The Princess and the Frog

I'm kind of excited to go see the new Disney movie coming out in December. It's called The Princess and the Frog and it's just like the fairytale...except different. In this movie, the Princess and the Frog Prince are not the cookie-cutter prince and princess. Disney is actually encouraging interracial relationships for the first time ever. Tiana, a beautiful, young girl from New Orleans is going to be the first black Disney Princess.

In the movie, Princess Tiana agrees to kiss the Frog after he convices her that it will turn him back into a prince. Instead, the Princess also turns into a frog and they embark on an adventure to become human again in the city of New Orleans.

I think it's different, it's fresh and I can't wait to check it out. It also resembles a traditional cartoon. It looks just like The Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid. It might be refreshing to take a trip down memory lane with a few modern twists.



Check out the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8N-kIiELUA

When Does it Stop being Funny?

Comedies like Harold and Kumar that are targeted at college-age students really push the envelope when it comes to racial comedy. Comedy genre in general tends to get away with mocking racial stereotypes, but how far is too far?

I'd never watched a Harold and Kumar movie before but my boyfriend convinced me to watch Harold and Kumar 2: Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFhzFRoiM3Q&NR=1

Here's a clip from a particular scene that I found hard to watch. This is from a scene on an airplane where a little old lady looks over at Kumar and imagines him as a terrorist because of his ethnicity. In her image, Kumar taunts her and gestures the plane crashing and exploding, clearly mocking what happened during 9/11.

I understand that this is comedy but I think there's some things that just aren't funny. There's some things that should just be left alone. It's one thing for the old lady to picture him as a terrorist and it's another thing to picture him crashing the plane.

This is just the beginning for Harold and Kumar. If anyone of you has seen the movie then you know how much it is filled with mocking racial stereotypes. I did end up watching the whole movie even though I'm not a big fan of racial comedy. For me, it was kind of like watching a car crash. It was horrible but yet I couldn't look away.

Racism and Comics

I was reading the Boston Herald yesterday and I came across a startling comic. The comic is made by a series called "The Knight Life." The first scene of the comic has a drawing of a young black man listening to a radio. The radio announcer says, "Listen to this one folks. A grade school student is accused of shouting down his teacher in class!!" The next scene shows the announcer saying, "Not that it matters but you could probably imagine what ethnicity this kid is..." The young man looks over at the radio in disgust. In the next scene, the radio announcer says, "If we allow this savagery to continue, it will spell the end of America! Next up: A list of gun shops closest to where the president is speaking tonight." The young man now looks over at the radio and sighs.

At first, I was really confused when I saw this in the newspaper. What does ethnicity have to do with yelling at a teacher? In all my years of school, I've seen plenty of students yell at the teachers, children of all ethnicities. I think the point that this comic was trying to make is that there are larger issues in the world than talking back to teachers. I didn't think that the comic was funny and I think most people might find it offensive.

I think it's interesting how much ethnicity is tied into music. This is America and people are supposed to have freedoms but I think sometimes people are limited to what music they can and cannot listen to.

Historically, it has been only acceptable for black people to listen to rap music while white people are supposed to listen to rock, pop and country. It was awkward for white people to drive around and listen to rappers like DMX in the 90s.

Since then many things have changed. When Eminem first became famous, everyone was thinking "Who the hell is this white boy trying to rap?" Then people realized that he was really good and he paved the way for other white rappers to come along and for more white people to start listening to rap.

It's just interesting that although everyone has the freedom to listen to whatever they want to listen to, they still go along with the cultural norms and what they are expected to take interest in.

C.S.I and the evolution of race

I have been a huge fan of C.S.I for many years. I'm so in love with the Vegas version that I've been reluctant to watch the others. Last season, the producers killed off one of my favorite characters, "Warrick Brown" played by Gary Dourdan. Warrick was a C.S.I who often got caught up in trouble. He was a very likeable character, someone that audiences would look forward to watching.

Warrick was portrayed as a person who came into a bunch of trouble with the law. He was involved with gambling, strippers, hookers, alcoholism and more. He was portrayed in this negative way but also had some positive characteristics. He was loyal, hard working, and willing to help out any of his C.S.I teammates. Audiences identified with him because he was a great guy who wasn't perfect but was working towards a better life. People would watch the show to see him fight his problems and some weeks he would go back to old habits.

In the end of last season, Warrick got involved with strippers. He was framed for the murder of a stripper in Las Vegas. Later he was murdered in his car by someone he thought he could trust. The death of Warrick was sad for all fans of the show. Many people said they would never watch the show again.

Since then, C.S.I has replaced Warrick's character with Laurence Fishburne, better known as Morpheus from The Matrix. Fishburne is portrayed as a successful black professor, who is a doctor/professor/lawyer/C.S.I. His character is much more positive than Warrick's was. I like that there is a positive representation being shown through Fishburne's character. I think the show is much better without the negative portrayal of Warrick. Now that he's on the show, I find it hard NOT to watch it every Thursday night.

The N word

While watching Spike Lee's movie "Bamboozled," I noticed that the N word must have appeared hundreds of times. At one point, Pierre Delacroix daydreams about beating up his white boss beacause he keeps repeating the N word. Somehow he maintains his composure, being the better man.

This led me to thinking more about the N word. It's extremely offensive and brings back awful memories from the past. I just think the world would be better off without the word. It's too late now I guess, the word can never go away.

Racism Dies in Final Destination

Today I finally went out and watched the movie "Final Destination." I thought the movie itself was really great, but there was one particular scene that I'll never forget.

In the beginning of the movie, there is a huge crash at a Nascar race and 52 spectators get killed. One of the redneck Nascar fans survives the disaster and blames the black security guard for the death of his wife. Later on that night, he gets drunk and drives his tow truck over to the security guard's house. He begins digging a hole, trying to set a wooden cross up in the yard.

Somehow, in the middle of his drunk hatred, he gets caught up on a chain linked to the back of his truck and catches on fire. His truck starts rolling down the street, with him dragging behind it. His stereo starts blaring the song "Why Can't we be Friends" as he's pulled down the street on fire.

The death of the racist in this fictional horror-film was really powerful. The music playing made it kind of funny yet serious at the same time. The movie sent out the message that racism is cruel and that karma is a bitch.

If you're into this sort of movie, feel free to check out the scene...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lerlJpAuQoA

Race a factor in popularity?

"Pretty Boy" Floyd "Money" Mayweather, one of the most arrogant boxers I have ever heard of, just claimed during an interview that race plays a factor in his popularity. He claims that if he were white, that he would be a lot more popular than he is as a black man.

"If you're rich, you're a rich n-----," he said. "If you're poor, you're a poor n----. If you're smart, you're a smart n-----. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n-----."

Mayweather went on to say:

"I wouldn't change my life for nothing in the world. There's nothing like being young, black and rich. But there are certain things you think about. If Floyd Mayweather was white, I'd be the biggest athlete in America. The biggest, the biggest. I know that for a fact."

I don't think that race plays any factor in the popularity of Mayweather at all. I think his attitude is what turns people off. Look at Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. They are both legendary black superstars. Race never held them back. If I could talk to Mayweather I would tell him that the only way to be more popular is to stop being so cocky. If he was a nicer guy with a smaller ego, he might be more popular. It also doesn't help that he's into boxing, a sport that is not as popular as it used to be.

I was on facebook today and came across a really insane quiz called "How black are you?" According to this quiz, your "race" is all dependent on the questions:

1. What's your favorite sport out of these?
2. What's your favorite food out of these?
3. Which gun would you rather have?
4. Which video game do you like better?
5. Where would you rather steal from?
6. What is closest to your mile time?
7. What is the color of your skin?

I don't know who made this quiz or what they were thinking but I definitely don't think it's cool to stereotype people like this. I'm sure it's just humor, but I just don't think it's right. I think people need to find better things to do in their free time.

Musicians and Manners

Anyone who watched the MTV video music awards last night knows about the drama between Kanye West, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. So, first off the night was a tribute to Michael Jackson. It was hosted by Russell Brand who insisted that the night should be all about love, in memory of the King of Pop. Against this wish for peace and love, Kanye West acted like a complete idiot by ruining the night for country singer, Taylor Swift.

Taylor swift won a VMA for best female performer or something like that, beating out hip hop singer Beyonce. Just as Taylor received her first moonman ever and was about to give her speech, Kanye West rudely tears the microphone out of Taylor's hands and gives a shout-out to Beyonce saying that her music video was the best of the year. Taylor stands there mortified, the whole crowd stares at Kanye, like "Are you kidding me?" I felt bad. Taylor Swift is such a sweet girl. She didn't deserve her spot to be blown up like that. After Taylor got the mic back, MTV cut the sound and went to commercials.

Later on in the show, Beyonce won an award. As she came up to the stage to receive it, she called for Taylor Swift to come out and have a chance to give her proper speech. Taylor Swift takes the microphone and says "Let's try this again..." She goes on to thank her brother's high school for letting her shoot her music video for "You Belong with me" on their property. So, in the end, the young country singer got to have her moment on the stage.

I thought that Kanye's actions were very childish and uncalled for. I also believe that if Taylor Swift wasn't a pastey country singer, but instead a hip hop singer like Beyonce, then Kanye West probably would never have interupted her speech like that.

Music is one of the things that helps make our culture so diverse. People should embrace the different types of music, instead of deciding that one genre is better than another. All artists deserve respect for their work and their form of self-expression, no matter what type of music they create.

Everyone remembers...so why didn't Google?

Google changes its logo for every holiday...Christmas, Valentine's day, anniversaries of random events. So yesterday, on 9/11, why didn't Google change their logo to remember and honor those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks? I think it's awful that Google can take the opportunity to honor events such as Dr. Seuss's birthday, but not make a point to honor the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001.

Do you love New York?

Back in the day, I used to be glued to the dating show Rock of Love with Brett Michaels. I don't know how I used to tolerate that show. The girls on the show were so far from realistic. It's not just this dating show...it's all dating shows. These girls have chests the size of Texas and brains the size of peanuts. Where do celebreality TV producers find them?

I think one of the most annoying celebreality dating show contestants is New York. I guess she came from the show Flavor of Love, though I never watched it. There was the show I Love New York where a bunch of guys competed to date her and now she's got a show called New York Goes to Work. She's everything the stereotypical African-American is made to look like on television. She's loud, tempermental, and crazy for the most part. She can be funny sometimes but usually I just find her annoying. Everyone she encounters on her show seems to like her. I just wonder, am I the only one that thinks New York is a bad icon?

Today's blog is about judgment. Last night I was watching a preview for Sons of Anarchy, a show about the dangerous, criminal lifestyle of bikers. I think that shows like this one give all bikers a bad reputation. My boyfriend comes from a family of Harley-lovers. He has half-sleeve tattoos on his arms and rides a custom Harley sportster. So, he has tattoos and has a motorcycle- must mean he's a bad person right? He must be an alcoholic and he must have a warrant right? Wrong. He's actually one of the goofiest, warm-hearted people I have ever met. He's absolutely straight-edge and has never got so much as a speeding ticket. As nice a person as I know he is, my family still views him as the typical "biker guy." At a family cookout, he pulled up on hs bike and everyone stopped and stared like he was an animal in the zoo. Later on that day he got a text message. His phone made the typical beep that happens when anyone receives a text message. My aunt looks over and says, "Thought you'd have a more 'manly' ringtone than that..." I felt bad for him. I know they were just teasing but I also know that they're comparing him to the stereotypical "biker." My point is that not all bikers drink, fight, and raise hell like you see on T.V. They're just normal people like everyone else who just happen to ride motorcycles. There is a softer side to "bikers" that never gets portrayed on T.V.

Race and Raw

When I was a little girl, I had a million barbie dolls and always wore the color pink. I never watched a superbowl until I was 13 and became infatuated with Tom Brady. Somehow, over the last 20 years, I have become much more of a tomboy. I have become fascinated with all things sports-related and even male-dominated competitions. Not many people know this about me but I also love to watch pro-wrestling. Yes-I know it's fake and believe it or not, it's very entertaining. I began watching it as a joke but somehow I got stuck to it.

One thing that I have noticed about wrestling is the racial stereotyping that takes place. Lots of children watch WWE and I feel these children could be harmed by the racial stereotyping that exists. There is a tag team called "Cryme Tyme" that consists of two African-Americans named JTG and Shad. The name "Cryme Tyme" describes it all. Their image is portrayed as criminals who would do anything to get their hands on some money. They've also been known to steal championship belts. Each week, they have a segment called "Word Up" where they teach the audience about a slang word by defining it and giving examples. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself....just in case you didn't already know the meaning of the phrase "Po Po" here it is...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4o_Dnzrdqc