On the tenth season of NBC’s hit singing competition The Voice, Grammy winner Patti LaBelle will act as an advisor and help guide Christina Aguilera‘s contestants, PEOPLE confirms exclusively.
“I adore Christina, so I was honored and excited when she invited me to be a part of her team and we had a ball working together!” LaBelle tells PEOPLE exclusively. “And there is so much talent on our team … everyone else better watch out!”
Aguilera, 35, took a break last season from the show to focus on her family (she welcomed daughter Summer Rain with fiancé Matt Rutler in 2014) and other projects.
“Working with Patti was a dream come true,” Aguilera tells PEOPLE. “She is my girl and she has a voice like no other! It was such a great experience to have her mentor my team and she has such a great way of giving advice in a way that is clear and direct yet gentle and constructive.”
Cat Frazier (Photo courtesy of Ms. Frazier) article by via John Walker viafusion.net
As the internet continues to streamline itself down to an increasingly uniform, minimalist aesthetic, many young people are pushing back against all that sans serif black on white. One of those young people is Cat Frazier, a graphic designer from Oakland who just might be the patron saint of this retro-maximalist aesthetic movement.
You might not know Cat Frazier by name, but I can almost guarantee that you’ve seen her work. The 24-year-old is the creative genius behind theAnimated Text Tumblr, where she creates intentionally tacky-looking gifs of rotating text that occupy some tonal void between “Feeling Myself” and “Teenage Dirtbag.” Aesthetically, the gifs—each one requested by a follower—look similar to the kind of animated welcome banners you might have seen on someone’s personal web site circa Y2K. (Maybe your own?) According to Cat, that GeoCities feel is totally intentional.
“My background is in graphic design, where you’re told to make it clean, make it pretty, make it legible, and make it generic so it appeals to a lot of different people,” Frazier told me over the phone. “But the internet I grew up with—like GeoCities and Myspace and Blingee—was always really personal, as tacky as it was. You didn’t need a degree in design,” to claim ownership over your corner of the web, she explained, and that empowerment-through-DIY is something she wants to bring back with Animated Text.
Cat, who works by day as an instructional designer for California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company, says that the point of Animated Text is not so much the retro-’90s aesthetic itself, but rather her “relationship with the followers.” Every gif was specifically requested by one of her fans, so she sees each post as a collaborative process, rather than one where she’s the “keeper of the keys” or whatever.
Thinking back on that “Rihanna/Azealia Banks stole seapunk!” moment from 2012, I asked Cat if she was worried about being cool-hunted out of commission by larger brands. “I see a lot of clothing sites [use my gifs without attribution],” she told me. “But it doesn’t upset me… It’s, like, more power to them! Someday, I hope to see an entire internet of animated text.”
Cat Frazier/Animated Text
Animated Text’s follower base has grown substantially since its launch in 2012—thanks, in part, to a crucial March 2013 reblog of a “ur not gucci lol” by Frank Ocean. While more followers is obviously a good thing, Cat says that one particular problem keeps coming up.
“Literally everyone assumes I am a straight white man,” she said. That’s why Cat started posting pictures of herself along with the Animated Text gifs in recent months, to “prove I am female, that I am black, that I am gay,” and not that unholy trinity of falsely presumed neutrality: straight, white, and male.
By injecting more and more of herself into the Animated Text project, she became more and more comfortable with being vulnerable on the internet, something she did not expect when she was designing ostentatiously disaffected gif mantras like “lol nothing matters” or “blog the pain away.” That newfound comfort with being vulnerable online also inspired Frazier’s latest venture: Ask Cat, an “advice column for the smartphone age” that you can submit to by texting 510-962-9372. To read more, go to: http://fusion.net/story/263103/animated-text-cat-frazier-ask-cat/
Shaquille O’Neal (in his No. 32 to be retired by the Heat) celebrates the Heat’s championship in 2006 alongside current Heat guard Dwyane Wade. (Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE/Getty Images) article by Ira Winderman via chicagotribune.com
Shaquille O’Neal will become the third Miami Heat player to have his number retired, with the team announcing today that O’Neal’s No. 32 will join the No. 33 of Alonzo Mourning and No. 10 of Tim Hardaway already raised to the rafters at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“Shaquille O’Neal is one of the truly elite players in the history of the game and one of the greatest players to ever wear a Heat uniform,” Heat President Pat Riley said in a statement. “He took us to another level as a basketball franchise while leading us to our first NBA championship.
“Retiring his number in the rafters, along with Heat greats Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, is something we are very proud of.”
O’Neal’s jersey will be raised early next season, with the 2016-17 schedule not to be released until mid-summer.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/697109247188840449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
With O’Neal honored for his relatively brief Heat tenure and single championship with the franchise, it makes it all but inevitable the Heat eventually will retire LeBron James‘ No. 6, with James spending more time with the franchise and winning two titles in his four seasons with the team.
2014 Mandela Washington Fellows during the Summit with President Obama (photo via youngafricanleaders.state.gov) article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Twenty-five young African leaders will leverage the world leadership of the University of California, Davis, in zero-net energy and its global experience to tackle energy challenges in their countries.
The U.S. State Department and IREX, the international nonprofit that administers the fellowship program, today (Feb. 9) announced the 36 universities that will host six-week summer programs — also in business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership and public management — for about 1,000 fellows.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said one of the 21st century’s biggest challenges is transitioning to a sustainable energy future, and UC Davis is leading with research, education and outreach in energy sciences, technology, management and policy to develop solutions.
“The fellows are future leaders in Africa,” she added, “and UC Davis is partnering with them to make a difference in our communities, our countries and our world.”
Selected from countries in sub-Saharan Africa through a competition, the fellows are 25- to 35-year-olds who already have a record of leadership and accomplishments.
U.S. Rep. John Garamendi was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia and has led two peace mission teams to Africa. “I congratulate these young leaders from Africa for their participation in the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program, as well as their dedication to improving the energy future of their countries and the world,” he said. “I am also very proud of the University of California, Davis, for the global leadership it is showing by hosting this unique and important institute for the Mandela program.”
Expertise from campus and beyond
Institute seminars and lectures will draw on the expertise of faculty from a broad range of disciplines and some dozen UC Davis institutes and research centers — including the Energy Efficiency Center, which accelerates the development and commercialization of energy efficiency technologies, and the Institute of Transportation Studies, the world’s leading university center on sustainable transportation.
Field trips and guest lectures will expose the fellows to key energy organizations and leaders in the generation and use of renewable energy.
In hands-on service and learning, the fellows will help install solar energy systems for lower-income families, clean up a local watershed, perform campus energy audits, and work on a community garden.
‘Brilliant, energetic and fearless’
The fellows are 25- to 35-year-olds who have promoted innovation and accomplished positive change in their organizations, institutions, communities and countries. They have made a commitment to return to Africa and apply their leadership skills and training to benefit their community or country.
The fellows will be selected this spring, and the institute will be held in June and July. To learn more about the program and how to apply, go to: Mandela Washington Fellowship
Will Smith says he “may have gone too far” with the amount of freedom of expression given to his children, talks Bad Boys sequel.
During an interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra’s A.Dot, actor Will Smith was asked about his family, specifically his children and the freedom of expression they’re given. In response, Smith jokingly stated that “we may have gone too far.”
He later spoke on his son, Jaden Smith, who was recently featured in a campaign for Louis Vuitton’s new, womenswear collection.
“There’s a really powerful, internal quality as an artist that as parents we encourage,” Will Smith said. “You gotta get out on the edge. You have to try things. You have to be comfortable doing things that people don’t agree with. And you have to be comfortable doing things that you could fail. And Jaden is one-hundred percent fearless. He will do anything. So, as a parent it’s scary. It’s really terrifying. But he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions. And he just doesn’t concern himself with what people think.”
Smith later revealed that he was unable to star in the upcoming, Independence Day sequel because of his schedule. He also stated that after seeing fellow actor Martin Lawrence for the first time in two years, a Bad Boys sequel is “definitely” happening. To read more, go to: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.37395/title.will-smith-definitely-doing-bad-boys-3-with-martin-lawrence
Screenshot of Ibtihaj Muhammad, taken from Twitter on February 3, 2016. (photo via Colorlines.comP
article by Sameer Rao via colorlines.com
When she competes at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Ibtihaj Muhammad will make history as the first member of Team USA to compete while wearing a hijab.
