The Queen of Hip Hop Soul is going classic rock! Mary J. Blige is just one of the big names starring in the upcoming film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, Rock of Ages.

In the film MJB plays club owner Justice Charlier, and takes on Journey’s 1980 hit, “Any Way You Want It.”

Rock of Ages: The Musical opened on Broadway in 2009, and tells the story of a waitress who falls in love with a busboy who fall in love during the pop metal era of the 1980s. The show, like the movie features music from famed rock acts, Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Europe.

Directed by Adam Shankman, the film also stars Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta Jones, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand.

Rock of Ages hits theaters nationwide June 15.

The road to a healthier lifestyle isn’t paved in gold. Changing life long bad habits can be a challenge, and road blocks (i.e: junk food temptations) are sure to lead you off your path to getting and staying fit. If you’re just starting out your journey or you are caught up in weight loss madness, check out these five fitness mistakes to avoid. Here’s to better health!

Mistake #1: No Set Plan
If you don’t have established goals to help you meet your objectives, you may end up frustrated.

Make Over: Set specific goals that you can achieve every day. Let the success of small goals build your momentum to achieve your final objective of a healthy lifestyle or weight loss. Determine what goals are best in your structured exercise program. Write down your plan, keep reminders in various locations and make yourself accountable by telling family and friends your goals.

Mistake #2: Overdoing It
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is common when starting a challenging new workout routine and may deter you from maintaining your routine. If you are over-enthusiastic and attempt too much too soon, you’ll feel the effects for several days, sometimes even weeks.

Make Over: To avoid hitting a DOMS roadblock, start slow and build up to a steady, challenging workout. Concentrate on proper technique and learn the basics before moving onto difficult workouts.

Mistake #3: Watching The Clock
Some experts suggest that you should spend at least an hour in the gym in order to see results, but sometimes our schedules won’t permit us to do so.   Read the rest of this entry »

1. Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose Begin Shooting Half a Yellow Sun
The film adaptation of prize-winning novel Half a Yellow Sun is underway in Calabar, Nigeria. Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Attack the Block breakout star John Boyega and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star in the epic love story. [MORE]

2. Alicia Keys Dishes on Traveling Alone, Breastfeeding, and Body Image
During an intimate interview on Lifetime’s new show The Conversation, Alicia Keys opened up about raising her son Egypt with husband Swizz Beatz, the pains of breastfeeding, sex, and body image.

“I think that we as females are like the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures on the world and I think that we’re gorgeous no matter what size that we are. In fact, I personally think that we are more beautiful when we are a bit thicker, bigger and more robust. I just think it’s gorgeous,” Keys said. [MORE]

3. Five Diseases Doctors Misdiagnose in Blacks
Millions of Americans spend years suffering from unexplained health problems. Sometimes even the best doctors miss the mark: About 40 percent of all mistakes that doctors make are misdiagnoses, says the National Patient Safety Foundation. That’s because many ailments have similar symptoms or can be detected only with tests that your physician might consider unnecessary if he’s confident in his verdict.

If you’re in the know about often-confused conditions, though, you can ask the right questions to prevent or fix an error — and even save your life. [MORE]

4. Michelle Obama Calls on Women to Take Charge of Their Health
Ever since Michelle Obama first came into the public spotlight, her famously toned arms have been the envy of women across the nation. In an article the first lady penned for Women’s Health magazine, she urges women to stop making excuses and get routine physicals and screenings. [MORE]

Chances are you are a card-toting member of the I-don’t-go-anywhere-near-water-because-I-can’t-get-my-hair-wet club. But, Christian Louboutin’s neoprene ankle boots will sho’ nuff help you make a splash this summer with hair intact.

The yellow neoprene, which is traditionally used for scuba gear, is artfully trimmed with white patent leather and offset by a neon pink 4.5 inch heel. ‘

Try wearing these with a complimentary printed dress, or a slim tailored pair of cargo pants and a great blouse or tank top.

$895, available online at Net-a-porter.com

(New York, NY) What’s a company to do when they reach five million “likes” on Facebook? Apparently, throw a huge party. Samsung recently reached the notable social media milestone, and rewarded 1,000 fans with a special free concert featuring Santigold at Irving Plaza.

The singer performed songs off her latest album, Master of My Make-Believe, and took photos of the crowd with her Samsung Galaxy Note (naturally).

The evening’s highlight was a surprise appearance from Pharrell Williams and Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg, both of whom joined Santigold on stage.

I do most of my talking with my thumbs.

I was chatting via BlackBerry Messenger with Hustle Mode’s Charles Anthony the other day, when he pointed out that in a world of BBM, text messaging, Twitter, facebook and G-mail chat, people no longer actually talk on the telephone. I couldn’t refute his point, because in the last year the majority of my contact with anyone has been through one of these mediums.

Remember when getting someone’s phone number actually led to dialing the number.   Now, when we get a number, there’s either inquiring as to whether or not he/she has a pin or debating if initial contact should be through a text message. How did we get to this point people?  When did we allow ourselves to dumb down our communication to 160 characters or less? Are we really that busy or have we simply gotten lazy? Read the rest of this entry »

The year is 1993, I was a young boy a few years away from puberty, and I was addicted to The Real World: Los Angeles. While I didn’t understand half of the story lines—one roommate was staunchly pro-choice (later learned they were speaking of abortions), one roommate was a recovering alcoholic and a lesbian, another was virgin—I visually connected with a beautiful twenty-something young black woman from New York. Her name was Tamisha “Tami” Roman.

Tami to me represented the quintessential around the way girl. She was glamorous, energetic, focused, determined, and dealing with life one issue at a time—basically she was fly as hell. She sang (remember her group, Reality?), she worked out, she worked with AIDS patients, and when she laughed you knew it was from a place of honesty—yet to be jaded by a troubled marriage to a womanizing NBA star, sexual abuse, and violations of personal space. She was THAT chick. Or at least the editors at MTV made her seem as such. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Jada Pinkett-Smith Talks Parenting, Fame, and Drugs with Mom and Willow
The first episode of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s new web series Red Table Talks has been released and in it she sits with her mom, Adrienne Banfield Jones, and daughter Willow to talk candidly about good parenting, Adrienne’s past drug use and how Willow feels about fame. To spark topics of conversation and promote open communication between them, the three wrote down questions that were then dropped into a bowl for them to pick from as well as a few must-have questions that Jada jotted into her notebook. [MORE]

2. White Women More Likely Than Black Women to Smoke Cigarettes While Pregnant
Twelve percent of all American babies are born premature — before 37 weeks — which translates into roughly half a million babies a year. And while lack of access to quality prenatal care, obesity, stress and other diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes play a role in those numbers, so does substance abuse. A recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) highlights just how common and serious smoking, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are among expectant mothers. And what they found is eye-opening. [MORE]

3. Newsweek Cover Heralds Obama as “First Gay President”
President Obama has been named the “first gay president” on the cover of the just released Newsweek issue, which features the president with a rainbow halo over his head. The cover comes a week after the president publicly supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. In the cover story, Andrew Sullivan, who is gay, says that as the offspring of a white American woman and an African man Obama grew up understanding what it’s like to be different. [MORE]

4. Trayvon Martin’s Mother Gets Donated Vacation Time
Employees of the Miami-Dade County housing authority have pooled together eight months of paid leave to support Sybrina Fulton’s fight to see justice served in the death of her son. [MORE]

1. WEtv Renews Mary Mary for Second Season
Gospel fans everywhere can say “Hallelujah!”

WEtv has renewed Mary Mary, the reality show about gospel sisters Erica and Tina Campbell, for a second season. The network has ordered ten hour-long episodes to begin airing in early 2013. [MORE]

2. Essence Magazine Honors Beauty Professionals and Top Products
This week, Essence magazine celebrated its second annual “Best in Black Beauty Awards” in New York City. The event, which was hosted by Essence’s beauty director, Corynne Corbett, and celeb stylist June Ambrose, highlighted the best beauty products as well as the top professionals in the field.

“We are in the business of celebrating Black beauty and the brands that get it right,” Corbett told the Huffington Post. “What better way to not only recognize those brands but also the people who are creating the products behind the scenes, in the studios, in the labs and beyond.” [MORE]

3. The 411 on Black Girls and Eating Disorders
Recently on VH1’s Behind the Music, singer and star of Moesha and BET’s The Game Brandy admitted that at the age of 19 she developed an eating disorder. It’s important to note that Brandy is not alone.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder). Yet only one in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment. Also, 50 percent of people with eating disorders are considered depressed and eating disorders have the highest death rate of any mental illness. [MORE]

4. Cissy Houston: Reality Show Could Launch Bobbi Kristina’s Career
Bobbi Kristina’s move into reality television has the blessing of her grandmother Cissy Houston.

TMZ reports the Houston family matriarch is telling friends she fully supports plans for her granddaughter, along with Whitney Houston’s brother Gary, his wife Pat and their daughter Rayah, to appear in their own reality show. The family signed the deal for the 10-part docu-series, which will begin airing later this year, with the Lifetime network last week. [MORE]

5. Rev. Jesse Jackson: Push for Gay Marriage Rights Like Slavery Abolition
As the flurry of reactions to President Obama’s declaration in support of gay marriage continues to swirl, Rev. Jesse Jackson added his opinion to the mix, lauding Obama for taking the bold step, but also calling for the president to take an even stronger stance. On Thursday, Jackson said President Obama should throw his weight behind federal freedom of marriage legislation in the same way abolitionists sought federal laws banning slavery. [MORE]

1. Michael Ealy: “I’m Trying to Diversify”
Michael Ealy has been on quite a roll lately with the box office blockbuster Think Like a Man, cult hit Underworld: Awakening and recent recurring runs on Californication and The Good Wife. This week, he returns to TV in the USA Network series Common Law, playing LAPD Robbery-Homicide detective Travis Marks in a lighthearted series about partners who don’t exactly get along. In fact, they’re at each other’s throats most of the time. Ealy gave us the scoop about it and discusses his career so far. [MORE]

2. “Black Owned Business Directory” Launches Online
A website aimed at funneling more dollars to the nation’s Black-owned businesses has recently opened its virtual doors and hopes that making Black spending options a mere click away will encourage consumers to keep it in the community.

The Black Owned Business Directory’s new website, www.BlackOwnedBiz.com, provides consumers with listings of Black-owned enterprises from around the country and also offers support for business owners such as business tips, continuing education and general information about the Black community. [MORE]

3. Will Same-Sex Marriage Divide Obama and Black Voters?
Opposition to same-sex marriage is one of those so-called social values that Republicans like to boast they have in common with African-Americans. But, as polls show, it’s not quite that simple. And, like President Obama before his evolution on the issue was complete, Blacks are divided. [MORE]

4. Commentary: Miss Black France Haters, Your Racism Is Showing
This weekend, riot police stood on guard outside a small beauty pageant in France to keep a group of white protesters at bay.

What were they angry about? All of the pageant’s contestants were Black.

What did they want? A pageant of their own. [MORE]