Troy

Ha! I corrected the typo before I read your comment @Cynique, I usually reread what I wrote before reading a reply. The passage of time makes it easier for me to edit my own writing, but I see you understood what I meant... Why would you be surprised that I like Game of Thrones? The production, acting and story so far above anything else on TV. I could do without the gratuitous gay sex, but it is HBO and they cut it out completely this season. I really like the Tyrion character--what an actor, but I like all the character--even the ones I hate. I love science fiction movies much of it is not very good. I enjoyed the film Her, Ex Machina, I'll watch the Star Wars and Star Trek, but am usually disappointed, as they are made to please young boys. When I think about "winter is coming" I liken it to our society's senseless bickering when that are much more important things to worry about, that effect us all. Man made climate change is a perfect analogy; most would rather continue fighting each other than working to together to deal an impending doom. The same goes for indie websites, all fighting amongst yourselves while Amazon and Facebook are growing ever more powerful. Christians would argue the rapture draws nigh. Winter is coming indeed.

@Cynique, I understood your statement. Why do I to keep mansplaining that I understand that Bill was not influenced by the future misogyny in 1980s rap to beat his wife in the 1970s?! It looks like you simply did not understand what I wrote in reaction. Perhaps, as you suggest, I don't write well enough, or maybe it is a case "femstanding," the female way of understanding In the context of the whole sentence, are you saying that you had no idea which word I meant between, "reality" instead of "relativity"? Sometimes spell check corrects on the fly and if I don't see the red underline, I may miss an otherwise obvious typo. We already spoke about the difficulty of self-editing. Actually, I spend more time trying explain things to Pioneer and Del than I do you Cynique. Is still called "mansplaining" if it is one dude explaining talking to another? @Del, at the risk of mansplaining, Pioneer and I can be on the same side of an issue, but for different reasons. In most cases, many of the things we discuss here are naused and multifaceted; there are many sides to one can take. It seems however, that most people for the sake of simplicity, laziness, or perhaps human nature refuse the acknowledge that many issues are complicated and that there is no "right" or "wrong;" answer. It is very easy to lump all 45 supporters into the racist bucket, but if you that you'll never understand why many people actually support him. Similarly, if you group all women together into having brains that are more "fine-tuned and detailed" than men, you'll tend to view people with that prism and fail to completely understand them. For example, you can't run a massive website single handedly without paying attention to detail--it would get away from you and become unmanageable. Any programmer knows you simply can't write code without paying strict attention to the most minute details; a single character out of place can literally bring down an entire website. Obviously I wrote that to demonstrate that I'm fully capable of being detailed oriented. Do I have a female-like brain? It that is the case how would one explain the typos in my posts?

Hi @Linda Chavis, I don't see it as hate. I seems to me that whenever a Black person critiques another Black person the negative connotation of "hate" is applied. Essentially Monique is arguing that she, and other critically acclaimed Black female actresses are not paid on par with white actress and that other Black people help perpetuate this situation. One can take issue with Monique's use of language, but the essence of what she was saying is true. Linda do you (or anyone), disagree with Monique's assessment? I don't think Monique has the desire or skill to organize the creation of another actor's union.

@Cynique, I never thought you wrote that Bill was influenced by Rap, not did I write anything to imply. That does not make sense. I know you know Bill predates rap. In fact I even wrote that you were probably right I'm beginning to see that when one person (A) has a disagreement with more than one other person (B and C). The person A has difficulty distinguishing the options of B and C, and just lumps them all together. The reasons for the disagreement are not nearly as relevant as the disagreement itself. I'm not singling you out Cynique. Del does this with me an Pioneer, and I see this in the broader society as well. Yeah, all the other social media platforms are designed for handheld devices. Facebook is really the only one that is also designed for people using laptops or desktop computers. Consumers use held held devices predominantly. Only content creators bother with laptops or desktop devices and these folks are decreasing in numbers... @dashi365, I would encourage you to see the film. It is a very nice treatment of the man. Went I saw the film Bill Withers spoke after the showing. He came across as a great guy. I was just disappointed to learn that he beat his wife, and that the wife was not mentioned in the film. That part of his life was erased as if it never existed, which I felt made the film worse because I realized it was an incomplete depiction of Withers.

