African Pride - Major Endorsements

Smartwater just got a whole lot sexier!! Idris Elba has been named as the face of SmartWater.  Move over Jennifer Aniston! There's a new sexy spokesperson in town!

Idris (British born actor; born to a Ghanaian mother & Sierra Leonian father) is a great choice for the Smartwater ad campaign.  He is every bit good looking and a really nice guy.   *My fellow blogger, Shoppatunistic & I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years back and he was very gracious! We were somewhat star struck!

The Smartwater brand, which is owned by Coca-Cola, is featuring Elba in a print ad campaign that will run in upcoming issues of GQ, Essence and Men's Journal magazines.  Get it Dris!!

...and in other endorsement news; South African born actress, Charlize Theron who's the current spokesmodel for Dior has graced the latest ad for J'Adore perfume.  But she wasn't the only memorable face in the spot.  By splicing footage through CGI, legendary actresses Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich exchange glances and even some conversation with Charlize backstage, making the spot both eerie and fascinating.

Check out the ad below;


Story credit:  http://www.eonline.com/

TV Minute - MTV Video Music Awards (the recap)

Another night, another award show!  This one on MTV honoring the best in music videos.  An odd thing  considering MTV hardly plays any music videos in favor of reality tv which seems to have revolutionized television in the recent years. That being said, the best had to be honored last night at this annual event.

The show started out with an hour long pre-show that showcased some music, celebrity interviews on the black carpet, fashion and all the outrageousness that go along with a show of this magnitude! The set design was a little odd for me for a pre-show.   
Minutes before the actual show began, Beyonce confirmed that she was pregnant by flaunting a baby bump and actually rubbing it to further prove it!!  MTV immediately sent out a tweet confirming that the chosen one was indeed with child! Seconds later, the world was abuzz with the news!
Beyonce pretty much upstaged everyone by making that announcement!  She was positively glowing!

The show did not have host.  I guess after Chelsea Handler last year it was their best bet to go host-less! She sucked really bad! Kevin Hart did some behind-the-scene video clips that a regular host would have done.  

Lady Gaga opened the show with a perfomance of You and I.  All this while in drag.  She played her male alter-ego through the entire show.  While she did great as always, it was odd to see her this way!  We are used to Lady Gaga showing up at award shows in outrageous garb/vessel! I expected no different but I guess that does get tiring after a while!  But this didn't do her any favors given the fact that there have been doubts about her gender! No doubt, she was born that way - which ever it is!!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Lady Gaga

There were several noteworthy perfomances during the show which I will highlight below. 

• Neyo & Pitbull performed their smash hit dance record,  Give Me Everything Tonight.  I absolutely love this song!!  Seems like every collaboration Pitbull does turns to a smash hit! 

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Pitbull

• Jay Z & Kanye West performed Otis from the album Watch The Throne that's currently leading the charts in record sales.  The duo have the most over-zealous fans! Some dude in the audience had the balls to bum rush the stage while they were perfoming before quickly being whisked away!  Is that you Lil Mama? lol!!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, JAY Z and Kanye West

• Adele was simply put, AMAZING!!! No frills, no shrills just thrills & pure talent! Oh how I love thee Adele!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Adele

• Beyonce finally hit the stage with Love on Top after setting the twitterverse ablaze with her announcement on the black carpet!!  It was great a perfomance and those lyrics really hit home for her! Wait for the big reveal....  Congrats B & Jay!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Beyoncé

• Chris Brown was by far my favorite of the night! His was quite the perfomance!  There is no doubt that Breezy can dance his ass off but this performance was exciting and had elements of danger with that high flying trapeze act!  Way to go Breezy! If only JayZ could have at least applauded that act because it was GREAT! Still bitter about the Riri saga? Let's get over that already!  She has!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Chris Brown

• Amy Winehouse's tribute -  The tribute was good but lacking!  While I love totally swoon over Bruno Mars vocals,  British songstresses Adele (who was available) & Duffy should have been part of the tribute!  Let's hope the Grammy Awards will honor Amy, right.

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Bruno Mars

The WTF moments went to the entire Young Money crew!!  Nikki Minaj was doing way too much!! That whole getup was weird and a total fashion failure!  Drake had on a button down sweater! Stop raiding your grandpa's closet!  Lil Wayne on other other hand was just a mess!! From his awful getup to the angry performance and mic hurl! Was that really necessary?! Yes, the world is well aware that you're beefing with Jay Z but please spare us!!  From the wise words (terms used loosely) of PaulyD from Jersey Shore please STD - Stop The Drama!!  ...and for for goodness sake, kill the auto-tune already!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Lil Wayne

Honorable mention goes to Jessie J for her amazing perfomances going into the commercial breaks!  Even with a broken leg, she had more stage presence than most able bodied folks!  She has some great vocals!!

