Anovelista.com: Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah and Whoopi: "You Thought I Was Mad At You? I Thought You Were Mad At Me!"

The cast of The Color Purple reunites on Oprah today.

Posted by Nichelle Gainer on Monday, November 15, 2010 in Oprah Winfrey | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oprah Winfrey Speaks to Stanford's Class of 2008

Gayle King's "Favorite Daughter Kirby"* aka Kirby Bumpus was among the graduates, so I will listen to Gayle's XM radio show to hear her take on it.

*On her XM radio show, Gayle King refers to her son Will as "Favorite Son Will" and her daughter as "Favorite Daughter Kirby." She is also a shameless Barack Obama booster (natch) so I love, love, love me some Gayle! Yes, that is yet another regular listener reference:).

Update: Transcript of Oprah's Commencement address

Posted by Nichelle Gainer on Sunday, June 15, 2008 in Oprah Winfrey, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Basking in Oscar's Glow

Well, once again The Oscars were too long, but hey, it wouldn't be the Oscars if it didn't run over. Ellen DeGeneres was okay as the host (Why did I know that you would dance Ellen?) I think she was basically her usual self. Her shining moment was that great photo bit with Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg "for her MySpace page." Very funny. I also laughed when she started vacuuming around Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz (the feathers! the feathers!)

The Fug Girls kept making fun of them, but I really liked the dancers from The Pilobolus Dance Theater. And, I actually didn't mind Jack Nicholson's new cue ball, but it looks like it was just for a movie.

As Spielberg snapped Ellen with Clint Eastwood, I kept thinking about the seat filler sitting next to Beyonce's dad, Matthew Knowles. He witnessed such a great moment!

You know his email box BLEW UP after that! He'll be telling his grandkids about that one.

Did you hear that Jennifer Hudson scours the internet for her red carpet photos? Now that's keeping it real. She also got a bouquet of yellow roses from fellow Chicago native Common ("Jennifer, you're such a beautiful example of what a pure artist is. So gifted and vibrant. I appreciate your humility and strength. I am proud of you, we are proud of you, and I know God is proud of you. Keep shining. Love Common.") Nice...

People are so invested in an alleged rivalry between Jennifer and Beyonce. Whatever... Beyonce has been around for a decade or so - I'm sure she'll be fine. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the next project. In fact, I read something very interesting somewhere recently - some salient advice for Jennifer Hudson. The person suggested that she more or less go the Billy Bob Thornton route and not worry about big roles in big movies. Instead, concentrate on quality roles in independent films with good writers and directors. This way, she gets to hone - and prove - her acting chops and she can show that her Oscar wasn't a fluke. And naturally, the album has to be hot. I wonder who her songwriters are?

Getting back to the show, like most people, I knew it was Martin Scorcese's night when the "original Three Amigos" took the stage. So so happy for him. Years ago, Spike Lee used to have workshops/seminars for aspiring writers/actors/directors at LIU in Brooklyn. This was during the Do The Right Thing period and quite a few luminaries came through - Denzel Washington, Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorcese. Imagine spending a Saturday listening to these guys talking about their craft and answering your questions? That would never happen today for thirty bucks! Hats off to you Spike. Those Saturdays are the reasons I still have a soft spot for Marty Scorcese today - along with his overall genius, natch.

Is Al Gore the coolest ex-vice president ever? Well, he's the only one with an Oscar. Jerry Seinfeld quipped to the ex-VP, "Man, global warming has to be the hardest way to win an Oscar." Speaking of Inconvenient Truths - Nora Ephron on the recent Clinton-Obama contretemps. Here's my little prediction: if we see Al Gore suddenly losing weight and a tad less accessible, he's running for president. Look for the pressure to increase on him if he picks up the Nobel Peace Prize. It is still very early yet - not that we'd know that from recent news coverage.

Did you hear that guests were greeted backstage before (and during) the show by uniformed waiters serving champagne, cranberry-colored cocktails and bottles of Evian with straws?

