An acquaintance posted snippets of some of his quotes on Tumblr, and I was like, "Oh, those sound thoughtful and interesting." So I read up a little more on/by him, and was like, "What the hell, hell no, ugh." Enough said about that. If you don't mind my asking,…

Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" was a real joy to read (never thought I'd say that about a book about physics). However, my interest having been piqued, I tried to read other things about quantum physics and made neither head nor tail of them. I should just reread TEU. And some Osho, I guess.

Tangentially related anecdote: when I was little, my mom wanted me to marry Machel Montano when I grew up. This was back when he was singing stuff like "Too Young to Soca" and she just thought he was the cutest thing ever.

No, you're right. The Before All Else or whatever is a back-formation, but bae is just short for babe or baby or babes.