Madame Noire | Black Women's Lifestyle Guide | Black Hair | Black Love

Source: eddieonfilm.blogspot.com

You know when you go to see a Spike Lee film you’re going to be watching a true piece of art. It’s beautifully shot. There’s a serious message about the nature of society but it’s often lightened with moments of humor. Whether you liked the movie or not, you’ll definitely have something to talk about, sometimes for years to come. Which is the reason why we’re exploring Lee’s classic, Jungle Fever.

We’ve all said things we really wish we could take back. We’re human beings and sometimes, a lot of times, our emotions completely impede our better judgment. And that was all before the technological revolution came about. Today, in this digital age, where your words, thoughts and musings can be disseminated almost instantly, your weak moments will be on display for everyone to see and document if they so choose. Luckily, most of us aren’t that popular. But for the celebs who use Twitter on a regular, this can be and has been very problematic. See which celebs have truly shown their behinds on Twitter. 

Source: The New Republic

It took much longer than it should have, but the outrage over the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has finally caused the FBI and the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into the teenager’s death. In a statement, the Justice Department said:

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation.”

The victim’s family lawyer, Ben Crump, said public pressure was behind an earlier promise by the Justice Department to review the case. Some 533,000 signatures have been gathered on a petition on change.org calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who shot the unarmed teenager in a gated Florida community. Over the weekend, 911 tapes of witnesses to the shooting, including one where the victim and the shooter can be heard screaming in the background, sparked many to action, including a number of celebs. Spike Lee and Wyclef Jean sent out tweets encouraging their followers to sign the petition, and it seems the move is working.

Zimmerman initially escaped arrest under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, dubbed “shoot first, ask questions later” by opposers, which allows a potential victim who is “in fear of great bodily injury” to use deadly force in public places. Crump says that defense is ludicrous.

“It’s illogical, you can['t] claim self defense after you chase and pursue somebody,” he said. “That’s a courtroom defense. That’s not something the police accept on the side of the street.”

Hopefully it’s not something the FBI or the defense department will accept either and George Zimmerman will be arrested as he should have been on Feb. 26.

Have you signed the petition at Change.org?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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• What Did You Do To My Hair!? 6 Signs You’re Dealing With a Ratchet Stylist
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Source: Eurweb.com

So Wesley Snipes doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to black women. (He said a thing or two about our attitudes…) But really that doesn’t stop me from feeling some major sympathy for him and his tax situation.

Three years in prison for taxes is really rough. Especially if you’re not guilty, like Snipes claims he isn’t.

Either way, Spike Lee, who directed Snipes in “Jungle Fever”, just visited Snipes in prison.

Find out what he had to say about Snipes’ condition and what we can do to uplift his spirits at EurWeb.com.

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Source: Pop Goes the Week

Eddie Murphy is one of the most animated comedians and actors around so it only makes sense for him to take on the character of James Brown, one of the most animated entertainers of the last century, in a biopic. Eddie thinks so too, which is why he’s in a rush to get the project off the ground. He told BlackTreeTV:

“His story is incredible. Imagine how incredible Ray Charles’ story was. What an incredible job he did, and he’s at the piano. James is doing splits and running and Angel Dust and jumping and shooting up tires. James’ story is bananas. James’ story is sex, drugs, rock and roll and what the f***.”

Eddie is crazy. He said the script for the movie has already been written, but James’ family hasn’t yet given it the green light. Eddie joked that if they don’t hurry up, he’ll be too old to play the part.

“There’s the most incredible script that Spike Lee worked on that’s James Brown. That’s incredible. It has everything in it, but you have to get with the people who have the rights to James’ story.

“I just hope it comes together in the next few years. I’m 50. I ain’t going to be able to do a split in a few years. My split days are coming to an end very shortly.”

It would be nice to see Eddie play a part in something other than a PG comedy for kids (or dressed up like a woman), and he feels the same way.

“That James Brown thing is a great, great piece I wish could come together. It has everything.”

Do you think Eddie Murphy would do a great job playing James Brown?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Photo courtesy of IFC.com.

If you don’t have a Valentine and aren’t perusing the streets with your girls celebrating love in general, you should still observe this day of “amore” by watching some films about all things love-based. But we’re not talking the normal cheesy rom-com, but instead, movies that show the ups and downs of real love. Save the fairy tales for Disney and the kids and check out our favorites (and recommend your own below)!

