That Time Of Year Again...

So has anyone seen the new cover of Ebony magazine? Whitney Houston is on it and all I can say is Wow! She looks so good. I take back every laugh I uttered when someone said a Whitney/ crack joke. Um...except the MadTV sketches, because come on, ya'll know those were hilarious. Here take a look:

And in other news: Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" hits theaters September 11th. You know me, I already have a problem with this movie.

First: it bears the same name as his stage play. Yet the two have nothing to do with each other. So why Tyler Perry? Why? I mean could you not think up a better name for this movie. See for me saying, "I can do bad all by myself" conjures up a picture of a woman who finally has the strength to leave her no good man. Right? Well this movie is all about a woman, a nightclub singer, who is really selfish. She is forced by (who else?) Madea to take care of her niece and nephews and then a Mexican immigrant she is letting live in her basement teaches her to open her heart. Huh? Yeah, I got lost myself, it was the Mexican immigrant that did it for me.

And I loved Hustle & Flow, but I didn't realize Taraji P. Henson could really sing. I mean she can hold a note, but can she BLOW? See here I go again. I'm not hating, I promise. It's just that I didn't know she was a good enough singer to play a singer in a movie. Well let me hold off on the negativity until I actually see the movie.

Okay, now I love the fact that Tyler Perry is producing movies and plays that give black actors work. I love it, I do. BUT...the inconsistencies and repetitions in his movies and plays, work my nerves! That said, I'll be going to see it with my cousin, taking mental notes and getting on her nerves. She is a HUGE Tyler Perry supporter and all the things that bother me don't affect her at all. In fact she accuses me of killing the moment for her. Can you imagine?

End of Summer...But I'm Back!!!

So, I was finished with blogging because I started it for a class, then the class ended. I got a B. Just...a B. Kind of sucks because I'm better than that. (I am NOT as responsible and goal oriented as I sound, but I'm trying.) Anyway, a couple of people made a comment about checking in on my blog and I knew I needed to write something. I mean it's not like my brain is ever silent. So....


Summer T.V. is lame. I mean, the networks couldn't find ONE BLACK SHOW to put on? Just for the summer? Why? I've been living off of The Wendy Williams Show (I love it, it's different and, thank God, it's NOT Tyra!!!) Criminal Minds, and Law & Order: SVU. Oh, sitcoms? WHAT SITCOMS? How I Met Your Mother? They have no Black people on that show and OK, neither did Friends, but Friends was funny and the chemistry was INSANE. How I Met Your Mother, puh-lease! Just tell us who the mother is, already! And I rarely watch this show, so I wonder how fans feel about this?


Here's my pet peeve. The black shows that they do have on television: HAVE NO FRESH FACES. All or most of the actors are people we have seen before. It seems like the networks need guarantees that people are going to watch black shows. I mean in the 80's and 90's there were all of these break out hits. And the shows would only have one or two established actors. 227, Amen, Living Single, A Different World, The Cosby Show, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The networks do not want to take a chance on Black actors, especially not young undiscovered black actors. And say what you want about UPN, but at least they put the shows on.


The talent is out there, please do something. A girl cannot live off of cable reruns alone.

Can't forget that Aaliyah, the R&B singer actress, died 8 years ago today. Still love her music and I really wish she were still alive. Someone needs to push Beyonce off this throne people are putting her on. Is anyone else suffering from Beyonce overload? Sorry, this was not to rant about Beyonce. Aaliyah, who made that swoop famous, is missed. Especially by me a true R&B listener. So go listen to Are You That Somebody? or If Your Girl Only Knew in her honor.

Mostly Gossip

So Martin Lawrence is going to be launching some new shows. One is an adaptation of a British comedy about a family living in a funeral home. Another is based on comedian Gary Owen's stand up, about an interracial couple. The last show is an animated series based on growing up in D.C. It features him and one of the producers of The Boondocks. So that should be good.

