Troy

I knew you would have an interesting perspective on the film Cynique. I got the release date (Release date: January 17, 1940 (USA)) from Google, who probably pulled it from Wikipedia, so I'm not surprised it is wrong. What made Prissy's line about not knowin' nothing 'bout birthing no babies so funny was that a scene or two before she was saying she knew all about it LOL! Regarding Clack Gable being Black; this is from Madamenoire Of course this site even less reliable than wikipedia, but it grabbed my attention when I was searching for info on Gable, which is the main purpose of the site, to grab your attention to serve ads... I ran a quick search and could not find where I read the NAACP organized an actual boycott, but I did hear that, perhaps it was in a video (maybe even the one above). At any rate, the NAACP was actively involved in trying to ensure the film was not too demeaning to negroes. I watched a number of trailers for the film (including the one I posted below); you would not know Black people where in the film by looking at them. Here are a couple of titles from newspaper articles articles; “‘Gone With The Wind’ Put On The Spot by Earl Morris: Predicts Picture Will Be Worse Than ‘Birth of a Nation’” by Earl J. Morris, motion picture editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, on February 4, 1939 and “Hollywood Goes Hitler One Better” from the February 9 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinel. Both papers are Black owned. I wonder what those papers would say about Black made movies today? One thing I liked about the film was that there no no sex scenes. There was sex but I did not have to see folks take off their clothes. While there was no gory violence, not sex, and virtually no cursing, the messages came across. The brutality of the war was clear. While there was not sex there was a marital rape. Clark just took Scarlet and when it was over she was a new woman. Can you image?! I'm surprised women's rights activists were not up in arms over the message it sent. I would definitely recommend the film. It gives you some insight into the American psyche.

I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time last night. I was a interesting film. Apparently, the NAACP boycotted it when it came out in 1940. (Does the NAACP boycott anything nowadays?) Several of the films stars Clark Gable (I read somewhere that he is Black), Hattie McDaniels (who won an Academy Award for her role), and Vivien Leigh all died young. One of the films stars, Olivia Mary de Havilland is still running around and will be 99 in July! I knew McDaniel was the 1st Black actor to win an Oscar, however after seeing the film, it was for a role, in my opinion, no more remarkable than the one Halley Berry earned her award. Butterfly McQueen's, career took a serious hit as a result of her role. This is unfortunate as she seemed quite talented.

The rules are simply not enforced as strictly, and or as harshly, in more wealthy communities. Needless to say as you arrest more people crime appears worse, as is the case in poor communities. This probably contributes to higher crime as people have fewer resources due to the oppressive fines they are subjected to. In the NYC a pack of cigarettes sells for about $14 bucks, due to local taxes. Needless to say this provides a strong incentive for people to buy and sell bootleg cigarettes (brought in Virginia and sold in NYC). People have literally been killed in NYC for selling cigarettes in this fashion. Most famously, Eric "I can't breathe" Garner, was executed by police as a result of selling cigarettes illegally. This is no different than a drug lord killing a rival dealer for selling on their turf. I could go on all day with these inequities, imposed upon poor people, inequities that people with money don't have a clue about. Well in my case, I have no choice I have to go to court. That is another way they "get" you. Poor people don't usually have jobs that allow you to take off without losing a day's wages. As a entrepreneur and someone who works with people these issues are quite plain to me. When I worked, and lived in a "corporate bubble", I was aware of these things, but one doesn't really "get it" until they really live it. It is like walking a tight rope, in a windstorm, without a net, over a tank of hungry piranha with the government shaking the rope on both ends.

Yes I thought about making that a criteria for inclusion. The trick is getting that info programmatically. I think I can pull that through an RSS feed, but that is something I'm going to look into. The other thing is what should be the cut off be. I'd image there are some great Blogs that have not been updated in a few months for very good reasons. I suspect that the other metrics I'm looking at would tease other blogs that are not updating often. They'll have a low MOZ and Alexa number for example. Yeah the list of Blogs is part of the much larger Huria effort. I'm also working on publishing a list of Black Book Clubs. Right now when you got to the site all the Blogs are listed. I will come up with a way to randomize the order in which they are listed. That way the it will give people a way to randomly discover an interesting Blogger. I added the Blog you suggested: http://aalbc.it/politeconvo it does look pretty good. I set up the homepage to display the blogs in random order. One benefit of doing this is that I've discovered some really cool sites!

