Troy

Films are screened at the cinema; movies are watched that the theater with a tub of popcorn and a 1/2 gallon of Coke

LOL! Sad, but that would probably get the site a lot of attention. It may even get Pioneer to talk about it. I did have to look up the Coyote Ugly reference

there are people who welcome this hostility. they believe it signals the end of days, the return of Jesus Christ. Some are happy about this.

Hey @Milton welcome back man! I was unaware that you "fell off" for a few years because I still hear your name. Please post a list of ISBN13s for any books I may be missing on your page: Milton J. Davis. Given your presence on the site and other who write in your genre, the books are here it may just be a matter of presenting them in a way that makes them easier to find. The site's search engine is one way to find these books. Another way is the "Top Ten Book Lists" I've been compiling. Maybe you can help me create a list of the "Top 10 Afrofuturism Books." I started one for Steampunk and Sword and Soul. You have books on both lists, but I need help finding additional titles and of course spreading the word.

Del you should know by now "facts" have nothing to do with 45. If they did he would not be POTUS, wouldn't you agree?

Hi Katie do you have any titles to suggest?

Impeachment is STILL unlikely and removal from the office (before the end of the year is sheer fantasy). Brothers, your faith in our system is indeed prodigious, but woefully misplaced. Kalexander I have no problem giving you two an extra 12 hours, shoot 12 days won't make a difference. We'll go by Washington DC time which of course is the same as New York Time. Del I know you must be on something really strong if you think 45 is gonna get the boot before the end of the summer.... and I thought I was the optimist. I was unaware 45 gave up his financials. Interesting. but 45 is the "teflon don"ald

I heard this was a really good film.

Hey Del since The Year end sooner where you are we'll use New York time

@Pioneer1 your critique is promotion, whether you recognize it or not. The book reviews I publish are a fee based service that authors purchase, because critiques are a great way to promote a product. Here is a review I posted yesterday, An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones by Wendy Jones. The reviewer had positive and negative things to say about the book but overall it was a fair assessment and it will help potential readers decide if they want to read the book -- much more than the promotional copy written by the publisher. Man the worse thing that could have resulted from Gambino's video was for no one to talk about it. People are manipulated by clever marketers without ever recognizing it is happening. I'm not sure about human nature but I personally spend every day of my life sharing information about things that I like or feel is important for people to know. But to your point, the negative stuff attracts the most attention. Marketers know this and the web exploited this to the hilt. Hey Pioneer, if I took off my shirt and wiggled around in a video shooting people would you talk about AALBC on other websites?

There was a time when some of these title were considers really scandalous. Today they'd ruffle few feathers; not because people are more sexually liberated, but because we have become so crass more pronographic than erotic. The hookup culture of randomly banging people you barely know... The strip clubs where guys and gals can get women to do pretty much anything with the right amount to cash. Erotica is about the mind as much as it is about the body. https://aalbc.com/top10/index.php?category=Books+of+Erotica

@Pioneer1 of course if you got 25 opinions on the video you'd get 25 responses -- that is how art works. Man you ask, "what does he want his audience to do?" Dude, you are doing it! You are talking about his music and his video and raising his profile. Don't you see you are actively promoting his video -- I only saw it because of you. Can you name any other businesses, that you actually like, that you talked about here is say the last month?

Hey @Kalexander2 thanks for the feedback. I wish you would have shared it on the blog post where more people could read it. if it's not too much trouble would you mind doing that? But in case you don't have a chance to copy and paste your response on my blog, I'll reply here. The best thing to do is help you appreciate the fact that the site has thousands of backlinks and I understand search engine optimization. The main thrust of the article was to help people understand that Google, who has a monopoly on search, is using their search engine to Market their products. Making websites more diffickut to find. As a result of this, websites particularly independent ones without deep pockets now find it harder to be discovered. The best search engine optimization and the best content in the world cannot make up for this. The only thing that can is money and a lot of it. Websites with good content will struggle more than they should. This makes the web less informative. I'll let you guess which demographic is hurt most by this. Does this make sense?

