“It's good that we are able to get the business loans moreover, this opens new opportunities....” Leila33Coffey
“Abuse has no boundaries. The Blind Side could have been made portraying a white family that took in a poor white male or female teen and had the same emotional...” Jo
“I absolutely agree with Ms. Bennis's analysis and appreciate her pointing out the facts she does concerning "these people". As she points out, "those guys"...i.e. the guilty criminals that committed...” Gail Van Scyoc
“SHOW BLACK PEOPLE HOW TO APPLY FOR STIMULUS FUNDS! President Obama has been in office for 15 months! He has been tackling the areas that affect all Americans. Since black...” STEPHEN DELSOL
“Traci, Thanks for sharing the story with us. I spoke with a women just yesterday who said many bad things about her own hair, and it stuck with me all...” Brooke
“Tavis, I am not sure if you will get this. I hope you do. I have not seen all your debates over a "Black Agenda" but I wanted to give...” William
“Attention of Mr. Jeremy Freed. Good morning, Thank you for your article about North Korea. You mentioned about two series of photo's of this country, I am interested in. One...” William
“I don't see how he's running away from the issue of race. It's in his face every day. He gets hate mail and death threats regularly. There are people waiting...” Phina
“Interesting stuff, I guess. What we need is more voice for Michael's innocence. Enough with the materialistic stuff. People yearn for truth ; real truth amidst all the medialoidism....” elizabeth- cawobeth
“I would want, Pres.Obama, to please address the MANY CHANGES that you have accomplished for the the country that was on the brink of a full scale 'TITANIC EFFECT'!!! President...” delorisw123
Monday's guest, Mario Van Peebles is an actor and director with an impressive list of credits to his name, and a filmmaking career spanning four decades. Van Peebles' father, Melvin, was himself a successful filmmaker and actor, responsible for writing, directing, producing, scoring and starring in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a pioneering effort in independent black cinema,which also starred Mario, and is sometimes credited with launching the blaxploitation genre.
Van Peebles' 2003 biopic, Baadasssss, chronicled the making of the film, as well as Melvin's groundbreaking contributions to independent filmmaking. Now, Van ...
A recent post on the blog boing boingdrew my attention to two collections of photos on Boston.com depicting North Korea. The first set, shot by Eric
Lafforgue, in 2008 shows the goings-on in and around Pyongyang for the communist regime's 60th anniversary. The second set are more recent, released earlier this year by the state's official news agency, and showing leader Kim Jong Il inspecting various sites around the country.
The two sets of photos provide a stark contrast ...
Monday's show features three interviews with three actors nominated for Oscars this year. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges are both nominated for their turns in Crazy Heart(best supporting actress and best actor), and Jeremy Renner for his breakout performance in The Hurt Locker (best actor). If you haven't seen either of these movies, do it. Before the ceremony, if possible, but really, seeing them any time in the future will do the trick.
If you've already seen the films (and good for you if you have), you'd be well-served to check out ...
In five years, a new Smithsonian will open in Washington DC, adjacent to the Washington Monument. Among the treasures in its collection: leg irons from a slave ship, a powderhorn that once belonged to a Revolutionary War hero named Prince Simbo and Michael Jackson's hat. The museum, of course, is the long awaited (and long overdue) National Museum of African American History and Culture, and these are just a few of the things museum curator Lonnie Bunch has collected in his travels across the nation, in search of artifacts to tell the story of African American culture.
In a lengthy article in this week's New York Times Magazine, Jonah Lehrer presents a theory that will be of interest to anyone who suffers from depression (which, according to NIMH, is nearly 10% of the population) or knows someone who does.
In Lehrer's story, titled "Depression's Upside," he presents the idea that depression has persisted throughout human evolution because it actually helps people focus on their problems and motivates them to correct them. It's far more complicated than that, of course, and there is plenty of contrary opinion brought up in the article, but it ...
It's a little weird to me that people still care about this (myself included, strangest of all) but this week a new revelation in the Carly Simon/You're So Vain saga. On a remastered version of the song, Simon is said to whisper ...
With GM's announcement last week that the deal to sell Hummer to an obscure Chinese machining company had fallen through, it looks like the iconic brand is destined for history's scrapheap.
Unlike Saab, another GM brand threatened with failure, which was snapped up by boutique sports car maker Spyker, it seems like no one wants to have Hummer at the party. Can't blame them, really. The cars have become a symbol of American hubris and arrogance, and completely fly in the face of current trends towards smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.
I've been a fan of Gil Scott-Heron for years, but to me, the pioneering spoken-word artist and precursor to modern hip-hop was just that, someone from a bygone era who contributed greatly to the evolution of music, then faded into history. I never could have imagined he would return--and more than that--return in absolutely top-notch form.
