An observation sent in by a friend. Subject line: Things change in an instant…
Just yesterday I walked by Obama’s house two blocks from me and there wasn’t much going on expect for the usual black Secret Service mini-van parked outside.
I passed by it today just 20 minutes ago and the street is now blocked off with those big concrete barriers to prevent cars from driving by, fences and signs warning Don’t Enter. Now the only people allowed through now are people who live on the block.
Things change in a hurry but at least I live on the safest neighborhood in the city now.
In a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien at the station’s convention headquarters, The CNN Grille, Spike Lee made a producer’s request: He asked O’Brien and CNN to do a “compare and contrast” between the Democratic convention and the Twin-Cities pow-wow of the GOP.
“Look at the composition — at the faces, the genders, the racial composition.”
Leave it to Spike to provide color commentary. He’s right, though: a picture is worth 1,000 votes, uh, I mean, words.
An exclusive from Access Hollywood reports that, at the request of Senator Barack Obama, Jennifer Hudson will sing the National Anthem on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention. Bet his security detail knows all the words to the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack.
Not one to be left out of the youth fest surrounding the Democratic campaign, Senator John McCain has enlisted reinforcements from the under-30 set. At a recent press conference turned pep rally in Phoenix, McCain visited his wife Cindy’s high school (she’s since graduated) and trotted out reggaton king Daddy Yankee to make the nubile young girls present swoon.
Might not be the best choice, though. Wonder if the Senator has any idea that the reggaton king’s hit single, “Gasolina” is about the excessive consumption of gas, suggesting “Every weekend she goes out to have fun! It doesn’t stop my baby from hanging out, cuz she likes gasoline”? Campaign theme song, perhaps?
Oprah Winfrey is stepping down from the cover of O magazine. According to the New York Post, the media mogul says cover duties take up a lot of time and energy and she’s sick of doing it. Though three more shoots are scheduled and will go forward as planned, Winfrey, who has been the sole cover subject since the book launched in 2000, has given editors six months to figure out an alternate plan.
After much speculation on his ability to hold onto his post as governor of New York state, David Paterson finally earned his bona fides — not to govern, mind you — results to date, though mesmerizing, are not conclusive on that. It’s his ability to make the celebrity A-list we’re talking about.
Seems Paterson, for the first time ever in his public life was invited to the East Hamptons acreage of Russell Simmons for Simmons’ Art For Life benefit.
“I finally did something to get him to invite me,” he told New York magazine. As for Simmons, he says the governor has a standing invitation: “He’s doing a lot of things he probably couldn’t do if he had to be elected. I don’t know any candidates who’d campaign on the idea of freeing Slick Rick or recognizing gay marriages.”
UPDATE: Tubbs Jones died at Huron Hospital Wednesday evening.
Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones suffered a brain aneurysm while driving her car in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on Tuesday. Tubbs Jones was spotted driving her car erratically. An officer on the scene was able to offer immediate assistance and she was admitted to Huron Hospital where she remains unconscious.
The Congresswoman, a superdelegate for next week’s Democratic National Convention, was one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest supporters during her primary campaign. Tubbs Jones, elected in 1988, became the first Black woman to represent Ohio in Congress.
People.com reports that Magic Man Ne-Yo has issued a “Lindsay, if you’re out there…” apology to Miss Lindsay Lohan for ever doubting her musical ability. Ne-Yo worked with producer Stargate on Lohan’s single “Bossy,” which he calls “a quality record” and her singing “ridiculously fabulous.”
Hear him eat his own words live on the E!’s Daily 10 on Tuesday. As for “Bossy,” here goes:
F. Gary Gray, director of Set It Off, The Italian Job and the ever hilarious Friday is set to direct the big screen adaptation of the graphic novel “Julius,” a contemporary urban crime adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”
The novel, penned by Antony Johnson and illustrated by Brett Weldele, was published by Oni Press, one of the most respected publishing houses in the genre since 1997. Variety reports that Eric Gitter, co-founder of Oni’s production arm, Closed on Mondays, will produce while Mandalay Pictures, who secured the rights and brought Gray on board, will keep an eye on the bottom line.
Can a modern adaptation of the old bard stand up to the urban crime genre? Book description starts thusly: “Julius is the gangster king of the East End…”
It was reported months ago that Laurence Fishburne was joining the cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, replacing William Peterson after his eight year run with the show. The Hollywood Reporter’s further details about Fishburne’s character and story line reveal what could turn out to be a very juicy role for the Oscar winner with thespian tendencies:
Fishburne plays a former pathologist turned college professor who meets the CSI team during a homicide investigation and joins up with them. No ordinary nutty professor, Fish’s character harbors the unsettling information that his genetic profile matches with that of a serial killer. His story line will revolve around his quest to stay on the DL while discovering the truth about himself. Sounds like the plot of an E. Lynn Harris book…
And now, completely unrelated to just about everything mentioned above, a throwback moment:
