REFLECTION & REASON

Back in 1991, Madonna was everything innovative and exciting to young girls. Especially young impressionable girls who took in that year's super-scandalous tour documentary: Madonna: Truth or Dare . And a scandal it was ! There was homosexual kissing, simulated sexual acts on dinnerware, and of course the ever-popular masturbation scene during "Like A Virgin" and Madonna's subsequent threat of arrest while performing it in Toronto. Her relationships with Warren Beatty, arguing with her manager Freddy DeMann, and lusting after Antonio Banderas. Reflecting on Sean Penn, flirting with her dancer Oliver, and nursing a sore throat. The movie was a hit that year, and took in $29 million in box office sales. The Blond Ambition Tour was quite possibly the height of her career , relevance, and stardom. She had figured out the formula for pop success. From time. I know this movie like the back of my hand, because I watched it religiously as an adolescent. Not only ...

Don't believe the hype. Mariah Carey. Chris Brown. Souljah Boy. Donald Trump. Discuss. No? Tired of discussing these people that are highly irritating and have nothing to do with you trying to pay your mortgage and Christmas credit card bills this month? Well, as far fetched as they are, they are prime examples of just how money can turn you fool . I'm as die hard a Mariah Carey fan as they come , but I can't help but feel that sense of superficial celebrity fear when you start to see someone talented go in the direction of Whitney or countless other drug-and-fame abusers before her. It's the saddest sight imaginable, because what MOST of us would do and accomplish with ONE million dollars...we sit and observe these ridiculous "public figures" squander and exploit with many, many multiples of that. And have the nerve to be unhappy and unfulfilled. But clearly. They are unhappy, and unfulfilled. The alcohol, the drugs, the spotlight, and the...

Better late than never. So, there's 6 rappers I'm finally interested in listening to this year. I've taken in their music before: mainly the hits. Not to the mixtape level, or to the downloading-their-music level...just on an extremely surface in-the-club, or livestreaming-Atlanta-radio level. But it's finally time for me to really see what the "kids" out there are hyping up about. All of the year-end hip hop music reviews have left me feeling like an old auntie in the dance . I started to realize that I had no idea who the majority of the new rappers were by face, or by voice recognition. While I've "heard" of dudes like Yachty, and Migos, 21 Savage, and Party Next Door... I really and truly couldn't identify them if I saw them walk by me at Scarborough Town Centre. I definitely wouldn't know their voice different from say a Drake, Kanye, Common, Nas, Q-Tip, or other age-appropriate favourites from my era/city. But someh...

I borrowed Issa Rae's book " The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl " from my friend's 13-year-old daughter, and couldn't help but feel a sense of joy that at such a young age  she would walk away with the gift of knowing that an "Issa Rae" existed .  I knew that at her age--during her first year of high school--or at my age (25 years older), that we could both receive valuable lessons from the writer and creator of the new HBO series " Insecure ." The book is great.  I knew it would be great from the moment I heard about it last year. Let me backtrack, from the moment I heard about Issa Rae herself from  a few friends who insisted that I "HAD TO" check out her work , I knew that I would like this woman. I knew that whatever she had to say was something that I would most likely relate to because I, even at the age of 38, definitely knew that for the majority of my life (and still, currently?)  I was her and she was me: an awkward...

The latest installment in the Gilmore Girls saga, "A Year in the Life" was outstanding. Brilliant, even . I enjoyed every minute of the four-part series. What a great trend we've stumbled upon lately, thanks to our friends at Netflix: revisiting old television shows, bringing beloved characters up to the present time , and completing the circle. Unexpectedly. It's a nice treat. This particular special juuuust came out on November 25, and it definitely didn't disappoint. It was everything a Gilmore Girls fan could want, with all of the eccentric characterizations and Stars Hollowism's that you could dream of. It made me laugh, it almost made me cry (I was close, though!), and it for sure gave me all the warm and wonderful feelings of joy, and great soundtrack music that I came to expect from this program. If you didn't like the show originally, chances are you wouldn't appreciate the additional four episodes that we old school fans ...

Black male journalists: there are many. Across mediums. Across genres. Across disciplines, and of various generations. But these six in particular have been main sources of news, information, jokes, and entertainment for me for the past year. To say they have fascinated me isn't to say that I agree with all of their perspectives or personas 100%...but this fascination led me to tune in , to YouTube them, Google them, and to stay up-to-date on their musings and declarations. 1) VAN JONES He is the black man of the hour . The voice of passion, the one tugging at our heart strings, and the winner of the pre- and post-election coverage, as far as I'm concerned. He moved everyone with his tearful "whitelash" statements after Trump was declared the winner of the media war, and he has continued to speak logic, fact, and with a very rare sincerity that is hard to come across on television. The brother is extremely likable , to say the least. And intelligent. Raw, an...