Lion of Judah
He is the source of everything. He created everything. In Him we have our being. In Dancing During the Storm, the first short story is about the creation. I think it is an appropriate place to start.
This month we will be reminded of the Lion of Judah so no matter where we go or what happens, we will be reminded of the one with the lion share of power.
How you approach 2020 determines what you hope in. Where do you find hope? Is it in yourself? Your family and friends? Your faith? Your job?
This year has shown us that those things are not reliable.
I find my hope in Jesus Christ. He has taught me that He is faithful and I can trust him. When everything around me is shaky and unreliable, daily time in His word reminds me He is constant.
This week, think about where your hope is. What are you relying on to get through the week? Where do you find hope?
Included here are a set of designs that tell a story. They are fun, inspiring and thought provoking.
You can visit https://shopvida.com/collections/uppcreative
At UPP Creative Media, we educate, entertain and inform our audiences through various media. In our podcast, TV Talk With the Sistas, we examine the diversity in some sci fi projects. But there are eight other episodes where other topics are discussed. Check them out and send us some feedback on Twitter @TVSistas.
TV Talk With the Sistas Episode 9
I have created a new collection and placed my art on some fun stuff. Each design has a story, whether it is the Brown is Beautiful which speaks to the beauty of all brown skinned people, or the Royal Blood Drops which reminds of the precious blood my people lost in the middle passage.
Check it out. UPP Creative at VIDA
Episode 9 To Sci Fi or Not to Sci Fi, What Do You Think?
The Sistas look at Sci Fi. One likes it, the other does not. Can she be convinced that this genre is worthy of her time. Listen and hear.
Here she is BlackGyrlArt
Kidnapped
This month I learned to work from a place of rest. Let this be your verb this week.
It is like seeing the love of your life before he acquired all of the qualities that endear you to him. That is how this new Perry Mason is hitting me.
I am drawn to the fact that it is set in the 1930s like Erle Stanley Gardner’s books. I like the storytelling from this time period because it is before censors began curating what type of story could be told. Censors decided what the public could see and stayed away from anything that actually reflected society.
This new series gives Mason a backstory that reflects some of the things I learned of him in the 1960 series. As a matter of fact, he lives on the farm where he was raised as the story opens. But one thing this story does, which was hard for me take, is bust up Mason’s perfect image.
This takes my hero and makes him a former soldier of World War I with struggles that made him a divorced deadbeat dad who has a hard time holding down a job. I know right. But Paul Drake is an African American police officer with more morals than Perry in the midst of a corrupt police department. I am all in. Della Street brings in our LGBTQ storyline, which was refreshing because these storylines are usually men.
The main story with the criminal case is very dark, with parents accused of kidnapping their own baby.
In true Perry Mason style, they defend their client with all of the same tricks, but it gives you a glimpse into why Mason does what he does. There are many twists and turns, but worth it.
The biggest flaw in this series to me is cinematic. African Americans are so dark in this series that in some scenes they lose their features. It is just a large black blob. For instance, there is a moment when Drake shows up on Mason’s doorstep. He sits out in the dark with the moon shining on his face. The only features you can make out are the whites of his eyes. I hope the producers understand that it eclipses the actor’s humanity to not make him look attractive like the other actors. I hope they correct this in season two.
Matthew Rhys plays a very troubled brooding Mason with Chris Chalk playing an equally troubled and dissatisfied Paul Drake. I mean you can see where it is leading. But the train ride to getting there is pretty fun.
Each Sunday night they drop a new episode on HBO.
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