The 2009 Academy Awards. Pleasures. Pains.

Lisa Rinna. She's admitted to bad cosmetic surgery , but....wow. The hair. The lips. I used to be a fan in your Days of Our Lives era, Lisa. Where have you left me?!?!?

I'm sick of this little Miley Cyrus girl, I'll be honest. The teeny bopper trying to turn sex symbol is an old idea, and I don't think she's making the transition well, at all. And this dress? You look like a Christmas tree, boo. Go home.

Fabulouuuuuuuuuuuus! Kate Winslet is stunning as she (usually) is in this grayish-bluish number. Elegance!

Jennifer Aniston, simple and elegant as usual. She looked great, though I wasn't feeling that Bohemian braid at the front...talk about an awkward moment when she presented with Jack Black and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the front row! She presented with grace and did not bat ONE DAMN EYE! Loved it.

Beyonce'...this was a bad idea. You've got great curves, gorgeous skin, stunning smile; this dress was a COMPLETE miss. Leave House of Derreon ALONE!! What are those, fish?!?!?

Evan Rachel Wood....took the cake for me Sunday night. From the moment I saw her, she was it for me! She's young, some say she's misguided...but in this number, she was the BIDNAAAAAASSSSS OF 2009! The pale skin with the soft toned gown, with that tat on the upper back? Picture perfect!!

As Marilyn Manson's young and current on again-off again girlfriend, many people are comparing Evan Rachel Wood to Manson's ex-wife, Dita Von Teese, Burlesque dancer extraordinaire (love her). What do you think?

Yes!

Now, I don't think this is from the Oscars, and I don't know exactly where this shot was taken nor do I give a hot damn, but I am thoroughly appalled. What the hell was Niecey Nash thinkin??

The Soloist

A schizophrenic (Nathanial Ayers played by Jamie Foxx), is a homeless musician from Skid Row, Los Angeles who dreams of playing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Through "chance," he meets a journalist (Steve Lopez played by Robert Downey Jr.), who tries to help this mentally disturbed man get "back on his feet" and make his dreams come true.

Lopez was walking through downtown Los Angeles three years ago when he came upon a man playing a violin. Over the following weeks, Lopez kept returning to that street corner to listen to the music and learn more about the man who made it. Those visits resulted in a series of newspaper columns in which Lopez introduced the homeless musician to his readers.

"His name is Nathaniel Anthony Ayers. He was a little over 50 years old when I met him," he says. "He grew up in Cleveland and got interested in music through the public school system back then in the 1960s. Mr. Ayers, after high school, went to Ohio University to study upright bass and later got a scholarship to Juilliard, which was quite rare. He was one of the few - if not the only - African-American students at Juilliard in the late 1960s.

Around his second year at Juilliard, Lopez told his readers, Ayers began having problems. Although his musicianship was outstanding, he had trouble focusing in class. At the beginning of his junior year, he had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He left Juilliard and ended up on the streets of Los Angeles.

Today, Ayers is getting treatment for his illness, and while his recovery is far from complete, he now has a lot of people looking out for him. Lopez also has been changed by the friendship the two men developed. Ayers also introduced Lopez to the reality of the link between homelessness and mental illness.
[Voice of America News, February 2009]

Right Right

"We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love." - Tom Robbins

First Black Disney Princess!

Anika Noni Rose. Hailing from CT, is a Tony award winning singer and actress. She attended FAMU, earning a BA in theatre, then studied Drama at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Fran. She performed on stage most notably in Footloose and Caroline, or Change.

In 2006, she starred in Dreamgirls as Lorrell Robinson and is scheduled to appear in the upcoming films Just Add Water, Razor, and....in Disney's upcoming animated feature THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, in which she will be the FIRST BLACK DISNEY PRINCESS EVER (Tiana)!! This is huge y'all. HUGE! She also starred alongside Jills Scott in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency...


Keep an eye on her...


courtesy of Wikipedia and IMDB

So Not Surprised.

Hey Boo.

If This Isn't Love

I’m calling his phone up
Just to tell him how much
I really love him ‘cause
His everything I want
He listens to me, he cares for me
So I truly believe

God sent me an angel
Up from above
That’s gonna love me for life
Might as well be perfect only because
It’s the only way I can describe, so

It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I could be dreaming or just plain crazy
It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I never felt like this baby
If this isn’t love

L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh if this isn’t love
L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh if this isn’t love

I’m selfish ‘cause I don’t
Wanna share him with nobody
Not even knows
People that came before me
But see, I never believed

God would send me an angel
Up from above
That’s gonna love me for life
Might as well be perfect only because
It’s the only way I can describe, so

It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I could be dreaming or just plain crazy
It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I never felt like this baby
If this isn’t love

L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh if this isn’t love
L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh

So if you got real love
Lemme see you put your hands up
See you put your hands up
The kind of love that fits quite like a drug
Lemme see you put your hands up
See you put your hands up
If this isn’t love
‘Cause I know I ain’t crazy
I know I ain’t tripping
I know I ain’t slipping
I know that is love
You see me with my hands up
If you think I’m dreaming
I know I ain’t dreaming
‘Cause this is the reason I love him because
If this isn’t love

It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I could be dreaming or just plain crazy
It this isn’t love, tell me what it is
‘Cause I never felt like this baby

L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh if this isn’t love
L-O-V-E, what is in me
L-O-V-E, oh if this isn’t love

Love, L-O-V-E
Love, L-O-V-E



I cry. Almost everytime I hear this song. I sing loudly. Almost everytime I hear this song. My hands go up in the air. Almost everytime I hear this song.