Muhammad, who is Black, secured her spot by winning a bronze medal during the fencing World Cup in Athens on January 30. She is now the second-highest-ranking fencer on Team USA’s women’s squad.
In an interview on TeamUSA.org, Muhammad said that she pursued fencing at the professional level in part to help break barriers in the sport:
“After I graduated from college, I saw there was a lack of minorities in the sport,” Muhammad told TeamUSA.org. “I recognized that I had a skill set, so I started to pursue fencing full time. I felt that it was something the squad needed. There were barriers that needed to be broken in women’s saber.”
Muhammad, who failed to quality for the 2012 Olympics due to a torn ligament, will compete in the Rio Olympics in both the individual and team events along with U.S. Olympic champion Mariel Zagunis.
“I want to compete in the Olympics for the United States to prove that nothing should hinder anyone from reaching their goals — not race, religion or gender,” said Muhammad, who was quoted by TeamUsa.org. “I want to set an example that anything is possible with perseverance.”
The Feb. 24 episode of ABC’s “Black-ish” will take on police brutality. The episode, titled “Hope,” will revolve around a fictional incident of police brutality that Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Andre “Dre” Johnson (Anthony Anderson) discuss with family members, including the couple’s four children. Much of the episode will focus on various characters’ reactions as they watch a news broadcast about the case, which involves an African-American teenager’s encounter with police.
As was the case when the family talked about the issue of guns in the home, members of the Johnson clan do not necessarily see eye-to-eye about what the kids should know and when they should know it. Rainbow would like to shield the kids, especially the younger ones, from life’s harsher realities as long as she can, while Andre feels that they need to know about the challenges of the world they’re living in as soon as is practical. Pops (Laurence Fishburne) and Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) tend to side with Dre, but the conversations are wide-ranging and impassioned on all sides. “Unfortunately the things that we are dealing with in this episode are not new, especially to the black and brown community. It’s something that’s been going on for quite some time,” Anderson told Variety.
Creator and executive producer Kenya Barris said the desire to take on the issue came from his own attempts to talk to his kids about various incidents of police brutality that made the news. “We’re not ‘Law & Order’ — we’re not trying to rip things from the headlines,” Barris said.
Bow and Dre talking to their kids about what they see on the news “is what this family would naturally be going through.”“What we’re really taking on is the notion of, how do you talk to your kids about what they’re seeing?’” Barris added. His own kids “were seeing people in the streets mad. And they were like, ‘What’s going on? Why are these people so angry?’ It was this big division at my house, because I had my feelings that I wanted to spout out. But my wife had her feelings and the biggest thing is, how do you talk about your frustrations and your angers, but at the same time not take away your kids’ hope and ability to still want to grow and thrive within a world that they have to live in?”
Beyoncé mid-slay with dancers at yesterday’s Super Bowl Halftime Show (photo via colorlines.com) article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
Something tells me we will soon have to invent a new way to say “slay,” because if the boss moves perpetrated in the last two days by Beyoncé have shown us anything, they’ve shown us she has every intention of erecting on top of the foundation she laid with 2013’s “Beyoncé” an impenetrable Fortress of Slayage where the word will soon retire itself (because really, where else has it to go?).
To recap, not only did Queen Bey the day before the Super Bowl drop her “Formation” video – which the internet is still feverishly and giddily unpacking – she performed it at halftime, paid homage to the Black Panthers in the Bay Area on their 50th anniversaryduring the 50th Super Bowl, paid homage to Malcolm X with her squad’s literal formation, and then claimed the commercial space right after halftime to announce her Formation World Tour, which kicks off April 27 in Miami. Phew! No wonder “slay” is ready for a permanent vacation.
According to usatoday.com, the Formation World Tour will be hitting cities nationwide including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. It ends June 12 in Hershey, Penn., before a string of European dates get underway June 28. Tickets go on sale beginning Tuesday for American Express and Beyhive fan club members, and to the general public starting Feb. 16. [Tour dates listed below.]
