Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams & Roger Federer at the Champions Dinner

There's nothing like the smile of a champion...unless it's the smiles of two champions!



Roger Federer and Serena Williams show off their Wimbledon trophies at last night's Champion's Dinner at the Hotel Intercontinental in London.

 

After you check out Serena's very glam dress, you can hear some of Serena's post match interview on the official Wimbledon website.

New hubby Roger is also about to become a Dad.  Wife Mirka will give birth before the US Open--timing is everything.

Excuse me now while I go into my official Wimbledon Withdrawal. 

Wimbledon 2009: Roger The Great!

What can I say?  Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player ever and once again he proved that today by beating American Andy Roddick, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14. in the longest match, in games, in Grand Slam history.  The final score in the fifth set was an unprecedented 16-14.

In addition, this sixth Wimbledon win gave Federer a total of fifteen Grand Slam titles, more than any man in history.

But man, spare a thought for poor Andy Roddick.  He was broken only once in the entire match and that was for Federer to take the fifth set and the championship.  As in the match against Andy Murray, Roddick played the best I've ever seen him and it really appeared in that fifth set that Roger would be the one to get broken to set up a game where Roddick could serve for the match.

Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams Crowned Queen of Wimby

Serena Williams has always had a fabulous smile and today that smile flashed again as the smile of a Wimbledon champion.  She beat big sister Venus in the finals 7-6, 6, 2.

Spare a thought for Venus.  After the first set tiebreak, Venus couldn't quite get back in it.  Her serve let her down and Serena was relentless.

After a marathon semi-final against Elena Dementieva that almost saw Serena packing her bags for home, it was great to see Serena recover to take the crown once again.  Especially since the All England Club thinks of her and Venus as so "unattractive."

Congratulations Serena!

Wimbledon 2009: Roddick Trounces Murray, A Country Weeps

American Andy Roddick blasted Andy Murray off the court at Wimbledon in the men's semi-finals to set up a third shot at Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final Sunday.

Roddick played the best I've ever seen him play and will hopefully give Roger a look at his own tennis mortality.

Don't get me wrong, I like Roger a lot, but Andy's put in the work to get himself to this position, and I wouldn't be upset at all if he won.

Congratulations Andy and Good Luck!

Wimbledon 2009: The Williams Sister Act In The Finals

The heart of a champion:  Serena Williams.

 

Elena Dementieva at her best.

 

Serena prevails at last!

Memo to Dinara Safina: that chick you sent to play for you at Wimbledon today was crappy. Fire her.





Venus Williams crushes Dinara Safina to set up a date with little Sis.

Wimbledon 2009: Only "Babes" Allowed On Centre Court, Plus Williams/Williams On A Roll

During a Wimbledon where the biggest story on the women's side is the Williams sisters making mincemeat of anyone in their path and the smallest story is the women players' grunting, a new story has emerged.

Something most tennis fans have assumed for years was finally confirmed by a rep of the All England Club:  if you're what's considered a "babe" by the Wimby powers that be, you're more likely to get your match on centre court.  Whereas if you're built more like a jock, are not Vanity Fair-ready, or you're black, you end up on courts 1 or 2.

As Jon Wertheim said in his weekly question and answer column for CNNSI:

Far as I'm concerned, here's the shocker of the day: both Wimbledon and BBC officials confirming looks matter when making scheduling decisions. Wow. Eagerly awaiting WTA outrage.

Yeah, who knows, we may have to wait awhile for that outrage to materialize.  The Daily Mail of London has a pictorial of who got what courts this fortnight, based on looks.

Kate Norcera of the New York Daily News put it this way:

Wimbledon promoters called it "The Battle of the Babes" when Victoria Azarenka, seeded 8th in the tournament, took on Cristea, seeded 28th, at Centre Court on Friday. The same day, second seed Serena Williams, undoubtedly one of the great players the sport has ever seen, was relegated to play her match on the No. 2 court.

Many of the seats on Centre Court for the "Babe" match remained empty. Die-hard tennis fans who came to the event seemed to know better - which indicated the move had more to do with television ratings.

Sunday night, the All England Club admitted that good looks were a factor when considering the play schedule. Spokesman Johnny Perkins told the Daily Mail that "good looks are a factor."

"It's not a coincidence that those (on Centre Court) are attractive," he said.

