My Take On The Busters *cough* Oscars...

OK, after months of speculation, the Oscar nominees have arrived. How many of you were satisfied with the lists?

I, for one, have stopped taking the Oscars seriously years ago; it is such an elitist and "inside" group, and we all should know by now that the politics involved have people winning awards that really have no business doing so. They throw out a bone every few years to someone that is Black, and it is always hailed and regaled as a "victory" to open doors, but afterward we are once again subjected to a few more years of complete and total white-washing. But it has gone beyond that...where are the accolades for Latinos? For Asians? For Eastern Indians?

Hollywood never, ever, EVER seems to understand that diversity makes life (and their lame awards show) interesting. Everyone remembers Monique winning last year, but can you name three others (be honest)?

There is an old saying that I have always remembered, taken from an ancient Chinese philosophy book, and it applies to the Academy in volumes:

"Diversity is actually an important and necessary ingredient, which adds creative spice to a group."

Film is universal! The stories told in ANY film are relevant to a good portion of the population, regardless of race. Until Hollywood and the Academy can get this through their heads, I am down with the mission of AFFRM. If you don't know what AFFRM is, please click here and support! And oh yeah, I will NOT be watching the show this year...cheers!


UPDATE: Please check out CNN's article on this issue...the comments over there are sincerely pathetic and sad, and will boggle the mind. I am convinced, more than ever before, that we are completely unsupported in Hollywood, and must step away from the studios and an intolerant audience in order to have a system that allows us to create and be heard. Racism in conventional Hollywood is apparently NOT disappearing anytime soon, and has zero interest in doing so: http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/26/diversity.academy.awards/index.html

This N' That....

Didn't watch the BET Awards last night, did you? I know there was a tribute to Michael J, which was nice, but did you know that Spike Lee and John Singleton both directed videos for the Gloved One? I didn't. (I posted the pic above cause I absolutely love these two together, so sue me.)


Speaking of Michael, The Reaper seems to be on a vendetta...Farrah, McMahon, and yesterday Billy Mays. Strangely I felt kinda bad about Billy---my co-workers had this joke that if they wanted someone to get their ass in gear they would imitate Mays and talk REALLY loud, saying that his shouting style seemed to motivate people. Someone was watching "Pitchmen" at my house (Billy's show) ironically the day before he died, and I felt an immense amount of respect for how he treated his family--they were so very loving, I'm very sad for them, he seemed like a very good man.


I watched, or half-watched, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" on TV One yesterday, starring an array of very attractive and very C-List actors. Was that movie underwritten by Tyler Perry? All the elements were there...the gospel scenes, the child in peril, the woman getting her ass beat, and this seeming surplus of "good men" and all problems are completely solved by going to church. *yawn* But I have to admit that I absolutely adore the original series "Unsung", especially the profiles on Donny Hathaway, Minnie Ripperton, and Shalamar. What is up with Jeffery Daniel's upper crust semi-British accent? Weird.


The trash that is Transformers made a sh*tload of money over the weekend, being number one, of course. My Sergio had this to say:

"[Keep] this in perspective. The film cost $250 million to make and another $150 for advertising and marketing , so Paramount knew from the outset that they had to make the film the biggest opening ever if they had any shot to make their money back. Which is why the film already opened overseas almost two weeks ago and opened here in over 4200 theaters. And also keep in mind that the far and away superior The Dark Knight opened last year with an opening $203 million and it achieved that in three days while this racist piece of shit opened on a Wednesday."

A couple years ago I posted a piece about the first "Transformers" called "Racism And Robots" which you can read HERE. I didn't even write the actual article, yet I got some voracious hate mail and a good amount of traffic from it--still do. And yes, I still believe Michael Bay is a loser.



Speaking of traffic, why do I get tons from folks searching for Countess Vaughn of all people. Who can these people be and why do they want to know about her? The mind boggles.....


And listen to me and the majority of the contributors to Shadow And Act chop it up on a podcast tonight--get your details right HERE, my friend....5pm PST, 8pm EST.

Random Movie News....

Even tho the Oscars annoy the beejesus out of me, I wouldn't be a proper film blog without at least mentioning it, and the two Black actresses nominated, Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis. One, I've never been a fan of and her tired, overacting style, and the other--well let's just say I saw her on a talk show recently and found her to be wonderful; intelligent, humorous---a serious actress worthy of nomination and more high profile roles. I'll let you guess which is which.

