Amerykah has turned a corner and we should all turn with it. I have thoughts ideas and suggestions but I also have patience and desire for us to be whole and one. I have been speaking a lot lately of the human condition and the generations of Black Americans. i will entertain any and all conversation as long as we can be respectful and grown up. Let the healing begin......
As of writing this we are about 5 minutes away from the biggest most confusing scam I have ever seen. TV is switching from analog to digital. Normally I am all for modern tech but I am never for having to have something. You need cable or converter boxes in order to get free telelvison channels. They can’t be broadcast in both analog and digital? And when the digital goes down ( don’t say it can’t happen) what do we do then?
Well good luck everyone, this is generally the point in the sci-fi movie where the machines get the first foothold on society before the big takeover!
Upfronts were yesterday for the Travel Channel. An upfront is a meeting hosted at the start of important advertising sales periods by television network executives, attended by the press and major advertisers. It is so named because of its main purpose, to allow marketers to buy commercial airtime "up front", or several months before the television season begins.
Seems the Cox communications owned Travel Channel did very well this past season with 13 months of consecutive growth. For those not versed in televisionese, more folks were watching more often.
While I enjoy the Travel Channel as a whole the stand out of course has been for me and my friends the freshman show “Dhani Tackles the Globe” featuring Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones. I am very happy to see that he will be returning for a second season.
On a much more geek personal note Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman will also be coming back. As more and more “reality” finds its way on the boob tube I find myself less enamored with flipping channels or even turning the TV box on at all. But it is good to know I have some stuff to look forward to next season; I hope Dhani does some more beach type sports….
Here is a trailer for the new midseason 2010 series "V"
While it looks like they stayed true to story I am a little concerned with the lack of color. I mean after all the mothership did land in New York, why are all the visitors wearing Anglo-saxon skin jobs? I thought we got out of this whole one token colored in sci-fi after Battlestar Galactica
Seems like I am full of questions today. So I have to ask myself if I am becoming that which I promised I would never be a grumpy old geek. Anyone over 30 knows what I mean by this, we promised we would not be like our parents, we would not tell our children to turn that music down, we would not say things like “all that moving around is making me tired sit still”, we would not predict the end of the world because they were not doing it like we did it (whatever it was) and we would not judge their media outlets as crap and wish for the old days.
But more and more everyday I find myself doing all those things, especially the last one. In the past few years there has been a new trend on an old street. Remaking, reimagining, ret conning, and revamping my movies and television shows.
To their credit sometimes the “re ing” of the show is really really good. But most of the time it has resulted in an expression of “Why?”
So today during my news hunting I went to one of my favorite geek pages “Sci-Fi wire” where I read a story about the upcoming remake of “Clash of the Titans”. Now truth be told I did not just find out about this remake, but with the amount of geek knowledge I posses some things, especially those that are upsetting, don’t get retained. So the piece goes on about the monsters that will be featured in the remake of the 1981 classic.
It also talks (reads) a little bit about the new Persues and how he was approaching the role. Now here is my issue, other than being grumpy and old, “Clash” is a great movie for it’s time in fact it was the 11th highest grossing movie in 1981 so clearly folks liked it. Mythology is vast and huge, if you want to do something why not continue the story, tell a new chapter, it just seems like Hollywood is full of people right now screaming “Oh I can do that but like fifty times better!”
Well I don’t want you to do it better; I want you to do your own. Hey are Titans after all, can’t they clash more than once? Leave my Coco cola alone, I don’t want your new coke (which tastes like Pepsi). “I don’t want more choices I just want nicer things!” Poor Harry Hamlin has gone from being Persues to being the old Persues. Maggie Smith and Burgess Meredith all but forgotten.
Ok grump over…you may continue remaking my greats into just oks!
Let me go on record here “I don’t much care for the word ugly” especially when you are referring to another human being. In all fairness to my knowledge I have only ever referred to one person in the world as ugly, but if you knew this guy I think we would all agree. I only mention that one because it struck a friend of mine as odd when he heard it come out of my mouth. But I digress I don’t care for the word, mostly cause looks are subjective and who am I to put my terms of pretty on you?
So imagine my surprise when I was surfing the net today and over at Huffington there are all these stories about Susan Boyle and they are all calling her Ugly. Now my ego can handle a lot (truth be told I was voted a hot ghetto mess in one of those viral emails that went around but I survived) but if I went on the web one day and saw story after story about how ugly I was but it was ok cause I could sing, I am not sure how much compliment I would be taking from that, in fact being the slightly vain person I am I would not leave the house for a month. For those still not in the know about Susan Boyle (yes you mother follow) she is the newest internet/British/American sensation. She is on the show “Britain’s Got Talent” there American Idol but geared way more toward talent than looks. This ducky can sing…no that is wrong she can SANG!!!! But she is not “pretty”. This apparently has baffled television networks.
