The beginning of this movie started really slow, and although I only paid $5 to see it, I was a little concerned. Tyler Perry's last movie ("Madea's Big Happy Family") wasn't good at all, but I have enjoyed all of his plays so whenever he releases a movie, I never quite know what to make of it. His plays always seem to outshine his movies. With that said, this one was a delight after you got over the hump, and that's mainly because I got to see more of Joe.

Most folks love Madea (and I have a couple of relatives who act like her, one in particular -- especially on the plane ride -- comes to mind), but I am smitten with Joe, Madea's brother. He's a mix of perverted, comical, cool, mean and charming. Now I know some Madeas, but I know a lot more Joes, and if you don't know any, stroll into a barbershop and hang around. You'll meet one. Joe stole the entire movie for me, especially with "My baby mama went left."

When I first saw the preview for "Red Tails," my reaction was, "What's the point? Why make a movie that's already out?" It wasn't until I heard all of the reasons Hollywood claimed it wouldn't do well at the show that I started paying attention to the movie and realized the original was a PBS DVD video. Because Hollywood didn't want to financially support the second film so tough, that made me want to see the film even more. Now after I saw "Red Tails" (I'll post my review [originally from Amazon before my boycott] at the bottom of this blog post), I wondered, "Now which film is better." I don't recall ever seeing "The Tuskegee Airmen" (My Amazon review says I saw it and I'm pretty sure I did since my parents owned the film, but after watching this film nothing looks familiar to me).

I am a huge fan of Laurence Fishburne and I remember seeing my favorite movie "Higher Learning" in '95 when it came out (loved the entire cast of that film and know most of the words by heart), but at the age of 13 I was more interested in college films and TV shows. And even after watching "The Tuskegee Airmen" tonight (I'm far more of a history buff these days than I was as a teenager courtesy and can thank the racism experience at NMU for that), I can't decide which film I like better. Both "The Tuskegee Airmen" and "Red Tails" are great films that tell the same story but in a different style.

Hogan is an actress/waitress who has a background in modeling, is 5'10, blue-eyed, blonde and 120 pounds if she's dripping weight. Unfortunately for this New Yorker, being mainstream pretty doesn't do her much good when she heads to work and gets hit by a Mercedes going 40 mph.

Even though she flipped over twice and landed in the back windshield of that car — her grande soy Tazo chai still stuck in the one remaining shard of glass from the window — the people in the car are less than sympathetic.

"Stand up! You're not hurt! I'm a doctor, I know you're not hurt!" screams the passenger before the EMT straps Hogan into a board and neck collar.

Ironically enough, that lack of sympathy followed her from the hospital (where she has no health insurance and is sent home with a neck brace), the emergency room (where she lays fetal waiting for over three hours), the welfare office (where the smart-alec social worker calls her "Paris Hilton"), her best friend Gayle (who stopped speaking to her for some inexplicable reason), her brother (who loses patience with his sister being sick and refuses to drop by and check on her) and a police officer (who makes her walk eight blocks to get a money order for $10 because they don't take anything but checks or money orders for accident reports).

For someone who keeps losing, Jennifer Hudson sure is winning (and not the Charlie Sheen way).

She lost the opportunity to sing back-up for Barry Manilow but later worked with him as a contestant on "American Idol" singing "Weekend in New England." She lost "American Idol" but gained a Grammy for a later single. She lost weight and gained better health. She turned down a role in "Precious" and gained an Oscar award for her performance in "Dreamgirls." She turned down the "sex kitten" ideas for her music video "No One's Gonna Love You" but was still sexy enough for reality show contest and wrestler David Otunga to propose to her.

She lost some support from females who ranted on Twitter about her weight loss but gained support from male followers who tweeted comments like "Why can't you leave her alone?" and "I think what Jennifer has done is terrific. She looks great."

In "I Got This," J-Hud talks about what it was like growing up as a singer in a group who was more focused on looks than talent. She confirms that she's always been confident in her appearance — something her real fans have always known — but weight loss isn't new to her.

1. Compliments at work: I got a couple of comments this week (Wednesday during the day and Thursday evening) that really made me happy to be at my job. Won't say what they are on here, but they were very good to hear from the people who said them. I really enjoy working on the news desk, on my current position and I'm pretty impressed by my new desk, too. Brighter. More room. Bigger TV. Easier to do training. Quieter when I need it to be. Louder when it's interesting. And folks have jokes for days! More cool people moved downstairs to my floor. Great atmosphere. Cool neighbors. And I was proud of myself for completing the desk switch, and hooking up both computers and phones without electrocuting myself. Been in a good mood all this week at work from Sunday (6/24) and so on. Most folks are happy to get a good day at work. I had a week's worth!

