Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
WTF! Actress Pam Grier Says Sex With Comedian Richard Pryor Left Her With Cocaine-Crusted Vagina
Jezebel.com: In her memoir out this week, actress Pam Grier says she and Richard Pryor broke up in part because his cocaine use had led to a dangerous buildup of the drug in her vagina. Is that even possible?
Here's how Grier recounts the conversation with her doctor:
He said, "Pam, I want to tell you about an epidemic that's prevalent in Beverly Hills right now. It's a buildup of cocaine residue around the cervix and in the vagina. You have it. Are you doing drugs?"
"No," I said, astonished.
"Well, it's really dangerous," he went on. "Is your partner putting cocaine on his penis to sustain his erection?"
"No," I said, "not that I know of. It's not like he has a pile of cocaine next to the bed and he dips his penis in it before we have sex." I had a nauseating flash of one of Richard's famous lines: Even my dick has a cocaine jones.
"Are you sure he isn't doing it in the bathroom before he comes to bed?" the doctor asked.
"That's a possibility," I said. "You know, I am dating Richard Pryor."
"Oh, my God," he said. "We have a serious problem here. If he's not putting it on his skin directly, then it's worse because the coke is in his seminal fluid."
The doctor then asks her if her mouth went numb while performing oral sex on Pryor, which she says it did, and which he links to the Novocaine-like effects of cocaine.
1970s icons aside, is this a real phenomenon? At least one doctor is highly skeptical. We checked in with Dr. Jan Gurley, a physician who works at a public-health clinic for the homeless in San Francisco and, in her spare time, blogs for SFGate.com. The phenomenon was news to her, but she gamely called the San Francisco Forensic Office, where the first medical examiner she spoke to also had never heard of it. A request is in to the San Francisco Forensic Office's Chief Toxicologist and an Ob-Gyn.
But here's why it's unlikely from a physiological standpoint: Cocaine is a form of adrenaline, and your body processes it on a temporary basis, Doc Gurley explained. The speed with which your body processes it depends on the blood flow to the area; toxicologists testing for cocaine often check the eyeballs or the nose, because those are low blood-flow areas. The vagina, however, is a high blood-flow zone — Doc Gurley says the Ob-Gyn surgeons' term of art is that the vagina is "very forgiving." (It really is, if you think about it.)
Bottom line: "It's extremely unlikely that there could be any toxic vagina effect of cocaine," Gurley says.
The one outstanding question is whether ejaculate can store cocaine, and how fast a woman could "heal" from that after sex.
"All in all, having any doctor tell any patient something like that smacks of either misremembered recall on the patient's part, or, possibly more likely, a sleazy attempt by a vaguely irresponsible doc to scare someone into making a major life change," Gurley says. But, she adds, "This whole topic is yet another morality tale showing yet another reason why it's so important to insist on a condom."
Foxy: My Life In Three Acts [Amazon]
Related: Doc Gurley's Blog [SFGate]
'Pitbull-In-A-Skirt' Eve Speaks On Rocky Relationship With Interscope Records: ''People Promised Me Sh*t''
In mid-January, Eve posted a brief message via Twitter confirming her departure from long-time label, Interscope, but the 31-year-old rapper has never spoken in detail about the split. However, Eve shared with VIBE the real reasons she's currently shopping for a new label home.
"[Interscope was] stupid because they didn’t drop me at first, they [just shelfed me] and dropped the ball. After 'Tambourine', they straight up were like, ‘Umm, yeah, nah, we’re not putting out the record.’ After that I was like 'Yall gotta let me go. I’ve been here 11 years and you’re frontin on me?' It got to that point," she reveals.
Eve who's debut album off Interscope, Let There Be Eve... Ruff Ryders' First Lady, debuted in 1999, says she loves the label's chairman, Jimmy Iovine, but admits that he's motivated by trends, no matter how much faith he's already invested in a senior artist - "I'm not going to talk shit about him, but I don’t appreciate the fact that he didn’t go the extra mile for me."
However, the main reason the Philly chick says she left disgruntled has everything to do with a pledge that was made to her before her 4th album, Flirt was meant to drop in 2007. "They promised me the machine. The machine is basically the roll out. It’s 'Yo, when [Flirt] comes out, we’ll give you this, we’ll give you that. And that’s what made me mad. It’d be different if we didn’t have a mtg where people promised me shit. If they were just like ‘Oh we’re going to put the album out and see what happens,’ that would be one thing," she says.
