Month: February 2017

Eva Longoria feels very empowered as a female director.

The star discussed her life and career with agent Christy Huabegger during the MAKERS Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. on Tuesday. During the conversation, Longoria was very clear about why she feels passionate about directing and how being a woman has helped her succeed.  

Longoria has helped developed and produce shows like “Devious Maids” and “Telenovela,” but she also directed episodes for hit series like “Jane The Virgin” and “Black-ish.” 

“I knew when I was on set [as an actress] I wasn’t reaching my full potential as a human being, and I love telling people what to do ― I’m really good at it,” Longoria said with a laugh.

Longoria, who said she’s had to climb every rung of the industry ladder to get to the director’s chair, believes one of the reasons she excels at what she does is because she’s a woman. 

“I say this confidently, not arrogantly,” she noted. “I’m a really good director because I’m a woman, because directing is about problem-solving and I think woman are the best problem solvers in the world.”

Still, Huabegger was quick to point to a recent USC study that found only 4 percent of all directors in the top films made in the last 10 years were woman. And the data showed that woman of color were “nearly invisible” behind the camera during that time. 

To that, Longoria recalled a recent experience trying to develop a reboot of the hit TV series “Magnum P.I.” with a female lead. 

“At the end of Magnum P.I. back then, he had a daughter,” Longoria recounted. “So, we were making the sequel where she’s a badass. She’s everything Magnum was, except a woman. And it didn’t get made. I really feel that was that unconscious bias of that study if people go ‘well, we just don’t see her doing everything he did.’ And I go, why not? Why can’t you see it that way?”

Longoria, who has long advocated for Latino representation in the industry, said she was developing a story with HBO about Gus Garcia, the first Mexican-American lawyer to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. 

Watch Longoria’s full interview below. Skip to 7:27 to hear more about her HBO project titled “A Class Apart.” 

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Good girl gone green! 

Rihanna switched up her usual look for what appears to be a green wig during a photoshoot in New York City Tuesday. The look is reportedly part of an upcoming spread for Paper magazine. 

Stylist Farren Fucci posted photos and video from the shoot, which show Rihanna in a long green wig and a colorful $4,250 dress from Proenza Schouler. 

The singer also wore a green wig back in 2014 for her second Viva Glam MAC collaboration. This new green shade is much darker (and less polished) than her previous look: 

The 28-year-old singer was also seen rocking purple hair and a long red jacket for the shoot. Paper has yet to provide any juicy details, but we do know this: We can’t wait to see the final product. 

The same night Rihanna was photographed roaming around NYC in a grey camouflage jacket and pants paired with a hoodie and sparkly heels:  

Now we’re just forced to wait until the shoot comes out! 

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Nearly 100 powerhouse companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Twitter and Microsoft filed an amicus — “friend of the court” — brief late Sunday against President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

The brief was written in support of a lawsuit filed by Washington State and joined by Minnesota that on Friday won a temporary nationwide restraining order against Trump’s controversial executive order, barring Syrian refugees and travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries. Judge James Robart, of the Federal District Court in Seattle, had ruled that the order, signed Jan. 27, caused immediate and irreparable harm in education, business, family relations and the freedom to travel.

Sunday’s document, filed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, emphasizes the value of immigrants to business and society, crediting them with making some of the nation’s “greatest discoveries” and creating among the “most innovative and iconic companies.” 97 business in total signed the document.

“Immigrants are among our leading entrepreneurs, politicians, artists and philanthropists,” the letter states. “The experience and energy of people who come to our country to seek a better life for themselves and their children — to pursue the ‘American Dream’ — are woven throughout the social political and economic fabric of the Nation.’”

The brief also recognizes the importance of national security but maintains that a blanket immigration ban isn’t the way to do it. The restrictions, the companies said, would undoubtedly be bad for business.

“The Order makes it more difficult and expensive for U.S. companies to recruit, hire, and retain some of the world’s best employees,” they wrote, noting that “American workers and the economy will suffer as a result.”

Executives from some of the biggest tech companies have been vocally outspoken about Trump’s executive order. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has said that restrictions “defy the heart and values that define the best of our nation. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who did not join Sunday’s brief, said “this executive order is one we do not support” and vowed to help any employees affected by it. Following backlash from both users and drivers concerned about the new policies, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick last week quit the president’s economic advisory council.

Sunday’s letter follows the San Fransisco court’s decision a day earlier to deny a Justice Department request to immediately restore the ban. The appeals court is now preparing to hear full arguments from both sides.

