MSNBC Contributor Wants Oprah Winfrey to Go Away

Don't we have this discussion about Oprah about once every five years or so where people ponder if this is the end of the Oprah empire? Well ever since she endorsed Barack Obama, there has been keen interest in whether that would spell DOOM, DOOM, DOOM for everything O.

MSNBC Contributor , Michael Ventre wrote an article,Enough’s enough: Oprah is oversaturated-Media magnate is on verge of ruining a good thing by being in everything

"It wasn’t the candidate she picked who’s the problem, even though she’s African-American, he’s African-American, and therefore such an endorsement — her first such public declaration — caused the racist goobers in our society to crawl out from various rocks and offer their ugly blather.

The issue is more about saturation. Oprah has her hands in just about everything these days, from publishing to reality shows to humanitarian efforts to spirituality. And she’s not a phony. She’s helped a lot of people and has had a colossal impact on the communications landscape." MSNBC

BTW, they are saying the same thing about Martha Stewart. Slate wrote an article called "Why Martha Stewart's Company is Doomed."

Giant's Win- But Can We Talk About the Commercials?- Oprah's New Show

Now that you are chock full of tortilla chips, queso and hot wings. Defense wins games. If you have never heard me do sports radio, you can head on over to 2 Guys and a Mic where I appeared regularly during the entire season. I guest hosted the episode where we made Super Bowl picks.

Any favorite commercials? I can tell you the one I thought was idiotic and gross was the puking baby with the creepy eyes.

Who thought that was cute? (See the rest of the commercials)

Speaking of commercials, has anyone seen those commercial for Oprah's new shoe, The Big Give? it looks like Mark Cuban's "The Benefactor"...the Oprah version. How did we become so competative that we managed to make giving away money a competition.

"The Great Debaters"- Did You See It? What Did You Think?

I am going to try to give this review of the Movie, "The Great Debaters" without giving away any major plot points in the event you have not seen it already. So this review is all about style and nothing about substance.

Generally speaking, I have never been impressed with Oprah's forays into movie production. Can anybody say Beloved ( FYI- The works of Toni Morrison should never be adapted for film! Some things were meant to be remain in their original form). So going into the movie, I was excited because I wanted this story to be told yet, filled with dread because in the past Oprah's productions can be a little heavy on message and symbolism. I don't know if it was because of the screenplay, the director, or the actors, but this movie had just enough of it all. Romance, trials, tribulations, redemption and comedy ( can you say SLAP HEARD ROUND THE WORLD?)- basically all the things you go to a the movies to see. They managed to convey the horror of what it meant to be Black in Texas during that time in history with out leaving you depressed and dejected walking out of the theater. After all, we go to the movies to escape.

I watched this movie in Southeast Texas. I think one of the interesting points in the movie was when they were trying to find Prairie View University on the map and everybody laughed because we know PV is out in the middle of nowhere and half the audience either graduated from PV or had an parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle that went to PV. I actually take a short cut through there when I am going from 290 to 45 ( don't worry about figuring it out, the locals know what I am talking about. Well the audiences familiarity with the geographic location adds extra meaning to the scene that follows. I won't give it away. Needless to say many folks in the audience have found themselves on a road to PV at one time or another.

Lets give a hand clap of praise to whoever made the casting decisions in this movie. They could have given us the same five Black actors who are in every other Black film, but they managed to pull together a group of actors that are relatively unknown. Even if we've seen them before, not in this way. It was nice to have a departure from the same ole same ole and I think it paid off because man, this was a character driven piece. I can't imagine any other actors playing any of these roles.

Now Denzel may have been heavy with his use of the soft focus effect, but the man knows how to direct actors. There was no Tyler Perry method acting excessive crying up in this movie. When a tear was shed, it meant something baby! The subtle things that the actors in this movie did were just amazing. Although Denzel Washington is the big name in this movie, he manages to make his presence known with just a look and a pause. It is when the man is totally silent – COMEDY! And let's talk abotu Forrest Whitaker... the brother speaks volumes just sitting in a chair in the dark! Put the two of them together and watch out.

There wasn't much bad about the movie, HOWEVER, Denzel darlin'. Moi luvs ya. She do she do and I KNOW you are excited to direct, but please, for the love of humanity , lay off the soft focus lens. I know it is fun and nifty to use all the various effects available to you, but several times during the movie, I wondered if I needed to go get my eyes checked, before it occurred to me that you are fascinated with making the outer edges of the frame blurry.

