Twitter – Angelica Wallingford

Justin Timberlake’s ’20/20 Experience’: Not worth the seven-year wait

After seven long years away from the music industry Justin Timberlake decided it was time to hang up his actors’ hat, slip on a tuxedo and get back in the studio with his longtime collaborators and some new ones, to give us his long awaited new album. Sounds like a recipe for an amazing album right? Well, think again.

In early 2013 Timberlake hinted at a comeback on his Twitter account by releasing a tweet that said “I think I’M READY,” along with a link to a YouTube video of him walking into a studio explaining why he hasn’t released anything in so long. In the video he said that he didn’t want to release anything that he doesn’t love. After months of recording, “The 20/20 Experience” was finally released on March 18. For his newest album, Timberlake took on the role of executive producer and head songwriter.

The main problem I have with the album is that some of the music tracks sounds like a complete rehash of Timbaland’s other work. At times it could feel like your listening to “FutureSex/LoveSounds” or “Shock Value II” rather then Timberlake’s newest release. On top of that, some of the songs, like “Spaceship Coupe,” easily sound like they could be a Robin Thicke song.

Then there are the lyrics. Timberlake is a pretty good songwriter that is responsible for some of the catchiest hooks in pop music. However, some of the lyrics are corny and border on literary porn. The most blatant use of these types of lyrics is the song “Strawberry Bubblegum,” which appears to be a metaphor of some kind for a woman’s vagina. In the song, Timberlake sings the lines “your mouth emotion gets me so high” and “we’re making love like professionals.” Wait a minute: professionals? What does that even mean? No passion with a contractual agreement? No one would want to be apart of that, no matter who was singing it.

Another thing that I didn’t initially like was that most of the songs are extended mixes that are seven to eight minutes long. The perfect example of this is the opening track “Pusher Love Girl.” That song could have ended at the 4-minute fifty-four second mark and be a really strong opener but then the song goes into this remix like breakdown. This however, is a very minor flaw that listeners will get use to after listening to the album a lot.

All those cons being said, this is actually a decent album. It’s not Timberlake’s best release, but it’s far from his worst. The one thing that I absolutely love about this album is that it’s not a straightforward pop album. As soon as I heard of his comeback I thought he was going for a pop sound, like many people did. I was wrong and this was one instance where I’m glad I was. There are influences from all across the musical spectrum. The mixture of old school ‘60s R&B;, ‘70s funk, neo-soul, hip-hop, jazz, pop and much more make this album worth listening to. The album stays away from any of the cliché dubstep bass lines and other EDM musical styles, which is a nice change up since that seems to be the norm for pop artists today. There are also a lot of artistic influences on the album as well, such as Prince, Quincy Jones, and Michael Jackson. The flow on this album is another thing that I liked. It makes going from one track to another almost seamless, even with the typical four-second gap time. His voice is also a major plus. Each song compliments his tenor voice almost perfectly, which makes for pretty sweet ear candy.

Highlights include the first single “Suit & Tie,” the high energy Timbaland produced “Tunnel Vision,” the raw soulful throwback “That Girl,” the Latin influenced track “Let the Groove In,” the minimalist track “Blue Ocean Floor,” and the sweet shout out to his wife “Mirrors.” The worst track on the album has to be “Don’t Hold the Wall.”

Even with its flaws “The 20/20 Experience” has a more mature and grown-up sound then Timberlake’s previous releases, manages to stay true to his artistic aesthetic and makes for an interesting listening experience that his longtime fans will love.

“The 20/20 Experience” is available in stores and on iTunes.

Originally published in City Times, April 2013.

Former City College student dies fighting for ISIS

A former San Diego City College student died in Syria fighting for the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS, federal authorities announced.

According to various news outlets, the White House confirmed the death of Douglas McAuthur McCain on Aug. 26.

“We are aware of U.S. citizen Douglas McAuthur McCain’s presence in Syria and can confirm his death,” said a statement from Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.

It was reported by KARE 11 news, a CNN affiliate, that he was killed during a confrontation between ISIS and the Free Syrian Army.

It was also confirmed that McCain attended City College for a period of time.