But that’s not all new world leader Yoncé’s got going on – along with the tour, the singer also launched a new initiative to aid the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
“True to her life’s work of always giving back, fans will be given the opportunity to participate in Beyoncé’s #BeyGOOD initiative supporting local United Way programs,” Live Nation released in a statement, announcing that the United Way of Genesee County will partner with the Community Foundation of Greater Flint to “create a fund that will address long-term developmental, education, nutrition and health needs of the children affected by the Flint Water Crisis.”
Beyoncé last toured the USA with her husband, rapper Jay Z, on the six-week On the Run Tour in summer 2014, which was filmed for a HBO special. The Formation World Tour is her first solo jaunt since the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013.
article by Tambay A. Obenson via Shadow and Act
RLJ Entertainment’s Urban Movie Channel (UMC) kicked off Black History Month with the premiere of the Underground Railroad drama, “The North Star,” on February 5, 2016. Based on true events, the film chronicles the perilous journey of two slaves, Benjamin “Big Ben” Jones (played by former Philadelphia Eagles’ Jeremiah Trotter) and Moses Hopkins (Thomas C. Bartley, Jr.), who escaped from a Virginia plantation and made their way to freedom in Buckingham, Pennsylvania in 1849.
A directorial debut by Thomas K. Philips, the feature film also stars Lynn Whitfield, Clifton Powell, and Keith David.
On February 19, UMC will premiere “Becoming Barack: Evolution of a Leader,” a revealing portrait of President Barack Obama‘s formative years in Chicago, and “Bound: Africans VS. African Americans,” a hard hitting documentary that addresses the little known tension between Africans and African Americans, produced by Isaiah Washington and directed by filmmaker Peres Owino.
Later in the month on February 26, UMC will feature untold stories of history with the premieres of “An American Ascent,” a documentary about the first black mountaineer group to climb Denali, the highest peak in North America, and the first two installments from producer/director Tim Reid‘s Legacy Documentary Series, “Legacy of Blacks in Auto Racing” and “Builders of the Alaska Highway.”
Available at urbanmoviechannel.com, UMC is the first urban-focused streaming service in North America showcasing quality and exclusive urban content designed for African American and urban audiences. To read more, go to: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/urban-movie-channel-announces-6-new-streaming-premieres-in-honor-of-black-history-month-20160205
Pittsburgh Steelers’ DeAngelo Williams and his daughter (photo via eurweb.com) article by Ny MaGee via eurweb.com
Hair care brand Pantene enlisted NFL stars to create “dad dos” for their little darlings in a series of how-to hair videos, PeopleStyleWatch notes.
Featured in the video are Pittsburgh Steelers’ DeAngelo Williams, the New Orleans Saints’ Benjamin Watson and the Dallas Cowboys’ Jason Witten. The video series is part of the brand’s “Strong Is Beautiful” campaign, which highlights the importance of father and daughter bonding.
“Research shows that quality time spent with dads is key in raising daughters who are more self-confident, self-reliant and more successful in school and in their careers,” Pantene says in a press release.
Check out the clips below to see the footballers attempt to create their daughters’ requested hairstyle — twisted pigtails, braided pigtails, a ballerina bun and a princess puff. The hilarious results may not be perfect but the memorable moment these dads share with their daughters will certainly last a lifetime.
“We hope our new series of how-to videos shows dads how easy and fun it can be to spend quality time with their daughters by doing their hair,” Jodi Allen, a vice president for P&G, says in a release. “The quality time spent with their daughters now will foster the next generation of strong and beautiful women.”
“My hands get a little bit in the way,” says the Dallas Cowboys’ Jason Witten as he fails miserably at creating a ballerina-style bun on his 3-year-old daughter, Landry.
While the “dad do” results aren’t always perfect, they are beyond precious. And hey, as these dads know better than anyone, you can always throw on a helmet (daddy/daughter bike ride, anyone?) to cover any number of hair sins.
Check out the videos below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgdYPllFXes&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SG3Y-_2Yj0&w=560&h=315]
