Lazy Blogging

I've been laying low on the blog of late because I haven't done much. Y'all already know I watch too much TV and most times I don't stray below Channel 32 on my cable dial.

But I did the other night. I took in a show on PBS called African-American Lives 2. The show features Henry Louis Gates Jr. doing family histories with famous black folk including the still-fabulous and gorgeous Tina Turner, Sexiest Brother Alive Don Cheadle, and comedian Chris Rock and one non-famous black person. The segment I saw included such interesting factoids as Don Cheadle's ancestors were slaves of a Native American tribe called the Chickasaw? Because they were held in Indian Territory when emancipation came down the Chickasaw slaves were not released. Also Chris Rock's great-great-(great?)-grandfather fought in the Civil War (as did some of Don Cheadle's ancestors) and was one of the first black elected officials to South Carolina's something or other, but was ultimately booted by racists. And one of Tina's great-great-grandfather championed the legalization of marriage for African-Americans.

The thing most often expressed by the performers was shock and surprise that their own families had never told them any of this. That I can relate to because I don't know the first thing about our family's history. Nothing. I have often wondered about that sort of thing. What was it like for my grandparents to raise 5 children in Jim Crow Mississippi? Did any of them participate in the Movement? What was my mom doing during the 60s (well, besides raising my older sister) ? I don't even know if I could do the research at this point with my mom and her parents deceased. And I won't even get into what's happening on dad's side. Jinkies!

I also watched a documentary called The Bridge. Oddly, this was sitting in my mailbox the day I picked up this week's City Pages which features an article very similar to the one that inspired this doc (which CP does reference). The film tells the story of several suicides (and one attempt) from the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 and includes actual footage of several of these. They aren't grisly-graphic, but man, are they hard to watch. The doc makers interviewed some of the "jumpers'" friends and family who are trying so very hard to make sense of the seemingly senseless.

I've also been watching Celebrity Rehab now and again. And you know who I hate? Daniel Baldwin, that's who. I thought born-again douchebag Stephen was the most vile of that family, but ole Danny Boy has him beat by 10 miles. Daniel came onto the show claiming to have been sober for 9 months. When he was tested upon entry and his results came back positive for coke, he claimed it was probably old coke stored in his fat cells. (I'm not high; I'm coke-boned.) Dr. Drew just gave him a "girl, please" look and deadpanned, "I've never heard that."

So being the old man in the club (well, the one with a bit of his wits about him considering Jeff Conaway doesn't know what day it is) he was kinda dubbed the Daddy of the group and took little ones like Jessica under his puffy white powder-infused wing. Oh, but Danny had secrets. Like snapping pictures of his junk on his cellphone and sending them to troubled pornstar Mary Carey, then going all half-ass Soprano telling her to "destroy" those. When it looked like all this was gonna come to a head, he made about 10 million excuses for why the rehab was making him want to use and he had to leave, but none of them included "I'm manipulating a vulnerable young woman who clearly has boundary issues". This week, all the others learned about his secret and most of them felt betrayed which brings me to who else I hate.

Ricco UFC Guy (can't be bothered to learn his full name).

Now, when all this went down Chyna and Ricco called Mary out on the fact that she was texting Danny just as he was texting her so it takes two to tango and blah blah. Agreed. Except Daniel is the one who came in proclaiming himself an example for all of them since he'd been clean for those 9 months. Mary hasn't been clean for more than a few days for her whole life. And one of her main issues is wanting to get out of an industry that she feels has exploited her. She is a grown woman, but she obviously has the emotional age of a 14-year-old girl. Daniel taking advantage of that makes him despicable.

Also, Ricco would have to cure cancer for me to forget his little story about propping his unconscious girlfriend (whom he thought was dead) in the driver's seat of a vehicle after he drunk-crashed their car. Can't face any consequences, this guy. Oh, and then there was the claiming that despite having his kids taken away by Child Protective Services, he doesn't think his addiction has affected his children. Yep, being carted away from Mommy and Daddy is a totally stabilizing event in most children's lives.

And then there is the air of misogyny that oozes from this meatheat. Upon entry he whined and moaned about Shelly and I think part of that was his not liking a dame telling him what to do. He finally shut up when no one had his back on that. There was also his and Daniel's discussion after one meeting (the one where he claimed his kids weren't affected by his addiction) where Jessica (a child of an alcoholic) called him on his b.s. and told him she didn't like him or his attitude. Daniel was all backing him up with "well, what do you expect from a 21-year-old with daddy issues"? Nice. I would expect anyone would hear Ricco's story and tell him he's a denying asshat. It is not surprising that Ricco is the one Daniel called after leaving and that Ricco told him in a sympathetic tone how everyone dogged him out and thought he was a jerk. But then in a meeting, he later claims he told Daniel how wrong he was to do that to Mary. Hey Ricco. The cameras around you? They do work. Ugh!

And finally, finally I watched the series finale of The Black Donnellys and it was so many kinds of disappointing. I mean, it had potential but it was wasted. The story went all over the place and no where at the same time. I understand that they re-wrote the epi after learning of the cancellation. It's nice to clean up story lines and all (see ya, Sampson), except not all of them really needed explaining (no one cares about Sean's girlfriend…no one!) and the ones that did, didn't get much (so did Nicky make it to the hospital?). It is like they left so much wide open in the hopes fans would do one of those 'save the show' campaigns (I could imagine boxes of saltines going to NBC in homage to the Fire Cracker). I think that sort happened, but without the Jericho results.