Danielle Harris for FHM 100 Sexiest Women - stars in Hatchet 2, The Victim

Danielle Harris and Jennifer Blanc

Last week during my Comic Con-related limo ride with the cast and crew of the Dark Sky Films horror movie Hatchet 2, I told star Danielle Harris (who's also in Rob Zombie's Halloween and H2) that she should be on the FHM Magazine's "FHM 100 Sexiest Women" list.

As in the video, she says, "How to we make that happen." Well, aside from Danielle Harris hiring Hatchet 2 publicist Daniela Sapkar, here's the first shot at it. IF FHM Magazine's at all Internet savvy, they'll see this and check out her website, and the rest is a matter of time.

Generally, FHM Magazine has a voting process, but even if one were held, Harris would make the list.

Catch Danielle Harris in Hatchet 2 in October, The Victim, in production, and in my cool limo ride video series, like the one above.

President Obama on The View: its OK to be black (and mongrel)

U.S. President Barack Obama made an historic first today, appearing on ABC's The View talk show this morning. President Obama was his usual smooth self as he addressed the question of the razor-voiced Joy Behar, the raspy-voiced Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg, the sugary-voiced Sherri Shepherd, and the Valley-girl-voiced Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (Nudge-wink to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who, while troublingly conservative, is also totally, freaking, hot.)

It's OK To Be Black and Mongrel In America

Obama talked about everything from Snookie and Mel Gibson to the wars, to his daughters and Michelle Obama. More on that later, but what got this space's attention was Whoopi Goldberg's question asking Obama "where are we" as black people, and "who are we?"

Obama said he dealt with those issues of identity when he was a teenager and "wrote a book about it," finally saying that if people saw him as black that was just fine. He also said, correctly, that we were a mongrel demographic, and he's right. Blacks are. So what?

But, for this blogger, that conversation came on the heels of a series of emails and tweets sent by people who were black (or claimed to be as with the Internet, you never know who a person really is), and on my take on Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.

To cut to the chase, I said the Cincinnati Bengals receivers were getting racist media coverage, and I stand by that. The claim of some of the readers was for "how I made black people look." Look to whom? Whites? Asians? That statement has always bothered me. This idea that blacks have to live for someone else view of who they are.

I remember when I was, oh, nine years old. This friend of my uncles said "I'm gonna buy a new Cadillac every year, just like white people do. That was 1971. I asked him why it was important to do something because someone white did it; he didn't have a good answer for me.

Unfortunately, there are some African Americans who, regardless of age, are mentally trapped with the same ideas today. Some of them contact me angrily expressing how they think "we look" as blacks.

I really don't care. What's more important to me is how others look to me. Not the other way around. And the key to black self-esteem and success in the World is to get over what someone else thinks about you.

Take a page from President Obama and feel good about yourself.

Journalism 101: Interview DOs & DONTs by: Nikky Raney

Lorenzen Wright Found Dead by: Nikky Raney

Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright was found dead behind an apartment complex in Memphis, Tennessee; he had been missing since July 18.

Wright was 34-years-old and played for the NBA for 13 years on Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers. His death is still undergoing police investigation.

As of right now there is much speculation whether or not this was a homicide.

Deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.

(Photo Courtesy of CBS)

C-17 Globemaster Elmendorf AFB Alaska crash update

The C-17 that crashed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, is now the focus of a U.S. Air Force investigation.

The Boeing military cargo plane, one of 199 in operation around the World, according to FlightGlobal.com, crashed yesterday at 6:14 PM local time.

The C-17 was making a rehearsing flight plan as part of an air show called The Arctic Thunder Air Show, but what went wrong to cause the giant plane to crash, causing a plume of smoke seen for two miles and as high as 750 feet in the air, is not known. Hence the investigation.

C-17 Globemaster crashes in Alaska

Whatever's going on in Anchorage, it played host to its third aircraft incident in just this one summer. A C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane crashed at Elmendorf Air Force Base with four people on board Wednesday. Air Force spokesperson Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins said that it was likely no one survived.

No one knows why the C-17 crashed, but the result created a plume of smoke 750 feet high, and seen for two miles in any direction. According to FOX News, this has been a rough year for air travel in Anchorage:

The crash is the third airplane incident in Anchorage this summer. In June, one child was killed and four others burned when a small plane crashed after taking off from the city's small-airplane airport in downtown Anchorage.

The C-17 Globemaster is the result of a competition between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas almost 30 years ago. The Boeing version lost to the Mc Donnell Douglas entry, even though it had a more innovative thrust system. (Now, McDonnell Douglas is Boeing.) The C-17 has a more conventional thrust system; here it is, and the plane, in action:



Stay tuned for more on this.