aquababie's world

aquababie handmade is live!!

 i just wanted to let yall know my website aquababie handmade is live and kicking!  i've had a bath products business for many years.  then i started making jewelry.  although i've done both, i never had them on one website...until now!

i'm pretty proud of myself because i took my own destiny in my own hands to get this baby done.  i will be adding new product in the next few weeks.  just wanted to share with my fam :)  and please pass along my link if you like. if don't bookmark it, you can always find it through the link in my blog. 

yeah me! 

question of the day

i didn't ask this, but i thought it's a good question.  feel free to add your two cents to the comments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why is it so difficult to treat people right when they don't treat you right? Why is it so hard to always take the high road when others are taking cheap shots every time they take a breath?

The Golden Rule is probably one of the most important commandments given to us, but it is one of the hardest to follow. Why?

this is just a talented family :)

this is the younger brother of one of my partners 7even:thirty.  if you check out this movie, keep an eye out for him :)

August 7, 2008

Related Items:   Malcolm Phillips in "The Longshots"

Tackling the big screen

Teen fulfills acting dream

By Nash Nunnery
Special to The Clinton News

Special to The Clinton News Above: Malcolm Jerrell Phillips is seen on the set of an upcoming family comedy film, The Longshots, featuring Ice Cube and Keke Palmer. The family-friendly comedy is set to be released nationwide later this month.

Malcolm Jerrell Phillips may be one of The Longshots, but some people think his future as a Hollywood actor is a sure bet.

Described as a "feel-good family comedy," The Longshots is an MGM Dimension film starring rapper-turned actor Ice Cube and directed by Fred Durst, former front man for rap metal's Limp Biskit.

The film is based loosely on the true story of the Minden Browns, a football team full of misfits in small-town Illinois that wins its way to the Pop Warner Super Bowl championship. Ice Cube is featured as the Browns coach and uncle to Jasmine (Keke Palmer), the team's female quarterback.

The Longshots will be released nationwide on Aug. 22.

Phillips, a rising 10th-grader at Clinton Christian Academy portrays Manny, a wide receiver with more than a little attitude.

The character was a bit of a stretch for the mild-mannered Phillips, but he says he was inspired by a Mount Salus Christian School classmate.

"Manny is a great athlete and he knows it. He's so cocky and full of himself," said Phillips, who just turned 15.

"I patterned him after my friend, Jevonte Young - terrific football player and so sure of himself.

"What was difficult for me (in the movie) was playing wide receiver," he said. "I played guard and fullback for Mount Salus Christian School last year, but the director knew I was the only actor who had actually played football before, so they needed me at receiver."

Seasoned child actor Keke Palmer, 14, says her Longshots co-star dazzled her with his performance.

"Malcolm is very accomplished as an actor and impressed everyone," said Palmer, who will debut in her own TV series on Nickelodeon this fall. "He really got into the character, and we had a lot of fun making the movie."

Shirlene Phillips, the young actor's mother, says her son has always had "a bit of actor in him."

"Even when he was a small child, he could tell a story and have me believe it," she said, smiling at the thought. "He was very convincing. Malcolm has always spoken well and been very articulate, but I never dreamed he would be in a movie one day."

Earning a role in a major Hollywood movie is not an easy task for any actor, according to Phillips' agent Sharon Ward - especially child actors living in Mississippi.

"For him to win a principal role in a major movie is amazing, when you consider that those roles are normally reserved for Los Angeles-based actors," said the Sharon Ward Agency owner.

"Malcolm is such a great kid and he's a very, very good actor. He's got a great future in the business, especially if he can relocate to the west coast."

Phillips says he was confident in his audition for the part.

"I've been on a bunch of auditions, and I just had a good feeling about this one," he said. "When I got to Shreveport (where the movie was shot), most of the other kids seemed really quiet and reserved. I just turned it on for the producers."

Don't get the idea that stardom has gone to his head, however. Hobnobbing with famous people, says Phillips, is no big deal.

"I've never been impressed just by someone's celebrity," he said. "I respect musicians and actors and recognize them for their talents, but I'm just myself around people like that."

The film was shot over a nine-week period in Shreveport last winter, and Phillips tended to his school work long distance. An excellent student according to his mother, Phillips only missed the spring honor roll by one point.

Mount Salus headmaster John Mark Whitney said faculty and students are thrilled about the teen's success.

"Obviously, we are very proud of him. Malcolm is so talented, and he and his older brother Michael added a lot to our school," said Whitney. "He's a really good kid from a really good family."