February 14th, Whenever.

So this year I have a "Valentine." Not someone I chose to be my Valentine, or someone who asked me to be their Valentine. But someone, who by definition, has been labeled as such. This someone, being my wonderful, knuckle-headed, sweet and absolutely imperfect boyfriend.

So, what does February 14th, (tomorrow) mean to me? Not much. So, why are we not celebrating? Good question. A question that, while he is ecstatic that I'm fine not celebrating and is happy to know that no money shall be spent on this Hallmark Holiday, still makes him wonder, "What is wrong with this chick to not want to celebrate the day that was made specifically for her, and more specifically for her, when she's in a relationship? What did I do wrong?"

Awww, boo, you did nothing wrong. My problem, my issue, my concern, is with what this holiday represents and says to all who indulge, and those who don't indulge. I mean, the cliche way to approach this is to say that this holiday should be moot because romantic love should be celebrated EVERY day. Sure. That's fine. I get it. But why is something the matter when I've been "given" something that's always been a fad and wanted by eveyrone (unless you're on the Schizophrenic spectrum), and I'm just kickin it??

Here's why. Honestly, I don't celebrate romantic love everyday. Should I be? No doubt it's one of the most surreal experiences I've ever entertained in my life, and I'm grateful to have run into it at least once, but should it really always be celebrated? Because, in fact, this man pisses me off sometimes. He makes me mad, to the point where "love" is not the topic, and I'm spittin hot fire at his neck. Love, in and of itself, is tiring. It's takes time, energy, emotion, etc. It's not all gravy, it's not all nice, and while it's been my best life experience, it's also been my worst, and will indeed likely lead to some detriment in my life.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't love love. I wouldn't trade it, I promise you. And I'd go through all the shit I've already been through, to get to where I am in my journey to love. But...have we been putting love on too high of a pedestal? For those of us who have it, or had it, or long for it, or need it, or think they may have had it...the answer may be no. But what about those thousands and possibly millions of people that haven't had the chance? What does Valentine's Day say to them? "Awww, maybe next year you'll reach this quinessential peak of life..." That ain't even right...

I really don't know where I was going with this one...I'm just annoyed by the sea of read and pink I'm seeing all over the place, as well as sick of people asking people what I'm doing and where I'm going, then seeing their disgruntled and confused faces when I tell them that I'll be studying and playing PS2 with the boy.

Ah well. So much for the popular way to love.

Just Cuz She Makes Me Smile...MS. TYSON!!

Cicely Tyson. You recognize her. You know she's flyy. You know she's outstanding. But do you know why?

Ms. Cicely Tyson was born and raised in Harlem, NYC, in 1933, the daughter of Theodosia (a domestic) and William Tyson (a pushcart operator), immigrants from the island of Nevis of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the WI. She married Miles Davis in '81, and they were together until '88. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

She was discovered by a photographer for Ebony Magazine and became a popular fashion model. You know her from Guiding Light, an off-Broadway show called The Blacks (with james earl Jones, Maya Angelou, and Louis Gossett, Jr.) In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Sounder, and in '74 she won TWO Emmy's for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (holler that she was the 1st to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a television movie). She played in Roots, and portrayed Coretta Scott King in King. She also won THIRD Emmy for her role in Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.

Some of Ms. Tyson's recent roles have been in Idlewild, Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Madea's Family Reunion. Ms. Tyson has made a note to ONLY portray strong Black women in her roles, stating, "Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm." "The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years."

Much Respect.

What Do You Think?

Heart Truth's (an awareness campaign for women about heart disease) Red Dress Collection 2009 Fashion Show...

YAY FOR NIA LONG!! Do we ever get tired of her ageless beauty??

NAY FOR VIVICA FOX!! Am I the only one who has been over her since her divorce a few years ago and fast decline since turning 40??? From her 'hood booga brush with 50 Cent, to some bad collagen in her lips, Vivica has lost it for me...

GET IT MS. CICELY TYSON!

I'll end with some tidbits that all women should know about heart disease. In alliance with the best motto I've heard all year: KNOW BETTER, DO BETTER.

-> one in four women in the United States dies of heart disease, while one in 30 dies of breast cancer.

-> An astonishing 80 percent of women ages 40 to 60 have one or more risk factor for heart disease.

-> It's not just a men's disease. If you've got a heart, heart disease can be your problem.

-> Mmong U.S. women ages 18 and older, 17.3 percent are current smokers, 51.6 are overweight (BMI 25 or greater), 27 percent have hypertension, 35 percent have high cholesterol, and 53 percent do not meet physical activity recommendations.

-> African American and Hispanic women, in particular, have higher rates of some risk factors for heart disease and are disproportionately affected by the disease compared to white women. More than 80 percent of midlife African American women are overweight or obese, 52 percent have hypertension, and 14 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes. Some 83 percent of midlife Hispanic women are overweight or obese, and more than 10 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes.

-> To protect your heart, it is vital to make changes that address each risk factor you have. (READ: going to the gym for a few months at the beginning of every ain't cuttin it, ladies. I don't give a damn how slim/trim you are. Being healthy is a mind frame; your psychological health, your physical health, your spiritual health, your healthy relationships.

-> Talk to your doctor. Don't wait for him/her to talk to you.


(courtesy of http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm)

Get It Together Ladies.

I haven't decided whether this will make my "next buy" list...Mr. Harvey tends to rub me the wrong way sometimes in the morning...but I WILL admit that sometimes he's right on the money!!

If you've read it, or know more about it, do tell.....