George Lucas 'Red Tails' USA TODAY Interview

My Opinion of The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

I saw the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on Monday, August 22nd, one day before the historic 5.8 earthquake on Tuesday, August 23rd and five days before Hurricane Irene swung through on Saturday, August 27th, both of which we experienced in D.C.

The statue itself is a beautiful, striking, very impressive piece of work. The memorial overall is nice (though both are smaller in person then I thought they would be) and the quotes by Dr. King on all the walls are powerful and moving (had me re-reading some of my books on him and wanting to get more) however and I could be wrong on this, if I am, I stand corrected, I did not see any quotes from Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech where he speaks against the Vietnam War but I was not surprised about that.

In my opinion, anytime The Federal Government is going to put their official stamp on a memorial to honor a black man, depending on who that black man is and what his stance was, and what he lived his life for and died fighting for, I think certain quotes are going to be left out or re-worded.

On one hand, I am happy this memorial was done, on the other hand, I honestly think they could have chosen probably up to 10 or 20 other poses of Dr. King. From what I've heard The King Family approved this final image so as they say, it now is what it is.

Some folks who have seen it were so moved by it they cried. Some thought he looks too mean or angry. Some thought he should look this way as if he's saying, we still have a long way to go and there still is no need to smile, a justified, uncompromising pose. Some are totally happy with it. Like all art, it is subjective upon the viewer's eyes as to their interpretation.

I followed this story pretty much from the groundbreaking via black press and black radio, including getting all the updates and overall, I wish the groups that handled the whole memorial would have been more inclusive of many others ideas, visions, input, insight, etc. instead of so exclusive as to all the decisions and choices. Even if as it's been reported, a Black American Stone Sculptor was not found or chosen for this project, and that was why they chose a Chinese stone sculptor, I would have liked to seen more Black artists considered who submitted conceptual designs of the overall memorial as the final 10 picks for consideration, etc. From what I understand a local DC black owned and operated architectural company was involved in the project but not the statue itself.

Poet and author Maya Angelou said in an article today that the recently unveiled monument to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is inscribed with a quote taken out of context that makes the preacher seem "arrogant." See http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/maya-angelou-says-memorial-makes-mlk-look-arrogant-153930799.html

In my opinion, none of the encrypted words came off as arrogant to me but I do think it is a good catch by Dr. Angelou that they paraphrased some of his words and quotes on the inscriptions on the walls. I agree one's quotes should not be paraphrased, especially not in stone and esp not in one's own memorial.

Because of Hurricane Irene hitting D.C. the weekend of August 27th-28th, there was an announcement by the Committee that they are postponing the official ceremony to some time in September or October or possibly indefinitely.

Tom Joyner told Rev. Sharpton this morning to suggest to the MLK Memorial Committee that the MLK Memorial Dedication should be moved to MLK's Holiday: Monday, January 16th, 2012.

Ultimately, I feel like all things in life, It's All Divine. The MLK Tribute will take place exactly when it's supposed to take place and not a day earlier or a day later. It's on God's Time so I'm good with that. I'm glad I got to see it on Monday night ahead of both the earthquake and the storm.

Statues are forever so we have a long time to talk about this and discuss it and even critique it but I do look forward to all the discussions and especially the black writers and black bloggers pov's after they see it as well. I think people in the upcoming weeks opinions on the memorial will be very varied honestly. ~LT

Cee Lo Green - Cry Baby (Official Video)

When I read that Cee Lo has a new video starring Jaleel White I thought he was going to have Jaleel playing Urkel as a grown up Urkel who never changed wearing the same Urkel clothes. (would have been a funny yet too easy move) After seeing the video I see he chose to have Jaleel play a younger version of himself (Cee Lo) in a 1950s era scenario breaking the fourth wall with humor. Creative.

Website coming soon! Keep checking back!

I been away from my blog for a minute but I'm back, got my construction hat on, tweaking some thangs and it's bout to be on and poppin back up in here. Thanks for your patience to all who have been following me either on blogger or facebook. More coming soon. ~LT

I'm Back!

Taking things to a whole nother level. Stay tuned. ~LT

Testing From My Blog

Testing From My Blog ~LT

My Super 8 Review: Why Generation Connect (Generation X) Will Enjoy This Movie (And Their Parents & Children Too)

Ah, 1979. Sony introduces The Walkman. Rubix Cubes have become a pop icon. The Knack's "My Sharona" is rockin' on the radio. Pink Floyd releases "The Wall". Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" is in stores, on the radio, and playing everywhere. Also on the radio and in record stores you'll find the music of The Bee Gees, ABBA, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind, & Fire, and Rod Stewart. Disco is juuuuuuuust dying out. (And I do mean just.)

President Jimmy Carter is President. Gas is about 86 cents a gallon. Movies like Superman, Every Which Way But Loose, Rocky II, Alien, The Amityville Horror, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Moonraker, The Muppet Movie, The Deer Hunter, and Kramer vs. Kramer are playing in theaters.

Turn on the TV and you see: Walter Cronkite anchoring the news, M*A*S*H, The Waltons, Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie, Saturday Night Live (Seasons 4 & 5 are on the air), Charlie's Angels, Family Feud, Quincy, M.E., The Love Boat, Three's Company, Dallas ("Who Shot J.R.?"), Different Strokes ("Whatchutalkinbout, Willis?"), Mork and Mindy ( Na-Nu-Na-Nu!) and Taxi.

The arcades are not even in full swing yet so pinball machines are still the thing but a new device called Mattel's Electronics Football is either in the hands or on the wish list of not only every little boy but even grown men.

But I digress.

Super 8 is a fun, funny, and not to sound too cliche but in this case it's true, "Filled with Thrills and Chills!" type of movie.

It takes you back to a simpler time. No computers, no iPhones, no iPads, no Internet. It has elements of E.T., The Goonies, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Jaws, and a few others.

Watching this movie made me realize what I have been thinking about for the last 20 years or so: "What Happened To That Good Ole' Summer Movie Feeling I Used To Get?"

The nature of Hollywood Super Duper Summer Movies to go bigger and louder has somehow become all too routine and formulaic but in the case of Super 8, J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg manage to re-capture that feeling we had as kids back in the'70s and '80s when we used to see Sci-Fi films in the summer and left the theater or the Drive-In feeling entertained, excited, happy, satisfied, and looking forward to seeing it again.

One of the strong points of this movie is the cast of child actors. They really delivered. Great performances of real kids portraying real kids without it coming off as too campy or too corny or as if they were chosen out of the Hollywood Squeaky Clean Child Actors Guild ("We need 4 cutesy child actors for this movie! Call SAG!") Not here. Just kids being kids.

This movie also surprised me in that aside from all the action and suspense scenes (something Spielberg is a master at) it also has a lot of heart and soul in the story line and actually made me care about the characters.


I must add that not only the pace of the story is great but the humor keeps this movie moving and the audience I was with ate it up. If you were born in the mid to late '60s to early '70s, again, you will especially love this movie.

If it weren't for today's great special effects I could see it being filmed and released in '79, '83, '84, or '85 and folks would still get a kick out of it.

Overall a good, fun summer film that even with the at times excessive cussing from the kids, by today's standards of language, today's kids will enjoy overall and probably find the cussing mild.

One other thing this movie managed to do to the audience including myself: We all stayed to actually see the credits roll. How often does that happen today? Most people leave immediately at the ending except a few. In this case, everyone stayed and we were glad we did. If you stay until the credits roll I think you will too. ~ 4 1/2 Stars. ~ LT

West Wing Week 11/12/10 or "OCONUS"

What an amazing week. ~LT

Happy Birthday, Michael Jackson!

Billboard Magazine Cover Illustration by Mark Stutzman. June 26, 2010 Issue

I thought this illustration was a nice tip of the hat to both Michael Jackson and Norman Rockwell.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial