Home Girl Blog

I Am Really Into The Hunger Games

I could have titled this post 'I'm Obsessed With Hunger Games', but that would imply that my deep interest is completely out of my control, but it is not because I can stop whenever I want. Hunger Games was my introduction to dystopian fiction. Immediately after I finished the trilogy, I googled and took the advice of a friend and "read" Divergent. The quotation marks are because I finished the whole trilogy via audio book in like three days, which means I did nothing else with my life during that time other than make sure my son didn't starve. We're gonna talk about Divergent later, because if Hunger Games is my boo, then Divergent is my side-boo.

At first I had decided not to blog about my love for all things Hunger Games--the books, films and actors, but I figure it's better to let it out in small doses than keep it bottled up inside, in which case, it would surely explode into some extreme fan rant of a post that might leave you guys thinking I need some kind of intervention. So instead, I'll post little Hunger Games love nuggets throughout the year like the fact that I'm planning to knit the cowl Katniss Everdeen wears in the opening scene of Catching Fire so I can wear it on Halloween when I will be Katniss Everdeen.

Spoiler Alert

If you haven't read the books and want to hold out for the last film in 2015 to find out how it ends (are you human?!) then stop reading now. Skip the next paragraph. 

If I become pregnant this year and am showing by Halloween, I will still knit the cowl, but will draw inspiration for my costume from Katniss as The Mockingjay and will be pregnant Katniss (she has Peeta's babies and they live happily ever after) this year, and Catching Fire Katniss with the cowl next Halloween. I can't be Catching Fire Katniss because I want to do a fan photo shoot dressed as her and I don't want a baby bump to be distracting. I digress--and have probably shared way too much already. 

End Spoiler Alert

I'm also probably going to be one of those crazy adult fans of these books for teenagers who gets tattoos inspired by them. I already know the quote and design I want from Hunger Games book 1, and am currently talking myself out of getting the ravens from Divergent. I'll try to keep most of my HG worship on my Pinterest board where I browse and pin items in bed during bouts of insomnia and dropping my iPhone on my face. In between the posts and pins and re-watching the movies and cast interviews on youtube, I'll keep my husband shaking his head as I knit my cowl, or hunt (pun intended) for perfect lace-up leather boots in my size for my Halloween Katniss, or watch Hunger Games for the fiftyleventh time on Netflix or make awesome observations like this one from a couple of weeks ago...

I saw this tree when we were hanging out in a park in our community. 

When we started walking through the trees, almost under my breath, I was like, "This reminds me of Hunger Games." Then a few moments later, we passed this tree. The second I saw it, I jumped a little bit and was like, "OMG, that's the PERfect spot to stash a bow and arrows!" I said this while looking at the tree in total shock and turned to my husband with my shock-face who just shook his head and agreed with me in an amused yet very unimpressed manner. That's the day I started my Pinterest board because much like my standom of Beyoncé, I can only share my in-person Hunger Games excitement with fans who are equally or more excited than I am. Since I'm different from my friends, that just leaves the fan sites. 

I could go on, but I'll spare you. Also, I won't close this post with Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor, but at least I got to write it right there. 

Until next time, 

Look: Searching for Shaniqua Documentary

What's in a name? Depends on who you ask. 

There is a new documentary in the works by writer Phill Branch called Searching for Shaniqua that explores how black Americans are perceived and treated by each other based on the original and/or unique names many of us have. I have always found conversations about this topic interesting and am glad to see a black filmmaker broaching the subject. 

Black Americans exist because our ancestors where ripped up by their roots, brought here and enslaved. They were systematically stripped bare of their cultures and languages and religions and taught that everything about them--their languages, customs, religions, hair and names was wrong. Which leaves us where we are today-- embracing negative stereotypes and attitudes about our people, particularly those of us with names that are different. Most black Americans have roots that are not clearly defined, yet we largely don't embrace names that are as much without clear roots or origins as we are. Why?

On Indiewire.com's blog Shadow and Act (On Cinema Of The African Diaspora), Phill Branch is quoted:

"When you hear the name Shaniqua, what usually comes to mind first? I've found that in my social and professional circles, the words ghetto and tacky were often associated with that particular name. A few years back, after a conversation about baby names that spiraled into a deconstruction of race and class in America, I began to question why so many people have discomfort with certain names. After having similar conversations with people from all walks of life, I began to realize the importance of naming as it relates to profiling, bullying and self-esteem. As a professor at a HBCU, I ran across every kind of name that you can imagine. In academia, a place where race and class intersect, my awareness of how names impact people’s lives became even more heightened. In classrooms that were diverse, but largely black, students were sometimes surprised by how much of their thinking about themselves was based on negative stereotypes. In rooms filled with people of color, race wasn’t a dividing line, but social class was."

