That Oprah Winfrey magic was on full display today as she hosted the cast of the upcoming film, “The Great Debaters.” Director and star Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker as well as three of the younger cast members including Jurnee Smollett (”Eve’s Bayou”) were all on hand.

Some interesting tidbits:
Denzel had no intentions of being a star;
Due to all of the activity going on, the only preparation he had on set was “40 breaths” and he was ready;
Several old family sayings made it into the film including, “Do what you got to do, so that you can do what you want to do;”
He shared a story about a crush he had on a high-school girl, Deborah Hill (who’s probably kicking herself now!).

I don’t know about you but the sight of Washington, Whitaker and Winfrey all on stage together gave me goosebumps considering that the three Oscar-nominated actors served as movie role models for the film’s young cast.

“The Great Debaters” comes out on Christmas Day and if you know like I know you better bring a hankerchief or sit somewhere secluded in the theater so that you can cry in peace.

Do you think this film will be better than Washington’s directorial debut, “Antwone Fisher?”
 

Here we go again!

Months after dealing with a sexual abuse scandal at her school in South Africa, now comes word that a supposed “civil rights activist” is trying to get an expose about her company’s hiring practices published in an uncoming book entitled, “Ruthless.”

Louisana native Keifer Bonvillain is the same dude who tried to sell Oprah information last year about a former employee speaking out and now he’s trying to take that information and get his own paper on.

His book pitch reads: “An office manager at Harpo broke his silence and his confidentiality agreement when he spoke freely about Oprah Winfrey’s private life and business affairs.

Bonvillain vows to disclose that Harpo may have been involved in “blatant discrimination . . . This CEO not only knows about these practices . . . she condones them . . . Hours of taped conversations . . . reveal what they don’t want the public to know about [Oprah's] private life, and a business that prides itself on its diversity.”

Oprah, as hard as you work to make money, there’s always going to be people working equally as hard to separate you from it.

Can Oprah just catch a break?

According to a new interview in Men’s Vogue, Will Smith has admitted to “dabbling” in the controversial religion, Scientolgy.  “I’ve studied Buddhism and Hinduism, and I’ve studied Scientology through Tom [Cruise].” A followup interview in US Weekly also notes that his wife, Jada, is “more gung-ho about Scientology than Will.”

Will also compares Scientology to the Bible saying “like 98 percent of the principles [of Scientology] are identical to the principles of the Bible.”

Should Will’s religious be his own business or is this a BAD move for the always Fresh Prince?

Today is the day. Hurray! Hurray!  I hope you will all go out with the family and see “This Christmas.”   Folks from 7 to 70 will enjoy this one.  Thank you for taking the time to read my journals for the past few days.  I hope you were able to get to know me a little and possibly received some food for thought while reading.

I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to write the journals, Thanks BET.

Most importantly thank you all, for supporting me and the projects I’m in!!!…. Godspeed

Regina

LIFE MUST BE LIVED FORWARDS…BUT CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BACKWARDS

Happy Tuesday, folks. 

I hope the day finds you well.  For those of us that cook and host Thanksgiving dinner, today is the first day of major prep for Thursday’s dinner.  You’ve probably made a few store runs already, but today it’s really on.  This is my favorite time of year.  Actually from Halloween to January.  It’s filled with a lot of celebration and reflection.  My sister and I have been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the past 7 years.  It started out small with just six of us but each year the headcount has gone up.  For the past 3 years it’s been 20 guests!  We always play games after we eat and watch all the football games.  So 20 people playing Taboo after food & drinks is hilarious.  I’m sure lots of you can relate.  LOL.

Have a wonderful day and may today be better than yesterday and not as good tomorrow….Godspeed

Regina

Live with integrity, a generous spirit, a positive enthusiasm and the world will reflect it all back to you.

“This Christmas” in theaters tomorrow, Nov. 21st.

Hey folks,

I first want to apologize for not journaling on Friday.  It was one of those days where there just wasn’t enough time in the day.  Which seems to be the case on most days, doesn’t it?  On Fridays my son and I usually go to the movies, “Color Me Mine” (a place where you paint your own designs on ceramic pieces), or something that gives us time just the two of us.  Well this past Friday we were so tired that we were both sleep by 9:00pm.  In bed by 9 on a Friday is a rare occurrence for an 11 year old.

This weekend was eventful.  I had the opportunity to see Hillary Rodham Clinton speak.  Erika Alexander, Dr. Kevin Brown & his wife, and few others hosted a garden party for the Senator at the Brown’s home.

