Stoked: I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Sorry for the delay in posts I broke the screen to my Macbook & have been bummed beyond belief. Today I was feeling pretty craptastic, Flo's in town (so I'm already hormonally emotional & JACKED up!) & I just found out about what happened to that precious, precious baby girl Shaniya Davis & how she was found murdered. The image of her tiny hands holding on to a person she trusted, leading her to her subsequent death is MESSING ME UP beyond words. Why are people so cruel? I wrote an earlier blog about my friend Lee's film "Precious" & how Mo'nique convincingly played the mother from hell but little Shaniya's egg donor takes the crown. I really wish I were in a position where I can help Women & Children everywhere. I really feel like it's my calling, I pray the good Lord will make this dream of mine a reality & no more will innocent lives have to endure such horrible, horrible fates. It's really hard for me to snap out of these moods I emotionally crawl into after hearing such devastating stories, I actually went back to bed. The ugliness that lives inside of people scares me, but then I realized I am one of the lucky ones, I have amazing friends. My friend Lucas Culshaw painted this picture of me. YAY I'm a Culshaw Girl!He like Single Serving's director Mike Kallio work in the Horror industry & the way they view me, care for me, protect me & genuinely want the best for me lifted my spirits today in what I thought I would easily spend the rest of the day numb to life. Lucas even painted this while listening to death metal.. HA! Awesome. I'm a huge fan of pin up girls & there aren't very many Black pin-ups, Vargas, my favorite artist in this genre, only painted four. Don't even get me started again on my excitement that in mere weeks I FINALLY get to see a Black Disney Princess *swooooon* too bad Shaniya won't, there was no one to protect her. OH a piece of me died today, I swear! That poor little girl!

Well I don't really want to go back & forth on the subject of the matter anymore & I'm sure you don't want to read anymore it's such a sad story. The interesting thing about time is how much can happen, how much can change from mere seconds to an eternity & the dichotomy of life. From my perception of horror that crippled me to another who makes a living from horror that lifted my spirits right back up in a matter of minutes, today was most certainly an affirmation for the abundance of blessings I have & an intersting study of what it means to be human. Thank you Lucas. May God bless & keep baby girl Shaniya, I will never forget you. "For Precious girls everywhere" -Lee Daniels

Food For Thought: For Precious Girls Everywhere

For Precious Girls Everywhere... that was the quote on the screen when one of thee most powerful movies I have ever seen concluded. On Wednesday I went to a screening presented by Vanity Fair of my dear friend & artistic influence Lee Daniels new film Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire... which is also produced by my mentor Simone Sheffield. 2 days later I am STILL shaking! There were SO many elements to this film I identified with, personally & looking around the theatre & seeing all the women as shaken as I was I realized how hard most women in the world have it. It was beautifully shot, kind of reminded me of an urban Amelie. It was SUPER funny amidst so much tragedy, very reminiscent of life & this is why Lee's films always stand out for me. He has this incredible gift to interpret the juxtapositions of life... good, bad & hopeful & putting it all up there on screen in it's raw & visceral form...

Diana, Lee & I
Me telling Lee I worship the ground he floats over

Lee holding court, he deserves the very BEST!
Speaking of raw & visceral the performances were MESMERIZING! First off Mo'nique WILL get an Oscar for this anyone that can make you hate them that much in a performance then have you cry with them & find some sort of reasoning in all that insanity & you see the humanity in such a monster is worthy of every acting accolade given this year.... but as powerful as her performance was, actually EVERY ONE'S performance... such a fantastic cast (even Mariah Carrey killed it & Paula Patton was a revelation) but I can't stop beaming with pride over the performance of newbie Gabourey Sidibe.
Gabby's ethereal balls to the wall performance... I mean she was the biggest, darkest & everything I was conditioned to believe was NOT star worthy female lead I have ever seen but literally so tragic & this STUN-NINGLY gorgeous artist at the same time, possibly the most stunning actress I have ever seen... as an artist I have been WAITING to see a performance like this, secretly I've ALWAYS wanted to be the one but due to fear was waiting in the wings for someone to do it first! As a viewer I have SALIVATED for a film like this to make me put EVERYTHING in my life into perspective & inspire me to propel myself to bigger & better things that I deserve to experience. I couldn't stop hugging her & thanking her for having the courage to give a performance like that. She was so cute I wanted to put her in my pocket. SO much humility & grace she kept saying thank you when I wanted her to understand how grateful we all were for her performance. Anyone sees that performance of hers will be changed FOREVER! She has solidified her place in film history.

Both my mentor Simone & Lee get little Black girls (Monster's Ball), big black girls (Mo'nique) & now big Black queens (Lee) OSCARS!!!! Almost a millenia in the making. I can't WAIT for the day I can return the favor & show Simone I am worth the investment she has made in me. I don't think I have ever cried so much in my entire life & at the end of the film when it was dedicated to the "Precious girls everywhere" never have I had more truer words resonate in me & inspire me. Please, please, PLEASE RUN & see this film when it comes to a theatre near you on November 6th... Life is PRECIOUS!

My friend an incredible Actor Sammi Rotibi

My girl Di ROCKING the carpet