Wait, what happened to The Boondocks, anyway? They have super long breaks in between new seasons and I miss them. All of them, Huey, Riley, Robert, Jazmine, A Pimp Named Slickback. It's bad enough that I can no longer read the comic strip in the Daily News... Okay, fine, The Boondocks will be back later this year. That seems so far away…

And here goes the gossip. So Usher and his wife are getting a divorce. And instead of Usher being a gentleman and just citing irreconcilable differences, his people are making it seem that his wife (they're not divorced, yet) and the mother of his children may have cheated on him. Well, finally Tameka (or rather her friend speaks out.) She puts the rumors to rest in an interview with Essence, including what really happened in Brazil. Not that I believe that Tameka was on vacation and “spur of the moment” decided to have plastic surgery and then had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia. I mean, seriously plastic surgery in South America? And you have 5 kids? Be serious, everyone thinks that through. But I say good for her. They did it old school, your ex is saying craziness, you get your homegirl to get a few people in your court. Keeping silent and being a martyr is no fun. Tameka must have some dirt on him, because his lawyers were requesting that any journals she may have kept be turned over to them. What kind of craziness is this? Anyway, if these two cannot act like adults and get a divorce and do the joint custody thing quietly with a little dignity, well I'll have fun finding out all about it. And yes it is possible to get a divorce and be cordial. Look at Babyface and Tracey, Russell and Kimora. People do it all the time, especially when there are kids involved. Grow up!

Chris Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting up his ex girlfriend, Rihanna, (well we assume they are no longer together.) He got 5 years probation and has been ordered to stay at least 50 yards away from her. Unless they're at a public event and then he has to stay 10 yards away from her. He also has to do 180 days of community service or 180 days in prison. We know which one he'll be picking (he is too cute to go to jail.) I respect him for pleading not guilty. He did the crime and he owned up to that. I know he has advisors and people telling him what to do, but he could've pleaded not guilty. I know I would have, (Your honor, I don't know how that ended up in my car. Surveillance camera? Oh, no that's not me!) Anyway...I'll be back, soon. Ta-ta.

Our Generation Needs A School Daze...

I hate watching T.V. with my father because he watches everything made within the last 5 years, with open disdain. Our commercial breaks are filled with: "Melinda, ya'll don't know good television. These shows are so corny." He shakes his head. I roll my eyes. "OK, daddy" Typical father/daughter moment.

But lately I have been watching TV One (a black owned cable network, that plays old shows that would have been forgotten) and after cracking up over Martin and Cole trying to fight some midgets I have to say, my father is right. The quality of sitcoms (what little are left) is not the same. There's no chemistry between the actors, the storylines are lame, and the rest of the content seems so watered down. I mean old shows took it there. Watch All in the Family, Sandford & Son, Good Times, or The Jeffersons. They used a lot of words and storylines that are not "PC". But what we have forgotten is that the real world is NOT politically correct. People are not PC. We do, say and think things that may offend our hairdressers, cab drivers and neighborhood grocers. Television doesn't always have to reflect the world we want to live in, it should show the world we DO live in.

Movies make me cry. And not in a "I wrote to you everyday for a year" The Notebook kind of way. It's more of a Oh, look another Tyler Perry movie is coming out...I guess I'll go and watch School Daze on Youtube. Seriously, where have all the Black movies gone? I mean where is John Singleton? I need a new millennium Spike Lee to come out with a Do The Right Thing type of movie, that's going to make me think and feel. I want to get mad in the movie theater, leave with a new favorite saying, and replay the movie in my head over and over because it was so good.

Sigh. Well until then, I'll be Youtubing it some more. Today: Devil In A Blue Dress. Tomorrow: He Got Game. Sensing a theme? Old Denzel movies...

YouTubing it!

So, my new passion is YouTube. I love it. I think I may have been the last person to jump on the YouTube bandwagon. People were constantly coming up to me asking me if I had seen some video post or if I've heard about new singer on YouTube. And I would always respond with "Who? Oh, I don't watch YouTube." I would ALWAYS get a shocked look, followed by "Girl, you need to get on that."

So I did. And I LOVE it! I mean, not only can I catch up on General Hospital but I can watch old shows, like Living Single and In The House. People post movies, and when I don't have $10 to spend on a movie or waste (I will be watching Obsessed, real soon), there's someone on YouTube always ready to help me out.

Lately I have been subscribing to regular people who have a webcam and to much time on their hands. Hilarious. Especially the man with the leotard who dances to Beyonce's Single Ladies. People rant and rave about the craziest things!

YouTube is also good to listen to new albums and then decide if you want to buy it. By the way Keri Hilson has some good songs on her new album, A Perfect World. Sometimes it's hit or miss, but there are some very talented people out there in the world.