Sergio televised his Oscar predictions below. I have none, cause if it has nothing to do with Mickey Rourke or "The Wrestler" I really don't have much to say on it. Even the clothes don't interest me this year. Here is Sergio--check him out:





Did you know John Singleton directed the Oscar promos this year? I guess he might as well be directin' somethin', cause as of late, it sho ain't movies. What's up, John? And yes, that is Taraji with him in the picture above. What she is wearing I can't even venture to guess...


Martin Lawrence will be starring in a kind of reverse "Coming To America". No title yet, but the plot is described as this:

'The film centers on a working-class man from Queens who discovers he is heir to the throne of an African country and travels there to claim his birthright'.

From IW: Martin is obviously not interested in breaking new ground, but I ain't mad, that mortgage is staying paid. And at least it's not what I blogged about a couple years ago--a big screen remake of his TV show "Martin". Someone must have finally woken up and put the brakes on that wonderful (not) idea.


Happy Birthday to Danny Glover's Robey Theatre company, turning 15 this year. Robey "Is a professional theater dedicated to developing and presenting plays that raise the social consciousness of audiences with work that explores the global Black Experience."

All my folkses in the L.A. area, please try to support Danny and his endeavors. He never gets enough props for dedicating himself to our art and community for decades, imho.


Barry Michael Cooper, writer of New Jack City among other things, who I interviewed for this blog, let me know that he has a new film, "Blood On The Wall$", which you can view in the form of 21 webisodes....perfect viewing while the boss is not looking at work! lol

Make sure you scroll down to see all of the webisodes...you can begin watching this gritty drama HERE.


This is old news now, but Halle Berry might finally do something interesting, while maybe proving once and for all that she actually has acting talent:

'Halle Berry has become attached to star in the Eunetta Boone-scripted film, "Who Is Doris Payne," based on real events. Berry will star as the title character, Doris Payne, an international jewel thief whose career spanned five decades.'

From IW: This is the story of a Black woman who stole fine jewels for decades, at a time when just being Black and in a store that sold them was cause for intense suspicion. The plot sounds fabulous--I hope Halle can pull it off. For a great post related to this film, click HERE for Obenson's thoughts.


Did you know that Preston Whitmore has been financing up and coming filmmakers? One of the films has made it to BET:

'BET has acquired broadcast rights to"Dough Boys," the debut film from Preston Whitmore's Give Back Raise Up Program wherein he finances and produces low budget pictures to give newcomers in front and behind the camera an opportunity to showcase their talent. BET will air the film in May. Paramount Home Video will distribute the DVD.'

From IW: Nice. And speaking of newcomers, received this in my email:

"Good afternoon! My name is Princeton Holt, and I decided to contact you humbly and see if you would at least be interested in seeing my first feature, "Cookies & Cream".

Cookies & Cream is a character piece about a racially mixed single mother, who maintains an adult entertainment job in order to take care of her daughter and herself. The film has seemed to make male audiences feel a bit helpless, which I think has a lot to do with a subtle sexism in the sense that love from a man alone is not enough to dictate this female character's destiny, which I think has been unsettling to several male viewers, although the overall reception from men has been favorable. I would be very interested in hearing a female reaction to this subject.

Again, I really appreciate what you are doing; it is necessary for the survival of true art films about our past, present and future generations. Thank you for your work, as well as your time and consideration. "

From IW: Hmmmm.....it was shown at "The Sexy International Film Festival" (whatever that is), so at the very least, it must be sexy, haha. Here is the teaser:




Last but not least, I really will be reviewing Diary Of A Tired Black Man later today. I was going to do it last weekend, but it really wasn't Valentine's Day fodder. I have to admit, I've been watching and rewatching a lot of stuff on TV lately....did anyone catch the mini movie marathon on TV One yesterday? "Double Take "(blech) with Eddie Griffin, "Hollywood Shuffle", and a low budget independent film called "Traci Townsend" which involves a reporter (Jazsmin Lewis) examining her failed relationships. The movie is trite, and as as I've said before Jazsmin Lewis' acting skills seem to be limited to her innumerable hairstyles, but it is a good segue to my review later. **sigh** A lot of Black male/female relationships seem to be on permanent "fail" lately.....more on that later....



Oh sh*t! I almost posted this without putting this in (thanks sergio). There is an on-line petition against Sasha Fierce playing Angela Davis. For those commenters on my last post, and for the lurkers who also feel that even the mere thought is beyond ridiculous, you can click and sign HERE.