Is it my lack of consuming social media or have Black LIves Matter been quiet lately? I did read about the acquittal of the the police officer in this shooting and the subsequent protests. I love that metaphor, "winter is coming;" it so perfectly describes our current state. Of course it has no meaning to someone who has not watched the Game of Thrones Series, but if you have the phrase packs a punch. @Cynique did you read the George R.R. Martin's books? Was the phase used in them or is that something made up in the HBO series?

Yes, Gwendolyn Brooks is a revered by poets throughout the country. Her name is kept prominent by Third World Press and Chicago State University, which is home of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing. I was unaware of Brooks' views on religion, but that perspective does not surprise me.

I dunno, you may be right. I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of a 50+ year old raised in a culture where we gave up our seats, held doors; you know all the stuff people seem to give two sh-ts about nowadays. Yeah, memes are a thing all to themselves and perhaps the reason for Snapchat's very existence. People show me memes all the time. Most I don't find most funny, but I do enjoy some. For example, @Cynique, I really liked that video you posted, which was supposedly a documentary of America produced by the North Koreans. It may have been propaganda for the North Korean population, but I saw it as scathing commentary of American culture. When you seek out political and religious discussions are these with people you know, or are you looking in related groups and the like? Do you use any other social media besides Facebook?

@Connecticut Black News Inc, please elaborate.

Nah rap is not to blame here. brothers like Ike Turner and Bill predated the emergence of Rap. In fact, rap was all about having fun when it started; the misogyny came later, around the time the corporations got involved. side bar: @Cynique, how are thing going on Facebook? I saw that you've been liked my stuff--thanks! How as the activity been; has it grown, stayed the same, or slowed down in recent months?

Thanks for sharing that Dashi. Did you see the documentary film about Bill's life? You know Hyman ended her own life, right?

The Academy award winning actress Monique says, Black Women Will Never Be Paid What they Deserve, and the women in Girl's Trip were not either, because "Will Packer is a "low budget producer."

The video below had the title, Monique says 'Girls Trip' was a low budget movie & Will Power Packer is a low budget producer. Since I just posted information about the success of Girls Trip. If was surprising to learn that these actresses will not earn what they deserve. "Make 'em famous, not rich." These are the earnings reported by Forbes Magazine for actress from June 2016 to June 2017. #10 - Amy Adams ($11.5 Million) #9 - Julia Roberts ($12 Million) #8 - Cate Blanchett ($12 Million) #7 - Charllize Theron ($14 Million) #6 - Emma Watson ($14 Million) #5 - Mila Kunis ($15.5 Million) #4 - Melissa McCarthy ($18 Million) #3 - Jennifer Lawrence ($24 Million) #2 - Jennifer Aniston ($25.5 Million) #1 - Emma Stone ($26 Million) Apparently, no Black actress, including all of the Oscar winners, will come close. According to Monique, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, and Lee Daniels. Are not just complicit but help keep this condition in place. For perspective, all of these white women made less that the top 10 basketball players (#10, Kyrie Irving earned $30.6MM), all of whom are Black. This gives you an idea of just how much money the NBA makes. Something tells me even Lebron James who earned close to $90MM (if memory serves), deserves to earn even more. What are the owners earning.

I may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole, but I'd be willing to bet there has not been another film, in which Black folks were virtually entirely responsible, with an all female leading cast, that grossed as much.

The video did not lie, except for when they spoke about "talent" of the relativity TV show participants.

