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Posts published in “Videos”

Quincy and Rashida Jones Raise Awareness for Prostate Cancer [VIDEO]

Rashida Jones and Quincy JonesThe clip, entitled “Cherishing Life’s Special Moments,” seeks to raise awareness about the importance of speaking with your doctor about prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death for men in the United States, affecting one in six men, according to PCF. In the U.S. alone, 2.5 million American men and their families are currently living with prostate cancer.
“As a father, I cherish the special moments in life and understand how they can fly by in an instant,” said Quincy Jones. “Prostate cancer has affected dear friends and family of mine, so I am honored to be part of this campaign with Stand Up To Cancer and the Prostate Cancer Foundation to reinforce how incredibly important it is for men to talk to their doctors about prostate cancer.”
“I was excited to shoot this PSA with my father,” said Rashida Jones. “We have to protect the men we cherish, so please talk to your fathers, your grandfathers, husbands, brothers and sons and make sure they speak to their doctors about this disease and how to reduce their risk.”
“Men are 40 percent less likely than women to have visited a healthcare provider in the past year…But talking to one’s doctor about prostate cancer is critically important,” said Stand Up To Cancer President & CEO Sung Poblete, PhD, RN.  “We are thrilled to have the father and daughter pair of Quincy and Rashida Jones spread that message through this PSA, and hope it empowers men to speak with their doctors about prostate cancer and when screening is right for them so they can make informed decisions.”
To learn more, visit StandUp2Cancer.org or PCF.org.
article via thegrio.com

Mos Def Releases Anti-Stop-And-Frisk PSA "Don't Tread On Me" (VIDEO)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qajY8OjfGJs&w=560&h=315]
Mos Def has never been afraid of a good scrap.  The rapper is involved in a new fight, and it’s against New York City and their controversial stop-and-frisk policy. Teaming up with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Mos Def released an anti-stop-and-frisk PSA video. 
MosDef
In case you don’t know: stop-and-frisk is deemed controversial because it allows police to search any individual without reason, other than “probable cause.” Critics say that it unfairly stops Black and Latina people, and the stats back this claim up: according to a study released in February, 97 percent of people stopped in New York City were either Black or Latino. 
In Mos Def’s video, we see all the disturbing stats, plus some footage of an anonymous police officer talking about some of the NYPD’s dirty polices.  In the background, you hear a new Mos Def track called “Don’t Tread on Me.” 
Read more: http://globalgrind.com/news/mos-def-dont-thread-on-me-stop-and-frisk-psa-video#ixzz2UBLYH7ay

TECHNOLOGY: You Can Now Send Money Through Gmail, Google Announces

Send Money Through Gmail

This is huge, potentially.  Along with a flurry of other announcements made on Wednesday at Google I/O, Google’s annual developers’ conference, the company announced that it’s integrating Google Wallet with Gmail, meaning Gmail account holders will soon be able to send money via email.
The amazing thing about this is how easy it is. As you can see in the YouTube video below, all you do is hit a “$” symbol to attach money to an email — just like you would attach any other file.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA8m0JOoNYQ&w=560&h=315]
Google Product Manager Travis Green wrote in a blog post that this feature will be rolled out “over the coming months to all U.S. Gmail users over 18 years old.” You can also get early access if a friend — perhaps who works at Google — already has the feature and sends money to you.
This could pose a threat to e-commerce startups like Venmo, which allows you to send someone payments through an app for iPhones or Android phones. “Holy startup killer,” said Artur Adib, a senior engineer at Twitter.
Jeff Peters, a new media and marketing consultant, wrote in a tweet about the news, “This could be big…if (when) people trust it.”
Tech executive Ray Nolan went even further, declaring, “eCommerce just changed.”
article by Craig Kanalley via huffingtonpost.com

Happy 47th Birthday, Grammy-Award Winner and Actress Janet Jackson (VIDEO)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gu1KETjVY&w=560&h=315]
Janet JacksonBorn to Joe and Katherine Jackson on May 16, 1966, Janet Damita Jo Jackson is the youngest of nine children of the musically legendary Jackson family.  Although she started her career in entertainment primarily as a television actress (Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes, Fame), it was Jackson’s music, produced by Minneapolis duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, that catapulted her to international fame and stardom.  Though Control was her third solo album, it was the first one to go multi-platinum and kick-started a career that has spanned decades and generated over 100 million record sales worldwide.  To celebrate Janet and her musical legacy, above is one of her early, iconic dance videos –  “Pleasure Principle.”  Enjoy!
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Oprah Gives Produce from Maui Farm to Needy; Holds Contest To Win Trip to Hawaii

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkHbflBNNmE&w=560&h=315]
Oprah Winfrey and Bob GreeneENews reports Oprah Winfrey is offering the first glimpse of her farm in Maui (see video above), which is now yielding healthy produce she gives to the needy.  All signs point to Winfrey intending for her farm to eventually supply an organic foods business with partner and fitness expert Bob Greene.  Additionally, Winfrey and Greene are holding a contest to bring one lucky viewer/reader and their guest on a tour of the farm.  Details on how to enter can be found at Oprah.com.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson and Lesa Lakin

Will and Monifa Sims Become Internet Sensations via Gas Station Karaoke for "Jay Leno"

