Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in London last week. Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

I'm still just now reassembling the pieces of my head after it blew up while reading the profile.

Here's a snippet:

At times his foster parents had 10 or more African children living with them, including Akinnuoye-Agbaje's two sisters. "It was a strange relationship," he recalls of his feelings for his foster parents. "It was one of love because that's all that I knew, and that's what love is: you accept people for what they are. If I'm honest, it was very tough. My father was a lorry driver, very rarely at home. The house was run by my mother, and because there were 10 or so kids, there was no time for individual attention. It was about survival. It was about where the next meal was coming from. We had to go out and nick things to get it. So there wasn't any love in the sense of hugs or anything like that: there was just no room for it. The only haven I had was sleeping behind the sofa in the corner of the room – that was where I could get some kind of peace."

If it was crowded and chaotic within the home, outside the young boy was in constant danger of physical attack from local kids who, encouraged by their parents, nurtured a violent fear of blacks. He learned to feel the same way himself, running away from the black sailors who occasionally visited the docks from far-off locations.

"I just remember being petrified," he says. "It was as if they were the bogey man to us. Fish and chips and corned beef, that's what I knew. Do you know what I mean?"

As far as the chips and corned beef go, only too well. But the rest is less easy to imagine. Such was his eagerness to fit in that, although his skin clearly told another tale, he thought of himself as white. And if his sense of self wasn't already damaged enough, he knew nothing of his African parents until one day, when he was eight, they turned up out of the blue and took him back to Nigeria.

"It felt like a kidnap," he says, "and it rendered me mute for about nine months. I couldn't speak the language, and if I spoke English I was abused for it. It was quite a culture shock: brutal. I was so traumatised and afraid that I stopped speaking and my [birth] parents thought there was something wrong with me, thought I was possessed. They tried various indigenous ways to deal with it, and when they didn't work they sent me home, back to Tilbury, but kept my sisters there."

Read the full story on The Guardian.

(H/T Richard Prince's Journal-isms)

The second in a series of stories on the people behind your favorite YouTube channels, new and old. The first featured Alison McDonald's "She Got Problems."

Patti LaHelle's "Got 2B Real" is that bit of Internet magic that happens when you create something for your own joy and it turns into an accidental hit. The anonymous, under 30, African American, Philly-resident by-the-way of Virginia had no clue that her love of theater, music, the "divas" and multimedia would lead to a quote-worthy web series full of hilarious "shade." But that's what happens, and TV on the Internet is all the better for it.

Shade, an art form, is all about the sly dig, diss or bit of dirt thrown on someone else's ego parade, best defined by the 1990 film "Paris Is Burning."

Now part of the diva vernacular, "shade" pops up everywhere. Among our entertainers, among bloggers, in Tweets on Twitter. SHADE. Shade is spreading and "Got 2B Real" is a hilarious homage to the art form featuring all my, our and your favorite R&B/Pop divas of the past and present. It's Aretha Franklin throwing shade on Dionne Warwick. It's Patti LaBelle throwing shade on Aretha. It's Beyonce pulling a sly giggle shade on Rihanna. It's Toni Braxton giving husky shade to Mary J. Blige.

And it's hilarious. All hilarious. And mostly written, edited and performed by Patti LaHelle. But the shade never feels like "hate," its more like a diss-filled celebration. LaHelle's interpretation of Mariah Carey, for example, seems so close to the various bits of "shade" Mariah has thrown on others in real life -- like Madonna and Christina Aguliera -- that you start to forget this is a lib-dubbing interpretation and not the real thing.

In fact, I've decided to just pretend that it's real. If only because real-life Patti LaBelle does have a quick wit and a mean side-eye and Dionne Warwick's persona got really real when she threw shade all over Celebrity Apprentice more than a year ago. It's more fun to imagine it that way, like an insider cartoon into the outlandish lives of the golden throated and famous.