I've been pulled over by the police so many times I can't recall them all. The majority of the times I was not doing anything wrong. A few weeks ago, I got two tickets a block from my house. First I was pulled over for making right turn around a slow moving car that was in the right hand lane. I'd been behind the car for two blocks and did not want to be held up any longer. The guy was probably looking for a parking spot. Anyone who drives in NYC for more that 5 minutes knows that this is not unusual. Nonetheless, I was pulled over by a cop who probably had a quota to fill. I only spoke when spoken to, despite my frustration. Arguing with white cops never turns out well. After being given summons, I drove off and the cops stopped me again! He did not like the way I pulled off, and said I drove within a foot of a double parked car!? Was he trying to provoke me? Did a have an arrest quota to fill? I wanted to punch him in the face and I'm sure my expression made that feeling plain. Trust me, wealthy people don't deal with this nonsense, their neighborhoods are not patrolled by cops who need to fill ticket quotas. Residents of non-black communities are not harassed, punished by police officers. The fines and penalties levied on people in my community are oppressive. You can barely drive a block without seeing a car booted to be towed away. In my place in FL, the cops don't even pull me over. I've never gotten a ticket. People do not have their cars towed away for have three parking tickets as they would be in NYC. Folks in FL park their cars in garages. The police officers do not cruise the the street in nice neighborhoods looking for expired registrations. I completely understand why some Brothers, under a lot more pressure than I, lose it during encounters with police. I'm glad the cop who shot that brother in the back 8 times is going to jail. I'm sure the other cons will take care of his monkey a-s.

Hey man I corrected the typo for you Blog's listing. Regarding your suggestions When you say add it to the Power List, I'm not sure what you mean. When you say recent updates would be a necessity; what do you mean? I both vases it is not clear to me what you are suggesting that I do-- thanks for the feedback and no problem being included. I'm speaking at a Blogger conference in two weeks I hope to gain some additional traction on the site then.

I heard about this shooting (of course) but I had not seen the video until now. My this is really unbelievable. I guess the "officer" did not see the guy shooting the video, because he would have shot him too.

That is true Cynique, I was in love with technology, until it occurred to me the only real purpose behind technology is to drive us to consume more. Why do we have to replace smart phones every year or two? Are the new ones really worth the expense? Am I better off? I had a 19" Sony TV that worked for 20 years before I gave it away. Since then I've purchased 5 more TV continuously upgrading them until I stopped 6 years ago with a then state of the art 60" screen. I refuse to buy another TV. I don't care if it displays virtual reality and read my mind. I've had a record player for 30 years too, it still works and is in a garage somewhere. Since then I've purchased countless CD players, cassette players, and MP3 players. I'm done. I'm not buying any more devices that play music, I'm not migrating anything to the "cloud". I tired of spending money! The technology God is greedy, insatiable, and will not stop until you have no more money or are dead--indeed the tech god is working you getting money out of you even after you are dead.. I guess the technology god is this is not unlike the greedy preachers in the pulpit. Perhaps they are both products of their times.

I’ve just created a database to track Black Bloggers, and I invite you to submit your Blogs for inclusion: http://huria.org/blogs/ The password to enter a new blog is “bloggerweek” (without the quotes). I’ve already collected data for 107 blogs. If yours was one of them please email me at info@huria.org, you’ll need to use a different password to update the information I entered. The primary purpose of the site is to showcase Black Blogs (I actually discovered some great ones building the database), and to make them more easily discoverable. I also plan to add these blogs to the Huria Search engine. Huria Search is a Google search engine whose search results are restricted to Black websites. I’m not interested in including just any 'ole Black Blog, I’d like to include serious bloggers. Of course determining who is “serious” is a subjective activity; so I’m interested in coming up with some objective criteria to determine which blogs meet some minimum standard for inclusion. My initial thinking is that the Blog should be at least two years old, hosted on its own domain, with some minimum MOZ page authority. None of criteria has been determined yet, right now I’m collecting Blogs information. Again, If you have any feedback please let me know--and add your Blogs.

