Source: Shutterstock

From HelloBeautiful

Drake is always starting some type of movement with his accidental advice-heavy lyrics. Remember when he was telling us to just live for today with his cult classic, “The Motto (YOLO)?” His lyrics littered social media status updates and had people blaming their erratic behaviors on the fact that they were taking Drake’s unsolicited advise about only living once. Drake’s latest tune is garnering the same visceral reaction and now folks are out here putting new friendships on the chopping block.

“No New Friends” is rude. I get it–when you’re rich and new people come out of the woodwork expecting to be your new hype/yes man, as the piggybank, you have to be a bit more aware of their intentions. The problem with this repetitive tune lies in the disconnect between a rock star’s life and an average Joe.

“No new friends, no new friends, no new friends, no, no new

Still here with my day one n*ggas, so you hear me say

No new friends, no new friends, no new friends, no, no new

I still ride with my day one n*ggas, I don’t really need

No new friends, no new friends, no new friends, no, no new

I stay down from day one so I say

Fawk all y’all n*ggas except my n*ggas

Fawk all y’all n*ggas except my n*ggas

One more time

Fawk all ya’ll n*ggas except my n*ggas

Fawk all ya’ll n*ggas, stay down from day one so I say

(Fawk a fake friend, where your real friends at? Started!)”

Growth equals change, meaning when you grow in this life, change is inevitable. Sometimes that change leads you away from your old friends–yes, even the ones that have been “down” for you since day one. Understanding this fact takes a bit of life practice.

Read more on HelloBeautiful.com.

blackenterprise.com

Spinoffs are greatly appreciated for a few reasons: they allow viewers to see lesser characters develop independently; they give viewers a different take of the characters from the previous sitcom; and, finally, spinoffs are uniquely responsible for creating that ‘neighboring effect’ on television, allowing audiences and characters, alike, feel as if they are stepping from one living room into another. This has been seen time and time again in television. Cheers begot Fraiser, Grey’s Anatomy begot Private Practice, Buffy begot Angel, and  Dr. Who begot Torchwood. Check out some our favorites over the years.

Black sitcoms in the ’90s made for good TV. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The question, though, is what caused these thoroughly beloved shows to suddenly find themselves without network homes after long — and sometimes rather short — runs? Did the sitcoms’ core audiences just outgrow the characters or did the plots go too left for fans to keep interest? You tell us.

Source: WENN

From EurWeb

Golden Brooks believes in sass.

She says in a recent interview with BET.com that it takes a little tude to make it as a Black woman in showbiz.

She also chats about her latest film, “Polish Bar,” in which she plays the role of a stripper.

BET: How did you come to be in this film, Polish Bar. Your character Ebony is quite different from the one you play in Girlfriends.

Golden Brooks: After doing Girlfriends for so long, I wanted to take a chance and do a really dark, independent film. Actually, my roots are in drama. It’s comedy I have to work hard at. It’s easier for me to channel pain than to make people laugh. And I had to do that all the time for Girlfriends. I love doing it, but I knew I wanted to do more as an actress.

Check out more from the Q&A on EurWeb.com.

Source: Thinkstock

By Jessica Dufresne

As women’s history month comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect upon your own history with the sistafriends in your life. Not your Facebook homies that you’ve never actually met but have a great rapport with online, not your Twitter pals who you’ve come to know, and not your blog compadres who you trade jokes with in the comments section—I’m talking about your ride-or-die girlfriends who have become more like sisters over time.

In this day and age of reality TV, where we’re bombarded with images of constant bickering, backstabbing and physical fighting between women, you’d think we just can’t get along…and boy, does it sure seem that way sometimes. How many friends have come and gone in your life? Unlike men, who often remain close with friends as far back as childhood, we women tend to switch out friends the way we upgrade to the latest iPhone. I think this is because women are more emotional by nature and therefore prone to catching feelings over things that usually turn out to be small, and our friendships tend to suffer because of that. I know for myself, misread feelings have been the cause of a few relationships gone sour—and when I talk to others (especially a male) about it, they can’t understand what the problem was. I don’t even know what the problem actually was sometimes and wind up lamenting the loss of someone I considered a good friend.

