Arts

How much can you really say in 140 characters? Apparently a lot, as evidenced by Twitter’s ability to smear reputations, foment political upheaval, and coordinate disaster relief. Hatching Twitter, an intriguing behind-the-scenes account of the founding of the social media behemoth, practically begs for a Hollywood movie like The Social Network as it delves into the internal backbiting and power plays between Twitter’s four founders.

“The baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit town!” was the tagline, and they weren’t kidding. In the flick that made her a star, Pam Grier goes on the hunt for the scum who turned her sister into a junkie, systematically gunning down each and every one of them. But it’s not your typical blaxploitation flick. Coffy makes a moral statement by depicting a world where everyone is on the take and corruption is the norm. On a lighter note, funky 70’s fashions abound and the Roy Ayers soundtrack is classic. Plus, you get to see Pam’s big ones not once, but several times. That alone makes it worth seeing.

The movie: West Side Story. The scene: a tenement rooftop on the west side of Manhattan. Five Puerto Rican girls, including Rita Moreno, who plays the strong-willed and independent Anita, line up and belt out the opening bars of “America”: I like to be in America / OK by me in America / Everything free in America…

Moreno separates from the crowd and lights up the screen: kicking, twirling, hiking up her skirt and strutting, almost performing a mock-tango at times. Despite the flurry of color and movement, your eyes are continually drawn to her, and with good reason—she’s a bundle of energy with attitude to spare. It’s this effervescent charisma and boundless talent that have propelled a career that now spans seven decades.

Spawned by the Black Power movement of the 1960s, Kwanzaa was originally conceived by the scholar/activist Maulana Karenga in 1966 as a non-Eurocentric, secular alternative to Christmas. It was the first holiday created exclusively for African Americans, who would celebrate it with rituals, reflect on their past, reconnect to their African cultural identity, abandon negative self-images and, ultimately, distance themselves from the “dominant society.” Karenga was highly influenced by Malcolm X, who advocated that African Americans return to Africa spiritually and culturally even if they could not do so in person.

Inspired by Black liberation ideology and Pan-Africanism (the uniting of all people of African descent worldwide), Kwanzaa was Karenga’s vehicle for Black Americans to pay tribute to their roots and forsake the commercialism attached to Christmas, with its cultural and economic exploitation of Black consumers. Celebrated from December 26th through January 1st, Kwanzaa was never intended to be a religious holiday. Karenga, no fan of religion, is on record stating that Christianity was a White religion that had no place for Blacks. As Kwanzaa has been absorbed into the mainstream and observed by Christians, Karenga eventually softened his stance, stating that Kwanzaa can be celebrated simultaneously with Christmas or even by those of non-African descent. Today, many African Americans celebrate both Kwanzaa and Christmas.

Ever since she electrified movie screens during the blaxploitation craze of the 70s, Pamela Suzette Grier has been part of the public consciousness. Years before mainstream action heroines were kicking butt alongside their male counterparts, Grier embodied strength, resilience, and beauty without compromising her femininity.

The offspring of an Air Force mechanic dad and nurse mom, Grier learned to be tough while growing up in countries such as England and Germany before settling in Denver, Col. After she relocated to Los Angeles to attend UCLA, she took a gig as a backup singer/composer for soul singer Bobby Womack.