This documentary explores how we, black people, perceive and treat each other based on our names. If a black person has a name that isn't common or English or Bible-based, and they are American, are there preconceived notions about what their family is like or their hireability? What if their nationality is African, and they speak with an accent? Are we more forgiving of unfamiliar names in the presence of an African accent versus an American one? How does the experience of black men with eccentric names differ from that of black females with names like Shaniqua? 

So many questions. Who knows what will come of reaching the answers, but only good can come from having the conversation. I, for one, am grateful to Phill for working on this project and hope he gets the funding to continue. 

Here's a teaser trailer for the still in production Searching for Shaniqua. 

Read more about Phill's efforts, keep up with events and donate to his crowdfunding page on Indiegog here. 

Also, check out the interview where he talks to The Root about the personal politics of “black” names here.

P.S. *ahem*, Phill Branch is like a brilliant brother to my awesome-brilliant sister, and because he loves her in all the ways that really count, I kinda love him too even though I've never met him in person. This is a super important project and I can't wait to see the final cut. 

Reel Inspired Meals: Different Oatmeal a la The Women of Brewster Place

The Film (based on book by Gloria Naylor)

The Women of Brewster Place (1989)- A TV mini-series (back when network TV had those) starring Oprah and a bunch of other people. It's about an ensemble of strong-willed female characters who live in an east coast project housing development and ride the ups and mostly downs of life in the projects. 

The Scene

The Women of Brewster Place is one of those films from the 80's (like The Color Purple) with many memorable quotes and scenes. I haven't watched it recently but, like The Color Purple, it makes frequent appearances in my brain world. 

The Inspiration

The conversation about beige bras and oatmeal between lesbian lovers, Lorraine (played by Lonette McKee who looks like Lena Horne 2.0 if you ask me) & Theresa aka "Tee" (played by Paula Kelly). 

Lorraine is trippin' because she's closeted and in denial about being "different". She tries to illustrate this in a monologue about how she wakes up every day, puts on a beige bra and oatmeal same as the day before she first kissed a girl and the day after. Tee points out that the fact that Lorraine didn't go to school the next day gushing about it in the girls lockeroom shows how different she indeed is, inspite of her life-constants, beige bras and oatmeal. 

 I found  a youtube clip! The link is cued, but just in case, it starts around 4:58. Watch it here. 

Also, I should note, oatmeal shows up in another scene where Tee spots the nosey old neighbor lady spying on her through the window as she makes meat loaf. During her angry screaming rant through the window she says something like, "Wanna see something really freaky? I put oatmeal in my meatloaf!" Because we're strange and awesome, me and my brother quoted that line all the time after we saw it. We still do at random moments. Also, that was the first time I found out there was even oatmeal in meatloaf. Clearly it made an impression because the one or two times I've ever made it in my life, I look for the recipe with oats in it rather than breadcrumbs. So yeah, The Women of Brewster Place and oatmeal are kind of married in my brain so it naturally inspired this recipe. 

The Eats

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats (If you prefer steele cut oats, fine, but it will need to boil longer)
3-4 cremini mushrooms chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 of a red onion diced
3/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:
In a pot over medium heat, sauté the red onions in olive oil until they start to carmelize a bit then add mushrooms. Salt and pepper them as desired.

Once the vegetables are soft, add the water and increase heat to bring it to a boil. This will create a kind of broth. Add the oats to the boiling water and cook according to directions. 

While that cooks, you can slice and sauté red onions and mushrooms to top the finished dish like this...

When the oatmeal is done, bowl it up and top with shaved cheese, or additional stir-fried vegetables like I did. Add a side of kale or even eggs and you got yourself a pretty healthy, savory meal. 

Oatmeal with red onions and mushrooms. That's Different!

Reel Inspired Meals: Spaghetti Carbonara Inspired by Heartburn

The Film (based on book by Nora Ephron)

Heartburn (1986) starring Meryle Streep (Rachel) and Jack Nicholson (Mark). Two divorcees meet, fall in love, get married, have babies and hit the rocks because Mark couldn't keep it in his pantalones.

