Emo Nemo

Mily

Sarah

Shaidrian Rios

Jimmy Beans

miCCwatreSSop

Julie Wynne - videos

Kapuster

Nicky Tallon

Harini Sen

Vastralaya

Evan Shively (Perseus271)

Lois and Wilma are proud of their father's brand-new gold Cadillac, and excited that the family will be driving it all the way from Ohio to Mississippi. But as they travel deeper into the rural South, there are no admiring glances for the shiny new car; only suspicion and anger for the black man behind the wheel. For the first time in their lives, Lois and her sister know what it's like to feel scared because of the color of their skin. A personal, poignant look at a black child's first experience with institutional racism. --The New York Times

Why is the land so important to Cassie's family? It takes the events of one turbulent year—the year of the night riders and the burnings, the year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she's black—to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family's lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logans their courage and pride—no matter how others may degrade them, the Logans possess something no one can take away.

Caldecott Honor winner Rachel Isadora's gorgeous collages breathe new life into this classic tale, capturing Rapunzel's striking beauty and the lush African setting--a new home for this story--with wonderful details such as Rapunzel's long dreadlocks and the prince's noble steed--a zebra. Readers will delight in the vibrant illustrations, thrill at the appearances of the frightening sorceress, and chime in with the familiar line "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," as they follow this well-loved tale.

I finally managed to read some Langston Hughes. [insert my longest yeah boy ever here] Ever since I set the goal to seek out more diverse literature, Hughes has been on my radar. If you look up African-America poetry, he's the one to come up. I thought it would be interesting to hear his thoughts, especially on race relations in the US, because he's from the older generation, being born in 1902, he was already in his 50s when shit hit the fan (which makes him 22 years older than James Baldwin, whom I usually consider the gramps). ;) \
  How still,How strangely stillThe water is today,It is not goodFor waterTo be so still that way.\
Langston was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. Like many African Americans, Hughes has complex ancestry. Both of Hughes' paternal great-grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and both of his paternal great-grandfathers were white slave owners in Kentucky. [I mean, just imagine growing up with that in mind.]Some academics and biographers believe that Hughes was homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, as did Walt Whitman, whom Hughes said influenced his poetry. Hughes's story "Blessed Assurance" deals with a father's anger over his son's effeminacy and "queerness".His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working-class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind," Hughes is quoted as saying.Hughes stressed a racial consciousness and cultural nationalism devoid of self-hate. His thought united people of African descent and Africa across the globe to encourage pride in their diverse black folk culture and black aesthetic. From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Hughes' popularity among the younger generation of black writers varied even as his reputation increased worldwide. With the gradual advancement toward racial integration, many black writers considered his writings of black pride and its corresponding subject matter out of date. They considered him a racial chauvinist. Hughes wanted young black writers to be objective about their race, but not to scorn it or flee it. He understood the main points of the Black Power movement of the 1960s, but believed that some of the younger black writers who supported it were too angry in their work.The Dream Keeper and Other Poems is a classic collection of poetry from 1932. It is targeted at younger readers which is why it displays a simplistic language, and why it's, in general, quite straight forward with its message. Even though I enjoyed most of the poems, I felt quite disappointed by the collection as a whole. Going into this book, I thought that Langston's focus would be on social criticism and race relations.Sadly, that wasn't the case. Most poems read like mini-fairy tales or nursery rhymes, which I simply wasn't prepared for. My favorite poems were definitely the one in which Langston mused about the black experience – the struggles and joys of being black in the US. \
  I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then. Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.\
Giving a voice to the hopes of black people of his day and age, I noticed another similarity between him and other black writers of his time: Hughes wrote 'the wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream'. Baldwin wrote about 'all the fears with which I had grown up, and which were now a part of me, rose up ike a wall between the world and me'. Wright mused about 'the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves between the world and me...' It's fascinating how seperate from each other, they all chose this similar way of phrasing. It becomes very apparent how all of these writers felt pretty alienated from their society, how they felt like they were delibaretly being excluded, and how they were forced to process their articifical 'inferiority'. My favorite poems is one of the last ones, which was actually not included in the original collection The Dream Keeper. It's a poem that actually made me cry because it is so gut-wrenching and raw:\
  Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry-go-round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored Can't sit side by side. Down South on the train There's a Jim Crow car. On the bus we're put in the back— But there ain't no back To a merry-go-round! Where's the horse For a kid that's black?\
There's power and magic in Langston's work. He is definitely worthy of all the love and praise he gets.

