WEEK IN REVIEW

February 28 – March 6

The week started Sunday with the #OscarSoWhite, which I boycotted on principle (not that I ever watch a complete Oscar–they go on forever.) I heard the show was mostly bad and Chris Rock had an uneven performance.

The lack of black nominees at the Oscars is, of course, a disgrace. Fingers crossed it will be corrected this year with a bunch of excellent movies with high-quality black actors like

David O

David Oyelowo,

Lupita Nyong’o,

Chiwetel (Photo/Matt Sayles)

Chiwetel Ejiofor, and

Idris E

Idris Elba, all of whom are very busy this year with multiple movie roles.

Lupita N

Speaking of black, fair-skinned Zoe Saldana was cast in blackface (and body) as dark-skinned Nina Simone.

Whose boneheaded idea was that? I think it’s insulting.

Nina S

Casting could honestly not come up with a darker skinned actress that wouldn’t have to be painted black? What about Viola Davis? She would have hit that role out of the park.

Viola D

Zoe S

Downton Abbey cast

It was the end of an era for Downton Abbey after its six-year run (I’ll miss it a lot) and the beginning of a new season for our favorite evil couple the Underwoods

Claire and Frank Underwood

in House of Cards, which has already kept me up late for two nights in a row with its riveting episodes.

Donald The Orange

In politics, we saw the rise of The Donald and some Republicans scrambling to tear him down. Sorry, Repubs, you can’t cherry pick in democracy. He’s your frontrunner, so quit whining and own it. What hypocrites. Trump is only expressing in a vulgar way what many (most?) of you secretly think anyway.

And please check out my new paper, Doctor-Writer, Inc., which made its debut this week.

Don’t forget GOLD OF THE FATHERS comes out April 26. Mark the date!