The Scene

I was home alone and took advantage of having the TV to myself. Netflix suggested Heartburn because I LIVE for romantic dramadies and I couldn't resist watching young Jack Nicholson (hot much?) and Meryle Streep. I love 80's movies because the fashion feels like home and they make me feel nostalgic for things like phones with coily cords, 80's love songs and shoulder pads. So I clicked play.

The Inspiration

During post-coital TV watching after their first night together, Rachel leaves Mark in bed to go into the kitchen for a snack. She returns with a huge serving bowl of spaghetti carbonara with two forks and two spoons for properly spinning the perfect pasta bite. She can't believe she cooked for him after their first romp, with a full mouth he raves about how he has never had a better spaghetti carbonara, I google to see what's in carbonara and the rest is the Homegirl Blog history.  

The Eats

After browsing through a few recipes online to get a great feel for how to make spaghetti carbonara, I headed to my neighborhood grocery store to gather my favorite of all the ingredients from the recipes I had read. 

Ingredients:
1 lb spaghetti
4 oz panchetta (Italian cured pork belly, but some recipes call for slab bacon)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
parsley and pepper to finish

I bought pre-chopped pancetta and pre-chopped garlic in a jar because why not. 

Directions:
In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to directions. While the spaghetti cooks, mix the eggs and cheese in a bowl and set aside. Then, in a deep frying pan or shallow pot, sautee the pancetta in olive oil until crispy. Add garlic.

When the pasta is done, drain it but don't rinse it. Save about  half cup of the pasta water in case your sauce needs more liquid. Remove the pan with the other ingredients in it from the heat and add the spaghetti and mix. Last, pour the mixture over spaghetti and panchetta mixture.

The hot pasta will cook the egg and melt the cheese creating a creamy coating on the pasta. Add parsley and pepper to taste.

Mangia!

Fitzgerald Still Giving Me Life

This afternoon I saw the preview for The Great Gatsby. My son witnessed my excitement and watched me text my sister. Running, he followed me in to my bookshelf to find my copy of the Fitzgerald classic with all the underlined sections and circled words with the definitions scribbled beside them. On page 46 of the paperback is where I learned that "bona-fide" means genuine. Feeding off my excitement, my son asked if he could read it too. He is five. I explained to him how I first read this book in high school? Middle school? Eighth or ninth grade. And fell in love with the story. How I often refer to Gatsby in conversations and think of the character more often than that. Gatsby's life and especially his end is so tragic. He essentially dies in the pursuit of wealth that he never truly enjoyed, to impress and a woman who would never truly be his. I didn't say all that to my son though. I explained to him how it feels to read a book and to see it in your head so clearly that when you see it with your eyes, like I did on the Gatsby preview, you know it instantly. I looked up from where I was standing in the kitchen and knew those images were Gatsby before I even knew what the trailer was for. My son was so excited that he asked me if there was a movie for How to Eat Fried Worms . We're reading my old copy from childhood now. After a quick IMBD search on my iPhone, I answered yes. He said, "I cannot WAIT to SEE IT!"

Questions:

1. How much do I love that I'm passing on my enthusiasm for reading on to my son?
2. How much do I love that Leonardo DiCaprio is Jay Gatsby?
3. How much do I love that Jay Z is producing the soundtrack?
4. Does Jay Z see any similarities between himself and Mr. Gatsby? Rags to some-would-say-shadily gained new-riches? Lavish parties? King of New York? Entertaining the people and whatnot? 
5. Am I the only one who even cares about the irony of him being involved with the project?
6. How much do I love that Beyonce and Andree 3000 have collaborated again and the new song is on this movie soundtrack?
7. How much do I love that Baz Lurhman is the director?

Answers to all of the above:

1. smh

I haven't been this excited about a beautiful book to film since Memoirs of a Geisha.

I heart the movies.

A Sneak Peek At Disney Planes!

Oh my word. I missed the Disney excitement growing up. Never been into the princesses. But dammit if I'm not excited about the stuff my boy likes. First Cars, now Planes! What is Disney/Pixar stock like these days, because I might as well get something out of this. Happily spending my dollars. I'm going to show this to my son tonight. He is going to flip. Then I'll have to put up with him asking everyday if it's out yet. So, I kinda have a decision to make. To show or not to show. As genuinely excited as I am, I'm sure I will show it. We'll both just have to count down opening day together.  First there was Disney Cars, now Planes! Oy!

Just Felt This Flick: Pariah

When I got home with my latest Red Box rental, I wasn't totally sure what to expect from this coming out film about a black teenage lesbian living in New York. I had recalled seeing a trailer for it on Facebook around the time the film was released. I had also read about the acclaim the film has received. Still, having never seen a story like this one told on film, I sort of braced myself for some over the top stereotypes and kind of simplification and dumbing down of a very complex issue. Don't judge me for my low expectations of a black film. I know there are good black writers, directors, producers and actors putting out great work constantly. Somehow, it seems like the black films that make it to the masses are usually not those great ones. So I was skeptical.

I pop the film in, it opens in a lesbian strip club, blasting music about a very female body part. I'm thinking, ooookay so we're jumping right in. Moments later, Alike (ah-lee-kay), played by one of my new favorite actresses, Adepero Oduye, is on a bus ride home after the club with her friend. Both girls are dressed like boys. Alike urges her friend to get off the bus before her stop. Once her friend is gone, Alike removes her boy clothes and puts on her gold hoop earrings before walking into her home after curfew. Somewhere between the moment when Alike slid off her do rag and put in her first gold hoop, I was hooked. 

This film, written and directed by Dee Rees, tells the story of a high school girl who is tyring to find her identity as a lesbian. The girl has never had a girlfriend, but knows that she wants one. Her tragically Christian mother (tragic in that it hampered her capacity to love her daughter unconditionally) and emotionally absent father are both afraid to confront what they already know about their daughter. Her sister accepts her for who she is, but Alike's friends have their own idea of who and how she should be. Her journey towards understanding and self-acceptance is beautifully chronicled in Pariah. Aside from the female body part song, the soundtrack to this film is amazing. 

I talked about it with my BFF on our vlog, GirlDidYouSee. Here is our conversation...

Please join in and share your thoughts on our Youtube page, or here if you don't have a Youtube account.

Have you seen Pariah? 

Just Felt This Flick: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is awesome! Obviously this film could have been all cornball and cheese, but it was pure entertainment. If you know Lincoln's life story and the history surrounding the Civil War (especially the Underground Railroad), and love vampires, go see this movie! You will appreciate how the writers maintained the integrity of the historical facts while telling the story of how vampires and slaves were major players in the outcome of the Civil War. For an incredibly informative comparison of Lincoln's History vs the film, click here--you will be surprised and impressed. And when you  watch the film, don't blink during the last two minutes --all I will say is OBAMA EARS! Oh, and I have totally added aggressive axe wielding to things that manly men do that are hot. Benjamin Walker, the actor portraying Lincoln is attractive enough, but by the end of his wax-on-wax-off sequence with the axe I was all...

and...

And speaking of hot, when Anthony Mackie showed up, girl...

Just Felt This Flick: Red Tails

Let me get my one real criticism of this film out of the way. Ok. The romance. I didn't need any romance in this film. I would have been happy if the romance had been left out altogether and left for Spike Lee to handle in the prequel or Lee Daniels in the sequel. George Lucas was quoted in a NYT article saying the film's target audience was black teenagers--boys I'm sure. So for the one depiction of love in the movie being one airman's head-over-heels love for an unattractive Italian woman he could barely communicate with was awkward and out of place in the film, and off-putting to me. I just needed to see at least one of the airmen writing home to his sweet Odessa, or going on about how his Caroline smells just like sweet honeysuckle off the vine, or getting letters from Bessie and the kids back home, or tucking a picture of his mother into his vest pocket before leaving on a mission. SOMEthing.  If I was gonna see some love, particularly in a film like this one, I needed a black woman to be the recipient and/or giver of it. The closest thing we got to seeing black love was the one airman who took his picture of Black Jesus on every mission. I actually quite liked that relationship. 

Other than that, I enjoyed Red Tails. It was cheesy and corny and whatever other food-word that connotes being uncool. It was kind of awesome in that way. I totally agree with George Lucas' NYT interview when he says, "They have a right to have their history just like anybody else does. And they have a right to have it kind of Hollywood-ized and aggrandized and made corny and wonderful just like anybody else does. Even if that's not the fashion right now."  Among black films that have made it to the big screen with content quality ranging from the lows of Soul Plane to the heights of The Color Purple, there has to be room for black films with decent-quality content sprinkled with a little cornball. 

Red Tails has made about $48 million since the film opened last month. That's still $10 million shy of the film's budget, but not a bad showing for an all black, non-comedy. Plus, if I know George Lucas like I think I do, aside from a prequel and sequel, I'm sure there are action figures and video games in there somewhere. There is money to be made off this film yet.

No film starring mostly black people would have gotten a $58mil budget without having some historical significance. Hollywood and the mass consumers love a good black-struggle nostalgia film (see "The Color Purple" and "The Help"), but you'll never see a black "Garden State" (one of my favorite movies) because the masses don't care to see depictions of our ever day unless we're on "The Wire" or in a Tyler Perry film (but big ups to Tyler Perry's newest film Good Deeds in theaters Friday, which promises to have me eating my words here--we'll see). I'd love to see dark comedies and mellow dramas like "Young Adult" featuring all black actors on big screens, but as long as good black non-comedies trickle into theaters at barely a film-a-year pace, I rely on straight to DVD films for that. Unfortunately, people say "straight to DVD" like that's a bad thing, but there are many, very well-done low-budget black films that go straight to DVD. Perhaps, just as unfortunate, is the fact that in a post Tyler Perry America, where Hollywood likes a bankable formula, I'm afraid that "Red Tails", which was a good, but not great, movie won't open any floodgates of financial backers for good quality black stories. I hope I'm wrong. At any rate, hoorah and amen for a story about young black men who found pride in working towards and acheiving excellence. 

Oh, and y'all know I can't get through a review of a film featuring an all black male cast without objectifying those men by talking about the eye candy. Too much for a married lady like me to go into, but let me just say this...Ne-Yo has the most beautiful smile in Hollywood and the rainbow of young and older chocolatey goodness presented in Red Tails thoroughly satisfied my sweet tooth. David Oyelowo, oh my. 

Here are most of them in a really funny interview. I HEART Cuba Gooding, Jr. he's so funny. Enjoy!

Did I say David Oyelowo? Ok. Just checking.

Girl, did you see this new Vlog!

So. My best friend, EssBreezy, and I were on the phone one day talking about Julia Roberts' film, Eat Pray Love. I had seen it months ago and she FINALLY saw it and we had a blast sharing our reactions to the film. We both love Julia Roberts, so there was the gushing about that. We both love food (one of us-->EssBreezy<-- more than the other), so there was the gushing about the 'Eat' part of the film in Italy. We share similar, some would say feminist, views and so we went on about our issues with how Julia Roberts' character made some of the decisions she made. We rehashed this film just like we do most shows and films we watch, going from shallow to deep and laughing from the gut along the way. After we got off the phone, I was still laughing. My husband asked me what was so funny when the phone rang again. It was Summer. She was like, "That was fun! I really enjoy our rehash convo's. We should record them." And so Girl, Did You See...? was birthed. 

In our first video, we rehashed the Season 3 Finale of Basketball Wives. The ones that followed were a 3-Part video on our opposing reactions to the film, The Help. See? Shallow...Deep. All the videos mentioned here as well as the ones to come can be found at http://www.girldidyousee.blogspot.com.

Please check us out! And Follow us on Twitter @GirlDidYouSee so you won't miss what we see next time.  We would love to hear your thoughts about what we saw.  Tweet us and let us know you watched it too! 

Here is our first video...

My son is featured on a major motion picture DVD!

Just Felt This Flick: Sex And The City 2

Actually, I didn't feel this flick. The costumes and set designs are insanely pretty. Other than that, the film is just a hodgepodge of awkward dialogue and underdeveloped storyline. It's as if the creators had all these awesome (and they are awesome) fashion ensembles and needed an excuse to show them on film.  I went to see it with some girlfriends and was more entertained with our what-the-eff-moments chatter than I was by the actual film.

My rant review (and spoilers) begin now ...

A Christmas Movie List!

There are a handful of Christmas films that I look forward to watching every year. There are some movies that I wanted to add to this list like Soul Food and Bridgette Jones' Diary and The Wiz and Why Did I Get Married and Serendipity, but they only had snow in them or scenes that occurred during Christmas, so they really aren't Christmas movies per se, and thus did not make the official list.

Here's the quick and dirty in no particular order...

