Monday, July 30, 2012

Nas - Life Is Good - The Cool Black Review

This review is gonna be short and sweet. 
This is what I tweeted after listening to the album for three days.
From XXL magazine
Carl Chery of XXL gave the album an "XXL" rating, the publication's maximum rating, and dubbed it "arguably Nas' best LP since Stillmatic", writing that "At this juncture—21 years and 10 solo albums in—no other MC has ever rhymed at such a high level this deep into their career. Not Rakim. Not Kool G Rap. Not Slick Rick. Not Big Daddy Kane. Not L.L. Cool J. No One." XXL, July 18, 2012.
When I read that quote I thought about it and...yeah, I agree. 

I tweeted "New York HipHop is back" because it has a "New York sound" to it through the beats and of course the lyrics. I've always liked Nas' mic skills, and liked some of his records, but I wouldn't call myself  a "fan", but dude is the truth and so is this album. I usually break down what are the best tracks, but that's fruitless this album is a classic and you should just listen to the whole thing.

ADDENDUM
August 23, 2012
Life is Good is clearly my favorite album this year and because of that I downloaded the Deluxe Edition Bonus tracks, four tracks I didn’t from the version I downloaded.

For the record below are the tracks I reviewed above.
1. "No Introduction"    
2. "Loco-Motive" (featuring Large Professor)   
3. "A Queens Story"    
4. "Accident Murderers" (featuring Rick Ross)
5. "Daughters"             
6. "Reach Out" (featuring Mary J. Blige)           
7. "World's an Addiction" (featuring Anthony Hamilton)
8. "Summer on Smash" (featuring Miguel and Swizz Beatz)       
9. "You Wouldn't Understand" (featuring Victoria Monet)         
10. "Back When"         
11. "The Don"             
12. "Stay"        
13. "Cherry Wine" (featuring Amy Winehouse) 
14. "Bye Baby" 
15. "Trust" 

Those 15 tracks above is the perfect album. The Bonus Tracks are cool, the hottest of which is “Nasty” with its real cool old school vibe and fierce rhyming to match."The Black Bond" has a fun spy “James Bond” vibe to it and "Where's the Love" has a cool vibe with a dreamlike hook. While cool tracks they aren’t really missed in the album above. Below are all four Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks   

"Nasty"            
"The Black Bond"        
"Roses"           
"Where's the Love" (featuring Cocaine 80s)       


ADDENDUM 2
November 23, 2012
"Where's the Love" (featuring Cocaine 80s) has really grown on me and I can see it fitting with the hottest of the Bonus Tracks. The dreamlike hook with Cocaine 80s grows on you.


External Link
At Wikipedia Nas - Life Is Good





Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Extensive Theater Background of Sherman Hemsley

Broadway Veteran Sherman Hemsley Passes Away at 74
by BWW News Desk, Broadway World
July 24, 2012

According to the Huffington Post, stage and screen star Sherman Hemsley (pictured above) recently passed away in his Texas home. He was 74 years old.

Sherman Hemsley performed with local groups in Philadelphia before moving to New York to study with Lloyd Richards at the Negro Ensemble Company. Shortly after, he joined Vinnette Carroll's Urban Arts Company appearing in these productions; "But Never Jam Today", "The Lottery", "Old Judge Mose is Dead", "Moon On A Rainbow Shawl", "Step Lively Boys", "Croesus" and "The Witch".

He made his Broadway debut in Purlie and toured with the show for a year. In the summer of 1972 he joined the Vinnette Carroll musical "Sorry, I Cant Cope" ensemble in Toronto, followed a month later in The American Conservatory Theatre production at the Geary Theatre. In this production with arrangement with Edward Padula & Arch Lusterg with music and lyrics by Micki Grant had Hemsley in Act I performing the solo "Lookin' Over From Your Side" and in Act II "Sermon."

While Hemsley was on Broadway with Purlie, Norman Lear called him in 1971 to play the role of George Jefferson on his burgeoning new sitcom, All in the Family. Hemsley was reluctant to leave his theatre role, but Lear told him that he would hold the role open for him. Hemsley joined the cast two years later. The characters of Hemsley and co-star Isabel Sanford were secondary on All in the Family, but were given their own spin-off series, The Jeffersons, less than two years after Hemsley made his debut on the show.