Gems sometimes come from unexpected places such as Richard Wright’s autobiography/novel Black Boy. I decided to read this because I discovered a free literature course named The American Novel since 1945 from Open Yale and it was the first title discussed. If interested in the course check this link: http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-291.I have to admit that I did not know much about the author (he seems to be famous in the US) and I was not so keen about reading this book even after watching the introduction made by the course teacher. I was increasingly surprised when pages started to fly and I found myself totally immersed in Richard Wright’s childhood as a poor black boy in the South at the end of WW1. That was a horrible time for an intelligent and curios black boy to be alive and try to accomplish his dream of telling stories. Even though slavery was abolished, black people were treated not much better than animals by the white folks. His curiosity and his love for books made him suffer endless beatings and the wrath of his family. Moreover, His honest and straight-forward manner created conflicts with the whites. He slowly learned to control his feelings and put all his strengths in finding a way to escape to the North. I did not feel like the author was trying to make us feel pity for his childhood. The intent was more to present the facts as they were, how life was back then for a black boy. His intention is supported by the name of the book, Black boy. A generic name that can let us imagine that his experience is the experience of many of the black boys from that period. In the beginning of the review I said this is an autobiography/novel because there are many voices/proofs that contest the reality of some of the facts presented in the autobiography. It appears that some adventures were copied from other children’s experiences and some of the events happened differently than pictured here. That comes to support the idea that he wanted his autobiography to be generic.

Something very rare happened. My boy child actually recommended this book to me. We watched The Help last weekend and he told me that this was one of his favorite books and that I needed to pick it up. (It's a 3-6th grade book)After I woke up from passing out I put in a request for it. ETA: I'm adding his review to this one at the bottom. A little girl asks her grandmother about walking to town and the grandmother starts to tell her story about a trip to town from her past. She was going to town with a couple of eggs in her pocket. She was being so careful but still ended up cracking one of the eggs in her pocket. She did manage to save one of them. What did she want to do with them? See if it was hot enough to fry eggs on the pavement.\
  \
She then heads over to a fountain to get a drink of water and wash off some of the egg that didn't make it. She doesn't realize that the "whites only" sign on it means anything other than you just need to have on white socks to drink from it. She has on her best white socks.\
  \
A white man sees her drinking and comes over and starts yelling at her, he ends up hitting the little girl. A group of white people stand around watching but the black people start coming up and drinking from the fountain. They all don't even have on white socks.The boy child's review: We homeschool- so this is one of his projects:White Socks Only is about a young girl that was not treated fairly because of her skin color. So the little girl was on her porch one day with her Grandma and the grandmother wanted to tell the girl a story. She told her that she was walking to town with eggs in her pocket to see if they would could because it was so hot!So the girl got there but she was thirsty. But then she found a water fountain that said whites only. She took off her shoes revealing white socks then she stood up and started sipping at the fountain. I personally loved this book. I was very proud of what the girl did at the end. This book made me happy in some parts but sad at others. The only bad thing about the story was that is was sorta short, I would have preferred it being longer. So if I had to give it a score of one out of five I would give it a solid 4/5.

The 26 characters in this rhythmic, rhyming baby book are a lowercase alphabet with attitude. "A told b, and b told c, 'I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree'"--which probably seemed like a good idea until the other 23 members of the gang decided to follow suit. The palm tree standing straight and tall on the first page begins to groan and bend under its alphabetical burden. First the coconuts fall off, then ("Chicka chicka... BOOM! BOOM!") all the letters also end up in a big heap underneath.

Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a semi-autobiographical novel that has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves.

