The Book, Part 1

Lately, Steve Harvey's book, "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man," has been getting a lot of press. Some bad, but for it most part, it's all been really good.
First off, this dude, a comedian, has soared to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. That is the most coveted position of all writers. And, he did it selling a book that is categorized as "relationship/self-help."
*applause*
Harvey, 53, is a Cleveland native (who I thought was from Chicago) is the host of a syndicated morning radio show, one of the Original Kings of Comedy, an actor and now an author. He's a Renaissance man of sorts.
Usually, I don't buy into the hype of whatever the latest new trend is but when a pair of my favorite RBWs, Oprah and Eb the Celeb, and gave it the thumbs up, I had to see what all the hype was about.
I not one of those people who does everything that Oprah says, but I do listen to what she has to say. It's the same with Eb. I don't always agree with her, for example, I love Jennifer Hudson's album and she doesn't. But I do trust her opinion.
So, I read the book. It took me the month of March, but I finished it. And I have to say, I'm mildly impressed with it. He made some very valid points that, if we're honest with ourselves ladies, we already knew were true.
Since he's been doing press with the likes of Oprah, Giant magazine, the Philly Inquirer and others, he has given a pretty good idea of what the book is all about. Another blogger, The Savvy Sister, broke the news of Harvey's book having at least the same title of a book written by one Sharon P. Carson. In his show today, I'm told, Harvey had his publisher on to talk about how they came up with the title.
Originally, the title was "Act Like a Girl, Think Like a Man," and Harvey did not want to offend anyone so they changed it. I'm not sure if I buy it. You'll find out why in a later post as to why the whole "Act Like a Lady ..." thing offends me.
Until then, prepare yourselves, for the next few days, I'll be delving into the book and giving you my "interpretation of the sitchy-ation!"

Sometimes I Wonder ...

* What ever happened to background dancers for rappers?

While we're talking about music, I wonder:
* How come rappers don't dance anymore?
* Why do they feel a need to have 175 other people on stage with a microphone?
* How long do we have to wait until real hip hop comes back?
* Why is it that the best singers and performers become victims of drugs and alcohol abuse?
* How come we don't have anymore super labels where every artist is a hitmaker like classic Motown, Uptown/MCA, Jive and Laface?
* Am I the only one who can't listen to this new music?
* Why do I have to resort to my mp3 player with the FM converter in the car?
* How come nobody ever has sightings of dead black singers like white folks do Elvis?

In sports, I wonder:
* Am I the only person who could care less about the NBA?
* Is it just me or have the players gotten boring and ugly?
* Why did it just register that Oklahoma has a team now?
* How in hell did the owners come up with a nickname like "Thunder?"
* Shouldn't they have been the Tornadoes?

In general, I wonder:
* Is ugly the new cute now?
* Why one of my little nieces think's Weezy is cute.
* If I should have laughed when I told her parents to have her eyes checked.
* Are talent scouts on the look out for ugly talented people?
* Should I still say ugly or have we gone PC with that too?
* What would be PC for ugly anyway, attractiveness deficiency?

Another one bites the dust

Well, another one is over. Another fabulously wonderful television show has ended and again, I am verklempt.
In case you have been living under a rock or your cable company is homophobic, like mine, and doesn't offer the Logo channel, the show I am referring to is "RuPaul's Drag Race."
First of all, this show has two of my most favorite things in the world, gay guys and reality show competition. I think the general idea was to make this "America's Next Top Model" meets "The Crying Game." Regardless, I effin' loved it!
RuPaul has always been FIERCE. In the show, we got a chance to see him in and out of drag. Personally, I like to see him in drag. Call me crazy but I somehow feel good about knowing that he has to put all that work into something I was born with! *sticks tongue out* Take that, Loca!
Like all reality TV shows, there are the stereotypes, all of them are gay so that one doesn't apply. What I liked about this one is that there were two people in that b$%tch role who played it very well. Then of course there's the minority, here though, there were a few and I liked that. The one you really rooted for but could never get it right. The weird one, the whiner who got on my good nerve and the one who smoothed things over.
I'm telling ya'll, this show was awesome!!!
For so long, all I ever knew about drag queens came from RuPaul, who we really didn't know, and the movie "Wigstock." Both were pioneering for drag performers, but I think this was a step in the right direction to have drag performers be humanized.
So much of what they do is illusion and make-up and wigs and a lot of people tend to see them as fake people who feel like they are stuck in the wrong body. This show challenged that and became, dare I say, pioneering?
While there was a whole lot of Tom Foolery going on, there were a lot of issues brought up like HIV/AIDS, poverty and homophobia. All of these things need to be discussed on a huge stage and I commend RuPaul and the show's other producers for giving us this awesomely entertaining show.
To all the performers - Victoria , Tammie, Akasha, Jade, Ongina, Shanelle, Rebecca, Nina and especially the winner Bebe Zahara Benet, you all made my Monday nights. And best of all, you didn't eff it up!

Picture is property of Logo.

You missed a great show!

So, I wanna give a great big shout out to The Jaded Nyer for having me on her show. I had a great time, I got to live my dream of being one of the talking heads on the radio.
Check it out:
We still didn't get anything accomplished other than the fact that she hates Tyler Perry movies and I don't. LoL. And guess what people, there was no blood shed. A few folks pulled out machetes and gats but still, nobody died.
All in all, we had a good conversation and we basically decided, decreed and agreed that we've got to do it ourselves. It's time we stop waiting on the big Hollyweird studios to produce our stories, we've got to get on our grind and start helping each other.
So right now, any aspiring director, producer, screenwriter make contacts with other folks who are either doing or want to do what you want to do and help each other out!
To paraphrase the wonderfully fabulous RuPaul, "If we don't help ourselves, how in the hell do we expect anyone else to help us? Can I get an 'Amen' up in here?"

What are you doing on Monday night?!

I know what you oughta be doing! You oughta be checking me out on The Jaded Nyer's BlogTalk Radio show.
This show came about after a conversation The Jaded Nyer, 12kyle and The F$%k It List and I had about one Mr. Tyler Perry.
Monday night, we won't have any of those pesky typos getting in our way! We'll be going head to head and the gloves are coming off!
OK, so it won't be the Rumble in the Jungle, but it's going to be a great show! I mean, what else could you be doing at 10 p.m. on a Monday? There is nothing on TV and you need something to help you unwind from the God-awful day that is Monday.
Tell a neighbor, tell a friend, call all your cousins and your mama 'nem! Tell 'em tune into to BlogTalk Radio on Monday night.

Today, I'm sad.

One of my favorite shows met its demise last night around 10:04 EST. *sniffles* Showtime pulled the plug on "The L Word" and I am not over it. Honestly, I'm not sure if I will get over it.
First of all, if you weren't watching "The L Word," I don't know what you've been doing with your life for the past six years. Let me try to explain.
I happened onto this show by pure circumstance. Toward the end of 2003, one of my best friends from college asked me if I'd seen this new show that follows the lives of a group of lesbian friends.
The convo went a little like this:
TQ: Have you ever seen that show "The L Word" about this group of lesbians?
Me: Hell no! Why would I want to watch that?!
TQ: If you can make it through the first episode, it's a great show.
Me: I'll have to take your word for that one.
TQ: For real, it's a good show. Did you watch "Queer As Folk?"
Me: Yes, but that's different.
TQ: Why? Because they were men?
Me: Yeah. I don't want to watch women in sex scenes together. *shudders* Ewww.
TQ: *laughs* Just make it through the first episode and it's a good show.
To make a long story short, I was living in Tennessee in an apartment that had Showtime on Demand. It was one of those days where there was nothing on TV and I had seen every movie that had come on Lifetime that day. I decided to take a gander at what TQ was talking about. I was bored, I didn't have a damn thing else to do, so I watched. That Saturday afternoon, I was introduced to a show and a cast of characters I won't soon forget.
I won't front, at first, the show was a little hard to watch. Not only were these beautiful women making out (I hate that term) and having sex, but I couldn't get "Flashdance" out of my head whenever Jennifer Beals character "Bette" was in a scene.
I have to admit, TQ was right, once the initial episode was over, I had to keep watching it because the storyline was freakin' awesome! The writers on that show wrote such great stories that I had to keep going back to watch it.
After about the third episode, I stopped looking at the characters as "lesbians" and they became characters in a show that I liked. They were just regular people who go through the same crap everybody else does.
They became like any other cable TV drama. There were characters that I loved, like Dana (Erin Daniels), Kit (Pam Grier), Shane (Katherine Moenning) and Tasha (Rose Rollins). Then, there were characters I loved to hate, like Marina, Tonya, Jodi and in the last two seasons, Jenny.
As a side note, I have never in all my life of watching television hated a character more than I hated Jenny Schecter in the last two years. Kudos to Mia Kirshner for being a helluva an actress!
Anyway, my point is, this was an awesome show that I'm sad to see head off into the abyss of great shows that I wasn't ready to see go. Farewell to "The L Word." You'll be in great company with "The Cosby Show," "A Different World," "Ally McBeal," "Six Feet Under," "Queer As Folk," "Noah's Arc" and "Soul Food."

It's All About A Good Day!

What's up peeps?!
Ever have one of those days where you wake up rested, content and just happy with the world around you? The sun shines a little brighter, the air is fresher and every thang is every thang?!
I'm having one of those days today and I'm going to enjoy it dammit! So much so, I'm going to subject you all to my favorite "happy song." Enjoy!

Happy Face
I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

Woke up and realized
This world's not
So bad after all
Looked at it through
A child's eyes, and
I saw these beautiful
Things that you
Never think about
Like the ocean, moonlight,
Stars and clouds
It's amazing how
We don't appreciate
Our blessings
There's plenty of people
Who don't like me
But there's ten times more
Who love me and
I love myself
Sometimes, it gets tough,
It gets tough
But I can't give up,
Can't give up
Just take a deep breath,
Close my eyes
Feel the love and
Give a smile

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

It's me,
I just wanna be happy
Uh, just be happy, uh,
Just be happy
Today is the day
I am willing to say
I will put all the
Past behind me,
No more enemies
Ready 'cause
(Ready 'cause)
I'm living in this world
(Living in this world)
I wanna make a change
(Wanna make a change)
Gonna make a change
(Gonna make a change)
Put on my happy face

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

Everything's gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be okay
Everything's gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right,
Everything's gonna be okay

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning,
The sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able,
I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning
With a happy face
I'm flying, I'm flying,
I'm flying, I'm flying
I'm flying, I'm flying,
I'm flying, I'm flying
I'm flying, I'm flying,
I'm flying, I'm flying
Flying, flying