Hemsley joined the cast of NBC's Amen in 1986 as Ernest Frye, an unscrupulous church deacon much like his George Jefferson character. The show enjoyed a run of five seasons, ending in 1991. Hemsley then was a voice actor in the ABC live-action puppet series Dinosaurs, where he played Bradley P. Richfield, main character Earl's sadistic boss. The show ran for five seasons, ending in 1994.


Additional Links
The Negro Ensemble Company

Sherman HemsleyWikipedia


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Spike Lee on Self-Financing 'Red Hook Summer'


Graphic: Business Week

Business Week
June 28, 2012

I met the great writer James McBride for breakfast one morning at a coffee shop in New York. We were bemoaning the fact that there’s a low point right now in African-American cinema. We decided to do a movie about a young suburban black kid from Atlanta who’s sent to the Red Hook projects in Brooklyn to spend a summer with a grandfather he’s never met.

From the get-go, I knew it would be self-financed. I never went to the studios. Hollywood is really superhero land now. It’s harder to make adult films today without people flying, unless you’re a select few: Spielberg, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas. I couldn’t get them to fund a sequel to Inside Man, my most successful film ever. If that wasn’t a signal, then I don’t know what is. I refused to go through the frustration of knocking on steel doors, hat in hand like Oliver Twist, saying “Please sir, can you make this film?”

With Red Hook Summer, we had 18 days of shooting. A third of my crew were my students at New York University—who got paid. I know actors. One of the things I have in my hip pocket is I can attract grade-A talent. I’m always good at keeping on budget. What’s changed isn’t so much the cost of making a film as marketing it.

If I had thought this all the way through, I would have known that not only was Hollywood not going to finance this film, but it also wasn’t going to distribute this motherf- -ker, either. After it showed at Sundance, I realized it would have to be self-distributed. Going into our screening at Sundance, I knew it wouldn’t be a finished product. We’ve [since] tightened the story. Film is an evolving thing. I’m working with Variance Films; we’re still going to be in all the top markets in August, [but] let’s just say you’re not going to see any commercials on TV during the Olympics.

I don’t think Hollywood understands diversity. The sports world is 50 years ahead. There’s a large audience of people of color who aren’t being thought of. But anytime someone who’s African-American becomes huge, people say they’re not black anymore: “Michael Jackson’s not black, he’s universal. Will Smith, he’s not black.” We’ve been having these debates for years. — As told to Diane Brady

Cool Black's Mad Commentary: What's up with that Business Week (above) graphic tho?

To read all of our posts about Red Hook Summer click the graphic below



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Director Reginald Hudlin talks Boomerang 20 Years Later


Exclusive: Director Reginald Hudlin talks Boomerang 20 Years Later, Black Panther, and producing Django Unchained

by Wilson Morales | BlackFilm.com

July 1, 2012

While Hollywood is currently celebrating the success of Will Packer‘s Think Like A Man, having grossed over $90M at the box office, it wouldn’t be the first time a black romantic comedy has crossed passed $50M mark. There have been others, but today marks the 20th anniversary of the most successful black romantic comedy, ‘Boomerang.’

Directed by Reginald Hudlin, who previously had success with his debut film, ‘House Party,’ ‘Boomerang’ starred the reigning box office king at the time Eddie Murphy, a relatively unknown Halle Berry, and a host of comediennes who were just getting their feet wet in the film world (Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Chris Rock). Along with veterans Eartha Kitt, Grace Jones, John Witherspoon, Geoffrey Holder, and Tisha Campbell-Martin memorable in her scenes with Murphy, the film was a box office smash, grossing $70M domestically, and a worldwide total of $131M.

Murphy played Marcus Graham, a high-powered ad exec who’s the classic ladies’ man. Debonair and a chauvinist, Marcus believes he has to keep bedding women until he’s found the right one to settle with. When he meets and wants the beautiful Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens), who also happens to be his boss, little does he know that she’s exactly like him. It’s a game of cat and mouse, with Marcus desperately looking for love in the wrong places.

Although he went on to direct a few more films such as The Great White Hype, The Ladies Man, and some episodes on various TV shows, Hudlin found better success as the President of Entertainment for BET from 2005-2008, and at the same time was the writer of the Marvel Comics series Black Panther from 2005 to 2008. His latest project puts him back in the spotlight as the Illinois native- Harvard grad is one of the producers of the most anticipated films coming out this winter, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

Blackfilm.com caught up with Hudlin as he reflects on the 20th Anniversary of Boomerang, his thoughts on a possible Black Panther film, and his involvement with Django Unchained.

