Boxing Champ, Mike Tyson: “I look at it now, and I’m embarrassed I did it. “There’s a lot of information people didn’t need to know.
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(nydn) Any doubts about how deeply homophobia is ingrained in Jamaica, West Indies, culture were put to rest in May when Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the British Broadcasting Channel that there were no homosexuals in his cabinet and none would be allowed to serve. Golding's declaration came after attacks against gays, or "batty-man" in island vernacular, prompted calls for tourist boycotts of the island nation, whose economy is highly dependent on tourism. Queens filmmaker and native-born Jamaican Selena Blake is looking at the real cost and extent of the island's contentious relationship with its current and former gay residents. Blake, 45, has tentatively titled her documentary "Taboo: Yardies. " She's interviewing gay and straight Jamaicans in this country and in Jamaica about the island's unapologetically ill treatment of its homosexual population.  More...

(cinemablend) It’s been a depressing weekend for great black artists. In the span of 48 hours the entertainment industry has lost a legendary music icon in the form of Isaac Hayes, and a still rising, yet already legendary star in comedian Bernie Mac. It’s bad news for one movie in particular, a soon to be released film called Soul Men. In one weekend, a significant portion of the movie’s primary cast has been wiped out. The film stars Samuel L.  More...

(lat) Since its launch in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival has always had plenty to offer on a global scale - especially with the filmmakers coming from different Hispanic backgrounds here and abroad. Despite these differences, all share one common goal: the desire to change perceptions about Latino culture through the art of film. Now in its ninth year, NYILFF runs Tuesday through Sunday at four Manhattan venues and includes several New York premieres among the more than 80 documentaries, shorts and features that not only break stereotypes about Latinos, but celebrate the diversity of the community. The directors' backgrounds are as unique as the movies themselves. Here's a look at three films with New York ties: Marlene Rhein, "The Big Shot-Caller" (Feature) Marlene Rhein is no stranger to directing - she has made music videos for Tupac Shakur and Amy Winehouse.  More...

(nydn) Two creators of a new film that warns about a serious erosion in traditional black radio joined Bernard White on WBAI (99. 5 FM) Tuesday to explain why that's such a dangerous thing. "Black radio was an eloquent voice that opened the gateway to other voices," said U-Savior, director of "Disappearing Voices - The Decline of Black Radio. " "Without that, we don't have access to information. We don't hear about the war.  More...

(lat) Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of "Out of Africa" who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including "The Way We Were" and "Tootsie," died Monday. He was 73. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor, died of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades, according to Leslee Dart, his publicist and friend. "Sydney Pollack has made some of the most influential and best-remembered films of the last three decades," film scholar Jeanine Basinger told The Times recently. In looking at Pollack's films, she said, "what you see is how he kept in step with the times.  More...

(guardian) On February 19 1945 Thomas McPhatter found himself on a landing craft heading toward the beach on Iwo Jima. "There were bodies bobbing up all around, all these dead men," said the former US marine, now 83 and living in San Diego. "Then we were crawling on our bellies and moving up the beach. I jumped in a foxhole and there was a young white marine holding his family pictures. He had been hit by shrapnel, he was bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth.  More...

(ap/usat)Angela Bassett has had good days — giving birth to twins, winning a Golden Globe, being nominated for an Academy Award. Then there was Thursday. "Do you ever have one of those days? I woke up and the sun wasn't really shining but then it burst through the clouds and it was glorious. Hallelujah!" Bassett exclaimed to the crowd at the ceremony for the 2,358th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bassett, 49, was joined by husband Courtney B.  More...

(nyt) In Brooklyn next Monday the studio is expected to begin shooting “Notorious,” a film biography of Mr. Wallace who, when he died at 24, was the champion of East Coast rap whose rivalry with the West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur, shot to death six months earlier, helped drive an ugly East-West feud. No one has been charged with either killing, and the death of Mr. Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls, remains the subject of high-stakes litigation. His family has accused the Los Angeles Police Department of harboring rogue officers who were supposedly involved with the murder.  More...