Source:Usmagazine

Every now and then a girl’s gotta treat herself and what better time than after the Oscar’s—especially if you win. Whether Octavia Spencer takes home an Academy Award for her role in “The Help” this Sunday or not, she plans to give herself a big reward: a breast lift.

In a recent interview with Parade, she talked about her splurge gift:

“Well, I am going to get my boobs lifted. That’s going to be my first gift. I’m going to do that. I figured going into my forties I want my boobs where they were when I was 17.”

I guess that makes sense…Octavia’s got the details all planned out around her schedule though.

“[R]ight after the Oscars I start a Diablo Cody movie. We’re taping out of the country for four months so I wouldn’t be back here until about August. So I would want to do this around November. Then that way I could just relax until January.”

New breasts sound like the right thing to go with a slimmer body. Since Octavia’s jumped into the limelight, she’s been very vocal about her plans to drop pounds and take on better roles. Maybe new boobs will help too—although I wouldn’t tell the world.

What do you think about Octavia’s gift to herself? Would you announce you were getting work done or just come back new and improved?

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

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Source:Wrightswords.wordpress.com

The critical acclaim surrounding “The Help” has brought the issue of ethnic representation and racial discrimination in the entertainment industry front and center, and for once it seems black people aren’t the only ones talking about it. With congratulatory wishes for the awards the film has garnered comes questions of why it takes black people portraying servant roles— Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Hattie McDaniel—or negative characters—Denzel Washington and Halle Berry—for their acting ability to be recognized. And If you let the LA Times tell it, the issue appears to stem from the fact that the ethnic, gender, and age makeup of the Academy members is about as dated as the images of black life we see portrayed in Oscar-worthy films.

The names of all 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is kept about as secret as the CIA’s Al Qaeda intel, but what is known is that 94 percent are Caucasian, 77 percent are male, and the median age is 62. The Times even found that some of the academy’s 15 branches are almost exclusively white and male, with Caucasians currently making up 90 percent or more of every academy branch except actors, where the makeup is 88 percent white. Overall, blacks make up about 2 percent of the academy; Latinos, less than that.

On one hand, writer-director Phil Alden Robinson, a longtime academy governor, understands that lack of diversity is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but on the other he passes the buck of responsibility.

“We absolutely recognize that we need to do a better job, but we start off with one hand tied behind our back…. If the industry as a whole is not doing a great job in opening up its ranks, it’s very hard for us to diversify our membership.”

While Robinson has an enormous point there, what about the independent filmmakers who don’t always garner the type of acclaim they should but who are making exceptional cinema works that rival some of the big names we often hear about? There are ways to diversify membership if the academy is truly interested in looking outside the Blockbuster ranks to find talent. Frank Pierson, a former academy president who still serves on the board of governors, demonstrates exactly why it can’t be left up to the various branches of the industry to diversify itself. He told the LA Times:

“I don’t see any reason why the academy should represent the entire American population. That’s what the People’s Choice Awards are for. We represent the professional filmmakers, and if that doesn’t reflect the general population, so be it.”

That same attitude no doubt characterizes some of the industry branches who feel the small glimpse of black life that is shown on the big screen is proportionate with our representation in society.But you can’t be so arrogant to think that white people just so happen to be the 94 percent, that their exceptional talent is the only reason why they are where they are and why women and minorities aren’t there.

The academy is a classic example of the old boy’s network. Membership is available by invitation only, and candidates must be sponsored by at least two members of the branch for which the person may qualify in order to be considered. Who will recommend women, African Americans, and Latinos if there are barely enough of those members to sponsor someone? The issue isn’t just about a race criteria, it’s about diversifying the lens through which talent is seen. There’s nothing shocking about the academy mostly being white men, and mostly white men winning awards. We all tend to look for and find the best in our own and with 6 percent minority and 23 percent female representation it makes it that much harder to see talent outside of that singular lens—and black women portraying maids begin to look like an excellent reflection of society when that couldn’t be further from the case in 2012.

When Denzel Washington won his Academy Award for “Training Day” he spoke about the need for the academy to balance its membership, saying, “If the country is 12% black, make the academy 12% black. If the nation is 15% Hispanic, make the academy 15% Hispanic. Why not?” I think doing so would lead the industry down the same hill minorities in universities across America are rolling, where they are assumed to have gotten where they are because of their skin color and not because of their merit. Diversity for the sake of diversity doesn’t solve anything, but taking a step back and acknowledging that there is no way the academy in its current makeup can possibly reflect the diverse talent that is in the industry would be everything.

There’s virtually no way to make sure the academy, which doesn’t even require that its voting members still be active in the industry, has a makeup that totally reflects society in age, race, or gender but there is a need for a mental shift in which members and governors recognize that the lack of diversity in its makeup limits is scope. In doing so, they would realize that their membership as it currently stands doesn’t allow it to fulfill its sole purpose which is to represent and recognize “the most accomplished men and women working in cinema.”

