Couch Tomato

Lucky that was a nightmare. Ha ha Ooh I've had stuff bubbling up inside me about this movie so I'll take this opportunity to get it out. I respect everyone's opinion but mine will be different I'm sure. I read The Help and I found it to be a beautiful book. The book is not written from a black person's point of view because the author is white but guess what -- to me everybody has a right to tell their story. I'm mostly a history buff and what I like to do is find a subject (be in Vietnam War, Watergate, slavery) and then read 5 or 6 books on the topic back to back to back from various points of view. One of my favorite books is "I'm Down" which I highly recommend about a white woman who grew up in a black neighborhood with a white father that thought he was black. It was SO good and funny and it was nice for me to read that perspective which is not mine but runs parallel to mine. And yet I recognized so much of my upbringing in it. Is it wrong that a white person tells the race's secrets? That is something even I fall victim to right now. When Oprah did a topic on "good hair" and the color prejudiced within the race I was like OH NO OPRAH... don't be telling the secrets to everybody. But it's something that is ingrained in us to this day. I'm not sure what's wrong with a book in dialect. Is that not reflective of the period? And would the book make more sense if it was written in the King's English? Would it ring more true to anyone? Do some black people in the south not speak in dialect? I have relatives in South Carolina that I could barely understand as a child which would be this same general period. Do we want to act like they don't exist? Some critics that I've read said there were no positive black male role models. Again, why does every book have to address this. And this is the same argument used against The Color Purple. The movie was denigrated by the black press for the very same reason. If I recall correctly the NAACP called for a boycott. And then 5 or 10 years later they are trying to honor the movie that they boycotted. I stood and cheered when Whoopie told them how wrong they were at the award ceremony. We can not forget slavery. We can not forget separate but equal. We can not forget that just a generation ago there were so few avenues available to black people in this country. In my life time I have seen white and black waiting rooms. But it's also true that my own mother - the big city girl - picked cotton when she was young. Many of my aunts were domestics. Yet any book written about the subject is supposed to be off limits to black actors, the black audience who is supposed to look at it with suspicion and white folks are supposed to feel guilty for enjoying it. Not every domestic is a mammy. And hopefully the movie will let you get inside the ladies' head as the book did. Now I am talking generally because I haven't seen the movie. I only read the book. But I will go see it and then judge it for myself. Who know if what was put to screen was as good as I found the book. In the book, these black women rebelled against oppression every single day. They fought back with dignity. I also could relate very highly to Skeeter - someone uncomfortable in her own skin and who didn't fit the mold of the other women around her. And this whole idea that it took a white woman to bring out these feelings is certainly not what I got from the book. The Civil Rights movement was not built on just black people but it's somehow wrong to tell that other story. I loved one of the other white characters that was ostracized because she was "poor" and took some man that someone else thought was there's. Forget her name right now. To me one of the only problems with the book is that a few of the white women came off as cartoonish but that is probably my 2011 sensibility speaking because slavery and Jim Crow could not have existed unless there were people exactly like some of the women in this book. But also I think part of the problem is that some people are upset that a book on this subject by a white author gets made into a movie while books by blacks don't. Now THAT I can understand but that has nothing to do with the book itself. Those issues definitely exist. I can see "I'm Down" also being made into a movie and people having the same reaction. But I would run to see it. I don't often agree with the so called black leadership or the hip media. Their focus is often in places I find unimportant. I also don't support black because they are black. And until i hear loud and clear criticism about the junk we put out as representative of ourselves then I'm not likely to listen to their opinion. As for some of the criticism...this isn't a book about Medger Evers. It's not a documentary. It's not all inclusive of the black or white experience of the period. It's one extremely small slice of the pie. I don't think I've ever read a vampire book. I saw Twilight, the movie, and I hated it. I think mostly because that actress was so unappealing. The guys aren't all that either or maybe I'm just too old. I couldn't believe anyone would fall all over himself for her. Don't like Tom Cruise so didn't see Interview with a vampire. Plus I'm still mad that he hijacked the Mission Impossible franchise and turned it into something it wasn't LOL. I do like True Blood although I've only seen the first season. But now that I have HBO again I'll try to watch the other seasons. Does anyone use HBO GO? I don't go to the movies much. The last movie I saw at the theater was Despicable Me which I loved. But yep. I fell asleep. And the one before that as Avatar in 3 D -- fell asleep for 30 minutes in that one. Heee. Soon as I get in a car or in a theater...I'm out like a light.

Ha ha..just woke up and saw how light it was outside. Checked the clock and saw that it was after 7 and than ran to the bathroom and turned on the shower and called my sister to see how far along she was in getting up and out. She said...crazy girl it's SATURDAY GO BACK TO BED. LOL.

Thank you LadyJ for taking care of FCA today. I've sent you the payment. I saw that invoice come in a couple days ago but it's been such a crazy week that I was pretty much ignoring everything until the weekend. So much for that. Anyway, normally at least twice a day I can get online and check emails. Not today. My day started at 6:30 as I was waiting for my sister to pick me up for work. I decided to check my work emails. When I did I realize that I had not ordered provisions for a ship leaving tomorrow. Checked the next email and saw that I had won a bid that involved buying a lot of halal meat and I didn't really have optimal lead time remaining. Then the next one involved a new order for a ship departing on Sunday. I hit the ground running and didn't stop until I left the office at 6:30 with a pile of work to do this weekend. Then I went out with a bunch of work people because one of my coworkers is leaving us and moving to Hawaii!! Lucky duck. I love my job. It's so different than accounting. Now I'm dead tired and going to sleep. Have a great weekend!!

Summer? What summer? The weather here has been awful for the most part. I don't know if I've ever had a Clay dream. One thing I remember from a years ago is that my sister had one where she was marrying him. LOL

LadyJ oh no...so sorry you fell. I know how that soreness feels after a fall. But also glad you had a great time at your husband's reunion. Glad you're going to the gala!

Treenuts send me your email address. Happy Sunday everybody

Ha except my memory is so lousy that I can't remember any real details of anything. It's quite pathetic having to stop every few minutes to force my brain to remember stuff. Well you've come a long way. From making the trek for Clay's SF concert to now parking your car in the hoodiest part of the hood after finding no parking in the BART lot. So proud heeee heeee. Glad your car was still there!!And you know you hit on one of my pet peeves today. I work in the crappiest part of town and yet they have STREET SWEEPING every Thursday on one side and every friday on the other What the heck? In no other part of the city is there still street sweeping And the only reason they do it is so they can give out tickets. And now, in that same general neighborhood they have SATURDAY street sweeping? Give me a break. And the funny part is that they'll drag that raggedy truck from the 70s down those streets while people ride by dumping their trash on the sidewalks. I have seen beds, dressers, hollowed out peices of junk trucks tossed on the street. yet they feel the need to pass that by for weeks while they pass out tickets to people trying to earn a living who didn't run out and move their car before the 12:30 truck rumbles by with the parking ticket car right behind it.

LOL.. The pictures aren't secret. They were just taken down out of respect I guess. But anything that is on the internet for more than a second - well the genie is already out of that bottle. If you need the pictures just let me know. I guess chatting today with treenuts about some of the more crazy stuff that has happened in the fandom I think less damage would have been done if things were more open. This is not the same thing. It was a matter of luck - if you were home or not but I don't see the need to pretend that nobody has them. Soooooooooooooooooo I'm sitting around at home, day all planned out Was going to work most of the day today because I was going to the Giants game tomorrow. I get a call at 11:30 from treenuts LOL She's like I'm leaving my house now. NOW? OMG. I thought we were going tomorrow. I'm a mess. Had a lot of fun though...even though the Giants lost.

I had a wonderful time tonight at the final performance of AileyCamp 2011 for Berkeley/Oakland kids. It's a beautiful beautiful program and the kids were absolutely amazing tonight. It was a celebration of dance. How I wish my Alex could participate when she's old enough in 2 years just for the cultural aspect. But I fear she will be considered too well adjusted and privileged although my sister scrapes up every dime to send her to private school and pay for her dance classes. Sigh. But who knows, we'll go for it anyway http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/community/aileycamp/ Great idea FromClaygary. I did a lot of Clay trips and managed to see very little of most of the cities I visited. I hope everyone going has a wonderful time. I truly wanted to go LdyJ but just too much going on. I've had to kind of give up on the one event type of things. I miss being able to plan 5 Clay related things in one long weekend LOL. Soooooooooo, did anybody else see their 401K plummet. Yeah long haul and all that jazz but it's disheartening. I'm not very political but I wish I could take the benefits that Congress gets and flush them down the toilet. They don't deserve those perks.

I want to go to the gala but honestly can't afford it. We're doing a family vacation in December so am focusing on that. One of these years I'll be able to make it. So glad it's Thursday! Looking forward to the weekend.

THis has been the craziest most hectic work week ever. I was dragging home every day at 8. Today I slept a LOT. I'm not a huge fan of David Foster but to hear Clay sing he can work for the devil LOL. I think those pictures are for something specific so looking forward to waiting and seeing! Hope you had a great time in Vegas KAndre. Fear...I'm so jealous of you that you are retiring. I know you will keep yourself busy doing wonderful things! I love the photo from the last page. Nice to hear from you JustClay! Treenuts....I'll be in touch this week for our Giants game next weekend. I have my weight watchers meetings on Monday night so will miss the chat. But hmmm I'm not even sure I'm a member. Need to fix that.

Oh I'm totally sure of it. I'm the person that thought The Wire sucked when I was peaking in watching bits and peices. KAndre -- bwah to your entire post. I miss you girl! Happy Birthday GBMIFAN!

I can't believe it's Monday already. I didn't like the show either so after 10 minutes started looking for Clay. ha ha. Ha ha he played a scoundrel.

Good timing Merrieeee. Welcome back. Thanks LdyJ..I set the DVR.

Is this on Lifetime? I haven't watched this show at all. Will I get it or should I just watch Clay's parts on the download. Is it an hour or 30 minutes.

Kareneh it's so nice to hear from you. I see that as always you are leading a very adventurous life! Is that channel 14 video different from the Coming Home one? After 1 hour of playing on it I am so hooked on Spotify. Itunes what? I can so see forking over the $10 for the premium service.

well shoot.... if anyone got illegal pictures please email them to me. What's the shoot for? do we know? Can't believe that folks still don't know about how to keep their stuff secure. I can believe someone rushed to be the first one to thank him. TGIF

Not mine either Lucky but I did like The Talk. Have a great day everybody. And yes LadyJ - seriously. DUH.

Wow so much to watch. Yay. I will cue it all up. Clay's career has been over for about 5 years now. What else is new. And for something to make ya'll laugh. I found the volume button on my computer. Seriously LOL. And off topic..when I got home from work today--- dog tired --- I looked out on my patio and my nephew Tyler had assembled my new patio furniture and had taken away some of the junk that was out there including an old desk. He took it apart. He's eleven. I was so shocked. I can't even believe he got the table out of the box. It took me and my sister to carry it in.

Happy Birthday JMH. Hope you had a wonderful day.

I know what you mean Lucky. I miss the voice. But I feel so spoiled. I wonder how many different songs he's done over the years. Happy Wednesday. Merrieeee! I know you are having a blast.

JMH thanks so much for your inspiring post. I hope I'll be able to say the same thing in 10 years!!

Best wishes to your son and your friend. Yeah I've never really run away from birthdays but I just turned 49 and I'm already looking askance at the whole 50 thing. We should plan something way fun. When's your birthday. Have a great Saturday everyone. Fear I hope Mr. Fear is ok. He is a lucky man to have you taking care of him. Ha ha Merrieee. Are you blogging anywhere about this trip? Facebooking? Aikim I lived in fear for years of having my wisdom teeth pulled. Finally when I had all 4 pulled all I needed was 2 tylenol to get through it.

ahhhh you look pretty darn cute. And yep he's very authentic looking.

Holly Robinson (Peete) - I know her. The Peete is her married name (but I think she's divorced). He was a pro football player. I know she has done other shows but I've never seen them. But I did watch 21 Jump Street. She was on that. The show the launched the career of Johnny Depp. Thanks for the info on The Talk. Sounds like an interesting mix of people. That Julie chan sure gets around... on CBS LOL. She's pleasant enough though. LadyJ -- I feel you on the video tapes They are now about as fashionable as an 8 track. It was still hard to throw them all out though. You know I want to do something to my room and put up a few prized possessions - some of Clay (my good news print which I love) but also my Tweety Bird print ha ha. I hope you're enjoying your time off. ETA: OMG they are doing a 21 Jump Street movie for 2012? And Johnny Depp is in it LOL. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232829/