https://aalbc.com/books/bestsellers.php

Yeah since you posted this I saw an image where the inference was that the buttons on his trousers are the same as the trouser confederate soldiers wore. At the end of the day it is art and you can see anything in it that you want to see. Some of what you've shared above reminds me of that comparisons between Lincoln and Kennedy's assassinations. Again if you look hard enough you can find all kinds of parallels between anything. At some point you move from appreciating art into conspiracy theories. I'm sure Gambino does not mind as it just makes his stuff more popular... I'm talking about it now and I'm sure I would not have been otherwise. On some level people just accept that the video is so profoundly deep and keep quiet so that they don;t reveal how shallow they must be. @Pioneer1, you see that the emperor has no clothes.

Your posting of this video is the first time I heard about it. I watched the video it was interesting enough for me to watch it all the way through. Whenever we consume art we bring our experiences, knowledge, and temperaments to the experience. The same is true for the creator of art. Sometimes to creator and consumer can be so different the intended message is no communicated. In other words, @Pioneer1, this video will not like resonate with gay white masons Seriously, I think you got the message. But you've been around long enough where you probably feel, "What else is new?" So now you start looking for something more and pick up on peripheral things that don't really matter, like Gambino mimicking Michael jackson. Maybe you can share some of the commentary that speaks to how deep this video is.

Frances, I was informed today that your entry will be accepted. Hopefully it will arrive in the next day or two.

Yes it is a tough battle and impossible to wage alone or without some serious paper. If you read the article, post in the comments and let me know what you think.

Yeah that might sound hyperbolic, but it is true. We all know Facebook is working hard to become the Internet, the only site people visit and engage on. But the real threat to the internet is Google. Google alone controls the World Wide Web. They determine the traffic a website gets and has their finger in the revenue streams of most of them. I just blogged about this subject, so you can read more. If you do please comment and share your thoughts. Here are a couple of images from the article: The following chart is my actual Google adsense revenue back in 2011. You can see, for several months, I was averaging $2,200 a month, after being hit by the Panda Algorithm update my adsense revenue dropped by half the following month then, by half again the next month and was down to $300 in couple for months later. In my case and many others the penalty made no sense and was unjustified. The image below shows how Google has taken complete control of all of the content, above the fold, on a search on the term bestselling book 2018 -- even before the paid advertising.

Interesting subject. The "shovel" metaphor holds true and illustrates the problem with unbridled capitalism -- you know when the only incentive is to make money -- the way it is practiced in the United States. So I can become rich by doing anything from hosting pedophila websites to making the plastic crack vials. At the corporate level, selling toxic securities or cigarettes. It is all the same thing. The human consequences are not important at all...

Oh God, I can't even think about the ramifications of the repeal of net neutrality. The cost of running a website can, and likely will, go up. As we will have to start to paying a premium for providing fast access to our websites. This will accelerate the move 0f people to social media as their primary web presences. The repeal of net neutrality poses an existential threat to independent websites, like AALBC.

Mark do you have a website (other than Amazon or a social media site)? If so post a link to it.

@Mel Hopkins this is important, probably one of the most important things to keep in mind and a good way to differentiate one's product and reach a new audience. You know what, "F" Google's tag manger and Google too. You know they are pissing me off now. recently I noticed AALBC dropped to age two of Googles ranking on the search term "african american books." I'm blogging about his now...

Hi Frances, I'm sorry to read about the difficulty you had with your submission. Our USPS is too busy providing same-day delivery of paper towels for Amazon to be worried about the regular mail. While it is past the deadline I did reach out to the organizers on your behalf -- you never know.

I would be happy to I'd like your send your $50 bucks to the African American Youth Harvest Foundation (AAYHF), in my name PLEASE! In the highlight improbably likelihood that you win. @Delano and @Kalexander2, you may send MY $50, as a tax deductible contribution, in my name to the Literary Freedom Project. I like this bet no one loses and a charitable organization benefits.