If his acting career doesn't work out, the Jackson native says he might turn to his other passions.

"Engineering is a possibility for me. My mom says I can build anything," said the teen.

"Also, I used to write a lot of music and I love the guitar. I can feel the guitar strings in my hand, and they resonate with me like no other instrument," Phillips said. "My dad (Arthur) is an accomplished musician, and I got my love of music from him."

Relocating to southern California to pursue movie roles is not an option, at least at the moment, says Shirlene Phillips - unless ...

"If my son was offered a specific role in a television series or something like that, we'd consider moving," she said, "But things would have to fall right into place for us to live in Hollywood."

Getting the opportunity to star in The Longshots is not something Phillips takes for granted. He says he had a vision three years ago that he'd become an actor.

"I was watching television and said to myself, 'When I am 14, I want to do something in acting,' " Malcolm said.

"I think that's pretty tight. And now that my dream has come true, I want to pursue acting as my career."

foreclosure dreams...

i've always wondered about the folk they select for extreme home makeover.  i figured they gave the families some sort of counseling to go along with their paid-for homes.  being fiscally responsible is something we're not born with.  it's cultivated and cared for.  i'm not tooting my own horn by any means.  i'm working on my finances myself right now.  but i would like to think if this was me, i wouldn't have taken the gamble. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

'Extreme Makeover' home in Atlanta in foreclosure
Harper family may lose luxury remodeled home in Clayton County

By MARK DAVIS
accessAtlanta

Published on: 07/25/2008
Things couldn't look better three years ago for Milton and Patricia Harper of Lake City, who giddily accepted the keys to a small castle, plus enough money to pay taxes on it for 25 years. It was a product of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Now, the Clayton County house is a two-story, turreted example of how things can go wrong. It's in foreclosure.

The Harpers used the house at 5489 Ahyoka Drive as collateral for a $450,000 loan, Clayton County mortgage records show. Records at the law firm handling foreclosures for the lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank, say it is in foreclosure. The four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage is scheduled for auction on the Clayton County Courthouse steps Aug. 5.

The Harpers, who declined interview requests when reporters knocked on their door Friday, told WSB-TV they got the loan for a construction business that failed.

Failure seemed an impossibility in February 2005, when ABC TV viewers got a look at the stunning home constructed in a subdivision three miles east of I-75. Painted dark olive and covered with specialty shingles, the home's domed door opened into a structure that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, music room and a porte-cochere that connected to Milton Harper's new office. The yard was a study in landscape art, with young magnolias, fieldstone and a Leyland cypress hugging one corner. A black metal fence ringed it.

It had taken shape in six intense days in January 2005, when Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and "Extreme Makeover" demolished the Harpers' old home, plagued by a faulty septic system. Professionals and volunteers came together to erect the largest home that the "Extreme" team had ever built.

Materials and labor were donated, but the home would have cost about $450,000 to construct. When they were done, the home dwarfed all the ranch and split-level structures in neighboring lots.

That was not all. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners raised a quarter-million dollars in contributions for the family. The sum included scholarships for the three Harper children and a home maintenance fund.

The Harpers, whom ABC chose from among 15,000 "Extreme Makeover" applicants, spent the week in Disneyland while 1,800 people swarmed about the site. The family returned to a new home, plus contributions worth about $200,000.

They opened the home to lots of friends, said Amber May, 18, who lives a few doors away from the Harpers.

"It will be midnight," she said, "and we'll see six cars and a million kids" at the house.

Another neighbor, Brittney Harris, said the Harpers seemed considerate.

"They're good, quiet neighbors," she said.

Perhaps they are, said Donald Williams, who was visiting Harris. But he doubted their business acumen.

With $450,000 "they could have just bought a business," he said.

A representative for Beazer declined comment. A representative of ABC offered an e-mail: "'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' advises each family to consult a financial planner after they receive their new home. Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families."

Law firm McCalla Raymer LLC, which has a team of specialists handling JPMorgan foreclosures, confirmed that the Harper home is on the calendar for auction next month.

The news left Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt wondering what went wrong. He recalled a chilly January day when he and a handful of others wrestled an aged beam into place in the home's living room. The Harpers' future seemed just as solid, he said.

"It's aggravating," said Oswalt. "It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it."

last night...

was fabulous!  here are a few shots.  i'll have more to share in the coming days.

Sanaa Gallery features African-American artists (hint: this is the bf!!!)