For a list of all the winners click here.
For the fashion pics click here.

Quotable Quotes

"A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor" Unknown

Movie Minute - 2 reviews

I have been fortunate enough to catch plenty of movies before they are released to the general public at the movie theaters thanks to screening passes.  I rarely turn down an opportunity for a movie screening because I LOVE film.  This is also a fine chance for me to watch a movie before film critics have had a chance to praise or rip it to pieces swaying my opinion.
A few weeks back I had the chance to see The Change-Up & 30 Minutes or Less all in the same week:) My review is late...

The Change-Up (Comedy)  
I was really looking forward to seeing this one because the main characters, Ryan Reynolds & Jason Bateman have had quite the success in comedic roles.  Jason's comedic timing is what I appreciate the most about his acting.  Also the director & writers involved with this film has had great success with films such as The Wedding Planner,  The Hangover,  etc etc What could go wrong with that in mind?  Plenty!! My expectations were high and i was ready for a good laugh! Alas, that was not the case.  Well, not completely, there were a few laughs but it was still underwhelming.   There was extreme use of profanity that I felt was unnecessary at times.  Yes, I know the movie is rated R but more great dialogue and less profanity would have worked too.  There were also cringe inducing scenes in the movie that I felt were out of place.  The best parts, and I use the term best loosely were jammed in the movie's trailer. The script needed a lot of work!  It is average at best and I wouldn't advice anyone to rush to see it.  The DVD would suffice!


Sal's rating - 4/10

30 Minutes Or Less (Comedy)  
I did not know what to expect with this movie.  I had not seen a trailer for the film and the actors on the movie's poster were relatively unknown - save for Jesse Eisenberg who's was introduced to movie-goers with the box-office success and critics favorite Social Network. 


Synopsis: Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a bit of a slacker, and living a fairly miserable life. He delivers pizzas for a living, while his roommate Chet (Aziz Ansari) has just started teaching in a local elementary school. On the last delivery of the night, Nick gets jumped by two wannabe- criminals, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). They want to have Dwayne's father killed, but cannot come up with the money in order to get it done right. So they strap a bomb to Nick's chest, and give him ten hours to rob a bank and bring the money back to them.


This movie was hilarious from start to finish!  The chemistry between the main characters, Nick, Chet and the supporting cast worked very well together.  The wildly funny lines in the movie are delivered with such great timing.   I don't want to give away anything but I do highly recommend this movie to those who like a good laugh without any unnecessary gags.  You are in for a good time.


Sal's rating - 8/10

Cyber Minute - Is Google Plus worth the buzz?

Will g+ eliminate the competition #angrybirds style?

In my quest to stay relevant on the social media scene, I decided to check out Google Plus .  Google Plus has been buzzing in the recent weeks and I had to see for myself if this social media outlet was worth it's salt - as if we don't have enough already!  I can hardly keep up with my Twitter account but curiosity always gets the best of me.

Without a doubt, Google is a powerhouse as the go-to search engine and the many other great services they have to offer which include eblogger that supports this blog:) Besides Google Buzz which didn't garner a huge response, they hardly steer you wrong.

When I initially tried to sign up for google+ I got a rather rude (not really but I am sensitive) message stating that I had to wait for an invitation to become part of this 'exclusive' club! Wasn't my google account enough?! Way to exclude an important member of the cyber community!  Jk! Well, just recently my long awaited invitation finally came.  I signed on immediately and started to form my social circles. Cool kids club here I come!

While it seemed slightly familiar with Facebook, I felt like the new kid at school - no friends and trying desperately to fit it.  Lucky for me a cheat sheet was provided by one of my tech savvy friends.  Click here for the cheat sheet.  Trust me, if you are anything like me it will come in handy for tips and tricks. I like google+ so far but I am still waiting for the spark that will keep me coming back. I am yet to try the mobile web app.

This morning it was announced that google+ now has 20 million members and growing!! It is yet to be determined whether it will be a force against the social media giant that is Facebook.  Only time will tell. 

Quotable Quotes

'Progress always involves risks.  You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first" Unknown

TV Minute - America's Got Talent

Yes, the show is called America's Got Talent! This would mean that the acts on that national stage would be showcasing the best talent America has to offer right?  Think again!! This week, a dance troupe from Mombasa, Kenya were featured on the show during prime time on NBC.  They kicked some major ass impressing the hard-to-please judges!!!  Word on the cyber space is that they are already featured acts in Las Vegas. Nonetheless, they are super talented! Check it out for yourself below.  I hope they make it real far on the show! Kudos guys!