Makeup dress rehearsal

Elise & I had a little makeup dress rehearsal today--what fun!  She is going to be doing our makeup for the video I'm producing These Boots.  She will also appear in the video, so I had her bring some little black things and black boots for me to scope out--some great pairings!  I'm so geeked!  She even brought a pair of boots for me to borrow, which I might wear with a fuzzy vest and.....bikini!  Since she did our makeup on and I played with her hair, of course I needed to snap a few shots! 

Movie List

Movies I like to watch include (not necessarily in this order):
comedy, documentaries, foreign, independent, psychological thriller (but nothing gory, not into horror).  I also like some fantasy, and TV mini-series.  I relish in topics that make me think.  I seek films that provide insight into the lives of others who live in a different environment or country than I do; those who face similar and/or varying challenges and how they overcome them.

These are my own categories, and some films you will see I've placed in several categories.
Marked with * they are my top Favs!


FUNNY:

• MouseHunt *
• Charlie Bartlett
• Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
• The Big Lebowski
• Harold & Maude *
• Talledega Nights
• Blazing Saddles
• Superbad

NOT your typical ROMANCE & then some--FOREIGN FILMS:

• Amelie *
• Y Tu Mama Tambien
• Life is Beautiful
• Once
• Il Postino *
• Elsa & Fred
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• XXY
• Fire (the one about 2 Hindi women) (in English & Hindi)

NOT your typical ROMANCE & then some--American:

• Untamed Heart *
• The Love Letter
• Harold & Maude *
• Closer
• Red Shoe Diaries (the 1st full length film, NOT the shorts!)
• Moulin Rouge
• The Lover *
• Forrest Gump

SHOULD BE REQUIRED VIEWING:

• Crash
• For Colored Girls
• What I Want My Words to Do to You
• XXY

GAY/LESBIAN (but please don't shy away from these films if you label yourself as straight!):

• Chris & Don:  A Love Story
• Milk
• XXY
• Beginners
• Brokeback Mountain
• Boys Don't Cry
• Fire (the one about 2 Hindi women) (in English & Hindi)

GREAT STORY/GREAT SOUNDTRACK & more:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Forrest Gump

BOOKS TO FILM:

• Waiting to Exhale
• How Stella Got her Groove Back
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein * (my Favorite book!)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley
• The English Patient
• The Lover *
• Henry & June *

STREET LIFE:

• Hustle & Flow
• Shottas
• What I Want My Words to Do to You
• The Dhamma Brothers
• Grand Ave (an HBO movie, not sure how u can find this, but it's superb!)

ARISTS/MUSICIANS/POETS/writers:

• Frida
• Pollock
• Il Postino *
• Henry & June *
• Chris & Don:  A Love Story
• Naked States
• Naked World
• What I Want My Words to Do to You
• For Colored Girls
• Hustle & Flow
• A Man Named Pearl
• Poetry in Motion
• The Lover *
• Dangerous Beauty

DOCUMENTARIES:

• What the Bleep do We Know?
• Chris & Don:  A Love Story
• The Dhamma Brothers
• Emmanuel's Gift
• What I Want My Words to Do to You
• A Man Named Pearl
• I Know I'm Not Alone
• Mad Hot Ballroom
• Scottsboro:  An American Tragedy
• Winged Migration *

ADORABLE & GOOD PLOT:

• WALL-E
• ET *
• Up
• MouseHunt *
• Ratatouille (the girl chef's name is Colette!) 

About FAMILY relationships:

• Dad *
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Yesterday
• Grand Ave (an HBO movie, not sure how u can find this, but it's superb!)
• Fire (about 2 Hindi women & their husbands) (in English & Hindi)

FOODIE FILMS:

• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Chocolat
• Ratatouille (the girl chef's name is Colette!)

INDEPENDENT FILMS:

• XX/XY (not to be confused with XXY)
• Grand Ave (an HBO movie, not sure how u can find this, but it's superb!)
• I'm Not There
• Slumdog Millionaire

ALCOHOL/DRUG ABUSE:

• Crazy Heart
• When a Man Loves a Woman
• Gia

FAVORITE FILMMAKERS & on the weird tip:

Coen Brothers

• Oh Brother Where Art Thou
• The Big Lebowski 
• No Country for Old Men
• Fargo

David Lynch

• Twin Peaks (mini-series)
• Wild at Heart
• Blue Velvet

FANTASY:

• Underworld
• Underworld: Evolution
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein *

TV:

• Sex and the City
• The L Word
• True Blood
• Mistresses
• My Name is Earl
• Weeds

I'm sure I've left out many worthy films.  As I think of, or watch more, I'll add to this list.  If you have a suggestion, please leave me a comment!  If you watch any of these, I'd love to hear your opinions!

Rebel or Revolutionary?

I used to regard myself as a rebel in my teens and 20s, then my poetry and and creative endeavors seemed to speak of revolution--as in me kick starting it, makin it happen.  This quote by Rollo May has me back in the rebel mindset....because, ultimately, my outlook is toward a change in attitudes amongst the masses--who I certainly don't wish to control, but wish to nurture--to elevate my people to a more loving standard of living for themselves, and toward others.  I've been called a spirit guide.  In Christianity, I would be considered a peacekeeper.  In Buddhism, a boddhisatva.   I am an empath/clairsentient.  I think I'm becoming a new age philosopher.  And, without further adieu... here is my Quote of the Day and why today I am a rebel!  Which one are you?  Something to think about!

"I must make the important distinction between the rebel and the revolutionary. One is in ineradicable opposition to the other. The revolutionary seeks an external political change.... The origin of the term is the word revolve, literally meaning a turnover, as the revolution of a wheel. When the conditions under a given government are insufferable some groups may seek to break down that government in the conviction that any new form cannot but be better. Many revolutions, however, simply substitute one kind of government for another, the second no better than the first...which leaves the individual citizen, who has had to endure the inevitable anarchy between the two, worse off than before. Revolution may do more harm than good. The rebel ... seeks above all an internal change, a change in the attitudes, emotions, and outlook of the people to whom he is devoted. He often seems to be temperamentally unable to accept success and the ease it brings; he kicks against the pricks, and when one frontier is conquered, he soon becomes ill-at-ease and pushes on to the new frontier. He is drawn to the unquiet minds and spirits, for he shares their everlasting inability to accept stultifying control."

--Rollo May (April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994) was an American existential psychologist.  He authored the influential book Love and Will during 1969. He is often associated with both humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy.   May was a close friend of the theologian Paul Tillich.  His works include Love and Will and The Courage to Create, the latter title honoring Tillich's The Courage to Be. (from Wikipedia) 

Merry little Christmas

Today was pleasant. I shared some texts n calls with loved ones, n took a walk with my good neighbor Erich & Kevin (my brotha from anotha motha). Went to Kevin's aunt's house n ate some good soul food - greens, ochre, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes, cornbread, n mac n cheese! Mmm! He sang Merry Little Christmas so sweetly upon my request...because I especially wanted to hear and believe the verse "from now on our troubles will be far away"

Then we went to his moms for a nice, long visit. I really love his family, n I'm very grateful I got to spend another holiday with them. There's changes in our families that make me a bit sad, but I return to my wishing thinking that everything happens for a reason, n that all is as it should be.

My wee WiX portfolios

I have thousands of photos waiting for a museum to fill, but in the meanwhile, here's a sampling of what I do...what I love:

On the web:  Photography portfolio
On your mobile:  Photos Mobile Style!
On Facebook:  Photography & Painting

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

I'm gonna watch the documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes on YouTube--all 6 parts can be viewed there.  It was a suggested watch by a friend, and it seems to be in sync with the approach I'm thinking about for my upcoming video These Boots.  It's about how I feel....I love hip hop, but I don't like the ass in the face, good for nothin but bein called a bitch and puttin ur ass up on a guy.  I'm not judging it, I just want to use my time to send a more clever and meaningful message.  I want the hip hop vibe, I want sexy, but I want some humor instilled, and I want it to be more female empowering.  I promote diversity and acceptance with all of my arts...I am VERY gay friendly, therefore I want anything I'm a part of to be supported by the gay community.   I will not sacrifice how I feel about having this One Love attitude that I have to embrace various ages, cultures, and whatever ones gender identity might be.   Enough said?   thanks.