The parody started in 2011 with a pair of lip-dubbed, "shade-filled" tribute videos to Patti LaBelle, then turned into a series, starting with a reality show reminiscent story line of a disasterous dinner party thrown for the divas by Patti, then later, a weave snatching at an engagement party for Aretha Franklin. The most recent video is episode 5 of season two: "Crispy Business."

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably answer "all of them," but if you held me down, "Crispy Business," "The Uninvited" and "Don't Call It A Throwback" were the ones I re-watched the most. This is, with all the fast and furious shade throwing, a show worth rewatching over and over to catch what you missed. "Don't Call It A Throwback" has the distinction of being made all from archival images of the singers from the 80s and 90s. I admired LaHelle for being able to dig up some Destiny Child-era Beyonce shade of her eye-balling the other children of Destiny during interviews.

It was after becoming addicted to the videos, I had to interview LaHelle.

In a Q&A with The Snob, LaHelle talks about how she came up with "Got 2B Real" and why she chooses to remain anonymous (for now).

Snob: Where did the idea for Got 2 B Real come from?

LaHelle: Well, this was right in the thick of what was going on between Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj. And I thought it was the pettiest thing. I thought to myself, you know back in the day you could have beef with someone, and most people would never know because these women were trained to carry themselves respectfully and not badmouth a contemporary.

But, this doesn't necessarily mean that they never had problems with each other. So what I did was I wanted to bring old school divas to the forefront and act as if they had no filter anymore, as if everything was was going to come out into the open by creating this outlet. I wasn't only poking fun at the younger artists for the conflict they got involved with, but I wanted to reflect also what their fans/stans sounded like, going back and forth with each other in the name of their "fave."

Snob: What's the process like, putting the episodes together, the dubbing, finding clips?

LaHelle: Throughout the day and conversations and thoughts I have in the span of it, I have a complete list of random sayings or "shade" that I come up with on the spot. I never fashion anything in the form of a script or have the slightest clue ans to when any of my lines will be of use to me. This is usually the first thing I do. Then, I look for clips. I try to get a good feel for their facial expressions and completely block out what they are actually saying. What they say is irrelevant anyway, so if movement and body language sticks out to me, the choice is made.

Dubbing. If I'm collaborating with someone else, I allow them artistic freedom in whatever it is they want to say and whoever it is they want to address. What they say can be completely off the wall, but it's up to me as the creator to make it work. To make it look as cohesive as possible. Now as for me, a lot of times I end up making lines up on the dot by playing the clip for the first time and recording my voice over simultaneously. Even if it doesn't come out the way I want it to, but what I said was of some value, I keep that line and just do it over until it's perfect.

Contrary to popular belief my main goal is not matching up the dub with the actual clip. A lot of the time it happens on accident. But if their movement is or mouth is exaggerated, I will try my best to match it up, even if I have to change the wording of what I'm saying around.

As far as editing it all, there's a certain way I want it to look, a certain rhythm I need for it to have, so it can take hours, days, weeks and beyond just for me to have an episode come out the way I want to. Every choice I make, from what scenery to use in the intro, to what music will be played at the end, is just as important to me as what goes on in between.

Snob: Some of the beats in the show remind me a bit of how reality shows are put together and shot. Do you draw any influence from reality TV?

LaHelle: Yes a lot of influence. I actually fashioned it all in the form of a reality show with a mix of an ongoing group therapy session. Because this is my goal, I enjoy when people can look at the work and talk about it as a show. Addressing the women and events for how they are presented in the show.

Snob: What's the feedback been like with both seasons so far?

LaHelle: The overall feedback has been great. A lot of people expect to watch and be able to laugh right off the bat, but being funny was never what I intended. I only wanted people engaged in what was going on, and the majority are.

A second season was never supposed to happen, but when I saw how many people had been watching and wanted more, I didn't see the harm in starting again. Although, I knew that if I had taken on the challenge, that the bar was going to have to be raised, and I had hoped, and am hoping, that I have done that by not trying consciously trying to top myself.

Snob: What's your background? Have you done writing, film, voice work or editing before? Have you worked in entertainment or music?

LaHelle: I've always been a writer. When I was a kid poetry was my thing, but as I grew older it morphed into stories, and then finally, into songwriting. Which if you ask me, is a bit of poetry and a bit of storytelling. My background, for the most part, is in music. Theater, chorus, band. Editing was just something I did for fun on the side, because it was just another form of creating that satisfied me.

Snob: Are you doing the show anonymously or are you comfortable with people knowing who you are?

LaHelle: I'm doing the show anonymously, for now. This way I feel it's so much easier for people to take the series for what it is even if they still want to know about who is behind it. They want to know what it's made of and by who to soothe their own curiosities, not because they really need the information. They aren't used to being left in the dark because often times people are so quick to want to be recognized and have everyone know "Hey! I did it! It's me! I'm the one!" In refusing to do this, I've realized that when left in the dark, everyone's senses can become heightened towards Got 2B Real. Who I am, what I look like, what I do for a living, all of that is not a factor when it comes to what I've created. They can just see the work. Not me.

Snob: What do you hope will come of this? What's next for you?

LaHelle: Honestly, I've gone into this with no expectations at all. Besides, making people happy and giving them moments to share with friends and family that others might not understand, is fulfilling enough. What's next for me, only God knows, but I am thankful for what is present in my life. The people who watch, the ones who share it with others and come to me with stories about how their aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, and bosses watch and enjoy it just as much as they do. It's a great feeling.

Snob: When's the next video come out?

LaHelle: I try to do at least one a month, because if I rush into a video it's certain to be the worst...although some can argue that I have already made one of my worst. And that's fine. I like to remind both people who think what I do is amazing and those that think it's foolish that no one is truly right in the matter. We all like different things and there is nothing "universally funny" or relatable.

But, I'd like to add that these women are supposed to be caricatures of themselves. An element of what's real and true about them, and exaggerating it to the point where it can become a flaw.

Snob: That's what makes is so much fun, the exaggeration.

You can check out both seasons one and two of "Got 2B Real" on YouTube here and learn more about LaHelle on Facebook here. You can also follow her on Twitter here. Up next: Issa Rae's hugely popular "Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl," and Tanjereen's "The Celibate Nympho."

Because GOP wannabe Mitt Romney is insecure, fearful of offending ANY CONSERVATIVE EVER and butthurt for friends, America's gilded bag of Cheetos dust covered in random hair clippings, aka Donald Trump, is back. Trump, for some perverse, publicity-laden reason is a Romney "surrogate." Probably because Romney saw his favorable ratings finally go up a little, got concerned he might actually win this thing, and deployed this asshole to tell us how Barack Obama is one of the lizard people.

It's a curious strategy, but if the goal is to NOT get elected ... it's just crazy enough to work.

In the understatement of the year, CNN's Wolf Blitzer told Trumpy he was "beginning to sound a little ridiculous" during an interview where Trump's "birther" beliefs were revisited.

From Huffington Post:

"Here’s the question," Blitzer interrupted. "Did the conspiracy start in 1961 where the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu advertiser contemporaneously published announcements that he was born in Hawaii?"

"That's right. And many people put those announcements in because they wanted to get the benefits of being so-called born in this country. Many people did it. It was something that was done by many people even though they weren’t born in the country. You know and so do I. And so do a lot of your viewers, although you don't have many viewers, Wolf," Trump argued.

Blitzer later asked Trump to give him a name of someone who considered Obama's birth certificate fake. "I don't give names," Trump pressed. 

Oh. OK, then. 

That settles it, folks! Obama was born in Kenya because the bag of self-tanner, multiple bankruptcies and puckered anuses said so!

