I want to apologize ...

... my blogs have fallen victim to the increasing demands of my new responsibilities at work. I used to update on the days when I had a lot of down time, now my down time is pretty much nonexistent.
Since I last posted, I found out that Julius J. Carry, also known as, "Sho Nuff" from "The Last Dragon," has passed away. There haven't been any official details released about his death but Wikipedia is reporting that he had pancreatic cancer.
Carry, 56, is best known for his role in "The Last Dragon" but he appeared on several TV shows including "227," "Murphy Brown," "JAG" and more recently, "The Unit. " While he will always and forever more be "Sho Nuff," he has had a lot of excellent roles as a professional man, more often than not playing a detective, a doctor or someone in the military.
To me, that is commendable because you all know how easy it is for us to see only negative images of black men in movies and on TV shows. His death was really a loss.
Da Brat has also been sentenced for her role in an altercation at an Atlanta-area nightclub last fall.
I first reported to you guys last November that Brat, aka Shawntae Harris, was arrested in Tucker, Georgia for hitting a waitress in the head with a bottle of rum. As a result, the woman's face was cut and has been scarred for life.
She pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years in prison, seven years probation, 200 hours of community service and she has to complete completion of substance abuse treatment, mental evaluation and anger management classes.
Dayum! If that's the deal she got, I wonder what she could have gotten if she didn't make a deal.
On a lighter and brighter note, both the US Men and Women's basketball teams claimed the gold in this year's Olympics. I saw both games and that could explain why I could barely keep my eyes open in Church yesterday.
The U.S. Men won a hard-fought victory over the Gasol brothers and the Spanish National Team. I missed the entire third quarter while I was taking a nap. But I woke up just in time to see them win it all and get their medals. But the women's game, I saw it all!
The U.S. Women turned the Australian National Team into spectators. Lisa Leslie claimed her fourth straight gold medal in the same sport. That is unprecedented in the Olympic games. She hasn't said so but I think this was her last time on the National Team. I will give it to her though, she went out on a helluva high note. She was 10th in the tournament in rebounding, fourth in field goal percentage making 38 of the 66 shots she took. She was tied for second place in blocked shots and ranked 12th and 11th for offensive and defensive rebounds respectively.Simply put, the girl is BAD!
Honestly, I've known it since the '96 Olympics in ATL. That is when I started to sit up and take notice of women's basketball and that could have been because I made the varsity team as a freshman. *brushes off my shoulders* The next summer, the WNBA was launched and she became my favorite player and the L.A. Sparks became one of my favorite teams.
Leslie, 36, is a wonderful ambassador of women's basketball and has been for years. She played for University of Southern California Trojans from 1990-94, then internationally for a year before the '96 Olympics.
At any rate, if this is her last Olympics, her legacy with the Women's National Team has been cemented in her four golds and in the young players like Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles who are coming behind her.

To clarify ...

... it seems that quite a few of you have yet to hear about Hip Hop Harry. So you know I had to go to YouTube and find a couple of videos for ya'll.
Before you ask, I have a gang of nieces, nephews and god kids, so no, I don't watch this during my leisure time.
Check him out:
He is so hood, ain't he?

Sometimes I Wonder ...

In case you're new to this, the following is a mash up of my random thoughts of the last week.

Sometimes I wonder ...

Whatever happened to the female MC?

Where the hell is Missy Elliot?

Why is Timbaland a freakin' bodybuilder?

How do they decide which sports are played for Olympic medals?

Who the hell voted to make table tennis a sport?

How come they didn't include air hockey and pin ball?

Where the hell did Hip Hop Harry come from?

What happened to Barney?

Am I the only person who thought he was a child molestor? Think about it, you do all this stuff with this big purple freak and you can't tell anybody? That's sounds a little freaky to me.

How come the characters on Sesame Street never got older? Every year Elmo turns three on his birthday. He's been three since I was three.

While we're on Sesame Street, were Bert and Ernie brothers or a couple?

If they were brothers, weren't they too old to share a bed?

Whatever happened to good cartoons?

Am I the only one who thought Smurfette was a ho?

Not only that, wasn't Hefty Smurf (the one with the tattoo) gay? I mean, Smurfette was trying to give that thang away and he wouldn't take it.

And just where the hell did all those smurfs come from with only one woman in the village?

Where they cussin when they used the word "smurfy" as an adjective?

Who told white folks that calling someone "articulate" is a compliment?

Why did a white lady get offended when I smiled and said, "thank you, so are you."

Man, it's been a helluva weekend ...

... I'm sure you all have heard about the death of one of the Original Kings of Comedy, Bernie Mac. Mac, 50, passed away this morning from complications of pneumonia and the death of 65-year-old, Black Moses, better known as Isaac Hayes.
These were two of our most talented and treasured entertainers and they will, without doubt, be missed by their hometowns of Chicago and Memphis, respectively.
I heard about Bernie Mac's passing on Saturday morning while I was laying in bed. The radio announcer said "he will be missed," and I sat straight up in my bed. Just the night before, I read that he was improving and he might be able to go home soon. It's just sad.
Mac is of course known as one of the Original Kings of Comedy. He's also appeared in the "Ocean's Eleven" movie franchise, as well as "Transformers" and "Mr. 3000." My favorite movies that he's appeared in have got to be "Life" and "House Party 3."
Uncle Vester was funny as hell but Jangle Leg, oh ... my ... gah!!! He was the funniest dude in the movie.
I heard about Hayes on Saturday afternoon when I got a CNN Breaking News alert on my phone. I just shook my head and said, "Damn." I know he had a stroke a while back, maybe a year ago and had been on the road to recovery.
I actually remember Hayes more for his music than for his acting. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to my mom and uncles sing "Stand Accused."
Perhaps our generation will remember him most as the love making, heart breaking, Chef on "South Park." All of the South Park fanatics will never be able to forget episodes like "Chef and the Succubus" and "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."
Other than his singing, the funniest thing I remember him doing is "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" where Chris Rock in all his Jheri Curl glory went into the restaurant owned by Hayes and Jim Brown asking for "one rib."

My heart goes out to both families because I know this was a huge loss for both of them. Mac leaves behind a wife, daughter and granddaughter to cherish his memory. Hayes leaves behind his fourth wife and 12 children.
Lets keep both families in our prayers.
For old times sake, here are a couple of my favorite Bernie Mac clips and Isaac Hayes songs.



One thing is for sure, there is some serious laughing and grooving going on up in Heaven. With greats like Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx and Robin Harris preceding Mac and Gerald and Sean Levert, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke preceding Hayes, I'm sure the good times aren't stopping up there.
What are your favorite "Mac Man" and "Black Moses" moments?