For my next post: Watching YouTube on my Blackberry Storm. Just another one of my forays into 2009.

Catching Up!

So I caught the Making the Band Reunion episode and I can not believe this season got me. Again. I had given up reality shows. I dropped all the "Love" shows on VH1, I refused to get sucked into the madness that I Love Money and For the Love of Ray J both were. (I've seen a couple of episodes of each. Yeah I slipped up, I AM human.) I haven't seen The Hills, and I had resolved to watch only scripted shows. (Giving much love to writers like myself, not that The Hills isn't scripted, but...I digress.) So my best friend told me that I had to watch the newest season of Making the Band, but with me being a Danity Kane fan, and with them being disbanded I felt there was no reason to watch. But with Que's tantrum's I was SO wrong!

According to Que, there were "things" he was dealing with that weren't shown on the show. On his Twitter, he would always tweet things like about the evils of MTV's editing. So, I wonder what did they leave out? Did Que apologize to the group for acting like a little punk? Did he finally come clean about what he was dealing with? Somehow I doubt it.

D. Woods decided to blog about her experience on the reunion show and about being in the group in general. It was basically a bunch of gibberish, with clichés, and ghetto spasms. She says she will see us again once she "emerges from the constraints of smoke and mirrors." Huh? Did she drink the Kool Aid? Wait she signed with Bad Boy and thought she would go somewhere. Of course she drank it.

THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH REALITY SHOWS!!! If you have something to say, just say it! The reason why the Danity Kane breakup was so confusing was because, DK acted like they were all for one and one for all. When they had a problem (excluding Aubrey, because she ALWAYS seemed to have something going on) they stuck together. At least that's what the viewers were lead to believe. They kept their problems to themselves and obviously didn't talk about the issues, no one could fake the look of confusion on Aundrea and Dawn's faces when they found out no one else would be returning.

My advice: When on a reality show or in real life, speak the truth at all times and say it loud! No one likes a martyr who suffers in silence.

In Other Entertainement News

In other entertainment news: Ashton Kutcher reached 1,000,000 followers on Twitter, while yours truly is struggling to hit 20, but I only need four more! (Sad, I know, moving on.)
Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from The Cosby Show) is slated to have her own reality show on Oxygen, (anyone care? There go those crickets chirping.) Stop with the reality shows, people. Please!
Jamie Foxx told Miley Cyrus to do a sex tape. Wait, what? Calm down, he was just joking and he later apologized. I'm not a Hannah Montana fan, and when I heard it I thought it just meant that he wanted her star to burn out and for her to fade into obscurity. Other people were outraged, saying, "She's a child!" and "How would he feel if someone said that about his daughter?" I say, lighten up. And all those people who are so outraged and disappointed, Miley is not that innocent. Think about what YOU were doing at 16. Yeah. I thought so.

No More Danity Kane

So on last night's episode of Making the Band 4, we finally found out what was happening with Danity Kane. Diddy told Aundrea and Dawn that he would be releasing everyone from their contracts. Everyone except Dawn that is.

Now a person with a conspiracy theory would suggest that this was Dawn's plan all along. Become apart of a girl group. Check. Make up the name of the group, therefore solidifying your place as the most creative member of the group. Check. Smile and be the nicest. Check. Make Day 26 fans love you by dating one of the members of that group. Check. Get in tight with Diddy by doing a few demos for him. Check. Stay cool, while the other girls are fighting and questioning Diddy's authority, without being boring or forgetful like Shannon. Check. When the group disbands be sad and a little confused. Check. Pull a Beyonce or Diana Ross and become a solo act. Check!

Diddy said that the only one he would want to work with in the future was Dawn, Aundrea left the group (when? i must have missed that one) because she didn't feel comfortable with the other girls and Diddy no longer trusts her. And of course, we have not seen Aubrey, D. Woods, or Shannon since last season so whatever they have to say, hopefully they'll bring it to the media.

Now if there was no Cassie (you know, the chick that shaved off half her hair last week? *Eyeroll*) one might suggest that Dawn and Diddy were getting something poppin' off camera. Especially since her boyfriend Que has since gone off his meds and proceeds to rant and rave whenever he gets screen time. However, Dawn has never given off a sleazy-I'm down for whatever-I NEED TO BE FAMOUS vibe, so until the other former members of Danity Kane release a tell-all book or movie, I say Dawn was just ambitious. She was handed an opportunity and she squeezed whatever she could out of Mr. I'll take 90% off the top, that is, Bad Boy's founder. I mean, Dawn has been writing music, she has a comic book, and a song with Que. There was no being idle for this New Orleans girl. And I applaud her for that.

