Mackgurl's Musings

Hello hello! I have to say, I love movies but I wasn't able to get to the movies this weekend. It was a pretty busy weekend  but tomorrow is new movie Friday! So let's take a look at what the cinematic geniuses have in store for us this week, shall we? Well, at least let's take a look at the ones I'm geeked up to see :D (Note: The movie overviews for each of the following movies were taken from the website Fandango.com. I am not, in anyway, claiming credit for the writing of any of the overviews. A link to Fandango, where the movie overviews are found,  follows each overview.) Opening November 20th The Blind Side: A homeless black teenager, Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) has drifted in and out of the school system for years. Then Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), take him in, transforming Michael's life and theirs. With help from his new-found family, tutors and coaches, he realizes his potential as a student and football play

Flame three months.. twelve weeks... ninety days... of bliss... passion consumes all in its path... all it touches... you... me... us... threatening to burn us... yet we are drawn... ever closer... moths... hopelessly lost... as it burns out of control... rampaging towards the forest... of sanity... of logic... of reason... engulfing...burning... ashes to ashes... dust to dust... from this we rise... the Phoenix... born of passion... born of light... emblazoned with emotion... burned by the... Flame

I was held prisoner by a t.v. show aptly named Prisoner and no one posted bail or formed an extraction team or even consulted hostage negotiators. Just left me to flounder on my own under the sway of a  cinematic let down. It ran for 3 nights - 2 hours each on AMC. Starring Jim Caviezel and Gandalf from Lord of the Rings (ok so his real name escapes me right now) - the previews promised a mix of sci-fi and action drama. And oh oh they then much to my delight, ran the show as a 3 part series! Sublime, right? WRONG. Warning - spoiler and personal opinion alert! From what I could find out, Prisoner was originally a British t.v. show that aired in the late 60's. It was about a spy, mind games, people without names only numbers, cold war themes and the struggle of the central spy, #6, to find his way out and why he was there in the Village - sounds weird and cool and soooo me. Granted, I'm not nearly old enough to have viewed this episodic trip in its original airing but I was

Somehow this post was deleted (ok so it was probably my fault). Lucky for me, I wrote this post down the old fashioned way (pencil and paper). When I go into my office tomorrow, I will see what I can do about reposting it. Thanks!

Happy Friday everyone! It took all week to get here, but Friday is here at last. Time to wear your jeans and sneaks to work - if you're so lucky as to have casual Friday at your office. Just think, if you worked from home you could still be wearing your PJ's. Doing a little work, drinking a little coffee, watching some judge shows...Nice thought, huh? Well, no such luck for me. But that's ok because coming into the office usually provides me with some great blog fodder. Top Ten Signs The Boss is on Vacation: 1. Everyday is casual Friday - Suits, ties, dress slacks and skirts have been replaced with jeans, sneaks and tee's. 2. The main lobby becomes the putting green with a par 4 play thru by the copier. 3. Conference room tables have been replaced with green felt poker tables. 4. Piped-in elevator music has been replaced with the musical stylings of DJ Bump n' Grind. 5. Rubber band wars! 6. Someone rides through the office on a bright red tricycle. 7. There

Do you know what tomorrow is??? It's new movie Friday!!! Hooray! This weekend isn't a very busy one, theatrically speaking. But next weekend - woohoo, get your popcorn, m&m's, slurpee and sour worm money together! I won't go into that right now, but let's just say it rhymes with "Twilight". :D Before we delve into the soon to be offered cinematic delights, let's rewind... Law Abiding Citizen: I loved, loved, loved this movie! It had the total package - action,   drama, suspense, pyrotechnics - oh come on, who doesn't love it when the special effects team goes to work?! Starring Gerard Butler ( 300 ) and Jamie Foxx ( Any Given Sunday, Ray, Dreamgirls, The   oloist ), the film tells the story of man out for justice after the murders of his family and vengenace against the   criminal justice system - all of this from behind bars. The acting is stellar and the directing is superb! It's a must see.Don't wait for the DVD, go see this

