Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Recap: Post-Oprah Finale 'Itis

I watched.  And in good conscience, I cannot come up with any pithy, snarcastic comments since this show was so understated and entirely appropriate--in direct contrast to all of the hoopla of the last two days.  Dare I say this...the Oprah has left the BBW speechless!

(Actually, the BBW prefers to wait for another more worthwhile occasion to poke fun at our Most Exhaulted patron saint...like maybe after I've watched more than an hour of programming on OWN.)

Anyway, at 4:00pm, I tuned in to watch a composed, calm, serene and humble Oprah Winfrey take to her stage to preach a farewell sermon of sorts to her congregants in the studio and around the world.  And her message was simple: find your life's purpose and then fulfill it as God intended!

I know that to all of the Oprah-haters (and yes, there are apparently as many haters as there are die-hard Oprah-holics out there), this is consistent with her do-good and be-blessed New Age spiritualism, but in her 45 minute benediction, she found a way to mention the universe, Newton's third law of motion, and Jesus without making anyone feel alienated or excluded.  The love she expressed for the millions of people who have watched her show over the years exuded from her like a warm, golden light. 

Really.

Fried Chicken Wednesday: The Oprah Finale

In my wildest dreams, I could not have planned for the Oprah finale to fall on a Wednesday, so I guess you know what is on the menu today...a big ole bucket of extra crispy fried chicken! 

In anticipation of the golden crunchy goodness that her final show will bring, I thought that as an appetizer, I would offer up a serving of the Oprah's worst TV moments.  Given that this entire season has been one grand victory lap of self-congratulatory fried-in-bacon-grease-excess, I think that we should take a moment to reflect on ten rubber chickens from the last 25 years:
  1. In the beginning, the Oprah show used commercial breaks to effectively build and/or diffuse drama as necessary.  But in the last few years, there were more commercials than actual show.  That Favorite Things show is essentially one step removed from being an hour long informercial on QVC.
  2. B*&%$-slapping James Frey on her show after it was revealed that he had fabricated parts of his memoir.  Not that he was the only poor sap to face the wrath of the Mighty O--Kim Wayans had to pay penance on the couch too for lampooning Oprah in a classic, but hilarious In Living Color sketch.
  3. That whack "reunion" with Whoopi Goldberg.  Who do they think they are fooling; they still can't stand each other!
  4. Giving shows to the most annoying people on the planet--Roseanne Barr, Dr. Phil, Racheal Ray, and of course, Gayle King (for the third doggone time).
  5. Pretending that no one would notice that she never married Stedman, and then only letting him out of the dungeon for very special occasions.
  6. Beloved 
  7. Not telling Michael Jackson that he needed help, thus failing to perform her civic duty in preventing his eventual decline...or was it all part of her plan to take over the world?  Hmm...
  8. "You get a car, you get a car!"--the exact moment when the Almighty Oprah Show jumped the shark. 
  9. Kissing up to the whackest of whack job celebrities--Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Jamie Foxx, Tyler Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Richard Gere, Halle Berry, Madonna, Sarah Palin...need I continue?
  10. And finally, wheeling a wagon of fat onto the set of her show to symbolize the 67 pounds she lost, only to regain it all once she started eating again in a few months. 
Did I miss anything?  Probably, but come back later after the show for the itis recap.  Until then, put on some stretchy pants, balance that plate on your lap, and dig in!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

OK, one small detail will change in a few days.  Instead of a chunky URL hosted by Blogspot, Busy Black Woman will be moving to:



http://www.busyblackwoman.com

They (the omnipotent auto-message generating IT folks at Google) tell me that the change will be complete in a few days and that all of my content will migrate to the new address.  Keep your fingers crossed since I will not otherwise know how to access anything written before the change finally occurs.

This is exciting and scary all at the same time.  And the BBW must admit that this latest step really means that I am all in--this is the next step in my quest to build an empire!

And speaking of empire building Busy Black Women...as you know, our patron saint, The Oprah, will be shutting down her TV talk show this Wednesday after 25 years on the air.  Can I tell you that I am old enough to remember when Oprah was a news anchor in Baltimore?  For real, and I am not making this up--at one point, she rocked an afro (sho nuff)!  Anyhoo, the next thing I remember was that she disappeared from our airwaves and reappeared on the pages of Jet magazine in countless articles about her new Chicago-based daytime talk show.  This was significant because (a) the only national talk show of significance was hosted by Phil Donahue and (b) locally, Carol Randolph's show was almost off the air at this point (yup, I am that old, and in case you have never heard of her, you need to click that link to learn more).


Sunday, May 22, 2011

Still Here? Yeah, Me Too

This post is not really about the Rapture...it is about this blog.

I am attempting to make a few changes, and so things are a little touch and go.  For half a second, an error message that came up about the blog not being found nearly caused my heart to stop...this is what I get for trying to be my own IT person.  A sign that I really need to stay in my own lane, perhaps?

However, until everything gets sorted out, my hope is that you will still be able to find the BBW come tomorrow, or whenever you need a little laughter from one of my irreverent posts.  Once the transition has taken place, it will be much easier to find me (correction: it should be easier to find the blog).  More than likely I will continue to pull off the occasional Carmen Sandiego routine.

Speaking of which, weren't things much simpler when this was life's most pressing question?  Sure they were!

So in the spirit of all things 90s and nostalgic, stay tuned for some of the exciting things to come in the world of the Busy Black Woman, and for old time's sake, enjoy this theme song blast from the past:

Friday, May 20, 2011

"Mr. McGhee, Don't Make Me Angry"

..."you wouldn't like me when I'm angry," said the actor Bill Bixby b.k.a. "David Banner" or "Incredible The Hulk" in the opening credits of one of my favorite TV show as a child.  Then of course, twice in every episode, someone (perhaps Mr. McGhee or another poor soul) pissed Banner off and he turned into his uber muscular green alter ego.



Right now, I am feeling the same way.  Someone out there is just itching for the BBW to morph into her tall, green-skinned, red-eyed, fire-breathing alter ego--the Angry Black Woman.

(I was trying to find a decent photo that did not look too stereotypical, but ya'll know what I mean.)

Back-tracking a bit, the BBW has been away for close to three weeks because life is just like that at times.  I had to do a little traveling, think of something to write, and just get through the daily slog of things.  And quite frankly, this is not how I intended to get back into blogging, but oh well, anger is a good motivator.

Who is pissing me off--doesn't matter.  Why is s/he grating on my last good nerve--do you honestly care?  The point...I'm pissed and when Hurricane BBW comes through, just run for cover!