I have a lot of great things cooking for the new year – a redesign, entertainment interviews and reviews, another Black History Month Pop Culture Challenge in February, and what may be the WEIRDEST What The Eff?” Wednesday post that’s ever graced these pages. I’m taking some time away so I can hit the ground running in 2010 but will resume normal posting on January 10. Have a great start to 2010!

The most significant event of 2009 can’t be anything but Michael Jackson’s shocking death. We’ve had plenty of time to get used to the fact that he’s gone and contemplate the value of his contributions to music, style, and pop…

Everyone who is anyone has a Christmas album, but in a rush to take advantage of our holiday cheer (i.e. trick us into buying bad music just because its Christmas-y) some artists have to cut corners on the cover art. Here are 10 prime examples of such ridiculousness.

10. “Naughty or Nice” – 3LW

The gall of 3LW to release a Christmas album at all (let alone with only two members, one of which is wearing a Christmas fur bra top)

Information is still developing, but Alaina Reed Hall passed away on December 17 at the age of sixty-three. The cause of her death has not yet been officially reported but the actress, best known for her roles as Rose Holloway on 227 and Olivia on Sesame Street, has been very public about her ongoing battle with breast cancer. She participated in the documentary “Breast Cancer Examined: An African-American Perspective,” to commemorate 2009 National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and share her courageous approach to fighting the disease.

Lawrence and Jackson, that is.  I’m still trying to make sense of Michael Jackson’s four brothers and their new reality show and in doing so have fantasized about the thrashing that Jermaine would receive in a just world. I don’t…

Oh, Aretha. I love you for your participation in the phenomenon of black women and hat-wearing. However, I can’t help but think that if it’s cold enough to stick your head through a fur muff, it makes no sense to have your ample breasts exposed while doing so.

You’re either cold or you’re hot – which is it? Also, there comes a point where fur just makes big folks look like Jim Henson monsters – say Snuffalupagus or Bluto from Labyrinth. Besides, we don’t want the tabloids to pick up on this and start the rumor that you’ve

It’s been over a year since the trailer for Buppies premiered here on What Would Thembi Do?, and the web series is finally coming to BET.com.Yes, I did say BET, but hear me out – I had a chance to watch the ten episode series in its entirety and it is equal parts fresh, hilarious, smart, and fun.

Think Beverly Hills 90210 or Gossip Girl meets the story of a crew of affluent twenty-something black socialites living in Hollywood (buppies = black + yuppies, get it?), dealing with the highs and lows of finding one’s place in

Another Old School Friday is upon us, and this week’s theme is especially exciting. Blame my overactive imagination, the fact that no real boys liked me, or my persistent couch potato tendencies, but I have had more crushes than I’ve ever known what to do with. I have always been boy crazy, and a simple search of this blog for the world “crush” shows how ridiculous I am.

When recording artist Santogold changed her name to Santigold I wasn’t really paying attention. I heard something about there being another artist who already had that name and kept it moving. But did you know that the man behind the name change is a tragically weird infomercial/jeweler/musician from the 1980′s? He brought legal action against Santi for infringement, saying that by her use of the name Santogold she was “crushing [his] hopes of continuing his music and acting career.” Really? ‘Cause I ain’t never heard

Are you a feminist? After your first reaction, think about it for a few seconds, then answer again.

When Nona Willis Aronowitz interviewed me for her book Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism, she began with that very question. My first reaction was to shrug and answer “of course, shouldn’t everyone be?” and I went on to explain how important my African-American heritage is when compared to my gender. Initially, I worried that explaining the prioritization of my blackness over my female-ness would insult a Jewish girl from Manhattan. I figured that, in spite of her obvious

I have to reveal some journalistic laziness on my part. I fully intended to go to the event advertised on this flier but other stuff, like laying in bed watching Special Victims Unit, seemed to have taken precedence.

Who can blame me for dodging the sorrow induced at seeing our beloved Jimmy Walker with his chin wistfully

After hearing reviews from Sundance, local film festivals, and showings in one of the original eighteen markets in which it was released during its first week, I was filled with anticipation for Precious. On a basic level, a dark, overweight, disadvantaged heroine is something worth watching (and analyzing), and the implications of a film endorsed via executive producer credit by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are so broad that I couldn’t stay away. For these reasons, if not just for its stirring quality, I’m glad that I saw Precious.

“Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever” is that gift that keeps on giving. First aired in 1983, the special was a mainstay in my childhood for years later thanks to the newfangled wonder that was VHS recording. This is the same…

Loyal reader Miriam posted a link to the Huffington Post article about Sammy Sosa’s drastic skin color change, and added the note: “As far as I’m concerned, this is a Thembi-mergency.” Miriam, I am on the case.

This is Sammy Sosa. For those of you who don’t know, he’s considered one of the greatest baseball players ever. He’s of Dominican descent and his home run hitting ability was a source of pride for Latinos until he was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs and corking his bat in 2003. Sosa retired earlier this year, and since then seems to be passing the time gettin’ purty. That’s Sammy in May on the left, and

Maybe it’s just our recent culture of “brushing off haters,” but I have a heard time drawing a full distinction between “I’m so inspired!” and “I’ll show ‘em!” Let’s say, for example, your goal is to make a…