"But they were like ‘No, we’re making sure this happens, it’s coming out on this date.’ It was concrete. But it’s all good, everything happens how it’s supposed to, when it’s supposed to."
Eve confesses experiencing a short surge of confusion. "I definitely went through a period of ‘Are you serious?’ I think I didn’t know how to feel. Once it finally happened, it’s like 'Damn, so you wasn’t really fucking with me?' I went through a lot of different thoughts, but that only lasted for two days."
Almost immediately after getting dropped Eve went overseas for a series of club performances off her dubstep record, "Me N My", and reached an epiphany that even without Interscope she was still on her right path.
Currently the rapper/actress is still taking major label offers and promises fans that her recharged album, Lip Lock, will be out this year. — Tracy Garraud
courtesy of lukescorner.ning.com
Monday, April 26, 2010
'Avatar' Already Biggest Selling Blu Ray Disc In History With 2.7 Million Sold In Just 4 Days. Moves 6.7 Million DVDs Total
James Cameron didn't need 3-D to break this record.
Just four days after debuting on store shelves, "Avatar" has sold 2.7 million Blu-ray discs to consumers in the U.S. and Canada, according to 20th Century Fox -- more Blu-rays than any previous movie has sold. The previous record holder, "The Dark Knight," has sold 2.5 million Blu-rays since its debut 16 months ago.
Fox also sold 4 million standard definition DVDs. The combined total makes "Avatar" the biggest DVD launch of the year, breaking a previous mark of 4 million Blu-ray and DVDs combined set by "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" on its first weekend in March.
"Avatar" also debuted Thursday in France, where it sold a combined 400,000 units on DVD and Blu-ray, the biggest-ever launch in the country. It is at the top of the charts in Germany as well, although specific sales figures weren't immediately available. It goes on sale in Great Britain on Monday.
The huge debut for "Avatar" on home video dispels concerns that consumers wouldn't want to see it on a 2-D home television after most watched it in theaters in 3-D. Eighty-three percent of "Avatar's" $746.4-million domestic gross has come from theaters with 3-D screens. More than 70% of its $1.975-billion international gross has come from 3-D.
The news comes as Fox recently signed deals with kiosk renter Redbox and DVD-by-mail firm Netflix that keep "Avatar" and all of the studio's future releases off the services until 28 days after they go on sale.
"Avatar" provides a much needed shot in the arm to Hollywood's home entertainment business, which saw its revenue fall 8% in the first three months of the year and 5% last year.
Source: L.A. Times
Homeboy Sandman "THE GOOD SUN"
abovegroundmagazine.com: Hip-Hop has always lended itself to souls who marched to the beat of a different drum. In this culture the zanier your personality and the more outlandish you can be the better, so long as you can rhyme. Once upon a time the landscape was much richer with authentically quirky folks who spoke their minds and broke down artistic barriers. Today we mostly just have a bunch of people that run around trying to do, say and wear whatever they can for the sake of shock value and notoriety. Gone are names like Old Dirty Bastard and Professor X, men who could intrigue as much as they could entertain and were undoubtedly gifted with the ability to make you think about the music they laid down. The dismal tide of things points to their era almost completely being over, but as 2010 begins to really get it’s feet wet along comes an emcee who reminds you a bit of how diverse our poets once were. His name is Homeboy Sandman.
The story behind Sandman’s rise through the ranks of NYC’s underground circuit reads like a movie script; Queens bred neighborhood kid falls in love with music, comes of age, struggles with a drug addiction, begins performing wherever he can in the city spewing conscious lyrics, starts a website, gets placed on some big releases through his glaring talent, buzz grows, signs deal, prepares to release a highly anticipated debut…LOL, okay that was the quick version no doubt, but Sandman’s path indeed is the one less taken and even far less expected to lead somewhere, yet here he is making music, saying things that matter.
The Good Sun is a full introduction to the Indie music maker’s manic, densely packed lyrical barrages that he seems to have pre-packaged into his cerebral cortex, ready for firing at a moment’s notice. Sometimes the music is reflective, like on the Ski Beatz produced “I Can Rhyme Though”, and in other instances far more mellowed (“Mean Mug”), but always, always poignant. I don’t remember a track that didn’t have at least a couple of jewels to either marinate on or take with you on your travels. Don’t get the wrong impression, Sandman never comes across as preachy or in a “know it all” type of manner, he remains honest and asks questions…
Un-shy about flexing his glowing talent for sing-rhyming; a practice employed throughout the album and never mis-used, a good amount of the choruses get blessed with absorbed and harmonious warbles that he falls into the cadence of so effortlessly I barely ever noticed, I just hummed along.
No matter what mood is set, be it melancholy, accusatory or slick he seems comfortable and at home speaking on issues that most artists might consider too heady for a rap album (or just to know about in general)…Meanwhile Sandman can rhyme about it all, politics, race, selflessness, dishonesty, poverty, conspiracy–you name it, he can say something (or five things) about it–lickety split and it’ll be clever too. He’s a lot niftier than most who attempt to do it these days and it’s appreciated. The little nuances of his rambling vocal paths grow on you while helping you grasp the immense care he takes in his craft. It’s no wonder that a trifecta of NYC’s golden era production luminaries were eager to throw him a beat to get busy over. Included in that list is one half of the legendary Queens duo The Beatnuts; Psycho Les. A man that I haven’t exactly seen collaborating with many artists these days despite the fact that I’m sure he gets requests by the minute. Him giving Sandman the nod should bridge a few gaps into the more orthodox Hip-Hoppers who have been searching for new stuff that rocks, but are too scared to pick up an album by anyone that doesn’t walk around looking and behaving like a billboard for huge corporations.
There’s a raw honesty contained in this album. I never once got the feeling that Sandman was kicking an allegorical type of story. On the contrary, The Good Sun feels immensely personal. One listen to the stirring “Angels With Dirty Faces” or the bereft “Listen” and you’ll understand what I mean.
Homeboy Sandman crosses more than a few bidges on The Good Sun and after you bump it you walk away feeling almost as if you know personally the man who’s rhymes came blaring out of your speakers. Perhaps there are some moments where you have to wear your “open mic hat” extra tight to vibe with, but overall the album is brassy and a fresh effort that seeks to imitate no one. Sandman is un-apologetically himself at every moment, relaying information and analyzations at fiber optic speed for your mind to download. I doubt any debut will be stronger than this in 2010 and this big apple MC has successfully cemented himself and his music as reliable, amplifiable and daringly individual.
$18.99 out of $20
-Dominick “BIG D O” Ledezma
44 Years Old...WOW! Stacey Dash Covers 'Smooth' Magazine
AtlNightSpots.com: Part time Actress and full time MILF Stacey Dash’s Smooth magazine pictures and interview.Stacey talks about Jamie Foxx, love, sex and about cooking. Stacey reveals that after sleeping with her ex-husbands on the first night, they proposed a week later. That’s a grown as woman move who knows what she wants and knows the power of her Pu$$y. Propz Pookie Cuzzin & Indo on the scans
Smooth: What can a man do to make you melt?
Stacey Dash: Make me laugh. If you can make me laugh, you’re in.
Smooth: Is there anything physical that you look for in a man? Do you have a type?
Stacey Dash: There’s nothing physical that I specifically have to have. Oh, maybe nice hands. Nice hands are very important.
Smooth: Finish this sentence: I feel most sexy when…
Stacey Dash: I feel most sexy when I’m in love. My stomach flips. I get butterflies.
Smooth: Would that describe your relationship with Jamie Foxx?
Stacey Dash: We’re friends. We like each other. We have fun together. We hang out. He makes me laugh.
Smooth: He sounds like a pretty good fit for you.
Stacey Dash: He might be. I don’t know. At the moment, I’m staying single and he appreciations that.
Smooth: We came across something tha said that Jamie was talking about certain…intimacies.
Stacey Dash: What do you mean by intimacies?
Smooth: It said you’d had sex.
Stacey Dash: He didn’t say that. You can’t believe what you read.
Smooth: Set the record straight for us.
Stacey Dash: If that had happened, I would admit it, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Smooth: Has Jamie done anything romantic for you?
Stacey Dash: Yes, he took me to the Oscars. We went to all the Oscar parties. That was really romantic. We had a really nice time.
Smooth: What’s your definition of love?
Stacey Dash: I think love is amazing. I’m in love with love. I just don’t know what it is in a relationship yet. I’ve been marrried three times and divorced three times. At this point, I’m trying to fall in love with myself. And hopefully after I do that, I’ll be able to fall in love and stay in love with someone else.
Smooth: Do you think you’ll ever get married again?
Stacey Dash: I never say never. It’s whatever God’s will is. But I hope so. I think marriage is a beautiful thing.