Now somebody needs to hunt down all of the literary references in this movie. I need to read or reread every work mentioned in this movie. Some I have read before, but it has been years and this movie reminded folks about the value of a liberal arts education. Half the time I thought professor Tolson was talking to me. Higher Education isn't just about vocational training, but also about the power of ideas to shape the mind and change the world. They almost had me convinced to go back to school at the end of the movie... I said ALMOST. Whew, now I am off to read some Greek mythology. What was the name of the character from mythology that got stronger with each defeat? I have to be spelling it wrong. Thanks erica b. the name of the character is Antaeus.

Now typically I don't like audience participation during a movie, but in this case, all of our collective participation was appropriate. Let's do a survey, how many times did the audience break out into applause? I think I counted 5. my Theater in Texas was packed with black folks of all ages. Good movie!

Baroprah Mania Part Deaux: Oprah Hits it Out of the Park on Behalf of Obama...Civil Rights Industrial Complex Attacks Obama Again (Andrew Young )

This blog is about African American women in popular culture so we couldn't ignore Oprah basically taking over the airwaves today with her speech on behalf of Barack Obama. Part I


Part II She Throws It Down!(watch for the Billary digs)


She accomplished an amazing feat, she got me to sit through an Obama Speech in its entirety. I am beginning to wonder if Obama's Democratic National Convention Speech was one of those rare occasions when a politician is "in the zone" that can never be repeated. As far as I am concerned this was bigger than a keynote at the Democratic National Convention and Obama, took probably 10 minutes to hit his stride. Oprah is gifted and her speech was great , but when Obama hit the stage he literally took a bucket of cold water and threw it on the fire Oprah lit. I was about to turn away from his speech when someone in the audience passed out. He ended up getting it together, but seriously, he needs to bring it tomorrow in SC.

CNN's Candy Crowley declares that Oprah has a future as a campaign speech writer:

There were a couple of signs, but no fireworks, no hang gliders, just Oprah and Obama and thousands of their closest friends packed into a cavernous arena in downtown Des Moines. Gayle King (Oprah's BFF) told one of the women seated next to her that Oprah was up until three in the morning writing her speech introducing Obama. She told people backstage she was nervous.I asked one of his advisers if the campaign had any input. "Nope," he said. "All the Big O."

If that's true, Winfrey has a future. It was a great speech, and she is a gifted speaker.CNN.COM

I agree Candy.

If you want to review the throw down we had two weeks ago regarding my response to the article called "Michelle Obama Urges Black Women to Vote for Her Husband", you can go here.

• Michelle Obama Urges Black Women to Vote For Her Husband: Um, Why the Heck Should We?


• WAOD invites Barack Obama to the Black Women’s Roundtable(knock down drag out fight in the comments)


• Are We “Picking” On Obama?- The Barack Obama Omarosa Society (BOOS) – aka How to DEMONIZE Black Women Voters 101


• OH Lord: We Do Not HATE Barack Obama... We Just Ain't Enraptured

Note to Sherri Shepard, I hope you were taking notes.

Speaking of National Embarrassments...Andrew Young Pans Obama and Says Bill Clinton is "just as Black as Obama."

Isn't it time for him to go away to the home? The CRIC(civil rights industrial complex) is seriously losing it. Between bloggers and Obama, they are being driven mad right in front of our very eyes.Just STOP already.

Why Isn't the Studio Promoting "The Great Debaters"- It's a CONSPIRACY I Tell Ya'- Making My Debut As an MC

Last week I told you about "The Great Debaters" the movie FEW of y'all have heard about.

Now you couldn't read a single Black blog without them going on incessantly about "American Gangster." The American Gangster Album, The American Gangster LA Premiere, the NY Premiere. Who wanted to play the role of Frank Lucas. Etc. On and on and on.

Well Denzel *sigh* has another movie coming out this Christmas, and you wouldn't know it because I haven't heard hide nor hair of it.

The film is based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, who, while at Wiley College formed a debate team that beat Harvard in 1935 during the national championships.

The film is produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. It is directed by Denzel Washington who also stars in the film along with Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, and Jurnee Smollett. The screenplay is by Suzan-Lori Parks[I think I saw her at the Magnolia Cafe last weekend.] and Robert Eisele. It will be released on December 25, 2007.

Why Haven't You Heard of It?

Could it be because is does not appear to be a never ending cliché upon cliché with a regurgitated plot, recycled cast, and rehashed version of Soul Food(sans the precocious children) a la "This Christmas"?

Could it be because the Black characters in"The Great Debaters" aren't criminals, gangstas', prostitutes, or hip hop artists?

Could it be because yet again the movie studio is going to mistake having the cast appear on a special edition of the Oprah show as some type of marketing? The Oprah name sells books. Movies, not so much...I got two words for you "Cat Woman!"

