THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora

Coolness!

Posted on 2:05 PM comments (1)
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I'd like to get one of these... follow the picture trail below...









It works as both a piece of decorative art as well as a table/chair combo when broken down. Couldn't find a price, but I didn't look hard enough. I'm sure it'll be costly though.

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Obama Too Fit To Be President?

Posted on 1:51 PM No Comments
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I'm still laughing at the ridiculousness of this article from the Wall Street Journal (I'd expect a lot better from them, but maybe this is indicative of Murdoch's influence - remember THIS?). It's a couple of weeks old, but I'm just now seeing it, so I'm posting for any one else who didn't catch it.

Get your laugh on below while I go get myself a shrimp salad sandwich...

Speaking to donors at a San Diego fund-raiser last month, Barack Obama reassured the crowd that he wouldn't give in to Republican tactics to throw his candidacy off track.

"Listen, I'm skinny but I'm tough," Sen. Obama said.

But in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.

The candidate has been criticized by opponents for appearing elitist or out of touch with average Americans. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted in July shows Sen. Obama still lags behind Republican John McCain among white men and suburban women who say they can't relate to his background or perceived values.

"He's too new ... and he needs to put some meat on his bones," says Diana Koenig, 42, a housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas, who says she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

"I won't vote for any beanpole guy," another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

The rest here: That Skinny Elitist Dude

Trump Bails Out McMahon And I'm Puzzled Why

Posted on 12:31 PM comments (2)
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So.... Billionaire Donald Trump has agreed to "save" Ed McMahon from home foreclosure by buying McMahon's house (essentially paying off the $4.8 Million he owes to Countrywide) and then lease the property to McMahon?

For those who haven't been keeping up with the horror, Ed McMahon, the former Johnny Carson sidekick, and sweepstakes pitchman, defaulted on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home, earlier this year, and has been fighting foreclosure. Apparently, even the wealthy, like McMahon, have been affected by the weak economy, and unsettling housing market, thanks in large part to subprime fever. McMahon had just 2 weeks left to sell his house before the bank repossessed it.

The man should have lost his house like so many other less fortunate Americans did, BUT, Trump simply couldn't let that happen. The kicker? Donald Trump doesn't even know Ed McMahon, stating, "I don't know the man, but I grew up watching him on TV... When I was at the Wharton School of Business... I'd watch him every night. How could this happen?"

Yeah Ed - how could this happen?

In reading this, the first thing I thought was to say, hey Donald, there are so many people facing similar dilemmas - people who are in far worse predicaments than Mr McMahon will ever know. There are some who have even killed themselves for fear of losing their property. Yes, it's true. So, why not take that $4.8 Million that you will be using to "save" McMahon from repossession, and instead invest in those average, everyday Americans, with homes worth far less than McMahon's, so that they don't lose their properties to foreclosure. I think McMahon will be just fine even if he did lose his home. He has lots of rich friends, and I'm sure he won't go wanting for very long... unlike John and Jane Doe who have a modest 3 bedroom home in middle America, with 4 kids, a midsize car or two, and who owe a fraction of what McMahon owes, but just aren't able to pay. In fact, with $4.8 Million, you could "save" a lot of people from losing their homes, as opposed to one privileged, washed up TV personality who, for some reason, couldn't manage his many millions well enough, and who I have absolutely no pity for.

Help those who really need to help Donald! You won't get a pat on the back from me for this supposed act of altruism!

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ObamaPhobia

Posted on 9:55 PM No Comments
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Good Idea/Bad Idea: In-Car Wi-Fi

Posted on 12:37 PM No Comments
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As if drivers don't already have enough distractions... here's another that's on the way:

- Chrysler is poised to be the first car manufacturer to offer built-in internet access in its vehicles, starting in 2009. The service, called Uconnect Web, uses existing wireless data networks for internet access it then shares with devices in the car via Wi-Fi, essentially turning your car into one big hot spot. The core device will cost $499 to install.

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Olympics: An Olympic Diet

Posted on 12:05 PM comments (1)
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American Olympic swimmer, and multiple medal winner, Michael Phelps's Olympic recipe for success:

- It involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day. By comparison, the average man of the same age needs to ingest about 2,000 calories a day.
- He starts off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.
- He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.
- At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.
- For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza!! He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Wow! I guess you can eat like that when you're putting your body through a rigorous five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen, and all the while still be able to look like this:


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"What's So Scary About Michelle Obama?"

Posted on 4:17 PM No Comments
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I have no idea. But Radar Magazine wants to know below... asking questions like, "Why does she hate whitey?", and "Why is she so angry?"... also included is a side-by-side Hillary Clinton comparison. Get your chuckles below...

- According to a recent poll, Michelle Obama's so-called favorability rating is abysmal (35 percent aren't feeling her, while only 30 percent are). Among whites the numbers are even worse. Since the would-be first lady has yet to eviscerate a baby panda on live TV (okay, that we know of), it's hard not to wonder whether something else is going on. Something shhh!—racial.

If nothing else, the hysterical media reaction to the notion of a fist-bumping first lady (this Harvard-educated attorney calls people "whitey"? Really?) serves as a reminder that on the rare occasions when a black woman has been a central figure in a presidential campaign, it's more often been as an object of scorn than of praise. For every Shirley Chisholm, the New York City congresswoman who made a White House run in 1972, there have been plenty more sisters getting demonized for political gain.

It all goes back to "this wench," as one proto-tabloid hack dubbed slave Sally Hemings in 1802. Contemporary scandal-sheet accounts claiming that Thomas Jefferson had taken Hemings as "a concubine" were prime oppo research fodder for his Federalist opponents.

The rest here: Don't Hate... Appreciate!

Slavery Was Good For The Black Man

Posted on 3:30 PM comments (2)
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Somebody must have drank a little too much ganja tea... Dr James Watson is probably applauding right about now.

From our Jamaican brothers and sisters at the Jamaican Observer, published August 9th:


Slavery was good for the black man

As we celebrate emancipation and independence, we are being reminded of the horrors of slavery. According to our leaders, academics and others, slavery was the worst institution ever created. However, while it is popular for most to agree with this claim, I beg to disagree. Indeed, contrary to the belief that slavery was bad for us blacks, I believe that slavery was good for us.

Have we ever stopped to consider where we black people, especially those of us in the West, would be right now if it weren't for the Atlantic Slave Trade? What state do you think black Africa would be in today? Do you think that we would have been better off without slavery? I don't think so!

When the Europeans went to Africa to buy slaves, what did they find? They found a society and people vastly inferior to theirs. While the Europeans had emerged from their feudal practices, our ancestors in Africa, for the most part, had not developed for many centuries. We did not understand the concept of nation or government. Science and technology (and innovations in these areas) were non-existent in black Africa of the 15th and 16th centuries. Indeed, as a people, we had no sense of self-identity. In many respects, we were uncivilized.

Slavery was our most important contact with modernity. It is through this "most heinous system ever created" that we blacks were able to understand some of the principles of global trade. Our ancestors were introduced to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade between Europe, Africa and the West Indies. Black Africa's part in the trade was the importation of European technology and the export of slaves. The importation of European technology was important - even though the Africans did not appreciate this importance at first. The export of slaves was also very important, especially for us in the West.

As time went on, we blacks, both in Africa and especially in the Caribbean were, in many ways, being Europeanised and thus civilized.

The rest here: Slavery Was Cool!

Olympics: Those Wily Spaniards...

Posted on 12:47 PM No Comments
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What's Spanish for "shitheads?"

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