Will and Monica Sims Jay Leno Show
Will (pictured far right) and Monifa Sims (pictured) never imagined that they’d become overnight Internet sensations as a result of a quick trip to their local gas station to fill up their car.
Actor Tim Stack of “Pumpcast News,” a regular sketch on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,takes a break from reading the day’s news to play around with unsuspecting patrons from  pump-mounted TV screens. When Stack a.k.a. “Jack Rafferty” spied the Sims at a Burbank, Calif., gas station, he surprised Will with a greeting and asked him if he’d be willing to belt out a song for his telecast. Will, who admitted that he enjoys karaoke, agreed to sing a Bon Jovi classic, “Livin’ On A Prayer,” without hesitation.
As Will performed the song without any reservation, his wife of 12 years, Monifa, sat boisterously laughing inside their vehicle. When Will ended his rendition of the song, Rafferty asked Will whether Monifa would join in too.  And while Monifa was initially hesitant, after Rafferty mentioned a free tank of gas and Will began singing about the offer, Monifa exited the car.
Rafferty was soon able to coax Monifa in to singing a song as well, with the fitness instructor choosing a Eurythmics chart topper, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).”  Not only did Monifa belt out the song in near perfect pitch, but her husband soon joined her, chiming in where needed.  The couple also showed off their synchronized dance moves.
Watch Will and Monifa Sims sing here:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNM0ENUCO5I&w=560&h=315]
article by Ruth Manuel-Logan via newsone.com

"Best Man Holiday" Teaser Trailer Out; Movie in Theatres November 15

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh5lAV0uU0U&w=560&h=315]
Best ManThe Best Man is returning to the big screen this fall.  The gang is back and the star-studded cast reunites to film Best Man Holiday. In it, Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Monica Calhoun, Melissa De Sousa and Regina Hall come together fifteen years later.
Universal Pictures has released the teaser trailer to the sequel of the 1999 film, which are both directed and written by Malcolm D. Lee.
The film picks up when the group of friends reunite over the Christmas holidays where rivalries are ignited and romances spark.  The movie is scheduled to hit theaters on November 15.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com

NBC's 'Ironside' with Blair Underwood – 1st Trailer Out (VIDEO)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_R4eZ9Yt4&w=560&h=315]
Blair UnderwoodIn the ongoing quest to reinvent the police procedural, NBC has revamped the 1967-75 hit “Ironside.” The original starred Raymond Burr as a San Francisco cop paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet and confined to a wheelchair, thus forced to solve crimes using his wits. This time around, the action moves to New York City and Blair Underwood takes the chair.
“Ironside” will air on NBC Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. this fall. 
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/see-the-first-trailer-from-nbcs-gritty-take-on-ironside-with-blair-underwood#AALbVpqUGKHgjWcI.99

"Fruitvale Station" Trailer Out; Oscar Grant Story Arrives in Theatres July 12

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxUJwJfcQaQ&w=560&h=315]
FruitvaleAccording to Deadline.com, Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) stars in Fruitvale Station as Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old Bay Area man whose fatal 2009 shooting by Oakland BART police sparked outrage and protests against police brutality. The Weinstein Co. secured the rights to Ryan Coogler’s directorial debut out of Sundance for $2 million before it won the film festival’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Now the movie is set for a July 12 release, hoping to attract attention for awards season. Check out the trailer above.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson and Lesa Lakin

Basquiat Videos: Toxic, Macklemore And Al Diaz Speak On SAMO's Inspiration And Legacy (VIDEO)

Basquiat VideosWhether seen in a market report, an art history book or a rap verse, the name Jean-Michel Basquiat is legendary. The dreadlocked young artist quickly rose to fame after taking up graffiti in New York City, becoming an incandescent art star before his untimely death in 1988 at only 27 years old.

Twenty five years later, the late artist is experiencing a massive global resurgence. In New York, his blowout Gagosian retrospective saw record attendance and his work is slated to appear later this month at Gagosian’s posh Hong Kong gallery for the first time ever. And yet, we often get so tied up in Basquiat the legend we forget he was a real person.
A new three-part video series released by Christie’s remembers Basquiat not only for his artistic genius, but also his energy, audacity and growing pains. The series begins with Basquiat’s high school friend and the other half of the graffiti duo known as SAMO, Al Diaz. “What we were doing was a response to everything around us…everything we were disillusioned by.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHe7HCBF1s&w=560&h=315]
Next we hear from Toxic, Basquiat’s friend and contemporary, who paints a picture of the Haitian artist’s meteoric rise to fame.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NvULWRxdw&w=560&h=315]
Finally we hear from Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore — yes, the singer of “Thrift Shop” — for a surprisingly touching meditation on Basquiat as a source of inspiration in his work as he grapples with his own success. “When he got with Warhol it was like everyone just tore him down.” Macklemore continues, “That’s such a weird feeling as an artist to make something that’s pure, that’s from the heart, that is who you are, and have a group of people shit on you.”
In a conversation with the curator and critic Henry Geldzahler in Interview, the 23-year-old artist delivers a deceptively simple, thought-provoking line: “The more I paint the more I like everything.” The films above honor the mind and legacy of a star that burned too bright, too fast.  Basquiat’s collection will show at Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong from May 25 until August 10, and “Dustheads” (1982) is expected to fetch $25-35 million at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 15.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJ82FqXn4g&w=560&h=315]
article by Priscilla Frank via huffingtonpost.com