It’s day two of Black History Month and if you’re looking for a way to expand your mind about the people in our history who helped shape the way we live, the way we dance, the way we do our hair (yes, that too), I would recommend doing the easiest and most fun form of research–watch a movie! But not just any ‘ol movie or random attempt at recreating black history. We’re talking documentaries! They keep it real. Literally. If you need help finding a few to pick up from Netflix or to watch online, and can’t sit through 14 hour-long parts of Eyes on the Prize, we’ve got you covered. Happy Black History Month!

If you find yourself in Park City, Utah this week, no doubt the Sundance Film Festival is on your list of attractions. With a plethora of films to choose from, deciding how to divide up your time might be a little tricky.

Well if you’re trying to support black films, actors and directors, be sure to check out some of these flicks.

Black Voices put together a very thorough list of these films.

Check out the description and pick your must-sees here.

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by Charing Ball

Spike Lee has a new film, Red Hook Summer, premiering at the Sundance Movie Festival, which runs through January 29th. Lee told the New York Times that “it had been too long since I’d done a film, and I couldn’t wait on Hollywood anymore.Too many meetings, too many false starts, too many stuck projects.”

In the same article, Lee revealed that he didn’t bother taking the film to any of the major studios and had opted to financed his latest project on his own, much for the same reason as George Lucas. Likewise he is hoping to walk away from the festival with a distributor. Will Spike and Red Hook Summer get as much of a push when – and if – the film is released later this year? Will folks flood my Facebook timeline with the same urgency to see this film because Lee invested his own money? Will folks debate endlessly about the future of Black cinema if Red Hook Summer bombs at the box office? Probably not. That’s the point that I was making earlier this week in regards to Red Tails. This mad dash to “show Hollywood” that we could be good consumers has  dulled the conversation on why we haven’t been out here supporting independent Black cinema.

But let’s not rehash that debate again. Instead I am more curious if we as a country are emotionally ready for a film, which has Lee reprising his role as Mookie and is said to be a sort of follow up to “Do the Right Thing?

There are no clips or a trailer for the new Spike Lee Joint as Lee wants to keep this one under wraps.  However, published reports suggest that this film chronicles the gentrification of Brooklyn New York. And according to the synopsis of the story, which had been co-penned by Lee and James McBride (Miracle at St. Anna):

“When his mom deposits him at the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn to spend the summer with the grandfather he’s never met, young Flik may as well have landed on Mars. Fresh from his cushy life in Atlanta, he’s bored and friendless, and his strict grandfather, Enoch, a firebrand preacher, is bent on getting him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Only Chazz, the feisty girl from church, provides a diversion from the drudgery. As hot summer simmers and Sunday mornings brim with Enoch’s operatic sermons, things turn anything but dull as people’s conflicting agendas collide. Playfully ironic, heightened, yet grounded, Spike Lee’s bold new movie returns him to his roots, where lovable, larger-than-life characters form the tinderbox of a tight-knit community. A story about the coexistence of altruism and corruption, Red Hook Summer toys with expectations, seducing us with the promise of moral and spiritual transcendence.”

It has been 23 years since Lee’s groundbreaking film, Do the Right Thing, aggressively illustrated the very real realities of a racially and ethnically divided America. It was the film that garnered Lee the label of Angry Black filmmaker.  In the film, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, N.Y would act as a microcosm of America in which a mix of African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Italian-Americans and Koreans lived and worked and sometimes played together.  I hadn’t watched Do the Right Thing in over a decade, but I remember it being both groundbreaking and inflammatory.

From the first few scenes of Rosie Perez feverishly dancing over Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to the scene in which Radio Raheem, a towering young Black man with Love and Hate tattooed on each hand, gets choked out by the police for refusing to turn down his ghetto blaster at request of Sal, the Italian American pizza shop owner to the powerful final scene when  Mookie throws a trash can into Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, the entire film served as reminder that despite our best efforts to co-exist peacefully together, there lingers inevitable chaos. A chaos that has resulted from our inability to deal with and address issues around race and power.

No better landscape in the flick illustrates that more than the scene where five characters, all belonging to different racial and ethnic groups, turn directly to the camera and furiously spout off a laundry list of racial slurs, stereotypes and generalizations, ultimately leaving us, the viewers, wondering what just hit them and yet scratching our heads, wondering about if the stereotypes are exceedingly untrue than why do we still hold on to them?

What a year, huh?! We’ve seen some good, bad, and ugly moments in pop culture in 2011 and it is about time for us to put our spin on it as we head into 2012.  Take a moment to see what’s on our list and feel free to add your own memories in the comment section.

Oh yes, the list is in no particular order!

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