This is wrong it so many ways, where do I start?  First of all, that definition of attractiveness is the white, male All England Club's definition.  Venus and Serena Williams are some of the most gorgeous ladies out on the court.  But see, this is about being blonde and leggy.  If you're not blonde and leggy, you're not attractive.  Never have been, never will be.

It's about being the reincarnation of the "never won a tournament on tour" Anna Kournikova or "for the longest time all I had was one Wimbledon title," Maria Sharapova.  Of course, Sharapova has a whole lot more talent than Kournikova and she's won two more Grand Slams since that lone Wimby.  But for awhile there, you would have thought Sharapova invented the game of tennis the way the tennis Gods promoted her.

Wimby's big problem this year, besides an expensive new rain roof and no rain, their usual go to glamour girl, Sharapova flamed out in the early rounds.

So who are they left with?  Two of the greatest women tennis players ever.  The very attractive, Serena and Venus Williams.

Go Williams!

2009 BET Awards: Michael Jackson Tribute or Travesty

BET gave out their annual music awards Sunday night.  I'm going to be straight up right now and say I didn't watch it.  That's right, I'm the BlogHer TV Contributing Editor and I didn't watch that TV show. In fact the only way my cable box ever lands on the dreaded BET channel is if my finger slips on the remote.  Then I make sure to get the heck out of there before my eyeballs fry and my blood boils. 

If you're not sure why, read up on why "BET Dishonors This Black Woman" and just insert my name.  Or read my open letter to Al Sharpton awhile back about the image of black women and the music industry.

So this morning when I started hearing all the rumblings about last night's over three hour awards show and the Michael Jackson tribute, I began reading recaps, commentary and checking out videos on YouTube before they got pulled by Viacom (which owns BET).

The unanimous high point of the show was the appearance of Janet Jackson at the end of the show tearfully speaking about her brother. Other than that, the show sounds like it left a lot to be desired.  I'll let some bloggers who did see the show, tell you what they thought.

Blogging While Brown 2009: An Interview with Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters

Have you heard of Gina McCauley?  If you haven't, listen up--this is a woman who's on the cutting edge of the internet and social media and you need to get to know her right now.  If you do know who she is, read the following interview anyway, because I defy you not to be inspired by her story, her passion and her good old fashioned smarts.  Just the kind of black woman the MSM almost never talks about.

Gina's the outspoken publisher of the blogs What About Our Daughters and Michelle Obama Watch, and she's also the organizer of the blogging conference for people of color, Blogging While Brown.  After attending last weekend's successful 2nd annual conference, I had some questions for Gina and she was kind enough to make time to answer them for me.

What did you hope to achieve with this year's conference and do you feel you accomplished what you set out to do?

My goal was to bring people together so that they could meet other people, learn something new and have a good time. My hope before the conference that people would develop relationships with others they could partner with and collaborate. I think we definitely accomplished that. I was afraid that we couldn't replicated the amazing "vibe" from last year, and we didn't. The "vibe" this year was even better than the vibe int he room from last year. People genuinely liked each other, were excited for each other, encouraged each other and enjoyed each other's company to the point that they would leave :)

On the way out the door, three women who live in Chicago who didn't know each other before they came to the conference and attended the bootcamp and conference said they were going to collaborate together and start a group blog. That's so important because blogging can be a very solitary experience. Blogging While Brown makes blogging a family experience. You know you're part of this loud lovely group that loves to get together and chat.

How was this year's conference different than last year's?

First, we added the beginning blogger bootcamp and I think its fair to say that was an overwhelming success. We got raves about that, and we'll be expanding our "nuts & bolts" training next year. We had a really small class that met before the conference began. They got each other. I think it was less intimidating when the entire conference convened because they already had their bootcamp friends. My goal was to take civilians and turn them into lean mean blogging and podcasting machines and we did that.

We clearly had more people this year. We eliminated Sunday morning events, which I think is wise :) We had all conference events in the same location. I actually did very little organizing this year because I delegated logistics to our conference coordinator, Shalon and programming to Shawn P Williams from the Dallas South Blog and literally the conference was able to take without me. I arrived to both the kick reception and the Saturday workshops after they had started and they in full swing without me. So that means from a delegation standpoint, it was successful because I had a good team who made sure the conference could take place without me... AND we had power outlets EVERY WHERE this year! That was something we learned from last year when we blew the convention center power grid during the conference.

