Ty Finally sees 'The Great Debaters'

Wassup, Y'all!

For some reason, the early reviews from my peeps seemed to imply that they really weren't feelin' this joint. I know the shortys out there weren't particularly feelin' Denzel's nappy doo, which is triflin' since we all know it ain't all about the Brooks Brothers and Afro Sheen don't we homegirls? Anyway, I liked that joint, despite it being predictable as mama coming down to the basement to ask me for some rent money every month. But again, if you look at the movie behind the movie, you get a dose of American reality that's hard to shake off when you leave the theater despite the movie's feel good ending (no spoiler there y'all since it's inspired by a true story)...

Since the story takes place in Texas in the mid 1930's you know it touched on some deep subject matter - Jim Crow laws, the fragility of life for black men in the south and lynching as a family activity. This is what I mean when I say, 'the movie behind the movie'. It's always nice to get a reality check from time to time. It keeps me alert and on point and brings clearer context to comments like Seinfelds' Michael Richards' "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass" and more recently The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman's ignorant offhand "lynch [Tiger Woods] in a back alley". Kramer's comment was meant to be malicious to combat hecklers, Tilghman's was just a very poor word choice, but both would do well to actually spend a little time on Martin Luther King Day to get acquainted or reacquainted with the excellent PBS documentary 'Eyes on The Prize'. Word choice matters. Those wounds from back in the day run deep. That said, I agree with most folks that Rev. Al just needs to sit down and get a real job.

I'm givin' it 2.5 Spinners even though the ending mirrored Pride's (a movie also inspired by true events and also starring Kimberly Elise) almost scene for scene and I thought Jurnee Smollett was a little overmatched in her role but I got to give it up to homegirl for steppin' up to more substantial roles - that's the only way to get better. Denzel and Forest Whitaker are just good in every role they step to, but no Oscars this time around, and as I mentioned in my pre-review - big ups to Oprah and Denzel for bringing films like this one to the big screen.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Tavis Smiley Hatin' on Smooth Barack?

Wassup, Y'all!

I was lunchin' the other day with a few of my crew - 'Tini Mack, Cat Daddy and Lady E - and we were discussin' the outcome of the Iowa Caucasus over some sandwiches. Lady E, who needs her own chair on the George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning show, was hot because she heard Tavis on the Tom Joyner Morning Show tellin' southsiders not to fall in love with Barack Obama and to "...make Senator Obama work for our vote just like he's working for the Independents in New Hampshire". Tavis also went on to say, "...just because you're black doesn't mean you don't have to deliver the bacon, you got to deliver to black people...". Lady E's saltiness came from Tavis' implication that we need to hold Smooth to a higher standard than we would the northside presidential candidates. I've listened to the clip over at Mo'Kelly's (that brother's a little long winded and won't give a brother a holler back but he's a good read) and I have to admit, ol Ty is conflicted on this one...

Granted it's been hard not to get caught up in the fact that Smooth is the first viable southside Presidential candidate. Iowa threw fuel on the fire and New Hampshire threw in a dose of reality. Personally, I think Smooth needs to be held to the same standard as any other candidate we choose to vote for - no more, no less - and I also believe that in order to make a successful bid for the Whitehouse Smooth can't just advocate for the southside nation - he has to advocate for the nation.

Deborah Mathis breaks this down in her article 'If Blacks Folks Really Want Barack Obama to be President, Here's What He and We Must Do'. That's the train I'm on, y'all. I think as a southsider, Smooth is already in tune with the needs of the southside nation (listen to his speeches and tell me he's not) so we'll be on his mind on Day One (the same way the needs of the shorty nation will be on Hillary's mind). I'm pretty sure that won't be the case with any of the northside candidates.

I also understand Tavis' argument of not just buying a bill of goods without looking it over, but come on - does anybody really think that Smooth would deliver less for the southsiders than any northsider candidate out there? So we're left with the argument of 'electablity' - the notion that Smooth will never be elected, so we better just align ourselves now with someone who we think can be so we can catch the crumbs they cast our way when they take office. How well has that plan been working to-date, y'all? Uh huh - thought so. I don't know about y'all but Ol Ty's on the 'Yes, We Can' train. It may hit a wall, get blown up or run out of track, but I'm on it because, even if any or all of that happens, there will at least be more track laid for the next southside candidate and eventually, one of their trains is gonna get to the station intact and on time.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Smooth Barack Concedes in NH

Wassup, Y'all!

Spike! Denzel! See!? Man, Smooth Barack needs to channel Wyclef Jean, stop by your cribs and ask 'Where my money at?'. Okay, you may not be responsible for sister Hillary's big comeback (wow - with all the polls and woofin' Ol Ty didn't even see it comin', y'all) but a brother has to point a finger somewhere. That's why they play the games, y'all and what's become crystal clear is that *every* vote is gonna count from here on in. So for my southside homeys in South Carolina - all eyez are on you. Tonight, I think my boy Skeptical Brotha put it best with his post NH headline: "Hillary Defeats Obama, Negros come back to earth". Ouch (but on point).

The one thing I'm really diggin' out of all this? People are finally goin' out to vote! Man - we missed y'all the last two general elections. I guess G-Dub was good for something...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Spike and Denzel holdin' out on Smooth Barack

Wassup, Y'all!

Now that Smooth has a little wind at his back (I'm callin' my peeps in NH and askin' them to vote twice today) folks are takin' note of who's been chippin' into his campaign coffers. Turns out that to-date movie boyz Spike Lee and Denzel Washington have popped up on the 'talk is cheap' ledger, having been recently outed as non donors to the Smooth campaign. Actually, Denzel's wife, Paulette did chip in a nice sized check but apparently she did the smart thing and signed her name to it. That way she can be assured of an ambassadorship to Paris or Tahiti while Denzel will be assured of getting his tax returns audited every year and Spike will begin to find that his filming licenses start to get strangely rejected every year. Y'all know you got to pay to play! Denzel! Spike! Stop being tight and go 'head and break a bit off for Smooth. You can't take it with you!

Also named in the tight 'Hey, it's *my* money' list: Diddy, Jay-Z & B. (wait 'til those 40/40 clubs start losing their liquor licenses!). On the bandwagon and waiting for their ambassadorships: Will Smith and Eddie Murphy (he only *plays* a donkey, y'all).

The rest of y'all better not wait too late. There is no CP time in politics!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Texas Cannibal Embarrasses Ty!

Wassup, Y'all!

Man, just when ol Ty was gettin' all righteous over Dallas County's jacked up record of convicting innocent men and how they need to rethink their use of the death penalty along comes Christopher McCuin, a 24 year old southside fool from Tyler, Texas who allegedly bludgeoned his 21 year old girl friend to death, cut her up, then called the police so they could come to his crib and find "...a human ear boiling in a stovetop pan and raw flesh on a nearby plate, with a fork stuck in it."

Needless to say - if the charges prove true, Ol Ty has no qualms with strappin' his Hannibal Lecter butt to either Ol Sparky or Ol Spike, The Magic Cocktail.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Stick and Move: Ty finally saw I Am Legend

Wassup, Y'all!

I know, I know, but I was busy, y'all. You have no idea the time it takes me to roll out of bed every morning!

Anyway, I did get a chance to peep I Am Legend on Friday and if you connect with the movie behind the movie (and stop all that woofin' about weak special effects) that joint is pretty haunting. I like movies that put somethin' on your mind and have you leavin' the theater ponderin' some things. 'Legend' did that for me. Big Willy did his thing so there was enough action to keep things flowin', but the idea that scientists could put together a 'cancer curing virus' and start using it without fully understanding what the side effects were kinda reminds me of the type of ethically dubious and dangerous genetic engineering going on today. In 'Legend', this type of experimentation led to the death of 90% of the world's population and the mutation of another 9%. Now, I'm in the theater absorbin' this horrific 'what-if' scenario after readin' a real article about South Korean scientists cloning cats that glow...

Just the lead paragraph to that article was enough to have me on the pot for most of the day, y'all:

"...they have cloned cats whose genes have been altered so that they glow in the dark - taking advantage of a technological twist that could someday be used to make more dramatic genetic changes in all sorts of creatures."

For those of y'all who haven't see the movie - I recommend you read that article, THEN go see 'Legend' and tell me if you don't leave the theater with your hair standin' up. That joint is bleak, sad, cautionary and very much worth a peep. 2.5 Spinners.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Dallas County Gets It Wrong Again

Wassup, Y'all!

Yeah, I know we're all flushed with excitement over Smooth Barack's campaign momentum. In that regard, the clock has moved ahead a bit, but deep in the heart of Texas, the clock is still stuck in the past. Last week's news that 'Dallas County's record-setting list of innocent inmates cleared by DNA testing grew to 15' comes as no surprise given Texas' cowboy 'convict first, ask questions later' mentality. The latest homey set free is Charles Chatman, a southsider accused of raping a northside woman who picked him out of a line up (note to self: follow up with homegirl to see how she's feeling about willingly helping to put an innocent man in prison...). Chatman, 21 at the time of his 99 year conviction, emerged 26 years later predictable 'bitter and angry'. My view is that he, along with the 14 others exonerated by DNA testing, are lucky they aren't dead...

This is why people question the merits of the death penalty. Sure there are people who are custom made for the death penalty - serial killers, child predators, etc., but if you can't guarantee that the person you're putting to death is guilty then you can't justify imposing that sentence. In my opinion, there are too many variable - race, social status, income level, etc. which make the justice system anything but blind.

Jeff blackburn, the founder of the Innocence Project of Texas, the outfit that helped spring Chatman, put it best when he said, "It is time we stop kidding ourselves in believing that what happened in Dallas is somehow unique. What happened in Dallas is common. This is Texas."

Texas may be blatent offender #1 with this type of sloppy, hot-headed justice, but they're not the only one, and I guess I have to give Dallas County a little credit for even maintaining the DNA evidence from past cases that was later used to help spring these guys but given this news, I have to believe that there's a percentage of inmates who have been put to death in the Lone Star State with a situation exactly similar to Chatman's and how jacked up is that?

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Eddie Jumps The Broom

Wassup, Y'all!

While lookin' like he's already ready for his Fantasy Island close up donkey Eddie Murphy married the former Mrs. Babyface, Tracey Edmonds in Bora Bora over the weekend. The remote south pacific location was a surprise. The fact that they only invited 25 guests was a surprise. That they married on a beach at sunset on New Years day was a surprise. Not surprising? That the happy couple chartered a private jet to their idyllic nuptials and that Johnny Gill was Eddie's best man. Hmmm...now ol boy had the PERFECT venue to quash all those rumors about being gay and having a little somethin' somethin' goin' on with J-Gill but...

Hey, I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. I'm speculatin' that Scary Spice Eddie's baby's mama, Mel B. pulled him back from the brink but that the transition back was so traumatic that he couldn't hang with ol girl anymore. J-Gill is really just a security blanket now - like that unopened pack of unfiltered Camels in the back of a new non-smoker's freezer. Hopefully Eddie won't need to crack the pack in the middle of the night.

Crazy in love or on the ultra, Mission Impossible level down low? Either way is cool but if it's the latter - Eddie, man to your own self be true! Holler back with your thoughts.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Smooth Barack Makes It Do What It Do, Baby

Wassup, Y'all!

Wow. Who knew? I'm figuring at one point only Smooth Barack and 'Chelle Obama knew, but it's pretty safe to say that after his convincing win in Iowa tonight, pretty much everybody will know by tomorrow. One thing's for sure, y'all - this is going to be one interesting a$$ election. Finally.

It's also interesting to note that Smooth's victory came in a state that's 90%+ northside. That's a fact that speaks to his broad appeal - appeal that ol boy is really going to need when he starts campaigning in southern states which tend not to feel a homey of his racial or political persuasion. That's when things will really get interesting.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Stick and Move: Ty on Brandy & Wesley

Wassup, Y'all!

After all kind of ruckus goin' on in LA related to Rum Brandy runnin' into another driver on the freeway and that other driver subsequently dying, it turns out that the LA City Attorney has decided not to file vehicular manslaughter charges against Ray-J's sister. In a jacked up move, ol boy waited until the last day before the statute of limitations on the potential crime ran out - talk about lettin' somebody twist in the wind...although that's pretty much what Brandy's career's been doin' so she should be used to it. Man, I'm just playin'.

Who's not playin' however is Gangster Sam with Wesley Snipe's race card droppin' behind....

In Noxema's latest attempts to get away with doin' wrong, Gangster Sam's Consigliere U.S. District Judge William T. Hodges uttered a clear and succinct, "Oh I don't think so" to Noxema's request for a change a venue for his federal tax evasion trial. Noxema's was trying to get the trial moved to New Jack York City where's he better known as crack kingpin Nino Brown. Apparently he believes that he can better intimidate witnesses there opposed to Ocala, Florida - a venue that he continues to believe will drop the hammer on him because he's guilty a southsider.

Getcha popcorn ready!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone