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Regina King: The Emmys: As White As Ever

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Sep 032010

Since the Emmy ceremony, I have been going back and forth about whether or not I should compose this letter. I try hard in my daily life not to engage in uncomfortable situations regarding race. But sometimes it’s very difficult to find other reasons that better explain why certain events play out the way they do. It is impossible for me to ignore the published statistics regarding the number of people of color mentioned, celebrated or honored in the history of the televised Emmys. Up to and including this year, there have been only 53 non-white actors nominated for emmys out of nearly 1,000 possible nominations in the top four acting categories for drama and comedy.

I’ve worked in television nearly all of my professional life, and that statistic is quite sobering to me. And to add injury to my already sensitive nerve endings a picture of Rutina Wesley from True Blood, who attended this year’s Emmys, had a caption that read: “Regina King enters the 62nd Emmys.” No, I wasn’t there. Mistakes happen, right? Well after a few “mistakes” of how people of color are portrayed in the Hollywood media, I decided it was important to say something about how things go down in Hollywood.

The initial pull on my heart strings was not seeing the veteran Sesame Street actress Alaina Reed Hall included in this year’s memoriam. I know I am taking it somewhat personally because of the history I shared with her, but then I stopped to think about the fact that she was on Sesame Street for 12 years, a show that is an American institution. People of all ages and generations have seen and enjoyed this highly influential television show. You have to admit, to not recognize her contribution to television baffles the mind. I first wondered, maybe I had turned my head quickly and missed seeing Alaina’s picture scroll past the screen or she was mentioned later. But no such luck.

I am assuming other actors have lost someone close to them who weren’t recognized during that segment of previous Emmy telecasts. So I will take the stats about people of color out of my complaint and pose an essential question on behalf of any television artist of note working in our business. What is the process in determining who will and will not be recognized during the Emmy memoriam?

Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com

Heidi Montag Wants Huge Breast Implants OUT

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Aug 252010

Heidi Montag wants her old implants back.

Montag, the former ‘Hills’ star turned plastic surgery spokeswoman turned sex tape star says she wants her huge, G-cup implants, which she got late last year, taken out. It was her second breast augmentation. At the time she said she wanted to go still bigger, and that she hoped to be an H cup.

No more. She gave an interview to Life & Style saying she is still in severe pain from her many procedures and that she feels “trapped” in her body. The press release is below.

“I’M DESPERATE TO GO BACK TO NORMAL LIFE AGAIN” – HEIDI MONTAG TO LIFE & STYLE

Just one week after the untimely death of her plastic surgeon, Dr. Frank Ryan, Heidi Montag sat down exclusively with Life & Style to tell-all about her plastic surgery regrets, revealing that she wants her outrageous G implants removed.

“I’m desperate to go back to normal,” she confides to Life & Style. “I’m downgrading and going a little smaller, to a D or a double D.”

More than nine months after she went under the knife on Nov. 20, Heidi says she is still in severe pain and her body has not gotten used to the over the top boob job. “I have major anxiety about it. I was taking painkillers but they weren’t working so I stopped. It hurt either way,”

Besides being unable to hug her four dogs or wear anything but custom-made clothing, “I’m obsessed with fitness but it’s impossible to work out with these boobs,” she says. “It’s heartbreaking. I can’t live an everyday life.”

And while Heidi tells Life & Style she is currently shopping for a surgeon in South America, she worries that she’ll be trapped in this cartoonish body forever after the untimely passing of her confidant Dr. Ryan. “I feel trapped in my own body,” Heidi tells Life & Style.

“There’s just no fixing it,” she says. “Dr. Ryan knows the work he did, he knows everything.”

Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com

Mark Blankenship: True Blood Sucker Punch: Season 3, Ep. 10

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Aug 252010

elcome to Sucker Punch, the only blog post that ranks the gaudiest moments on this week’s episode ofÂ True Blood.

(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

—

I’d like to begin this recap of “I Smelled a Rat” with an ode to Russell Edgington, who has become one of my all-time favorite TV characters. This ode will be presented as a free-verse poem.

My Mississippi King (Is a Mississippi Queen)

Even when you were just a campy weirdo
You conquered my heart.
But then there was more
more
so much more.

One one hand, you’re an unfettered psycho
who terrorizes humans
and conquers the wolves
wolves
so many wolves.

But on the other, you’re a passionate lover
left woefully undone
by the death of your man
your man
your beautiful man.

So when you stake a prostitute
or de-spine an anchorman
I see levels
levels
so many levels.

You are vicious yet tender
abhorrent yet admirable
and I want more
more
so much more.

—-

As you can probably tell, I edited my high school’s literary magazine. Contact your rare bookseller about getting a copy of Ooltewah High School’s Voyages from 1997. You won’t be sorry.

Anyway, I had to write a poem because at this point, I can’tÂ just write a paragraph about someone like Russell. He’s too amazing for that.

Of course, he isn’t the only one getting wild this week. As the episode’s title suggests, lots of characters are grappling withÂ honesty and trust. (And by the way, “I Smell a Rat” is a classic song that was recently recorded by the outstanding singer-songwriter Patty Griffin. Her version plays over this week’s end credits, and it’s on her fabulous new album Downtown Church.)

In the most obvious iteration of the theme, Sookie doesn’t know which of her menfolk to believe. The episode teases us with the suggestion that Bill returned to Bon Temps not only to be in his old house, but also because Sophie-Anne wanted him to capture Sookie Fairy Girl. But we don’t know that for sure, and neither does Sookie. Instead, we’re all left to doubt him, no matter how many bloody tears he cries.

And then there’s Eric, who occasionally seems to be looking out for Ms. Stackhouse, but who eventually gets convinced by Pam to use the Fairy Girl as a tool against Russell. How can Sookie (or we) trust Eric when he ends the episode by chaining her to the Wheel of Misfortune in Fangtasia’s basement? Is there no one who doesn’t want something from our heroine?!?!?

Well, there’s Jason, but he’s having problems of his own. I commend writers Kate Barnow and Elisabeth R. Finch for the scene where Jason tells Tara that he shot Eggs. His broken, pleading confession and Tara’s desperate response are both perfectly realized (props to the actors, too), and the moment is even more powerful because it comes immediately after Tara tells Jason he’s the only one she can trust. Watching that, I get a knot in my stomach: Tara is so close to regaining her strength, and now… boom. Another blow.

I won’t be surprised if Tara ends up in a coven with The Wiki-Wiki-Wiccan and Arlene, who has her own Trust Moment with Terry. Unlike Tara, who runs from bad news, Terry takes Arlene’s confession about carrying Rene’s baby in absolute stride. Did anyone else notice that Todd Lowe’s face registers about forty emotions when he hears that his dream family is not so dreamy? Amazing. And it’s even more touching because we learn that Terry has been doing research on pregnancy, just so he can be a better boyfriend. (If only they were all that sweet, right ladies?)

Similarly, Hoyt and Jessica finally decide to trust each other and confess their love, and the result is tenderness…. and violence. I’m not surprised that Tommy attacks Hoyt after Hoyt punches him in his snotty face—Tommy has been living as an attack dog, after all—but with Jessica jumping to Hoyt’s defense, I hope the little squirt realizes that he’s not going to be Jessica’s puppy.

But speaking of lovers, I’m starting to doubt whether Lafayette should trust Jesus. That V trip, despite being filled with super-cool effects, also suggests that Jesus is into some seriously dark magic. Just like the vamps want to steal Sookie’s light, it’s possible that Jesus wants to steal Fay Fay’s power. Just like his mama said!Â Oh, Fay Fay!

In other news, I personally distrust Nan Flanagan. Last week, some of you astutely noted that despite proclaiming to Eric that she only drinks True Blood, she was still in a limo sucking some real blood out of a lady prostitute. Turns out, she’s just as duplicitous as Reverend Steve (who makes a cameo this week), and I’m guessing she’s going to cause problems sooner or later.

I’m also assuming that Crystal the Panther will keep raising hell… and I’m totally into it. She fascinates me. Yes, she’s yet another female character on this show who is constantly victimized—welcome to the overstuffed club, homegirl!—but she’s being written and played as someone with an unpredictable wild streak. Her big reveal to Jason, for instance, is kind of crazy. If a Pantherlady broke into my house and growled at me like that, I would freak, so we’ll see what Jason does. (I should add, too, that the scene of the panther prowling in Jason’s room gives me a genuine scare.)

This leads us to Sam, who appears to be getting honest with himself about his own murderous, con-artist past. As True Blood analyst Dallas mentioned to me on her radio show last Sunday, his flashbacks suggest that in the aftermath of beating Crystal’s daddy, he’s acknowledging that he’s more like the Mickens than he cares to admit.

But here’s the thing… by letting Sam be honest with himself, the show makes it harder for us to trust him. Or at least, it’s harder for me to trust him, now that I know he’s not the gentle soul I took him for. (Maybe he’s reformed, but on this show…) Just like Jason’s honesty made Tara less trusting, Sam’s internal revelation actually makes him harder to embrace.