Scott-Heron didn't disappear from the musical landscape entirely, but after releasing 1994's "Spirits," which, along with one other album, was his only release since the early 1980s, he faded again from view. As it turns out, Scott-Heron spent much of ...
Tuesday's guest is TV funny man and stand-up comedian Tracy Morgan. Best known for his work on SNL and 30 Rock, Morgan is many things, but predictable is not one of them.
His character on 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan, is an eccentric but lovable comic whose crazy antics on the set of the fictional variety show TGS are matched only by the bizarre string of films he has starred in previously. Highlights include Who Dat Ninja and, my personal favorite, Honky Grandma be Trippin'. According to Tina Fey, a castmate at SNL ...
You know, I've heard people say that too much of anything is not good for you, baby.
But I don't know about that. Neither did Barry White, who, no doubt, will be providing many people with a soundtrack this Valentine's Day.
Incidentally, Barry White didn't make Billboard's "Top 50 Sexiest Songs" list this year, but that changes nothing for me. For my money, there are few love songs that hold a candle to White's catalog. His voice could melt the polar icecaps, and his lyrics were timeless pop gems. Light a scented candle and enjoy the ...
Marshall will be Tavis' guest this Wednesday to discuss his new film, Valentine's Day, which stars a bevy of Hollywood bigshots, including Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher and Jessicas Alba and Biel. The movie looks like standard romantic comedy fare, a story about love conquering all, etc, the kind of ...
The film Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire was one of the breakout successes of 2009, taking home multiple awards at Sundance and Cannes and receiving six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
The film, which you already probably know is about an illiterate, obese black teenager who has been the victim of incest, was backed strongly by Oprah as having the potential to open viewers' eyes to the plight of underprivileged kids among us. "None of us who sees the movie can now walk through the world and allow the Preciouses of the world to be ...
Legendary punk-rock pioneer Patti Smith will be Tavis' guest this coming Friday to discuss her new memoir, Just Kids, which chronicles her relationship with her friend and collaborator, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
Smith arrived in New York city from a small town in Southern New Jersey in 1967, and landed squarely in one of the richest artistic environments of the 20th century. One of the first people she met in the city was Robert Mapplethorpe. The two quickly became very close, and their relationship would endure through both artists' rise to fame, until Mapplethorpe's untimely death ...
The humanitarian response to the disaster in Haiti, which has seen 150,000 buried so far, is truly staggering. It reaffirms my faith in humanity to see the world pulling together to help the impoverished nation recover and rebuild from this catastrophe, with many millions donated to charities working on the island.
Throughout this historic effort to help the people of Haiti, with all of these millions flowing into the country, I can't help but wonder where it all will go. Food, medical supplies, clothing and shelter will account for a lot of it, but once such necessities are ...
Fans of Hillary Clinton are in for a treat next week, as Tavis kicks off his Tavis Smiley Reports series with an interview with the Secretary of State and former First Lady. Even if you didn't vote for Hillary in the 2008 election, there's going to be something for everyone as the two discuss U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration.
The special interview will air on January 27 but, until then, you can check out this cool promo video and find advance clips from the interview here.
Harry Belafonte returns to the show this week, for what is sure to be an engaging discussion of music, politics and world affairs.
Belafonte, apart from being one of the most successful African American pop stars of all time, has long been an outspoken activist and was an important figure in the civil rights movement.
His music, of course, is legendary. Here's a clip of a very young, and very cool Belafonte singing with Nat King Cole (and doubling on the drums!)
The latest issue of Vanity Fair has a story on "America's Tweethearts," i.e., women who are popular on the social networking site Twitter. As far as I'm concerned, it might as well be called "Hot Women on Twitter" or "Twitter: A Place for People to Pay Even More Attention to the Inane Musings of Leggy Blondes than They Already Do Via MTV."
The article puts Twitter forward as yet another way in which people can self-promote in a world increasingly obsessed with self-promotion and celebrity (whatever that word means these days--it's increasingly unclear).
With the 2010 World Cup just months away, the eyes of the world are increasingly on South Africa, the continent's wealthiest country, which will soon play host to half-a-million soccer fans.
It's been almost two years since the series finale of The Wire, David Simon's groundbreaking HBO drama about urban decay in Baltimore. Often called the best show on television while it was on (President Obama has said it was his favorite show), and still attracting fans via DVD, The Wire stands as a remarkable achievement in television, one that will not easily be matched.
Now, Simon is poised to return to HBO with a new series called Treme (tre-MAY), and this time his subject is New Orleans. Little is known about Treme, apart from ...
Leave it to The New York Times, ever the interpreters of any Northeastern zeitgeist, to turn their critical eye to the last big meme of 2009.
As I blogged about recently,Jersey Shore is an MTV reality show starring a cast of absolutely appalling examples of humanity. It has drawn fire from an Italian American anti-defamation league, criticism from many cultured sorts and the rabid, car accident-like attention of the MTV-watching world.