A brief from the Justice Department is expected to be filed Monday. There was no immediate response from the White House to the amicus brief filing.

Trump angrily tweeted throughout the weekend about the court decisions:

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You can cross off the New England Patriots’ Martellus Bennett from the guest list when his team visits the White House and President Donald Trump to celebrate its Super Bowl victory.

“I’m not going to go,” the tight end said in a postgame interview, following the Patriots’ historic win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The team overcame a 25-point deficit, the largest in Super Bowl history. It was also the first time the big game had run into overtime.

Asked why, Bennett responded, “It is what it is. People know how I feel about it. Just follow me on Twitter.”

Last month he’d tweeted:

Patriots owner Robert Kraft ― as well as quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick ― are friendly with Trump, but Bennett said he’s “not really worried about” Kraft’s reaction. Team members generally try to not bring their politics to work, he said.

Bennett declared at media day last Monday that he likely wouldn’t attend the traditional White House celebration if the Patriots won “because I don’t support the guy in the house.”

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Coca-Cola sent a strong message to all those watching Super Bowl LI on Sunday night: Diversity is what makes America beautiful. 

The commercial, which aired early on in the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots, featured a wide array of Americans of various races, sexual orientations, religions and ages, as “America the Beautiful” was performed in multiple languages. 

“Coca-Cola, Together Is Beautiful,” the tagline read. 

Watch the full commercial above. 

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Simone Biles had an early contender for the best photo of Super Bowl Sunday before the game even started. 

The Olympic gymnast shared a snapshot with Shaq to Instagram ahead of the main event at NRG Stadium in Houston. In the pic, the 4-foot-9-inch gold medal winner stands next to the 7-foot-1-inch basketball star. 

The two made quite the duo. 

Biles, who is from Houston, spent the week with players from both the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. She also got to hang with Taylor Swift, who performed a pre-Super-Bowl show Saturday night for DIRECTV. 

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Thousands of LGBTQ people and their allies showed up in front of the Stonewall Inn in New York City on Saturday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump’s
“un-American executive orders” and “speak out against … the most anti-LGBT nominees and appointees in modern history,” according to the event’s Facebook page.

The LGBT Solidarity Rally, organized just days ago, was co-sponsored by more than 65 queer advocacy organizations, including PFLAG NYC, Lambda Legal and the Black Lesbian Conference 2018, and politicians like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council Member Corey Johnson.

Massive crowds filled the streets around the historic bar ― the site of the now famous June 1968 Stonewall Riots ― chanting, cheering, booing and carrying signs that were just as diverse as the people who brought them.

Below, check out 24 of the best signs seen at the Stonewall LGBTQ solidarity action.

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WASHINGTON ― Americans took to the streets for a second weekend to protest President Donald Trump’s now-blocked executive order banning travel and immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations.

In Washington, thousands of people descended on the White House on Saturday afternoon for a rally followed by a march down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Trump International Hotel, to the U.S. Capitol building. The crowd held a sea of creative signs, including, “We bombed them, now we ban them,” and “Instead of being afraid of brown people, we should be more concerned over orange monster.”

Anti-Trump gatherings also were reported in New York, Missouri, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Houston, and West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The Washington march was organized by “Peace for Iran,” a small group of Iranian American young professionals who first came together to promote the Iran nuclear deal. Marchers, however, came from a variety of backgrounds. Families from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs joined college students and teenagers from the city in chants like, “When Muslims are under attack ― what do we do? Stand up, fight back.”

Nader Davoodi, 67, and his wife Mahin, 64, are Iranian-born American citizens who came to the demonstration from Gaithersburg, Maryland. The last time they came out to a protest was against an Iranian government official visiting Washington several years ago.

Although as citizens they are not affected by the ban, Nader Davoodi said, “I come for everybody else all around the world. We need a peaceful government ― not Donald Trump.”

Sara Krautbauer, 29, a master’s student in international development at George Washington University, came with about 20 of her fellow volunteers at the Refugee Assistance Program, an organization that helps refugees resettling in the Washington area.

Krautbauer welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to put the ban on hold in response to a federal judge’s ruling on Friday night, but described the delay as insufficient.

“It’s awesome for visa holders and green card holders, but we’re here for refugees as well,” Krautbauer said. “Walking back the ban only so far isn’t good enough. They need to walk it all the way back so we can start bringing back refugees again.”