I’m an Obama supporter, but I wanted to hear what the Senator had to say regarding the future of our country.  So I went with an open mind.  I must say I was thoroughly impressed.  What was most impressive is that she allowed the audience to ask her questions and she answered them without hedging.  The Senator addressed the issues we are facing as a country, which was no different than any other potential candidate.  What was different was that she offered her succinct plan on how to begin to eradicate these problems.  I was IMPRESSED and must say that she would make a great president.  I left feeling like she might be the right choice for 2008 and a great predecessor to Obama.  I’m writing this to encourage you all to get information regarding the candidates.  Take time to find out where they stand on the issues, especially the ones that relate to you.  Our country, our world is in a state of emergency and we need each other to save it.  The days of individualism are over if we want to see our grandkids.  So read, research and VOTE.

Have a wonderful week.  Mondays are great.  They give us a brand new day to start the week over again!
 
Two more days until “This Christmas” opens.  I hope you all are as excited as I am! …Godspeed

Regina

7 P’s

Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

THIS CHRISTMAS opens November 21st

Today marks the first day of a six-day countdown to the opening of “This Christmas.”  For those who don’t know, “This Christmas” is a new movie that stars myself, Loretta Devine, Sharon Leal, Lauren London, Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Mekhi Phifer, and Chris Brown.  Whew!  That was a mouthful.  What a great cast.  The wonderful thing about this film is that it is truly an ensemble.  Every character is fully developed and you can relate to the characters.  You will feel like it’s your family or you will want to be a part of ours.  You will laugh sometimes and feel the emotion during other moments.  These are just a few things that make this movie special.  You will have to go see it to find out what else is great about this film.

We all have been on major press tours to get people in the seats, especially for opening weekend.  I don’t know if any of you know this but there is a writer’s strike going on, so it makes it particularly difficult to promote a movie at this time. Because of the strike, majority of the talk shows are shut down and with a movie starring a black cast we need all the press we can get.  We need every press outlet for two reasons:

One, audience members tend to gravitate to movies with faces on billboards that look like theirs.  They assume when they are not on the poster, they can’t relate to the story.  Sometimes the latter may be true (Although “This Christmas” has a universal theme);

The amount of bootlegging we do really hurts our movies.  I don’t know if you realize this folks but when you buy a bootleg and don’t go see the movie, the studios look at that as black movies don’t make money.  Everything translates into dollars and cents. So it really hurts us when you buy bootleg.  Look at it this way, every time you buy a bootleg you are potentially preventing a new actor from getting his/her big shot or setting up a situation where you will be seeing less of your favorite actors.  Think about it.

Over the next few days I’m gonna conclude each journal with a daily motivator.  Some words that have inspired me from a book or quote or anything else that moves my spirit.  Until tomorrow…Godspeed.

REGINA

“Divine love inspires me to embrace and express harmony.”
 

According to a story in today’s New York Daily News, former drug kingpin, Leroy “Nicky” Barnes said it was he, not Frank Lucas who was the real American Gangster. Barnes says that many of the situations portrayed in the film were made up or simply never happened. “Have you listened to Frank talk? Frank is functionally illiterate. I’ve read all of Shakespeare. I can quote his sonnets. I read Dickens, Melville, Emily Dickinson. I won a poetry contest against inmates from the entire prison system.”"I did things Frank is incapable of. They took attributes of me and gave them to Frank. He was an empty vessel.”

HATE, HATE, HATE!

Damn, that’s harsh!  Sounds like the battle of two snitchs trying to see which ones switch is the biggest!

To read the entire interview, click here.

With a film of his own coming,  is Nicky just pouring haterade all over Lucas, jealous at the success of his film or does he have a point?

Halle Berry and Denzel Washington lead the list of nominees announced for the 34th annual People’s Choice Awards yesterday.

Berry will go against fellow nominees Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon during a live CBS broadcast at the Shrine Auditorium on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Washington will go head to head with nominees Johnny Depp and Bruce Willis for Favorite Male Movie Star and Favorite Movie contenders, The Bourne Ultimatum, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Word’s End, and Transformers.

Which Black actors do you think will receive a lot of attention during this awards season?

Hip-hop and lifestyle entrepreneur Russell Simmons is looking at making a movie about Reverend Run of Run-DMC fame with the same team thatworked on the TV series “Run’s House.”

Simmons told the Media and Money conference in New York on Thursday that he is looking for funding for the film venture. He also would need a studio home for the project, even though he signaled he doesn’t want to give up too much of the film’s financial upside and also not get stuck in long negotiations with a studio.

“It’s gonna make a lot of money,” Simmons said.

Is Russell right or has lost his “golden touch” — and his mind?