“That’s just it. He’s not a brotha,” I said. I frowned up my face and added, “And shut up. I learned a lot from those books.”
“I’m sure you did, sweetie. But, let’s move on now. So what if he’s not a brotha; we know you like the Latinos. No problema chica,” Milan laughed.
“Um, no. Malachi is not Latino. He’s white.”
“Oh. Oh. Oh. Wow. And he got you thinking about calling back! Well, he must be fine then”, screamed Milan.
“He is, but … I don’t know. The whole interracial thing. People can be so cruel, you know.”
“Damn, girl. Let me find out you trying Something New like Sanaa Lathan’s character in the movie. Get down with the swirl, Maiya! Do your jungle fever thing.You’ll just be the chocolate chip all up in his vanilla ice cream! Ha-ha! No, but seriously, though. You know it wasn’t all that bad with me growing up with my German mother and mixed father.”
“You are so ghetto! And with you, it was different because you still look like us, so nobody ever teased you like that.”
“Girl, don’t trip. You gotta do you. And you were teased about as much as me, with your mixed self.”
“Yeah, ok, I guess you’re right. Let me not keep you from your clients. Are you busy today?”
“Nah. My next client isn’t until 10:30 am, but I have training to do with Sean to work that out. We are having a brief staff meeting before that. Seriously, all jokes aside. He could be a nice person, but you’ll never know by holding on to fantasies of Carlos. You are blocking your blessings. You say you’ve moved on, but you haven’t. Let go of what you had. Just call the man. Malcolm, Maxwell, Matthew.”
A college tour is not new for Nhojj. In 2004 he toured American colleges to promote his critically acclaimed "Someday Peace Love & Freedom" CD. This time around there is no album to promote – just a deep rooted conviction that this is what he should do right now. In a society where homophobia still exists, Nhojj wants to share strength, hope, and pride with Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) youth everywhere. The message is – Love is a gift from God, and regardless of sexual orientation "Love Is Love."
When Nhojj ventured into the music business almost a decade ago it was for two reasons: 1 – He loved music; 2 – He wanted to share music. It was as simple as that.
Now chart topper Nhojj – hailed as a pioneer in music by BET and dubbed "the artist to watch this year" by About.com – has other reasons. He wants to affirm and empower youth today, especially the gay youth. He wants to reflect the timeless spiritual teaching that some religions forget - love. "Love is the truth" – lyrics to his #1 Out & Proud CDbaby single "The Gay Warrior Song." He wants to give back to the community (proceeds from the single are being donated to SASOD, an LGBT rights organization in his native Guyana ).
Newly acquired Miami Heat playerLeBron Jamesis starting off his stay in Miami very comfortable.According to reports, James is now the proud owner of a $50 million dollar mansion that was once owned by famed NBA coach Pat Riley.
The home which is tucked in the exclusive Coral Gables community has over 880 feet of water surrounding the property as well as holsters a whopping 8 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.
[Peep The New Crib After The Break]
The total amount of property that King James has acquired is 20,862 square feet. Not bad for a transition, let's see what the Cleveland fans have to say about this.
Okay so people thought it would upset me to tease me about Beyonce getting a ticket for texting while driving, well it didnt. Knowing that Beyonce gets tickets just like all of us makes me LOVE her even more. If you break the law you have to pay the cost, I have had many tickets in my driving history. A close source claimed...
What I find funny about the story is Beyonce just got her license, girl what and the hell you been waiting on? I just knew you would have had your driver's license by now, I know you been driving for years. My mother was driving illegally until she was way in her forties and didn't get her license until after I passed my drivers exam before her. I am just glad he didn't stop Beyonce before she got her license and that would have been a hot mess and as for you haters who want to attack her for trying to charm her way out of a ticket, let it go! Hell I pretended like I was having an asthma attack to get out of a ticket and you know what the cop did? He called an ambulance for my fake medical need and still wrote me my speeding tickets. Talk about how embarrassed I was when the paramedics said "I guess you drove so fast you knocked the wind out of your body," they laughed and told the cop I was faking. Some cops just don't play!