Which came first the chicken or the egg? Is it that Black folks and White folks don't want to see something different out of Hollywood, or is it that Hollywood only seems to want to promote the same old narrow range of African American stories? If we don't go see this in droves, it might not be because we don't want to see it, it might be because a whole lot of folks don't know this movie is even out there. People can say what they want about Tyler Perry, but that man knows how to market a movie. The folks responsible for marketing "The Great Debaters" need to call Tyler and stop dialing it in. Get with it people! Time's a wastin'!

Everybody that went to see American Gangster, needs to go see this twice.

My MC Challenge

Now Jay-Z put out an "American Gangster" album to coincide with the release of the movie chronicling how one man was able to murder thousands of folks with heroin while desecrating the bodies of dead US service men. I have not heard of any such cross promotion for "The Great Debaters". In fact, according to the site, the Great Debaters soundtrack features blues and gospel. hmmmm. To do my part in promoting the movie I have vowed to write and perform lyrics to a hip hop single in honor of the Wiley College Team. All I need is for someone to lay down a track. I have no musical or lyrical talent, but if you have heard your radio recently, a lack of talent, skill or ability is no impediment to being a successful recording artist. I am serious!

Get on it people. I am still waaaaaiting! We can throw it on I-tunes and watch as "The Great Debaters" rockets towards box office domination. While I wait on your musical contributions, I will continue working on my first screenplay, "Get Those Church Folks Off My LAWN: The Debra Lee Story"

For real though, everybody that went to see American Gangster had better go see "The Great Debaters" TWICE as your penance.

Manchild Levell Crump Continues his "Ignorance Personified" Tour- Male Hip Hop Artists STILL Obsessed with Oprah

Manchild Levell Crump a.k.a David Banner has been able to parlay his 15 minutes of fame following his appearance at the congressional hearing on September 25, 2007 into 16 minutes. Unfortunately it appears his publicity stunt is working. Fortunately for us, his delusional rantings runneth over so we have a veritable cornucopia of foolishness from whence to draw new material. Rolling Stone has the entire list of Banner's top five complaints ( As if we care). If he is going to be Hip Hop's latest defender, I say let him keep talking. He's taking them right over a cliff.

Come on, Oprah. You’re from Mississippi, girl. I don’t mind what you do as a black leader, but if you’re not going to take up for black people, then don’t criticize them. You don’t have to talk about us — stick to your books. When you talked about us, you didn’t put T.I., Nelly and Snoop on there. You put Common on there, and Common don’t call women bitches and ho’s, so you’re not talking about him, so he shouldn’t have to defend something he does not do. But if you notice, that same week, she had a birthday party, and they showed her shaking her ass to 50 Cent. So we talk about positive music, but American people don’t buy it. I want you to go buy Talib Kweli. Go buy it! Please do! I don’t care what kind of rap you buy, just by rap music. As long as we leave rap here for another generation, I don’t care what kind of rap it is gangsta , international rap, Russian rap, country and western rap, I don’t give a shit. But the thing is, we are hypocrites. We say we want this, but we really want the WWF. We really want Sex and the City.” Manchild Crump Speaking to Rolling Stone. Hat Tip to Crunk & Disorderly

Do y'all wonder why all these hip hop artists are obsessed with Oprah? Like any good misogynist, they can't stand the idea of a woman not being their foot stool. Just her existence threatens them. Their manhood is so precarious that the fact that Oprah breathes air unsettles them. They can't control her so of course they want to try to insult her.

I mean other than TWO shows about the hip hop industry's obsession with denigrating Black women in over twenty years of the Oprah show, what did Oprah EVER do to hip hop. If anything Black women could be more upset that she hasn't said more.

So the message is clear, wimmin' folk need to cowtow to these menchildren or they'll throw temper tantrums in the press.

I know Oprah could care less what some washed up one-hit-wonder has to say, but really we ought not let this foolishness go unchallenged. They are counting on people not responding and when we do respond, they'll whine that we didn't take them aside an speak to them first as Manchild Crump continues to pout about on those rare occasions when MSM deigns to give him a soap box.

Auntie O Puts On a Show...of Support for THAT CANDIDATE (My Take on the- Obama Fundraiser.Yeah, I went there!...AGAIN!))

UPDATE(9/10): Black America Web has an interesting story about a SUPPOSED gender gap between endorsements from The Black Elite Establishment..... Apparently some Black men are lining up behind Hillary Clinton and One Black Women, Oprah lines up behind Obama, thus BAW concludes thee is a gender war within the Black community. Well we'll take a declaration of War wherever we can get it.