And maybe it’s just me, but it feels like the older you get, the smaller your inner circle becomes and the harder it is to establish and nurture new friendships. Throughout your school career, your crew is at its most plentiful and you’ve got no real worries other than grades, boys, fashion, gossip, and parties. However, life gets more complicated outside the classroom and the dorm; we enter into bona fide adulthood, which comes with jobs, kids, bills, husbands/boyfriends, etc., and it’s during these times that we learn who our true friends are: The women you can count on to help you when in a bind, whether that help is in the form of money, a listening ear, or a babysitter; the women who won’t judge you no matter what you do; the women who are there to celebrate every milestone with you and also help you through the sadder times; the women who will check in on you when weeks or months have gone by without communication, and the conversation will be as if you’d just spoken a day ago.

That’s why, now, as the big 3-5 no longer seems so far off, I’m taking a look around at the ladies who are still standing with me after all these years, and I’m grateful for their presence in my life. We should all take some time out of our busy lives and catch up with the sisters who’ve proven to be thicker than blood and let them know how much they’re appreciated.

Credit: Shutterstock

From Your Tango

Have you ever wondered why some great men date women who seem … beneath them, while other guys date women who are way out of their leagues? It makes no sense! Still, you see these types of couples all the time.

Well, after meticulously observing these types of couples and analyzing them instensely, I discovered that there are five kinds of men who tend to date women who just don’t seem like a natural match. Here’s who those guys are and why they date the women they date:

Read more at YourTango.com.

I don’t know if you heard about the Kickstarter campaign that was started by producer and screenwriter Rob Thomas in the hopes of raising $2 million to shoot a Veronica Mars movie. Of course, Veronica Mars was that lone white show on UPN back in the day, that was actually pretty good, that had actress Kristen Bell portraying a high school and college student moonlighting as a private investigator. It had such a major cult following, though it only ran for three seasons, that when Thomas started the Kickstarter, everyone was blown away by the fact that it raised the $2 million in just a matter of hours. HOURS. It became the fastest fundraising campaign the site has had, and it already has people thinking and talking about what other shows and movies could be rejuvenated with a Kickstarter campaign. One of those people is Mara Brock Akil.

According to Shadow and Act, Akil took to her Twitter account this morning to ask fans if they were down for a similar campaign to bring Girlfriends back in a film, saying “Do #GirlfriendsFans want to start a KickStarter Fund for a movie? If so hit me back at @MaraBrockAkil & “like” @AKILPRODUCTIONS FB pg”

Who knows, it could all be a ploy just to get you to like the Akil Productions Facebook page so that they can gain more followers, but if she’s absolutely serious about a Girlfriends movie, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day (hey, it’s early). In all honesty, the last season or two of Girlfriends I sort of tuned out from, probably because it moved to the CW and because I was a big fan of the trifling but lovable Toni Childs character, who ended up making an unexpected exit. But now that there is so much reality TV crap, I can say that I do miss the all-black cast representing us well and story lines of Girlfriends. Hell, I miss UPN as a whole, they were telling our stories, ya’ll! So if Mara Brock Akil actually starts a campaign and is serious about this film, I’m all for it, and I think I would try to financially support (but who knows what my money might look like later…). But the question is, would you?

Source: Shutterstock

…it depends.

When it comes to men, women, and friends of said women, situations like this can either go completely fine or horribly awry. On a macro level, it’s a bit difficult to answer this question with a catch-all answer that will satisfy everyone. After all, I don’t know all the women of the world, or their friends, so I can’t really speak on that level. What I can tell you about is my own personal experience, and from a personal/observational standpoint, most of the time a woman has nothing to worry about. But you know who that usually depends on?

The woman.

A few questions need to be answered to assess the threat level in a woman leaving her boyfriend around her friends, such as: How much has the girlfriend told her friend about her boyfriend? What kind of details has she shared with said friend? Did any of it involve sex? And if it did involve sex, how deep (no pun intended) did those conversations go? What kind of relationship does the girlfriend have with her “friend” and how close are they really? The most important question of all though may likely be, “what type of woman is the girlfriend’s friend?”

Asking these types of questions is a great way to determine whether a woman leaving her friend and her boyfriend in the same room without her presence is a smart move on her part.

A part of me believes this situation is overblown. In reality, when it comes to taste in potential partners where sex or a relationship is at stake, I doubt something happens. Plus, as I’ve seen on countless occasions, both men and women have this ongoing allegiance to their friends that is strong enough to override any potential interest anyway. It’s almost like some mechanism kicks in where people say “nah, you were messing with my homegirl, so I can’t even look at you like that.”

