Pick Me Up! Feast of Fools.

Mmmmm. At a certain point of the day I need a quick pick-me-up.

If I'm bad, I'll walk to the local store and get a naughty treat. Somedays it's a Snickers. Somedays it's spicy Doritos. Sometimes it's a fruit smoothie.

Today, it'll be the Feast of Fools podcast. A quick and fun pick-me-up for the ears. Quite a number of fun shows this week, including the always fabulous Miss Ronnie. Check them out.
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Daytime Confidential

OK. Today is a shallow Fred day and entry.

I love daytime dramas. Of course started with grandma watching her shows on ABC, plus Guiding Light, but then switched over to being a CBS fan. Mostly Young and The Restless and Bold and the Beautiful.

I glance at the soap mags while waiting in line at the grocery. When I was a kid I created my own daytime drama scripts... ask my friend Dr. Daryl about "Billionaires." lol. Crazy scripts. Crazy Novak, Callison, and Rockwell families

But I'm just a minute and a half late on this new podcast that I just discovered. Daytime Confidential. They're also on MySpace. I've downloaded most of the shows on my iPod and now the show is my new gym buddy. Totally makes the stairmaster go by fast.

But a couple of little gossipy tidbits I've picked up from listening. Well, if you watch ANY daytime shows, you know many have lost their grand tradition of long-term stories that focus on core families and relationships. Now, it's mostly about stunts and weather catastrophes. Not what got you hooked with your grandma.

Apparently, a couple of major actors are speaking out. One in particular, One Life To Live's Erika Slezak, who gives very upfront opinions about the state of writers on her show in her March 2007 newsletter. If you don't know Erica Slezak's Viki, she IS the show. Very interesting.

Then, if you watch Young and Restless, you know this is Victoria Rowell's last week playing Drucilla Winters on the show. We LOVE Dru, even with the material she's been given lately. And she deserved a daytime Emmy nomination, because her character drove many stories last year and this one too.

There is a very interesting interview in the latest Soap Opera Digest where she gives homage to the Bell family, the original head writers who brought her on the show, and she talks about how the Bell's eye for details, concern for long-term story, and being true to Y&R's African American audience and characters are traits in the Bell family she will be grateful for. Says nothing about the new folks writing the show. If you watch, you know the show hasn't been the same for about a year or so.

Still... I love Daytime Confidential podcast. And I still love my daytime dramas... and hope to get that call to write for one someday!
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Airport transcript: "I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood."

So a couple things.

One, I'm a little confused as to how I feel about the Republican senator going through the bathroom stall drama. We all know people get entrapped all the time for all sorts of crimes. That's a given.

We all know gay, or sexually undecided folks, in rural areas like Idaho, Wyoming, the deserts of California and Arizona, the OC, small-town America, often don't have outlets or resources or supportive attitudes to help them negotiate sexual orientation issues.

And we know conservatives and Repubs can be a little judgmental on others, not themselves. Well... look at how they went after the Clintons in the late 90s for the BJ allegations.

BUT.

Now that I'm reading the transcript of the interview between Minneapolis police and the Idaho senator over the bathroom incident, I'm a little pissed, no pun intended, at the cop's statement regarding the senator's truthfulness.

To the senator, the cop says, "I'm just gonna say I'm disappointed in you sir. I'm (sic) just really am. I EXPECT THIS FROM THE GUY THAT WE GET OUT OF THE HOOD. I mean people vote for you." Quote on Page 6 of the police interview transcript from MSNBC.com.

I'm sure we can infer what the cop meant by expecting lesser or dishonest behavior from people from "the hood." We know exactly what and who the cop is talking about.

Regardless of your position on the Idaho senator's situation, it shows me one thing I've always been told about police -- by a relative who is a FORMER cop. Cops don't have high esteem or opinions of poor people, people of color, and others they go after in high rates.

Now I wonder if the police will do any "attitude" training for their force based on what's in the airport bathroom transcript. Or is it not a big deal? Just all in a day's work, the beliefs about "people from the hood?"

Good Cop Bad Cop
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Detroit... The Scene, Part 2

This is why I'm hot... ok, maybe simmering on a low flame :-)

So today... I'm in Detroit. Regularly... I check my blog and website stats.

Presently... the most viewed page, due to various search engine searches, is an entry I wrote about a Detroit television tradition from back in the day: The Scene. My blog entry here.

Not anything about my books, writing tips, or my thoughts on social justice. The Scene. Jokes on me. lol.

In brief, picture American Bandstand, but with majority black people... who could really, REALLY dance. And really, REALLY dress. Well, for the 80s and 90s. We'd rush home from school, finish homework and chores, so that we could watch The Scene at 6 or 7 on TV62, a black-owned television station at the time.