What do you think about Denzel Washington’s idea of making the academy reflect society in terms of racial diversity? Does the academy need to diversify its membership? How should it go about it?

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

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fashionbeauty.com

Friday night during the 43^rd annual NAACP Image awards there were very few surprises when it came to the evening’s big winners -including Viola Davis’ Outstanding Actress victory for “The Help” – but the tribute to Whitney Houston was the most memorable.

Unlike Jennifer Hudson’s beautiful but truncated homage at the Grammys, the NAACP dedicated a considerable amount of time to Houston courtesy of gospel star Yolanda Adams. The singer, who was friends with Houston, delivered a breathtakingly stirring rendition of “I Love the Lord” that ended with a standing ovation. Houston belted out the same hymn on the soundtrack of 1996′s “The Preacher’s Wife” with the help of the Georgia Mass Choir.

Read more here…

You can’t control everything. No matter how prepared or talented or strategic you are, your career will not always go exactly as planned.

Viola Davis’s film career spans over 15 years – excluding her years on the stage – and includes over 60 projects. She’s garnered 4 Oscar nominations, 3 SAG awards and one Golden Globe this award season for her role in The Help. But, many feel recognition for her work is long overdue. You won’t, however, hear this sentiment from Davis’ lips.

Davis has overcome institutional and cultural obstacles inherent to her industry to build a lasting career. She’s shared several life lessons as she basks in the well-deserved limelight. The few words of wisdom included below are essential lessons for any woman pursuing success.

Understand your obstacles and have a realistic view of your industry

It’s just the politics of it all. I’m a 46-year-old black woman who really doesn’t look like Halle Berry and Halle Berry is having a hard time… I have an absolute understanding and awareness of the image that I project and its just not a lot of lead roles for women who look like me…I think that African-Americans represent 12.5 percent of the population and that is not the demographic we are targeting in the movie and television industry.

Newsweek Oscar roundtable January 2012

Look at this future Oscar winner rocking her TWA! Viola Davis graces the cover of L.A. Times Magazine this month and she’s looking like we’ve never seen her before.

Not only is she showing her natural, she’s also wearing some fabulous threads by Jason Wu. Check out some of the pictures below:

She also spoke with Andre Leon Talley, contributing editor of Vogue about how her childhood helped her get into character for The Help.

On using real-life experience to draw on for her role in the The Help.

“I have stories of being spit on.  You have to realize I was in a predominantly white culture … And third grade was the worst because every day after school I would wait at the door and the bell would ring. And as soon as the bell rang I ran as fast as I could from the front door to my house, which was at least a mile away, because I would have eight to nine boys with sticks, bricks, anything they could find, who were ready to kill me.”

On what her mother told her about bullying“She said, ‘Viola, I want you to take my crochet and needle and you put it in your pocket and if they stop you again you tell them you’re gonna [stab] ‘em.’”

On how her life defined her career

“Having it hard made me build so much character … You have to actually say, ‘Is the world going to define me or am I going to define myself.’”

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I can think of a million things I would want to talk about the night I won a SAG Award but my weight would not be one of them. For Octavia Spencer it was. When PEOPLE talked to the Best Supporting Actress Winner Sunday night that seemed to be all that was on her mind—or all they cared to ask.

She told the magazine:

“I am not healthy at this weight. Any time you have too much around the middle, then there is a problem. [And] when you reach a certain weight, you are less valuable.”

I’m not sure if Octavia’s comment was a knock to the entertainment industry or a tactic to ensure more roles for herself down the line; either way, the timing was interesting, and that quote, interestingly, is the one most publications are running to sum up her award-winning night.

Octavia’s made it clear that she doesn’t plan on taking any more backseat stereotypical roles like the one she played in “The Help” and I wonder if the mainstream media’s way of asking about weight is equivalent to the black community’s discussion about race as it relates to her role in Hollywood. The black community at large seems to be saying congratulations, but why did she have to get it this way, referring to her character Minnie Jackson. And the white community, dismissive of the barriers of race in the industry (see Charlize Theron) is using weight to explain why Octavia hasn’t been prominent on the Hollywood scene.

Octavia obviously embodies two of the least-represented types of people in the industry—overweight women and African Americans—but what I would have to liked to see in her post-SAG discussions was more about who she is, and less playing into Hollywood’s anti-plus-size hands. There absolutely isn’t anything wrong with Octavia wanting to lose 15 pounds, as she later stated, and wanting to get healthier but just as there is more to her than her race, there is more to her than her weight. Her comments don’t necessarily challenge the status quo, but rather they validate them by her admission to conform. Octavia shouldn’t be expected to carry the burden of plus-size Hollywood success but what I would hate to see happen after she loses weight is for the attention to still linger on her weight with a smaller figure, much in the way it has for Jennifer Hudson, and continue to overshadow the talent that made her famous in the first place.

At the end of the day, Octavia obviously wants to be a mainstay in the industry and ride her Golden Globe, SAG, and possibly even Oscar success, and I think she knows slimming down can increase her chances of doing so. But I think in the way that she said she will push for better roles that don’t reduce her to black stereotypes, she should also push for interviews and discussions that settle on who she is as an actress and entertainment talent and that don’t pigeonhole her into being the face of overweight, black women in Hollywood.

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

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Anthony Mackie, star of the upcoming film, “Man on a Ledge,” shared his opinions about the insanely popular and controversial movie “The Help.” While the film has received critical acclaim and is receiving plenty of Oscar buzz, there are plenty of people, many of them in the black community, who took issue with the movie. Among other things this is what Mackie had to say about the film.

As an African American actor in this day in age, it is our job to portray every time in history.

You can listen to the rest of Anthony’s statement and why it works for him at EurWeb.com.

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You know what they say, once you win a Screen Actor’s Guild award, you’re pretty much a shoe in for the Oscar. Hopefully, this is the case for Viola Davis who recently won the “Best Actress” award for her role in the summer blockbuster “The Help.” Overall, it was a good night for the film, which won several awards.

Viola with her husband, Julis Tennon, sitting behind her.

Earlier in the night, Tennon told the Associated Press,

“It’s her show. I’m just here to support her and make her feel comfortable.”

“I’m shy,” Davis added.

That’s adorable.

Check out some other pictures from the night’s event below:

Octavia Spencer also won "Best Supporting Actress" for the film.

The cast of "The Help" poses with their awards from the night. They won the award for "Best Cast In A Motion Picture."

In her acceptance speech Davis thanked Meryl Streep and Cicely Tyson for inspiring her.

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by Charing Ball

Even before the film The Help opened, folks were already predicting that it would be nominated for an Academy Award.  The public hadn’t seen it and didn’t know whether the film, plot or acting was any good.  But the running joke for weeks prior to its opening was that the Academy Awards loves seeing Black characters playing maids, drug dealers, pimps and other lowly characters.

That’s why for many, the several nominations the film received including Best Picture, Best Actress (Viola Davis) and two Best Supporting Actress nods for Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain comes as little surprise. It’s been about 73 years since Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone With The Wind in which she too played a maid. And after all this time, it certainly seems that our best work in Hollywood always comes by way of cleaning up the mess of white folks.

Nevertheless, we will all be cheering on both Viola Davis, who is not a stranger to Hollywood, and Octavia Spencer, who seems to be on a fairytale ride, for bringing depth and grace to their roles. But I would be lying if I didn’t say that their success with this film is a bit bittersweet. As Kola Boof, feminist and Egyptian-Sudanese-American novelist, noted in a tweet, “I Really *HATE**that Viola Davis will have to sit in the OSCAR audience with the term “The Help” written across her chest all night.” Word.

At first, I was reluctant to go and see The Help because, like Red Tails, I objected to the questionable marketing strategy of the film, which felt it necessary to use images of black domestics to hawk Emeril Lagasse stainless steel cookware. And where have I seen that before? Oh Aunt Jemima and her famous pancakes. But I digress.

After months of folks giving me the same old justification of “that’s true but you should really see it first,” I conceded and sat down to watch the film. Certainly it was quite entertaining watching Minnie hand deliver a special pie to her evil, former boss. However, I was still less fulfilled emotionally with the conclusion of the film. While Skeeter, the aspiring journalist and white protagonist in the story, gets to go on to New York after “heroically” telling the tale of her Black domestics (which was more about shaming her former friends), the domestics themselves, whose stories were exploited for the benefit of the aspiring journalist, are again left to clean up the mess left behind by Ms. Skeeter.  I mean, who exactly is this satisfying to?

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer (no, not Sherri Shepherd or Yvette Nicole Brown) got great news this morning when it was announced they both received Academy Award nominations for their work in The Help.

For Davis, who garnered her nomination for playing Aibileen Clark, the soft-spoken maid and heroine of the film, this is her second Oscar nod. She picked one up in 2008 for her role as the pathetic mother, Mrs. Miller in Doubt. Coincidentally, for this year’s Academy Awards, she’ll be battling for the little statuette against her Doubt co-star, Meryl Streep. Oh yeah, and some other folks.

For Spencer, who has racked up any and everything this awards season, including her recent Golden Globe win for playing the hilarious Minny Jackson in the film, this is her first Oscar nomination, but probably not her last. She seems like a frontrunner for the award and we’ll definitely be rooting for both Spencer and Davis on the big night–Feb.26.

These two seem to be the only black folks who picked up nominations this year, and after last year’s drought, two is better than none at all, right? But I’m just wondering, where is Pariah at nominations wise? I guess after not being able to grab a Golden Globe nomination, there was no way the awesome independent film could slip in the back door for Oscar noms–but still. Kim Wayans should have picked up some kind of something for her amazing work, and I know I’m not the only one who was moved by the movie. But I guess, to each their own. You know how I like to rant (*smile*).

But anyway, congrats ladies!

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