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Thumper

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Everything posted by Thumper

  1. Hello All, I just read the news that the poet Lucille Clifton is dead, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100214/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_clifton May she rest in peace.
  2. Hello All, Sade's new album, Soldier of Love will be out TOMORROW!! Oh, yeah, I'm going to hurry up and download that sucka before I go to work tomorrow!
  3. Hello All, I disagree with the Ishmael! I am so SICK of this argument. They used it 30 some odd years ago with The Color Purple! Frankly, Reed needs to get over it! I don't see how Precious is saying anything more to white people than it said to me as a black man. Any damn movie that ain't showing the black man as a minor Superman they take offense. There use to be they was upset because white folks always wanted to depict the mournful, caring black mother on the screen when not all of that was the least bit true. Now, Precious destroyed that stereotype and you all still ain't happy. I guess Reed would be more satisfied showing Precious's daddy having a bunch of kids and not supporting them or raising them or even knowing who they are, because that much is true! No, Sidney Poitier should lose 40 years and start remaking his old movies again. Man, pick a side and stay with it.
  4. Hello All, I see the problem here as twofold: accurate representation of the story and marketability. I agree with Leonce. The cover does not represent the story inside the book. Normally, that fact alone would have bothered me. But, the edition of Bourbon Street I was reading was a hardcover, which means that I took the book cover off while I was reading it. The picture was not constantly in my face; thereby, I was able to enjoy the story on its own merit. Now, if I was reading a paperback edition that cover would have ticked me off a little because it did not have any connection to the story. I remember getting ticked off with the cover of Bernice McFadden's Sugar. The woman on the cover did not look anything like how the character Sugar was depict in the novel. Hey, you all know that I HATE ugly book covers! I will not read a book that has an ugly book cover. Leonce has every right to expect his book cover to have some connection to his story, the publisher's see the cover as a form of advertisement. The marketability tip: Many black authors have the same problem, how to get the attention and sales from the white reading audience. There is no need to automatically, instantly fracture the audience that could read, buy and enjoy the story. I was talking to an author a few months ago about this very subject and suggested to her that for her next book, not to put her face on it. Maybe then the book could be placed in the Fiction section of the bookstores instead of those 3 or 4 shelves dedicated to African-American Fiction/Literature. There is some truth to this. I remember when I discovered the Alex Cross series, I did not know until years later that James Patterson was a white man writing a whole mystery series based on a black detective character. So, its not like the white reading audience can't accept or read books featuring black characters, its getting a few dimble heads to accept that fact.
  5. Hello All, I was just reading USA Today and it seems that Amazon is getting into the publishing business. Here's a link to the article, http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-02-04-amazonbooks04_ST_N.htm
  6. Hello All, See, Carey, once again, you have taken something and went all around the Maypole, the other way. I told you why Eddie Murphy lost. I don't say that just because you're black you deserve the Oscar, but there are too many cases of black folks being passed up. Don't start with me Carey. You bring up Hattie McDaniels. Like I told you on the other board, Olivia de Havilland should have won that Oscar because her performance was FLAWLESS! And you, never once heard me say that Taraji Henson deserved that Oscar. See, it's all about you checking yourself. What's that BB King said, "Take it like it comes, so you can leave it as it is." *LOL*
  7. Hello all, Carey: You done let all that loose skin and wrinkles on your forehead, fall into your eyes...messing with your vision! out of that group, Gabby gave the best performance HANDS DOWN! I done told you about coming to the table wearing a bib and a pair of knee pants, this is MAN's game you done rolled up on, son! *LOL* Now, let's start this again. I'll go slower this time so you can keep up... "The awards go to the Best." I know you didn't say that!? All that damn belly aching you did when Halle Berry won that Oscar for Monster Ball, you had the audacity to say that "the awards go to the Best"?! Let's look at the Oscar Angela Bassett lost for What's Love Got To Do With It to Holly Hunter in The Piano. No you know good and damn well, Holly Hunter didn't do anything but play Jim Carrey making all of those damn faces! And to top it all, Dorothy Dandridge lost that Oscar to Grace Kelley in The Country Girl because Grace Kelley did a role in which she didn't wear any makeup and wore glasses! Don't play with me. Oscar is famous for ignoring black actresses. I aint going to drop a lot of knowledge on you because it would be a waste of my time, like throwing pearls before swine, but a few of Oscar's injustice. 1.) Hilary Swank - with not one but two Oscars? Please, I would like to see her play a girl and win one. 2.) Who counts minutes -- why a ton of folks counts the minutes a nominees is in a film. Dame Judi Dench won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. She was in the move all of 10 minutes. Geraldine Page was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Pope of Greenwich Village and she was in it for 10 minutes. And this is just off the top of my head, don't make me do some research! 3.) The year of Million Dollar Baby - GIVE ME AN ENTIRE BREAK!! Carey, you know you're wrong on so many levels. Anyway, don't let me stop you from running up and down the street with your big hoop and stick.
  8. Hello All, Carey: The Best Actor Oscar race last year was the closest in a long time. While Penn won, Rourke is the one who was taking all of the other trophies up to that point. So, even though Penn deserved it, it was still a surprise and an upset. Yeah, Christoph Waltz is going to walk away with the Oscar. Eddie Murphy lost his Oscar due to his own arrogance. Normal folks know that you shouldn't be surprised that you're wet when you go pissing in a windstorm. Recall that a little while after the nomnations, nationwide, film critics (and others) began a campaign AGAINST Eddie saying that he did not deserve to have an Oscar based on the films he puts out (Pluto Nash, Daddy Day Care, etc). True, Murphy's movies made money, but overall, they suck! Murphy on the other hand decided to poo-poo all that noise, even though it had started to gain traction, and what did he do; even though the film company was willing to hold up release of the movie until AFTER the Oscars, Murphy went ahead and released NORBIT!! With that stupid, greedy move, Murphy gave away his Oscar and they gave it to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine. To make matters worse, Arkin won it for a film he was in all of 15 or 20 minutes or so. Meryl may sneak in there and get it. Already the campaign has began about how long she has went between Oscar wins, but I think Sandra Bullock may be able to still get over. Now, if Gabby would form a campaign and go at it hard and use the 1.) how many black actress has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, 2.) already they have started with the crap that this is Gabby's first movie, if she's good she'll be back. So, she needs to campaign, why should she have to wait for an Oscar. I think that tactic help Jennifer Hudson a lot! The opportunity for a black actress to be back in the Oscar race is an IMPOSSIBLITY!! Bullock can get nominated again. Meryl Streep gets a nomination every damn year. Whoopi Goldberg is the only black actress that has been nominated twice for an Oscar. Recall that she lost The Color Purple Oscar because they used that same line of bull with her. So, her Oscar for Ghost was very much a make up Oscar. If I was Gabby, and while Obama is still in the White House, she might as well campaign like all hell and use the Oscar's non-relationship when it comes to Oscar and black actress and she may be able to pull off an upset. Now, anymore Oscar questions Grasshopper?
  9. Hello All, Troy: Actually, the cover was the trigger that made me pick up the book! I haven't read the article yet, just the post. I'll be back when I've read the article.
  10. Hello All, Carey, get ready. The Oscar nominations are out and "Precious" has won 5 nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress for Gabby, Best Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique, Best Director for Lee Daniels, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher (I think that's the brother's name). Now Carey, here's how its going to go down, Mo'Nique has the Best Supporting Actress sewed up, as long as she does nothing stupid or arrogant like Eddie Murphy did when he lost the Oscar for Dreamgirls. Lee Daniels becomes the second AA to be nominated for Best Director. The Oscar is going to go to Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. "Precious" could cause a couple of upset in the Adapted Screenplay and the Academy could pull a funny like they did last year when Mickey Rourke lost to Sean Penn and give it to Gabby throwing Sandra Bullock under the bus.
  11. Hello All, Early this morning, when I started playing the Zoo game on Facebook, I read the newsletter that author Bernice McFadden just published. The topic of the main article was diversity, or lack thereof, in the white reading audience. Basically, telling white folks to give authors of color a chance by reading their books too. I initially thought that McFadden was referring to everyone, you know, I'm pretty diverse--although not as diverse as I would like to be at times--I will leave the rivers and lakes that I usually swim in. It got me to thinking, depending on when a person was born and/or became a book reader, it is possible for some AA to have been reading nothing but AA titles without reading one title written by a non-black writer. Is diversity equally important to the AA audience as it is for all of the other book reading audiences?
  12. Hello All, I ran across this article a couple of days ago. Here's the link to the story of a dispute Amazon is having with one of the publishers, www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-01-31-amazon-ebooks-pubs_N.htm. See, the real power is Oprah and Amazon.com, yawl better start recognizing.