Stimulus Plan

I remember when I was a kid my aunt would babysit me and my cousins during the summer. She would take us to the closest public school and we would play in the park and eat the free lunch. The stimulus plan is going to give $100 million for free lunch programs. Maybe they should double that number, because those public school lunches have their off days. Free lunch saved about $20 a week on food, that was about $160 for the summer on lunch that my parents saved. So I'm definitely thinking about grabbing one of my little cousins and taking them to get free lunch this summer. We college students could stand to save some money.

More importantly existing public transportation systems are getting $750 million. All I know is that New York, which has to have the biggest public transit system in the country, should be getting a nice chunk of that money. Which better mean that the MetroCard prices will be decreasing in the near future. Doesn't seem likely, but... Gas prices went way down. So I'll still keep hope alive. I would also like to take this time to publicly call out the Brooklyn Bridge station. It is one of the most disgusting stations I have ever had to wait for a train. It's dirty, and when it rains it's wet and dirty. And to top it off the smell is offensive. I feel contaminated whenever I'm there. So MTA, please use the money to invest in some industrial size Febreze.

Lead paint can cause very serious problems in children, and $100 million will go to removing lead paint from public housing. It is especially harmful to children under 6, and can cause hearing loss, stunted growth, delayed development, and system damage. It almost seems impossible that there are still places with lead paint after all the information that we know about the effects it has on the body.

This stimulus plan will help everyone and not just those in a certain tax bracket. Yay!

Isn't this ironic?

Remember when Oprah, opened The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa? I remember thinking, Wow! Oprah's opening a school...In South Africa? Isn't she from Mississippi? What about opening an American school? Oprah's response to that very question was:

"Say what you will about the American educational system — it does work. ... If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education. ... I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. ... If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod, sneakers, or some money. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

I hate general comments like this. Not ALL kids only want iPods, sneakers or money. Some do want an education. And how does Oprah know that those kids don't need sneakers? I mean, maybe they outgrew the pair they had. Maybe they needed money to keep the lights on at home. *Sigh*

Anyway, that was not where I was trying to go with this. I found a soapbox to preach on and I seem to have gotten off track. There has been another incident at the Leadership Academy. Seven girls were suspended for sexual harassment and their parents received a letter that included the following:

"You have been found guilty of physical contact of a sexual nature with another pupil on campus, harassment, bullying other girls on campus and of being dishonest by not telling investigators the whole truth."

See? See? Okay, I am in no way happy about this or condoning this sort of behavior, but this proves that there's always something going on. You can travel to South Africa, Antarctica, France, Bed-Stuy, or the West Side and you will find something that "kids" do that will make you shake your head in disgust. Now what, Oprah?

What happened to the Black T.V. Family?

The Game. Everybody Hates Chris. House of Payne. Meet the Browns. These are the only Black sitcoms on television right now and House of Payne and Meet the Browns are shown on cable (reruns of House of Payne are shown on My 9). Of these four Black shows only two of them involve a traditional family with two parents and their children. Let me say that I applaud shows that show the friendships between singles in the city and those that focus on single parents making a living for their children. But... I liked The Cosby Show and I'm proud of that. I think we have gotten so caught up in making sure everyone is represented, that the Black family has been left out.

I applaud Everybody Hates Chris because it shows two hardworking parents, Rochelle and Julius, taking care of their children, Chris, Drew, and Tonya. Their children go to school to get an education and their father works two jobs to make sure they have more than enough to get by. Rochelle always goes to bat for her children while always keeping them in line. There's always a message that isn't shoved down your throat and is delivered with humor. They deserve an Emmy or a Golden Globe. At least an honorable mention.

