An Open Letter to Idris Elba

Dear Mr. (Sexy) Elba,

I have been a true fan of yours since 2004 when I first got into watching The Wire on BET late night. I caught onto the story and characters pretty quickly, but it was you who stood out to me. Standing tall like a Nubian statue carved out of marble, you possess poise, charm, and a strut that would make male runway fashion models jealous. Right then began my mission to keep up with your work on screen. And the rewards have been plentiful as you are becoming a mega movie and television star! However, I have also noticed a bit of a trend in your filmography that is not sitting well with me. Your characters often come to tragic endings.

I didn't talk to anyone for a good two hours after I saw you die in The Reaping and though I was giving your characters in 28 Weeks Later and American Gangster the extreme side eye, I didn't want to see them die. It was a breath of fresh air to see you taking charge as the sexy, protective detective in Prom Night, but you again met your demise in The Losers and in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (which although I know you went out like a hero, I refused to finish, by the way, after I inquired whether you survived). While these character deaths don't take away from your amazing acting and shine on the screen, I do hope that I see you riding off into the figurative sunset at the end of the upcoming Prometheus and Pacific Rim films. And then maybe, one day, we can ride off into the sunset...together.

Your biggest (and not in the least bit awkward) fan,

Kimster

Photo courtesy of http://madamenoire.com/115009/idris-elba-to-play-nelson-mandela-in-biopic/

True Blood Season 5

**Possible Spoilers if you haven't yet seen Season 4 of True Blood...

Excuse the big Target sticker. I love to save. :)

Last year I wrote on the pros and cons of the season 4 premiere of True Blood. While I ended up enjoying the season simply because the amazing acting coupled with magic and the supernatural creates an awesome 50 minutes per week, with the premiere of season 5 tonight (based on Dead As A Doornail), I am both excited and a little wary because of the creative liberties Alan Ball and his team have taken with the show. The Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse Novels, which the series is loosely based on, is a fantastic literary series; each season of the show follows a book in sequence. It's so fantastic, that while I realize a 12 episode season can't contain everything a 300+ page novel can, I have had my share of disappointments of veered plot lines and some missing characters.

For instance, Claudine was drained and killed by an amnesiac Eric in season 4 when she's supposed to be around to protect Sookie for about 5 more books/seasons; Jason never turned into a werepanther; Bill is king and a bit of a d-bag; Russell Edgington is still the big bad. Many of my pros have centered on the additions of some characters who add to the dynamic and some plot twists I didn't see coming. So let's see what this season has in store for us! But I tell you, if Quinn (the sexy, tall, bald, purple-eyed, strong, weretiger who also happens to be my book-boyfriend;) doesn't show up towards the end of this season, I might have to write an angry-toned letter. But also, the dynamic of Quinn also hinges upon who is chosen to play him. I always find it interesting that True Blood is filmed each year and the vampires are supposed to maintain this timeless, un-aging look. If the show follows the 13 novel timeline, 8 years from now, Bill and Eric may be looking a bit rough. Haha.

Brian McKnight's "Dirty" Music

I have always been a huge Brian Mcknight fan. I remember the days when I used to plug headphones into the computer and jam out to his self-titled album on Windows Media Player. His voice was unique and soulful and the lyrics to his songs were always deep and conveyed a depth of love that was seriously lacking in many other song lyrics. A fact that I was not aware of was that Mcknight has had 16 Grammy award nominations over the20+ year span of his musical career, but has never won. I'm baffled by this fact. He has won one Soul Train Award and one Image Award.

However, most recently McKnight's music has taken a very "awkward" turn as he has started singing songs with sexual slang words describing female anatomy, and has set his sights on making an adult mix-tape. Many loyal fans have been seriously taken aback by this change in McKnight's music and lyrics which are definitely on the raunchy side. With lyrics like, "show you how your p**** works" I'm pretty taken aback myself. I can't help but think that Ashton Kutcher is going to pop up on a track at any second and reveal to us how it is all one big joke and we will all give a unison sigh that McKnight has not in fact flown over the cuckoo's nest. I do believe that McKnight is attempting to garner some attention because as he was receiving negative backlash from fans for the songs, he also simultaneously started lashing out on his Twitter pages about other male musicians who are famous for their tainted personal lives and for singing about sex and women in almost every lyric.

This attention seeking attempt by McKnight reminds me of Joaquin Phoenix's eventually revealed "mockumentary" entitled I'm Still Here. Phoenix had announced his intention to retire from acting in late 2008 in order to pursue a hip-hop career allegedly managed by P. Diddy. Joaquin's appearance took on a drastic change and he kept up the character in public and on interview shows like Late Show With David Letterman. He reiterated that his career transition was no joke. Director Casey Affleck revealed that the film was a hoax in fall 2010 and a clean shaven Phoenix once again appeared on the shows also revealing the truth. I sincerely hope Mcknight's musical change is just a joke, but unfortunately for an artist to never have received a Grammy for his awesome musical accolades, I can't see this attempt bringing him much but negative backlash and loss of fans.