This week, NYT weighs in, offering its two cents on the matter. Writer Neil Genzlinger, a Times entertainment critic and ...
It's worth watching the new reality show Jersey Shore, but only briefly, and only if you're not already depressed about the condition of humanity. The MTV program, which follows a group of fake-tan-sporting 20-somethings during a summer at New Jersey's infamous party zone, is a sobering reminder of just how ignorant, self-obsessed and awful people can be. It's also quite delicious.
Anyhow, UNICO, an organization responsible for policing the image of Italian Americans in popular culture (they came out vociferously against The Sopranos a few years back) has set its sights on Snooki, ...
In terms of air travel, the outgoing decade will forever be remembered as the time when everything got much, much worse in the name of public safety. Certainly no one enjoyed airport screening before, but we all accepted walking through the metal detector as something necessary to keep anyone from hijacking the plane and flying it to some landlocked dictatorship, 1970s style. What's that? You need to wand my belt buckle and the rivets on my jeans? Please, feel free. As long as it keeps Alan Rickman and his ilk off the plane.
Tavis' interview with the rapper 50 Cent airs tomorrow night (Tuesday). If you didn't get a chance to check it out the first time, I'd highly recommend you do so this week. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of his music, or even of hip-hop in general; in fact, it's just as interesting if you're not into rap.
On the program, 50 Cent (also known as Curtis Jackson) discusses his music, his film project and his rise from drug-slinging 12-year-old to multi-millionaire rap mogul. Along the way, he shares some of his philosophies for ...
Rihanna, the R&B singer known for her 12-million-selling hit "Umbrella," as well as for being assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown, is ready to move on. At least, that's what she's telling a handful of select journalists in semi-exclusive interviews corresponding to the release of her new album, "Rated R"("R" for Rihanna, presumably).
In her soft-focus interview in November with Diane Sawyer that aired on Good Morning America and 20/20, she talks about the assault, her desire to distance herself from Brown and the hope that she can use this ...
Prince is one of the most talented musicians working today, but the man behind the music is equally compelling as the music itself. In April, Tavis spoke to Prince in a rare one-on-one interview, in which the self-taught multi-instrumentalist discussed his upbringing, his influences and the secrets to his success.
Prince talks about teaching himself the piano, his relationship with Miles Davis, and the kinship he feels with the legendary boxer Jack Johnson. He also talks, for the first time ever publicly, about being epileptic as a child. "...I was born epileptic and ...
This year has seen its share of particularly great interviews on the show. Over the next few weeks, I'll be revisiting a few of my favorites.
On January 29, 2009, Tavis devoted the whole half-hour to his interview with former boxer and current actor Mickey Rourke. Rourke's comeback to Hollywood through his performance in The Wrestlerwas one of the most fascinating events of the last year, and his interview gives much insight into how and why that happened. Beyond that, Rourke goes deep into what caused the self-destruction of his first career as a leading man.
One of the most interesting things to come to light in the wake of Tiger Woods' epic besmirching is the reissue of a profile of him that appeared in GQ back in 1997. Then, Woods was a wide-eyed 21-year-old, accustomed to success, but new to world fame.
Charles P Pierce, the journalist who wrote the profile, portrays Woods as a bit of ass in his story, quoting him making racist jokes and generally acting like someone who doesn't know any better (but really should). Pierce's objective seems to have been taking Woods down a peg or ...
Last week, amid much hooplah, hype and special effects, Virgin Galactic unveiled the first-ever commercial space vehicle, "SpaceShipTwo." The unveiling took place at Virgin's Mojave Spaceport, outside of Los Angeles, in front of hundreds of journalists, VIPs and future astronauts.
SpaceShipTwo's mothership, with its unusual two-hulled design, will transport passengers to an altitude of 50,000 feet before separating and launching the middle section of the ship into space (for a cool ...
Back when I was in Dubai last spring, despite my gracious hosts' fervent, consistent and unerringly gracious denials that everything was A-okay in the Middle-Eastern emirate, something smelled a little fishy. And no, it wasn't the raw sewage that had been fouling the coastline around some of its nicer resorts (this was the reason, I found out after coming home, that our itinerary kept us well away from the beach).
The very notion of the place is, at best, fantastical; at worst, suspect. A glittering metropolis in the desert, built on a foundation of sand and ...
Rather than focusing on the fact that the Secret Service allowed two randoms to attend a White House dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India as part of their reality TV show pitch, I'd like to state for the record that reality TV is officially making the world a much worse place. We'll always have the crazies among us, the dysfunctionals, the narcissists; but why on earth should we give them TV shows? Not only that, why should we encourage them to pull stunts like this to get producers' attention?
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