I'll do what I want to do!

That seems to be Oprah’s motto in response to those pushing to have her ask Palin onto her show. After all, says critics, she’s had Obama on, it’s only fair. But the big O says no more politics on her show until after the elections. People are threatening to protest and some staff walk off her show. They feel if Oprah’s show is really for women then having Palin on the show would be a perfect piece. And it’s only fair to the republican side of her audience.
Here’s my take on it. Oprah has never really done the politics thing before until Obama. She made a public stand that he was her candidate. So already she crossed pass her regular neutrality line. Once that was done did people really expect her to go back to neutral and have Palin on her show? If she’s pushing for Obama, and we know Oprah’s clout, why would she have Palin on her show? It would look almost like an endorsement and might help to sway female voters who were following Clinton.

That is, assuming, Oprah had Palin on the show to display a more human/down home side to her that Oprah has done so successfully for other notables who were booed by the public. For example, Tom Cruise. He came back to redeem himself on her show after the couch jumping incident and I must say, I found him quite charming. And so did a lot of her audience who commented that that appearance changed their minds for the better about Cruise. Obviously, she wouldn’t want to do that for Palin, at least not before the vote. She’s pushing for Obama so making Palin seem great goes against that.

The deal is, no one was making a huge fuss (or maybe I ignored it, I do remember being a little shocked that she even took a side) when she endorsed Obama. The obvious flip side to that meant that she did not endorse Republican by extension that being McCain.

People, if we knew she didn’t endorse McCain, what would be the point of putting his running mate on the show unless she planned to negatively interview her? You know, like when talk show hosts interview murders, rapist, abusers, KKK. They aren’t doing it to make them look good!
If McCain’s committee continues to limit the forums that Palin goes on (to what, protect her? Not a good leader look right there) then they would not endorse having her on Oprah for a negative interview. Their hope would be that having her on Oprah would pull female votes, and Oprah ain’t having it.

Hey, Oprah has more money than she can count. She isn’t worried about loosing viewer ship or subscribers to her magazine. She would still flourish without them both. If she was going to lose out big time, it would have happened right after she endorsed Obama. Any leavers now aren’t going to make a big difference.

She isn’t a political show so she owes no neutrality to the public.

Running Scared

Okay I run a few miles a few times a week (okay, I run/walk a few miles a few times a week). It’s good exercise and I lost a lot of weight doing it. Anywho, whenever I go running; morning, evening, weekday or weekend; I can’t seem to bypass the catcalls, car honks or stares.

I just wanna run people, why does it have to be a spectacle? I’m not wearing anything other runners aren’t wearing, heck, I wear more. Nothings hanging out, so I’m not an eye sore. And a lot of other girls run who wear much less and are cute don’t get the obvious harassment.
The only difference I can think of is I’m a black female.

Despite what you might have seen in the Olympics there really aren’t that many black runners. Scratch that, not many Black American distance runners. Since I’ve taken up running (well jogging), more than a year ago, I can count on one hand the amount of black women I’ve seen outside running, a few more for power walking. Not that I’ve seen a whole bunch of black men running, but there are more.

I really don’t get why it’s such a rarity in my city but it needs to stop. I get so tired of running past of group of black men who stop their conversation and watch me as I run past, making a comment or two, sometimes verbal sexual harassment or sometimes for the positive like “run, sista”. That’s not so bad but sometimes I just want to run without looking like I’m making a stand.

Heck even people of other races look. Usually not the other runners, I usually get a nod or hello from them, which makes me feel like I’m part of some special inner circle (silly I know but encouraging none the less). However, I think other races seeing a black person run in the city are still taken back, you can just see the look of curiosity on their faces like “where’s she going, is she late for the bus?” (Just kidding). This is not everyone but I encounter it from at least two people every time I run.

Anyway, all I’m saying is, I need to see more women of color out their running (particularly Black and Latina, I tend to see a fair amount of Asian women running already) so I don’t continue looking like I’m marching for change instead of simply getting some exercise. Heck, I don’t care if all you do is go for a power walk just get out there so I’m not alone and it becomes the norm!
That is all.

On My Own

I guess I’m late to the game but I finally moved out on my own. After years of living with parents and then in college and then back to parents while in law school and then with roommates I finally decided to take the plunge and move on my own. And here is what I found- It’s scary!

Okay, so I am a city gal all the way. I also consider myself very bohemian/artsy so what better place for me to move than the arts district. A bit pricey but for the area and cost the space is a good size. Also, the landlord is very flexible so if I have to move before the end of the lease I can and the area is excellent. Close to stores, restaurants, boutiques, night life and the Penn Station. (My parents aren't, they think I should be in the suberbs, I think "why not just wheel me into a nursing home early" because that's how much fun the suberbs feels to me).

But I must admit, I can be a bit of a princess and I can be a type A personality. My apartment is not the high level I’m use to living in (suberbs or city) but I knew that I wouldn’t be having top notch as soon as I moved in. It’s just hard getting use to the “lived in” feel. In essence, say my friends who helped me move in, it’s very New York- take that anyway you want to. I choose to focus on the positive as I like the New York feel and have been busying myself watching the Home and Garden Network with tips on how to decorate in smaller area. Also, the area forces me to stay on point. I live off of a main street so it can be high traffic (can’t even park from 4-6pm on weekdays) so can’t come out of my place looking like I just woke up. Reminds me of when I studied in Central London for law school. I was in a major area (kind of like Soho/Manhattan) so when I went running and had on ill fitting jogging pants and a old tshirt I felt like a slouch next to all the other pedestrians. I vowed to look more together, even when working out or going to the grocery store for just a carton of milk. I’ll be doing the same here!

What makes it scary for me is that I really am on my own. No roommates to watch America’s Next Top Model with (which starts tomorrow!). If there is a noise my cat sure isn’t going to do much but hide next to me. And if I find a bug or mouse, Lord help that landlord because he told me they don’t have pest problems!

I don’t know maybe it’s just the first time jitters and I’ll get through it. All my friends live on their own and I know a few people who live in my neighborhood.

It’s a fixer upper but I’m going to work it out and the landlord said he'd credit me for any imporvements I made/painting I did as long as I cover it with him first. Might take some pictures and show you the after

Anywho, wish me luck!

BTW- until I get my home internet up and running I might be a little delayed on posting on my site and commenting on others. Hopefully I can get that resolved A.S.A.P. cause I'm dying withoiut internet at home (luckily I got my cable installed yesterday to occupy me, I could read though...)

Taking the bait

So McCain chose a woman to be his vice presidential running mate. The act in and of itself is great but I'm not convinced on the motives. She is very young and in my belief less experienced than Obama, an aspect McCain loved to criticize Obama for (she's got 13 years of experience and no foreign policy experience, only two years as a governor of Alaska and the Republicans try to build up her military experience by saying she lead the Alaskan national guard for two years- not convinced). Republicans are hoping her presence will sway some Hilary supporters who were looking to change history with a woman for president. Well this Hilary supporter (and now Obama supporter) is not taking the bait.

Why would I vote for McCain simply because he has a woman VP? I mean, isn't that their sole reason for believing she would help take away possible Obama votes? Palin and Hilary do not share hardly any views. Palin is pro life, pro guns and shares Bushe's failed economic policies. So, again, outside of her sex, why would I vote for McCain? Does he really believe women are that unintelligent that we would fall for the hype? Newt Gingrich said on the Today show that he urged McCain not to pick a typical older white male as a running mate which he points out Obama did. Looks alone should not be the factor in picking a VP. In addition, if we are going on looks, I think Obama's look changes the face of politics enough so I think his pick of Biden, if we're going on Newt's superficial stance alone, was just fine.

Some are worried for Obama's camp because of this change but I'm not. I might check out the Republican convention to get an idea about her. After all Palin was a former beauty queen and Ms. Congeniality. Maybe her personality could sway some voters. But for serious voters, she's going to need more than a smile. She's going to need to distance herself from all the negativity of the Bush administration and show that even though she's young and not too experienced she can pick up the torch should McCain not be able to.

As an aside though, I must say, it is a change in politics if the normal faces are recognizing that voters are now open and ready for new types of faces in our government. There may come a day when the presidential candidates for Republicans and Democrats could both be women and/or minorities.

Vote or Shut Up!

Hilary made me late for work

I hadn't planned on it but got sucked into Hilary's speech at the democratic convention and I must say I think she did a wonderful job. I admit that I was a Hilary supporter so I was nervous about Obama winning. However, I had no problems with jumping ship. I still have my concerns about him but feel something new and fresh in the White House beats the same old same old. How else will we make any positive change? Albert Einstein, I believe, said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, voting McCain, in my humble opinion might be insanity. But enough about that back to Hilary.

My concern has always been that if she lost, her supporters would turn their backs on voting Democrat and if we got full support, political analyst believe Obama could win. I think her speech was great in pushing her supporters to now support him but is a speech enough? I can only hope that we see more of her face in his campaign and that the media stops hyping up any tension the two camps may or may not have. We really need a show of unity.

Anywho, I watched her whole speech and loved it and then couldn't get up on time this morning because I stayed up later than usual to catch it. But I think it was worth it...

TV Nation

Now that the Olympics is over and soon the Democratic/Republican conventions will be on and off, I am gearing up for some favorite TV shows to return or interesting new ones to air. Here are some of interest to me and when they air. I stared the ones that are must sees for me.
This site, http://www.thefutoncritic.com/guide.aspx?id=fall_2008-
displays all the shows and what days they’ll air.
I feel a DVR usage coming in full gear!


*America’s Next Top Model- Airs September 13- CW Network-look for the first Trangendered person on the show and (s)he is from Maryland…No comments

Gossip Girl- September 1- CW- yeah, I know I’m too old for this but I made the mistake of watching it once when nothing else I liked was on and got hooked!

90210- September 1- CW- actually I don’t really plan to watch more than the first episode just out of curiosity as I used to love the original series. At least this time they added a person of color.

*Lost-January-ABC- the best yet most confusing series ever since the X-Files (whose second movie I’m so sad about)

*House- September 9-Fox- that’s one angry doctor

*Grey’s Anatomy- September 25- ABC- I was really hoping they would have killed off Izzy

*Fringe- September 9-Fox-new series from Lost dudes and it has Pacy from Dawson’s Creek and the black from the Wire/Oz/Lost- Looks cool

*Heroes- September 22-NBC- hope this season is better than the last

*Law and Order: SVU- September 23- always a good bet

*CSI- October 9, CBS- never really got into the show (but love the CSI: Miami spin off- Sept.22) but with Lawrence Fishburne cast as the new lead detective I’m going to check it out

*ER- September 25-NBC- I have been a loyal viewer and with Noah Wyle back and Angela Basset cast I will be glued to this final season

*Supernatural- September 18-CW I love the guys fighting evil on this show, funny

*Sarah Connor Chronicles-September 8-FOX- I was skeptical about a Terminator series but they did a great job with the first season

Damages-TBA-FX a great legal/litigation series with Glen Close as a high powered attorney almost as crazy as her Fatal Attraction character

*Nip/Tuck-TBA-FX- what can I say, who doesn’t love Christian Troy or the insane plots?

*Always Sunny in Philadelphia-September 18-FX- some call it the new younger version of Seinfeld I just call it funny

Prison Break-September 1- FOX- how many times do they have to get out of jail? Let’s see

*Private Practice-October 1-ABC- a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy with slightly older slightly less annoying characters and Taye Diggs who I like in this series but who I haven’t liked since Best Man

Smallville- September 18-CW- now that they’ve gotten rid of that pesky Lana the real Lois and Clark matchup can occur!

The Cleveland show- TBA- FOX- Well if I loved Family Guy, gotta watch this too!

*Battlestar Gallactica-January – SciFi- their final series, yes I am a scifi geek

Raising the Bar- September 1-TNT-I love a good law drama and with Zack from Save by the Bell I’ll watch

Dirty Sexy Money- October 1-ABC- again a random show I got hooked on about rich people and their secrets. Hey, it has Blair Underwood in it!

Shows on Premium Cable this girl will be sadly missing until the season comes out on DVD:

Crash- October 7- Starz- based on the Oscar winning movie comes a series about race relations

Dexter- September 28- Showtime- the sympathetic serial killer returns

True Blood- September 7- HBO- Gotta love a good vampire series and it’s based on a series of books

Sigh, I watch way too much TV, I might have to let something go…

Famous Hollywood tidbits about Maryland I never knew- Why don’t we get more hype for the positive?

I was trying to fight sleep at work so I did a random wikepedia search to wake me up and found that Maryland (my state) has quite a few famous folks from or who grew up in the area. I knew about Tupac, Jada Pinkett, Julia Louis- Dryfuss, Michael Phelps, Carmelo Anthony and Billie Holiday but some notables I never knew were- Babe Ruth, Martin Lawrence, Ben Stein, Good Charlotte, David Hasslehoff, Kathy Lee Guildford, Taraj P Henson, Goldie Hawn, Harriet Tubman, Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Maryland#Musicians

We need more Maryland Hype Men/Women. People leave and you don’t ever hear about it from them. I think the biggest Hype man we have is John Waters (of Hairspray movie) and he is particular to Baltimore and then a very certain subculture of Baltimore. I know it’s difficult but if collectively we put a little more pride into Maryland and it saw continued housing/retail/job growth as well as a real stomp out on crime it would seem like a much more appealing place to live.

Here are all the movies shot in Baltimore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_shot_in_Baltimore,_Maryland
Some notables I never knew- Beauty Shop, Live Free/Die Hard (although one scene was supposedly at the SSA building in Woodlawn- let me tell you I don’t know what SSA building that was but it was no parts of around here!), Runaway Bride, Silence of the Lambs, Sleepless in Seattle, 12 Monkeys, The Sum of All Fears, Something the Lord Hath Made (you mean Mos Def was filming in Bmore and I didn’t know?! For shame!)
Films shot in Maryland but not specifically Baltimore are Enemy of the State and Wedding Crashers.

I’ve heard that Baltimore is the perfect location for movies because you can find a neighborhood that looks like one in another city or time period. So you don’t have to travel as much. You can do a setting in New York and one in Philly in present time and then in the 1960’s all right here.

All I say is, if Baltimore is so darn dangerous would they really let Rene Zelwegger film her current movie here (she filmed in the county and the city)?
And the show Ace of Cakes (on either Bravo or TLC) is set in Baltimore at the Charm City Cakes place in Mt. Vernon (the city) I believe.

You know for all this stuff you’d think we’d have a better reputation, just a little… I mean the president’s own daughter lives down the street from me (well almost, I could power walk to her area) and Michael Phelps is buying a ridiculously pricey condo in the city (I could go for a long distance jog to get to his area- not that pressed).

I’m just saying…