The Pink Panther Clique a new novel by Aisha Hall, Sunshine Smith-Williams, Jamila T. Davis, and Wahida Clark: Enjoy the book, but check the stories behind the book. All four of these Sisters were incarcerated for at least 8 years! Now I've known of Wahida since she was locked up with Martha Stewart (they were friends). She was a popular author while she was still jailed up. We have become friendly over the years and she is a supporter of AALBC.com. I was always struck by Wahda, because she is just a hard working woman. On top of that she is real cool people, a very likeable and friendly person. Wahida took out a banner advertisement for the book above (if has not started running yet), but I took the opportunity to update her page with the new book. Since the book had three other co-authors that meant I had to add three more authors to the site. While researching information about the three other ladies I was just amazed by their stories. Aisha, for example was convicted for lend leasingloan fraud,. Basically people pay to have a bank account set up and a large deposit made so that they can then go out and borrow money, or get a or get mortgage. I had not idea this was even legal. The people lending the money charge a relatively high fee in return for the service. What jammed Aisha up was that they created fake bank statements, never depositing the money, and keeping the fees. She was just in her twenties and quite wealthy at the time. They all have really have remarkable stories. I also stumbled across this video of an interview with Sunshine when looking for videos of each author. It was a little too raunchy to post on her page, but I found it really interesting and it is entirely appropriate of our forum

No problem. I only deal with them because that is how many reads want to buy books. If you send me the links to where people can buy the book from you. I'll be happy to update my database with the information!

Hi Brenda there are so many resources available nowadays I can't even begin to cover them all. I've greatly expanded out coverage of children's books. You can find many good books for children on our bestsellers lists, Here, for example, is our bestselling books for all of 2016: https://aalbc.com/books/bestsellers-by-year.php?year=2016&genre=Children%26rsquo%3Bs I also produce a list every two months. Here is the most recent list for Jul/Aug: https://aalbc.com/books/bestsellers.php?newperiodname=July/August - 2017&genre=Children%26rsquo%3Bs I also have a curated list of more than 126 important books for children. The lists covers books going back over 50 years. It is one of the most popular sections of the website: https://aalbc.com/books/children.php As far as other sites, have you check out The Brown Bookshelf? It is a wonderful site covering all areas of children's literature: https://aalbc.com/booksites/index.php?store_name=The Brown Bookshelf I frequently reference it myself. Just Us Book is a publishing company that has been doing great this for decades. You can find many of the books they have published here: https://aalbc.com/authors/imprint.php?imprint=Just+Us+Books There are childrens book events going on all over the country. The African American Children’s Book Fair is almost 30 years old and is a great event: https://aalbc.com/events/index.php?st=Pennsylvania#African+American+Children%26rsquo%3Bs+Book+Fair Our course there are indie authors like you, Brenda M. Tillman, doing their thing and making an impact. I could go on and on. It is actually a great time for Black children’s literature There is a lot happening all we need are more folks to share the good news!

Hi Brenda thanks for the comment. One of my kids told me her friend, a young lady in her twenties, middle class, educated, professional, said the movie was "horrible." I never expected the film to have any socially redeeming values. That fact that the writers tried work something in is commendable, but somewhat formulaic (think: Tyler Perry). I was just expecting a Black female version of The Hangover, which obviously is a formula that has been working for Hollywood. I'm sure there will be a Girls Trip 2, 3, 4 until the franchise becomes a parody of itself and fails to make as much money. Further to your point, about the images we put out; I agree. White white folks can make films like The Hangover without a concern for adverse cultural impact, because there is far more diversity in the variety of films featuring their images. For Black folks, this is not the case. We usually just get buffoonery or what I call the "victim/triumph" narrative; stories of us rising up from the ghetto, racist south, or some plantation. Of course our stories are so much more than this, but i guess people don't want to pay see that side of us.

