Director Francis Lawrence, the eye behind I Am Legend, has confirmed rumors that he’s writing I Am Legend 2. It will be a prequel, showing Will Smith’s scientist character before the bridges fell in the river and New York City became a wasteland for the infected.

“Absolutely (there will be a prequel), we’re actually trying to crack that,” said Lawrence. “We’re trying to figure out some ideas for it, but yes, it would be a prequel.”

Wasn’t the back story covered in the flashbacks?

The problem is the studio shucked the original ending.. in favor of the one that tested better.

That should be enough for the top spot on opening weekend.

One thing Will Smith will have to figure out is how to fit his daughter Willow into the movie.

In I Am Legend she’s like 4 or 5.

By the time this prequel is made, she’s going to be too old for the role.

Will might have knock Jada up for another actor baby.

A couple of weeks ago I said it was nice to see the Simmons girls not being all up in the music and videos, as you might expect them to considering their Pop’s iconic status in the game.

Out of left field, Angela Simmons pushed her brother Jo Jo aside and grabbed the mic to record “Center of Attention.” It’s tagged as a promotion song for their Pastry sneaker line; Angela leaves the door open for more in the intro.. “There is a first time for everything, but I’m not sure if this is my last.”

Take that to mean: if this gets a good response, get ready for the album.

Angela Simmons “Center of Attention”

There is a lot of criticism flying around about this song, but I’m feeling it on so many levels: the rhyme style is a mix of Fergie, sprinkled with some Kid Sister, and a scoop of JJ Fad; Angela has great presence and personality on screen (the shots coming into the party really work); the music is well produced; most importantly, she’s not attempting to be anyone other than who she is.

The Runs House vibe seems to bug some folks, they can’t get their heads wrapped around something other than the hood or what they’re used to.

That’s actually the problem with hip-hop today: a lack of variety in perspectives.

For artists, the cool/popular thing is to do what the next guy is doing. Hip-hop was born on the opposite principle. To be different, better, add your own flavor to the pot, was the only reason you grabbed a mic or spun a record >> that’s how you earned the right to be heard.

But let’s not make that the..  “Center of Attention”

I had to end it some way

That link takes you to the official download page for the song. Feel free. That’s what it is.

Go away, there’s nothing to see here. Or I should say, no story here. These are pictures from a barber shop in Philadelphia, appropriately named, Philly’s Finest Barber Shop and a couple from The Bigen Barber contest. The pictures were shot by hudgons, the same guy who snapped The Black Carpet flicks.

He’s got a great eye; in need of a Flickerazzi.

See if you agree..

The Bigen Barber Contest

>> check the rest at Philly’s Finest and Bigen Barber Contest

How much would you tip a waiter if the food was terrible, but he gave you all he had in service?

If your name is Andre 3000 the tip would be no dollars, zero cents. At least that’s the story Matt Moore, a student waiter at an Atlanta restaurant, is telling. With “Benjamin Andre L.” printed on the receipt, Matt Moore recovered the lost tip by selling it on Ebay.

In his words..

A couple months ago, I waited on Andre 3000. Yes, the rapper. He and his wife came into the restaurant where I wait tables. They landed in my section, and I gave all my other tables away, thinking it would behoove me to give undivided service to such high profile customers (my fellow servers also wanted extra tables for extra $).

After complaining about some of the food (they are vegan and we are a totally non-vegan restaurant), my manager took a big chunk of money off the bill. The chef had tried to please them with original dishes and took time out of the busy dinner to customize a meal for them. Despite the spot-on service and super-catered food, they felt the need to leave me no money. I had nothing to do with the food, yet he stiffed me.

That being said, I don’t want sympathy. I don’t want pity. All I want is the $9 tip I rightfully deserved. I am a student who depends on income to pay rent and continue my education.
Servers get paid about $2/hour, and we need tips.

Help a brother out since Andre wouldn’t.

Thanks in advance for your generosity. For eva, For eva eva,

Matt Moore

----

The winning bid was $14.50.

Andre should send him a check for double the amount.

Tatyana Ali is in this month’s King Magazine - “Ali, Boom-Ba-Yay!”. Among talk of being a Harvard graduate, giving a nod to her second album (?) The Light, and the importance of being politically active and making the Barack change this November; Tatyana mentioned work on a web based show called Buppies.

Tatyana said it “touches on black Hollywood and has a little bit of a Sex and the City and Entourage vibe. It’s about the characters, both women and men, figuring out who they are.”

Created by Julian Breece and co-executive produced by Tatyana Ali, the show “centers on the misadventures of a dysfunctional crew of upwardly mobile quarter-lifers desperately mining the meaning of life in Hollywood’s social wasteland.”