Randomonium....

Okay, just want to get some thoughts out; bear with me.

I was changing channels and went past some skinny blond b*tch tryna sing. It looked like a big production, and I wondered what big show would have some chick on there that wouldn't even make it through an American Idol audition.

Turns out it was that chick Taylor Swift at the Grammy Nominations Concert. WTF???! A number one album, tons of accolades and awards, and that b*tch sings like Kim on Real Housewives Of Atlanta? I'm tellin' ya, YT has huge balls of steel...it is the same syndrome that has folkses going bananas over Britney's Spears' comeback.... sometimes I hate America...

Excuse me if I'm a bit grouchy--it did nothing to help that I had to wait an hour (after getting some fancy stuff done to my nails for freaking 2 1/2 hours) for a screening of "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" yesterday. Listen people, I mention your stuff on my blog, for free and without you even asking 99% of the time. Could you at least send a screener DVD to a Negress?

Adding to my surliness is the fact that I'm in Oakland, and it has been cold as a polar bear's weenie. Los Angeles it ain't.

Anyhoo, rant over, on to Black Cinema stuff...

I was shocked to see Bow Wow was on the list of "Sexiest Men Alive" (just one more reason why that the list is completely laughable). I saw this video on another blog, and was deeply disturbed by it. It is a clip of Bow Wow in a sex scene on "Entourage". To my female readers, please tell me, how sexy is this to you?



Here is the plot to "Beverly Hills Cop Part 4" if you care. From Filmwad:

The whole problem with another Beverly Hills Cop movie is that the basic idea that Axel Foley is this rough and tumble Detroit cop who is a fish out water in upscale Beverly Hills is played out. He's done a lot of time in Beverly Hills. In this movie they mention that they teach his cases at the police academy and that a restaurant had an Axel Foley sandwich on the menu! (It's been renamed the Timbaland) Axel Foley knows his way around LA better than his new partner on the case who was born there.

That new partner is Goodwin, a fat rookie with low self-esteem who has a crush on a lady cop in the facial recognition department. When he's not solving the mystery of who tossed Billy out the window, Axel is playing matchmaker with these two. He's also teaching Goodwin how to be a better cop. It's like the Axel Foley Finishing School.

Along with Goodwin, Axel teams up with a limo driver named Elliot, who is the wise cracking comic relief. You wouldn't think you would need comic relief in an Eddie Murphy movie, but Axel Foley has no funny lines. I don't know if Brandt and Haas wrote the character unfunny to give Eddie room to ad lib or if they just think having him drop f-bombs every third line is the height of laughs, but Axel Foley is pretty much a Terminator in this movie. He just keeps moving forward no matter what like a shark in the water trying to find out who killed Billy.

From IW: There was more, but I fell asleep before I finished reading it.


Speaking of falling asleep, a big thank you to reader Madame Z (not) for pointing out a film to me called "Constellation", which also had Premium co-stars Hill Harper and Zoe Saldana involved in a love relationship. They weren't the central characters of the story, as it was a disjointed ensemble piece, but holee nuclear bombs, Batman, this movie was bad.

First take Billy Dee Williams, who slowly walked around the movie and mumbled all of his lines like he was in a Colt 45 stupor.


Add Rae Dawn Chong, whom I haven't seen in years, looking like 10 miles of bad road, as they say.

Combine Hill Harper giving these weird, long, pensive looks to everyone, a convoluted storyline about a woman who was intensely in love with a man for 50 years but never let him see her, despite his begging, Melissa De Sousa with 13 packs of Yaki, and poor YT Lesley Anne Warren looking completely lost and uncomfortable.

Add extremely liberal amounts of sap, dramatic "feel melancholy" string music, tons of drawn out sentimental flashbacks, and once promising Glenn Plummer playing "Man At Barbeque" and you have this movie.

I should mention that the film is about an estranged family who reunites to attend a funeral of a relative (Gabrielle Union). Secrets are revealed, broken relationships are mended, forgiveness is given, and everyone is healed, except the viewer, who has lost 2 valuable hours of their life.


Can I say what is the deal with Gabrielle Union? I have no problem with her, but her acting is so very, very lightweight, and I've never seen her seem genuine, even for a second. But she's always working, so I guess I have to give her some credit. I guess.

Off Topic, But My 2 Cents....

Hey all. I'll just make a quick mention of The American Music Awards, which I honestly haven't watched in years. I've always found it too pop-ee, too Billboard 100 for my taste. I watched it last night from a kind of sociological point of view, and here are a few of my observations:


-Chris Brown still looks like he's 13 years old


-Speaking of Chris Brown, Rihanna--the metallic eye patch? I mean really. The whole "edgy" thing is starting to look more than forced.

-Neyo is doing his damnedest to channel Micheal Jackson; Mike should be asking for royalties


-Pink has my respect all day; she is very obviously in it for her love of music, and she killed it in her performance

-All of Beyonce's songs sound exactly the same to me, but Lord knows she can dance her azz off, I can't even front.

-My husband the RZA was looking extra finger lickin' delicious.

-Mariah Carey is about as exciting as an ingrown toenail, and just as painful to watch. Is she still using the wind machines to blow her hair--even on live TV? Give it up, girl!


-The B-52's should be at the courthouse at this very moment filing a lawsuit against Miley Cyrus and her crew for stealing their sh*t--it's just plain robbery. And nobody's father should be looking all blowdried and leathered out with a huge soul patch (I'm talkin' to you Billy Ray Cyrus). The "high concept" behind her performance/song was completely laughable.

-Poor Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots). He used to be on track to be the biggest rock star in the world...now he's like the embarrassing uncle at the family gatherings--you know his azz is gonna get fucked up and cause a scene, and there is nothing you can do to stop it, but you invite him anyway cause he's really harmless, and inside you love him and feel a bit sorry for him.


-The Eagles were eligible for an award?


-Christina Aguilera's singing grates every single, solitary pore and fiber of my soul.

-There was a noticeable absence of Neo-Soul, or really any real soul, period.

-I still have absolutely no idea who Taylor Swift is.


That is all.

Oscar Sunday This N' That....

:Let me get this out right away...if you are looking for news, commentary, and coverage on the Oscars, this is not the place to go. I make no secret of my distaste for award shows...the fact that "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" didn't get one Oscar nod, and "Juno" did pretty much puts the final nail in an already tightly sealed coffin for me..

I wonder why the secret "Black Oscars" decided to stop meeting the year before a sympathy nod goes to Ruby Dee and "Norbit" gets a nod for make-up. That's it for our community this year, as far as I know--doesn't really seem like progress to me. From The Obenson Report:

Did You Know...

... From around 1982 until 2007, African-American actors, directors, producers and executives held a secret ceremony on the night before Oscar night, to celebrate black performers, calling the event, the Black Oscars. Every talent, from the likes of Samuel L. Jackson to Will Smith, participated in this event, which was considered a moment for black Hollywood to honor its own. In 2007, the "Friends of the Black Oscars," the secretive group that sponsored the event, decided that the Black Oscars had finally become obsolete, thanks in large part to the recent increases in the presence of black performers in the race for Oscar - Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith and Djimon Hounsou, notably.

From IW: Interesting.




Speaking of Obenson, he and I will be on Afronerd Radio tonight (Sunday), giving our thoughts on Ofay Oscar (my view) and Black Cinema's early days. It will be on at 8pm EST, and if you'd like to call in and give your thoughts and opinions as well the number is 646-915-9620. For more info click HERE. Take a listen if you are anti-Oscar, or if you just need a little break from the BS fest.



And speaking of podcasts, I got this in my email (thanks Slaus!):

NPR's Tony Cox talks with Neema Barnette — director of Civil Brand and All You've Got — and actor/director Kasi Lemmons, whose films include Eve's Bayou and Talk to Me, about the challenges they face and the unique perspective they bring to the big-screen.

Take a listen to this clip:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19234733&ft=1&f=11


IW: Invisiblewoman says check it out. Me love Kasi Lemmons.




The wonderful blog "Charcoal Ink" had an new twist on Hattie McDaniel (who most write off as a tired mammy stereotype) as the first Black to win an Academy Award:


"The Oscars are this Sunday and I was thinking about the ceremony and the symbolism of having an Oscar. Hattie McDaniel was the first black person ever to receive one and according to imdb.com, she may have been the first African-American woman to sing on radio.

Here are some other McDaniel facts from imdb.com:

- She willed her Oscar to Howard University, but the Oscar was lost during the race riots at Howard during the 1960s. It has never been found.

- Despite the fact Clark Gable played a joke on her during the filming of Gone with the Wind (1939) (he put real brandy in the decanter instead of iced tea during the Bonnie Blue birth celebration scene), McDaniel and Gable were actually good friends. Gable later threatened to boycott the premiere in Atlanta because McDaniel was not invited, but later relented when she convinced him to go.

She was also quoted saying “I’d rather play a maid than be one.”

This woman is so incredibly important. Of course, she played stereotypical characters that are cringe worthy but you can actually see that she was just an amazing actress and what if she had been given better material ? Who knows — to survive such racism and make your mark none the less is commendable and admirable."

And last, but by no means least, I received a "Spread The Love" award from Vanessa at Vanessa Unplugged.!

I love her for this, sincerely, cause what she wrote on her blog is almost identical to how I feel. I was in the mode this week of chucking this blog, and just starting a semi-political one, as I sometimes grow weary of the haterade (completely unwarrented), the link competitions that I get mysteriously dropped from, etc. I just love film and don't really want to get caught up in the side effects of blogging. If I do, though, of course it's nobodies fault but my own.

But when someone takes time out of their day to show you love, and demonstrate that they appreciate what you do, whether it's an award, an email, or a comment, it regenerates your batteries like the Energizer Bunny. And I give thanks for that, y'all.

I want to spread the love for folks that have shown mad love to me lately:

Mrs Grapevine

The Black Actor

Danielle

Ms. Marvelous

Qadree

Darkbrotha

The Oh Hell Nawl! crew

An award back to Vanessa too for her other blog :-)


I would give one to Sergio, but he doesn't have a blog (hint, hint). You guys can post the award on your blog and spread some love too, if you're so inclined. To these beautiful people and to my wonderful readers, have a fantastic day!

A Little Newsy News...

From Filmwad:

Sony Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights for Tortured, a thriller starring Laurence Fishburne and Cole Hauser (K-Ville). James Cromwell, James Denton, Jon Cryer and Emmanuelle Chriqui co-star. Nolan Lebovitz wrote and directed the organized crime drama. No release date has been announced yet, but The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film will likely be released in North America, the U.K., Benelux, French-speaking Europe, Portugal, Spain, Scandinavia, Russia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

From IW: I'm glad Laurence Fishburne keeps working. He will also play Thurgood Marshall on Broadway:

Tony Award-winner Laurence Fishburne will return to Broadway to play Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, in "Thurgood," a one-man show written by George Stevens Jr. and directed by Leonard Foglia. "Thurgood" will begin previews at the Booth Theatre on March 30, 2008, open on April 20, and run through July 20. btn

By now probably most of you have heard that one of the finest directors out there, Martin Scorsese, is directing a film about Bob Marley with the blessing of his family and estate.

I ain't mad. At the very least you know it'll be interesting.

Marty circa who knows when

For you Jada Pinkett lovers (which I am not) and you Idris Elba lovers (which I am), good news for you:

Jada Pinkett Smith's directorial debut, "The Human Contract," has been picked up for distribution by Lightning Entertainment. The film is the first investment for the Santa Monica-based sales and distribution company using the company's $20 million acquisitions and production fund announced in November.

"The Human Contract" follows a successful corporate man who is harboring a secret and befriends a free-spirited stranger who encourages him to ditch his stuffy lifestyle and live life freely.

The film, which stars Pinkett Smith alongside Idris Elba, Jason Clarke, Paz Vega, Ted Danson and Joanna Cassidy, recently wrapped production.

From IW: Ted Danson? I saw this on another blog...Jada seems to be stuck in a theme...wasn't "Woo" about the same thing? I'm just sayin.

And finally, I've been getting emails and have been reading about a series on NPR's "News and Notes" last week, of which all week they were discussing black film. One example come from Slaus (who btw did a funny wrap up of the phoney-ass Grammys):

"Invisible , do you listen to the NPR Blog News and Notes? They have been doing an awesome retrospective on Black images in film and Blacks behind the camera all month. Yesterday they had on Bill Duke and another woman ( can’t remember her name) speaking on stereotypes in Black film.

Bill Duke brought up a great point of how Blacks bemoan and deride Blacks for being in such roles as halle in monsters ball and such, but then they dont go SEE actual good black films like: The Great Debaters” I thought of you instantly since you’re my go to on all things black film related. "

From IW: I'm ashamed to say that I did not hear the series, but I will be listening later today. If you would like to check out the shows, you can listen to last week's podcasts HERE.

This N' That

Note: Please forgive spelling errors as Blogger spellcheck is not working, and I am the world's worst speller.

