Life in the Fab Lane

Kimora Lee Simmons is fine; she has the looks, smarts and personality to be an iconic brand. In other words, girlfriend's got it going on. She is a successful model, CEO of a 'phat' fashion label called Baby Phat, author of a best selling book, mother of two cutsey mini me daughters and the ex wife of hip hop mogul, Russell Simmons. Kimora is all about pop culture so with reality TV being all the rage who is she (Kimora) to turn her nose down at her own reality show? Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane made its debut on the Style channel a few weeks ago. Now I do not know that much about Kimora, don't get me wrong I know exactly who she is; I have seen her guest appearances in films like Brown Sugar and Beauty Shop and read several articles on her. I have also read her book, Fabulosity - well I managed to get through three chapters before giving up the ghost. So after much talk about this show on blogsphere I was very curious to check it out. My first impressions on the show is that it is very large and the word bling comes to mind. Everything about the show is OTT from Kimora's chinzty furniture to her extensive Louis Vuitton luggage that is especially hand made and her huge mansion. However what stands out is Kimora's personality which can be described as loud, outgoing and very very dynamic. What is clear is that she accepts nothing less than 100% from her staff and when watching her berate them you could be forgiven for calling her a cow. A woman who decides that she is so busy that she needs to hire a third assistant and who yells out questions like 'Where is my Blackberry' and "Do you know if I am free for a meeting on Friday?" sounds like very high maintenance. Still she does have her endearing points; she is a loving and fun Mum and is very up front. Kimora does not suffer fools gladly and if she is not happy with something she will express it then and there. You do not get any bitchy comments and back stabbing from Kimora. Life in the Fab Lane is total indulgence and frivolous TV. Will I be tuning in to watch it next week? Hell yeah!!

Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane is on the Style Network on Sundays.

The Salon

I am a great fan of the film Barbershop and it's sequel Barbershop 2: Back in Business which stars rapper, Ice Cube. Set in a barbers in Chicago, where Black men go to the get anything but a haircut, the two films reflect the trials and tribulation of the staff who work in south side Chicago. Calvin Palmer played by Ice Cube manages the shop which was handed down to him by his father and in doing so also tries to manage the lives of his employees. Screened in 2002, these films demonstrated how important barbers and hairdressers were to African Americans; they were sanctuaries and havens for them to congregate, gossip, laugh and debate. Barbershop 1 & 2 were written by Mark Brown, my fellow compatriot who went on to write and direct The Salon which is the female equivalent of the Barbershop. Brown also wrote the play version of The Salon with Shelley Garrett which ran for a year on stage. This film stars Vivica A. Fox who came to fame from her roles in Set it Off and Soul Food and - oh yeah - being 50 Cents main squeeze at one stage. The delectable Vivica plays Jenny, a single mum who is running a successful beauty shop called The Beauty Shop while raising her young son. Her staff include a wide variety of characters such as Lashaunna played by Kym Whitley who as sassy as they come and takes no bullshit, Trina played by Taral Hicks who is a shameless gold digger, Brenda played by Monica Calhoun who has no self esteem and is bullied by her cruel boyfriend, Patrick who is played by Terrence Howard. There is D.D played by De'Angelo Wilson who is as camp as they come and Ricky played by Dondre Whitfield who has an aversion to gay men.

The film starts on an ordinary day and shows the women getting ready for work. It becomes very clear from the offset that Jenny is a confident, attractive and intelligent woman who is raising her son to have values and self worth. Her dismay and outrage when finding out her son has been sent home from school for fighting is clearly articulated to the viewer as well as to her son. The scenes in the hairdressers are non stop hilarious and we are treated to one joke after another. From D.D's campy catwalk dance when he enters the store, to the discussions of Halle Berry's Oscar winning performance in Monsters Ball and the touchy subject of interracial relationships. The film throws in a decoy with the entrance of Tami, played by Brooke Burns (one of Ricky's clients) a cookie cutter blond who is into Black culture in every way much to the disgust of Trina. The ordinary day turns into a drama when the Beauty Shop is threatened with closure because of plans to pull it down and build a parking lot. On a street which is infested with prostitutes, drug dealers and gangs, the salon is by far the most positive figure and Jenny is hell bent on making sure that it stays where it is. She enlists the help of Michael played by Darrin Dewit Henson who works as a lawyer and a gorgeous one at that to help her save her salon.

The Salon is not to be confused with the film called Beauty Shop which stars Queen Latifah who coincidentally or not was also in Barbershop 2. Both movies are set on the screenplay, The Salon and both have very similar story lines and were made in the same year but from what I can find out, Beauty Shop got the green light and was made into a movie while The Salon was left on the shelf for a few years and recently has been put out on DVD. I saw Beauty Shop a few years back and really liked it but The Salon blew me away. It is funny, sassy and full of great dialogue and despite the panning it has got from the media (what the hell do they know?) it is a really uplifting film.