How much of the film was put together by you and Eddie?

Reginald Hudlin: It was originally an idea from Eddie and the script came from the guys he had worked with on Saturday Night Live. They gave it to me and the basic structure was about a player who meets his match. The resolution was different from what we had planned. At the end of the movie, Halle Berry’s character left New York and went to work at her parents’ dairy farm. In the last scene, Eddie rejoins her, wins her back, and the last shot was him milking a cow. That’s not what you saw in theaters. My thing was that Eddie and I are the same age, and when I first met with him about the script, I just talked about what I thought the movie could be. When I mentioned things that he would know like the Silver Shadow nightclub in New York, he couldn’t believe that he was talking to a director who knew those same reference points in terms of Buppie culture. He got very excited and we had trying to do something together for a while ever he saw ‘House Party.’ He was a big fan of the film. We spent a year pitching idea back and forth before the ‘Boomerang’ script was ready.

Did Eddie have a hand in casting?

RH: Casting the film was me and my brother (Warrington Hudlin). Eddie was aware of everything, but he let us do our thing. We were focused on making sure Eddie had a cast as good as he was. Throughout the times in Eddie’s movies, it’s just Eddie. He doesn’t have comparable comedic talent around him. Putting Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, and Chris Rock around him was really important to me. He and I very much agreed that Robin Givens was the right person for the part. The studio disagreed. They wanted another actress for the role and she was very good, buy we just thought that Robin was perfect and she was. With Halle, she was an unknown. She came in with film credits but not a meaningful awareness. When she walked in the room, she was undeniable, and not because of her beauty. We auditioned her and thought she was fabulous and when Eddie read her, he felt the same way. It was a done deal.

Coming in from previously directing ‘House Party,’ which was more comedic than romantic, was there a challenge doing the reverse with this film?

RH: No. It was where my head was. I was always a big fan of Woody Allen’s movies, with films like ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘Manhattan.’ I was a big fan of Preston Sturges. I was very excited to making a movie like that, and that was based in my own life experience.

While there have been several black romantic comedies to be released since ‘Boomerang,’ it’s still the highest grossing film among all of them. While it grossed $70 million in total domestically, after a $13M opening, it did another $60 plus overseas. These days most black films, let alone black romantic comedies, can’t get international distribution.

RH: Obviously, having Eddie Murphy as the star makes all the difference in the world. He was a global star at that point in his career. He used that star power to do something that was very unique, which was to do a black romantic comedy. This is something that I remember one of the executives at the studios told me to my face, saying, “Look. I don’t know how you make a romantic comedy with Eddie Murphy with that big nose and big lips.” I was like, “Wow!” That sort of straight up in your face racism is pretty extraordinary. I knew that they wanted us to start yelling and screaming and disqualify ourselves from this opportunity, but I knew that we were about to make a difference.

Who knew at the time that, besides Eddie, some of the cast would become leading players (Halle Berry, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock) in Hollywood?

RH: I remember talking to one of the producers at the time and saying, “Ten years from now, people won’t believe we had all these people in the same cast.” If you were there, you felt it. You felt that this was an explosive moment and that all these people were enormously talented and would go on to great careers. I’m so grateful that that’s what happened.

After this film did very well, it would be another four years before you did ‘The Great White Hype.’ Normally, when a black film does extremely well, the thinking is that we would see similar films from other studios or a sequel. That was not the case here.

RH: That was one of the tragic circumstances. We thought this movie would start a chain of films like this and it didn’t. There was this real hostile reaction in certain corners in Hollywood to the film. Eddie wasn’t doing what Eddie was supposed to do, which is to be a fast talking con man. It was him evolving his image. They kept saying that ‘Boomerang’ was a failure. It was not a failure. Did it make as much money as ‘Beverly Hills Cop?’ No, but it’s still a successful film by any measure. His next film was ‘Distinguish Gentleman,’ and to them, it was Eddie as they wanted him to be, a fast talking con man. That movie wasn’t nearly successful as ‘Boomerang.’ It’s not fondly remembered today. At the time, there was a negative pushback in mainstream Hollywood to the notion and prospect of what ‘Boomerang’ represented.

What did you want to do afterwards?

RH: For me, I sort of looked at George Lucas’ career. He did the teen comedy ‘American Graffiti’ and went on to do ‘Star Wars.’ I always wanted to do the same thing. I figured I’d do ‘House Party’ and then do my version of ‘Star Wars.’ I had a big sci-fi project, and several of them, that I kept trying to get off the ground and wasn’t successful at getting those off the ground. It hit this glass ceiling in Hollywood. I certainly don’t blame the system. I wasn’t sophisticated in knowing how to work the system of Hollywood. When I look at my peers, like Spike Lee and John Singleton, we all reached that same point where we had great success doing personal films in then all of sudden Hollywood said, “Now we want you to do our movies.” We still wanted to do what we wanted to do, but “If you want to work, you will do our movies.” We each hit this point of frustration that none of us could figure how to work around.

Twenty years later, things have changed. With the success of ‘Think Like A Man,’ another black romantic comedy, Hollywood has rewarded it with greenlighting a sequel. There’s talk of a sequel for ‘The Best Man’ as well. What are your thoughts on this?

RH: I applaud the success of every black film. When a black film hits, that rises all ships. When a black film flops, that hurts us all. We’re all chained together, whether we like it or not. All of us have to root for each other’s success. For me, when I hit that frustration, I realized that the only way we’re going to have meaningful success is to not to just focus on individual success, but building an institution. We are not to going to do it if we’re begging for a break. At the end of the day, people tell the stories that they want to tell. Yes, black films are profitable in business, but studios are making fewer black films than ever. When you go from 25 films a year to 12, it’s get a little tight. What’s going to get made, is not only commercial films, but commercial films that those executives have deep relationships with and those may or may not be our stories.

Moving forward, San Diego Comic Con is coming up fast (July 11) and you’re always a fixture there, participating in the Black Panel and as the former writer of the Black Panther comic book. There’s been talk that Marvel is thinking of making a Black Panther film? Being an authority figure on the subject, who do you envision in the role?

RH: Marvel owns the property and I knew that going in. People have been talking about doing a movie for many years, even before I got involved with the character. Clearly, I would love for it to be made. I’m very proud of my contribution to the Panther. I wrote the character for five years and I’ve sold more copies of the Black Panther than any other creator on the book. It’s up to Marvel’s decision as to who makes the film and what version they want to tell. In terms of actors, there are so many wonderful people that can be used, but it depends when they will make it. There’s no question that a movie like the Black Panther should have an all-star cast. From the main character, the royal family, the villains, it should be an epic. If it turns out that I can do something about the film, then I will, but until then, I’m working on a big kick ass film and hopefully that success will encourage people to make more movies about black heroes.

This festival will be different as not only are you doing the panel, but you will also be there as a producer for Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained.’ How did you get involved with the project?

RH: That came out of my relationship with Quentin. I’ve known him for several years and whenever we got together, we would always talk about movies. One time we were talking about the history of slavery on film and my frustrations with it. We debated on different movies and I talked about how I hated movies that aren’t entertaining but you’re supposed to watch them anyway because they are good for you. I don’t want to see those. I want to see films that are fun and entertaining and kick ass. For me, the only great film about slavery was ‘Spartacus,’ and if you’re not going to make a movie that entertaining about the American experience, I’m not interested. Little did I know, he was really listening closely to what I was saying and 15 years later, he hands me a script, saying, “You planted the seed, so now here’s the tree.” I’m like, “Wow!” We worked on the film and here we are.

How much is your involvement as a producer?

RH: It’s everything. I’ve been on it literally from the beginning. Quentin is a real auteur. He’s a brilliant filmmaker and I’m there to help out however he needs it. When we have creative conversations, or there are logistical problems that need to be solved, or any number of things that need to be addressed, as part of the production team, I’m there to help solve those problems so he can do his job and make his movie.

How was the reception at the recent NABJ conference in New Orleans?

RH: Oh my God, people loved it. Wherever we go, we’ve had two or three instances where we’ve shown seven to eight minutes of footage to folks; and everywhere we go, people just lose their minds. We’re putting together the plan for Hall H at Comic Con now and there will be an impressive array of folks there.

__________________________________________

Cool Black's Mad Commentary: Hudlin said "We were focused on making sure Eddie had a cast as good as he was." The MAIN thing I thought after seeing Boomerang in the theater was WOW, what a great cast! I thought this film had such a perfect cast and hearkened back to the cast of great Hollywood films like those Sidnet Poiter/Bill Cosby movies Uptown Saturday Night and such. And I’m not even talking about the main cast. I’m talking about minor characters played by Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder and Eartha Kitt, all perfectly cast. I applaud Mr. Hudlin for that alone. 