Just Felt This Flick: New York I Love You

Friday night I went to see New York I Love You. I hadn't heard about the film until I checked our local art house theater to see what was playing. Whenever I have free moments to get out without my son, I like to take in films there. If you are not familiar with my film reviews, I really enjoy films about love and random glimpses into everyday lives, especially ones with multiple stories that are not connected, where characters overlap, you know? Like,one story might be about a couple breaking up over dinner, then the next story would be about their waiter who goes home to an alcoholic wife. The stories are sometimes sad and depressing, but sometimes love is too-- teenage hearts break, spouses cheat, relationships dissolve or carry on in unhappily. Then there are the uplifting ones where relationships start and last forever in spite of seemingly impossible circumstances. I've written about some of my favorite films and HBO shows from writer/director Rodrigo García, Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment. These kinds of films are always PACKED with some of the most amazing actors and are like reminders that everybody has a story.

New York I Love You features more than 20 awesome actors including Andy Garcia and Ethan Hawk (yow.za!). This film is reminder that everybody has a love story--whether it's new love, love lost, familial love, everlasting love, unrequited love, forbidden love,or love only hoped for. The one story this film was missing was black love. I know there's some black lovin' goin' on in NYC--just sayin'. Still, it was an awesome theater experience. I highly recommend this film. Watch the trailer:

Just Felt This Flick (and it did not feel good): Good Hair

If I had seen the actual preview for the film before going to see it, I might have been prepared for what I was about to see. But I didn't see the preview, which has a very lighthearted, comedic edge. Going into the film, I had only read bloggers' reviews and overheard conversations about the Oprah episode and the backlash from women who where not pleased with the film. So I went in expecting too much, I think. 

The documentary, Good Hair, was supposed to be a look into the black woman's quest for "good hair", but it should have been promoted as a look into everything you never thought you ever wanted to know about The Annual Bronner Brothers Hair Show, with a few segments about chemical relaxers and the hair weave industry in India. It's a good documentary for what it is--a Chris Rock comedy. Not sure I agree with the rave reviews. After watching it, I'm just annoyed. I guess you can visit a couple of hair salons in a couple of cities and interview a few Hollywood actresses and claim to have lifted the veil of mystery behind back women and their hair issues. Whatever, if that's what you want to claim--free country and all that, but it's just annoying.

So I saw a celebrity in the Miami airport

Well...not a celebrity-celebrity. Maybe I should just call him an actor. So I saw an actor in the Miami airport. You see neither Billy nor I could remember his name or exactly where we knew him from. If it hadn't been for his (super skinny, too-glammed up for airport travel, extensions down to there, toting a pocket sized-pooch in a LV bag) travel companion, we prob'ly wouldn't have even noticed him. He was also really tall and super skinny and carrying a garment bag that I recognized from paparazzi celeb-shopping photos. It was fabric, maybe carrying one suit, and was solid brown with one word, Gucci, printed on it in gold letters. 

Just Felt This Flick: Rachel Getting Married

I saw this film last week on my "day off" from SAHMing (stay-at-home-momming) while Billy was home for vacation. I was prepared to see a film that was a bit light, but heavy and a bit dark (which I gathered from the previews), but I had no idea how emotionally draining and wonderful this film would be.  I heart films about family dysfunction and screwed up individuals and this one is sufficiently depressing. There is so much love between the members of Rachel's family. There is a beautiful wedding, quite possibly the most beautiful wedding I've seen in terms of the focus on the love between the bride and groom and their soon-to-be blended families, still there's a cloud so thick over the events leading up to the wedding. The resentment and anger and bitterness and baggage all stemming from a past tragedy is palpable. It's all there and there is no redemption, no forgiveness (of self or others), and no sign that there ever would be any. There is only the gut punch from reality that at the end of the day, some things are just going to suck. Period. Deal with it. And that's real, you know? Sometimes, in life, there is no bright side--some things will just always suck, you know?

I cried mixed tears of happiness and of sadness pretty much throughout the last two-thirds of the film. I watched it during the day too, so I couldn't hide it from people as I exited out into the daylight.  And the music! Y'all the music! There's rock, folk, reggae, samba, jazz, a little soul, some R&B. The cast is an eclectic mix of folks of different races and cultures--it's delightful. And if Anne Hathaway doesn't win an Oscar for this role, somebody needs to reevaluate whose voting, because she took it there in this film.

Here's the preview in case you haven't seen it already. Watch it.

Tagged Again! What's Your Trifecta?

What’s your trifecta? What is your favorite movie, book and cd/album? You can only name one for each and share a little about your choices.

