Issue 22  |  September 2010

Mary Seacole in UK’s TOp 50 Unsung Heroes list

A list of Britain’s top 50 unsung heroes has been drawn up to mark the 15th anniversary on Thursday of the National Lottery. It includes the man who invented the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee and Jamaican-Bon British nurse Mary Seacole>

Read the full article at Sky News

Jermanie Dupri Dabbles With Rock, Goes The Independent Route With So So Def

So So Def mogul Jermaine Dupri is well known for crafting hits for rappers and R&B stars but the revered producer recently took a different route by writing songs for rock group Weezer.

Read full story at Six Shot

High Vibes Festival draws crowd in Accra

The first edition of the High Vibes Festival took off at the Holy Gardens in Accra on Thursday. The four-day event is designed to uplift the ‘falling’ image of Ghanaian highlife music and live band performances.

Read full story at Ghana News

‘Couples Retreat’ poster in UK removes black people

Universal changed “Couples Retreat” marketing material for the film’s UK release, and removed the black actors from both the poster’s photo and the list of stars typed out.

Read full story (and see the two posters) at Huffington Post

More on the The Mail Online

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

On topics as diverse as Roland Barthes and Liberia, Katharine Hepburn and writing novels, Smith has something to say, although she disowns her words repeatedly, starting with the introduction: “This book was written without my knowledge. That is, I didn’t realize I’d written it until someone pointed it out to me.” Writing for magazines and newspapers, she found that a “hundred thousand words piled up that way.”

Read full story at The san Francisco Chronicle

My week: Oona King

This is the best week of the year for two reasons: first, a sleeping pill at 7pm on Sunday night provides an unbeatable Monday morning curtain-raiser of a 12-hour sleep, something I only manage once a year. And second, I had a drink with Idris Elba, aka Stringer Bell, the undisputed star of The Wire.

Read full story at Guardian

JLS beat Williams to top album chart

Boyband JLS have beaten Robbie Williams to top the album charts with their debut album. The band, Aston Merrygold, whose family is originally from Dunmurry, Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Jonathan ‘JB’ Gill, were involved in the biggest chart battle of the year this week when their self-titled debut album ‘JLS’ went up against Williams’ comeback album ‘Reality Killed the Video Star’.

Read the full story at Ulster Star

In essays, author Zadie Smith reveals her process

n the new collection Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, author Zadie Smith explores her writing process and the people who have influenced her. Smith tells NPR she doesn’t write every day, though she wishes she did — and that she used writing as a way to mourn her father.

Author Zadie Smith admits that early literary success is not always a blessing. She was 25 when she published her first novel, the widely praised White Teeth. Since then, she has written two other novels — On Beauty and The Autograph Man — but she has also experimented with literary criticism, movie reviews and political writing.

Read full story at SCPR

Film Fest honors Freeman for distinguished career

Morgan Freeman will receive a Career Achievement Award for Acting Jan.5 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Black Tie Awards Gala, organizers announced Tuesday. Freeman stars as Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film, “Invictus,” co-starring Matt Damon as the captain of a rugby team that Mandela hopes will unite black and white South African rugby fans.

Read full story at My Desert

What the success of Precious means for Black Indie Cinema

Since premiering at Slamdance 2009, “Mississippi Damned” has won major prizes at several film festivals, including those that have been black-focused (Urbanworld, American Black Film Festival), gay-themed (OutFest, NewFest) or for general audiences (Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago), and garnered enthusiastic critical acclaim — “magnificently thesped” (Variety), “tightly wound and powerfully explosive” (Hollywood Reporter). And yet, “that’s not enough,” says Stiff, “because no one is thinking outside the box.”

Read the full story at IFC

Speech Debelle interview

When Speech Debelle was plucked from obscurity to win this year’s Mercury music prize and be guest of honour at Downing Street, everyone was amazed by her overnight success – everyone, that is, but her.

Read full article at Telegraph

Rihanna to stream album release party online, 16 Nov

Rihanna will be performing tracks from her forthcoming record, Rated R, during her London album release party, and is streaming the whole thing live online on Nov. 16. A few lucky fans will also get the chance to win tickets to see the event live and in person from the UK.

Read full story at Geek Sugar

Jamaica: Restaurant tips from chef Levi Roots

Celebrity chef Levi Roots picks his favourite places to eat on the island. Read full story at Guardian

Photos: South Africa’s cinematic history

It’s a country with a rich and complicated cinematic history. Over the years, South Africa has served as both an inspiration and backdrop for many compelling dramas, thrillers and yes, comedies too. This photo gallery shows pictures from decades past and present.

See photo gallery at Los Angeles Times

Council’s black history shame

A CHARITY co-ordinator was left ‘astounded’ when Harrow Council shamelessly tried to take credit for a successful independently-organised Black History Month evening, after providing no cash for such events itself. Residents turned up at Thursday’s full council meeting to demand answers to why the Tory administration had successively cut the budget for Black History Month projects from £10,000, to £5,000, to zero, thereby ‘minimising the importance’ of the annual project that promotes Caribbean and African arts, culture and heritage.

Read full story at Harrow Observer