Monday, October 29, 2012

#StraightHairDontCare

Hey Everybody!!   My last post about hair, #BlackWomenLoveHair, surprisingly got a lot of views.  Well, since that post I have been thinking there are few blogs or websites that give tips on how to have healthy relaxed hair.  If you think about it, there are hundreds of blogs and websites for women with natural hair.  I think I speak for all women with relaxed hair when I say that we want to make sure that we know how to take care of our hair too.  Relaxer along with color and heat can be torture on the black woman's hair.  It is safe to say that we, creamy crackheads, want to make sure that we are using the best products and doing what we can to take the best care of our hair.

At least once a month, I will try to post about a product or tips for healthy relaxed hair.  Also, if there is anything you would like me to do a review on concerning relaxed hair, please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comment box.  You can also tweet me at @EbonyMarieRe with any ideas on healthy relaxed hair.  Also, if you know of any blogs that discuss how to have healthy relaxed hair please let me know so I can share with others.  One that I found while doing this post is Just Grow Already!  Hope to hear from you all soon!

By the way, for all my readers on the east coast please stay safe!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

#SteelMagnoliasGoesBlack

Lifetime Channel premiered the tear jerker movie Steel Magnolias but with a twist…an all black cast. When I first heard about the cast change, I was excited mainly because it is one of my fav movies.  I can remember watching Steel Magnolias as a little girl not always understanding the little jokes but still being able to understand that this was a great movie.  All the performers which included Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, and Shirley MacLaine gave stellar performances.  So when I heard that this movie was being redone with an all black cast including strong performers Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, Phylicia Rashad, and Alfre Woodard I knew it was going to be good.  Well at least made-for-TV good. 
Honestly, I am always a little leery of any remakes and sequels regardless of who is in the cast, especially if the original was already an outstanding movie.  Most of the time the remake is nowhere near as good as the original. And unfortunately, the newest version of Steel Magnolias fell short of the original.  First, I felt like Condola Rashad (who by the way is the daughter of Phylicia Rashad AKA Claire Huxtable) played the role of Shelby a little too aggressive for me.  Now yes the character of Shelby is a strong minded women but she wasn’t that aggressive. 
I was not a fan of certain scenes being cut including the Christmas carnival, Clairee and Ouiser in the football locker room, and the Easter scene at the end.  I know that they were trying to make this version its own but these scenes are what made the very sad movie upbeat.  I am not going to bash the acting because truthfully it was not that bad but the southern accents were a bit annoying.  I have lived in the south pretty much my whole life so I know I have become immune to the dialect down here.  But when people who do not have a natural southern drawl try to sound like they have one the results most of the time are tragic.  In the case of some of the actresses  that was the case.  The accents were coming in and out or some were trying too hard.  It came to a point where I just wanted them to give up and talk in their regular voices. 
I give the Black Steel Magnolias a B+, mostly because of effort.  Like the original, the movie captured how strong we as women have to be during the most difficult situations.  But where it lacked was moving the  story way too fast.  We didn’t really get to see the characters develop like we did in the original.  If you saw the original, you remember Annelle and getting to see her grow into her own person.  The remake mostly concentrated on M’Lynn and Shelby.  Again I’m not knocking it but felt it could have been better.  If you have not seen it check out your Lifetime, I'm sure they will be playing it again. 

If you have not seen it, please check out the latest video of Through EBONY Eyes.  I have a special cohost in this video.