I always love to have the opportunity to chat with new people and in the latest episode of WATM I got the opportunity to chat with Neffy's (Frankie and Neffy Show) BFF Dariel Pulliam about hair, beauty, and our biggest pet peeve... WOMEN WHO DON'T PULL IT TOGETHER!!!!
Shades of Pride will be Building on the Rainbow this summer in the Triangle
RALEIGH-The Inaugural Triangle Black Pride is less than three months away and organizers are anticipating a truly historic event to unfold in the Triangle area this summer.
Shades of Pride will present the first Triangle Black Pride July 29-Aug. 1, 2010 at locations throughout the Triangle Area. “Building on the Rainbow of Colors in our Community” is the theme of the premier event and organizers are presenting a diverse range of options to entertain, empower and educate attendees.
The mission statement of Shades of Pride is to celebrate and honor the diversity of the African American LGBTQ community in the Triangle through events open to all. The agency will also work to deliver programs that increase awareness, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, breast and prostate cancer and other health disparities affecting minority populations. To that end, workshops conducted by the American Heart Association, Lambda Legal, and AARP will be held July 30 at Triangle Black Pride’s host hotel, the Marriott Crabtree, 4500 Marriott Drive, Raleigh. Topics scheduled to be discussed include How to Take Your Doctor Hostage, Transgender Issues, Care giving and Financial Planning. A writing workshop conducted by Rising Voices Press will also be offered at a cost of $15 for attendees. Box lunches will be available for purchase as part of the workshops.
Triangle Black Pride will also feature a free LGBT Film Festival on July 31st at the Rialto Theatre in Raleigh following a Pride expo scheduled to be held at the host hotel. Closing events for Pride Weekend include a Jazz brunch featuring Tara Lake and is being presented at the host hotel by Triangle Financial Advisors on August 1st.
As part of reaching out to the community, Pride organizers has partnered with the Durham Perform Arts Center to promote their upcoming presentation of “The Color Purple” and have worked with the Human Right Campaign during their 2010 Gala event held at the Raleigh Convention Center. Other partnerships include the LGBT Center of Raleigh, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, Golden Corral, Seven Sisters, and Men United for HIV/AIDS Awareness.
For more information about Triangle Black Pride, please visit www.triangleblackpride.org or email info@triangleblackpride.org
MEGA Dream event producers Nefertiti A. Strong and Richard E. Pelzer II (aka Lil Mogul) today announced the first The PassionToAction Series to be held at the Bennett Career Institute, 700 Monroe NE, Washington, DC 20017 on Saturday, September 25, 2010. For tickets and more information go to ThePassionToAction.comPurchase your tickets TODAY, seats are limited. Group Discounts are available for 15 or more people.
Film/TV Casting Director and Producer Winsome Sinclair & Entertainment Branding Executive/Author Thembisa S. Mshaka have teamed up to engage, enlighten and empower professionals to discover a career in entertainment called The PassionToAction. This series created and produced by Nefertiti A. Strong and Richard E. Pelzer II of MEGA Dream asks people, ‘How will you move from Passion to Action?’Are you doing what you truly want to do with your career? Join this dynamic duo Winsome and Thembisa as they discuss career paths, entrepreneurship, family, the entertainment industry, life and living one’s dream. Their Passion To Action weekly blog is currently posting onEssence.comto provide their online community with expertise, testimony and hard-won advice available no place else on the Web.
Casting Director & Producer Winsome Sinclair has collaborated on major motion films with top directors such as Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Oliver Stone, Lee Daniels , Forrest Whitaker, and Hype Williams, will teach everything you need to know about "the industry," how to land an audition, how to wow casting directors, and stand out from the pack. She will give you the personal feedback you need to enhance your ability to get more work and flourish in the industry by answering any and all questions regarding the aspect of showbiz.
