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.

180 Degrees of Separation: Beauty and the Beast

As I was watching Soul Train last weekend, with a special tribute to the late Donna Summer (RIP), I realized that dance moves, music, fashion, and entertainment are all coming full circle. High waisted skirts, platforms, sequins, you name it, are coming back. If artists aren't completely remixing old school songs, then they have heavy samples playing in the background. And one thing I never thought I'd see again...

Shoulder pads!

That was a fashion 'faux poo poo' in my book. Women looking like linebackers with Olive Oyl legs. And now you see asymmetrical or cone shaped shoulder pads on the red carpet. *Shivers* At a certain point, fashion, music, and entertainment take a 360` turn. Film and television remakes are running rampant with reboots like Spiderman taking place within a five year span. Spiderman was a 2002-2007 film franchise based on the comic book from the 1960s. The film is being rebooted for a release this year. In TV land, one of my, and a very passionate cult fan following, favorite shows is Beauty and the Beast starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton playing Vincent and Catherine. The show aired on CBS from 1987-1990. The show recreated the love of two of the most known characters with drama, suspense, and action. The makeup of the kind-hearted Vincent, who portrayed Beast, was phenomenal and blew many fans away week after week.

This brings me to my main point. The CW has decided to reboot this cult classic with Kristin Kreuk playing Catherine and Jay Ryan as Bruce Bann--Vincent. That was all fine and dandy until I saw the trailer and Vincent now looks like a GQ model with a simple scar on his cheek. Ummm. Not so beastly. Apparently this Vincent is a doctor who's chosen to stay in hiding because he Hulk's out every now and then to protect Catherine, but this doesn't capture the true essence of the divide between Vincent and Catherine and why they can't be together in the same world due to the ignorance of society unable to accept Vincent's physical appearance being so different. I don't know what route they're going in for the reboot because, from the poster, the 2012 Vincent looks like he could blend in just fine. I could see having his face half blocked out by a shadow with the same beastly eyes seen in the trailer, but apparently they just wanted to upset me. I understand that Koslow is aiming for a modernized version, but if the premise is lost from the show that it is following in the footsteps of, it may give many fans a disheartening feeling upon attempting to return to the franchise. Alas, we shall see how this show pans out, but I'm already giving it a very questionable side eye. Judge for yourself. 

Photo courtesy of IMDB.com

Chick-fil-A Dessert Disaster

I'm kind of a creature of consistency. I realize that change is inevitable, therefore I can be flexible. But imagine my mini-breakdown when I walked into Chick-fil-A yesterday for lunch and immediately ordered a to-go order for a #1, sandwich only, and a slice of [yummy] cheesecake only to be met with, "we don't have cheesecake on the menu anymore, dear; but we have some new, delicious cookies."

WHAT?! 

Cookies? No thanks. Famous Amos has me covered on that. And now, apparently, McDonald's has added cookies to their menu, but hardly anyone has...had cheesecake. Now that's a real dessert. Upon looking up at the new dessert menu, I noticed that the [huge] Cookies and Cream Milkshake was also gone replaced by an undernourished looking brownie sundae. I was so disappointed I didn't even get dessert. No. Dessert. You're looking at the lady who prefers to eat dessert first, going without completely. I don't know the reasoning for the Chick-fil-A dessert menu change, but I'm disappointed in Chick-fil-A starting to look like every other fast food joint. Chick-fil-a has class; a new, local two-story location; and an ability to play hard to get as it closes its doors on Sundays.

Please bring the cheesecake back, Chick-fil-A!


Photo courtesy of www.chick-fil-a.com

Sookie Stackhouse Novels

UPDATE 5/20: So I recently finished the latest novel, Deadlocked, in The Southern Vampire Mysteries and it was wonderful! You can read that post here. Below is an updated order of the novels with the addition of Deadlocked. The different short stories of A Touch of Dead fall in between the first few novels, so I placed it after the last novel where a story appears, chronologically. Enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________________


Dead Until Dark (2001); Living Dead in Dallas (2002); Club Dead (2003); Dead to the World (2004); Dead as a Doornail (2005); Definitely Dead (2006); All Together Dead (2007); From Dead to Worse (2008); Dead and Gone (2009); [A Touch of Dead (2009)]; Dead in the Family (2010); Dead Reckoning (2011); Deadlocked (2012); Dead Ever After (2013); After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse Coda (2013)

If you know me, or read this blog then you'll know that I love to read and write. One of my favorite authors is Charlaine Harris. You may know her as the best selling author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries (also known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels). The novels have gone on to be chronologically adapted into the award winning HBO series True Blood. Each season of the show is based on a book and the show will be returning this year on season five based on Dead as a Doornail.

After the first season of the show my parents got me the first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, for Christmas and that quickly spawned the addiction which has now taken me through all eleven books in the series. The twelfth book, Deadlocked, comes out May of this year and the only thing keeping me hinged on sanity and not losing my marbles in anticipation is re-reading the series. Harris' other books outside of The Southern Vampire Mysteries are also wonderful, but I've grown attached to heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, her adventures, and the unique cast of characters that have graced the pages. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when the thirteenth and final book comes out in 2013. I think I may go crazy hanging on the ellipsis of, "...Sooo, what do I do now?" I hope Ms. Harris understands my fear and likely potential of going into a catatonic state when this series ends.

UPDATE!! Sooo, I'm almost ashamed to admit that it took me this long to get The Sookie Stackhouse Companion but I just bought it today and am psyched to read it! Especially, "Small-Town Wedding" which has a surprise cameo by my favorite SVM character, Quinn!! More on him to come in a later post. ;)