An ALA Notable Children's Book, Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems includes sixteen poems that tell of love and the simple joys of everyday life, seen through the eyes of a child: playing with a friend, skipping rope, riding on a train—or keeping Mama company till Daddy gets back.Each of these sixteen "love poems" is spoken straight from the perspective of a child. Riding on a train, listening to music, playing with a friend...each poem elicits a new appreciation of the rich content of everyday life. The poems are accompanied by both portrait and panorama drawings that deepen the insights contained in the words.This beloved book of poetry is a Reading Rainbow Selection and the winner of George C. Stone Center for Children's Books' Recognition of Merit Award.

"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959.Indeed Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America--and changed American theater forever.  The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might "dry up/like a raisin in the sun.""The events of every passing year add resonance to A Raisin in the Sun," said The New York Times.  "It is as if history is conspiring to make the play a classic."  This Modern Library edition presents the fully restored, uncut version of Hansberry's landmark work with an introduction by Robert Nemiroff.

It’s part of the "Mellody on Money" series and aims to make the realm of financial literacy accessible and exciting for kids, teaching them about bartering, profit, loss, the origins of credit, ATMs, the basics of money management and even fun facts about money around the world.

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

What began as a spiritual has developed into one of America's best-known songs, and now for the first time it appears as a picture book, masterfully created by award-winning artist Kadir Nelson.Through sublime landscapes and warm images of a boy and his family, Kadir has created a dazzling, intimate interpretation, one that rejoices in the connectedness of people and nature.Inspired by the song's simple message, Kadir sought to capture the joy of living in and engaging with the world. Most importantly, he wished to portray the world as a child might see it--vast and beautiful.

I have no doubt that this book damaged me, psychologically, as a small child. It is one of the earliest books I vividly remember reading aloud to myself, and I remember the first time my mother read it to me before she put me to bed. Here's the gist of the plot: A little boy named Max dresses up in a wolf costume, plays with a hammer, chases his dog with a fork, then threatens to cannibalize his mother. His mother, a master of irony, then puts him to bed with no dinner. Already, this story should start creeping you out. Then a forest starts to grow in Max's bedroom. And no, no chemicals have been ingested anywhere in the story. Though the bit about chasing the dog with the fork does imply a delusional state. Regardless, a fucking forest grows in the kids bedroom. So naturally he gets in a boat and sails off to the other side of the world, to where all these "wild things" are. And promptly subjugates everyone he sees. I'm a damn toddler, and my mom is reading me a book about a sociopath. So Max has a ball with this gang he's conquered and converted, and they howl at the moon and hop through trees. Then he gets hungry and goes home, where his mother, no doubt terrified of his new army of foreign creatures, has left his food for him, still warm. I thought, "This woman aims to do me harm." Yes, please, mother. Read me a story about my bedroom becoming a forest inhabited by monsters, then put me to bed. Think I slept that night? No, I hid out under my bed with a plastic baseball bat, a water gun and flashlight, hoping to God that if this was the night it all went wrong, I had the courage to look those monsters in the eye and pretend I wasn't wetting myself. I made a nest with a giant teddy bear and two pillows and didn't come out until the next morning, when I heard my mom coming down the hall. All day long I pretended nothing was different. But I asked her to read me Where The Wild Things Are again that night. And the next night. For months. I would ask her questions like "Do you think I will have my monsters get you if you don't make me supper?" And she'd smile, and say "Go to bed, Nathan." Spooky shit, I'm telling you. I learned to read through fear and intimidation. A subversive masterpiece. NC

When Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) was first published in 1991, it met with an overwhelming response from readers and reviewers alike. Here was “a wonderful family story,” as The Horn Book Magazine said, “set matter-of-factly in an African-American environment.” Since then, the story of Sarah and Susan’s Sunday afternoon with their great-great-aunt Flossie—and her many hats and stories—has become a favorite book for sharing and for initiating conversations about family history. For this celebratory 10th anniversary edition, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard has written a special eight-page afterword, illustrated with family photographs, in which she tells about her own family history and the real Aunt Flossie, a truly remarkable woman.

The Color Purple is a classic. With over a million copies sold in the UK alone, it is hailed as one of the all-time 'greats' of literature, inspiring generations of readers.Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.