Of course, it’s better to know the truth, even if learning it can be a shock. Watching a man murder two people in cold blood, for instance, is kind of troubling. It’s a sucker punch.

—

For more, please join me at The Critical Condition.

Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com

Wyatt Closs: WORKER WORTHY STANDOUTS: PART 4 - MUSIC

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Aug 242010

Da Bomp bomp ba bomp da bomp bomp, Da Bomp bomp ba bomp bomp ba bomp bomp. This is the rhythm of work today. Whether getting your grind on behind a hot stove slinging French toast or click-clacking to get that powerpoint done, there is always a soundtrack to our work that reflect its pace, its stress, or the values that come from doing it. Here’s a look at the best music for or about working folk in the last year. After all, Labor Day comes before the MTV Video Music Awards.

For decades now, there have been songs that speak to the average working person in some way and thankfully, its not just Pete Seeger tunes. When you think about something like the disco classic “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer. the trucker 8 track “Take This Job And Shove It” by Johnny Paycheck, “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and on the hip-hop tip “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” by Wu-Tang Clan. As a medium, music amplifies workers voices more than its counterparts in film and television but still not nearly enough.

For this examination, we take a look at two types of music – that for Listening and that for Rallying. One to reflect workers’ voices, the other to raise them with a fist.

FOR LISTENING
For Listening, there’s Little Brother’s “Two Step Blues”, Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown”, British soulstress Rahel’s “Hope” and Q-Tip’s “Even If its So”. The latter gets a noteworthy head-nod and brings us back to Da bomp bomp ba bomp. This is the refrain in Q-Tip’s track from his Kamaal the Abstract album. With his patented fast but nasally style, the first verse pretty much tells the story of today’s worker in the service economy:

“She work at Mickey D’s from 10-5, Wal-Mart from 6-12, saving up enough for school, her little girl is doing well”

What makes this song more interesting is that, unlike a Green Day or others, Q-Tip is not trying to be politik in any particular way. “Even” is more like a love song actually as he reflects that in spite of all of these travails this woman faces, he still wants to be in her life. And its that accidental amplification that makes it even better.

FOR RALLYING
But then, there is the purposeful. The “get-your-ass-up-and-do-something” songs that also amplify workers’ voices. You can go back to James Brown’s “Get Up Get Involved Get Into It” or “Big Boss Man” by Elvis, “Aint No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead or come current with Chemical Brothers’ “Galvanize”.

And so for Rallying this year, there are only two cuts to add to this legacy: “Fight Smash Win” by Street Sweeper Social Club and “Drop It (Like a Hot Muppet)” by Magic Drum Orchestra, for two completely different reasons. With “Fight Smash Win” – a project of Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello and The Coup’s Boots Riley – we get raw, in-your-face, stick it to the man lyrics and energy. Perfect for firing up the troops. For Magic Drum Orchestra’s “Drop It”, it’s the fact that it has no words but a steady, trance-like backbeat where you can fill-in with the chant of your choice, that makes it work so well in a rally or march atmosphere.

Good for waving your picket sign with. And sometimes that’s all you need. Though, it might not hurt for somebody to plunk down some cash for a worker values songwriting contest for next year. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com

Elizabeth Hurley Swears By 'Almost Nothing For Breakfast'

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Aug 242010

Elizabeth Hurley is tweeting about her body again. Monday she assured fans her breasts are natural, and Tuesday she shared a diet tip.

“Btw my diet survived the onslaught of phenomenal vacation food-doctors disagree, but I swear by almost nothing for breakfast for adults,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “Mugs of hot water first thing, maybe an espresso and a few oat cakes mid morning.”

British oatcakes are high-fiber crackers that have about 50 calories a piece.

Last week she was on vacation on a yacht in the South of France, and tweeted, “Another workout in the gym with the Australian and an awful lot of hot water. Sick of it now.”

After she gave birth in 2002, Hurley famously holed up in Elton John’s house and ate nothing but oatcakes until she had lost all the baby weight.

Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com

Older Entries

Regina King: The Emmys: As White As Ever

Heidi Montag Wants Huge Breast Implants OUT

Mark Blankenship: True Blood Sucker Punch: Season 3, Ep. 10

Wyatt Closs: WORKER WORTHY STANDOUTS: PART 4 - MUSIC

Elizabeth Hurley Swears By 'Almost Nothing For Breakfast'

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