Trump, because he's such an awesome Romney surrogate, has made himself the main story -- appearing on countless news programs so others can get a taste of what Blitzer got a bite of. After all, it wasn't like Romney had any news, other than by winning the Texas Primary Mittens is now the statistical, for-really-real GOP nominee. But instead of rehashing how Mittens, the mismatched Christmas glove no one wanted, managed to outwit, outlast and outplay a barrel of idiots, crazy people, grifters and political hobos ... we get Trump.

Talking "birtherism."

This is what you get, America, for not paying enough attention to "Celebrity Apprentice." 

I mean, did you even KNOW, America, that there was a new season of "Celebrity Apprentice" (I didn't) and that Arsenio Hall crawled all the way from the back of the 1990s to win it? Did you even care? Or were you too busy hate-watching Vh-Bravo's Real Basketball Wives of the Mob? (It's the only one where you can see Drita D'Avanzo and Tami Roman fight to the death in a ring of Louboutins and the bones of Meeka Claxton.)

Well, because of YOU, Trump is BACK! With Trump things to say. And Trump things to do. And TRUMP! Just TRUMP! Not, Mitt Romney, but TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUUUUMMMMMPPPPPP!

When asked for comment on all this, Mittens said he appreciated Trump's support even if they don't agree on every little thing. And then Mittens went inside of the bathroom on his plane, sat on the toilet, put his head in his hands and died a little on the inside.

"Think of the votes. The nutbags love this guy. So they'll have to love me because I hang out with him. Can't afford to lose the nutbag vote. Just suck the pain way, way down until it's like it's not even there. Until one day it builds to the point that I murder him with my bare hands after the election and leave his body in a landfill outside of Atlantic City. Whoooo-saaaaah! Whatever it takes."

Whatever. It. Takes.

New logo for my professional site by my friend, artist Jada Prather.

Right now I'm working a new post for Clutch Magazine about adult bullying this week in the wake of so many reality shows wrapping this month. I've had to deal with my fair share of childhood bullying and, later, bullying from wack job white supremacists in Southern Illinois when I was editor-in-chief of my college newspaper, then I got to expend tons of energy trying to prevent cyberbullying on this very site (and every blog I've ever made) because some folks on the Internet just have nothing better to do. But I mostly think all this reality show bullying is what happens when something fake becomes real, but then is, in turn, still rather fake.

It's easy to get lost in your own hype when the character your try to project melds with the fake world you're asked to live in for the reality show. While I enjoyed Victoria Rowell playing her character of Drucilla on The Young and the Restless, I never thought Rowell WAS Drucilla. But on many reality shows, that's what happens. The people on there fall into types and roles, sometimes due to editing, sometimes due to their own personas and the pressure to create some kind of storyline for themselves. And then, it all unfolds like one of those psychological experiments about how if you have people play out roles of prison guards and prisoners, even if they know its not real initially, they will turn into the characters they were asked to play. It's really fascinating. Kind of like the book "The Wave" that I read as a child in school that explained how easy it is for people to get swept up into things and take on roles -- hence explaining how the Nazis took over Germany.

Not that VH-1's Basketball Wives are Nazis. It's more like an illegally pledging sorority undergrad chapter on a college campus with weak graduate chapter oversight who have begun to believe getting punched in the mouth build character in your pledges. Instead of assault charges.

President Barack Obama talks with former President Bill Clinton before an event in McLean, Va., Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

First off: What on Earth is going on in Tennessee?

Tennessee has been in the news a lot lately because they've decided to fight their high teen pregnancy rate by making sure their children are even more ignorant about their bodies. Purveyors of the popular "if we talk to them about sex they'll do it" myth, the Tennessee legislature has chosen to bury their heads in the sand and pretend like they don't get MTV below the Mason-Dixon line.

Then there's that whole "don't say gay" bill debacle. It's a fun state, obviously run by the real-life version of sex-obsessed Internet trolls.

So with a legislature out fighting the scourge of gay people and children holding hands (rather than poverty, unemployment and poor education), it's not that shocking that some folks in Tenessee might be all "Maybe that half-colored fella ain't so bad."

