Hey y'all,
I was considering making this another week in review post but clearly I have let more than a week get past me before I have writing another blog post. Anywho, I have been quietly stewing over a few media hot button for maybe a week or so, and per my self -diagnosed OCD, I have had to watch/thing of this topic a few times before I actually get the courage to write anything to post to the interweb. The time has come so i will just hope to it:
1. No,Sarah was not tripping ,Dad!
Like millions of other people I have found myself engrossed for the past few Sundays in the History Channel's epic miniseries The Bible. As a show it is great, as far as accuracy ,not so much. Though I am elated that the History Channel is actually showing things that are historical in content rather than shows about pawn shops , icy road truck driving, and how some random dude restores cars, there is plenty material for the makers of The Bible series didn't really have to embellish; also if you are gonna tell the story make sure you provide all the necessary background info so the characters' actions don't seem out of left field . Case and point, the whole Sarah and Haggar situation. The miniseries made Sarah seemed like some bitter old barren troll who cast out the poor downtrodden slave/concubine/Abraham's Egyptian baby-mama Hagger because she was jealous of her fertility and her ability to give Abraham the son he so desperately needed. The sudden shift in Sarah's mood,made my Dad claim that "man, all these women got some psychological problems". No! the series left out a vital part this exchange: Hagger forgot who it was that she served.
In the Bible, the real one not the show, Hagger made some kind of disparging remark about her mistress' fertility, so Sarah kicked her out. Hagger got banished to the desert because forgot her place. Hagger was given to Abraham, much to his chagrin, by his wife/ half-sister Sarah so her slave could have a child for them. According to the law of the land,Sarah would have been within her right to have just taken baby Ishmael from his mother as soon as he was born and raised him as her own with not so much as a question or objection from Hagger or anyone else who would dare approach the issue; Hagger was her property. And staying on the theme of Sarah, she does not run after Abraham and Isaac because she realizes he is gonna be sacrificed to God, mainly due to the fact no one but Abraham knew God had asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Nothing seemed out of place, so no one was alarmed.
My suggestion for anyone else that is enjoying the series, is to actually fill in the blanks for your self and read the Word.Even if you are not religious, the Bible is the ultimate good read, in particularly the Old Testament , the book of Genesis alone is the world greatest family drama I mean a dude beats his brother to death with a old donkey jawbone in the first few chapters. you find out what happens to Lot post-Sodom & Gomorrah ,hint it involves wine, his two daughters ,and it gets gross from there. Or my fave part ,Jacob,the jerk who steals his brother's birthright by posing as aforementioned hairy twin brother and stealing the blessing from his blind dying father, and the drama that goes down between his 12 sons. One of the sons takes up with one of his father's concubines, another son is sold into slavery because Jacob played favorites and the other kids got jealous(but it turns out ok because he eventually becomes the Pharaoh's right hand man as a dream interpreter/ governor , who ends up saving the nation and his family in the process). And that's just the 1st book! I maybe critical, and some of the things bother me, like white boy dreaded John the Baptist, the fact that we dont see Moses' fabulously named black wife Zipporah and sons ,silver faced Obama/Satan,or the fact we still gonna stick with the notion of white Jesus( although ,I will say that I'm glad they wrote Jesus with some emotion. In every other film about Jesus, he is just too cool with his impending crucifixion;in the Bible Jesus literally begged God for this to not happen even though he accepts his fate) I will still watched the entire miniseries , it was a nice wrap up on Easter Sunday (Jesus resurrected the same time as the Walking Dead was ending their season and Game of Thrones was starting their season off dealing with White walkers;All this raising from the dead happening on Easter made me chuckle. Oh well, I'm a dork. on to Mad Men's new season tonight !)
2. He looks like Finnick to me?
A few weeks ago, Lionsgate released some photos to wet our palate for the Fall release of the much anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. Among the cast shots were those of the past victors, was the official Capitol portrait of Finnick Odair, as portrayed by British actor Sam Clafin. I thought he looked fine, but needless to say, some folks were upset . Apparently Sam didn't fit in the image that they had in their minds of the impossibly handsome Finnick. Notice I said impossibly handsome. I'm not gonna front, via the book description of strong bodied, sea green eyes, bronze skin and hair all wrapped up in a tall,charming sexy package; Finnick sounds gorgeous ! But who looks like this, really? Maybe I wasn't so hype about the casting, because I couldn't really couldn't picture Finnick ,& green eyed dimpled Clafin is cute enough. So what's the problem? Your fave didn't get picked for this highly coveted role , that apparently every mildly attractive actor under 30 was vying for? Well get over it! Remember that no matter how the actor looks, Finnick is a multi-faceted character and we would all be livid if some beautiful non-acting fool was cast.
The most notable casting rumor to me was that of a Jesse Williams, the biracial green eyed doctor on Grey's Anatomy who is all types of fine(in my humble opinion). Now I'm all for a brother getting a job, but we know based on the reaction of some the Hunger Games book "fans", which I use the loosely, when they discovered that Amandla Stenberg was playing Rue , 12-year old player from district 11, was in fact Black. Now keep in mind that Rue was always Black and her district , which is based in what would be considered modern day Atlanta, was predominately Black. These non-reading pseudo-Fans raised all types of racist cane, over a character that was , as I mentioned earlier ALWAYS BLACK!!! So Jesse better had not been cast as Finnick, despite the fact that he & Sam both technically fit the description, because all types of nautical hell would break loose simply because the series' blatantly sexual figure was cast as some person of color. Just saying, give Sam a chance and let those fools be fools. Everything I've seen Sam in I didn't mind his acting(even if his story line was stupid , i.e. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 : on Stranger Tides ... A mess), he seems to be a decent actor and this aint Shakespeare its the Hunger Games. Lighten up and reserve judgment until when film premiers.
( On a side note to y'all complaining that he isn't dressed in that gold net thing like the books, do you honestly think your going to get that "outfit" as written? This Movie still has to be moderately suitable for children (the movies should slick b rated R based on Violence alone, to keep in the same vein as the book). Him being dressed as some Sinbad-ish character still makes sense as his district is known for fishing/ all things nautical. Yes it is ridiculous, but it is supposed to be, as he and none of the other Hunger Games competitors are viewed as really people. He just supposed to be some exotic trident-bearing gigolo, whose real personality is never really revealed to us in the last two books. In all honesty, I didn't trust his intentions towards Katniss when we 1st meet him as he 1/2 nakedly offers the 16-year-old sugar in exchange for her secrets. EWW! )Moving on... The film trailer will be shown at the MTV Movie Awards next week.
3. Bringing Sexy Back, Barbershop Quartet style:
Shout out to these White boys killing this R&B/ Pop game. Justin Timberlake's 20/20 goes hard, although I , much like my social contemporary Kanye West, hate the lead single Suit &Tie ( and not just because Jay-Z is on it( his features always seem useless to me), the song was corny before he even opened his mouth) , so needless to say I wasn't all that hype for JT's 7 year return. That was until I watch Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's Timber-week, where not only did you get a new song from the album every night, but you got to see JT , Jimmy &Co. do funny bits every night like the History of Rap part 4, or my favorite the Barbershop Quartet version of SexyBack, which is now the only way I want to hear that song.
Speaking of White Boys with banging R&B-ish songs, check out Robin Thicke( ft. Pharrell and T.I.) new song Blurred Lines, the radio needs to start playing this ASAP. Shout out to the dancing models with their quirky gold and cream outfits, equipped with scrunchies, red lips and baby hair. Can't wait to hear what else Mr. Thicke &Co. have in store for us this upcoming album.
Sorry to have waited so long, hope to write more this week. Comments give me life! Tweets make me happy, love to hear your thoughts.
Tah,Tah darlings!
