In My Orbit...
Coming up for air from a truly trying weekend. As someone who tries not to attend pity parties, I make an effort to not waste this page on personal woes in fear of it sounding like one. Suffice to say that the Girl, her hubby and her Bubbas need a new home--pronto! So any good thoughts (or referrals) to low-cost housing in the East San Fernando Valley, California would be greatly appreciated.
It's D-Day for my Yoga training, starting tonight, with the practicum test. In this first stage, I teach an entire class from start to finish. I'm fairly confident I'll do well, but am soliciting more prayers and good thoughts in this regard. So around 7:30 p.m. PST, drop whatever you're doing and say a prayer for me--thanks!
And on the lighter side of life, I ran across a piece in HuffPo about the current war of words between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry. Tyler Perry to Spike Lee: 'Go Straight to Hell'.
Known as a better provocateur than filmmaker (IMHO), Spike Lee dishes and disses:
"I know it's making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better. ... I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows (Tyler Perry's 'Meet the Browns' and 'House of Payne'), and I am scratching my head. We got a black president, and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep 'n' Eat?"
This coming from the man who launched his career with She's Gotta Have It? I could barely sit through the film, and certainly didn't consider it either a compliment to the Black race or of any groundbreaking artistic merit. Yet, Lee has made a name for himself, as well as set himself up as judge and jury to other Black artists creative endeavors.
I admit bias. I think Spike Lee is a fraud with two watchable films out of the number he has directed. Add to that his arrogance, condescension, and looking down his nose toward his peers, and I immediately turn off.
Since I don't recall when the last Spike Lee Joint was at the box office, I can only surmise that Spike is feeling neglected and needs some attention. On the converse, Perry seems to crank out hit after hit, along with using his currency to bankroll and produce other's artistic visions. Precious being the most recent of note that elevated and launched a few careers.
While I don't love everything that Perry does (Why Did I Get Married Too and For Colored Girls immediately come to mind) I find his humor and characters like Madea and April more relative to my experience than Nola Darling or Mookie. And he comes off as infinitely more grateful and gracious for his successes, which goes a long way toward admiration in my book.
Oh well, as they say in Hollywood, there's no such thing as bad publicity!