On the other hand, as a man, I can say that some of the reasons why I’ve been with women were by “referral.” And when I say “referral,” I mean their friend talked me up to the point where her friend just had to come see for herself. I’m not sure how much that happens overall, but I do know that it happens and I can understand why women would take precautions against that.

And now, for a story.

I was in a situation once where I was chilling with my girlfriend at the time and a friend of hers came to visit. My girlfriend and I were on the couch and her friend was sitting on the floor (college years with no furniture) in front of us. We were engaged in a conversation about the time I gave my lady a ride while another woman my girlfriend didn’t know was in the car with us.

The girl was a neighbor of mine who asked for a ride home and in the midst of transport my lady called and made the same request. My lady was telling her friend how that didn’t go over well (big surprise there) and how she thought my neighbor liked me. As we’re all laughing her friend says, “well Real, you’re pretty cute. If I didn’t have a boyfriend I’d definitely try to see what’s up with you.”

I laughed.

She laughed.

My lady gave this strange half-smirk. It was an expression I knew well. The kind of expression that said “yeah…that ish isn’t funny.”

I honestly didn’t think anything of it. Afterward though, my girlfriend never left me in the same room with her friend again. Like…not even for a second. I never thought anything was going to happen, but I hadn’t ever been privy to any types of conversations had between them about me. For all I knew, her friend knew all types of “personal information” that would have piqued her interest which led her to say something like that.

But like I said, women know better than men which friends to leave around their boyfriends and which women need to be watched harder than Barack Obama on a leisurely stroll through Central Park at midnight. In the end, there’s no one size fits all option when it comes to whether it’s a good idea to leave your friend and boyfriend in a room alone together, but I certainly don’t believe it to be an overblown reaction if women choose not to. I’m just one man though, so tell me what you think.

Ladies, do you have problems with leaving your man around your friends alone? Do you think there’s a chance either he would make the play or she would? Who would you hold responsible if you left the two of them alone and something went down?

Hit the comment box and let me know how you feel.

Peace.

For more on RealGoesRight’s opinions on men and women, be sure to check him out with the all-star collective of black men writers over on SingleBlackMale.Org. If you prefer something a bit more direct, feel free to follow him on Twitter at @RealGoesRight and subscribe to his blog at RealGoesRight.Com

Source: WENN

Mara Brock Akil

Calling: Television Writer/producer

Why we’re saluting her: 

Mara Brock Akil is the writer and producer behind a number of our favorite TV shows in the ’90s and 2000′s, from The Jamie Foxx Show and Moesha to Girlfriends and it’s spin-off, The Game.

Akil, who was born in LA, traveled to the midwest for college, graduating from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1992. In 1994, Akil got her first gig as a writer for the critically acclaimed Fox series South Central, but the comedy-drama was canceled after just one season and 10 episodes. Akil took her talents to UPN where she wrote for Brandy’s sitcom, Moesha, for four seasons. After which became a supervising producer and writer on The  Jamie Foxx show in 1999, and in 2000, she created and executive produced another UPN favorite, Girlftriends, with Kelsey Grammer. Akil also created and executive produced it’s spin-off, The Game, for the same network.

In June 2007, Akil and her husband, television director Salim Akil, signed to independent American film studio The Weinstein Co. for the creation of various projects, the first of which is a film about a woman who starts a business to investigate the partners of high-powered women after she is left at the altar. Mara will reportedly write the screenplay and Salim will direct it.

In 2011, the Akils also signed a  multi-year deal with BET to continue production of The Game for another season and develop new shows through Akil Productions, one of which is the upcoming dramedy, Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union. For making quality programs for brown people with brown people and allowing African American viewers to see see their tales on the small screen, we salute Mara Brock Akil.

Click here to meet all of our salutes.

Let’s be clear: This show was the original Girlfriends and definitely lent a hand, even if indirectly, into the creation of Sex and the City.  Maxine, Khadijah, Synclaire and Regine kept up such different lives – with the help of their male neighbors, Kyle and Overton – and often had us wondering which one we related to the most.  Here, we choose some of our best moments and episodes – no order, just fun times.  Did yours make the list?