These Boots!

Doin' my research for my upcoming video debut "These Boots" (see previous posts to find out what's up).  It all began with my sis Chasity sayin that I'm Cee-Lo Green's twin.  I watched his Fuck You video and had an idea to do a version of it using my Caddy, me as the male figure--though feminine in appearance--demonstrating how to treat a lady right, and givin the finger/FU to the mens who be F'n up.  u dig?!  So, the beat woulda been the same, but the lyrics shifted, with the exception of Fuck You!  and you too!  haha  This might still happen, because I dreamed of a pool scene for the ending that would bring together some of my Hugh Hefner livin-the-impossible-life fantasies!  For now....

Joyce n I decided to take on a project ourselves, and if others choose to join in they need to be dependable and show up to make it happen, or we go it alone--with the help of Chris our film dude of course!  He is equally on fire to release some creative energy!  When she and I sat down at Ming Ten to put our heads together and discuss what some of our goals are for publishing poetry, taking on more performances for charities and open mics in other cities, we came full circle back to video talk.  I said, "The Caddy video can still happen, but we need to just get started, let's pick a theme and GO!  We can always keep goin, and make new and fun videos, but we gotta get something going--take that step!"  I knew I wanted beats in the video, and I know I want it to be sexy, fun, and thought provoking.  Female empowerment sista!  Write On!  Joyce mentioned liking that song These Boots Are Made For Walking, and I said, "That's it!  It will be about boots!  and we'll wear some of our fly ass boots!"  Chris happened to be at Ming Ten last Sunday nite too with his wife, but he wasn't in our convo.  I filled him in a bit later, and we've arranged to meet with him tomorrow to bring these ideas together and get it movin.  Another woman (Christina) was there (saw her at the sushi counter and I didn't get to say HI to her) n I didn't know it then, but she will likely make an appearance in this video.  I ironically met her at Ming Ten for the first time for her birthday party, she is a body builder and friends with my friend Elise--who is going to do the makeup and make an appearance too!  These two girls and I talked about doing some sort of project together involving their body-building bods, my camera, and possibly some of Christina's fashion designs.  I haven't seen any of Christina's designs yet, but am eager to!  So, pulling these ideas together, I imagine them as my body guards in the video--hot eh?!  Hells yeah!  I've got several scenes playin out in my mind...gotta discuss them with my girl Joyce!  I know Chris will be up for Girls, Girls, Girls!  haha!  I even want to throw my belly-dancing neighbor in the mix, if she'll join in.

In this week with my own thoughts...I was thinkin I don't want to simply copy the song, though some of the lines in it might find their way in, cuz they are 60s hip and fit with the hip hop of today!  Like:  "You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'"  LOL  I want it to be a poetic collab between myself n Joyce.  Kwame will have a verse in there if he joins us on this endeavor--and I have this scene pictured as well.  He'll be rockin' his guitar and singin/poetisizin.  Joyce & I will be strictly spoken word.  I've been playing around with GarageBand, but it's been a while since I've used it, so can't figure out how to remove beats in the timeline when I wanna change it up.  grrrr  But, I thought I'd do some sort of mix of beats to show my love of diversity--u know, a little Latin, a little Asian, some reggae/hip hop, mix of who knows what.  Then have Kwame's guitar in the mix.  We'll see how this evolves.

Like any good writer does...I'm doin my research.  I pulled up some videos of the tune These Boots Are Made For Walking on youtube, and totally forgot about Jessica Simpson's rendition of it!  Whoa!  smokin hot!  Ironically...I was planning to wear a pair of Jessica Simpson's boots in our video!  And...I just created a little dance move last nite in front of my mirror, and now that I've watched this, I so know it's goin in the video!  Along with my bodybuildin body guard hotties as my backup dancers!  LOL  Oh...and Willie Nelson is in Jessica's video!  Guess Kwame's gonna be our version of Willie!  can u dig it Kwame?  ;)

So many boots...so little time!  Will we be able to fit in several costume changes in this?  We gotta!

Without further adieu I'll leave you with Jessica and a trip back to 1966 with Nancy Sinatra!