People have allowed man to distract them from the Truth. They have been confused by technology, science, and other false ideas devised by man who is completely unable to fathom the Truth. Indeed, these men are really devils, interested in their arrogant self-importance. The Truth is God has all the answers and all you need it faith.

For anyone who cares. I picked the Wisconsin win over Kentucky. If Duke beats Wisconsin, on Monday, I'll have the winning bracket for a nice payday!. So do what you do to send positive vibes way :-)

Hi Tiffany, post your website information when you get a chance.

Thanks man this is helpful too. On the first table that you posted. What does do those large numbers like, 19747506, at the end of the first row mean? If you are interested you can read some of the conversation on twitter by searching on #bloggerweek @aalbc Of course Twitter does not lend itself to reviewing interviews, conversations, or anything historical. Someone mentioned that this conversation be better if it took place on one one of our platforms, rather than Twitter (I paraphrase), I said of course, but the belief is no one would participate and they may be right. This I find very sad and discouraging. Of course their were others that said, properly used, social can be a very effectively way of driving traffic, without spending a lot f money. I said I hear that a lot but I have never seen any data to prove that, all I hear from folks are complaints. The only ones claiming how great it is is those selling social media marketing services. Besides we have few active Black owned sites that generate enough revenue to support anyone. The new sites that launch don't stick around very long. ​My goal is to gather our resources to drive our own traffic, many seemed to be open to the idea. I don't see as we have much of a choice; we can give all of our money to the rich social media sites, for some short term, isolated gains, or we can build something together that will last and benefit all of us. I'm thinking about adding Black owned Blogs to Huria Search. I'll keep you posted on that idea. Oh yeah there will be a conference in DC the first weekend in May called Blogger Week 2015: http://bloggerweek.com/

This will be an interview that takes place on Tweeter, this evening at 8 p.m. EDT. Yeah, I know I said I'm not longer using social media. But I'm more than happy to make an exception for instances like this. An instance where the social platform will be used to support AALBC.com's activities, rather than the other way around. While I'm on the subject, not using social media is actually a lot harder than you would image, at least for someone like me. First often when I'm researching and author, I'll discover that the authors best, if not only, presence is on Facebook. I think this is a really scary trend. Image a world where the only place you can learn about an author is on Facebook? This is not as far fetched as it sounds. When we reach that day, creative and really personalized author websites. Second, many websites require, or make it much easier to create accounts on their website when you use you Twitter of Facebook account (including my own website). Before I posted this I realized my own account is tied to Facebook. I tried to create an account without using social media, and my first attempt failed (something I have to look into). At any rate, I must have dozens of account across the web that use my Facebook credentials as a way to login. Unwinding all of these will not be a trivial activity. Finally, I'm contacted a lot through social media, especially Facebook. Lately I've just been ignoring these communications, but that is obviously not good for business. I do not have a good solution for that, other than updating my profile to say if you want to reach me use email. At the rate things are going, if you are still using email instead of Facebook Instant messenger, or some other social platform to communicate with others you are looked at as if you are in the stone age. Social media, at least for those running a web based business, is really an inextricable part of life. But I like processed food I will do my best to minimize my interaction.

Hi Christina, great intro and welcome to the forum. Are you aware of any other twins that are published authors published authors? I see you two have published a bunch of books in such a short period of time--impressive.

My Power List site I just decided I will take the financial hit and promote and independent bookseller. Overtime, I hope the example will speak for itself and I will win more customers. Perhaps it will encourage other people to do the same. Peace, Troy

Cool, let me know when the new book is available. I eventually have to get a book out myself. As far as the ad on the homepage. I'll send you something shortly. I'm also running a report for another client (and myself), to look at click rates based upon ad position. I put all new ads at the bottom, as ads higher up roll off, the newer ads can move higher up on the page. Th client asked that I move his book to a higher position hoping it would increase sales. I explained how ad placement works on the homepage, but I also said that the subject and book cover are more important than placement (at keast for the books on the AALBC.com homepage). The report I run will see if place is indeed a factor. In other words does a nice book cover for a popular subject by a popular authors at the end of the book section perform poorly, while an ugly book cover about an uninteresting subject written by a no-name author perform well? Also does the click through rates for the same book improve as book moves up the page? To clarify, as far as Amazon is concerned are you saying that you make more sales on Amazon, but less profit per shoe versus selling the shoes directly via you own website? And that you are concerned (terrified) that if you migrated off of Amazon the increased profit per shoes would not make up for the lost revenue Amazon generates through higher sales?

You can order a pair of these adorable kicks for only $75 a pair on Mo'ne Davis' M4D3's website. Hey Chris, here is one way to get get a sneaker line launched. Whoever set this venture up is also claiming to support to girls in need through charitable contributions.

Harry I hear you. But check your numbers Black women being 64% of HIV cases seems high. Besides when you combine that with Black men being 42% of cases you get a total of 106%, which is not possible. I do believe our HIV infection rates are disproportionately high. I also believe a relaxing of moral standards that started before i came of age is responsible for many of the ills you describe. I do remember a time when unwed pregnancy was frowned upon, today it is seemingly encouraged. I remember when men worked hard and took pride in providing for their wifes and kids, today there is little pressure to do anything for anyone, other than yourself. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no way to put it back. People expect largely to have as much sex as possible and the responsibility of STD transmission and pregnancy seems to be the responsibility of the woman. Perhaps that is a consequence of the sexual revolution: Women bear less stigma, but men bear less responsibility. The old sexual mores seemed to help protect us from ourselves, but now that they have been removed nothing viable has replaced them, so people get sick and die and more women are left impoverished raising children by themselves

Man I completely understand. I can give people every option to buy a book and they will, virtually always, pick Amazon. When I don't provide Amazon, as an option, they do not buy (at least not from me). One popular author I've been working with says it is just so much more convenient. I guess that is how everyone feels. It does not look like we are willing to trade in a bit of convenience for independence. I swear the Montgomery Bus Boycott would not get past the talking stage today. I also remember how long it took to me to get folks to use PayPal, there are still many who refuse to use PayPal today, preferring to use paper checks, which prior to cell phone deposits, were a royal pain. I have not noticed any greater push back from Square, compared to PayPal. I took my first credit card payment from Square via my cell phone (without a card swipe (info was emailed to me) without a hitch it. Finally I decided not to actively use social media a couple of days ago. I will share from my website, but I won't engage with anyone personally or professionally. I'm just tired of working for Facebook, often paying for the privilege. I'm not closing my accounts. More and more people use Facebook as their primary platform on the web, as a result I will still need to go to Facebook, but again I will not be writing anything on the site. I will continue to use the Youtube social media platform, as that is a revenue generator.

Kam and I usually don't agree on movies. This one is no exception. I simply did not like Gravity as much as I liked Interstellar. I saw Gravity in Imax the visuals were great, but once you get used to them you were just left, well with whats her name. Interstellar, by contrast, addressed many fascinating things like multiple dimensions, time dilation, relativity, black holes, worm holes and even love, yes it was a film about love. I thought it was really good flick. Kam gave Gravity 4 stars (his max) and this Interstellar 2, I would reverse those ratings. The point after Blast off is where the film really gets really good. They even have a cool Brother in this flick unlike Gravity which represents yet another film where Black folk are not in the future. The wormhole Kam mentioned did not go to a parallel university, just a far away place in this one... at any rate I thought the flick was pretty good, probably the most interesting one I saw all of last year. This is a must see flick for anyone interested in space travel, science or just good cinema.

