The Hard Right Turn to Infotainment at CNN

In her Black America Web commentary, Deborah Mathis effectively makes the case as CNN takes it's latest downward turn to compete with Fox.

Artistic Motivation and Watching Artists Be Artists

Part of the pleasure of watching Bravo's Project Runway is to watch artists doing what they love. The phrase "be true to yourself" is so overused as to immediately evoke some Dr. Phil vibe, but the designers on Runway seem to mean it.

The sincerity of Daniel Franco showed through regularly and now on his MySpace account he has begun Art Star, an open dialogue about what inspires an artist. I plan to visit regularly to see what moves people to do anything creative.

I'm always quickly turned off by someone who gravitates to the arts as an avenue to simply seek fame or wealth. You see it in school a lot these days. I've heard of students in these classes whose questions are not about craft but the first thing they want to know is how much money they'll make and how fast.

Back to the Runway, I remember an interview with Nick Verreos where he complains about students who are rich kids who think that they don't have to work hard to get somewhere. I've heard of this too, as an example a student in their first hospitality class who introduces themselves with the name of the hotel chain their father owns.

But back to the positive, I've narrowed down my own style to: working fast and cheap on projects I care about for people I like. And like several people have already added on Mr. Franco's project, music that creates mood is my most consistent motivator. I also like to read books about or by artists along with watching biopics or documentaries for motivation.

On The Positive Friday: The Return of Sly Stone

The Washington Post reports that negotiations are under way for a Sly and The Family Stone reunion at this year's Grammys. If Sly is looking good and feeling good and sounding good, this will be a top Grammy moment thta will honor someone who truly single-handedly did so much to shape the pop music of the last 40 years in America.

Do yourself a favor and go listen to the lyrics of "Everyday People" or immerse in the bass line of "Thank You" and feel good on Friday. It'll take you higher. Boom chaka laka laka.

Why was "Welcome to the Neighborhood" Spiked?

You tell me and we'll both know. However, the NYT poses some questions and theories including ABC/Disney having a much bigger marketing target to cultivate with "Chronicles of Narnia" and the Southern Baptists.

Maybe ABC/Disney was uncomfortable with the animosity toward the gay couple shown by their potential neighbors. There was a tolerance lesson learned by at least one neighbor.

Maybe ABC/Disney didn't want to be in the position of delivering a "people can change their attitudes" message? Or more ominously, they just didn't want to show a gay couple winning.

Intrigue aside, "Neighborhood's" no-go does seem to at least fit the general trend that you can have gay people on big network TV as long as they are funny stereotypes ... or played by straight actors.

What Would You Do to Get Published?

Fiction authors, particularly first time writers trying to break into the publishing world face a growing dilemma. Publishers want an author who “lived the story.” See a novel about a woman and her kids overcoming death and divorce and starting over? Flip to the author’s bio and you will see “the author recently moved to Atlanta following the death of her husband. She is the mother of three children. This is her first novel.”

James Frey was rejected fifteen times, according to the Smoking Gun expose. The story states:

“Of course, if "A Million Little Pieces" was fictional, just some overheated stories of woe, heartache, and debauchery cooked up by a wannabe author, it probably would not get published. As it was, Frey's original manuscript was rejected by 17 publishers before being accepted by industry titan Nan Talese, who runs a respected boutique imprint at Doubleday (Talese reportedly paid Frey a $50,000 advance). According to a February 2003 New York Observer story by Joe Hagan, Frey originally tried to sell the book as a fictional work, but the Talese imprint "declined to publish it as such."

And now the author Nasdijj, who says he's of Navajo descent, may be a white writer impersonating an Indian.

According to a Washington Post story, LA Weekly is, “Citing documents and interviews with scholars, Indian authors and his acquaintances and colleagues, the magazine alleges that Nasdijj is really named Timothy Barrus, a writer of gay and pornographic literature.”

We will probably get bogged down on the details of what constitutes “the truth” in many a book (not to mention juicy tidbits about Mr. Barrus' other writings.) But remember the budding fiction authors for whom simply making up an interesting tale is not enough to get onto the shelves.

For those of you who never heard of Parliament ...

Mayor Nagin explains "Chocolate City" one more time ... this time in DC

Washington Post Article