I chose this one of Nancy Sinatra because they actually have a little shimmying goin on.  Some of the videos from TV appearances she doesn't move her hips at all!  Whoa...the day of the TV when they didn't allow that!

Did I already say I LOVE youtube?!!!!!  hahaha  I just had to go and look up Shimmy Shimmy--no...it's not Coco Puffs (like we all thought, including me!)--Ko Ko Bop!  aw this video made me smile!

Girl Panic!

Oh MTV...silly, silly you...banning Duran Duran's Girl Panic with the just-as-hot-now-as-they-were-then-if-not-hotter Super Models of the 1980s/90s! Hell, I don't even pay for that raunchy cable TV anymore...MTV has all those joke ass reality shows with teen pregnancies, and they air some controversial Lady GaGa videos--that woulda been banned if Madonna had done them in a sweeter, more sensual way!  Let's not forget some of the rap tunes that are all about fucking, and have the girls revealing way more than the models in Girl Panic do!  tisk tisk

Well, a little controversy goes a long way, and in the age of the Internet, we love getting our eyes and ears full on here--because nobody wants their MTV like they used to!  YouTube -- we love u!  And here's the sexy, fun, fashionable, music video Girl Panic:

I really dig Naomi Campbell as Simon Le Bon (frontman/vocals), especially at the end when they are in their menswear suits rockin it out!  She's got his moves down!  And I dig her in the beginning when she snaps her Louboutin heels together (yes, I'm jealous!).  And I dig her when she's being interviewed.  I dig her legs.  Wow!

Yasmin Le Bon --she's Simon's wife?  seriously?  I guess so.  I thought all those dudes were gay.  Oh well.  Anyway, she is smokin' hot!  She's the guitarist, who claims she's not in the band.  She's rockin the ombre hair, make up how I like it...and yeah...I wanna look like her when I make my video....or...maybe....

Cindy Crawford!  Still gorgeous!  Not as great of an actress as Naomi & Eva...but still has that eye candy appeal!  She plays the bassist John Taylor.  Maybe he's more reserved, I dunno, maybe that's how he acts, I dunno.

Eva Herzigova--wow, girlfriend can act!  I'd like to check her out in a chick, kiss-ass, action flick!  She had the androgyny thing goin as the keyboardist Nick Rhodes.

Helena Christensen--do you remember her from Chris Isaak's Wicked Game video?  In case you don't....here...watch....and swim in her eyes:

Here are a few yummy still shots from Girl Panic:

"No Super Models were hurt during the filming of this video"  hahaha!  luv it!

So, this has given me ideas for the spoken word/music video I'll be filming with poet Joyce Conley & film maker Chris Penney!  My friend Elise Brown will do our super model makeup!  & she n her body building friend Christina will appear as my scantily clad body guards!  Christina has a background in fashion design too...so Oooo la la!  the possibilities!  A guitarist/poet/singer friend Kwame Kamau might join forces.  I've been messing around with GarageBand on my iMac, so we gonna drop some beats some how, some way!  It'll be sexy--Yes!  It'll be fun & funny--Yes!  It'll have that female empowerment thang goin--Hells to the YES!

Ok, enough, enough!  No...let me leave with prolly my fav video from the Super Model yesteryears of 1990:

Wish List

Mentioned to someone earlier On FB how I don't want to have to put a disclaimer before everything I say, like Tis better to give than receive- I know that! I'm a Giver! But this is my Wish List for Santa! so there!
Not necessarily in order:
- belly piercing jewelry
- tropical vacation
- Sirius radio for car/home
- debts paid

To be cont'd

Mickey wants Santa to know that he's been a good boy & he hung his stocking on the door outside to make it easier for Santa to get to.

Bite Me!

Just testing out the Blogger app on my iPhone so I can fulfill my resolution in HD resolution for my revolution! Haha

Why I Write

 Just sharing a poem with a summary of  Why I Write

The link will take you to my poem at WritersCafe.  For anyone who really cares to have a better understanding of me, there are clues in my words.

She's Baaaaaaaaaaaack! hahahahaha!