“Goodreads is one of the bookiest online places to be. It’s got avid readers, book lovers, and tons of reviews. With over 300 million pageviews and 45 million unique visitors a month, GR also very influential and I recommend you join if you haven’t already.” I got this in an email today. Well actually it was linked in an email to an article with the headline, "Goodreads is a great spot for readers." Of course I was intrigued and read the article. The author, who is Black, was promoting a giveaway on Goodreads. Of course this is a reasonable way to promote one's work to a broad audience. However, I did find great promotion of Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon, striking. The promotion of Goodreads was even more prominent than the promotion of the giveaway. The quoted paragraph above started the article. This struck me because not only is the author giving Goodreads a great endorsement, they are giving away products on the site. Amazon's Goodreads does not have to lift a finger and they are getting all of this for free! This is the environment in which I compete. This author actually happens to be one of the top 100 bestselling authors on AALBC.com. Sadly, I see no mention of that accomplishment anywhere on the author's site--indeed no mention of AALBC.com at all--at least not that I can find in a Google search. I do not mention the author by name (you can Google the quote if you are interested), because it is not about this author but about all Black authors. My coverage of the author, like thousands of other authors, is qute substantial. AALBC.com comes up on the first page of a google search on just the author's name. Of course Goodreads and Amazon out rank me. The biggest difference is that the author also actively supports the other sites with active engagement. I'm not suggesting that the author should shun Goodreads in favor of AALBC.com. What I don't understand is why they have shut AALBC.com out? From time to time, I'll check out an author's site, who I know has benefited from AALBC.com, and check to see if AALBC.com is mentioned. Often AALBC.com goes unmentioned, while Amazon (and social media) are prominently promoted. , Fortunately, there are a great many other websites that do link to AALBC.com, here are a couple hundred thousand (I removed social media sites from the result set). As I said before AALBC.com exists because of Black folks and if AALBC.com will thrive it will be because of Black folks too. @The DW_Perspective, I'd be interested in your perspective. Of course anyone my feel free to comment as well.

Well you do make a good point about archives @Cynique. Indeed, I make it a point to ensure that everything that has even been posted, on these forums, remains online. Most sites don't do that. Not even social media (at least not historically). As you said it would definitely be easier for someone reading these 100 minutes, or 100 years, from now if there were fewer typos. I know I said it before, but I will be more careful. Thanks.

Well Cynique regarding the typos. I think expecting perfection is a bit much in informal conversation. I strive to be clear not 100% type free. You can have perfect syntax and be completely obtuse. Of course I don't try to misspell words, but if I do I'm not going to sweat it here, if I misspell a word and it changes the meaning of what I intended to say I'm edit it if I don't catch it on the first pass. I'm not aware of anyone making a comment based upon a misunderstanding of what I wrote because of a typo. You know the old thing, werhe if yuo rwite a nesetence ithw eht leertts rscamlbed ti si llits leiglbe. It must really be a slow day if it has come down to nailing us on grammar. Now on the web site proper, even for my stupid bestseller seal, I do strive perfection (100% free of typos), I know I don't get it and it does indeed irk me. But I'm a believer that something is better than nothing in most cases.

Well I'm in Tampa which is in Hillsborough county so I'm in Hillsborough. Tell your sister iI'm in an area called "New Tampa" which is north west of downtown near the wiregrass mall. She'll know where that is. No I did not have any comment 'cause I did not know enough about the track of the storm to know if you were right. Where you? It does not sound like you used astrology to make the prediction did you?

yeah it will be available for streaming in October I think.

Thanks Wendy. I never did proof read the seal. Basically if someone gave me something with my name misspelled I would assume I would notice that without formally prooffing it. Similarly, I just took it for granted that something that had five words on it, the name of my company, would stand out but alas it did not... and I never occurred to me that I had to slow down and actually really look at.

I was concerned about my property in FL. It escaped relatively unscathed, whew! This is based upon a neighbor's report. I just now listen to reports. It seems Tampa dodged a bullet. I also heard that a tropical storm warning was issued for ATL--the first one ever! Any prediction for the next storm Jose?