More than 200 miles north in Manhattan’s West Village, thousands of supporters of LGBTQ rights demonstrated against Trump’s ban and other policies outside the Stonewall Inn, the site of the historic showdown over gay rights.

“Whether we’re straight, gay, immigrant, Native American ― no matter who you are, we’re all standing up to fascists,” said Marie Carianna, a 57-year-old lesbian.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the ban in court, asked Twitter users to share photos of their protests .

People responded with photos and video of demonstrations in major cities, including Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, as well as smaller ones: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; and North Adams, Massachusetts.

They were joined by solidarity demonstrations in London and Paris, as well.

In Trump’s backyard, Saturday marked the third straight weekend in which Washington was the site of anti-Trump demonstrations. On Jan. 21, progressives from all over the country converged on the capital for the Women’s March. On Sunday, a short-notice rally against Trump’s travel and immigration executive order packed Lafayette Square park in front of the White House. 

But activists at Saturday’s White House demonstration said they are pressuring Congress as well. Krautbauer uses a Google spreadsheet circulated on the internet with the names of members of Congress who support the new restrictions on refugee admission and said she calls two of them every day. 

Mark Sokolow, 57, who came to the rally from Reston, Virginia, with his wife, Diana, and their daughter, Christina Dawson, 26, has been combining his protests with calls to Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). He is urging them to resist Trump’s agenda.

Asked whether that included filibustering Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Sokolow was unequivocal.

“Absolutely! It’s a stolen seat,” he said, referring to Republicans’ refusal to consider Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland.

Sebastian Murdock contributed reporting.

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It was Oscar Wilde who said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” And right now, the basic plot of “Star Wars” is pretty much happening in real life because Donald Trump is president and Beyoncé is pregnant with twins. 

 Look, it just works: 

If you need that spelled out for you, just like the fictional Queen Padmé Amidala, our Queen Bey is carrying the twin and future rebels who will one day save us from the Dark Side. 

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NEW YORK ― America refuses to move backward.

That was the message from thousands of LGBTQ supporters who took to New York City streets Saturday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump’s now-blocked travel ban, immigration policies and other “illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and un-American” executive orders, according to the event’s Facebook page. Trump’s travel ban was temporarily halted by a federal judge Friday. 

The protest, sponsored by more than a dozen advocacy groups and local politicians, was held outside the historic Stonewall Inn in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood, the symbolic heart of the LGBTQ rights movement.

Other protests to “Resist Trump” were scheduled across the country through the weekend. Demonstrations were planned in cities that include Denver, Houston and Buffalo, New York.

Marie Carianna, a 57-year-old lesbian at the New York demonstration, told HuffPost she has spent her life fighting for the rights of the LGBTQ community. She said she won’t stop now.

“Whether we’re straight, gay, immigrant, Native American ― no matter who you are, we’re all standing up to fascists,” Carianna said.

So what will the next four years look like for Carianna under a Trump presidency?

“A hell of a lot more alcohol,” she said. “The fact is, it means I’m going to be on the streets, fighting. The idea that we are going to be handing to our kids a lack of rights that we already fought for decades ago ― it’ll be over my dead body.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rallied the crowd with a message of moving forward, leading a chant of “Dump Trump” even as some booed him. 

“We are going to do everything to ensure that the Supreme Court does not turn the clock back to the 1960s or the 1920s,” Schumer said. “We are going to fight.”

Many protestors chanted, “We are watching you” at Schumer, likely referring to recent complaints that the senator hadn’t done enough to stop Trump’s picks for the new administration.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said he was starting to lose his voice from all the protesting, but that it wouldn’t stop him from shouting. He thanked protestors for braving the cold.

“I have never been so cold, but so fired up in my life!” Stringer told the crowd.

Stringer warned Trump that history will not look kindly on him.

“He’s not going to have a party by the time we’re done with him,” Stringer said. “They’re not going to have majority Congress and majority Senate. It’s all going down, Donald, and it’s happening right now.”

The Stonewall Inn’s legacy began June 28, 1969, when hundreds in the LGBTQ community fought back against police attempting to arrest them. At the time, homosexuality was illegal, and Stonewall patrons had been routinely harassed by cops. It is credited with being the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement.

On June 27, 2016 ― more than 40 years after the Stonewall riots ― the site was declared a national monument by President Barack Obama. The monument protects more than seven acres of land in Greenwich Village, including Christopher Park, the inn, and surrounding streets and sidewalks.

More recently, thousands showed up at the inn to honor those killed at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub last summer. LGBTQ people were specifically targeted at the club in what became the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices