Vixen Chronicles

I've told you before that one of the blogs I visit often is Pinkdome.com. They are funny as hell, and even if I don't always agree with them, they are still funny as hell. Fair warning, PINK Dome is a politically based website, so if you aren't that interested in politics, just don't go. Heck, Like I said they are funny as hell and will make even the most disinterested guffaw, so I take that back, go anyway. Anyway, I noticed of late that whenever I went there the website was kinda slow. A little annoying, but bearable. I guess other people just couldn't bear it and complained, because the folks at the dome posted a note saying they discovered the source of the slowness; apparently other sites have been stealing their bandwidth. Now, I really had ever heard about this or at least hadn't paid much attention to it, but bandwidth gets stolen when, instead of posting a photo on a website, the owner of the site does the lazy thing and just links to the photo h...

The book world is all abuzz over the new marketing "trailer" for Lolita's Files' newest book, Sex. Lies. Murder. Fame. You might remember that I mentioned this book in my last lists, it was THE read of the month. I loved it. And I want a book trailer to so folks can send it over the internet. I just got finished reading the Avon list, a forum for Avon Authors. I don't always feel I belong there because although my books have been on the Avon Imprint, the list is heavily Romance, and I don't quite fit there either . I was also a little turned off after they had a discussion about not letting Avon's new Erotica authors participate on the list if they were too "Erotic" or their work didn't fit the Romance arc. Well, a few folks were just hatin' on the new video. You know, I say you can't say sh-- if you less books than she did. Read the book first and then you will see why the video is perfect and groundbreaking. There is reprotedly a co...

Seems like technology has us taking one step forward to take two steps back. Late the other night, I realized I had to go to the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store, but we were out of the stuff folks need, like food. I used to have my groceries delivered by this great online service and all was good, then Safeway bought Randalls and took the service away. Sigh. I've recovered from that trauma and now shop at Alberston's even though it is more expensive, but it is closer and I know where everything is. Hell, my time is worth something, right? I can get in and out with minimal fuss, that is, if I don't take any kids with me. In that case I have to deal with one kid wanting EVERYTHING that is packaged in a colorful box and the other sneaking things into the cart. I would just tie them in the cart, one in the seat and one on the front, the way they used to tie virgins to the front of sailing ships and be done with it, but I believe that Child Protective Services w...

Isn't it a little suspicious that there is very little in the news about the Alabama Church fires? Five inone day and now four today. All they are saying is that it sounds like arson. For real, though? Maybe they aren't as interesting because whomever is doing it seems tobe an equal opportunity arsonist in that they don't seem to be striking their matches along racial lines, if they are, its not beign reported. It does seem that they are all Baptist churches. They say there is no appranet motive. That's police-speak for "We can't figure it out."

I can't belive January is gone already. I breezed through several books, some good, some not. Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell was interesting, but overrated. I listened to this one and loved the voice of the Sex & The City Star that read it. Zipporah by Marek Halter. Since I liked Sarah so much, I wanted to move to the next book the trilogy. Zipporah was the wife of Moses. She was nubian, and just like today, she was ostracized because she was different. She also was Moses' rock, refusing to be his wife until he accepted his destiny. Interesting, but not as good as Sarah. Brokeback Mountain. Read this before going to see the movie. Blink. Can we say boring? Maybe because I tried to listen while running instead of reading it. It felt like a textbook. On Beauty. I couldn't even finish this. All Black ain't the same. Zadie missed the nuances that make African Americans unique. Everytime I tried, I fell asleep. Not a good sign. I could...

Okay, Lots of you keep asking me, when is the stage play coming? The performers are busy rehearsing way into the wee hours of the night in Nashville, Tn. UpComing performance of Marrying Up: The Stage Play will be in Opelika, Alabama and it is a fundraiser for a chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Incorporated. “Marrying Up” April 8, 2006 • 7 p.m. • Presented by the Mu Sigma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The Mu Sigma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. would like to invite everyone to attend the debut of one of the highly anticipated Stage Plays of the year, “Marrying Up,” on April 8, 2006 at 7 p.m. at the Opelika Performing Arts Center. The play is based on the latest novel from best selling author Nina Foxx, who has been highlighted in magazines, publications, radio and television. In the play, Foxx peels back the veneer of her main character, Paris Montague, a determined and sufficient woman to help bring real-life situations to the st...

