NUBIAN KNIGHTS NETWORK: Wednesday, February 3, 2010

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson

"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil

"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Nude Book Vol. 1.0
The Best Coffee Table Book
Celebrating Black Male Beauty

Official Website: TheNudeBook.com

Yes! A pleasant surprise, right...?!

I happen to be browsing by the Hoodsworld: The Beauty Of Men Of Color blog and I saw an advertisement on the side that said The Nude Book. I said, "Hmm... let me check this out" and I instantly was impressed with brutha Alex-Ade Ogundiran's photography. It took me about 5 minutes (if not less) before I decided to add another quality book to my collection around the Black male body which has an artistic attraction and integrity to it, and NOT just a book hi-lighting nudism to be lewd. There's so much trashy stuff out there that it just translates to soft porn. However, The Nude Book Vol. 1.0 avoids that and really adds some nice b&w and color photography to the Black male body expose landscape.

Trust me... a lot of the book is risque and I LOVE the play on the leave it to the imagination of the viewer portraits with hanging underwear and towels obscuring private parts and such in its exquisite art of the Black male body. However, because of my ideology around the Nubian Knights Network and what I will or will not publish, I can only share a select number of pics that I feel is appropriate. However, you an visit Alex's website to see more portrait pictures.

If you trust my word with regard to my previous talks about Black (non-nude) male calendars then trust my judgment here. A beautiful collection of work to say the least, but, again, more risque!

So... The Nude Book Vol. 1 .0 (90 pages) is available from Alex's website at TheNudeBook.com and the price is a low $19.99 plus $5.00 for shipping. You have the option of paying via PayPal or directly via your credit/debit card.

I placed the order on February 1st and I received the book today, February 3rd, 2010 via USPS Priority Mail in the flat rate cardboard type envelope. Just 3 days to get it! The service was FAST and EFFICIENT! That means a lot to me when I order from a merchant and decides whether I'll order from then again as well as tell friends and family and report about it on my blog here about my positive and negative experiences. In this case everything was a positive experience including some briefs email correspondences with Alex. And he gave me heads up that he's working on another book project for later this year! Qool! Qool!

One major thing I should mention is that in the lower left hand corner of the book by the bar code it has a suggested retail price of $49.99 U.S. / $59.99 CANADA. I also checked at Amazon.com and it is listed as available and IN STOCK at $49.99. So, I don't know if Alex is running a limited sale price or not via his website, but you are advised to take advantage of the great price for a great book via his website.

My only disappointment was that Alex also has a 2009-2010 11" x17" wall calendar for $14.99, but that he is out of stock on it and had to refund me. I told him to please let me know when he gets more published stock. (As an aside, since I'm a collector of Black male calendars, I'm not limited by the year in which they are published. I'll buy any calendar I see that I like regardless of year).

A few more pics below to share below... so, what are you waiting for?

Order da
Nude Book Vol. 1.0 by photographer Alex-Ade Ogundiran.

This Is One Of My Top Favorite Images In The Book.
LOVE This Brutha'z Swooshing Lox;
Also Because He's An ACTIVIST
Under The Black Entrepreneurs Theme

Click Da Pic To Enlarge

THE ANOINTED at The Fire This Time Festival
A Black Same Gender Loving Theater Play
Limited Engagement: February 4th - 7th, 2010
NYC

THE ANOINTED

Synopsis: Set in a surreal church office, Germono Toussaint's THE ANOINTED tells the story of a well known pastor on the cusp of making a big revelation to his church, well, until at least he unexpectedly gets a visit from his past.

Thursday through Sunday Run:
FEBRUARY 4th (Thu), 5th (Fri), 6th (Sat), 2010 @ 8PM;
FEBRUARY 6th (Sat) & 7th (Sun) @ 2PM
THE ANOINTED at The Fire This Time Festival Horse Trade Theater
85 East 4th Street (between Bowery and 2nd Avenue) in the East Village

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT: Buy tickets in advance.

Amid the diffusion of the term “post black black,” seven up-and-coming playwrights of African descent including Deborah Asiimwe, Radha Blank, Kelley Girod, Katori Hall, Derek Lee McPhatter, Germono Toussaint, and Pia Wilson have come together at a festival showcasing new short plays. Germono is an Underground Studio Artist at Freedom Train Productions. THE ANOINTED CREDITS: Horse Trade Theater (Producer), Freedom Train Productions (Artistic Producer), Andre Lancaster (Stage Director), Terell Richardson (Assistant Director), and Travis M. Allen and Ronald De Suze (Actors). Germono Toussaint is an Underground Studio Artist at Freedom Train Productions.

THE ANOINTED Trailer from Freedom Train Productions on Vimeo.

Henrietta Lacks's "Immortal" Cells -
A Poor Black Tobacco Farmer Had A
Groundbreaking Impact On Modern Medicine

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing
the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks
such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor Black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine

By Sarah Zielinski
Smithsonian.com
January 22, 2010

Medical researchers use laboratory-grown human cells to learn the intricacies of how cells

work and test theories about the causes and treatment of diseases. The cell lines they need are “immortal”—they can grow indefinitely, be frozen for decades, divided into different batches and shared among scientists. In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor remained a mystery for decades. In her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, journalist Rebecca Skloot tracks down the story of the source of the amazing HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks, and documents the cell line's impact on both modern medicine and the Lacks family.