From The Tennessean:

President Barack Obama has pulled into a virtual tie with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in traditionally conservative Tennessee, according to a new Vanderbilt University poll.

The poll also found that Tennesseans weren’t thrilled with the Republican-led General Assembly’s frequent focus on social, cultural and religious issues this year. But Republican Gov. Bill Haslam managed to remain above the fray, winning approval from 61 percent of poll participants.

“Tennessee is clearly a red state,” said John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt. “But these data show that the public is much more moderate than our state legislature.”

The poll of 1,002 Tennessee residents who are 18 and older found 42 percent would vote for Romney and 41 percent for Obama if the election were held now. The survey, conducted May 2-9 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Vanderbilt, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

But then again, maybe not.

“It’s not that close a race,” Geer said, predicting Romney would prevail with little trouble. “I suspect a lot of hard-core conservatives are still getting used to the idea of Romney as the nominee, and by the time the general election comes along, they’ll be in lock step with Romney. But right now there’s a small chunk that are still being cautious.”

This reflects how a lot of conservative voters are slowly coming around to Romney despite a general dislike of him, fulfilling that old addage of "Republicans don't fall in love. They fall in line." 

Which brings us to: GOP to Mittens -- He Ain't So Bad, Maybe, But Not Really

Politico has a story up today titled "GOP discovers that Mitt Romney could win." Which is breath-taking in that it means they didn't think he had a shot before.

From Politico:

“Romney is a lot better off than I expected him to be this quickly,” said former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who cast a primary vote for Newt Gingrich. “A lot of people were concerned that Romney, with his being the least conservative of all the Republican candidates, was going to have to work hard to unite the party — that he would have a serious sales job on his hands. But President Obama has apparently taken care of that for him.”

Barbour said that after a gaffe-filled primary, he expected a bruised Romney “to start down but hopefully not by double digits.

“But that he’s this close has surprised and encouraged me — and I think it has encouraged Republicans around the country.”

BUT!!!

GOP leaders are still somewhat daunted by Obama’s seeming advantage on the electoral map, recognizing that the president has, for now, an easier path to 270 electoral votes than Romney. And more than a few are still concerned about their candidate’s penchant for self-inflicted wounds, wondering only half in jest whether they’d be better off with Romney in a bunker for the duration of the campaign.

Nice vote of confidence, folks.

But it is true. The more Mittens talks, the less people like him. If they could just -- somehow -- keep him tied up in a basement with a muzzle on until November while they work on developing a gaffe-free Mittens 2.0 not run on Windows Vista. Because every time that little MS Word "Clippy" thing pops up asking Romney Bot: "I see you're trying to run for the president of the United States. Would you like some help?" he crashes into the blue screen of death and starts talking about how many boats he owns.

Republicans can only dream.

The first in a series of stories on the people behind your favorite YouTube channels, new and old. First up, YouTube "TV on the Internet" newcomer Alison McDonald (sister of Broadway star Audra McDonald) who seeks to show a different side of the black female experience that likes French films and musical numbers.

Alison McDonald is a Fullbright Scholar, aspiring film director, actress and "funny lady," currently studying with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. But she also has "problems" as evidenced by her new web series chronicling the more bizarre aspects of her singledom and career.

In a Q&A with The Snob, Alison talks about her ambition, the artists she admires and what it's like to make a go for it with a web series (in hopes of it becoming a TV series or film) in a world of both great opportunity (think Shonda Rhimes and "Scandal") and a world of obstacles (think of how it's pretty much just Shonda Rhimes right now) for a black actress, writer and director. 

Alison McDonaldSnob: What was the inspiration behind She Got Problems?

I wanted to create a character in the mold of the great comedic heroines, with their crackling wit and irrepressible brio, from 1930s and 40s screwball comedies; namely, Claudette Colbert (The Palm Beach Story), Rosalind Russell (His Girl Friday), and Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve).

The two “trailers” I’ve written and directed (She Got Problems and Alison Is Having A Really Bad Day) aren’t traditional trailers, in the sense that they’re not edited scenes from the first two episodes.  The thought behind them was to establish the series’ wantonly whimsical tone, and to illustrate the range of musical numbers it will feature: from Busby Berkeley spectacles to steamy tangos. 

I’ve actually been developing She Got Problems for the past six years.  When I began, there were no television shows on any of the major networks, or premium cable channels, with African-American female protagonists. (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency was canceled after its initial season.)  Six years later, there is exactly one! Thankfully, she isn’t a humble maid, an emasculating cop, or a weave-snatching banshee.  I’m stating the obvious here, but, with very few exceptions, we’re not portrayed in any other manner. 

Snob: What are your long-term goals, dreams for the series?

My goal is to see She Got Problems fully realized, whether as a television series, a web series, or as a film.  I’ve experimented with all three versions, and believe that all three could serve the subject matter well.  So, the determining factor will be financing.  

Snob: How did you get into film-making?

I originally set out to be a playwright, but was slowly seduced by film while a student at NYU.  I still hope to have a play produced.  However, I first need to conquer my fear of directing for the stage – or strong-arm George Wolfe into directing my play for me!

Snob: What are some of your favorite films and/or directors? 

Compiling a list of favorites is always agonizing!  Among my favorite films of all time are: Cuban filmmaker Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s Memories of Under Development, Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains, Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, Howard Hawks’ Bringing up Baby, Fellini’s 81/2, Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.   

I also love the “pre-code” comedic melodramas that celebrated depravity, shining examples of which are: The Blue Angel, with Marlene Dietrich, and Read-Headed Woman and Red Dust, with Jean Harlow.  Best of all is when the genre was combined with a musical, as in Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dancing Lady, which featured the Three Stooges and Fred Astaire (in his screen debut) alongside romantic leads Joan Crawford and Clark Gable.  That film has something for everybody. 

Favorite directors, for the sheer scope of their work and their indelible mark on the art form: Fellini, Wong Kar Wai and the Coen Brothers.

Snob: What do you think of how black women are represented in scripted television and film? How is it different -- better or worse -- from the 1990s? Recently several black actresses, particularly those who worked during the 90s, have expressed dismay at how things seem to be going backwards for them in terms of roles and progress.

It boggles the mind to recall the time when The Cosby Show, A Different World (It’s criminal that Jasmine Guy and Cree Summer couldn’t get steady work after that show!) and Living Single were all on major networks.  That’s unthinkable now.  Sadly, even when black actresses had a more prominent presence on screen, it rarely translated into jobs for black female writers or directors.  That discrepancy still exists.

Snob: What do you think of all the buzz around Lena Dunham's "Girls" for HBO? Have you seen it? If so, what are your thoughts and what do you think of the absence of black women (or any real diversity) in it? 

I did see the pilot, and think Lena is talented.  However, I certainly understand the outrage arising from her monochromatic portrait of contemporary Brooklyn.  As a New Yorker, and former Brooklyn dweller, it almost felt anachronistic to me, which is all the more baffling for a show staking its reputation on authenticity.  Of course, as a writer one wants artistic freedom; if, to Lena, that means excluding other races from her central cast, then so be it.  I honestly don’t take umbrage at that.  (Hollywood has an unsavory tradition of White writing staffs creating characters of color, and look where it’s gotten us.)  That said, I could do without another prickly Asian girl at a computer, and another a homeless black man accosting a White girl.  (To me, those particular artistic choices speak volumes.)  If there’s a silver lining to Girls, it’s that its racial exclusivity is considered newsworthy.  Two years ago it wouldn’t have garnered a single headline.

Snob: Is there any show/film, past or present, that you really felt spoke to your experience as a woman or minority? This can be a black film or TV show or not. Some of the films that I felt spoke to me the most were the MTV production "Better Luck Tomorrow" -- which was about suburban Asian American kids, "Eve's Bayou," and the film "Mixing Nia" that starred Karyn Parsons. 

I honestly can’t think of a film or television show within those parameters. (Of course, it’s impossible to overstate the psychological impact of seeing Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad portrayed as quintessentially American parents.  It signified validation for an entire generation of black youth.)  However, there are numerous examples in literature: Langston Hughes (“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”), Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon), James Baldwin (The Fire Next Time), Thulani Davis (Everybody’s Ruby), George Wolfe (The Colored Museum, The Wild Party) and, perhaps most profoundly, the collected plays of August Wilson, my favorites being Two Trains Running and Jitney.

Snob: What do you think of YouTube and potentially, video-on-demand sites like Netflix, impact on creating more diversity in content targeted to minorities and women? Often the mainstream seems to just pick one acceptable ethnic "trope" (in the 90s it was "hood" films, now it's Tyler Perry films. If you're Asian is all kung-fu all the time. And Hollywood doesn't even really bother to make films to appeal to Latinos with any frequency), but on-line it really lowers the entry/audience bar for aspiring film-makers. Do you think YouTube can turn into real success for women and minority film-makers?

Access to the means of production remains a big hurdle for most filmmakers of color, especially women.  What Youtube can ultimately do is eliminate the gatekeepers of traditional media. 

Snob: What's next for you and "She Got Problems?"

Bringing it to a screen (large, small, or portable) in the very near future!  Thank you for devoting space on “The Black Snob” (something I’ve surely been called) to my trials in Hollywood.  Simply being an African-American female writer/director/performer means I “got problems,” but I’m determined to overcome them – through song & dance!

Up next: The anonymous woman behind your favorite "Diva Variety Show," Patti LaHelle with "Got 2B Real," Issa Rae's hugely popular "Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl," and Tanjereen's "The Celibate Nympho."

The Snob

From Clutch:

While every family is free to grieve in whatever way they feel fit, there’s something ghoulish about grief via reality TV.

The Houston family’s sudden move from the background in Whitney’s life to the limelight has shades of the most recent season of Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The series went morbid late last year in the aftermath of cast member Taylor Armstrong’s husband’s suicide. Armstrong, who was a battered spouse, rounded out her public grief with a book tour.

And the Houston family has had their reputations rocked by reality TV before with the image tarnishing embarrassment that was Being Bobby Brown. The 2005 Bravo network show chronicled Houston’s then husband Bobby Brown and his children’s lives with a seemingly out-of-it Houston along for the ride. While highly rated, the show only lasted one season after Houston refused to appear in any more episodes.

Maybe the show will be a loving, comical, and career-boosting tribute, akin to what Braxton Family Values has been for singer Toni Braxton and her loving, bickering, then loving again sisters. But something about it makes me not want to trust it. Something about how for months since Houston’s death someone within the family has routinely leaked gossip to sites like TMZ about Houston’s mother Cissy’s reactions and Bobbi Kristina’s personal life. Houston’s death knocked down that last remaining wall of what was left of her personal life and made it public.

Read the full post at Clutch Magazine Online.

You know it's serious when they stick "Hussein" in there to hit that "exotic other" angle. Like he was Saddam's cousin or something.

The chickens have come home to roost! But since right wingers don't really understand what that phrase means, the chickens actually showed up at their coop talking about, "Really? Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Again? Are you going to bring back Glenn Beck's show again so he can do another 12-part series on Black Liberation Theology?"

Then they went cluck-cluck-cluck and pooped all over everything just like chickens do.

This latest failed plot to finally get that wily Metrosexual Abe Lincoln Barack Obama involves something called "The Plan," proving to me once and for all that all GOP operatives are secretly Cylons. "The Plan" is to "do exactly what John McCain would not let us do." Which was what? Make yourselves look like bigger fools than you already are?

From The New York Times:

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.

