I knew it would be bad, but who’d thought it would feel this terrible?

One thing I know is this:

After the jokes, and even as we trigger back into all our various kinds of respect, you can’t help but feel that something else really terrible has happened, more than just his death.

The question is: what?

More later. For now it’s just the sad (and the smiles and the dancing and the listening!)

In the meantime, a nice clippy thing below:

• NYC Baker who is selling ‘Drunken Negro Head’ Cookies – “Ted Kefalinos, the proprietor of a bakery in Greenwich Village (a neighborhood in New York City), can’t understand why the media is having such a field day over his Drunken Negro Head cookies.”
• Spotting the Stereotypes: He’s Just Not That Into You – “… after carefully showing the tortured romantic lives of Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Kevin Connolly, and Ginnifer Goodwin, the camera cuts to two heavyset black women sitting on a bench.One woman looks dead at the camera and says (to some unknown listener) “Girl, you better get yourself some ribs and some ice cream because you’ve been dumped!””
• Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers – “Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.”

Something to shake when Guantanamo isn’t closed in a year. Someone to eyeball when we are still in Iraq in 2011…

Or, maybe, it can be one of those random things that get passed down. An heirloom…

You haven’t read Push?  Read it now. You can catch clips from the film after the jump.

Director Lee Daniels’ adaptation of Sapphire’s critically acclaimed novel, Push, has been awarded several awards at Sundance 2009, chiefly best drama. It has also won the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, and A Special Jury Prize for Acting. 

Daniels also produced Monster’s Ball, which means he was the first African American sole producer of an Academy Award–winning film. 

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe stars as Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones, who, according to Push’s publicity, is “a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor.”

If you’ve read the book, you know that is an immense understatement. Black girl lost was at Sundance, and has a review on her site.

The film also stars Paula Patton and Sherri Shepherd, as well pop culture favorites Lenny Kravitz, Mo’Nique, and Mariah Carey. Kravitz plays a nurse, Carey the social worker who finally reaches out to Precious, and Mo’Nique plays Precious’ abusive mother in what Reuters is already calling “a bravura performance.”

!

I am on the board of directors of a small independent cinema. Here’s to working to make sure Push makes it into theaters! I’m sure the awards won’t hurt– but they aren’t everything.

Here’s a nice interview with director Daniels, with clips from the film. Did I mention you need to go and buy Push right now?

Jimmy Wang

I can’t post the video on $3.60, but click here to watch. 

NPR also had a nice story on Chinese rap group Red Star (pictured above), and The Lab, a nonprofit studio dedicated to developing hip-hop in China.

Hat tip to Jack and Jill Politics.

Please don’t front on Lashabama Barnes!

Well, I must say– that tux, that song: talk about bringin’ sexy back to the white house! 

(Okay, I’m pretty sure the “back” part is an overstatement! Still, don’t tell me some babies didn’t almost get made up in your house.)

Here is a video of the first dance, with Barack Obama’s “I’m gonna hide my nervousness by trying to be suave” intro, and Beyonce’s rendition of Etta James’ “At Last.” 

“First of all… how good lookin’ is my wife?” Hmmm-hmm:

The Mail also has some spectacular ball pix, one of the best assortments I’ve seen.

In the meantime, here is some music for you to listen to while you flip through the pictures and just imagine… imagine a better future for America, silly!

… high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse. Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.

Clearly ahead, it was 59-0 at halftime, the winners beat rival Dallas Academy in what the losing coach Jeremy Civello described as an ongoing “layup drill,” running the ball with full-court presses and three point shots.

Now, it seems, everyone is a bit embarrassed about the tackiness fest that the game seems to have devolved into. 

Nice! Here’s the full story.

According to Rock’s publicity:

When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head!

I have sneaking suspicion Rock knows, but I’m interested in seeing the film anyway!

Bellasugar has a nice definition of good hair, just in case you were wondering.

If you’ve never heard it yourself, labels of “good hair” and “bad hair” are often provided by strangers, stylists, and even loved ones in the Black community based on the texture, thickness, and the styling ease of one’s hair. Even though it’s not always said in a derogatory way, Chris Rock gathers stories and observations to find out exactly what this is, why it is, and what it means for the esteem of the people who receive these unwanted titles.

I know I’ve been saying it over and over again, but check out my post, which touches on the question of beauty in clack communities.  Bellasugar also has this clip, in which Rock says more about the film:

Meanwhile, the Pope has also weighed in on the whole facebook thing, essentially saying that it’s all pretty cool (really, that’s what he said!), but that we best be careful, lest we obsesses, marginalize, and isolate others through our online socializing. In other words, lest it reproduce our less savory tactics in the tactile world.

Oh, and speaking of tactile:

He urges producers to ensure that the content respects human dignity and the “goodness and intimacy of human sexuality.”

That’s hot.  

Here are the stories:

• Facebook Murder Reflects Cultural Shifts – “The integration of new social networking into the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world is dramatically changing communication and introducing unknown new dynamics into ages old-interpersonal issues, including psychosis and violence. There are new questions to ask.”
• Wife murdered for Facebook status – “A man murdered his estranged wife after becoming “enraged” when she changed her marital status on Facebook to “single”.”
• Report: Over 8 in 10 corporations have tax havens – “Eighty-three of the nation’s 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp., had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, a government watchdog said Friday.”