Smooth:We heard somewhere you slept with all your husbands on the first night. Is that true?
Stacey Dash: Yes, I slept with all my husbands on the first night. And they said, “Marry Me” and I said, “yes.”
Smooth:They asked you that day?
Stacey Dash: Like, maybe a week later.
Smooth: Wow, you must have done some special things to them. Is that something you’d do again?
Stacey Dash: No, I’m not doing that anymore. At the moment, I’m holding the kitty hostage. I’m trying to do things differently.
Smooth: How do you know when it’s right to go there with a guy?
Stacey Dash: I don’t know. It’s not something that I predict, but it’s something that I’m trying to figure out. I’ve been engaged six times and married three, so this is my first time being single. What I’m trying to figure out is how to get to know someone when the attraction is not strong at first. Does it come over time? I don’t know. There are these men that you meet and the attraction is instant. You just want to bed with them right there. But I’m not doing that. I’m trying to see where the middle ground is at.
Smooth: Would you say that you’re romantic?
Stacey Dash: Yes, I’d say that very much so.
Smooth: What’s something romantic that you do for someone you’re seeing?
Stacey Dash: I’ll surprise them when they come home with a sexy outfit and some music and candies.
Smooth: They say the way to a man’s heart is through this stomach. Can Stacy Dash cook?
Stacey Dash: Stacey Dash can cook. But let’s get it straight: I don’t like to cook. If I’m in the mood, I can cook, but I don’t want you count on me to cook for you every day, because it’s not going to happen.
courtesy of lukescorner.ning.com
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Video Vixen Rosa Acosta Reprotedly Losing Hair And Going Bald Due To Scalp Condition
RosaAcosta.net: According to Bossip News, which can mean this to be a rumor, Rosa Acosta did not cut her hair out of impulse. Instead, the Dominican model contends she has a hair issue that requires treatment irregularly.
I didn’t have to ask permission from anyone to cut my hair. However, due the overwhelming response I felt it was only right to address my condition. I love hair, most women do. There is certain femininity in the hair but it doesn’t stop there, it’s about your mannerisms the way you talk, the way you walk they way you carry your self. People have demanded an answer about why I cut my hair while insinuating that as if it was going to destroy me in some way. The truth is I cut my hair because my hair is falling out and has been for over a decade and I needed to began my treatments again, “says Rosa.
“I encourage other people out there with a hair loss problem to accept your reality and make the most of it. For what I do, I feel like I’m a bad bitch and I don’t need hair to make me. When I want to wear the hair I will. But for now, the most important thing for me to do is go through my treatments to make my scalp healthy which will intern give me a healthy head of hair.”
Rosa Acosta has not addressed this rumor on her official website but it could contend true. That's pretty deep for a lot of fans to follow but excellent how she manages. Goes to prove we all have our issues but in life it's all about how we handle them.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
R&B Legend Ronald Isley Released From Jail After Serving 3 Years For Tax Evasion
R&B veteran RON ISLEY has been released from jail after serving three years for tax evasion - and he's already making big comeback album plans.
The Isley Brothers star was sentenced to jail in September, 2006 after he was found guilty of evading federal income tax payments of over $3 million (GBP1.87 million) between 1997 and 2002.
He appealed the decision on health grounds but lost, and started his sentence in Indiana in 2007.
Isley admits he is "overjoyed" to be back home and can't wait to hit the studio with ideas he's been dreaming up behind bars.
They include a gospel album, inspired by performances he gave fellow inmates and work he did in the prison chapel.
He tells Los Angeles DJ Steve Harvey, "(I was) talking to young people and crying with them and people that were gonna be in there some years and that part really hurts. They (inmates) looked up to me
"I was working at the chapel and I did gospel shows every week and that kept me up."
Isley is also working on a new album for record label Def Jam, and he promises it will be a star-studded affair.
He explains, "Some of the people that I'm working with on this album will be Lauryn Hill, T.I., Rick Ross and Burt Bacharach."
Isley's last album, Here I Am, was a collaborative effort with songwriter Bacharach.
The R&B icon will make his return to the stage on 8 May (10) when he performs in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Christina Aguilera Responds To Akon's Claims She Copied Lady Gaga
AceShowbiz.com: Christina Aguilera answers Akon's claim that she copied Lady GaGa. In an interview with Atlanta's Star 94 FM as part of her "Bionic" promotion, she sets the record straight, saying "No rip-offs, we're all inspired by different things."
