Jay-Z made this man’s day… Artist Hebru Brantley was just doin’ his thing this past Sunday when he got the sale that will probably change his career forever: According to sources, For many artists, Art Basel Miami is an incomparable opportunity to have their work seen by the eyes of wealthy collectors, top gallery owners, curators from around the world…and Jay-Z. For 31-year old Chicago artist Hebru Brantley, brought to Basel as a finalist in the BOMBAY SAPPHIRE Artisan Series, it wasn’t until the last day of the preeminent art fair that his work was discovered by the most distinguished of this pool of viewers, Mr. Shawn Carter himself. Brantley’s piece “Everyone’s Scared,” which earned him a final spot in the annual Art Basel exhibit presented by Bombay Sapphire and Russell Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, sold to Jay for $20K on Sunday night. When LeBron James’ manager Maverick Carter caught sight of the piece on Sunday, December 9th, he immediately knew it was the newest addition to the Shawn Carter Collection that the hip hop king had hoped to find in Miami this year. After being sent a digital image of the artwork, Jay-Z named his price and requested that Brantley deliver “Everyone’s Scared” directly to his hotel room later that evening. Good work man. Images via tumblr
That’s a good Dad right there. It’s been a star-studded past week in Miami during their annual Art Basel event and Will stepped in just before the end of the event. Tagging along with his son Tre, the pair were seen out for a night to get a taste of some art…and Will had a few folks asking who his lady-friend was in the process. Images via WENN
We definitely wouldn’t mind stuffing these ladies’ stockings! Via AskMen AskMen’s Top 99 Women Of 2013 The year is coming to a close and that means it’s time for “top-such-and-such of 2012″ lists. AskMen has taken the liberty to rank the most desirable women of the past year. Surprisingly, some of you favorites might not be ranked where you’d think they would be. Via AskMen What does it really mean to be a desirable woman? Is it solely about a pretty face or a career accomplishment? Is it about having perfect proportions or about being “wife material”? You answered these questions by voting in our annual Top 99. And judging from your responses and those of our staff, one thing is clear: Desirability isn’t any one of these things, but all of them. You chose women who represent the complete package of beauty, brains, ambition and charm. And we think you chose wisely. From young up-and-comers to Top 99 vets, here are the women who make all our hearts skip a collective beat. This is just part 1, we will reveal who made the top 20 tomorrow. Hit the flipper to see which notable celeb ladies rounded out the top 40.
She’d ‘Rather Go Nekkid … Than Wear Fur’! According to PETA’s site , Evelyn used to be a fan of that fluffy, animal-made warmer…until she saw the brutality involved in order to make one single fur coat… Holiday shopping is in full force, and star of VH1′s Basketball Wives Evelyn Lozada wants shoppers to cross fur and fur trim off their shopping lists. Evelyn—a former fur-wearer who had a change of heart and gave up fur for good after she saw for herself how animals suffer on fur farms—recently unveiled her cheeky new winter-themed naked anti-fur ad. In the PETA ad, shot by top celebrity photographer Drexina Nelson, Evelyn shows the world that a woman does not need to wear fur to be glamorous or beautiful:Every fur coat, fur trinket, and bit of fur trim caused an animal tremendous suffering—and took away a life. Evelyn realized this when she saw the video footage of animals on fur farms and said, “You can verbalize what happens to these animals a thousand times, but [when] you see it, it definitely clicks in—and it did for me.” Wish KimYe could see this vid right quick! Good move Evelyn. We can’t even hate on a positive move like this one. Images via WENN/Youtube/tumblr
In the interest of AIDS/HIV prevention we thought it was important to share this documentary which gives a face to youth HIV and offers some perspective on sexual health. If you watch the video, you’ll learn that one of the main faces is a young man who has been living with the virus his entire life. Here’s his story as told to Black Voices… Via Huff Po : It’s never easy to tell the story. Even though I’m so familiar with it and I’m so used to telling it, it’s always harder each time. I’ve been positive for the past 26 years. I was infected at birth from my mother who contracted it from my father, who was using drugs at the time. She didn’t know until she gave birth [that she had HIV], and I didn’t find out I was positive until I was 13, which was a couple of months after my mom passed away in September of ‘99. I have a younger sister and a couple of brothers on my father’s side … none of them are HIV positive, thankfully. This is just one of those things. When I found out, I was still young so it was more so going to the doctor and your parents telling you you’re sick and you have to take medication in order to feel better — that’s pretty much what it was. It was like, “You have to take these pills everyday and it’ll make you get better and give you longer life.” There was a point in time when I felt like I didn’t need to take the medication anymore; I didn’t want to. My mother had just passed and my regimen switched a lot of times. I was even hospitalized a couple of times. The size of the pills played a part in it, because there was one pill I used to take and it was huge. I couldn’t stand how big it was or the smell of it, and it wasn’t just me — a lot of kids that I knew who were also positive complained about the same thing. There’s always something that kind of blocks you and stops you from doing the right thing and those were the things that had me not want to take the medication. But as I started to get more aware of what HIV is, I began to keep taking my regimen very seriously because I knew that each time I missed a dose, it was taking life away from me and I can’t afford that. Now it’s just four pills once a day. And thank God, my regimen has been pretty slim. I know a lot of kids who I mentor who are taking six to eighteen pills maybe once or twice a day — that’s a lot of pills. I also don’t really get any side effects with the medication I’m taking now, because once you get in the habit of taking it, the side effects kind of wear off. And I kind of got smart — I take my medication at night, that way I’ll sleep off any side effects. At the time, I had no idea what HIV was, but I used to hear about it from my peers. As I started to get older, I started to hear more negative words and stories about it and what it does to you and how you should look if you had it. Knowing that I had it, I couldn’t tell anyone because I was embarrassed, one; two, I was afraid of being cast out; three, I just didn’t have any type of education about it. And I was already experimenting with sex at a very young age — I started having sex when I was like 12 — so it was scary. It was like, do I tell these girls that I’m having sex with that I’m HIV positive or do I not? I didn’t tell. It was like, “What is the point? I’m using protection, so why do I have to tell them?” That was my thought process back then. I remember a point in time when I was angry at my mother and it hurt so bad because it was my mother and I never thought she could do wrong; she never hid anything from me. But to keep something so large like this from me? And for my father to do drugs at that time and didn’t know? I felt like it was careless behavior on both parts and it messed up a life. My father is still in prison, my mother is no longer here; this is something that’s passed down, something I didn’t ask for. I didn’t have a choice. I was really angry. I feel like anger is definitely something that needs to happen though, because it motivates you. I took that anger and I turned it into something positive. As I started to get older and started experimenting with more sex, I’m like, “Alright, you know what, I have to chill. I have to really educate myself about it.” It wasn’t just an easy step, it took years for me to get comfortable living with HIV, loving myself more and knowing what my purpose was here on this earth, and that was to share my story with as many people as possible. It was a rough time. I went to Philadelphia FIGHT and my got certification in HIV and AIDS peer education. That program is called Project Teach … you have to be HIV positive to be a part of the program … they educate us like bookwork … whether it was HIV 101; going into how HIV works in your body; how it lays dormant; what changes happen; how rapidly it changes in your body; what are the ins and outs as far as having HIV; side effects; what the medication does to your body on the inside; how [HIV] really conspires in someone’s body and how people get it. It was literally like going to school and getting a degree. That helped me out a lot; it educated me a lot. Here I am, HIV positive and not knowing anything about it.
Poor Elmo got janky junk . Via NYPost reports : The fourth man to come forward to accuse “Sesame Street’’ puppeteer Kevin Clash of inappropriate sexual contact says the voice of Elmo had trouble getting it up as he was trying to get down with his alleged victim. “Kevin Clash told [his accuser] he had difficulty . . . due to a medical condition,” according to the new accuser’s civil lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court. The alleged victim, now 33, said he was about 16 when he first met Clash, then 35, in 1995 while walking on a Miami beach. The two started talking — Clash complimented him on his looks, the man said — and the pair kept in touch over the phone. After learning that the accuser had problems at home and wanted to run away, Clash, the voice of Elmo for 28 years until he resigned last month, promised to “be a dad” to him. Clash lured the young man to the city “with promises to pay for his plane ticket . . . and give him cash and a free place to stay,” according to the lawsuit, in which Clash’s latest accuser remains unnamed. “[The accuser] had been abused by a teacher when he was 15 and was initially very leery of Kevin. But Kevin convinced him he would be safe” — by disclosing he was the man behind the world’s most beloved muppet, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Miami-based Jeff Herman, who is also representing two other accusers. “As soon as he got to New York, Kevin told him he was the voice of Elmo,” Herman said. The accuser stayed with Clash only a few days, when the abuse is alleged to have happened. Herman said that because Clash is alleged to have transported his accuser across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, he could face criminal charges. “The lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously defend the case and Mr. Clash’s reputation,” said Michael Berger, a lawyer for Clash, reiterating what the puppeteer’s camp has said each time the other claims were made public. A doorman at Clash’s Upper West Side apartment building yesterday said the Muppet master, a divorced dad with a college-age daughter, has not been seen in some time. The latest accuser said that being a parental figure was a role Clash liked to play — and another alleged victim has echoed that. “ ‘Mr. Tickler’ is what I will call him, and the game we played was father and son,” a previous accuser, who claims he also was 16 when he and Clash hooked up, wrote in an unpublished memoir. Herman added yesterday: “These are all vulnerable boys. None of them had father figures in their lives, and they were looking for that father figure. There’s a consistency.” Abuse charges against Clash, now 52, first surfaced last month. After the first accusation was made public, Clash released a statement that said he was gay and admitted the relationship but said it was between two consenting adults. He resigned when a second accuser came forward — college student Cecil Singleton, now 24, who sued him for $5 million. Singleton and another accuser said Clash was trolling for young boys on a gay telephone chat line and that he lied about his age. Herman said other possible victims have been in contact with him and that he is in the process of vetting them. No wonder Elmo’s such a tickle monster, he couldn’t even use that thang for nothing but a lil tickling. Life just keeps getting more and more embarrassing for this guy. SMH. AP Images
She’s a winner in our eyes! According to Mrs. Obama’s White House Food Initiatives site , she’s just happy the nomination will keep people talking about healthier lifestyle choices… First Lady Michelle Obama has been nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Spoken Word Album category for the audio edition of her book American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. Published last May, the lavishly photographed book is Mrs. Obama’s debut as an author, part White House memoir and part national call to action for the Let’s Move! campaign. It includes recipes from the White House chefs and gardening tips, and spotlights food access projects around the nation. “This nomination is such an honor not just for me, but for everybody who contributed to the garden and the audio book, from the National Park Service employees to our White House chefs to our beekeeper,” Mrs. Obama told People about her nod. Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, Executive Chef Cris Comerford, Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, beekeeper Charlie Brandts, and Supervisory Horticulturalist Jim Adams have all devoted themselves to the Kitchen Garden, and wrote sections of American Grown. The 1,500-square-foot garden is maintained by National Park Service staff. The First Lady said she hopes the Grammy nod will continue to spotlight Let’s Move!, and keep “the conversation going about how we can all work together to ensure a healthy future for all our nation’s children.” She will be in the midst of celebrating the third anniversary of her childhood obesity campaign when the 55th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place on Feb. 10th in Los Angeles. No word yet on whether Mrs. Obama will attend the star-studded event–last year’s Let’s Move! anniversary was marked with a three-day, multi-state tour–but Grammy wins run in the family. President Obama won one each in the same category for his books Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope . Mrs. Obama will be competing against one of her husband’s most high-profile fundraisers for the music industry’s biggest prize: Former President Bill Clinton also got nominated for his fourth book, Back To Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy. Mrs. Obama is also pitted against Ellen DeGeneres, whom she famously demolished in a push-up contest earlier this year. DeGeneres was tapped for Seriously…I’m Kidding. Other nominees are singer Janis Ian for Society’s Child: My Autobiography and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS on Feb. 10th, 2013. Big props to The First Lady! Images via tumblr