Seriously, do you have a marketable skill? Now, I know there are some that will say there is a market for anything. But I, personally, am not a fan of spending time behind bars for the sake of profitability. But have you thought about it? What you would do - other than cry - if you were to be laid-off (why don't they just say "fired")? What skills do you possess that can earn a living and still keep you from posing for mugshots? I imagine if you're a corporate solider, entering into corporate battle under the orders of an appointed general then you may not have given it much thought. Since the housing bubble burst like an irritated pimple, and the overall economic picture seems, well less rosy, I've given serious thought to my options should I receive the dreaded "pink slip" Why is the slip pink? Is the gaiety of the color supposed to remove some of the sting?But, I digress.What would I do? Hmmm...I know how to drive and have a valid license, I have chil

Yeah, I've done a few not-so-nutritionally-sound diet plans. Let's see, there was the low carb diet craze - basically I ate MEAT, lots and lots of meat and cheese and eggs and pork rinds slathered in cream cheese. There was the only-eat-cereal diet. There was the only-eat-peanut butter and jelly diet. There's the juice fast - ok so I never tried that one, but I was tempted. Hey, I wanted to wear that bikini when I went on my first cruise :D And yes, I know I could stand to lose a few pounds and inches - and although I've done a few of the crazy fad diets - there's only so much that I'm willing to do.There's a limit, people! But, there are people who think, "yes, being thin really IS that in!" And will stop and nothing to achieve that goal including - ingesting a parasitic TAPEWORM! Women are reportedly purposefully ingesting tapeworms to help them shed unwanted pounds. This blackmarket diet secret was brought to light, at least for me, yesterday

This one is not mine. Although I can't take credit, it is still corny enough to merit a good chuckle. If you've heard it before - GOOD! Question: What is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu? Answer: The Bird Flu needs Tweet ment and the Swine Flu needs Oink ment.

Gooooooodddd Monday Morning! Thought I'd start the day with an old-fashioned roll call. You remember those, right? The teacher would stand behind her desk, podium - (ok so I went to a private school) - and then she would pull out her olive green ATTENDANCE RECORD, her canary yellow #2 pencil and proceeded to call the roll. Ahem, so let's see who's present and who's sleeping it off, shall we? Tarheels? PRESENT!!! This weekend's game against Duke was a battle of wills, grit and trash talkin'. Early on it was clear that we were in for a defensive fight - lead by Robert Quinn. But the Heels scored first blood with a beautiful field goal kick from #11 Casey Barth. There would be a 3 more of those kicks - a career-high 4 field goals! Let's not forget there was a touchdown courtesy of Jheraine Boyd, a crowd-pleasing (well the Carolina crowd anyway) INT caught by Charles Brown, Ryan Houston's career-high 164 yards rushing, Jon Cooper's offensive blocks, a

Have you ever given any thought to some of the "sayings" that we use? I'm guessing that you're trying to figure out what "sayings" I'm talking about. Well, let's take a quick peek, shall we? "For Pete's Sake!" This is one is usually uttered when you've just had enough. Now my question, dear readers - who the heck is PETE? Note: this exclamation has also been uttered as " For the love of Pete!" "It is what it is." One of my personal favorites yet what does it mean? I usually say it as a response when someone has a litany of things going on and I can't see a way to change any of them. "Six of one, half a dozen of the other." A  clever, albeit wordy, way to say something's the same. "Same difference." I really dislike this one. I guess it's supposed to be synonymous with "six of one, half dozen of the other." But it's oxymoronic take just grates on my nerves

     Hello, hello! Tomorrow is one of the my all time favorite days of the week - Friday! Yeah, yeah, sure it's the start of the weekend and all that - yes yes, I know it's one day closer to when two local NC teams meet on the unforgiving gridiron (Go 'HEELS!) - and I know for some, tomorrow is pay day. But I'm not talking about any of that - I'm talking about NEW RELEASE FRIDAY!!! I absolutely love going to the movies. While romance is my book of choice for movies it's all about ACTION. And you know,  action can come in many guises - horror, sci-fi or just a really good thriller. It's a good bet that I will be taking in at least one - perhaps two - of these 2-hour escapes from bills, budgets and busted diets. With the offerings this week, I sure hope this stuff is all movie magic. Paranormal Activity: Ok - so this one isn't new but I had to mention it. Based on the clips and previews, this looks like one movie that is sure to spike way up on the cre

     So this morning, I stopped in a gas station to purchase a few necessities (pack of gum and a cranberry juice. What did you think I meant? For shame!) and proceeded to wait my turn in line. In front of me was a woman who "ordered" - well, she did - they were behind the counter - "ordered" a pack of cigarettes. A very girlie pack of cigarettes - you know the long skinny ones ultra mentholated blah blah blah. Anyway, the very customer-service oriented salesclerk produced  the requested long skinny pack of smokes, scanned them and gave her the total - $5.82. $5.82?! I'm looking around her - discreetly of course - trying to determine what other items she slipped on the counter while I wasn't looking (smile). Surely, there had to be a couple of candy bars, chips, drinks or how about even a lighter? Nothing! All she was buying was one very long skinny pastel box of cigarettes.      Well, my personal stance on the perils of smoking aside, I have to ask this qu

This is the first entry in a series of Friday entries called "Frankly Friday". It  will be posts about, hmmm, well...nothing in particular and everything in general. There may be only one or two entries per Friday or multiple entries. It all depends on YOU!  So, who's ready for some random cohesiveness??? Football A big congratulations to the UNC-Tarheels who clinched their first ACC win last night in Blacksburg, VA. They took on the #13 Hokies and brought home what had been an elusive conference win. I have to admit - they had me worried in the first quarter, but they rallied and kept fighting. Special shout outs: #64 - Jonathan Cooper COOOOOP- I saw you putting in work, Baby Boi! Keep holding them back and knocking them down. Much love. #54 Bruce Carter - BRRUUUCCCEEE! That dude thought he was gonna sneak by you, huh? NOT! #8Greg Little - Do you practice those spin moves or do they come naturally? Sorry, I'm not sure of this player's name/number but to the pun

Word on the street says that Black women who sport natural frocks have attitude. I have to agree with that sentiment. Now, now, my fellow natural sisters - before you get too upset let me say that in this case "attitude" is equated with confidence. If you think about it, it makes sense. It takes a bit of confidence to rock a style that not only goes against the norm, but smacks conformity square on the mouth!(Like that visual? Me, too!) Hmm, example time: Saturday Morning The woman who comes to work everyday with the "accepted" hair coiffure wakes up one Saturday morning and decides - she's had all the "creamy crack" she can stand and says ENOUGH. So she goes to the salon or even the barbershop and gets the BC (no, not before Christ - big chop - sorry, couldn't resist). You can't tell me this doesn't take MAJOR confidence. So she has all weekend to get used to her TWA (teeny weeny afro). So what does she do? Does she lament her decision t

Sister girls...let's talk about serious matter facing most of us on a daily basis - HAIR. Oh, you're laughing? You don't think this is a serious matter? Don't believe me, huh? Okay well, I bet everyone of you knows exactly where to locate your nearest beauty supply store. Heck, most of you know when they are going to deliver the newest shipment of your favorite hair product - or products if you're a PJ (product junkie). Still not convinced it's an important topic? Well girls, it is mentioned in the Bible. I'm paraphrasing here but wasn't it mentioned that our hair was our "crowning glory"? Still not on board? Ok, go into your bathroom, find your husband's/boyfriend's clippers and shave it all off...No? Didn't think so. Well, I didn't go into the bathroom and shave it off but I did go to a salon and have all of my relaxed hair chopped off. This is known as the BIG CHOP and was the first step in my natural hair journey. I left t