Cover Girl: Dawn Richard discusses her Haitian roots in new mag!

Amour Creole, a lifestyle magazine with a key focus on Haitian fashion trends,culture, art and music launched its first issue on January 15 2009. Guess who graces the cover? Danity Kane member, Dawn Richards!!!!

Barbie turns 50 and Stila celebrates!

This year Barbie turns 50 years young. And to celebrate, makeup brand Stila has created a limited edition Barbie line available this month, exclusively at Sephora.com, Sephora's Fifth Avenue store and international locations. The collection includes four different Barbies: Ponytail Doll, the very first Barbie; Malibu; Foxy, the first African American Barbie (pictured) and Jewel, named after the Barbie created in 2000. For each Barbie, Stila created makeup named after the doll they are packaged with. The makeup varies from lipsticks, lip glosses to bronzers, eyeshadows and mascaras. And while the dolls will bring you back to the time when you craved at least one, two or even three dolls, the Stila makeup found in these collections is strictly for the girl who has grown up into a woman Barbie would be proud. $40 per can.

New Movie: The Princess and the Frog

Disney Consumer Products and actress Anika Noni Rose, voice of Princess Tiana, unveiled a new toy line inspired by the upcoming film, “The Princess and the Frog.” The event was held at the American International Toy Fair in New York City earlier this week. Opening Holiday 2009, The Princess and the Frog is a magical fairytale set in New Orleans that marks Disney’s return to musicals and the warmth and grandeur of 2D hand drawn animation. It also marks the first time Disney has ever had an African-American princess.
View the trailer:

Simmons sisters present Pastry fashion show and concert!

Entrepreneurs Vanessa and Angela Simmons, pose before signing autographs during a concert and fashion show for the Simmon’s Pastry handbag and apparel line presented by Seventeen magazine in Las Vegas on Monday. The show featured performances from upcoming singers including Alycia Bellamy and singer/songwriter Keri Hilson. Check out their new line of Pastry boots!

Do Something! Apply to be a Page in the US House of Representatives!

High school juniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in core academic subjects may apply to work as Pages in the U.S. House of Representatives for a fall or spring appointment. There is no GPA requirement for Pages who work during the summer semester. While serving the House, Pages live in Washington D.C., at the Page Residence Hall, a few blocks away from the Capitol. During the academic year, Pages attend classes at the House Page School. Pages must be sponsored by a Member of Congress and be at least sixteen years old on the date they begin their term. All communication regarding the Page program must be made through the applicant’s sponsoring Member.

Pages have been serving the House of Representatives for nearly two hundred years. Working as a team, Pages assist Members with their legislative duties, deliver correspondence and small packages within the congressional complex, answer phones in the Member cloakrooms, and prepare the House Floor for sessions.

click here to get more information!

Great Job!!! MLK Oratory winner: Gerra Gistand

Gerra Gistand of MacGregor elementary won first place during the 13th Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory. Finalists gave original five-minute speeches on the topic: If Dr. King were alive today, what do you think he would say about current events? What a phenomenal performance!!!!

Gerra, who was named the 2009 winner of the annual contest in Houston on January 16, also said she thought the slain civil rights leader would “remind us of our responsibility to ourselves.”

“Don’t be a dropout,” she emphasized, “be a graduate! Don’t be a criminal looking for a lawyer; you be that lawyer! Don’t be a drug dealer; be a doctor or a pharmacist!”

Gerra competed against 10 other HISD students to win a $1,000 savings bond and a plaque for delivering the five-minute speech.

Chris Rock's documentary "Good Hair" entered into Sundance Film Festival

"Good Hair," one of 16 films in Sundance's U.S. documentary competition, follows Rock from the Bronner brothers show to neighborhood salons, businesses dealing in hair-care products and the streets of India, where human hair is a huge export industry for hair weaves.

"I thought, wow, this would make a great movie, but that was like 15 years ago, and no one was making funny documentaries 15 years ago," Rock said in an interview Tuesday alongside Nia Long, one of many actresses and other celebrities Rock interviews in the film.

"So you cut to now, and I have daughters, and I'm really dealing with them and their hair a lot, and my friends have daughters, and we talk about our daughters' hair issues. I kind of saw where to go at it, and now people are making funny documentaries," he said.

"I was kind of scared to come to Sundance in a sense, because I think this is the blackest movie ever made," said Rock, a producer and co-writer on the film. "So I was kind of scared to come to Utah, because it's so white."

But Rock said Sundance crowds have given "Good Hair" an enthusiastic reception, bolstering his hopes that it can find a broad audience. Produced by HBO, "Good Hair" eventually will air on the cable channel, but Rock and his collaborators are considering a theatrical release first.

While loaded with the 43-year-old actor-comedian's wisecracking humor, "Good Hair" also raises serious questions about identity and equality among black women who feel they need long, straight, silky hair to fit into white society.

New Movie: Push-Based on the novel by Sapphire

Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire, is the story of Claireece Precious Jones, an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child. She endures unimaginable hardships in her young life: abused by her mother and raped by her father.

The film won numerous awards at this years Sundance Film Festival and was recently picked up by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Winfrey said in a statement. “The moment I saw Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage other people to see this movie."

Old School: A Different World

A Different World, which aired for six seasons on NBC, was a spin-off series from The Cosby Show, originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college in Virginia. The show typically addressed issues that were avoided by the Cosby Show writers (race and class relations, the Equal Rights Amendment).

The success and popularity of A Different World are credited with an increase in enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities during the late 1980s and early 1990s!

I watched A Different World religiously and I was so ready to go to college after seeing characters like Freddie, Kim, Dwayne Wayne and especially Whitley Gilbert. This is my absolute favorite show of all time! With scenes like this, you'll know why HBCU's are the best!

What's wrong with you people? Start Snitchin'!

The Reverend Al Sharpton will join the families of two slain teenagers during an launching a nationwide drive against the “Stop Snitching” culture. Rev. Sharpton, President of National Action Network, will appear with Bishop Victory Curry and Rev. Gaston Smith at Friendship MBC. Additionally, Sharpton will add to the reward fund that has been established in finding the killer of 16-year-old Brandon Mills and 18-year-old Derrick ”Termite” Gloster.

The “Stop Snitchin” slogan gained popularity in 2004, when producers Rodney Bethea and Ronnie “Skinny Suge” Thomas released a DVD by the same title, which featured drug dealers exposing various Baltimore, Maryland informants. The DVD also helped expose corrupt police in Baltimore, Maryland, as former BPD officers William King and Antonio Murray were sentenced to 34 years in prison, stemming from drug dealing allegations on the controversial release.

Around 2005, the “Stop Snitchin” slogan logo started to appear on clothing, popularized by rap groups like The Diplomats, as a fashion trend. Group leader Cam’ron even appeared on an infamous segment of 60 Minutes in April of 2007, where he explained his reasoning behind supporting the slogan.

The concept has hindered many criminal investigations nationwide, including the Liberty City shootings, which took place in front of several dozen people on Friday (January 23).

Police believe one or multiple gun men sprayed a crowd of up to 50 people with an AK-47 assault rifle, leaving two dead and seriously wounding seven others. ”We are all hurting,” Gloster’s grandmother, Caron Dixon told The Miami Herald. “We are just so tired of these guns.” Most of those injured were students at Northwestern High School, where up to 20 police officers now patrol the area, for security reasons.

Keyshia Cole covers Vibe

Keyshia Cole is rocking VIBE’s first ever Style issue. It’s her third time being a VIBE cover girl. The Style/March issue hits stands February 17th.

Upcoming: New Aaliyah movie?

It seems like a new movie about the life of singer Aaliyah is in the works. The director of the upcoming Aaliyah movie Bill Condon has given some info on the movie, including Canadian R&B/pop singer Keshia Chante. According to the NY Post:

“We are going to great extremities to make this movie perfect. We have [Keisha] Chante in extensive training studying, speaking with family members, watching personal footage and in choreography training with Aaliyah’s choreographer and dear friend Fatima Robinson,” he told the New York Post. “This movie will be seamless the same way it was for Selena fans who enjoyed Jennifer Lopez.”

Sasha and Malia dolls?

The Sweet Sasha, left, and Marvelous Malia dolls made by Ty Inc., the creators of the Beanie Babies, are the latest in retailers fascination with the First Family. The daughters of President Barack Obama are the inspiration for the latest in the TyGirlz Collection.

Do you see a resemblance? I don't think so!

Shame!!! Etta James says she was kidding after going off on Beyonce!

Although she called out President Obama for the size of his ears ("You know your president...He's not my president!") and saying Beyonce deserved to "get her ass whipped" for performing her timeless classic, 'At Last,' at the Neighborhood Ball during the Presidential Inauguration, R&B music legend Etta James claims it was all in fun.

"I didn't really mean anything," James told the 'New York Daily News.' "Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. ... That's probably what went into it."

The 71-year-old singer recently vented during a recent show in Seattle that she felt a bit "left out" of the historical event for not being invited to sing her signature hit.

"The great Beyonce! Now like I said, she ain't mine," she told the crowd. "I can't stand Beyonce! She had no business up there singing. Singing on a big ole, big ole president day and going be singing my song that I've been singing forever."

I say we give her a pass on this one! Sometimes older people forget that they can't just say the first thing that comes to their mind!