Interstellar DVD Review by Kam Williams Rated PG-13 for intense action and brief profanity Running time: 168 minutes Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, and four of his pictures have made my annual Top Ten List, including Memento, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Insomnia. However, I had a hard time understanding exactly what was going on in Inception, an inscrutable mindbender that I found to be a little too hip for the room. The same could be said about Interstellar, an over-plotted, post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a few too many layers for its own good, in this critic’s humble opinion. Clocking in at a patience-testing 169 minutes, the movie had me harking back to 7-time Oscar-winner Gravity, a similarly-themed outer space adventure which managed to resolve its loose ends in about half the time. At the point of departure, we find the Earth devastated by drought and dust storms that have brought it to the brink of famine. With the planet almost uninhabitable, NASA decides that the last hope for humanity rests in finding another capable of supporting life. To that end, the agency is mounting a mission, codenamed Lazarus in order to search for a place with a compatible environment. The reluctant hero is Coop (Matthew McConaughey), a man understandably torn about being coaxed out of retirement to captain the Spaceship Endurance. On the one hand, the veteran test pilot is eager, since he never got a chance to experience a real spaceflight during his career. On the other hand, as a widowed dad, he hates the very idea of leaving behind and possibly orphaning his already motherless kids. Sure, 15 year-old Tom (Timothee Chalamet) might be able to man-up, but daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) is only 10 and proves particularly clingy when he informs her of his imminent travel plans. Her angry reaction is perfectly reasonable, given the blight on Earth and the odds of ever seeing her papa again. But with his father-in-law’s (John Lithgow) blessing, Coop nevertheless opts to depart, which affords him an opportunity to belatedly pursue his lifelong dream. Joining him in that endeavor is a crew comprised of brainy scientist Brand (Anne Hathaway), astrophysicist Romilly (David Gyasi) and intergalactic cartographer Doyle (Wes Bentley), as well as a couple of very sophisticated robots (Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart). After blastoff, they head for a distant wormhole near Saturn rumored to provide a portal to a parallel universe. At this juncture, the picture turns terribly talky, relying on pseudoscientific claptrap to explain every farfetched development from black holes to unusual gravitational pulls to time slowing down. Eventually, Endurance rendezvous with a NASA space station stranded on a remote planet where they rouse the sole survivor from a cryogenic sleep only to discover it’s Matt Damon. How cool is that? I’m not too proud to admit I couldn’t follow the convoluted storyline anymore from about this point forward. At least the panoramic visuals remained absolutely breathtaking. Think, a remake of Gravity only featuring plenty of polysyllabic brainiacs who sound like they just stepped off the set of The Big Bang Theory. Good (2 stars) To order a copy of Interstellar on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack,

From the Gary Hardwick files

Yes, it is true that we are being manipulated in many aspects of our daily lives. My focus on the media is that we are being lied to by the media, that really is the form of manipulation I'm concerned about. If I inform someone that they have been lied to, that is not telling them what to think, or an attempt to manipulate them. It is an attempt to help them. Of course this is not for purely altruistic reasons. I think Black people would be better off understanding we are being manipulated. Indeed if White people were aware of this too, perhaps they could get past thinking Black people are inherently inferior. The things Bill Cosby spoke about in the video above have not changed. I think I can make a good argument that things have gotten worse since that video was made almost 50 years ago. Interestingly, the intended target for this video was children. The video does not talk down to them. I guess today you'd need to craft the message as a music video... But as you know Cosby has dedicated his life to helping children learn more about their history and to do well in life. His decades long collaboration with Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. is one such example. In this book, we look at the issues with an eye on what we need to do to help our youth and re-energize our neighborhoods to move in positive directions' We can change things we have control over if we accept personal responsibility and embrace self-help." --Bill Cosby We need more people with resources doing this work, not fewer...

Cancelled your account for selling you own stuff? I've sold tickets to events, on PayPal, then AFTER the event people would request a refund and PayPal would refund the money?! Yeah I've been using Square more lately. They also have a nicer interface. I plan to migrate to Square from PayPal.