And then we have Tyler Perry's House of Payne. A family of four, C.J., Janine, Malik, and Jazmine, is forced to move in with their aunt and uncle after Janine burns down the family's house to collect the insurance money. Besides the fact that this show is very mildly amusing at its best and unbelievably not funny at its worst (which is usually the case), Janine burns down the house because she has put the family in dept because of her crack addiction. Crack, as in cocaine, as in drugs, as in she has a serious drug problem. Now usually a drug problem is a very special episode of a sitcom followed by a public service announcement delivered by the cast at the end of the show. But not House of Payne, its main storyline revolves around the drug use and eventual rehabilitation of a wife and mother of two. The rest of the family slowly moves on, but not without jokes at her expense and occasional tripsto the crack house. However, if the show were funny this would be a guilty pleasure, but since it's not I have the pleasure of complaining about it.

I, like most people, watch television and hope for a glimpse of myself. I grew up with two parents, neither of whom were on drugs, so I admit to hoping to watch a family somewhat like mine. This is why I love Everybody Hates Chris. As for House of Payne, well don't take my word for it, it comes on TBS on Wednesdays at 8pm and on My 9 on Mondays-Fridays at 7:00pm and 7:30pm, so watch for yourself. But don't blame me when you find yourself getting restless and doing something more interesting, like watching paint dry.

And in an update on the Queen Pen/Rocsi altercation: apparently Rocsi had been sleeping with Premier Michael Misick. Misick is married to actress LisaRaye. LisaRaye and Queen Pen are friends, so I guess Queen Pen took it upon herself to deal out justice. Good for you Queen Pen.

Mary J. Blige in the new Tyler Perry Film

So apparently Mary J. Blige is playing the lead role in Tyler Perry's film adaptation of his play, I Can Do Bad By Myself. I love Mary J. Blige's music. I have all her albums (well except the travesty that is Love & Life, but we'll pretend that one doesn't exist) and as a singer she can make you go through a range of emotions. Hopefully she will get an acting coach and try to bring all of that emotion to the big screen. Hopefully. When I heard the news I got all panicky inside and thought about Mary's past experiences as an actress. I can only pray that she has evolved since 2001's Prison Song and that one episode of the Jamie Foxx show. But since I don't believe in putting people in boxes and I do believe in people being multi-talented, I'll just say we'll see. Perhaps her acting talents have come a long way. Much like Beyonce's. (Anyone remember Carmen Jones: A Hip Hopera?)

In keeping with the BET updates, I can gleefully report that Rocsi from 106 & Park was hit with a drink (glass included) by the rapper Queen Pen. Unfortunately that has not stopped her from continuing to contaminate my television, but you take what you can get...

I Think I'm Allergic To BET!

BET has reality shows. Bad reality shows. Why? Because everyone else does it. BET takes shows that are already on the air and just adds chocolate. Don't believe me? Here are a few examples.

MTV had Laguna Beach, then a few years later BET came out with Baldwin Hills. It's bad enough that we have to listen to the scripted whines of spoiled rich kids, but Baldwin Hills is a bad scripted version of that show, with their over the top dramatics and the forgetting of their lines (yeah we can tell) it's a little much.

American Idol becomes the biggest T.V show in history and BET launches Sunday Best, a search for the next gospel singer. Puh-lease.

BET also produced College Hill, a Real World meets A Different World college reality show. Now, please don't get me wrong, I love Black shows, it's just that the shows BET comes out with manages to make my people look so bad. College Hill, manages to cast a negative light on young people in college. All they do is party, hook up, and fight with one another, all the while missing classes and midterms.

Let's test the theory again: 106 & Park. Take MTV's TRL add black people. This show was actually not bad, but because it's BET, of course they messed it up. I can say that I honestly used to be a fan of the show, when it was hosted by Free and AJ. Now Terrence J. and Rocsi (what is a Rocsi anyway?) only make me sick to my stomach. Apparently Free and AJ felt they deserved a contract (because God forbid they wanted a secure career future) BET refused, so they left the show. Now we're left with Terrence J. hopping around the stage, calling everyone "his boy" and Rocsi proclaiming that "this joint right here, is where it's at", while she gets into drunken altercations with rappers. Yeah, it bothers me more than a little.

Then there are the 12,000 awards shows they have. The BET Awards, The BET Honors, The Hip Hop Awards, The Celebration of Gospel, The BETJ Virtual Awards. (Huh?) It seems like everytime I turn around there are more people getting awards for nothing. Yeah I said it.

Last but not least, the Blackbuster Movies, which always seem to be Friday, Next Friday, The Friday After Next, or Soul Plane. And we wonder why the literacy rate is down. Thanks BET.