Lil Mama Moment: He Said, She Said...

In case you missed it because you were doing something more interesting like painting your toes, picking your nose or watching paint dry, Black history was made at the Oscars. Mo'Nique won Best Supposrting actress and was the first Black woman to win the statue for a movie written and directed by Black people. But one great moment in Black history was overshadowed by pure shenanigans from a Mrs. Garrett look alike with a big yap and an agenda, apparently. Now the reason I call it a Lil Mama Moment is because she jumped up on stage like she was supposed to be there & like Lil Mama was caught up in the excitement of the moment... Plus, I don't like KW lol

SHE SAID: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn’t invited to any of them. And he’s not speaking to me. So we weren’t even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I’m sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn’t get up there very fast.

The movie was my idea. I live in Zimbabwe. Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this. And you know, I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn’t going to happen this time.

I SAY: SIT DOWN, TRICK! If things were settled amicably then, why would you not: know who was going to be "allowed to speak"? or be invited to anything having to do with the Oscars? or allegedly be blocked in by his mother?

I am not even going to get into her living in Zimbabwe or WHY! But to insult this guy and say he had never heard of Zimbabwe is basically calling him uneducated. In which case, why would you even want to WORK with him? this whole thing reads like a crazy old cat lady rant!

HE SAID: Only one person is allowed to accept the award. I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry — she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.


I SAY: That was exactly how it looked. And even if she IS telling the truth, her actions just seem fishy. Either way, it was VERY poor taste on HER part to jack the mic. But very noble of him to smile and acquiesce.

Whoever was right or wrong, lying or telling the truth, Kanye or Taylor Swift, Lil Mama or Jay-Z... the whole thing was a confusing mess! I hope they can work this out MORE amicably!

Girl, You Gon' Think I Invented Speedskating!

I remember hearing about Shani Davis back in 2006. A Black speedskater, WOW! A Black Gold Medal Winner in the Winter Olympics, WOW! But I'll admit that it slipped my mind to really pay attention. Fast forward to 2010.
I'm sitting in a restaurant with a friend & there are tvs all around us. We're taking them ALL in... when I say to her: "HEY, that skater is BLACK!" We catch a glipse of him as he removes his hood and skates off the ice... Then It occurs to me I had heard of him. But I couldn't remember his name. I found him because Google is AWESOME and u can pretty much type in any random words & come up with something!

*sidebar*I dare you to try it: go to "The Google"

and type in your mother's maiden name,

the color of your shirt, the name of your first pet

and see if you don't come up with 27 pages of stuff...

Don't worry... I'll wait... lol. *end sidebar*

So I read up on him and refresh my memory and it turns out, Shani is what Malcolm Gladwell would call an Outlier! His life and the cosmos aligned to bring him to where he is today. With his 10,000 hours of practice starting at the age of 6, Shani is definitely the Subject Matter Expert on speedskating. Just a brief bio on Shani: he was rollerskating just after he could walk, he was DUSTING grown-ups in the roller rink on Chicago's Southside when he was three, he took up ice skating after a suggestion from a coach, and shortly after that his mom started working for a lawyer whose son was deep into speedskating. 1, 2, 3 just like that... he's the best! In 2006, he was the first black to win a gold medal in a Winter Olympics individual event. And he was the first PERSON to win the 1000m Speedskating gold 2 Olympic games in a row!

Some will say he is quirky, and kind of hard on himself considering him not doing so well in the 5000m and walking away from the 500m. But what remains is this and this:

Plus he's cute!

Please note: I am WELL aware that he is missing his 'stache... I am going to assume it makes him more aerodynamic and add him to the EXCEPTIONS LIST with Obama and Denzel, thanks!