"I was inspired ... by artists that came before me. ... You know what I love about the new breed of newcomers is that they're risk takers," she explained more. "They're doing things that aren't so safe. ... I always had the guts and passion to do things like that. ... I'm happy to see that people have come full-circle and are now accepting it and are into it and these girls have the guts to do it."
In another radio interview, the singer stated, "It just comes with the territory. That, in particular, is not even worth wasting the breath to comment on." She added, "I've been around for over a decade and I think my work speaks for myself. [When I was younger] I would have engaged, been a little upset [about the comparisons]. There's a bigger picture out there. I've got my son, my family, my work."
courtesy of lukescorner.ning.com
Christina Aguilera is due to release "Bionic" in the U.S. on June 8.
Mary J Blige Helps Save Harlem School Of The Arts
The Harlem School of the Arts, on the brink of being shut down permanently amid a storm of financial troubles, has won a reprieve by donors and city officials who stepped in to resuscitate the well-known institution.
The school has found financial rescuers.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans to reopen the school on Saturday.
The school was shuttered on April 1 after the board of directors announced that money had run out, and that without “angels” descending with the $500,000 it would take to keep the doors open until the summer, the school would be closed indefinitely.
Those angels arrived this week with $1 million. The cash came from four organizations, two of which donated anonymously.
The Herb Alpert Foundation contributed $500,000. Hank Greenberg’s Starr Foundation and two anonymous donors are giving money, and a group of celebrities led by the singer Mary J. Blige has made a commitment to raise more funds.
“Arts are an important part of every good education, and so it’s critical that we did everything we could to keep this organization’s doors open,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “Without a doubt, these are challenging times for the city’s nonprofits, but it’s vital that through strong public-private partnerships we support the programs that make a huge difference in the lives of New Yorkers. And the Harlem School of the Arts is certainly one of those institutions.”
The city will continue to invest capital funds in the school’s building and make grants to the school, said Kate Levin, commissioner of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
As part of the plan to buoy and reopen the school, five of the six board members were replaced with newly elected members. When Mr. Bloomberg announced the change in leadership, the crowd, including dozens of parents, teachers and alumni, erupted in cheers.
An examination of the school’s finances by The New York Times showed a sharp decline in fund-raising, an increase in expenses and questionable financial management by the board, which parents and teachers blamed for the school’s dismal financial health. The relationship between the board and parents was arms-length at best, said Ephraim Emmanuel, the president of the parents association and a newly elected member of the board of directors.
About an hour before the press conference, Mr. Emmanuel called the reorganization a rebirth for the school. “But now we know we have to be forever vigilant,” he said.
The four other new members of the board are: Charles Hamilton, managing director for strategy and investment at La Cité Development L.L.C.; Milton Irvin, managing director at UBS; Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; and Janice Savin Williams, co-founder of the Williams Capital Group.
Mr. Hamilton, the new chairman of the board, said the first order of business would be a thorough review of finances to determine the school’s needs, and how much money it would take to make the school solvent.
Ms. Levin said that two issues in particular troubled the city: the lack of recent audits, and the amount of back payroll taxes owed. Records show that the school owes more than $400,000.
The school was founded in 1964 by the concert singer Dorothy Maynor, who began teaching a handful of youngsters using a piano in the basement of the St. James Church, next door to the school’s current location at 645 St. Nicholas Avenue. Ms. Maynor died in 1996.
The school serves 3,000 students a year, training them in four core artistic disciplines: dance, music, theater and visual arts. Alumni have gone on to some of the best performance high schools in the city and to top-tier colleges and conservatories like Juilliard. Some have appeared on Broadway and in feature films.
Over the past few weeks, Harlem’s power brokers stitched together a patchwork of donors, recruited new board members and sorted through the details of the school’s dire financial state.
City Councilwoman Inez Dickens made an impassioned plea to those gathered at the school yesterday, warning that the battle was won with the help of wealthy donors and the city, but it would be up to the community to win the war.
She said that “a bake sale could buy a violin,” and likened the school to rich soil that needed to be nurtured.
“Harlem School of the Arts is a phenomenal institution, but more important than that, it is a nourishing garden, a rich garden that takes all of our children and makes the flowers of our future grow,” she said. “And when we heard, just a mere few weeks ago, that Harlem School of the Arts was in trouble, then we had to step up to the plate, we had to save this institution.”
courtesy of lukescorner.ning.com
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
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