__________________________________________

From FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2012


I was listening to the commentary for the above film again and I had to share what the director said. I'll probably write more later.

From the commentary for the 1992 film Boomerang by director Reginald Hudlin (pictured above right)


"Boomerang was my second movie. I did House Party which is a movie that I wrote and directed for 2 ½  million dollars, took it to Sundance was a surprise hit there...again relative to what it cost did fantastic in the box office again spent 2 ½  made 27 million just in domestic theatrical box office alone, huge in home video, so we had a great hit out the box and we had offers from every studio so it was a great time.
poster for House Party (1990)
And then to top all that off with a call from Eddie Murphy saying you know hey let's make a movie together...once we decided on Boomerang suddenly you go from 2 ½  million dollar budget to a 40 million dollar budget.

And at the time I remember Spike Lee was really under a lot of pressure because he was spending 40 million dollars on Malcolm X. And I was like I'M NOT TELLING ANYBODY I GOT 40 MILLION DOLLARS TOO (laughs) because he can take that heat by himself."

Hudlin and Murphy on the set of Boomerang

ADDITIONAL INFO

I couldn't find documentation on either film's budget, but Wikipedia reports around $30 million for Malcolm X—Dankwa


Wikipedia reports that Boomerang "By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed over $70 million domestically, and $61 million outside of the U.S., making a total of $131,052,444. It was the 18th highest grossing film in the U.S. in 1992."

Box Office Mojo reports Malcolm X’s Domestic Total Gross: $48,169,910.

You can see what Spike Lee had to say about the budget of Malcolm X himself on Inside the Actors Studio below. What he says at 2 minutes in is the Spike Lee the media never shows you.




You can also read more about Malcolm X's budget issues @ Wikipedia

@ IMDb Boomerang (1992)

Related Link
Read all of my posts about the Malcolm X film here @ Cool Black Media here

Act of Valor - The Cool Black Review


ACT OF VALOR








Directed by Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh
Produced by Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh

Cinematography by Shane Hurlbut
Written by Kurt Johnstad

Released: February 24, 2012 (USA)

SUMMARY
A Navy SEAL squad on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent, and in the process takes down a complex web of terrorist cells determined to strike America at all costs. The film stars active duty U.S. Navy SEALs and U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen.

REVIEW by Cool Black
Before I start my review it's important to state the development of this picture (info from Wikipedia).
Development
In 2007, Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh of Bandito Brothers Production filmed a video for the Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen which led the United States Navy to allow them to use actual active duty SEALs. After spending so much time working closely with the SEALs, McCoy and Waugh conceived the idea for a modern day action movie about this covert and elite fighting force. As Act of Valor developed with the SEALs on board as advisors, the filmmakers realized that no actors could realistically portray or physically fill the roles they had written and the actual SEALs were drafted to star in the film. The SEALs will remain anonymous, as none of their names appear in the film's credits. 
For the Navy, the film is an initiative to recruit Seals. According to The Huffington Post, the Navy required the active-duty SEALs to participate.  
Relativity Media acquired the rights to the project on June 12, 2011 for $13 million and a $30 million in prints and advertising commitment. Deadline.com called it "the biggest money paid for a finished film with an unknown cast”. The production budget was estimated to be between $15 million and $18 million.
Now to me the main selling point of this film was the active duty U.S. Navy SEALs and U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen. This film had all the action scenes we’ve seen a dozen times before, but the Navy participation lends an air of credibility and authenticity to the action. The action scenes were GREAT. Everything else not so much.  

The acting by the NAVY SEALs was—what it was. They weren’t actors and I’m fine with that. The story though was kind of rudimentary and something you could see on an episode of Hawaii Five-O, a show I hate for its simplistic plots. I could see that the producers were trying to present a complete story around the action and I’m fine with that as well. 

Besides the Navy SEAL participation, the best thing this film had going for it was the great direction of the action sequences by Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh and the at times stunning cinematography by Shane Hurlbut. The first mission was FANTASTIC! 

I also enjoyed its realistic depiction of the violence. From the site ParentPreviews:
Violence:
- Frequent depictions of beating, shooting, burning and explosion.
- Frequent explicit violence.
- Violent acts shown in clear, realistic manner, with detail, blood and tissue damage.
- Portrayal of torture.
Language:
- Frequent use of the sexual expletive and variations in non-sexual contexts.
- Frequent use of scatological slang, cursing, and vulgar expressions.