  13. Hello All, I just found out that J.D. Salinger, the author of Catcher in the Rye had died at 91, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_en_ot/us_obit_. I read Catcher in the Rye for the first time a few years ago. It was one of the books that had been deemed a "classic" that lived up to the hype. Well, Mr. Salinger, you left a good one behind. Thanks.
  14. Hello All, For all of you who are smart enough not to play any of those games on Facebook, good for you, don't get started. I made the mistake of beginning Zoo World. The game reminds me of the old Sim City game. I loved that game. Anyway, I started playing Zoo World and I'm hooked on it, like a crackhead to a pipe. Yesterday, I picked up my mail and got my copy of Ralph Ellison's new book Three Days Before the Shooting. I pulled that heavy ass book out of the envelope and felt my heart break into three different pieces. The book is over 1000 pages long! Oh yeah, it's a thick one. I picked up the book, then dropped it back down on my mother's dining room table and proceeded to whine like a 5 years old. My thick book phobia came in, took a seat, asked for a beer and grabbed the remote and started changing the channels on the TV. This ain't going to be pretty.
  15. Hey Soul Sister, I have to agree with you on the music tip. I find myself listening to more jazz and hard, old school R&B and blues. Right now, I have just fallen heads over heels in love with a couple of white female singes, Eva Cassidy and Anita O'Day. Eva Cassidy was a bad girl. She could sing any and everything. She recorded two Aretha Franklin covers; Chain of Fools and Won't Be Long (One of Aretha's first side) and did a wonderful job on both, which is saying a lot because following after the Queen isn't for the no-talented and weak-hearted. I just started listening to Anita O'Day because I read an article about her here on the site. The author called her the "Original Blue-Eyed Soul Singer" and I have to admit that there's a lot of truth to that. Anita did not sing Soul or R&B, per se, she was strictly jazz. She's a cross between Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Her scatting reminds me of Sarah Vaughan or Betty Carter. I am going crazy over her.
  16. I see, I must have hit a little TOO CLOSE to home, huh? Uh, Carey, didn't you say that you just STARTED a history book? Could you elaborate a little on the book for the people?
  17. Hello All, I figured I'd be the first one to post the first, What are you reading thread, on the new board. *smile* Well, I'll go first. I'm reading Victoire by Maryse Conde, which is a sort of memoir, biography, historical fiction novel. You all know how much I love Maryse Conde. I find her brilliant. She's one of my all time favorite writers of all times. So far, the small novel is turning out to be magnificent. I'll keep you posted.
  18. Hello All, I got a question. I notice that men who read for pleasure, the older the man gets, the more history books he read. Have anyone else noticed this but me?
  19. Hello All, The movie Precious was just nominated for four BAFTA awards, The British equivalent to the Oscars. The movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Gabby, Best Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique. I don't know what the fourth nomination is in. One omission in the Best Actress category is Sandra Bullock. Could Gabby stand a chance at getting an award? I hope so.
  20. Hello All, Bonnie: Thanks for the compliment. I wish I had more time to read more and faster than I do. I totally understand about not reading books when you're trying to write.
  21. Hello All, Soul Sister: I hear you on the historical fiction tip. I've been in that bent for a long time and I don't see an end to that any time soon. But, I'm missing my detectives. Oh, well, maybe they'll show up soon.
  22. Hello All, Kitty, CONGRATULATIONS!!
  23. Hello All, Yvette: I did not know that Everett had a new novel out. As Carey said, I love Everett. I think he's a genius. I had not heard anything about the Erasure movie. But, I would not hold my breathe on it. Hollywood is notorious for taking years to bringing a film to the screen.
  24. Hello, Carey: Here it goes, right between the eyes. Oscar winners: Best Picture: The Hurt Locker Best Director: Kathleen Bigelow Best Actor: Jeff Bridges Best Actress: Sandra Bullock Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique Best Original Screenplay: Up In The Air Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious There it is baby, take it to the bank.
  25. Hello All, Carey: First all, since the DGA is composed of nothing but directors, I would assume, the directors know what to look for when judging other directors. Who better to select a director award than directors? Second, the Best Director Oscar nominees and winner is also chosen by directors. So, on that tip, I'm not understanding your argument. I agree Norman Jewison is over due for the honor.
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