Tatyana Ali with the Cast of Buppies

Buppies was filmed on locations in Malibu and Los Angeles, wrapped production in June, and is scheduled to be online this Fall. Why the web? It’s an extension of Tatyana’s view of Hollywood.

“It’s kind of like the Wild West out there, and not just for black Hollywood. In a traditional sense, things look bad - there are people out of work, shows aren’t going up and a lot of films aren’t being made, because of the fear of actors going on strike. But I think it’s a real fertile time to stake your claim. With things up in the air, it creates new space for people who are trying to break through, business-wise.”

Making a TV show exclusively for an online audience is the logical step past shipping DVDs. I hope it lives up to those high standards though.. Sex and the City, and Entourage.. Yeah, that’s high standards.

Rihanna and Chris Brown continued their friends for the summer tour with a trip to Ocean City, Maryland. Family was with them as they did some jet skiing.

While Rihanna cautiously checked the scene..

Chris was so excited he had to grab himself.

And mounts..

Peace..

Left Rihanna in the mist

The Black Eyed Peas are pushing all the right buttons in the studio as they look to push into the future on their next album. Due.. when it’s due. Until then Fergie is adding another line to her acting resume. She’s been cast as Saraghina in the screen adaptation of the Broadway play Nine. Sarah who? Fergie simplifies..

“She’s basically a prostitute on the beach.”

In ‘the big scene’ Saraghina sings to Guido (aka Bill the Butcher.)

Fergie >> “She introduces him to the world of sexuality. It’s a very strong song. I’m just thrilled I get to play a character. I’m singing, but I’m not singing as myself. I’m going to be singing as a character, and that’s what’s really exciting to me.”

Cassie spent the last few weeks ‘getting her head together’ and putting in work on her new album. A little leakage from the studio is on the web in the form of “Soldier 4 Your Love”

Cassie “Soldier 4 Your Love”

Once an artist’s personal life gets on the streets, everything they sing sounds like a diary entry or a secret message to.. whom this may concern.

“People say that I’m a fool / for loving someone who / doesn’t play by the rules / but they don’t know you. So easy to judge a book by its cover / cause they don’t understand / that you’re the only one for me, there’s no other and I’m with you til the end.

What about love? What about faith? What about trusting that the one you’ve got is with you all the way.. I’m a soldier for your love”

*Send* >> to Diddy’s voicemail.

Have you seen this commercial? It starts with a guy speed walking in yellow shorts, his backside moving in that swishy way that speed walkers do. Suddenly Mr. T busts through the wall of a house in a Snickers military vehicle. T is offended at the guy’s lame lil exercise..

“Speed walking. I pity you fool. You are a disgrace to the man race. It’s time to run like a real man.”

And he opens fire on said.. “fool.”

The ad aired on UK stations on July 13 - 20; its debut was set for the US, but the Human Rights Campaign group got word of it through the vine and hit Mars (the makers of Snickers candy bars) with a bold letter, saying the ad was not only unfunny, but promoted .. “The notion that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is a group of second class citizens and violence against GLBT people is acceptable.”

In response Mars pulled the ad that they thought was .. “fun”

“This ad is the second in a series of UK Snickers ads featuring Mr T, which are meant to be fun and have been positively received in the UK,” a Mars spokesman said. “However, we understand that humour is highly subjective, and it is never our intention to cause offense. Accordingly, we have pulled the Mr T speedwalker ad globally.”

This isn’t the first time a Snickers ad has caused controversy.

In 2007 a Snickers commercial aired during the Superbowl that showed two men with disgusted looks on their faces after they accidentally kissed while eating a Snickers bar from both ends. There is definitely someone in the marketing department with some issues.

While it might be hard to find the laughs in gunning down a ‘fool’ (not really).. what’s funnier than Mr. T yelling.. “Get Some Nuts!”

Busta Rhymes sat down with MTV to discuss his collaboration with Nas on “Fried Chicken.”

Busta says it’s one of the best songs he’s ever recorded. I’m sure 90% of his fans would differ, but that’s sort of the way artists think: their personal best is rarely on a top 10 list. Busta admitted that he got off the subject in the song: Nas said all there was to say about chicken, so he stepped on the pork.

“I know how much we love pork, as black people. The same way we love fried chicken. Knowing that these diets are absolutely not the right things to be following because they give us everything from high blood pressure, to clogging up the arteries, to the trichina worm chewing on the wall of your intestines..

*The trichina worm lives inside the small intestine of a host animal, where it mates and reproduces. Once her eggs have been fertilized, the female burrows into the intestinal wall and releases her larvae.*

.. I just felt like I needed to exemplify the importance of what effect these foods can have.”

Yeah, thanks.

Reading this at breakfast? You’ve got time to take one more bite of that bacon and egg sandwich, the fried chicken question comes in at the 2:38 mark.