This is not a fairy-tale. This is about real witches. Real witches don't ride around on broomsticks. They don't even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies. So how can you tell when you're face to face with one? Well, if you don't know yet you'd better find out quickly-because there's nothing a witch loathes quite as much as children and she'll wield all kinds of terrifying powers to get rid of them.

Gorgeous and extravert Woo meets insecure and straight-laced law clerk Tim at a blind date.

1998 romantic comedy film directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer

A coming-of-age story about two inner city boys who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.

2013 film directed by George Tillman, Jr.

Two neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.

A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, cooperates with her captors in a desperate ploy to survive.

In a contemporary Mexico City, two skating lovers develop their relationship at the same time as they try to carry on business with drug mafia.

Heli must try and protect his young family when his 12-year-old sister inadvertently involves them in the brutal drug world. He must battle against the drug cartel that have been angered as well as the corrupt police force.

With retirement on his mind, a successful Atlanta-based drug dealer sets up one last big job while dealing with trigger-happy colleagues and the police.

2018 American action crime film by Director X

A woman puts an ad in a magazine looking for a man to fulfill her fantasy of a stringless, anonymous pornographic affair.

1999 romantic drama film by Frédéric Fonteyne

The story of the twilight years of tobacco billionairess Doris Duke and her relationship with her gay butler, to whom she left her entire fortune.

A billionaire offers one million dollars to a young married couple for one night with the wife.

Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite firefighters who risk everything to protect a town from a historic wildfire.

The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.

An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

2011 American political drama film directed by George Clooney

The Taylor family is devastated by an accident that takes place on the day their matriarch is due to graduate from college -- decades after leaving to raise her children.

This is the story of a dysfunctional New York family, and their attempts to reconcile.

A young fresh out of high school girl follows her high school crush to college to be near him.

Riviera is a television drama created by Neil Jordan. It premiered on Sky Atlantic on 15 June 2017. The series stars Anthony LaPaglia, Julia Stiles, Lena Olin, Adrian Lester, Iwan Rheon, Dimitri Leonidas and Roxane Duran. The first series of Riviera was released on 15 June 2017 on Sky Box Sets and NOW TV, and was Sky’s most successful original series, with an audience of 2.3 million an episode, and more than 20 million downloads and views total. The first series premiered in the U.S. on 9 February 2019 on Ovation. The second season premiered on the network beginning on May 8, 2021 as part of the "Mystery Alley" block in a deal with Sky Studios. The second series was announced on 21 November 2017. It was renewed for a third and final series on 24 May 2019.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is an American coming-of-age romantic drama television series created by author Jenny Han for Amazon Prime Video, and is based on her novel trilogy of the same name. The series premiered on June 17, 2022, with the first season consisting of seven episodes. Ahead of the series premiere, it was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere in 2023.On an annual summer vacation to their family friends' beach house, Belly reunites with her friends, brothers Jeremiah and Conrad, and she finds herself caught in a love triangle.On February 8, 2021, Amazon gave production a series order consisting of eight episodes. The series is based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Jenny Han. It is created and executive produced by Han. Also executive producing are Gabrielle Stanton, Karen Rosenfelt, Nne Ebong, and Hope Hartman. 
On June 8, 2022, ahead of the series premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a second season.

A plantation owner's son falls in love with a slave named Easter and together they have a Mixed race daughter named Queen. As Queen grows up, she faces the struggle of trying to fit into the troubled world around her. She tries passi

A Mossad agent embarks on her first mission as a computer hacker in her home town of Tehran.

Navy SEAL Team Six attempt to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan when they discover an American citizen working with the enemy.

Lashonda Mircale DaSilva

Movies that I consider slept on by the masses 

A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin h

The middle-aged stewardess Jackie Brown smuggles money from Mexico to Los Angeles for the arms dealer Ordell Robbie. When she gets caught by the agent

In the distant future, Evey Hammond is an average citizen of the United Kingdom, which is under the rule of the fascist and tyrannical Norsefire Party

A man wanders out of the desert after a four year absence. His brother finds him, and together they return to L.A. to reunite the man with his young s

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