“The San Diego Community College District has confirmed that Douglas McAuthur McCain previously attended San Diego City College,” Heidi Bunkowske, San Diego City College’s public information officer, said via email.

However, how long he attended the college or whether he graduated cannot be confirmed or released due to a district policy not to disclose student information.

“Typically, the district policy is not to disclose student information. But in this case, the decision to do so was made because McCain had already posted it to Facebook,” Bunkowske said.

McCain, 33, was born in Illinois, raised in Minnesota and eventually settled in San Diego. His uncle, Ken McCain, told CNN that after practicing Christianity for a number of years, he became a follower of Islam, and on May 14, he posted on Twitter, “I reverted to Islam 10 years ago and I must say In sha Allah I will never look back the best thing that ever happened to me.”

It is not known how McCain got involved with ISIS, but starting in early May, he began tweeting and re-tweeting pro-ISIS ideals and sentiments.

“Your irrelevant opinion won’t change Sharia,” one re-tweet on McCain’s twitter page stated. Another re-tweet by McCain from Twitter user Ismael patel stated, “It takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for ISIS.”

KARE 11 news also reported that McCain’s family was notified of his death by the State Department on Aug. 25.

Originally published in City Times, August 2014.

A new vision for City College

New City College President Anthony Beebe held his first convocation for faculty, staff and administrators Aug. 14 at the Saville Theatre.

The convocation day started with breakfast on the patio of the theater for the attendees, who then quickly convened inside the theater to await the start of the program.

Before Beebe took the stage, there were welcome remarks and commentary from Vice President of Instruction Randy Barnes, Board of Trustees President Rich Grosch, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Guild, Local 1931, President Jim Mahler and San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll.

Carroll talked about numerous changes at City over the past year, such as receiving millions of dollars to invest in the college, the opening of the Arts and Humanities and Business Technology buildings, the school’s budget and the hiring of 92 new faculty members.

“Our district has hired 92 new faculty positions, 24 positions at City … We’ve also been hiring new classified staff members mostly in student services and facilities management,” Carroll said.

After a quick introduction from Carroll about Beebe’s long career in education and community service, the man of the hour took the stage.

Beebe’s speech consisted of what he called “elements for a new vision,” which included a list of four points — advancing social change and civility, increasing access and completion, transitioning the adult learner and building community connections — with a majority of the speech focusing on the first point, and not only about improving City College itself, but the students who attend here, as well.

“Community colleges were founded on social justice issues. City College has local relevance to the community here; we’re not just a generic milquetoast community college here in San Diego,” Beebe said. “… Our community has social issues. City College needs to be involved in framing the community solutions to those social problems.”

His speech then shifted to the privilege of having an education and the importance of helping those who are less privileged in the community.

“We are privileged because we are educated … If you look at the world’s population of 7.2 billion people, 6.7 percent of that population has a degree or has been educated. By our very nature, we are presaged because of that component. Now do we potentially each have oppressions, as well? Absolutely, but we have a privilege, and because we have privilege, we have a duty and a responsibility to help the less privileged among us,” Beebe said as the audience’s applause filled the theater.

He went on to cite the 1970s book “Education of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire as a foundation for his ideas for City and encouraged the audience to read or re-read the book for its significance.

Accompanying his speech, Beebe had a slideshow presentation that included a slide that said he will have an “open door policy,” meaning that no appointments are necessary for staff, faculty and students to visit and speak with him; a mailbox where people can send suggestions anonymously; and a Twitter account to keep people up to date with the goings-on at City.

Beebe’s speech concluded with a clip from the film “Dead Poets Society,” in which the late Robin Williams asks his students, “What will your verse be?” The answer that Beebe gave was that he believes City’s verse will be strongly related to social justice issues.

Concluding the program were remarks from Berta Harris and Yvonne Schmeltz, presidents of the Academic Senate and Classified Senate, respectively, a video tribute for new faculty and retirees, and presentations from Dotti Cordell, director of Student Health Services, and Denise Whisenhunt, vice president of Student Services.

Faculty and staff later gathered in Gorton Quad for Beebe’s official welcome party.

Originally published in City Times, August 2014.