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The Chronicle, U.S.A.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Leslie Jones McCloud's Gas Station Divas Confront!


Characters from my new in-progress book, "Gas Station Divas" confront each other during a scene at Chi-Chi's place of work--a gas station convienence store named Red, White and Blue Country.
Marion, whose only fault was choosing that particular gas station, decided to get down with it and ditch her uppity ways.
Who will get the man?

Monday, April 20, 2009

KANYE WEST’S FLOW IS COMEDY GOLD ON “THE CLEVELAND SHOW”


Academy Award Nominee Taraji P. Henson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) Also Guest-Voices

International hip-hop superstar and 12-time Grammy Award winner Kanye West and Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson get animated when they lend their voices to THE CLEVELAND SHOW, the highly anticipated FAMILY GUY spin-off set to debut this fall on FOX. West will appear as KENNY WEST, an all-around cool kid and the archenemy of CLEVELAND JR. (Kevin Michael Richardson), and the two will engage in a “rap battle” for the affection of high school hottie CHANEL (Henson).

THE CLEVELAND SHOW is a new animated series that follows everyone’s favorite soft-spoken neighbor CLEVELAND BROWN (Mike Henry) to his hometown in Virginia, as he settles down with his high school sweetheart, DONNA (Sanaa Lathan); her unruly kids; and his own 14-year-old son, Cleveland Jr. (Richardson). Once in Virginia, Cleveland has a few surprises in store for him, including ROBERTA (Reagan Gomez-Preston), a rebellious new stepdaughter; RALLO (Henry), a 5-year-old stepson who loves the ladies; and a collection of neighbors that includes a loudmouth redneck, LESTER (Richardson); a hipster wanna-be, HOLT (guest voice Jason Sudeikis); and a pious pair of talking bears, TIM (Seth MacFarlane) and his wife ARIANNA (guest voice Arianna Huffington).

Kanye West’s fourth consecutive chart-topping album, “808s & Heartbreak,” was released in November 2008 and has sold over 1.5 million copies to date. He has received numerous accolades for his latest album, and his hit single “Heartless” has been at the top of the charts for 16 weeks and counting.

Taraji P. Henson earned an Academy Award nomination in 2009 for her supporting role opposite Brad Pitt in the critically acclaimed film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Henson has appeared in “Hustle & Flow” with Terrence Howard and “Talk to Me” opposite Don Cheadle. Her upcoming films include “Hurricane Season” opposite Forest Whitaker, “Once Fallen” with Ed Harris and Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All By Myself.” Her television credits include “Boston Legal” and “Eli Stone.”



THE CLEVELAND SHOW is a 20th Century Fox Television production. Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Mike Henry are executive producers and co-creators of the series.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Seth MacFarlane interview with Adam and Jack


Seth MacFarlane interview
I think it is his voice that kept me listening in combination with his mind/conversation on Jack. Love it, love the show.
Pretty Good!
(they actually meantion "Jabba Jaw" and Hanna Barbara, Rubic's Cube, Grape Ape etc.) Remember those cartoons? And yes he does the Peter voice.
Dag!
Photo curtesy of Adam Carolla Podcast

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Just for Laughs: Jamie jokes on Miley

Jamie Foxx makes crude radio rant on Miley Cyrus...
Read more

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Go See the film Knowing right away!


This is one of the best movies I have seen this year. I actually paid the matinee price and dragged my two children along with me to watch this film. I didn't wait for it to come out on video. My daughter is Autistic--this will tell parents of special needs kids how much I wanted to see Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage.
The previews looked really exiting but I didn't know if that would be it for the movie or what. It was not. The entire film moved along well: explaining, unraveling, following, back story, character definition. Mr. Cage explored fully the main character-who was a professor of cosmology. His star gazing led to him understanding of the importance of the page of numbers his character's son brought home from the time capsule at his school. The film transcends this world's obsession with petty differences based on race, gender and age and speaks to the audience as they stand naked and helpless before nature itself. Knowing spoke to me as a human. The action was heart-stopping. I covered my eyes at some points. It was so real and believable.
This film was frightening, mind opening and humbling all at once.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Nicolas Cage Interview – KNOWING

"Cage: Well, I have a movie called 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans' coming out. Werner Herzog directed that. I have a movie called 'Season of the Witch' coming out that Dominic Sean directed and now this week I'll be doing, commencing photography on 'Sorcerer's Apprentice'. Plus, I have two animated features coming out which hopefully make the kids smile."

Nicolas Cage Interview – KNOWING

Posted using ShareThis

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Dr. Zag gives the thumbs up to Cage's 2009 thriller Knowing

Hey Harry -

I just got back from a screening of KNOWING and wanted to share my reaction since I’ve been hearing a lot about the movie and haven’t read any reviews yet. I'll start off by prefacing this that it way exceeded my expectations. Yes, it was Alex Proyas so I should have been more excited, but it had been 10 years since his last movie that I loved -- actually one of my top sci-fi of all time -- Dark City. On top of that, it was a new Nic Cage movie, which meant it had a 50% chance of sucking. I was hoping for the Nic Cage from action movies like The Rock or Face/Off, not Ghost Rider or Next Nic.

