Stuff Spelmanites Say Part 2

[VIDEO] Basically I presented part 1 to you, so here's part two. A satire of the adventures of the women of Spelman College. Hopefully this will give you a good laugh, the theme is basically leading up to graduation!

Stuff Spelmanites say...

[VIDEO] For those of you who've attended an HBCU (such as Spelman College) you may very well enjoy this and know what they are referring to. For those of you who haven't had this experience it's still good for a laugh. I've decided it's worth sharing to anyone who reads this blog. Enjoy!

Red Tails...

[VIDEO] In the mid-1990s, HBO aired a TV movie named The Tuskegee Airmen. Of course the movie starred Cuba Gooding who is also starring in the coming film also about the "Tuskegee Airmen" entitled Red Tails.

The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of WW2 US Army Air Force (precedes the US Air Force) pilots that are well known for their exploits escorting American bombers in the skies of Europe. It started with the 99th Pursuit Squadron and the pilots of that squadron began their training at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). That unit actually still exist in the US Air Force as the 99th Flying Training Squadron.

Eventually the Tuskegee Airmen would be assigned to the 332d Fighter Group. As members of this Army Air Force unit, the tail of the planes would be painted crimson, and thus they acquired another nickname alluded to in the coming coming new film "red tails" or "red-tailed angels".

I read a story recently about how this film got to be made. It was produced by George Lucas who largely put up his own funds because Hollywood was unwilling to produce this project. I'm sure Hollywood was skittish about a project advertised as an action-flick with a mostly Black cast because they were unsure about whether or not money could be made. Even he tried to look at the big picture:

But still, Lucas claims he foot the bill himself for the budget, because that’s how important getting the film out there was to him. Lucas also pointed out that he wanted to make the film for teenage boys (young, black teenage boys in particular), to show them real heroes and real role models (outside of the Jay-Zs and Michael Jordans as he said). However, while talking to the folks over at USA Today, he said the pressure of having it do well at the box office has him worried about what impact Red Tail‘s success could have on the success of future films with all black casts.

“I realize that by accident I’ve now put the black film community at risk,” Lucas said. “I’m saying, if this doesn’t work, there’s a good chance you’ll stay where you are for quite a while. It’ll be harder for you guys to break out of that (lower-budget) mold. But if I can break through with this movie, then hopefully there will be someone else out there saying let’s make a prequel and sequel, and soon you have more Tyler Perrys out there.”

It wasn't just about the money but to help advance Black filmmakers. Perhaps even change the range of films they will be able to make. It also about giving the young boys the real heros and the real role models. Very laudable goals because the men the boys look up to will need some form of diversity. Who says you must only look up to entertainers and be entertainers?

You know I saw somewhere, some attribute his interest in doing this to the fact that he's dating a Black woman. This may be a true reason although certainly it's good thing what he seeks to do in this endeavor. It's still very important to be able to bring to the public the story of WW2's Tuskegee Airmen!

BTW George Lucas if you don't know owns Lucasfilm. His company has produced both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. They've made lots of money over the years so don't assume Red Tails will be a slouch on the silver screen!

Illinois Channel: Christmastime at Illinois' Executive Mansion

[VIDEO] Been quite a while since I linked to anything from the Illinois Channel. It's very much worthwhile to see a program about Illinois' Executive Mansion.

You know it's still unclear to me if our current Governor Pat Quinn actually lives at the residence when he's in Springfield. Perhaps he stays there when the General Assembly is in town but otherwise he makes his way to suburban Oak Park when he has no business in Springfield.

When he replaced Rod Blagojevich as Governor in 2009, it seemed his plan to move into this place and often referred to it as "The People's House". Blagojevich seemed to refuse to even stay in the mansion during his time as Governor opting to take flights back and forth between his Chicago home and Springfield. When his work habits were examined not long before he was removed from office one of the grips was how much it cost to fly him back and forth.

Well sorry to turn this positive program into a negative. We have another weekend to go before Next weekend is Christmas and I promised that this year I'm going to feel the spirit. Hopefully if you're an Illinoisian you will feel the Christmas spirit watching the 10 minute program from the Illinois Channel about the Executive Mansion.

In spite of the many issues of this state which will include the fiscal issues and the corruption for which Blagojevich was recently sentence, let's recognize that Illinois has plenty of treasures. And not all of those treasures reside in Chicago or the Chicago area either.

BTW, in Chicago you can watch Illinois Channel programming on CAN-TV!

Time for News Year's resolutions

Well I mean what do you expect It Is "My Mind" we're talking about. While I talk about a lot of things here at this blog sometimes I delve into the personal. Usually about my educational background but not much more.

Now that my birthday has passed it's time to look into New Year's resolutions. If you follow me on Twitter I have only hinted at that. Next year there are some goals I hope to accomplish. Most of them are from 2011 that I never realized.

Perhaps 2012 will be a better year for me. Perhaps up until New Year's Eve, this will be further fodder for this blog. In fact, perhaps there will be a New Year's resolution for this old blog as well.

You will have to stay tuned to find out.

Oh and Happy Holidays to everybody. Merry Christmas! :)

Today is 11/11/11

Or Veteran's Day which is November 11, 2011. The last binary date for the rest of this century! And it was preceded by 11/10/11 or November 10, 2011.

BTW, many thanks to our nation's veterans! There sacrifices will be forever appreciated. May you inspire many others to either do what you have done in serving our nation, but also inspire many others to know how blessed they are to live here. Thank you!

AP: Will Apple Continue to Thrive?

[VIDEO] I found out just yesterday that Apple Inc. founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had passed away. At that time I was no where near a PC or a TV when the news broke. In fact, I found out through an IM courtesy of my non-iPhone :P

This video looks at the future of Apple without their visionary founder and leader. In August he stepped down from his CEO position at Apple Inc. He had been fighting cancer and already had a leave of absense since January, but returned to the public eye to unveil the iPad2.

There was another unveiling of products at least a day before his death when Apple had revealed the newest version of the iPhone. I understand that he wasn't there to even show support.

As you see in this video people are talking about him. In the beginning he had a rough start. He may well have revolutionized the personal computer, but before the 80s was over he was out of the company he formed building computers in his parent's garage. Then he came back by the late 1990s and then a string of products with the iPod, iPhone and then the iPad. Of course let's not forget about those Macs.

As was the quote in that AP video, there is hope that Jobs' vision will continue even though he has passed away. Perhaps we'll continue to deal with the Macs, iPods, iPhones & iPads for the foreseeable future!