Mo’Nique

The “Precious” Interview

with Kam Williams

Mo’Nique Imes was born on December 11, 1967 in Baltimore which is where she started her showbiz career as a stand-up comedienne on a dare a couple of decades ago. From there, she gained visibility and immense popularity with performances on “Showtime at the Apollo,” HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam,” “Apollo Comedy Hour” HBO’s “Snaps,” BET’s “Comic View,” The Montreal Comedy Festival and Uptown Comedy Club.

Her big break arrived in 1999 when she landed a starring role on the television series, “The Parkers.” During the show’s five-year run, Mo’Nique earned numerous awards, including four NCAAP Image Awards as the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. Her film credits include Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Two Can Play That Game, Hair Show, Three Strikes, Baby Boy, Beerfest, Phat Girlz, Soul Plane, Irish Jam, Domino and Shadowboxer.

As a voluptuous role model for Rubenesque females Mo-Nique wrote the best-selling book “Skinny Women Are Evil,” as well as an equally-funny follow-up entitled “Skinny Cooks Can’t Be Trusted.” She also created, produced and emceed “Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance,” America’s first, full-figured, reality beauty pageant. Struck by the skyrocketing number of women behind bars, she brought her act to a prison to tape a comedy special called “I Coulda Been Your Cellmate” which aired on TV before later being released on DVD. Then, she delved further into the issue as the host of “Mo’Nique: Behind Bars” for the Oxygen television network.

Here, she talks about “The Mo’Nique Show,” her new late-night talk show on BET, and about her Oscar-worthy performance in Precious, Lee Daniels’ eagerly-anticipated screen adaptation of Sapphire’s novel, “Push.”

Kam Williams: Hi Mo’Nique, thanks so much for the time.

Mo’Nique: Hey Kam! Thank you, baby!

KW: Congratulations on the new TV show.

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Author: Tracy Price-Thompson   
Title: 1-900-ANYTIME
Web site: www.tracypricethompson.com
Email: tracythomp@aol.com

Disilgold: What can you tell the Disilgold community about yourself that will explain why Disilgold has sought you for a perSOULnalized interview?

Tracy: My name is Tracy Price-Thompson and I’m the author of the novels Black Coffee, Chocolate Sangria, A Woman’s Worth, Knockin Boots, Gather Together in My Name, and 1-900 ANYTIME. I’m also the co-editor of the anthologies Proverbs for the People, Other People’s Skin, and My Blue Suede Shoes. My work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the African-American Soul, Children of the Dream: Our Stories of Growing up Black in America, and Fortitude: Our Stories of True Grit. I was awarded a 2005 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in Contemporary Fiction for my novel, A Woman’s Worth. My husband and I are both retired Army engineers and we have six talented and amazing children. We live peaceful, balanced lives on the island of Oahu, in the state of Hawaii.

Disilgold: What is your latest book about?

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by Heather “The Literary HEAT” Covington

www.disilgold.com

Email Disilgold@aol.com

After successfully self-publishing her debut novels, The Ties That Bind and Loose Ends, New American Library, a division of Penguin Group, bought the rights. Electa signed a three-book deal with New American Library. All three books were immediately chosen as Black Expressions Book Club main selections and embraced as Books of the Month by book clubs across the country. Dubbed a “book club favorite,” avid readers have embraced Electa’s true to life characters that tackle prevalent and heavy hitting issues.

Since then Electa has become a best-selling author of several mainstream and erotic novels, Almost Doesn’t Count, Ladies’ Night Out and These Are My Confessions (anthology), with Penguin Group and HarperCollins. Electa has been a frequent guest on radio shows, has been nominated for many industry awards and has been interviewed by newspapers and several national magazines.

DISILGOLD.COM: Tell us about your passion for writing. Why do you write? What drives you? What impact do you want your book to make on the readers?

ELECTA:Wow! Where do I begin? I always jokingly state that I have a passionate love affair going on with reading and writing. Our torrid affair has consumed my very being for much of my life; it’s true, it’s pure, it’s divine. My passion runs deep. Writing is in my blood and I cannot imagine life without it. My very spirit would probably shrivel up and die if I could not write. Writing is my therapy. My voice. My sincere expression of the world as seen through my eyes.

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Actress/comedian Sherri Shepard Signs Copies Of “Permission Slips” at EsoWon Books on October 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

In  Fitness Magazine, Sherri Shepard, The View’s co- Host mentions:

“When friends asked if she was doing weight watchers, she replied, Nah, I’m doing diabetes.” 

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Commentary by HEATHER COVINGTON: Boris Kodjoe is one actor I love. He is so sweet, perfect from head to toe and I love how committed he is to his relationship with that beautiful soul Nicole Ari Parker. They are the sexiest couple alive and have been passionately devoted to supporting families with children diagnosed with Spinal Bifidi. They stay busy working and keep getting better with time. I want to see the two in a sexy remake of GHOST featuring the late Patrok Swayze.  I think the two would do the film remake justice. Am I crazy? I have always dreamed of sleeping on a pillow with Boris Kodjoe’s face on it, so I headed on over to www.Boris-world.com and ordered me a sexy pillow from Boris Online Shop. Brace yourself ladies.  Your access is granted online.  Plus, proceeds go to the SOPHIE’S VOICE FOUNDATION. Now Nicole better send my pillow asap or there is going to be a catfight online She can’t keep that hunk all to herself and not share. Right ladies.  LOL!  Here is a candid interview with Boris Kodjoe whose upcoming movie SURROGATES is landing at number one at the box office. Bring it on Boris! Oh and BRUCE WILLIS TOO! Now you know everyone will be tuning in to BORIS THE BILLIONAIRE BOX OFFICE BEST ACTOR on the way! Polishing my toe nails right now! Nobody move!

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2009 proved to be one of the most exciting HIP HOP years with a variety of artists from Kid Kudi, Drake and Jay Z to Lil Wayne, Eminem, 50 Cent and Kanye West. Renown media figures have begun to select their favorites and so I decided to join in on the discussion via the Disilgold.com Prediction HEATLIST .

In my opinion any top lyricist should 1. sell out stadiums 2. have made Twitter trending topic lists 3. had extensive campaigning via a variety of media outlets 4. be representative of a role model in HIP HOP 5. appeared on the Oprah Show 6. a favorite at Disilgold.com 7. Married to Beyonce 8. Not afraid to return to one’s hood and walk freely without obvious bodyguards and represent the people 9. Bust out a hip hop anthem for New York, the birth place of true-hip hop. Much respect to all lyricists. Just messing with y’all.

I kind of like them all, but I a giving props to JAY Z this year. He did the darn thing with BLUEPRINT III. A genius. Next up, Lil Waye, but his songs are trendy for the moment and I’m already looking out for the next one. The hype around him has got to stop. Too much baby mama drama. Not easy to concentrate on his lyrics without missing a day of hype. Regardless, not bad at all. A great way to sell millions, but I am into tracks with longevity. It’s like MIMS song HI HATERS. DID, DONE AND DISMISSED!

3rd up is of course, Eminem. The boy is bad and no, I am not going to add for a white boy. He’s got mad skills black or white. 4th up I would have to say Drake because he needs to work on his presentation. Being a lyricist and performer go hand-in-hand. His presentation doesn’t reflect the real him I know is there. Drake is a supastar and plays himself down for what? The hand shaking and skipping on stage is not my cup of tea! Fix that asap! Go harder Drake. You are a bona-fide HIP HOPPER with the big boys! Don’t pretend to be likeable to be accepted. You know you want to rip the mike and crush MC’s. Put on the leather, shades, come out on stage with the bike, tats, cut up the colegiate clothes on stage and diss everyone. You can do it Drake. Take over. Chuckles.

5th I would have to say 50 Cent because it is obvious he is into other ventures this year and not 100% into the music. I can tell. Have you read his current MEGA BESTSELLER, THE 50 TH LAW.Once you go literary it’s hard to go back hard on the mic. Everyone now knows you are intelligent and not gangster at all. Just thought I would add that and I don’t believe for a minute 50 Cent is a bad boy. I see business man. To be Hip Hop you have to go hard. Look at him all lovey dovey with my Kelly Rowland lately. Shame on 50 Cent. He’s slipping. His rough image that made him is turning into a nice guy! He’s been giving away money to his old neighborhood. Hip Hop stars are supposed to be selfish, mean, rude and diss the ladies. Now he wants the ladies to have a baby by him and become a millionaire. This is a straight up diss toward LIL WAYNE and sarcasm at its finest. He could win on this song alone. Chuckles.

Last, I would have to give props to Kanye for consistency. Folks may not like him this year only, but he’ll be back, STRONGER, BETTER AND WISER. He broke out of that Lady Gaga tour because money ain’t everything and he should be headlining his own tour. Good thing he only got 50 hours of community service for getting at the paparazzi. That’s why the tickets didn’t sell for the FAME KILLS CONCERT TOUR. If Kanye headlined his own tour it would sell out! It’s a shame he has to pull antics to ensure he’s in the game. It’s not easy being on the HIP HOP list. Audiences are fickle, but somewhere on earth I think there are millions who backlashed against the successful artist and he knew this would happen so he backlashed on himself. Next in line, people will support him. I should write a book on this code of success! Yes, if you destroy yourself you can rise back to the top. Kanye is not done. The man may be smarter than all of us! He’ll be back! 50 hours of community service will make you mad enough to write some cutting edge songs. Someone made me mad in the literary game so I wrote one, too! Loading any minute!