Hope you guys are having a good weekend...it's Super Sunday so I know I won't be seeing a lot of you until tomorrow, haha. I was a chosen blogger by Nielsen to rate the Superbowl commercials...tho I come from a football lovin' family, it's never been my thing (I like to watch the puppy bowl), but the commercials are always a big discussion in the public for the past few years, so it might be interesting....is anybody else doing this rating? Let me know....

Billary and Obama's camp were in Cali over the weekend for rallys, Hill in San Francisco and Ted Kennedy with one of the women I absolutely adore, Representative Barbara Lee across the bridge in Oakland for Obama. I noticed that when Hillary speaks now, it is so overly careful and heavily modulated...extremely unatural. It's like somebody told her "try to speak calmly the way Obama does". You can see her concentrating so hard to keep a level oration that you can't even focus on what she's saying, and the long pauses between words don't help. I wonder how many people she's fooling with that mess.

Normally I try to go to as many film festivals as I am able, both Black and non-black. While looking at the advance program for The San Francisco Independent Film Festival there was not ONE black film featured. WTF? To me that is just blatant "we don't give a f--k, and we don't care if you know it" and I cannot support an independent film festival with zero diversity. One reader, I forget who it was, said that Black film festivals are pretty much useless as far as getting your film distributed, but the white ones are where all the money is made. At this point in time, regretfully I would have to tend to agree, so it's extra f'd up that we get no love at fests like these. There was ONE six minute preview short about some rap group from Oakland. That figures. There was one film out of like 25 that featured a person of color, a Dominican kid from Brooklyn. If you would like to call the film festival on their BS (which I think is very important we start doing) click HERE, and tell director/founder Jeff Ross about himself and the policies of his festival. If you care about Black film and how we are represented, these are the things we need to do.

Anyway, over at BygBaby's blog, I found out about a film called "Touissant", which is being directed by Danny Glover about the infamous former leader of Haiti. Don Cheadle plays Touissant, and it co-stars Mos Def, Chiwetel Eljiofor, Angela Bassett, and my favorite wierdo, Roger Guenveur Smith. I see that Jonathan Rhys Myers is getting top billing, so I hope it's not another one of 'our stories' told by some YT's perspective once again....I would like those to go away for a while, imho.

Speaking of opinions, I will be giving mine (of which I have many, haha) along with Qadree from Culture Critical, The Black Actor, and Mr. Obenson on his podcast "The Obenson Report" tomorrow, Monday, at 9pm EST. We will be discussing all things Black Cinema, of course. If you want the info, click here.

And finally, some things I see I want to post here; alas they are not fitting with the content of this blog, but I could not resist this one. Someone seems to be keeping company with Jasmine Guy in the club of "aging rapidly and not well":

The party's over, Pam, please read the memo in it's entirety.

She Must Be Having Whitley Flashbacks....

From Rhymes With Snitch. This may explain why Jasmine's been looking 70 instead of 40:

OK, so Jasmine Guy co-executive directed the Turks and Caicos film festival last week and invited Amanda Bynes to collect the "Rising Star" award. I know, why the hell would she invite Amanda Bynes? Because of Hairspray? Who went to see that? Anyway, after demanding four first class airline tickets and two double hotel suites, Amanda arrived on the Island and didn't attend one single event. She even bailed on a celebrity boat cruise with Michael Clarke Duncan and Gabrielle Union. They say she spent the whole time jet skiing. Anyway, after Jasmine confronted her, Amanda's people sent word that if Jasmine spoke to Amanda again, she'd leave and not accept her award. Amanda's friends told Page Six that Jasmine acted like a "drunken bitch" and that her husband even apologized to Amanda for it. "She's crazy," Mandy's friends said, "She [Jasmine] was screaming at her, 'I didn't invite you here to have fun! I invited you to work!'

From IW: Didn't they already have this festival 2 months ago? I wrote about it here. Why would you make Amanda Bynes of all people be the guest of honor? Are you trying to be purposely low-budget? Why is Jasmine Guy directing anything? Why is there a persistent rumor that Eddie Murphy's ex and her newly stripper-sized chest is messing around with Lisa Raye's husband (the Prime Minister of Turks & Caicos)....and why wasn't Lisa Raye there-what else does she have to do?

Soooo many questions.....

Update: Received this pic from coloredgirlswhohaveconsidered. Put the glass down, girl, just put it down.