Michael Jackson Dead At Age 50 - RIP Michael

Singer Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 this afternoon at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  He was rushed there this afternoon in full cardiac arrest.  On a day when actress Farrah Fawcett also died, it was nearly unbelievable when news reports and tweets on Twitter first proclaimed late this afternoon that the superstar might be dead.

Jermaine Jackson at around 9PM EST tearfully read the following statement outside the UCLA Medical Center:

My brother, the legendary King of Pop Michael Jackson passed away on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 2:26 PM.  It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home.  However the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known.  His personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate my brother.  And, uh, as did the paramedics who transported him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. 

Upon arriving at the hospital at approximately 1:14 PM a team of doctors including emergency physicians and cardiologists attempted to resuscitate him for a period of more than one hour.  And they were unsuccessful.

Our family requests that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time.  And, uh may Allah be with you Michael always.  Love you.

Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958 to Joe and Katherine Jackson.  By the time he was six years old, he was singing with his five brothers and on the brink of discovery by Motown Record executives.  There's an old black and white audition video of a very young Michael imitating James Brown, fancy dance moves and all. (I'm working on getting a link for that, bear with me.)

Courtesy of Verite Parlant of the blog Whose Shoes Are These Anyway, you can see that video at the end of this post.

A Review Of The New Film "Cheri"

Michelle Pfeiffer's new film, "Cheri" is about an aging courtesan and her affair with the son of one of her former colleagues. Set during the height of the Belle Epoque in Paris the film is a visual delight. 

Poor Lea de Lonval's (Pfeiffer) customers have left her bed for the more youthful courtesans about town.  That leaves Lea with plenty of money but little meaningful companionship.

That is until her friend, Charlotte Peloux, a very funny Kathy Bates, hooks her up with her gadabout son Cheri (Rupert Friend).  He's nineteen and Lea's in her mid-forties.

The story is based on the novels "Cheri" and "The Last of Cheri" by Colette, and it's speculated that Colette's affair with her own stepson is what inspired the novels.

Of course since the film is a love story there are romantic complications, all played out under the watchful eyes of a disapproving society.

Pfeiffer is wonderful as usual and Friend is earnest and looks pretty--which is all he's really required to do.  The sets and costumes are impeccable, and the music and lighthearted narration are spot on.  The filmmakers have also smartly kept the running time of the film to a manageable ninety minutes. 

Does it pass my "Is it worth $10" test?  If you like period pieces, absolutely.  

"Cheri" opens tomorrow in limited release.

Blogging While Brown 2009: Making Money, Making Friends and Making Movies

I learned quite a bit from last weekend's Blogging While Brown conference.

One very productive, not to mention entertaining panel was on branding by Hajj E. Flemings, author of "The Brand YU."  During his presentation, Hajj circulated through the audience Oprah-style and fired questions about slides of a variety of products.

When a photo of a Tiffany box appeared, Hajj asked the attendees the first thing that came to their minds.

 

"Love!" Shouted one woman.

"Expensive love!" Shouted another.

 

After explaining that just the appearance of the Tiffany blue box, without any knowledge of what might be inside created an instant association, Hajj proclaimed, "Branding turned sneakers into Nikes."

 

When using social media he told attendees they should use the same avatar and screen name across mutliple platforms.  For example, his photo on his website, his book, his business card, and his social networking sites, all have him in the same suit, in the same pose and wearing the same expression. 

 

He then went on to emphasize the importance of connections, "Somebody else besides your mother needs to know you're doing great things."   And he added, "Don't be the smartest person in your group."  The implication being that you must find associates from whom you can learn. 

Blogging While Brown 2009: An Interview with Angel Laws of Concrete Loop (Video)

As part of my coverage of the Blogging While Brown conference last weekend, I was able to interview Angel Laws, the founder and publisher of the very successful entertainment blog, Concrete Loop.

Angel started the blog as a hobby and built it into one of Time Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2008.  The blog covers black celebrities and gossip that for such a long time were ignored by other gossip sites.  Now she says she gets 700,000 unique visitors a day and makes $250,000 a year with her blog.

Angel was part of a panel about making money online and she had some great tips for bloggers:

• Never work with just one ad company.  She works with six.
• Figure out who reads your site and get feedback about your site using polls.
• Remember that keeping readership can be harder than getting it.

Here's more advice from Angel.  On what happens when big success comes:

Blogging While Brown 2009: A Conference for People of Color with Lessons For All Bloggers

"Fish where your buyers swim," said Milton Haynes of Blacks Gone Geek.

Before you hit publish, check your headline, "That's the most strategic choice you're about to make," said Megan Tady of Save The Internet.com. 

"Own your digital real estate," said Hajj E. Flemings, branding expert and author of "The Brand YU Life."

These quotes came from presenters at last weekend's 2nd annual Blogging While Brown conference held at the University Center in Chicago.  It's the kind of advice that's important for all bloggers but the attendees of BWB got that and much more.

BWB was launched last year by blogger Gina McCauley of the blogs What About Our Daughters and Michelle Obama Watch.  During her closing remarks this year she said, "My goal is to give you the tools and connections to do whatever you want to do."

The weekend kicked off with a Beginners Blogging Boot Camp on Friday to teach newbies the nuts and bolts of starting a blog.  The main event took place Saturday and covered a more advanced range of topics.  For example, "Using The Latest Tech Tools To Grow Your Blog," "Building A Strong Personal Brand Online," and "What's Next For Traditional Media?"

Now you might ask yourself, isn't that the kind of stuff all bloggers would like to learn?  What's the point of having a blogging conference for just people of color?

Blogging While Brown: An Interview with Cheryl Contee of Jack & Jill Politics (Video)

As part of my BlogHer coverage of the 2009 Blogging While Brown conference in Chicago last weekend, I did several video interviews with attendees.  Up first is an interview with Cheryl Contee of the blog Jack and Jill Politics.

I'll have more video interviews, photos and posts on the conference up and running as soon as my little fingers can type them. Stay tuned.

Blogging While Brown: Touring Chicago

How does the song go?  "Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town..."

Well the last couple of days I've been toddlin' all over Chicago, using my valuable sightseeing time, before covering today's Blogging While Brown conference for BlogHer.

Even though I was in Chicago once before, this is my first real trip here.  The last time was only a hurried taxi ride around the city during a two hour layover at O'Hare. 

The weather hasn't been very cooperative, but even with all the rain and thunderstorms, it's still raining less than it was in New York when I left.  And I can't complain too much because I got enough sun yesterday to get in an architectural boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan in a Seadog speed boat.

Our tour guide was Heather, an English major at the University of Chicago.  She writes her own material and she was not only informative but very funny.  She told us about the "black and boxy," "boxy and black" style of architecture, but also about all the other creative designs that trim the Chicago skyline.

There's the triangular shaped building that's a prison with an exercise yard on top, the three cloverleaf-like Lake Point Tower, the twin corn cob shaped towers that make up Marina City, and of course the third highest building in the world, the Sears Tower.

After seeing those buildings from the water yesterday, it was great to see another perspective of them today from the top of the Sears Tower itself. 

I got there before the skies opened up so the visibility, though not ideal, was good enough for an exciting experience.

Call me naive, but for some reason I was startled by the airport-like security we had to go through to get to the observation deck.  Of course, I shouldn't have been, but it caught me off guard.

I paid the extra $5 for the audio tour and I'm glad I did.  It helped identify all the important Chicago landmarks. 

Several of those landmarks I've seen from the back of Chicago Transit buses the last couple of days.  Yesterday I took the bus to the very cool Navy Pier and today I took a ride through the South Side of Chicago to the Dusable Museum of African American History. 

I figured since it was pouring rain when I left, a museum day was just the ticket.  But of course as soon as I spent forty-five minutes on the bus getting there, the weather had turned bright and sunny.

Two women got into a fight on the bus, which made me feel quite at home.  The bus driver made me pay twice because I took the bus in the wrong direction to the end of the line and then wanted to take the same bus back.  Considering I only went about seven stops the wrong way, I thought she might have given me a break.

The museum was interesting, but just okay.  I get the feeling it's still a work in progress and hopefully their collections will expand after their new wing is opened.  Most of the exhibits were either African in origin or displays of artifacts from the civil rights movement.  There was also a tribute to blacks in the military and a small gallery showcasing paintings and sculptures by black artists.  I was disappointed because I thought the exhibits of paintings and sculptures would be more extensive.

The most startling thing at the museum?  A moving, life size, seated figure of the late Mayor Harold Washington that at first appeared to be real.  It scared the life out of a six year old who started screaming when she saw it and I sympathized 'cause an animatronic Harold Washington wasn't at all what I'd expected.

That's enough for now.  I'll have more on my Chicago travels, and of course the Blogging While Brown conference later today and tomorrow.