The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”

The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”

Well, of course, since the plan is about rehashing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. drama of 2008 where you got a lot of "The President sat in that church and listened to the words 'Goddamn, America,'" and ignored the entire history of everything and just sat on the floor screaming "Reverse Racism Vampire" until then Senator Barack Obama gave his big ol speech on "RACE" and reminded folks that it's not that rare for a man of Wright's age, who's been through segregation and seen the absolute worse of racism, to be jaded and not all that cheery about his place of birth -- even though he still lives here, pays taxes and hopes for the best. And also that the President was raised by white people, of whom he loved and loved him, and who like all Americans, had some prejudices.

So there was a lot of clapping. At one point Wright got to do a George Jefferson-style ho-down on national television that my parents found hilariously delightful. And then he mash potatoed on into semi-obscurity.

But for whatever reason, there's this whole conservative meme that this story wasn't "investigated" enough, even though the No. 1 cable news network in all the land, FOX News, was the first to break the story and rode that pony well into the election season, building up all that attention and scrutiny and hype that lead to Wright's showing out and Obama having to denounce the whole thing.

But THAT WASN'T ENOUGH! MOAR! MOAR!

The 54-page proposal was professionally bound and illustrated with color photographs, indicating that it is far beyond a mere discussion. The strategists have already contacted Larry Elder, a black conservative radio host in Los Angeles, about serving as a spokesman, and the plan calls for a group of black business leaders to endorse the effort. The strategists have also registered a domain name, Character Matters.

The proposal suggests that Mr. Ricketts believes the 2008 campaign of Senator John McCain erred in not using images of Mr. Wright against Mr. Obama, who has said that the pastor helped him find Jesus but that he was never present for Mr. Wright’s politically charged sermons. Mr. Obama left the church during the campaign.

Apparently referring to a Wright ad that was produced for the McCain campaign by Mr. Davis’s firm but never used, the proposal opens with a quote from Mr. Ricketts: “If the nation had seen that ad, they’d never have elected Barack Obama.”

I said it in 2008 and I'll say it again: C'mon, RNC! Put out some new tracks! I'm tired of the remixes!

Since the news broke, the Chicago Cubs co-owner and AmeriTrade founder footing the bill Joe Ricketts and the SuperPac behind it were inundated with the "Giant Public Wagging Finger of Shame" and Ricketts side-stepped the whole thing with a response of What proposal? That proposal! OMG, we're so offended too! How could someone send me that thing! Wait? You think I was going to use that thing? OMG! *clutches baseball bats*

From Politico:

“I was immediately troubled by the proposal. It surprised me,” Brian Baker, president of Ending Spending Action Fund, funded by billionaire Joe Ricketts, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We run an organization based on fiscal responsibility. They know we asked for a document based on ending spending, fiscal responsibility and jobs in the economy. This is far afield from that.”

Baker said it was “deeply troubling and unfair” for their organization — and Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade billionaire who funds the super PAC — to be associated with the proposal, since they had never approved anything in it and didn’t commission such a proposal.

“The world is full of bad ideas. This is one of them,” the super PAC president said. “This wasn’t a proposal we requested at all. We never funded it … We had nothing to do with the suggestion of Reverend Wright.”

Baker explained that their organization had requested a general proposal but neither approved or condoned what was submitted.

Well, that settles it! Nothing to see here! Let's just dust our hands and declare it a slow news day at The Times, eh?

That said, if the best dig anyone can come up with is that the president is some "Metrosexual black Abe Lincoln" that actually sounds kind of awesome. (Even if the president is really more like Tuvok in dad jeans.) I mean, metrosexual implies he's well-groomed and well-dressed, probably smells nice and looks good. Abraham Lincoln is one of America's greatest and most legendary presidents who has two movies coming out about him. (In one he kills Vampires!) He also has one more popular presidential monuments in Washington, D.C. and kids actually get to learn about in history class because -- usually -- they'll at least get up to the Civil War before they go back to making them memorize multiplication time tables.

Also, he once ethered Chuck Norris in a really epic rap battle. 

And I'm sure Obama's been called far worse things. Far worse.