So...I'm making a New Year's 2012 resolution to write in this blog daily...I'm started today--why procrastinate?!  I'm just gonna write about whatever gets into this pretty, yet strange, often highly intellectual, yet goofy, little head, and yet big brain of mine!  Maybe I'll touch on politics or religion.  I'll definitely talk about male/female relationships, and LGBT friendly conversations.  You know--well now you do--I'm all about supporting diversity, yet finding unity within our diversities.  I like to take photos...so there will be images.  I'll share an occasional poem with you.  I'll interview artists, writers, musicians, and people of interest.  If I watch a film and it moves me somehow, I'll share it.

Here's a link to my fav movie scene ever!  crazy ass dance scene in Wild at Heart by David Lynch

I watch documentaries and foreign films that are thought provoking.  I watch tripped out films.  Sometimes I just like to laugh!  I'm compiling a list of some of my favs, so I'll post that here and add to it along the way.

Yesterday, my friend and fellow poet Joyce Conley discussed how we want to take our poetry to the next level.  Last August we delivered some empowering spoken word to the guests at a Women's Equality Day dinner to support the NOW  National Organization for Women and in celebration of the 19th Amendment giving women the Right to Vote.

Gosh, I just teared up watching that clip, and I don't know if it's cuz I can't stand how dorky I look, or I was actually touched by my own words--I think both!  haha!  Anyway....Joyce and I would like to participate in more events such as this one to help support non-profit organizations, and be the change we wish to see in the world (as Gandhi suggests!).  With our poetry we want to educate and uplift.  We are going to begin creating video versions of our poems with the help of Chris Penney--our local bad ass film producer dude!  And trust me...we are gonna look way more fly in these videos!  We wanna give ya'all something sexy to look at, something silly to laugh at, something cool to listen to (yeah, we'll add some jams) and most importantly SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!

WRITE ON!

Oh...and lemme throw this one in here too where Joyce did a dedication poem for ME!
at the Avant Garde 2434!  Love U Gold n Bold girl!

Miss Grand Rapids Blog Questions

 I haven't written in this blog in some time, and the wheels in my mind are in constant motion trying to decide how to make the most out of my online presence with my art, writing, ideas and thoughts.  

A dear friend and talented writer--Claudia Moss--invited me to read her book and ask her a few questions about her book If You Love Me, Come.  I think this blog is an appropriate spot to share this, and I hope it will encourage you to read her book-and perhaps choose it for a book club, because it is worthy of discussion.

She has dubbed me Miss Grand Rapids, and here are her answers to my questions:

1.     How did you research your characters? Do they have parallel lives with anyone in your life? Miz Too-Sweet is my favorite, because you have her Southern Ebonics down! Her voice makes the novel come to life.

Thank you, Colette!  I love Miz Too-Sweet, also.  She is the glue that binds the other characters together in a web of love, and, ironically, she is in the projects, Techwood Projects, not in the suburbs as are Frenonia Roberts and her sister Rhonda Butler.  Miz Too-Sweet’s wise voice is that of my grandmothers: Pearlie Mae Young and Sophie Mae Moss.  Every summer, as a girl living in Waterbury, Connecticut, I traveled to the South with my family to enjoy a week or more with my grandparents.  I loved the other world nature of their accents, the Southern vernacular, their sayings, their customs and traditions.  And I adore Miz Too-Sweet’s gift to understand the Omniscient voice of the wind.

The novel is a frame story, with Miz Too-Sweet’s voice beginning and ending the tale.  In the Southern tradition, storytelling is a sacred pastime, allowing for a special bonding between family members.  It separated the storytellers from the audience.  You were honored in an unspoken way, if you could captivate your listener for hours on the power of your creative vibe, elocution and choice of words and sounds!

No, I didn’t have to research the characters in If You Love Me, Come.  They sprang from the creative space within, from a Stillness, from my fertile memory, and in a few instances from actual people I have known.

As for parallel lives, in the novel Pastoria (my maternal grandfather’s mother’s name) passes her baby to its father and asks that they go their separate ways, same as did one of my sister’s friends.  I couldn’t stop thinking about how such a thing impacts the mother, the child, the father and the person nurturing the baby.  Considering I was a young mother who prayed long and hard to conceive, I was in awe, witnessing such a mother/child experience.  Bittersweet, it was a perfume I couldn’t wash away!

2.     You definitely understand, and communicate so well, how many women feel on so many levels through your characters. Do you think this is a novel about our female, human condition?

Thank you, again!  Yes, ma’am, this is a novel about the female and how her world evolves with and without certain experiences, how she can change her circumstances by changing her mind, how other women living their lives can empower those who aren’t living theirs to the fullest and how they must stare fear in the eyes in order to live life more richly.  Writing this, I can almost hear Helen Reddy belting out the unforgettable line: “I’m Every Woman; she’s all in me.”

I think the story speaks to the female condition globally.  No matter what language we speak or where we were born or whatever our customs, we are yet the glue of society, reminding me that a society can be no greater than how it treats its women.

3.     The class differences are prevalent throughout your story. How does this come to shape our perceptions of not only your characters, but of our own attitudes toward those who fall into a different class from whom we are unaccustomed to having contact? In other words, what would you like the reader to take away from this as a lesson, or awakening, about class differences?

A sumptuous question this is, Colette!  Love it!  I want readers to walk away from the story with a different perspective on class.  I want them to question their preconceived notions of others from a class different from themselves, realizing that class is a society-imposed barrier that signifies your household income is different from another’s, and as such, your experiences are different.  You may have been able to travel to Greece, where as others may have had to settle for reading about Greece.  I want readers to be thankful for their experiences, whatever they were or are, and be open and willing to embrace people for who they are, not for the wealth they or their families might possess.

We are one.  And as souls cloaked in the human experience, I think we should defy the strictures of tradition whenever we can, and walk out on the waves of sisterhood and brotherhood to unwrap the gifts of our Present Moments.

4.     How important is it to you for the reader to have an understanding of the lesbian romance within the story? It almost seems to be a secondary story within the story of class and family struggles, but I could be wrong. Am I?

That is a pivotal question to understanding more about the story and the author.  As a lesbian, I think it’s very important to have readers encounter lesbians in the midst of a story about family and class struggles.  I want lesbians to be as ordinary as heterosexuals between the pages of a novel or in a social setting or at our family dinner tables.  No one in society is meant to be invisible, and if society and that group persist on invisibility for some, as in “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” then that will constitute the longer it will take for society at large to accept that lesbians and gays are souls having a human experience as well.  The world is an immense flower garden, and how much beauty would it miss if all of us were tulips?

Slowly, physically, I was creaking open the closet door when I began writing If You Love Me, Come.  In a magical way, I loved myself out of obscurity by coming out, to a certain extent, in the pages of my story, and thereby, my lesbian romance appears as a secondary plot, but for me, at the time, it was major.  Perhaps that is why I claimed myself wholly, as a lesbian, later, in the throes of my erotica published in several anthologies.

5. In what context are the male character references important to this story? Miz Too-Sweet says, "Then outside of his chile support, he died to me that day, and I been heedful of how a lap sits ever since." I love the wisdom that spews out of her! I just want to know what your intent as the author is concerning men. Is there a message that we can be strong without them?

I absolutely love your questions, Lady Poet.  My sole intent with the male characters that people the story is to show that, like the women, we are the result of the choices that we make on this journey called life.  Some of the male characters make choices that devalue and degrade their female counterparts, as with Miz Too-Sweet and several suitors she’d experienced in her deep-South past.  Yet, conversely, she finds a man she can adore in her present husband, Mr. Will.  She dotes on him.  He is the center of her world.  She makes certain he is fed when she tips out to visit with Pinkey, and she considers Preacher, a mute neighbor, as a part of her extended family in Techwood.

“J.T.,” Junior Thomas, Free’s man, is a dynamic character, changing over the course of the novel.  Raised listening to his grandfather’s dictum about a man being able to control his woman, J.T. bows to being the sort of man who looks admiringly at women dressed in sexy attire, sexy attire he doesn’t want Free to style, and when she calls the matter to his attention, it sparks a string of arguments leading to Free walking away.

Meka Rae, the beautiful model on the novel’s cover, vouchsafed to me that J.T. was her favorite character, because he eventually understood what it meant to love another, to love a woman.  He learns that you cannot change another person; you can only change self.

Thank you for sharing my story with your readers, Colette!  I sincerely appreciate you on many levels.