I would love to attend an actual Oscar ceremony one day. If I don't, that's okay - as long as I can go to the Vanity Fair party! Clearly this was the place to be. In fact, it has grown so much, it has long overshadowed the traditional Governor's Ball and Elton John has even had to scale back his AIDS benefit/party.

Oprah and Forest. Hmmm, wouldn't they be great doing a movie together? Somebody get me a Zora Neale Hurston novel!

Queen Elizabeth will probably invite Helen Mirren to tea. If that doesn't work out, I'll bet Jamie Foxx and Vince Vaughn will take her out for a drink - right after they give Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black the smackdown!

Watch and Listen

* Oscar "Thank You Cam" via Oscars.com. Winners finish their speeches backstage. Excellent idea Ms. Ziskin. I'll bet this is a new tradition.

* Hudson, Whitaker and Scorcese bathe in Oscar glory via People.com.

* Why Oscar Loves a Biography via NPR's Day to Day.

55 Secret Street

* Oscar's Dreamgirls

Posted by Nichelle Gainer on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 in Jennifer Hudson, Oprah Winfrey, Pink Leather Notebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

My Brain In A Pink Leather Notebook

Welcome to the new and hopefully improved Anovelista.com!

I decided to move from my Blogger address because I was so bored with it and I figured that I needed a fresh start. The inspiration for the new version of my blog came from the little pink leather notebook that I use to jot down ideas and thoughts. I am never without it and it happens to be one of the first things I blogged about at 55 Secret Street.

A few brief updates for readers from the old Anovelista blog (which will remain since I don't know how to transfer the archives yet).

The book about my aunt, Margaret Tynes, is in the homestretch and I've finally gotten back to my novel (you know, the one I'm not talking about yet...). Since I'm not in school this semester, I'm going to use the "extra" time to get back into the groove of it. Maya Angelou once noted how she wanted to finish one of the books that she was writing "so these people can get out of my house." "These people" were the characters in her book and, believe me, I know exactly what she's talking about.

While I will write longer posts from time to time, for the most part, I'm going to stick with a set format - an opener and links to articles, websites and other things that I find interesting.

So, here we go!

Dream Covergirl - Jennifer Hudson will be on the March covers of Vogue and Essence. She was photographed for Vogue by Annie Leibovitz at the Apollo Theater as part of a seven-page essay, but landed the cover after snagging the Golden Globe last month. Andre Leon Talley has also been dressing her. Talk about blessed!

Since 1993, only five black women have appeared on the cover of American Vogue:

* Kiara Kabukuru (July 1997) You may recognize the Ugandan born Kiara from the book Face Forward by the late great makeup artist Kevin Aucoin. She and Amber Valleta split the cover. Her Vogue cover made the news because it was such a rarity. The previous black cover model before this? Naomi Campbell in June 1993.

* Oprah Winfrey (October 1998) Oprah made the cover after she became a billionaire - and lost twenty pounds. She was also the beneficiary of positively amazing makeup artistry by the fabulous British Jamaican makeup genius Pat McGrath. Thandie Newton and Kimberly Elise were featured inside with her as part of the promotion for the film version of Beloved.

* Halle Berry (December 2002) after she won the Oscar for Monster's Ball. Great shots inside of her with Pierce Brosnan for their James Bond movie Die Another Day.

* Liya Kebede (May 2005) Unquestionably the black model of the moment - and the first black model to get a coveted Estee Lauder contract. Born in Ethiopia, she is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organization.

UPDATE 2/13/2007: Some pointed out that I forgot one more celebrity black covergirl for Vogue - Olympian Marion Jones in January 2001. How could I forget that one? I totally remember my jaw dropping when I saw it.

May I point out one thing though? In the magazine world, there are "slow" cover months - January, July and August especially. If you'll notice, the issues are noticeably thinner in these months (because of lower ad pages).

That said, consider it progress when you see a black celebrity on a cover with huge ad pages - especially September through December thanks to ads for the holiday season.

Watch and Listen

* Barack Obama has finally announced that he is running for president and he'd like you to meet his wife Michelle. Of course, now that he's officially in, the gloves are coming all the way off. Don't blow it Barack!