So imagine my surprise when I walked out of the theater with the initial thought that I'd just seen a brilliant thriller. I'm going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, b/c the trailers are doing a great job of concealing some of the shocking (and pleasant) surprises of this movie. It's an intense experience - the movie is filled with a pervasive sense of dread (compounded by the spectacular disaster sequences - Roland Emmerich should take note - this is how you create disaster sequences with shock and consequences while investing people emotionally -- not just empty spectacle). But the turns that this movie takes produce a surprising ray of hope, and not in the Deep Impact or Armageddon kind of way where people improbably save the day in the nick of time.

The movie begins with Cage's son receiving a string of hand written numbers from a time capsule that his (and Nic's former) elementary school unearth. Cage is an astrophysics professor and he is raising his son by himself - his wife died years earlier - and in his opening classroom scenes you get the sense that this loss and his academic philosophy have left him believing that he's living in a world without meaning, where everything happens at random. The discovery that the numbers may have predicted every major disaster (the numbers list date/total deaths/longitude-latitude location) throws this entire belief system into chaos.

He doesn't come full circle until a horrifying plane crash matches one of the three number sequences left to happen. It's an insane sequence - shot all in one take (reminded me of those crazy ass action scenes from Children of Men that were done in one unbroken camera shot). After this he becomes a true believer and sets out on a quest to find out who wrote the numbers.

The end of the film is bold - definitely not what I was expecting - especially for a mainstream Hollywood film. I appreciate the fact that Alex Proyas decided not to go the easy way out and give everything a supernatural explanation - it's all readily explainable and it really ties in the theme of spirituality/meaning vs. science/randomness in some unique ways. It's emotional and it will leave you thinking and debating the outcome with your friends. I still can't shake it.

Some gripes -- it sags in the middle a bit after going at a break neck pace for the first half. There are some Cage moments that are a bit cringe-worthy, but all tolerable within the overall journey of his character.

The good - incredible tension throughout most of the film. A threatening sense of dread and a true mystery was unraveled that I didn't see coming. The disaster sequences - jaw-dropping. And the relationship between father and son was particularly affecting.

Overall I'd give this a solid 8 out of 10. Alex Proyas is back folks and Nic Cage can chalk one up to "good" 50% column. He's safe until National Treasure 3.

If you decide to use this review, please call me Dr. Zag.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail tops box office

The Jonas Brothers are a genuine sensation - in all seriousness, they might just be the biggest act on Earth.

And the Jonas Brothers had a film out on Friday. So what’s the number one movie at the weekend box office this week? You guessed it - it’s Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Ebony & Jet on the brink of ruin

This e-mail was sent to me from my friend, Toni:

One of the MOST notable permanent fixtures in EVERY black household (back in the days), was the Ebony, along with Jet magazine.

If you wanted to learn about your history, the plight of black america, current issues facing black americans, how the political process of america affects you, how politics works, who the hottest actors were, what time a particular black television show aired, who got married recently, who were the most eligible bachelors, and bachelorettes in your town, what cities had black mayors, police chiefs, school superintendents, how to register to vote, what cars offer the best value for the buck, who employed black americans, how to apply for college scholarships, ect, MORE THAN LIKELY, the Ebony, or the Jet magazine could help you find answers to those questions.

We have recently been informed that the Johnson Publishing Company organization is currently going through a financial crisis. The company is attempting a reorganization in order to survive. Many people have already lost their jobs with a company that has employed thousands of black americans during the course of it's existence.

In order to support this effort to save OUR magazine, my friends and myself have pledged to get a subscription to both, Ebony, and Jet magazine, starting with one year. We are urging EVERY other person who comes across this plea, to do the same. Please post, repost, and post again, to any blog that you may own, or support. Please email this to EVERY person that you know, regardless of their background. Let them know that Ebony, and Jet magazine has been part of the black american culture for 3 quarters of a century, and that there is a lot that they can learn about black american culture from reading them.

We are currently discussing the idea of throwing an Ebony/Jet party, where people can eat, drink, and sign up for their subscription on the spot. Please spread this idea around to all that you know. Your sororities, fraternities, lodges, VFW posts, churches, civic groups, block clubs, caps meetings, book clubs, ect.

It would be a crying shame, to lose our historic magazine, during the same year of such an historic event as the election of our FIRST BLACK President of the US.

May our Father continue to bless us, in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fence & Fog

Jerry Seinfeld hosts new comedy reality show

NEW YORK - Jerry Seinfeld is headed back to NBC as the producer of a comic reality series about marriage.

The series, called "The Marriage Ref," will feature a real-life couple involved in a marital spat.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Jamie Foxx "Blame It" video premiere

A star-studded study in human nature...

Everyone grown has been here at one time or another. Can you squeeze another big name in this vid, Jamie? I love this video and this song!
I love when songs examine human nature and motives and all.

Friday, February 20, 2009

CNBC Tantrum too little, too late

Translation: This is what I wanted to say last year but was afraid to do so.

See, I was too busy filling my pockets to notice that the economy was going to hell in a hand basket WAY BACK THEN. I feel it is appropriate to yell and scream at a president who has been on the job for about a month.
This is what fear does to a man. It keeps his mouth shut until he feels as if he has nothing to fear anymore.

The horse has left the barn and the barn is on fi-ya. The man with the fire hose who is busy putting out the fi-ya should be yelled at because he is the only adult on duty right now.

Seems about right to me.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Worth Reading

I found this book while searching for representation. It sounds interesting.
Writer's Representatives

Watch Me Discuss Soapy Goodness - Made with Coconut Oil

Feel the Soapy Goodness on your skin

Feel the Soapy Goodness on your skin
Lathery, Creamy, Soapy Goodness - Made with Coconut Oil!