Back in September, a local school had one of its donors take back a 3 million dollar pledge because the short story "Brokeback Mountain" was on the reading list, and now the movie based on the short story is all over the news winning awards. I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about so I went to see Brokeback Mountain this week. I thought it would be an easy task, but the men in my life refused to go with me. They didn't want to see a gay-man movie, it seemed. Okay, now I was really intrigued. I went in the middle of the afternoon and thought it would be nice and quiet, but I was mistaken. Just as I got out of my car, a bus from a senior citizen retirement village pulled up. Turned out they all wanted to see Brokeback, too. Fortunately I was able to by pass the ticket wondow and the line because I had Fandangoed my ticket, and I slid into my seat just as the lights dimmed. Let me first say that the movie was a wonderful love story. It was like Bridges of Madison Count...

To answer the question posted by anonymous, I don't know what color my hair is now. Hell, I don't know what color it was orginally. The color doesn't have a name, but a number, and that, my dear, is sort of like your age. Don't nobody need to know that. There was another poster who basically posted what looked like an ad for some site. I took that off. You can disagree with me on my blog but you can't advertise, unless you pay, or course. That's why its MY BLOG. I do all the shameless self-promotion here. Sorry. I got a curious call from a friend of mine last night. When I answered, she was hooting and hollering. "I killed an 150 pound buck on my first shot!" (Read her lines with a Texas twang. For the uninitiated, that is sort of like southern, only with a rock sitting on your tongue.) I was in a politically correct mood. "Is this good?" "Heck yeah! My first shot," she shouted. I tried to restrain myself. She couldn't see m...

I stumbled on the funniest webpage I have ever seen in a long time. You can find it at www.pinkdome.com. Its fullof Democratic satire and I tell you, it takes a lot to make me laugh out loud, but that entry called "DumbFuck Mountain" almost made me pee my pants. Okay, not really, but is pretty funny. Go check it out. I went and got my hair did today and I learned something I never knew. I was informed that my hair, although it is attached to my head and it grew from my scalp (as opposed to being purchased and sewn or glued there), does not belong to me. My hairdresser is a man and probably prefers to be called a barber. I went in to talk to him about putting my "natural" color back in. (wink,wink). Anyhoo, he told me that he didn't want to do it because he liked something else. I was supposed to listen because he is a man and the hair on my head belonged to him, right? Anyway after I wiped the tears from my eyes that I got from laughing so hard, I had to remind ...

Sigh. First Hermes now Walmart. Walmart had a glitch in their on line system. If you wanted to buy a movie and contemplated, say Planet of the Apes or King Kong, well they recommended that you might be interested in the movie Martin Luther King: I have a Dream, too. They apologize, they say, computer error, and promised to fix the problem ASAP. These things are all similar, aren't they? I went to see King Kong and it stays very close to the original. I was uncomfortable when we encountered the so-called native zombies. Where they in blackface? They certainly were savage, and the biggest savage on the island most definitely was tamed by the virginal white beauty. Oh yes, they updated it, throwing in a black sailor and making sure tht he wasn't the first to be killed. He was, oh, the second. I think that is a movie rule, blacks and hispanics die first in horror or shoot 'em up movies if they are present at all. We know that is just not realistic, because if any black person I...

My first blog of the year is about what else, books! I made no New Year's resolution, I don't believe in them. If you want to change something, just act like Nike and Just Do it. I see no reason to wait until the New Year to take care of it. Besides, making a "resolution" seems like a set up for failure, akin to going on a diet as opposed to making a lifestyle change. Anyway, I haven't posted a reading list in awhile. I had less time to read over the holidays. with Christmahanukwanzuh festivities and folks visiting and all. The folks visiting could be a blog into itself. Okay, sesveral blogs, but that is for later. I got some interesting and some not so interesting books under my belt this time. I listened to Wolves in Chic Clothing. It was just okay, pure chick lit, but it got me through the hours of EFX or running. The book boiled down to a modern day Pygmalion that gets foiled because the subject of the transformation sees her would-be transformers...

-by Male guest blogger OK, so I was teaching my kids how to download songs and do the digital music things using Napster. For grins, I started searching for songs I enjoyed when I was a teen.....yeah, I went WAY back to the birth of commecial hip-hop. I pulled down music like Planet Rock, White Lines, Cool (by The Time), Gas Face, Roxanne/Roxanne, and several others. I reminisced with artists like Kool Mo Dee, Dana Dane, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, BDP, Eric B. & Rakim, etc. Now as I did this, I shared memories about being a DJ when I was in high school when rap was this cool new thing, and cuttin' and scratchin' was "the thing". Now my boys were all born after 1990, so I know the only record player they have seen was in a museum and they honestly thought that Patrice Rushen was singing the Will Smith song rather than Will Smith sampling the original "Send Me Forget Me Nots". They think about Motown music historically because of stuff they have been taught in ...

Join me and my Friends at the M.E.N.K. & Pearls Getaway Retreat Meld compassion with intellect Erase fear with faith Never confuse pride with power Know love will never fail April 21-23 Galveston, Texas Moody Gardens Hotel & Conference Center Early Registration Fee: $199 Rooms: $149 per night (dbl occupancy) It’s time to discover just how Fantastik you really are. Please join bestselling authors, Lori Bryant-Woolridge, Nina Foxx, Carmen Green and guest, ReShonda Tate Billingsley , as we embrace the M.E.N.K. mentality during a relaxing weekend of female bonding and Fantastik fun. From meditative walks to thought-provoking workshops to our smashing Goddess dinner, we've got your mind, body and soul covered. We’ll talk, we’ll laugh. We might even shed a tear or two. But when we leave, we’ll do so even more Fantastik than when we arrived! Pearls of Wisdom Workshops include: * Sensual Woman, Sexy Mama * Living Your Life ...

This is the time of year for mistletoe and Christmas Trees, Christamukkah candles and Black cake. (Not cake for black people, but West Indian Black cake made with fruit that has been soaking in rum or brandy for a hella long time). And for me, its also the time of year for approving changes on copyedited manuscripts. I always seem to get mine back around the end of the year. This is the point in the process by which a manuscript becomes a book where an editor corrects typos and grammatical errors and asks the writer to clarify what they don't understand. A few times this year I found myself laughing out loud at the copyeditor's queries. I realized that just because a person lives in a major metropolis such as such as New York, it does not guarantee that they will always understand the urban lingo or even venture outside of their homes to mix with the local folk. Or maybe understanding the lingo is like dancing to popular music. Once you reach a certain age that hip gene just tu...

Secret Blog-Man had a few words to ponder about maleness. Your remember him, he blogged about metrosexuality. Maleness. Lately I've been fascinated with maleness. Actually that's a lie, what I've actually been fascinated with is Madison Avenue's fascination with maleness and what it means to women, men and most importantly advertisers. Now I do get pulled into it, seduced by the magic of a well-crafted message of a well-targeted luxury/high end product that is made just for a guy like me (or maybe the guy I aspire to be some day when I've arrived). My interest was renewed when Men's Vogue came out a few months ago, and it has recently been sparked again by an article I read (http://www.askmen.com/fashion/austin_100/145_fashion_style.html" based off a new book (The Future of Men). It amuses me that in one breath men #1 have everything, #2 rule the world, and #3 yet we are also #4) insensitive and aloof, #5) unstylish and out of shape and #6) dispassionat...

A good friend of mine is producing a Christmas Cantata for a large church where he lives. It's the type that is full of actors and animals and resounding music, a lavish production. I called him on the set earlier this week to see how it was going. Usually a happy person, he sounded more reserved than I ever remember him being. "How's it going?" "Um. Okay. " I could almost hear him rubbing his forehead through the phone. "Its been a long day." "Really? You love this stuff. Is everything okay?" He sighed heavily. "Well, it'll work out. I'm just having a problem with one of the actors." I laughed. "Is he union?" "Nope." "Then I don't see what the problem is. Fire him. It can't be too hard to find another Angel or King of Orient or whatever." He laughed now. "Hold on." I heard yelling in the background. "AHHHH!" "What happened? I didn't mean now. ...

The holidays brings out the interesting in a lot of people. You learn who gets depressed during the holidays and who turns into a holiday zealot full of enthusiasm for all things merry. You also learn who is vicious in the event of a shortage of something they really want. Personally, I try to do all of my shopping on the phone or online. I am a professional shopper, I must admit, but I hate holiday crowds. Still, a kid who still believes in Santa Claus will bring out the mission shopper in all of us, even me. You see, elves can make anything, so there are no shortages at the North Pole, even if it is a hot item like an I-dog. Those damn things were sold out everywhere, and I-dog clothing? Forgeddaboutit until FEBRUARY. I was asked repeatedly, "Are you sure you paid enough into the Elf Security Fund this year so that Santa will bring the top five things on my list?" (I believe in politically correct fantasies. "Yes, dear, fat butt Santa slides down that little chimney an...

Femme Fantastik Tour Says Good-bye to Three Great Authors As with everything in this world, both great and small, change must come. The Femme Fantastik Tour is saying good-bye to three wonderful authors--Victoria Christopher Murray, Marissa Monteilh and Jacquelin Thomas. We want to extend to them our warmest and most sincere "thank you" for making the inaugural year of the Femme Fantastik Tour such an amazing one. They have been consummate professionals and better yet, supportive friends and colleagues. We all had a great deal of fun together his past year and we wish them all the best in the future and know our paths will cross again. We hope, as the Tour moves forward, you will continue to support these truly gifted writers. You've been hearing from the Femme Fantastik Tour about our upcoming events in 2006--our M.E.N.K. & Pearls Getaway Retreat in the spring and Femme U Writers Workshops in the fall, please be aware that Victor...