Top line: The new Sanaa Gallery (named for the Swahili word meaning "work of art" and "beauty") adds a showcase for African-American art to the Fondren arena.

Sanaa Gallery and custom framing shop, located on the first floor of the Fondren Corner building, has its grand opening today. Music and refreshments augment the art draw.

"What I wanted to see in Jackson and particularly in Fondren was an art gallery featuring multi-ethnic and multicultural reflections," says owner Lorenzo D. Gayden, a Jackson artist and jazz trombonist. "I wanted to see more sculpture and different types of abstract art in an atmosphere that's upscale, comfortable and relaxed."

Gayden received a 2008 Miller Urban Entrepreneur Series grant of $15,000 after submitting and presenting a business proposal for the gallery.

Works include ceramic sculptures by Harold Miller, wood burnings in a Bob Marley series by Shambe Jones and a painting by Tony Davenport.

Gayden's own work testifies to twin loves of art and music, with musicians ablow, their energetic sound translated in hot colors and starbursts.

Good energy: Gayden, who attended Mississippi State University and was a fine art major at Jackson State University, was drawn to the Fondren area because of its vibrant mix.

"It seems to be very professional and at the same time, very interested in art - not just in the classical sense but in terms of its impact on culture.

"I think I bring a perspective and an experience a lot of Jacksonians can relate to and that's perhaps a bit different from what has been most commonly represented," Gayden says. "I think it fits in very well."

Gayden foresees exhibitions every other month, if not monthly, that'll focus on individual artists, themes and social and cultural topics.

- Sherry Lucas

Sanaa Gallery features African-American artists | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger.

shameless plugging big time!

i need you to go to this link, then bookmark it! www.sanaagalleries.com then i want to write down this date: JULY 24th. on that day the bf will be having the grand opening of his art gallery & frame shop. sanaa gallery will hopefully become place to buy art and get that art looking its best! if you read my blog and you're in jackson, please roll through. we are open now.

the cowboy versus the feds

in the ongoing saga of our cowboy mayor, he tackles another challenge...being charged by the federal government.  who knows how this will turn out.  can he emerge again?  i guess we will just have to wait and see.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Federal grand jury indicts Melton

Bodyguards also accused in 2006 case

Chris Joyner • chris.joyner@jackson.gannett.com • July 10, 2008

Following a months-long FBI probe, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton faces a federal trial for something a Hinds County jury acquitted him of more than a year ago - damaging an alleged drug house.

"I'm very disappointed," Melton said Wednesday after learning he and his two police bodyguards had been indicted by a federal grand jury. "This has been a distraction for the last two years, but I'm not going to let it stop me from doing the things I have to."

Melton and his two constant companions, Jackson police Detectives Marcus Wright and Michael Recio, face charges related to damage caused Aug. 26, 2006, to a duplex on Ridgeway Street. The indictment says they conspired to violate the civil rights of Jennifer Sutton, who owns the home, and Evans Welch, who lived there, when they and a group of young men used sledgehammers and other imple-ments to tear up the structure.

Melton, who is seeking re-election to a second term, is due in federal court Wednesday for an initial appearance. He likely will not have to surrender or be arrested before then.

The three also are charged with using a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. The conspiracy charges could mean up to 10 years in prison. The firearm charge carries a minimum five-year sentence.

Former Mayor Dale Danks Jr., Melton's personal attorney in other matters, met in his downtown office with Recio and said he had spoken with Melton. Danks said Melton was "hurt" by the charges.

"As any individual whose been indicted, particularly on a similar charge to what he's already gone through, he's somewhat disconcerted," Danks said.

A Hinds County grand jury indicted Melton, Wright and Recio in September 2006 on several felony charges, including burglary and malicious mischief related to the damage to the duplex. A jury acquitted them in April 2007.

"It is what it is," Melton said of the indictment. "I'm very disappointed because I have worked so hard on fighting crime in this city."

Regarding a portion of the federal indictment that said he, Recio and Wright conspired "to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate E.W. (Welch) and J.S. (Sutton)," Melton said, "There was a warrant out for E.W.'s arrest. Recio and Wright had the right to arrest him."

Melton acknowledged he was at the scene but said there was never any physical acts against anyone. During the 2006 trial, Melton's defense lawyers never attempted to disprove claims the mayor and his bodyguards took part in damaging the house on Ridgeway. Instead, they argued - successfully - Melton, Wright and Recio did not act with malice, a key component of the state charges.

Former Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson, whose office prosecuted the case, would not comment on the indictment.

The indictment comes as Melton begins the final year of his term and his political rivals begin to stake out campaign issues.

"The mayor did mention the timing to me, from a political standpoint," Danks said, adding that he does not believe that was a factor in the indictment.

Specifically, the indictment alleges:

# Melton, Wright and Recio brought several young men, many of them minors, aboard the Jackson Police Department mobile command unit to go with them while "they engaged in law enforcement activities."

# Wright ordered the occupant out of the home at gunpoint.

# Melton used a "large stick" to break out the windows.

# Melton ordered the young men accompanying him to "damage and destroy the home" using sledgehammers, while Wright and Recio stood guard.

# They all returned later that evening, and Melton again ordered the young men to destroy the home and its contents while Wright and Recio stood guard.

# Melton, Wright and Recio carried firearms during these activities.

The indictment alleges these actions violated federal civil rights statutes by depriving Sutton and Welch of their rights regarding unreasonable searches and seizures.

City Council President Leslie Burl McLemore, a frequent critic of the mayor, said the indictment caught him by surprise. For the better part of a year, reports have surfaced of a continuing federal investigation, but McLemore said he figured it was "idle talk."

"A cat has nine lives, and he probably has 11," he said of the mayor. "I just never figured that they would get to this point."

Perhaps as surprising as the indictment itself is what it does not include.

Federal investigators subpoenaed mountains of city documents and questioned numerous city officials, including City Council members, about Melton's activities. Among the areas probed were a contract given to a fledgling lawn-cutting business and raids on the Upper Level night club.

Ward 4 Councilman Frank Bluntson, one of Melton's most loyal friends, said he was not surprised at all. "They came and interviewed me, the FBI and the U.S. attorney who is doing this case," he said. "They talked to me about an hour at City Hall."

Bluntson said he was served with a subpoena and summoned to appear before the grand jury May 6 but never called to testify.

"People were expecting this anyway," he said. "A lot of people feel this is the same thing that already has been dealt with."

McLemore, who has said he is considering running against Melton for mayor next year, was among the first to call on the mayor to resign when he was indicted nearly two years ago. He said he stands by that today.

Melton's continuing troubles with the law have placed "a cloud over our heads," he said.

Danks said he is working out arrangements with Melton to return as his attorney for these latest charges. Two members of his defense team will not be back.

Attorneys Robert Shuler Smith and Winston Thompson represented Wright and Recio during the April 2007 trial. Four months later, Smith defeated Peterson to become Hinds County district attorney. Smith then hired Thompson as an assistant district attorney.

Smith said he could not comment on the current indictment because of his earlier involvement on the defense team.

Staff writer Jimmie Gates contributed to this report.

To comment on this story, call Chris Joyner at (601)0360-4619.

link:  http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080710/NEWS/807100392

Hospital: Officer in critical condition | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger

Charges have not been filed against two men suspected of critically wounding Jackson Police officer DeWayne Collier during a shootout Monday morning in west Jackson.

The names of the suspects are being withheld as police continue the investigation.

Collier is in critical condition at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, according to hospital officials.

Collier was shot once in the head and once in the stomach. 

Jackson Mayor Frank Melton said doctors are optimistic that Collier will recover.

Collier, a six-year veteran of the Jackson Police Department, was shot today around 11 a.m. during a police pursuit following an armed robbery at Mississippi Title Loan, 1900 U.S. 80. 

The men stole the officer’s patrol car after he was shot, police said.

Agencies responding to the scene include JPD, Hinds County Sheriff's Department, Clinton Police Department, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, the U.S. Marshall's Office, Madison County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Hinds County Sheriff's Department spokesman Capt. Steve Pickett said it's unclear if there is a third suspect. Law enforcement had blocked off an area around Norman Street in west Jackson earlier today as they searched for the suspects.

The last death of a Jackson officer was March 2005, when Thomas Catchings died after a shootout.

Omar Hampton, 18, was suspected of carjacking when he shot Catchings once in
the abdomen. Catchings returned fire, hitting Hampton three times.

Hampton also died

Hospital: Officer in critical condition | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger.

two tidbits today

hey folk!  i apologize for leaving yall hanging.  your girl is on the road away from home for two weeks :(  i miss my own bed, my family and my sweetie.    anyway, after i left my training for today, i read two pieces of email...one i expected and the other not so much.  

Jury acquits R. Kelly of all counts

 

and 

NBC's Tim Russert dies at 58 after collapsing

guess which one surprised me...