MUSIC MONDAY 95 :: Oprah: 10 Favorite Music Moments

Music Monday 95 :: Oprah: 10 Favorite Music Moments from Billboard.com

With Oprah ending the run of her talk show, Billboard.com went back through the archives and pulled out some their musical highlights; Tina Turner and the Black Eyed Peas are on the list.

Oprah: 10 Favorite Music Moments | Billboard.com

"The Color Purple" Reunion

I haven't watched Oprah consistently in over a year, since I moved to Cairo. I used to watch regularly and recorded them too. Sometime soon I plan to purchase a TV and then I'll be back on track (well, sort of ... at least I'll catch the tail end of the last season).

At any rate, I sometimes check the Oprah website to see what I've been missin

g. Actually, I get the emails daily about the shows. I was so happy to see the highlights of the show about "The Color Purple" Reunion.

I read the Alice Walker book years ago. I know that I read it for my African American Literature class in college, but I thought that I'd also read it on my own. Point is, I loved the book. Alice Walker wrote scenes so vividly and the characters were so true to life.

When I found out that there would be a movie version of "The Color Purple", I was skeptical. Even w/Steven Spielberg as the director and Quincy Jones producing. Even when I saw the casting, I was still unsure that they could bring a book that I absolutely adored, to life on the big screen.

photo borrowed from George Burns/Harpo Studios

I don't remember when or where I saw the film, but I know that I was excited about it. There was one scene in the film that I thought was just as it was described in the book. I was satisfied w/the movie version. There were obvious differences, but I liked what I saw in the film.

The acting was phenomenal. I had hoped that someone would get an Oscar nomination from that movie. I was happy when the nominations came out. My fav in the movie though was Adolph Caesar. I'm just smitten when he's on the screen. But his acting as Mister's father was riveting. The others were just as good too.

"The Color Purple" is one of those movies where me and my friends often quote lines from the movie. One of the most frequent lines repeated is "You tole Harpo to beat me" complete with all of the sullenness of broken down Sofia (Oprah's character).

It was nice to see the cast on Oprah for the 25 year reunion.

Music Monday 1 :: Will.i.am "It's a New Day"

Okay, I've decided to start something new on this here blog. It's called Music Monday and guess what? It will post every Monday. Genius.

I have a few reasons for doing this too:

• purposeful blogging
• a reason to blog about something more consistently
• I really like music, but I have not been listening to a lot of music lately
  

Music Monday will focus on music. Aaah, genius again. The music genre will vary though hip hop is my fav. In many ways I will mix it up for you all though.

So here's what's up first. New music from Will.i.am. I am not his biggest fan, but I do like most of his music. Actually, I can't point to a song of his that I do not like - though I do frown up on The Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" - though it was funny to see Will Farrell singing it on the movie "Blades of Glory".

I digress. I watch Oprah w/some regularity. This past Friday she had Will.i.am as a guest debuting his latest song - a tribute to Barack Obama willing the 2008 Presidential Election. He performed the song on her show. I think I am attracted to the song because of the hip hop edge, but also because it's uptempo and has a catchy hook. Check out the lyrics to "It's a New Day" as well. Very cool.

What do you think?



If you have any recommendations for Music Monday, do share.

Oprah and "30 Rock"

Love this show. Can't Wait for the new season to begin!

My Trip to the Oprah Show

Last week, I ventured to Chicago to see a taping of the Oprah Show. My friend Diane and I had been trying to get tix for some time, years. She was the diligent one to get through and secure the tix. Nice job!

She had four tix and of course she and I would be attending, but who would the other two tix go to ... well, I discovered that I have a friend in Detroit who is as much of a fan as I and Diane has a colleague who also wanted to tag along. It took us several weeks to get the names confirmed for our group, but all four tix were accounted for.

That done, how to get to Chicago since everyone lives in various parts of the country. Two flew in, one drove and I took the Megabus.

Our hotel was nice enough - The Chicago Essex Inn on S. Michigan. And right across the street from the Hilton. What I discovered, since I was the first to arrive, was that many of the Olympians who were in town for Oprah's season opener w/all of the medal winners were still in town and staying @ the Hilton. Cool. Chaotic, but cool.

My friend and I did manage to stumble into Harold's Chicken Shack on Wabash. She had fried fish and chicken, I just had fries. But the atmosphere was entertaining.

Well, no real hangin out since we were scheduled to be @ the Harpo Studio @ 7 a.m. The hotel room was small, but surprisingly there was no problem w/four women trying to get ready to go to the Oprah Show.

We grabbed breakfast @ Dunkin Donuts and headed over to the studio in the rain. That's right, it was raining. Such a bummer. We did find a really cush parking spot on the street near the studio - and at no cost.

Once we got in line, we tried to take it all in. We were definitely excited. We took a handful of pix though we should have taken more since as soon as we got in, our purses were checked and cameras and cell phones were confiscated until after the show. I hate when that happens.

They then gave us a little bag w/a huge muffin, huge apple and a juice. They also gave us a audience survey to fill out and another form too. They then shuffled us off to a waiting area where we could eat our goodies and fill out the survey. Only the room was packed and there were no more seats available. I hate when that happens.

I managed to fill out the survey and the other form, but I did not get to eat my muffin and apple, but I did drink some of the juice. Lucky for me, Diane had a nice sized purse and she stuffed a couple of the muffins in her bag otherwise, you had to throw out the food because food is not permitted in the studio. I hate when that happens.