This chick took everything the man had , and then she shot him and tried to cover it all up. According to FOX News , she’s got supporters claiming she had nothing to do with his murder… Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Judge Emmett Battles sentenced her to mandatory life without parole for the murder and an additional minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years for using a gun in the commission of a felony. Battles called Moore “the most manipulative person” he had ever seen, describing her as “cold, calculating and cruel.” Earlier, he had instructed the jury that it could convict her of a lesser charge. Jurors deliberated for more than three hours before finding Moore guilty of murdering Abraham Shakespeare, who won millions in 2006. Shakespeare’s mother was in the courtroom, but showed no emotion. “She got every bit of his money,” said Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner in closing arguments. “He found out about it and threatened to kill her. She killed him first.” Prosecutors built much of their case from confidential informant’s statements and financial records. “There were a lot of people who owed Mr. Shakespeare a lot of money. One guy owed him a million dollars,” argued Defense Attorney Hileman. “The police focused on Dee Dee Moore and they didn’t even consider other people.” Moore was briefly banned from the Tampa courtroom Monday over concerns that she may have threatened jurors. She was back a short time later for closing arguments, but said she did not want to take the stand in order to protect her family. At times, the defendant closed her eyes and averted her face from the jury as prosecutors played audio recordings made by an undercover officer posing as a criminal who would take the fall for Shakespeare’s murder. Prosecutors said the 40-year-old Moore befriended Shakespeare in late 2008, claiming she was writing a book about how people were taking advantage of him. They claim Moore later became his financial adviser, eventually controlling every asset he had left, including an expensive home, the debt owed to him and a $1.5 million annuity. She ultimately swindled Shakespeare out of his dwindling fortune, then shot him and buried his body under a concrete slab in her backyard, Pruner said. In opening statements, Moore’s attorney told the jury that his client was trying to help protect Shakespeare’s assets from a pending child-support case when he was killed by drug dealers who haven’t been caught. Former inmate Rose Condora, who was locked up with Moore, said she visits her friend every night at the jail. “She’s not what people think she is. She did not kill that man,” Condora told reporters during a break in the trial. Glad she got life…plus another 25 years. Images via AP
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This has been a long time coming… According to The New York Times , the amount she’s due to receive isn’t known, but it should definitely be a pretty ‘lil penny : The settlement…was announced at a hearing in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, eight long miles from the headline-grabbing case’s genesis: a 28th-floor suite at the Sofitel hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Justice Douglas E. McKeon entered the courtroom at 2:15 p.m., and said a deal had been finalized in his presence about 10 minutes earlier. Both sides agreed that the settlement would be confidential. The housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, who was at the hearing and went public with her identity last year, said afterward: “I thank everyone all over the world and everyone at the court. God bless you all.” Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was not in court, was arrested in May 2011 after Ms. Diallo told detectives that he had assaulted her in his suite. Mr. Strauss-Kahn was indicted on charges including attempted assault, abuse, criminal adult acts, unlawful imprisonment, and forcible touching. The arrest threw Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s career in turmoil: he resigned his post as head of the International Monetary Fund in disgrace and his rumored candidacy for the French presidency was abandoned before it could begin. He was first held in jail without bail, and won his release to house arrest only under extraordinary conditions. But the criminal case began to crumble when questions of Ms. Diallo’s credibility convinced the Manhattan district attorney’s office that it could not reasonably persuade a jury to trust her account. The case was dismissed in August 2011; court papers at the time described Ms. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, as having been “persistently, and at times inexplicably, untruthful in describing matters of both great and small significance.” But by then, Ms. Diallo had filed her civil suit in the Bronx, where she lives. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has said the relations with Ms. Diallo was consensual, though in a French television interview after the criminal case was dismissed, he acknowledged that the encounter was “an error” and “a moral failure” that he would forever regret. Was justice served for such a ruthless attack? Images via tumblr
