"When you speak of this in future years, and you will...

...be kind."

A fond farewell to Deborah Kerr. My favorites of her films include the stunningly beautiful Black Narcissus, the urbane romantic masterpiece An Affair to Remember, verbose late-Tennessee Williams Night of the Iguana, "Turn of the Screw" adaptation The Innocents -- and of course the "Walk Like A Man" movie, Tea and Sympathy, where the title quote comes from. A remarkably subtle film actress (its all about the look on her face, what she does with her eyes) no one could express sexual and emotional repression like Kerr. The Washington Post, NYTimes, and LATimes remember.


In other news:

Can you revoke a Nobel? DNA co-discoverer James Watson says whites are smarter than Africans (Scroll down the article for Watson on the relationship between skin color and sex drive, and how it would be okay to abort potential homosexuals). FYI: He, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins have been under the microscope in recent years over how much of the credit for DNA should also have gone to colleague Rosalind Franklin. Did the boys want to keep things to themselves?

We told you so! Study shows Feminists have more fun in bed.

And speaking of movies -- Tyler Perry, Box Office King.

Some have wondered if this will lead Hollywood to make more films for black audiences. He certainly knows his audience well, and the casting of Janet Jackson and Jill Scott helped to bring in their fans (and, although few will admit this, black gay men -- for whom 'Miss Janet' is a "Diva" in the way that Madonna is one for white gay men -- have been circulating shirtless photos of hard-bodied actor Michael Jai White from the film that somehow managed to 'leak out' in the weeks leading up to its release as well, so some of that first weekend money is from us!)

I'm less than optimistic about the future of black films however. I've seen it before (as well as the 'boom' in Latino/Hispanic films that was supposed to occur after the success of La Bamba -- remember that?) I'm sure we'll see more from Perry (particularly if he stars in it -- note the numbers in the Lions Gate article linked to his name above), but I suspect, sadly, that it will continue to be a hard sell to get anything beyond silly comedies and interracial buddy movies made. "Fluke" tends to be a favorite word of the Powers That Be, whether in film or in books. Confusion reigns when minorities flock to a film or rush out to buy a novel. Who knew 'they' would be interested? How do we repeat that success? Gee I don't know.....dumb stares all around.

Do you think that maybe there'd be less confusion if more people of color were in the boardrooms and decision making centers of these industries? Just a thought....