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HIPHOPWIRED.COM-TERI WOODS FILES BILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT

BOSSIP.COM-RIHANNA RELEASES NEW RUSSIAN ROULETTE COVER ALBUM ART

CONCRETELOP.COM-NEW MUSIC SINGLE BY LEONA LEWIS- HAPPY

GLOBAL GRIND.COM- CHRIS BREEZY I CAN TRANSFORM YA VIDEO SHOOT

MTO- Exclusive Trey Songz Photo Shoot Pics Revealed

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One of the heavily anticipated shows of the season is BROTHERS!  It’s a new hit sitcom that has everyone watching on familiar ground as supporters of the former football star known for his charismatic and intoxicating personality on the field and now a bonafide natural actor folks are saying is bringing family back to watching the tube together.  It is clear that  Michael Strahan has got himself a hit show.

A heavy celebrity contendor, folks were sure that Michael could easily transition into an actor and what was destined to be. Never taking himself too seriously in front of cameras, as well possessing a charm that folks want to see more of on tv along the lines of  your Bill Cosby who boasted the longest running family show of its kind, Brothers addresses issues that everyone can relate to.

Aside from a fab debut show, Michael Strahan is doing great things for the youth. His bio on his website which is sheer simplicity at its finest and has millions of spectators looking on board and way too mesmerized to comment with one of the most intimidating pro-football players on the field,  Michael is on a mission to take this show to the top with a different side to his charger personality you will grow to like more and more with each episode. Brothers is truly the show  to watch.

http://michaelstrahan.com/

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According to several resources, the movie, THIS IS IT is such a perfect tribute to Michael Jackson complete with body doubles and mostly rehearsal material, you have to wonder if this movie has been in the making all along. Micheal just passed on June 25th, 2009! Now a prior 30 million dollar lawsuit for Michael’s inability to carry on his tour dates due to premature death has risen to 300 million, so if this movie profits, a greedy person is waiting to not only get his share, but possibly go after Michael’s estate honored to his mother, Catherine. Let’s hope this movie does well enough for all of the folks awaiting a handout to go away and let Michael’s estate, his last dignity, remain a leagacy.

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President Barack Obama was serenaded by the world’s hottest Latina artist, Thalia, at a function. All was going well as President Barack Obama put on his classic grin and even Michelle chimed in to the words of one her popular songs, but then all hell broke loose when Thalia decided to motion President Barack Obama to dance and well, it wouldn’t have been a good gesture to deny dancing with Thalia. After all, President Barack Obama has to be hospitable since the event was planned at the White House.

Now eventhough Michelle Obama never said a word or showed a sign of presidential jealousy, when President Barack Obama sat down she kept clapping on to the beat of Thalia’s song as she continued to perform and totally ignored B.O. It was kind of funny because www.TMZ.com caught the whole expressionless glance from M.O. What can I say Michelle is human and it what is the wife of America’s president to do, be happy that he rman is dancing with a hot music artist.

Personally, there is nothing wrong with your man dancing with a hot chick on the dance floor as long as he is coming back over to you and going home with you. Michelle has nothing to worry about. Thalia has got nothing on the First Lady who refused to dance in the first place. Michelle is one tough cookie and Barack Obama is a charm. There relationship is very interesting and worthy of making headline daily if they keep this up.

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Media is to blame for glorifying outrageous stories forcing normal families to do whatever necessary to gain exposure for their talented children. Not only did this family’s hoax work and make national news, but the child admitted he lied for a show as in a reality tv show. Perhaps, the child was talking about another incident, but he clearly spilled the beans with a little questioning from the news reporter. The disloyal father immediately cast a bad light on his child as a boy with physical and behavorial issues. Nice try. As a former psychoanalyst, that parent was lying. America didn’t like that one bit and now investigators should press charges. There are some things you just don’t do and that’s get on national news with a fabricated story of a child floating in a balloon that traveled under the clouds and have folks worried.

Do you know how many impressionable youth will attempt to build a helium balloon and fly from their attics on the account of this badly interpreted story if a true-to-life BALLOON BOY. An indictment is necessary so children can see that when you lie in America you go to jail as an adult. This story is not funny. Tax payers money gets wasted following reported cases of missing youth and when the situation is real next time, no one will believe it.The truth will always set you free. What were these parents thinking? I know their reality tv show got rejected from prime tv networks, but why not host your own tv network online.

After all, this is how TMZ.com landed on air. You don’t mess with national news! These parents are in big trouble for lying!

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Tony Rose sends his event pictures out to his special guest list and guess who got a hold of the picks of a surprise Birthday Party by friends and fam of www.AMBERBOOKS.com first? You won’t see picks in Literary Celebrity Cribs anywhere like this. We’re all in the publishers biz in Arizona and checking out the food. Now here are the captions, but wait until you see the pics. The Rose’s are being sought again by music artists for production, so we better keep them right here with the literary world. Happy Birthday Tony Rose from the Disilgold SOUL magazine fam.

TONY ROSE SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY GIVEN BY YVONNE ROSE WITH UNCLE JOHN SEAGRAVES AND AUNT MILDRED SEAGRAVES - OCTOBER 11, 2009

THANK YOU YVONNE, UNCLE JOHN AND AUNT MILLIE, FELICIA, ALTON, THEREZ, KEVIN, MELODY, GABRIELLE, BEN, DAVID, MY MOTHER MURIEL WALLER, PAM AND MRS. SPRINGER, YVONNE M., DANNY, KENDALL, REVOLA, KAY, LOUISE, HEATHER, CYNTHIA, ELEANOR, LORETTA, AND ALL, FOR YOUR GIFTS, CARDS AND BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. TONY

Tony with a gift from his son Alton.

Tony and Uncle John share a happy moment together.

Uncle John and the magic that he does. The food, cakes and pie were phenomenal.

Home made Apple Pie/Granny Apples - Blueberry Birthday Cake, all that.

Macaroni and Cheese

Uncle John, Pamela Springer and Mrs. Springer sing Happy Birthday.

Yvonne having some of Altons gift - Chocolate covered Bananas

Telling my age - 29

Blowing out the candles on that delicious cake.

My sister Felicia with Uncle John, Pam, Seafood Newburg, Collard Greens, Ribs, Pound cake, all the good people and food that I love.

Blowing out the candles with Pam and Mrs. Springer.

My true love and me.

Home Made Corn Bread and all of us cut the cake.

The Fruit Salad, my sister and me.

Felicia coming in from Oakland was a big surprise. Surprise!! Happy Birthday.

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by Heather “The Literary Heat” Covington

www.Disilgold.com
www.Literarydiva.com  

A mother was talking to another woman at a train station  and suddenly the carriage rolled and fell over the edge of the platform just seconds before an oncoming train arrived. When she realized that her child’s  stroller was rolling off he platform that is when she rushed to try to catch the handles and even touched the front of the train at pull in speed or (20-15 mph) , but  the force of the wind  knocked her back instantly.  Not only did this save her life, but the deep trench which is about  a 1/2 foot deep along with the height of train car allotted enough room for the baby’s entire body to go unscathed.

 If the baby had hit the third rail she would have been electrocuted by the current. A baby’s head is very heavy and it only takes half a child’s life to reach the size of a full adult head. The child’s head weight along with possible shock enabled the baby to move for a few minutes and give the paramedics a chance to dislodge child to safety, thus avoiding what could have been a travesty. The stroller also, ejected the baby which may or may not be a safety mechanism, but  failure of equipment. Had the equipment worked properly the baby may have still been lodged in the stroller. 

 Some heartless people are already buzzing that the woman planned the incident and faked trauma. I don’t think any mother regardless of her situation would be able to do anything so ruthless.  In my opinion, the mother did not seem to plan this fatal accident and although the other person she was speaking too looked very noncholant throughout the ordeal, she convulsed like a mother would do upon facing a tragic accident. Some people are sayign if she really cared she would have jumped in the tracks to save her baby and die if need be because thay is what a  loving mother would do, but a loving mother also, loves herself and this gesture is insane. Her head could have been impacted and God spared her life and her child.

Perhaps, if any charges are filled it will be a fine toward the mother for failing to hit the stopguards on the child’s carriage which should be applied whenever a carriage is stopped and as often as necessary to prevent freak accidents. The weight of the child’s carriage was light enough for the stroller to roll with natural force as would any weighted object on a slope. There is also, concern over the platform sloping downwards.  Had their been some kind of preventative design or grove or texture to to platform the stroller may not have rolled, but then there would be cases and complaints of people tripping and/or flooding of platforms which naturally spill off run off water from the streets above subways onto the platform.  The train certainly would not be able to stop so soon.

My question is how many more accidents do we have to envision before a lwa is passed for trains to stop way before they reach the platform and then slowly pull in. Why do trains have to pull in at lightning speed into stations? Didn’t New York have trolley cars are one point that  use to ring bells?  Anyway, glad to see the Miracle Baby is okay.

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It appears everytime you hear about black male celebrities they are having major female issues!

No one talks about what good they have done to support their industries as money makers, business men, trendsetters and entertainers, but as soon as tension hits the fan and there is a single altercation their entire life is summed up as that event like no one has had issues. I am for one, sick and tired of the male bashing, period. Just because I wrote a  male bashing book called, PerSOULnalities: Poems For Every Kind of Man, doesn’t mean I think like the way I write. I am embellishing the people’s voice which is dead wrong. Sometimes you have to show people how they are behaving for them to see just how ludacris it is to bash all black men on the account of some male celebrities and I am not talking about  Diddy and Chris Brown specifically. I just find this pic very interesting.

And of course, a book like Tekila Nika which exposes 5 pact of notorious male womanizers has nothing to do with Diddy or Chris Brown at all either. I am not trying to solicit Diddy, Chris Brown, Usher, Trey Songz and 2 others I won’tmention right now to play as the Tekila Men’s Pact in the movie version of the book.  It just so happens their recent incidents meet the description of 2 out the 5 guys in Tekila Nika: The Forbidden Bronx Video Diary Tales by Babe Charisse Worthington.

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by Heather “The Literary HEAT” Covington

www.Disilgold.com

My new book, God’s 24 Hour Makeover: The Emergency Repair Contract to Complete Joy  mentions something I call “THE SUCCESS SMILE”. Many successful people own a particular smile that spells success. If you notice,  film maker, Tyler Perry,  actress Cicely Tyson, tv host Oprah winfrey, and producer Suzanne DePasse to name just one of  their titles have this confident smile that let’s you know exactly how they are thinking toward the person who took this picture. Tyler is saying, “You better not cut off my head in this pic because I am tall.” Cicely is saying, ” Take the pic with my eyes open, I look good. ” Oprah is saying, “Take me as I am because I am not going anywhere,” and Suzanne is saying,”Make my day, I’ll only produce another hit tv show if you bring me any negativity.”

 In other words, these folks are all saying we  have worked for our success and aren’t too big to take a pic or talk to folks who are daring enough to approach us, but understand what it  took for all us to get here!”   So in conclusion, while the most successful people are approachable and share “THE SUCCESS SMILE,” don’t take it for granted.  They aren’t about to let anyone run over them today, tomorrow or ever.   Practice this smile if you are in the media business because there are a lot of vehicles ready to run you over. Give signals that you are not one to take for granted with your  “SUCCESS SMILE!” Like a picture tells a thousand words, your smile says it all.

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According to www.Gossiponthis.com- reportedly song artist Leona Lewis was attacked at a booksigning while signing copies of her new book, Dreams. The altercation took place at Waterstone on London. There was no apparent reason for the attack. The guy who did it is only 29 years old and  although taken into custody nothing can erase the shock and pain this singer will endure for life and photos show her  in tears. Now authors can’t even have a casual signing in bookstores without full security.

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Michael Jai White Interview with Kam Williams

A Syndicated Top Story of the Week on www.disilgold.com

Michael Jai White was born in Brooklyn, on November 10, 1967, but raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut where he attended Central High School. He started studying karate at the age of 8 and had already earned a black belt by the time he was 12. The beefy hunk continued to practice a variety of martial arts disciplines while in college, and also added acting to his repertoire.

Michael made his screen debut in 1989 in Toxic Avenger II, and followed that up with appearances in action flicks like Universal Soldier and Full Contact. His big break arrived when he landed the title role in Tyson, a made-for-TV bio-pic about boxing great Mike Tyson. He subsequently played Spawn in the screen adaptation based on the popular comic book series of the same name.

More recently, White received critical acclaim for his work in The Dark Knight and in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married. Here, he talks about his two new releases, Black Dynamite, an homage to the Seventies’ Blaxploitation Era, and Blood & Bone, a revenge flick which went straight-to-DVD.

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Kam Williams: Hi Michael. Thanks a lot for the time.

Michael Jai White: Hey, no problem.

KW: What inspired you to write and to star in Black Dynamite?

MJW: I came up with what I though was a funny idea for a movie. So, I wrote it, found the money to produce it, and it’s been a ball from start to finish.

KW: How would you categorize the movie as a spoof or as a drama?

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