Author, Producer and Marketer Thembisa S. Mshaka of PUT YOUR DREAMS FIRST: Handle Your [entertainment] Business brings her book alive for her three hours. Hailed by Public Enemy founder and Air America radio host Chuck D as "the new entertainment industry bible", this must-have industry survival guide for women interested in pursuing a career in entertainment but can also serve anyone who needs inspiration to invigorate—or protect their careers.
Thembisaa 5-time Telly Award winner who has served in the entertainment industry for over 18 years, spanning the areas of touring, management, magazine publishing, recorded music and technology, advertising, music supervision for film, voice over, and television. As Senior Copywriter at Sony Music, and 2-time NARM Award winner, her campaigns contributed to the sale of more than 170 million albums for artists from Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), Will Smith, and Beyonce’, to NaS, Maxwell, George Michael, and Jill Scott. Her creative production company, SEEIT Live Inc., was responsible for writing the launch campaign of RocaWear clothing, in addition to producing advertising and/or creative for J Records (Alicia Keys, Jazmine Sullivan), Universal Motown (India.Arie, Akon, Lil Wayne), Hewlett-packard, and others. During her tenure as GAVIN rap editor she coined the phrase 'Generation NeXt'. Mshaka has also written for Essence.com and LAUNCH.com, and serves as contributing editor for The Hotness.com. She contributed to anthology Sometimes Rhythm: Sometimes Blues (Seal Press)edited byTaigi Smith and Icons of Hip-Hop, an academic reference volume edited by Mickey Hess (Greenwood Press).
Watch as the free spirit discusses her new album, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and a 97 year old green man.
You won't hear any Auto-Tune on Macy Gray's new album, 'The Sellout.' During a recent video interview with PopEater in our LA offices, the singer-songwriter told us she's fine with her trademark flat vocals. "Well, I'm generally flat. As much as I've worked on it, I just sing flat a lot. Instead of being all upset about it, I like my flatness a little bit," she says. "And some people I actually think I'm doing it on purpose. Some people think it's style, so that's pretty cool."
For Gray, it's more important to be in the song than being technically proficient. "The cool thing is when I sing I really try to be in it, I really try to get lost in what I'm singing about, and the story that I'm in," she says. "When I'm on the mic, it doesn't work unless you're there. If you're singing about a tree, then it doesn't work unless you're at that tree, in your head at least. When you go off of that, there's a lot of things that your voices will do that aren't technically right, [but] that's always cool when it's rough and when it's honest.
And who are the other vocalists she looks to for honesty? "Well I remember I heard Axl Rose and he was just so raw. The great thing about his voice was that he was really technically right most of the time and he just had this amazing emotion," she says. "And then there's always the obvious ones, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. Although I'm naming people that I don't remember them having any imperfection. Kurt Cobain, he was pretty like raw or flawed, but it was awesome. There's a lot of rappers. I think that's what cool about Jay-Z, is he's really raw and he raps, but if you ever listen to one of his a cappellas, it's so funny because his voice cracks all the time, and it gets really high-pitched, but it works on his records."
'The Sellout' is a record where Gray gets to put all of her emotional and honest influences to use, as she delivers some of the most revealing songwriting of her career on standout tracks like the title cut and the finale, 'The Comeback.' As she tells it, the bluntness of the record comes from where she was in her life. "There are really a lot [of] me pouring my heart out, all at a time when I didn't have much going on expect my little music [and] what I was doing with that," she says. "Everything I felt and everything I had went into that."
ADAM’s 27th BIRTHDAY BASH ADAMIRBY.com RELAUNCH CELEBRATION Hosted by Dwight Allen O’Neal THIS FRIDAY, JULY 23rd – 10p-4a at Las Chicas Locas Lounge @ The Four Points by Sheraton Chelsea 160 W 25th Street New York, NY 10001
FREE ADMISSION $6 DRINK SPECIALS ALL NITE LONG! Come one, come all bring your friends, everyone’s invited! No dress code
Weeks ago, I filled out an online application for this job I wanted to get. The application was filled out from beginning to end. Then there came the last question in the middle of the application.