So Browngirl Speaks tagged me.  It was SO hard to pick just one favorite, but I managed. I had bonus picks, but exercised restraint and deleted them from the post--playin' by the rules..

Movie: Love Jones
Everything about this film makes it my all time favorite--the cast, the characters, the relationships, the city, the soundtrack...everything. Best thing about it was that for once, a major film featuring all brown people told a story of  us outside the hood. No stereotypes, just black folks being, working, socializing, livin' life. Every time I watch it (I own the DVD), it takes me right back to 1997 (when the film came out) , to my college days when I met my man and my dearest friends. So many one-liners from the film are still part of our regular conversations like, "well damn" and "there it is".  No film has become a part of me like this one. There hasn't been a black love story told like it since--on film (somebody please buy the rights to The Accidental Diva, and feel free to cast Nia Long and Larenze Tate as the leads-Thanks).  One highlight of this film is when Darius Lovehall (Larenze Tate)  performs a poem for Nina Mosely (Nia Long) called A Blues for Nina. Check it...

Warning. This clip is rated R so kids ask your mom before you click 'play'.

CD/ Album: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Oh, Lauryn. I listen to this album all the time  remembering when. She gave us her best on this album, then life did something to her and she hasn't been the same. It's a shame, because she's an amazing singer and her lyrical skills when she raps are unmatched by any other female artist I've heard. This album is that fire, y'all. I can't say I have a fave track; the whole album is hot. But I do love this one in particular called "Nothing Even Matters" ft. D'Angelo. It's a love song. If you've ever been in love or just mad infatuated, you will feel this song. Check it...

Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God
I've written about this one before. Here's what I said:

After last time read back in 2005...

" This was my third of fourth time reading this book. When I heard O was doing a movie version of it, I had to read it again to refresh. I was kind of surprised they left out the skin-tone issues...maybe 'cause Tea Cake's character in the movie wasn't dark-skinned like he was in the book. I don't think you can read this one too many times. Each time the experience is different, especially if you read it at different stages in your life like I have...young teen, older teen, newly married woman, etc. It's such a rich work of fiction."

I think it might be time for another read since I'm good and married now. :)

Browngirl's trifecta theme was relationships, and based on my picks, looks like relationships is my theme too.   

Nigerian Films

I was introduced to Nigerian films during my college days in Memphis. My then boyfriend, now husband, who is from the West Indies, as well as some other friends of ours from African countries  loved to watch videos of Nigerian comedies and dramas. I'd watch the comedies along with everybody else but at the time, as an American with little experience communicating with people from other countries, I had trouble understanding the accents--those of my husband, his friends, and the Nigerian actors.  That didn't stop me from laughing on cue with everybody else though. I got use to them after a while and eventually stopped faking amusement and came to actually enjoy the comedies.

Little-known fact: Nigeria's film industry, also known as Nollywood, is the third largest film industry in the world. We all know how hard Hollywood struggles to sell African-American films to wide audiences. While there are plenty of quality independent films featuring black actors out there, they're not widely viewed and aren't raking in the big bucks. Nollywood produces films across all movie genres that employ thousands of African actors in a $250 million industry with audiences largely throughout Africa, Canada and the UK...and maybe soon in the U.S.

I got an email last week about a new photobook by award-winning filmmaker Cybel Martin that documents her trip along with other filmmakers and NYU alumni to Lagos, Nigeria to conduct workshops at the African Film Academy. You can read about the trip and others involved <<here>>. The photobook is only currently  available through blurb.com. There's a cool preview of the first 15 pages over there--check it out <<here>>.

This story is also posted on my other blog at  HoneyMag.com.

Just Felt This Flick: Once

Ok. So Once is film that you could totally watch with your eyes closed. I netflixed it last week and watched it once (pun, however weak, still intended) and then immediately played it again just so the music could float through my house as I hung out with my kid. If you like acoustic guitar music and awesome lyrics, you might like this film. I say might because it's a musical that's just short of being an opera...there's probably more singing than speaking lines...which is awesome! The film made the secret acoustic guitar playing, free living artist inside of me want to hang out with my imaginary musician and artist and dancer friends in an apartment that's way to small to hold all of us and sing and play our instruments and smoke and drink wine and obscure beers and be artsy and talk about how much pocket money we made in tips during our street performances and waiter jobs that day. There is something exciting about people who live their passions. That's what this film is.

It's a love story. It's a musical. It's Irish. It's Indie. It's awesome.