This N' That

Lots of stuff floating around...hope I can remember everything; this post might get a bit long...

Let's start off with the Whitaker. Now, I've poked fun at the "beauty" of his wonderful face, but when it gets serious like this I am deeply disturbed. How does a studio deem him suddenly"too black and ugly" to be bankable? It's not like dude was Prince Charming and got into a car accident. How long has he been acting and in how many films? And by the way, didn't he win an Oscar? My loathing for the Hollywood powers that be increases by leaps and bounds daily. For the full story click here (thanks Sergio).

Anyhoo, Tyler Perry is being discussed again, this time for something besides the side-eye of his movies. Supposedly, he is being accused by The Writers Guild of America (not good) of unfair labor. They say he fired 4 writers from "House Of Payne" and "Meet The Browns" when they tried to negotiate a Writers Guild contract for the show. I have two questions...#1) how you gonna have a TV show with TV writers and not have them in a standard Hollywood union? and #2) "House Of Payne" actually has someone writing it on purpose? Yikes!

I wrote a little earlier that Will Smith was doing a sequel to "I Am Legend" and asked how that could possibly happen since dude was blown up into a million pieces at the end. Turns out it is a "prequel" that he has definitely signed on to do. Either way, I deem it as wholly unnecessary, since about 1% of sequels or prequels actually add anything to the original.


Here is the trailer for the movie "Notorious". *sigh* I still miss Big.



Speaking of beloved rappers, yesterday I was laid up due to an overindulgence of some blue Devil's brew drink called an "Adios", which is surely the work of the cheap liquor gods. I watched a ton of movies all day, one of which was "Poetic Justice" (starring Tupac) which was much better than I remembered. Back in the day, people thrashed it cause of Janet Jackson's performance, among other things. How ironic that now it plays better than practically all of the Black Cinema that has been produced in the past two years.

I also saw "Gang Related", which was much worse than I remembered (the soundtrack was bangin' tho!). It entailed Tupac staring off into space a lot and smoking a cigarette while being yelled at by Jim Belushi (who sometimes I want to poison) from beginning to end. The odd thing was, that in the beginning they had these warnings: SO: Shoot Out, BC: Bad Cop, SD: Shakedown (?!), and TU: Tupac. WTF? The very presence of Tupac is such a harmful entity in and of itself that it merits it's own warning? If anyone should have a warning attached, it's Jim Belushi for his non/over acting coupled with his constantly sweaty, non-showered look.


Niecey Nash's TV show "Do Not Disturb" was cancelled after just 3 episodes airing. Damn! Maybe now she'll get the hint that maybe, just maybe, she should expand her repertoire beyond "sassy, neck-rolling Black woman".


James Earl Jones is being honored with a SAG lifetime achievement award (btw, I hope many of you were able to catch the classic "The Great White Hope" with him in it on TV One over the weekend). Above is a pic of him and Cicely Tyson back in the day...he looks like he is proceeding to get his mack on, and I think Madonna's designer from way back stole that dress, yes? From Black Talent News:

James Earl Jones, whose acting prowess and iconic voice are world-renown, will receive the Screen Actors Guild’s most prestigious accolade—the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Jones will be presented the Award, given annually to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession," at the "15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®," which premieres live on TNT and TBS Sunday, Jan. 25.

I know I am late, but I haven't posted much this week. A very peaceful journey to Paul Newman, who was not only one of my favorite actors, but possibly the finest looking white man that ever touched ground on Planet Earth. I loved him for the fact that he lived life to the fullest; racing cars, acting, and trying to make the world a better place with his humanitarianism, all while staying married to his wife and partner for decades, a complete rarity in Hollywood. He was definitely an icon in every sense.


And finally, thanks for the recognition of my peeps for my blog. I received an "Honest Blogger Award" from "The Happy Go Lucky Bachelor" and "Make Fetch Happen". High praise indeed, as both of these blogs are on my must reads. If "honest blogger" = "stays talking sh*t" then guilty as charged!

I also received the "Blogging Star Award" from my soul/blogging sister Ms. Marvelous of "The Marvalus View". We started blogging at about the same time, and if you can love someone you've never met, then that's how it is with me when I visit her blog. It always gives me comfort in it's honesty and consistency---I hope she never stops blogging...thank you, sis!