2. Co-worker chewing-while-eating impersonation: There's no way I can describe it by blog to make it funny, but I went to lunch on Tuesday with one of my work buddies and the impersonations she was doing of a date had me in tears. Won't say her name or what the impersonation was and definitely not the date's name, but I'm still cracking up about it and can totally relate.

1) My new couch: I mentioned this briefly in last week's entry but I love this couch. It took me time to get used to the color, which is much brighter than my previous couch, but now that I have, I am smitten with this couch. The chaise part is what I could sleep on all day long. I usually run errands, go visit family, try to beat anybody from walking my parents' dog before I can get there or handle other business on my off days but today I sat around watching movies, messing with the Internet and reading a book. I didn't do one useful thing all day but relax. Never even took the head wrap off of my hair or change out of my pajamas (technically a baby tee and short shorts but I consider them pajamas) and I just hung out on this couch eating Thai tofu fried rice. I love it. My mother gave me a high-five on a great choice. I was very hesitant when the delivery guys brought it by and contemplated getting a refund, but it slowly wore on me. Now you couldn't pay me to get rid of it.

This film should've gotten five stars. My only problem with it is it spent too much time focusing on the 13-year-old boy and his 17-year-old babysitter. It was amusing at the beginning of the movie but overdone for the rest, and all of those scenes could've been stripped to get to the good parts. I will forever be a fan of Steve Carell because of "The Office" and regardless of Michael Scott being removed from the TV show, Carell is just all kinds of funny. I never knew who Ryan Gosling was before seeing him on "The Notebook" (and a co-worker telling me a guy who looked like him from a side profile asked her out -- made me wonder, "Why in the world would you say no to that?") but after that movie, I decided to check out his other work. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" was in the 2012 MTV Movie Awards for Best Kiss ("Twilight" one although after seeing this film I think "Crazy, Stupid, Love" should have) and I was wondering why Emma Stone was dripping wet and running in a bar. I got my answer and I rewound that entire scene (from the bar to the bed) four times.

I was able to get today off to celebrate Juneteenth (thanks to my co-workers who were willing to switch days with me) and kept trying to find something to do. I couldn't find anything as exciting as the IMAN concert with Mos Def (click here for article, click here for photo gallery, click here for video) but I wanted to do something to honor June 19, 1865 -- the day when slavery ended in the United States (two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation when slaveowners actually had to let go of their slaves). The U.S. still has a long way to go on racism but there have been many many steps in the right direction. However, it's all part of our history (whether some want to admit it or live in naivete/denial and remove African-American history from history textbooks -- I see you Tennessee!).

But anyway, I hadn't been to the DuSable Museum in awhile so I went there to check out what was new since the last time I visited to see the Freedom Sisters exhibit. There was a gospel exhibit today and of course I hit up my favorite spots -- Mayor Harold Washington (I never turn the button on that life-sized version of him; it creeps me out to hear it talk and move its head and body around); the military/navy/Air Force exhibit; and there's a statue of a few kids who survived the Middle Passage downstairs. I don't remember seeing that before, but I was so impressed with the artwork and annoyed about children having to survive those circumstances at the same time. The artwork was made from current day kids posing. I would've liked to have seen the kids mimicking the originals.

I believe most people will check this book out for the gardening tips. Me? I wanted to check out the photos. My grandfather tried to get me into gardening. There's nothing in the produce section that he doesn't currently have in his backyard right now (except maybe watermelons) and I would hang out with him and a childhood next-door-neighbor named Mrs. Th-----n (family know who I'm talking about but I don't want to publish her last name) who loved to garden. It wasn't for me. All I saw was a lot of utensils, worms and didn't have enough patience to wait for seeds to grow but loved following them around. However, I found this book fascinating. There were a few health tips (could've used more; if you've heard her talk about childhood obesity you won't read anything new), a lot of tips on how/where/when to garden and her minor freakouts about gardening at the White House, the history of other First Ladies and presidents who were into gardening, the change in soil and architecture at the White House, recipes and how kids reacted to gardening.

While reading Justin Halpern's latest book, I tried to remember which of his books I found funnier -- "Sh*t My Dad Says" or this title. I can't remember which one made me laugh more hysterically in public but this one was all kinds of funny. The difference between the two is the first book relied on his father for quick witty remarks. This book was filled with strange pieces of advice and wacky comments from his older brothers, his friends, his bosses and his father. The title pretty much gives away the summary of the book -- Halpern's experiences with young ladies over the years, from drawing a picture of a girl with a dog taking a dump on top of her head (his way of showing affection) to having to take a dump in his girlfriend's bathroom and making sure she stood watch. The entire book is not bathroom humor. Matter of fact, those are the only two instances of dirty humor that I can think of, outside of him stealing porn from a couple homeless guys and one of them yelling "Gimmie back my titties!"