ORIGINAL STORY......
We don't do presidential politics on this blog, but since this definitely falls under Black women claiming their power and the power of the purse, I would be remiss if I didn't do a post on Oprah throwing a 3 million dollar fund raiser for THAT CANDIDATE.

No, we don't mention THAT CANDIDATE'S name around here because of this

You see I don't have a problem with folks taking issue with the length of Genarlow Wilson's sentence, but must we engage in revisionist history and try to portray Mr. Wilson as if he was Steve Urkle and what happened in that hotel room was a scene out of Romeo and Juliet. The two girls involved have been abandoned and forgotten. The 15 year old has even been the target of threats of physical violence. The two girls never get mentioned unless it is to say that what happened was their fault. Have y'all seen portions of the video tapes that were made of these girls? I hope not because that would be child porn, but the brief clip shown during a discussion about the Wilson case makes me think that THAT CANDIDATE did not get a full briefing. "Boyfriends" don't do this to their "girlfriends." How does the 17 year old victim feel when Obama, Sharpton and their ilk are running around calling her brutal violation "consensual." I didn't know you could consent when you were passed out on the bed. Call me CRAZY! ( Some of y'all already do.)

The State of Georgia has seen fit to set an age of consent in order to have various types of sex. Mr. Wilson and his buddies had to be familiar with the term "jailbait". We grew up knowing that 15 will get you 20.

I just wonder if Auntie O knows that Obama is running around calling what happened in that hotel room as "consensual sex between a young man and his 15 year old girlfriend." I know I am an old fogie in my 30's but I ain't ever heard of a teen boy letting his "girlfriend" perform oral sex on 5 of his buddies while he holds a video camera. I can just imagine the general election campaign ads with that clip right there, and I actually liked THAT CANDIDATE. Imagine that YouTube clip juxtaposed with the clip from the video that Mr. Wilson and his buddies made of their hi jinx. Not. Going. To. Be. Pretty. Don't say moi didn't warn y'all. Immoral Indifference is so not a good look here at WAOD.

Read what I said a month ago in Where it the Outrage over R. Kelly and Genarlow Wilson ( Yeah, I Went There).
Let that marinate

Featured Activism of the Day!

Today we're featuring another group actively engaged in combating the WAR ON BLACK WOMEN. They are called the SpiritHouse. and they have launched the Our Name is Our Own Campaign.

On the tails of the hurtful words of Don Imus, the Our Name is Our Own Campaign™ will target the systemic level of this habitual branding, and how it sabotages the work of social justice and obscures the vision for our common dreams. This grassroots campaign will be unveiled by Ruby Sales -- acclaimed civil rights activist, social critic, public theologian and history maker

Drop by and read about what they are all about. If you know of another group working it out, let me know.

Featured Activism of the Day!

Evia is sponsoring a campaign to contact the Federal Communications Commission. Stop by her blog and take part in her campaign.

Sistas, please stay tuned for some FCC (Federal Communications Commission) e-mail addresses that I'll be posting later today to which we MUST write in order for them to know how we feel about all of the SMUT talk on the air waves that denigrates, debases, degrades, and defames Black women. You've got to be explicit and let them know that this constant bombardment causes us PAIN. Let's not be cute about this.
Evia

If you know of someone else who has a campaign to take ACTION right now, let me know and I will post it.

After Imus: Now What?

Was anyone else discouraged after Oprah’s Town Hall Meeting ?

I think there plenty of us that are equally outraged about the portrayal of African American women in popular culture . Now we need to get organized. It is time to DEFUND THE WAR ON BLACK WOMEN! Period. End of discussion. This isn’t about artistic expression. This is about capitalism. People have a right to basically say whatever they want to, but I don’t have to subsidize it in any way. Hence the term “starving artist.”

I know that there are countless groups throughout the nation that have been fighting the good fight and have gone relatively unnoticed by MSM ( mainstream media). Nor do I think we can rely on black men to lead the charge. So if you or your organization has started a local, regional, or national effort to take ACTION, let me know and I’ll post it on this blog. If you already have a distribution list to issue calls to action. Let me know, I’ll post it. I am not trying to create a new organization, just serve as a conduit to connect like- minded people together. My technical abilities are rather limited and I have the attention span of knat, but I can manage to post on a blog to get this started. We need a Moveon.org or EMILY’s List for black women.

I’m not interested in any committees, dialogues, commissions or a task force. Those are just ways to wear passionate people out. Diane Weathers said black women should take the lead in this fight. What are we going to DO now?