The question read "When was your last HIV test?"
My heart suddenly stop for one second, as if I was ready to suffer from cardiac arrest. I haven't had sex in about a year. So if I was HIV positive, I was sure to feel some in my system by now. For some people, you'll never know. However, my body is different from others. Any time I had something going on inside, I could feel it instantly. You name it, I felt it, and some of them were things I wish I have never felt. At the end of the day I wasn't scared because I felt like I was infected. I was scared due to the fact that I was going to take my first HIV Test the next day. Now let me fast forward to the office. Just talking about my way there just don't make any sense. All you need to now is that my cologne and lotion was sweating off so much, people walking around felt like I just left a pool party. I was never sweating, but those two accessories made it look like I was.
I entered the building feeling very confused. My glasses had already fogged up. My heart was beating so fast, it sounded like it was singing Bamboula. It was all good inside of me. NOT!
I walked upstairs and went through the procedure. I put the stick in my mouth. The woman running the place was going through the questionnaire with me. Normally, people would run for the hills when they are being asked about their sex lives. If you are close to me, I will talk to you about anything. However, I ain't afraid to answer the basic questions to anyone. I just told you guys I haven't got laid in a year. The last piece of action I've gotten for the past year is with that razor I use to shave my ass.
For the next half hour I sat in the waiting room reading FAQ's on brochures. If I remembered I had to wait thirty minutes for the test results to come in, I would've brought the Jackie Collins novel I was reading at the time with me.
While waiting, I did one of the craziest things on the planet. I started reminiscing about my sexual experiences a year ago. I am not a player. All of my relationships last a long time, but the ones I've dated are sex freaks. The whole thirty minutes felt like a whole day in the interrogation room. My mind was swirling like an amusement park when it was over. This proves that the boy next door always have better sex in the end.
Everything I was thinking about went away once the lady walked out of the room said "We have your test results."
I walked in and she said my test results came back negative. I couldn't tell you how excited I felt when I heard. I have been an extremely healthy man, and it showed medically on paper. I walked out that building with extreme confidence. It was my first time ever taking an HIV Test.
If you can think of a color, Smart USA will paint it on your car. Even plaid!!!
Smart USA, the company that sells the ultra-small Smart ForTwo, is now offering customers the option to choose to have their car painted any color they choose.
Seriously. Any color. They mean it.
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Red, blue, green, fuchsia, burnt sienna, cyan, lavender, turquoise with a hint of gold, plaid... you name it.
Customers will still be able to choose one of Smart's six basic colors at no additional cost but, for $1,550 more, they can choose from a palette of 93 other colors as part of the brand's "smartExpressions" offer.
If none of those 93 shades quite does it for you, there's the less cleverly named "Any Color You Want" program. The name says what it means.
Bring in a sample of the shade you're after and Smart will try to match it. In this case, pricing depends on the color.
The program is made possible by the Smart Fortwo's unusual construction -- which involves easily removable body panels -- and a partnership with the automotive paint supplier PPG.
The body panels will be painted at a remote location then sent to the dealer for installation. People who already own one of the cars can also take advantage of the program. Patterns and designs, like plaid, are possible through a process of "wrapping" the panels, or coating them with a 3M vinyl film that adheres to the panels. For now, buyers will have to select from pre-designed patterns but soon, Smart says, they'll be able to create any pattern they choose. Wrap prices start at $1,350.
The Smart ForTwo has been on sale in the United States since 2008. Despite fuel economy over 40 miles per gallon on the highway, Smart sales have plummeted in recent years. So far in 2010, sales are running more than 60% below 2009, which was one of the auto industry's worst sales years.
The two-seat ForTwo is powered by a 3-cylinder engine. It's designed to be about as long as most other cars are wide, allowing it to be parked nose-to-the-curb in a typical parallel parking space.