I literally read an article today called “Talented Ugly Person Baffles The World”. I mean with a title like that how can she not be flattered. Again I digress the article goes on to say how all these television executives are having meetings about ugly people on the screen. They didn’t know that the unattractive actually had merit and talent. I mean why don’t you just take the girl outside and beat her with a stick!!!!! I am really torn here, I want Susan to do well but I don’t want her to be the poster child for “ugly” talented people. But maybe this will get some more regular looking but extremely talented singers on show like American Idol , which I completely disavowed when Melinda Doolittle ,clearly one of the most talented singers to grace their stage, did not win.
In the end what so we learn form this? The search for beauty can be truly an ugly thing to behold.
If you regularly look through the window then you know I was a huge West Wing fan. Along with just being a good, smart, funny, and well written show, it did its part to explain some of the workings of the Washington beltway. Well today while watching the news I got a real treat. In my mind I can convince myself that the Bartlett administration is still out there working for the little guy. President Jeb Bartlett, Toby Ziegler, and Josh Lyman or rather their real life counterparts Martin Sheen, Richard Schiff, and Bradley Whitford lent their celebrity to the “Faces of the Employee Free Act” movement on Capitol Hill today. You can find the full story on Politico
Seth McFarlane was born and raised in Kent, Connecticut October 26, 1973. He is best known as the creator of the television phenomenon Family Guy.
Seth McFarlane is one of the ultimate fan boys. As with most he was a class clown whose comedy was not appreciated by his teachers. He graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and his first job was with Hanna Barbera. At H.B. he worked on many Cartoon Network shows as an animator and writer. His work there led to the beginning of the building of his empire starting with Family Guy, for which he provides several of the voices, and currently working on the spin off, The Cleveland Show. As of a deal he currently made with FOX Seth is the highest paid television writer in the world.
So Seth McFarlane., please accept this invitation to the Dinner party of the year. Your opinion, your diversity, and your geekiness are more than welcome!
There was a point in time when I did not own a television. Truth was I didn’t need it, I had my computer. At some point in the last three years pretty much every show I watch regularly was available on the net. Somehow I was able to get use to that much quicker than I was webseries. Don’t ask me why, it makes perfect sense. The internet has put your average Joe on the same playing field with Hollywood, but I still seem a little hesitant about them. However I came across one series a few weeks ago that might be changing my mind.
The production values are not the best (some sound issues and swinging boom mikes) and they don’t have a huge budget but the stories are solid and the acting is believable, and in the end isn’t that what you really want?
The series I speak of is “Drama Queenz”, a new comedy webseries about three actors and roommates dealing with life, love, and auditioning in New York City. The show is produced by a company called Novu Novus productions. Because I have nothing else to compare it to I have to put it in the same genre as “Noah’s ARC” from logo, but much more enjoyable. Like I said the stories are solid and are much more believable than it’s higher produced contemporary.
From the Drama Queenz press release:
“Each ten-minute webisode focuses on Jeremiah, a dreamer with ridiculously poor audition luck, Davis, a perfectionist whose hard work produces uneven results, and Preston, a realist whose inhibitions stir-up delightful “drama” for all to enjoy. Through madcap auditions, burgeoning romances, and heartbreaking realizations, the trio from Queens takes viewers on the zany rollercoaster ride that is the actor’s life.”
If you get the chance take a an hour and half pop some popcorn call some friends and check out the eight episode first season and send the production company a thumbs up. You’ll be glad you did!
So I am completely fascinated with the MTV show G’s to Gent’s. It is funny and hypnotic and makes me feel just a little funny in my pants. For those of you not watching here is the premise. MTV has hand selected a group of 14 street wise “G’s” (gangsta’s) and put them in a house together to learn the ways of being a “Gentleman”. Leading them thru this life changing experience is self appointed gentleman and style guru Fonzworth Bently former right hand body man for Puff Daddy.
The shows named producer is Jamie Foxx.
Every week the G’s are put thru a series of test from the book of style so that in the end one person can gain entrance to the “Gentleman’s Club” and win 100,000 dollars. Your usual elimination reality scenario. But the fun for me comes from watching the potential Gents as they one by one break down and show their “softer” sides. Now I am far from an expert on gangsta behavior but apparently there is a lot of crying, begging, running, and chasing out in the streets these days. Pictured below are a couple of my personal favorite “G’s”.
Creepa with and without his "Hata" blockers on.
Shotta bearing himself for all to see.
E6 uses his eyes to talk you into ...whatevah!!!!!
His spelling not mine..This is Pritti boi Shaun!
T.Jones a native of Detroit...nuff said!!!
Also pictured is the “G” that everyone seems to love to hate ( I think cause he is the most fuckable personally)
"I don’t feel I have done anything that is idol worthy but I learned a long time ago that it is the little everyday things you do that people notice, so be the best you you can be." DJ
"If you don't tell your story someone else might, and they may not tell it as well" The Monkey
"Let he who is without dogshit on his sneaker, take the first step on the white rug!" Whoopi Goldberg
