CultureDANCE: Black Ballerinas - *The African Americans*
☺️
*GASP*
Trailer - Belle
Directed by Amma Asante. Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson Tom Wilkinson, Sarah Gadon, Sam Claflin, James Norton, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton, Sam Reid and Matthew Goode. Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.
First, this looks pretty solid. Second, I have been wanting a “Black Girl Period Piece” as my friend Cameron calls for it forever. Third, why do I have to wait until May?
In theaters May 2, 2014
I am beyond ready for this. It looks beyond beautiful
In Miley’s Defense
I want to state firstly and firmly: I’m not here for Miley. I’m not a fan and I wish she would go have several white girl privileged seats. Now and forever. For months now I’ll catch myself muttering, to myself, how not for her I am. “Twerk teams been twerking for years.” “Let Keke Palmer twerk, see how quick her career(regrettably small) ends.” “Black girls been twerking they ass off and Miley is Queen of it?” I cant tell you how every article or mention of her twerking worked my nerves. Not just because they were making her out to be somehting she is not - that’s just white media being white media. No my issue lay with the black people co-signing this foolery. “We should just call Miley black now” And why? As much as she may be twerking, or awkwardly popping her booty, now I can bet the last thing Miley Cyrus wants to be is black. And neither does Justin Timberlake for that matter. I am so tired of black people trying to claim white people or bestow upon them honorary blackness when its the last thing they want. They’re exacly where they want to be…white and able to appropriate. But I digress. I’m supposed to be defending Miley.
But not for twerking, or her version of it. I’m here to say that while Miley’s performance at last night’s VMA’s was all shades of wrong, it gives no one the right to ridicule her physical attributes. As a woman with her own unspectacular butt (a sista’s worse nightmare) I can only sympathize with how she may be feeling today. I hope she ignores everything but the honest criticism of her bad performance (should never be tried again).
A woman’s body should never be a thing of ridicule. It’s not just wrong, but potentially harmful. We are all, not just women, weary of our body and its relation to others. “How do they think I look?” And when they are the thousands of anonymous voices of the twitterverse and blogosphere, that answer can become deafening. I’d hate for her to take the many negative jibes and internalize it. Because the only thing she should improve upon is her rhythm. Not her ass. So.. telling Miley to stop twerking - ok, almost a requirement. Saying something about her ass- no bueno.
And as to her overall appropriation of black culture, or her white idea of it.. Just stop with that all together, girl. (That’s for Miley)
I wanna begin saying a story about my son. I have a four-year old son who loves superheroes from Spider-Man to Iron Man to Batman. He’s got all the costumes. One day he looks at me and says ‘Dad, I want to be light-skinned so I could be Spider-Man. Spider-Man has light skin.’ That was sort of a shock. This is why I am excited to be a part of the Marvel Universe, so I could be hopefully provide that diversity in the role of the superhero.
—
Djimon Hounsou on his role in Guardians of the Galaxy (via stankface)
i’m actually fucking crying right now
people really don’t understand what a lack of representation can do to people
(via alienswithankhs) breaks my heart (via boygeorgemichaelbluth)
But tell me again why representation is unimportant?
(via nudiemuse)
We’ve got to create more. Be more. For our children. For ourselves.
Being black gives everybody an edge, because everything’s harder. It’s no different than a guy who’s wearing weights around his ankles so he can jump higher. Black is just a weight on your skin. When you really learn how to maneuver it, you end up doing things faster and more intense and you appreciate things more because it was harder for you to get them in the first place.
—
– Chris Rock, on the Williams sisters, in the fantastic documentary “Venus and Serena“ (which is streaming on Netflix Instant so you have no excuse to not watch it)
I love him. Very Much so.
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
I fell in love with the movie Dear White People sometime last year when I saw the trailer on Youtube. Today Shadow and Act posted a video and info about the project and where it is at today. Check it out here: The Shadow & Act Filmmaker Diary Series with ‘Dear White People’ (Part One).
And as an aspiring filmmaker, I think it’s innovative that the trailer we see is not snippets of a completed film but a montage of scenes comprised to give an idea of what the movie will be like. Its a way to showcase your story, to possible investors, without having to deal with the financial strain of completing an entire script. Very interesting…
“Talking to White People about the Zimmerman Trial Bingo”
Aubrey, one of my amazing subscribers, dropped me a note this morning to say that the ridiculous comments on Kamu Bell’s and my Facebook page inspired this epic Zimmerman Trial Bingo card. After all the fuckFery that’s been floating around the internet with regards to this sham of a verdict, I needed this laugh today. Thanks Aubrey!
For real though, I found this funny and what the doctor ordered. Bingo.
(via crissle)
One of my all time fave couples. I hated when they introduced the affair. Felt personal. And I won’t even get into the series finale.
(via crissle)