You don’t want to go to a movie about Navy Seals and see some PG-13 cutaways from the violence. You want an precise depiction as possible and I applaud them for that. 

In the end the film played like a long training video which it kind of is, but I think the filmmakers did the best they could to turn this training video into a theatrical film and I enjoyed it as well as its realistic depiction of the action and its well earned R rating!


Cool Black’s Mad Commentary
This film got bad critical reviews across the board and I find that unfortunate. I think this film presented what was intended. No more. No less.

You got to see the Navy SEALs in action and like I stated it was an authentic looking depiction. I’d rather see an authentic action movie with a thin plot than some overblown CGI-ied (Computer Graphic Imaging) spectacle. I thought the movie was good and delivered as promised.



External Link
Read more about Act Of Valor at Wikipedia


Friday, July 13, 2012

Most memorable moments in TV history?

Blog Post #11
Osama bin Laden, JFK, and O.J. Simpson: what is the most memorable TV moment? 
JULY 12, 2012

BY ANGELA DAIDONE
 NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Television viewers rated the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as the most memorable moment of the past 50 years, a research study concluded.

 The survey, conducted by Sony Electronics and the Nielsen television research company, ranked TV moments for their impact, including if viewers remembered where they were, who they were with and whether they discussed the events, Newsday reports.

 The coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the second-ranked moment. By contrast, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, which ranked high for people over the age of 55, came in at No. 15 among all groups.

 The other biggest TV events, in order, were the 1995 verdict in O.J. Simpson’ murder trial, the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle in 1986 and the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

 Sony executives said they anticipated entertainment events like the appearance of the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the “Who shot J.R.?” episode of “Dallas” to be among top vote getters. But the survey showed that coverage of news events made the biggest impact for viewers.

 The survey also showed that men and women agreed on the top three TV events – Sept. 11, Katrina and the Simpson trial – but their interests varied dramatically after that. Here is a list of the survey’s findings:

BUT BEFORE YOU READ THAT, there is a reason I'm presenting this as part of my column. I will give you what you want to really want to know, WHAT I THINK of these moments. a Cool Black Mad Commentary if you will. My "commentary" will be in blue. If I don't comment I was too young or didn't care.


 TV'S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS 


 1. Sept. 11 terrorist attacks (2001) (More on that later)


 2. Hurricane Katrina (2005) (Watched the whole sorted affair on CNN)


 3. The O.J. Simpson verdict (1995) (Watched it with my mom. She got a kick out of what O.J.'s mom said after the verdict. Can't remember what it was, but she loved it)


 4. The Challenger space shuttle explodes (1986) (I was at middle school lunch. Some geek from the Audio Visual club walked by and told someone at my table that "the shuttle exploded" I thought he was talking about some geek school model of a space shuttle not the actual shuttle)


  5. Death of Osama bin Laden (2011) (I was home watching The Celebrity Apprentice when NBC News broke into coverage. Below is a pic I took with my cell phone and posted on Facebook)
Facebook caption: 5/1/11 Proudest Day Ever!

 6. The O.J. Simpson White Bronco chase (1994) (I was at work when some people started talking about it. We didn't have a TV)


 7. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami (2011) (Don't recall


 8. Columbine school shooting (1999) (Don't recall


 9. BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico (2010) (Don't recall


 10. Princess Diana's funeral (1997) (Don't recall


 11. Death of Whitney Houston (2012) (I think I was at work


 12. Capture and execution of Saddam Hussein (2006) (Don't recall


13. Barack Obama Election Night speech (2008) (I was home. I wrote about it at the 'Nother Brother Entertainment blog here )


 14. Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (2011) (I was at work. Watched some of it on the Internet live feed)


 15. John F. Kennedy assassination (1963) 


 16. Oklahoma City bombing (1995) (Don't recall


 17. Bush/Gore disputed election (2000) (Wasn't really interested in this. Ridiculous)


 18. Los Angeles riots, Rodney King beating (1992) (Watched news coverage, can't recall the network. Probably several. I like to see what different networks are doing during major events sometimes.)


 19. Casey Anthony murder trial verdict (2011) (Wasn't really interested in this. Ridiculous)


20. John F. Kennedy funeral (1963) 
_____________________________________________________

About that number one, I wrote a special piece at the 'Nother Brother Entertainment blog about September 11th. Read it here


Related Link
The Washington Post has a photo slide show of these moments here