Anyway, today... curious me YouTube'd The Scene, and found the retrospective from another former tv station here in Detroit, TV50.

These are my roots. These were our free dance lessons (especially check out "The Shake" at 6:14). And this is why I'm... uh, whatever, and the man I am today, lol. (But now, Detroiters, now that you're reading... you can pick up this former Detroiter's novels here and here, lol.)

Fabulous show... that needs to come back to Detroit television. And for you trivia buffs, my very first TV job was on another TV62 show called Teen Profile. I was one of several rotating co-hosts and reporters. That's a whole 'nother story.
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Seeing The World Differently

So today there's a lot on the news regarding the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, commentary on the images, the cleanup, and the state of New Orleans two years after the fact.

Been seeing a lot of the subtle, tinged with racial undertones, critiques of the mayor of the city, who happens to be black. And while I've never lived in New Orleans, and can't comment on the politics of that city, I do know that people of different ethnicities look at black leaders with a an extra eye of scrutiny. Whatever. Most of our parents prepped us for that scrutiny, no matter what level of leadership we take on.

Anyway, one guy with a very good perspective on social justice, ethnicity, and class, is Tim Wise. He's the author of the book, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son.

I've seen him speak several times around the country. Very dynamic. Happens to be white. And very specific as to what he sees as white people's responsibility to use their (unearned) privilege(s) to make things better for people of color and the poor in the U.S.

And wanted to link up to a few of his writings on Katrina and ethnicity, for you to check out when you have time:

What Kind of Card is Race? The Absurdity (and Consistency) of White Denial.
Katrina, Conservative Myth-Making, and the Media.
Of Disasters, Natural and Otherwise.
Racial Differences Responding to Katrina. (a radio interview)
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Pretty Little Mistakes

Did you ever read those Choose Your Own Adventure books when you were a kid?

You know the books... written in second person, as you're the protagonist, and then you reach a part of the story where you can choose (A) or (B) and then turn to the appropriate page. Some choices lead to a happy ending. Some choices lead to a not-so-happy ending. Kind of like the choices we make in our own lives. I LOVED those books when a kid, and would buy them anytime I had extra money.

Fast forward to 2007. Imagine an adult version of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Adult as in with grown ups, not THAT way.

Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton is one such book bringing the magic back to adults. Except this book isn't about fantasy and adventure. It's about real life choices that you and I make as adults... The things we choose that we enjoy, and the things we do that we wish we could do over.

Do you go home with the one you meet at at the club or stay with your friends?
Do you go to college right away or do you travel?
Do you commit or don't commit to the one you think is 'the one'?
Do you work "here" or work "there"?

I brought this one along with me for this time off because I figured it would be entertaining, and also give me multiple stories in one so that I wouldn't have to bring the whole library on the plane with me.

So far, I'm enjoying it a lot. And seeing how large and small choices we make do affect the direction our lives take.

Fun reading! And fun interviews with the author here!
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The $4 Billion Summer

And I think I might have contributed $10 to that total.

That $4 billion figure is the amount of box office sales estimated for Summer 2007 films. Of course the majority of that comes from the summer "blockbusters" that most people attend.

So I sat back and wondered... how is it that the only film I wanted to go see at the movies this summer was Sicko by Michael Moore.

Not that I haven't seen any films this summer. I mostly do Netflix at home -- this summer I've seen Pride, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Chisholm '72, Perfume. Or go to one of the film festivals that take place in L.A. over the summer -- DL Chronicles, Kiss The Bride , and The Believers.

As you can see, I'm more into independent films and documentaries. Not exactly summer movie fare.

But I AM into the fall film releases. And many of those are the films that are more independent and those considered for the major awards during the winter awards season. And I can see a couple others are looking forward to fall films -- Modern Fabulousity and Queering The Apparatus.

So maybe the fact that I didn't contribute much to the summer 2007 box office isn't that bad of a thing... since I'll be in line plenty of times this fall.
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Chill Town in the D-Town

Home sweet home in Detroit for some days, and I'm just absolutely amazed at the amount of new development -- business, housing, and recreational -- taking place in the downtown area.

Last night went down to the new Detroit River Walk area, slightly modeled after Chicago's lakefront area, but less commercial and more of a nod toward the environmental side. Filled with people enjoying the views of downtown Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Couldn't believe the number of people in downtown Detroit... at NIGHT. It was kinda cool.

Eating good, home-cooked food. Visited my cousin's new church today for the first time. Great service. Ate a White Castle, something I hadn't done in a couple years. Forgot about the FOX 2 News helicopters taking off and landing next door to our house. Nice little wake up call in the morning. Not complaining. At all.

Just enjoying a Chill Town kinda weekend and week. And you?
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:-)