Big Sole Blog (BSB)

In a recent interview with his close friend Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry compared Langston Hughes's negative criticism of Zora Neale Hurston's work to Spike Lee's negative criticism of Perry's work.  I think Perry could use a better example when it comes to contemporary black writers downing his movies, plays, and television shows. (The timing of Perry's interview with Oprah coincides with the

Phenomenal movie critic Roger Ebert passed away today. I knew he had cancer and had been suffering with the disease for years and that he was older than I am, so perhaps I should have perceived that he may pass away soon. Yet even when I saw in my news feed yesterday a headline saying that his cancer had returned, I did not expect only two days later to hear of his death. Why would I expect to

I could not get the idea out of my head that one of Tyler Perry's lines in Alex Cross was a tip of the hat to Oprah Winfrey's portrayal of Sofia in The Color Purple. When Tyler Perry says, "I will meet him at the gates of hell before I let him take another person from me that I love," does the line ring any bells?

I have not yet seen Beasts of the Southern Wild, but bell hooks's negative review of the film is the first negative review I've seen. I respect her and suspect that if she sees in the film what she's written here, then that's probably what is in the film. You can read her entire review at New Black Man (in Exile). What struck me most was her assertion that movie smacks of conservative ideology

Via Morris Chestnut's Facebook page, I just learned of actor Michael Clarke Duncan's death. I have not been watching news much lately, so I did not hear of it sooner. Chestnut said in his FB post, "RIP to Michael Clarke Duncan. A man with a tremendous spirit and great talent. It was an honor to have known you. You will be surely missed my brotha!" I never saw Duncan in person, but whenever I

This blog gets hits daily from people who think it's about shoes, but as I've said many times before, "This blog is not about shoes." Nonetheless, sometimes I can't resist an intriguing shoe photo. Today, it's a great picture of the succulent actor Idris Elba that his fan page shared on Facebook. The photo is a three-for-one prize because it features first, Elba, and second, he is holding

So, I'm home, working on my thesis . . . again. With the death of my father in late April, completion was postponed, but I'm almost done with some rewriting and editing. My thesis is on the diary of Marcus Bruce Christian, a self-trained African-American historian, poet, and writer who was born in 1900 in what is now Houma, Louisiana. When he was 17, he moved to New Orleans. Eventually he ran

If you're from New Orleans, you know what this post indicates. It suggests that I am about to do something and what you see now is preparation for whatever it is that I'm about to do. In this case, I mean that I'm getting ready not for a post at this blog, but something more organized with a little more thought, perhaps, that I will post and another Internet publishing location. Procrastinators

I'm pretty sure what was bleeped out on Michael Ealy's interview with Wendy Williams was that he's an "a*s" man so (breasts) cups "don't matter" to him. He said he used to date older women, but now he's more open-minded (as though any ordinary woman reading or writing this blog would ever have a chance with him). The interview was cute, and it seems his co-star from Think Like a Man, the

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won best animated short last night at the Oscars. (You can see the winning film in the video above.) It was created at Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, La., by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg. According to the AP, the studio held its own Oscar party last night, and that same article describes the film as follows:The 14-minute long film follows

Here are 10 Reasons from Roland Emmerich that explain why he would make a movie that questions whether the man history claims to have been William Shakespeare was actually the bard we know and love. The movie, Anonymous, opens this Friday.

The video embedded in this post is from Democracy NOW! and is about a documentary co-produced by actor Danny Glover. As described on its YouTube page:(the documentary and the clip feature "rare archival footage of Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Stokely. The Democracy NOW! episode and was) broadcast from Park City, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival, the nation's largest festival for

I have read multiple posts and essays that express thoughts on The Help that are similar to mine, critiques of both the novel by Kathryn Stockett and the new movie from Dreamworks based on the book. The deeper objections have little to do with whether Stockett is a good writer or her use of dialect for the black maids in the novel. Here is a list of some of the articles/essays I've read that

I watched the premiere of the new TNT series Falling Skies last night and enjoyed it. The characters drive the storyline more than its aliens and special effects, and that's always a good thing. So far, thumbs up! (Visit the microsite.)Nevertheless, I could not help but notice the Super 8 clone running around in Falling Skies. "Skitters," as the TNT series characters call one class of aliens in

More news on Nicolas Cage's arrest:Cage appeared before a magistrate this morning where his bond was set at $11,000. He was ordered to return to court for a hearing on May 31. A "stay away'' order was waived. (Per Nola.com)And I may have to take back some of what I said suggesting the police may have been overzealous with Cage. He's getting a reputation around here, according to what the Times

I awoke this morning to the news that screen legend Elizabeth Taylor had died. According to NPR, "A publicist told The Associated Press that Taylor died of congestive heart failure at a Los Angeles hospital. She was 79."As someone born in 1960, I grew up seeing Taylor's movies on television. I remember Lassie Go Home and National Velvet, and also her adult movies. The latter were often presented

Oprah Winfrey tells Piers Morgan in an interview for his new CNN show that her greatest failure was the movie Beloved based on Toni Morrison's novel that won the Nobel Prize in literature. She said that after the movie bombed at the box office, she went into a depression for the first and only time of her life, feeling that she existed under a veil and asking her chef to prepare macaroni and

In the video below, director David Caruso talks about the origins of John Smith, the main character of the new movie I am Number Four, a Dreamworks production.Looks like we science fiction and fantasy fans might have an adrenaline-rush movie to see next month.I am Number Four, release date February 18, stars Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Argon of Glee. I also glimpse in the trailer Timothy Olyphant,

Is this controversy with boycott the same as objections to The Last Airbender casting? As Rosanna Rosanna Danna would say, "It's always something!"I just read at The Root and the U.K. Guardian that a white supremacist group in the U.S.A. is boycotting the superhero movie Thor because British black actor Idris Elba has been cast as the Norse god Heimdall. Wikipedia says Heimdall is called "the

I knew I had forgotten something in my Aretha Franklin tribute. Tonight I was listening to Aretha's "Chain of Fools" and then remembered this entertaining dance scene with John Travolta and ladies in the movie Michael.