culture

Rickey Henderson’s on and off the field flair—more Babe Ruth and Willie Mays than Joe DiMaggio or Hank Aaron—won’t win him any popularity contests among the conservative baseball press. But it’s still a travesty that he will be announced as a new Hall of Fame inductee today without a unanimous selection. Every year, at least…

It was all there today — the introspection, the cluelessness, the smirkiness, the defiance, the sense of humor, the surprising humility. When George Bush said goodbye for the last time to the White House press corps this morning, he refelcted on everything from the ‘Mission Accomplished’ to Katrina to the failure to find weapons of…

In the months leading up to the presidential election, much was made about the size of the crowds and the energy level at Obama rallies. For clues, some looked to the Obama playlist—the songs that served as the soundtrack for those frenzied events. True to his overall political strategy, Obama’s playlist cut across various popular…

We are all hungry for every minute detail about the Obamas; we’ve read all about Michelle Obama’s trendsetting style, her choice of dresses, the flip of her hair. But my main focus so far has been on Malia. Her hair, to be specific. On her first day at Sidwell Friends School, 10-year-old Malia seemed to…

Meet the Press, the crown jewel of the Sunday morning talks shows, determined yesterday that the future of black America was topic worthy of discussion and invited a panel of black luminaries, most of them from the past, to talk about the future. The panel included Bill Cosby, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian…

Roland Burris’ plaintive, doth-protest-too-much mantra—“I am the junior senator from Illinois” (“…and I drive a Dodge Stratus!”)—is getting that slightly overplayed feel along the same lines as Barack Obama’s go-to line, “South Side of Chicago,” and Hillary Clinton’s sing-songy, “Hillary…Clinton…dot…com.” Here’s the thing—Burris has almost managed to maneuver into a U.S. Senate seat by pitching…

Madea Goes to Jail coming to a theater near you on Feb. 20th. So, what should you expect? Well, like all the Tyler Perry movies thus far, you’re sure to see a few familiar faces. Derek Luke (Antoine Fisher) and everyone’s favorite Huxtable kid, Rudy a.k.a Keisha Knight Pulliam have both been cast. You should…

Barack Obama and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty grabbed a bite to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the famed half-smoke and chili eatery in the historic U Street corridor on Saturday. Obama, who enjoyed his first taste of Ben’s, ate a half-smoke with chili and chips. So if the president-elect is making stops at restaurants around the…

Very quietly, the Southeast Division is making an uprising in the NBA. Long thought to be the weakest of the six divisions, all five teams are turning heads. In the last week, the two worst teams in the division, the Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards, have pulled stunning upsets. Last Sunday, the Wizards downed their…