Valerie's blog

Today I’d like to give to a big, loud, ghetto shout-out to Devon K. Shepard and Bentley Kyle Evans, two writer/producers who have landed television deals for 2010. WhooooHoooo! Now, that’s how you start a damn decade!

If you have read my novel, HOLLYHOOD, you know the story is not about a seductive female as the busty book cover implies, but it is the story of African-American males like Devon and Bentley making moves and money in an entertainment world not created for them.

I love Oprah. I'll admit it wasn’t love at first sight, but over the years we have become quite close. You see, she comes by my home everyday around the same time. And she never shows up without a good story, a good book, a good joke or even a good recipe to share with me. It just depends on what’s happening in the world at that time. Because like myself, she stays abreast of what’s happening in the world and she’s involved. She’s also into spiritual things like I am. It was Oprah who turned me on to Eckart Tolle in a whole new way. Yeah, she eventually won me over with her substance and content, not to mention her grace and her class.

Precious is the story of a young girls struggle to escape slavery, except in this modern day saga the white slave masters have been replaced by black slave masters who commit the same dehumanizing acts. Mary, played by Mo’Nique, is as lazy as any white woman during the eighteen hundreds, not having to do anything she doesn’t want to do. And she doesn’t want to do anything. She saves all the housework for her slave child, Precious, who she cracks the whip at daily with beatings and insults. Precious is raped, not by the white master, but by her black father. And in real slave fashion, Precious cannot read (though she daydreams in a foreign language) and she is breeding babies while she struggles to complete chores to stave off beatings and please her master/mother.

Just when you thought Omarosa was gone for good…she is BACK! For someone who professes to be so smart and brilliant, I don’t understand she why she doesn’t get a regular job and leave us alone. It seems she’d want to go back to working at The White House in the age of Obama. It’s been YEARS since she first came on the scene as the villain on The Apprentice and we haven’t been able to get rid of her since. She’s been on four or five reality shows and has made numerous appearances on shows like Fear Factor. Omarosa is the reality star with nine lives.

I saw “This Is It,” over the weekend. With all the buzz and advertising hoopla which was stamped with a two week expiration date, I felt compelled to see the movie and I’m so glad I did. Watching this film was like peeking into the laboratory of a mad musical scientist and getting a rare glimpse of a genius at work.

When I read there was going to be a sequel to Stomp the Yard, I was thinking, really? The Graduate Chapter? The PhD students still dancing or should I say, stomping the nights away? I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie. I watched compelled by the story while reliving my days of college past. But there were many moments when I struggled with the mustaches, deep voices and mature physiques. I just couldn’t get past how old everyone at Truth University looked, but it’s no wonder. When the movie was filmed Columbus Short was 25 years old.

RICAHRD PRYOR

I missed “The Good Wife” Tuesday night though I had not planned to. After a mere two episodes I have found myself hooked on this show. With the many scandals we have witnessed in America, especially politically, starting with Marion Barry and Bill Clinton to Mark Sanford and John Edwards, there have been numerous “good wives,” who have (seemingly) stood by their man in the face of infidelity and betrayal. Its earth shattering enough to have your lover/spouse cheat on you.

Due to a back injury, I was slow getting out of the gate to promote HOLLYHOOD. But once I started, I was off and running and there were loads of folks there to cheer me on.

At my launch party in Brooklyn, people came out in the pouring rain to celebrate my accomplishment and show their love. A lot of people! Neighbors, co-workers, fellow writers, friends new and old were in the house.

On Thursday, September 24th @ 7:00 pm, I will be at Brownstone Books in Brooklyn. Bed-Stuy to be exact. Hope to see you there!

Reading/Q & A/ Signing
Brownstone Books
409 Lewis Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11233
718-953-7328
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=409+Lewis+Av...

A or C Train to Utica