We eventually get cattled into the studio. We were like kids on Christmas morning. Wow, this is the place where the magic happens - magic like the "My Favorite Things" Show. Very cool.

There was some audience questions related to the survey - the topic was forgiveness. That went on as people were seated. It seemed to be a pretty rigorious process; people would sit, then be asked to move ...

When Oprah came out, the electricity went bonkers! Crazy fun. But things fizzled rather quickly because the topic turned out to be about a family w/two sons. One sons somehow loses his mind and begins to plot to kill the family. He manages to kill his mother and his brother. It took a will for investigators to determine that the son was involved w/the killings. The father forgives the son even though he is on death row. Lisa Ling was also on the show w/the father. She had interviewed the son on death row. Wake me when you are done. I like the topic, but the focus on this one family for the entire show was a sleeper and a downer.

The good thing, we were asked to stay for a second taping. Yea. It was a Dr. Oz show. Not as much of a sleeper, but still not quite exciting and fun.

When we finally left the studio, it was still raining. We hopped over the The Oprah Store, which is right across the street. I had also signed up to possibly attend another taping in the afternoon. At the store, we were, again, not permitted to take pix. I hate when that happens. I ended up getting a t-shirt for my mom. Oh, and we decided not to attend any further tapings - just underwhelmed.

Conclusion: I went to a taping of the Oprah Show and all I got was a muffin - a carrot cake muffin, ummm tasty.

A New Earth

You know that I am a member of the Oprah congregation ... I dvr the show regularly.

At any rate, I have not gotten beyond, say chapter 3 in "A New Earth". But that's because there are other things and people consuming my life right now - and that is okay.

I have, however, been peeking into the classes on Monday night. There is something that I like about them. I sometimes think that 90 minutes is just too much time; even though they tend to go into great deal when responding to emails and others via phone or Skype.

I like the classes because I can work on my crafting while listening to the discussion.

So although next Monday is supposed to be the last class, Oprah will continue the class as a part of her Soul Sessions Series on XM Radio. That is so cool. I think I will enjoy that since she has interviews with a variety of people. I like Eckhart Tolle, but again 90 minutes of him and O can be a bit much on some nights.

Meanwhile, when will I get through the book? I think I will set a goal to get through it in the next 6 weeks. Let's see how that goes...

Movies to see ...

The movie list is stacking up too ... since Oscar season is in full swing, I will try to keep up this year as opposed to waiting for the awards to be handed out and then going to the movies.


So here's how things stack up:


"The Great Debate"

• I'm a fan of Forrest Whitaker and I like Denzel Washingto and Oprah (who produced the movie); nice to see those young people do their thing as well
• UPDATE: saw this one; just okay. too formulaic

"The Kite Runner"

• The book is on my reading list; but it looks as if I might see the movie before I read the book (my preference is for the opposite to occur), but I am just very anxious about this one

"I Am Legend"

• I do like Will Smith although it does not seem like my style of movie ... I will give it a go

"Look"

• Oooh, this is one I am definitely going to see! Adam Rifkin has hit the nail on the head w/a movie about how much of our lives is under surveillance - but he tells the story in a fictional way. Cool

"Juno"

• This one seems interesting; humor gets me every time

"Atonement"

• I've heard some Oscar buzz about this one, but I'm not a fan of period pieces, so I am on the fence about this one

"Charlie Wilson's War"

"The Bucket List"

• I like Jack Nicholson; I'm a little warm on Morgan Freeman ... so this one is not high up on the list (and it has not received much love from the critics)

TWO Things About Me!

TWO Things About Me!

Two Names I Go by: kimmie and foxy

Two Things I am Wearing Right Now: skirt and camisole

Two Things I Want (or have) in a Relationship: respect and understanding

Two of My Favorite Things to do: read and listen to hip hop

Two Things I Want Very Badly At The Moment: to be a millionaire and always remember to count my blessings

Two pets I have: none

Two things I did last night: watch tv and talk on the phone

Two things I ate today: cereal and soup

Two people I just talked to last: karmen and mom

Two Things I'm doing tomorrow: road trip and listening to the radio

Two longest car rides: from buffalo to new york city and from atlanta, ga to orlando, fl
Two Favorite Holidays: christmas season and valentine's day

Two favorite beverages: water and juice/smoothie

Two favorite TV Shows: "Oprah" and "The Office"

Who's complaining?

So I finally got around to watching Tuesday's Oprah show on Wednesday evening. It was a good show; she covered a lot of topics and it was called the good news show. For the record, I like Oprah and I DVR the show daily.

Well, one segment really intrigued me and that was the 'Stop Whining/Complaining' segment. There was a pastor on who talked about a challenge to rid the world of complaints and complainers ... wow ...

It is an interesting concept. The plan is based on wearing a purple bracelet and the goal is to not complain for 21 consecutive days (it seems that research shows that it takes about 21 days to form a habit). If you do find yourself complaining, you should take the bracelet and put it on the other wrist. You do this until you've worn the bracelet for 21 days and picked up a new and positive habit of not complaining.

I have already put in my request for a bracelet (I also ordered some to pass along to others) ... and I think I will complain until it arrives. No, really, I've been consciously working on this endeavor since I saw the Tuesday show. If you, too, are traveling down this complaint-free road, all the best! It seems a bit 'secret-like' to me. So it should be a bit easier to think of the positive in what may appear as a negative situation.