Black-Eyed Peas – A Southern Tradition for Luck and Prosperity in the New Year

Photo of Hoppin John - Melanie Acevedo / Getty Images

If you are planning to celebrate the New Year in the Southeast, it is most likely that you will be offered black-eyed peas in some form, either just after midnight or on New Year’s Day. From grand gala gourmet dinners to small casual gatherings with friends and family, these flavorful legumes are traditionally, according to Southern folklore, the first food to be eaten on New Year’s Day for luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead.

The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War. At first planted as food for livestock, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the fields of black-eyed peas were ignored as Sherman’s troops destroyed or stole other crops, thereby giving the humble, but nourishing, black-eyed pea an important role as a major food source for surviving Confederates.

Today, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for the New Year has evolved into a number of variations and embellishments of the luck and prosperity theme including:

  • Served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, which varies regionally), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money. In some areas cabbage is used in place of the greens.
  • Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold.
  • For the best chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat at least 365 black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.
  • Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.
  • In some areas, actual values are assigned with the black-eyed peas representing pennies or up to a dollar each and the greens representing anywhere from one to a thousand dollars.
  • Adding a shiny penny or dime to the pot just before serving is another tradition practiced by some. When served, the person whose bowl contains the penny or dime receives the best luck for the New Year, unless of course, the recipient swallows the coin, which would be a rather unlucky way to start off the year.

The catch to all of these superstitious traditions is that the black-eyed peas are the essential element and eating only the greens without the peas, for example, will not do the trick.

http://gosoutheast.about.com/od/restaurantslocalcuisine/a/blackeyedpeas.htm

BBC Sitcom Tops U.K. Christmas Day Ratings, ‘Doctor Who’ Beats ‘Downton Abbey’

The Doctor Who Christmas special on BBC One, starring Nick Frost as Santa Claus, and the Downton Abbey special on ITV drew lower ratings in the U.K. on Thursday night than last year, with Doctor Who again winning the ratings showdown.

For the second year in a row, the Christmas ratings ranking in the country was led by a BBC sitcom. But all big shows attracted smaller overnight audiences than last year.

Sci-fi hit Doctor Who, starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, drew 6.34 million viewers in the overnight ratings for a share of 27.5 percent, according to ratings consultancy Attentional. That compared with 8.29 million for a 30.7 percent audience share on Christmas Day last year and made it the seventh-ranked program in Britain for the night.

The Downton Abbey special attracted 5.84 million viewers in the overnight ratings, its lowest-ever Christmas Day overnight audience and ranked right behind Doctor Who, according to Attentional. That was a share of 24.5 percent. The performance compared with 7.01 million and 27 percent for the 2013 holiday special featuring the Crawley family.

Last year, the Christmas Day special of sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys on BBC One was the most watched program in Britain on Dec. 25, with an average audience of 9.4 million. The comedy, created by and starring Irish writer Brendan O’Carroll, again led the British ratings this year, excluding a royal address that topped the ranking when combining viewership on two networks. Boys had 7.61 million viewers and a share of 32.2 percent, according to Attentional.

The show led an overall strong Christmas showing for the BBC.

In 2013, ITV soap opera Coronation Street had averaged 7.9 million viewers on Christmas Day, beating the BBC’s EastEnders for the first time in more than 10 years. But this year, EastEnders won the ratings showdown, drawing 7.55 million average viewers. That made it the second-most-watched show on British TV on Christmas Day. Coronation Street drew 6.62 million viewers.

The third-most-watched show in Britain was BBC dance competition Strictly Come Dancing, which attracted 6.98 million viewers, followed by the BBC’s Call the Midwife, the highest-rated drama of the night, and comedy Miranda with 6.83 million and 6.67 million, respectively.

As expected, Christmas Day ratings were down for most shows amid changing viewing behavior in Britain. The consolidated audience figures, including catch-up viewing, will be higher. Some observers had predicted that this year’s Christmas Day overnight audience figures could be among the lowest on record in the U.K.

Attentional said that BBC One had 7 million viewers on average in the 7-10:30 p.m. time slot, compared with ITV’s 6 million. “Compared to last year, all peak-time BBC1/ITV programs were down,” Attentional said. “Doctor Who: down 24 percent. Corrie: down 20 percent. Mrs. Brown: down 19 percent. Downton: down 17 percent. Call the Midwife: down 4 percent. EastEnders: down 3 percent.”

Added Attentional: “The Queen bucked the trend — up by 90,000.”

Indeed, the annual Christmas address by Queen Elizabeth II drew 5.71 million viewers on the BBC, the ninth-best ratings performance of the night, and 2.11 million on ITV, according to the firm. On a combined basis, that meant 7.82 million total viewers for a 50.7 percent share. Looking at the combined audiences, the Queen’s Christmas message would have been the most watched TV program of the day in Britain.

Here are the top 10 U.K. TV programs on Christmas Day in the overnight ratings:

1. Mrs. Brown’s Boys (BBC) 7.61 million
2. EastEnders (BBC) 7.55 million
3. Strictly Come Dancing (BBC) 6.98 million
4. Call the Midwife (BBC) 6.83 million
5. Miranda (BBC) 6.67 million
6. Coronation Street (ITV) 6.62 million
7. Doctor Who (BBC) 6.34 million
8. Downton Abbey (ITV) 5.84 million
9. The Queen’s Christmas Message (BBC) 5.71 million
9. Emmerdale (ITV) 5.71 million

Email: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/uk-christmas-ratings-doctor-who-760371

Box Office: ‘Hobbit’ Back on Top; ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘Unbroken’ Head for Hearty $46M-Plus

'Into the Woods'

While The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies rose back to No. 1 Friday with $15.7 million, Rob Marshall‘s musical Into the Woods and Angelina Jolie‘s Unbroken are nevertheless rocking the Christmas box office.

The two films ended Friday in a close race, and are both pacing to post four-day openings north of $46 million, notably more than expected.

Unbroken, after winning Christmas Day, placed No. 2 with $12.3 million for a two-day cume of $27.9 million. The movie, based on Laura Hillenbrand‘s best-selling biography, stars Jack O’Connell as World War II hero Louis Zamperini. The Universal film follows Zamperini as he’s stranded in the ocean after a plane crash and then captured and tortured as a prisoner of war.

Thanks to strong interest among families, Into the Woods should pull ahead of Unbroken on Saturday and end Sunday with as much as $48 million in the bank. The film placed No. 3 Friday with $12.2 million for a two-day total of $27.3 million.

The adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s Broadway musical looks to continue Disney’s winning streak at the box office and stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp. The movie received a B CinemaScore, compared to an A- for Unbroken.

Hobbit, from New Line and MGM, will take the weekend crown as it nears the $170 million mark domestically.

Overall, revenue could be up by as much as 20 percent this weekend. That’s welcome news for the film business, which has endured a tough year at the box office, at least in North America. And Hollywood is currently grappling with the unprecedented hacking of Sony.

The cyberattack was reportedly waged by those unhappy with The Interview, the controversial R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as two bumbling journalists hired by the CIA to assassinate North Korean president Kim Jong Un.

At the 11th hour, Sony pulled from its Dec. 25 release after the group behind the hack attack threatened theaters. However, after President Barack Obama criticized Sony for caving, the studio announced Tuesday it would release The Interview in select independent theaters and as a pay-per-view offering on YouTube, Google Play, Xbox and Sony’s own site

On Friday, The Interview took in another $725,000 at the U.S. box office, a decline of 33 percent from Christmas Day, when it earned $1 million.

In its new incarnation, the comedy wasn’t destined to be a big grosser in theaters, considering its limited footprint and the fact that it was made available online Wednesday. (It was also quickly pirated.)

After Unbroken and Into the Woods, the other two new Christmas offerings playing nationwide are Paramount’s The Gambler, starring Mark Wahlberg as a literature professor who has a secret life as a gambler, and Tim Burton‘s Big Eyes.

Rupert Wyatt directed The Gambler, which grossed an estimated $3.4 million on Friday for a projected four-day debut of $14 million, in line with expectations.

Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, continued to struggle Friday. The film, playing in far fewer theaters than most wide releases, earned $1 million from 1,307 locations for a projected four-day gross of $4.1 million. The film, from The Weinstein Co., centers on artist Margaret Keane (Adams), whose work was claimed by her then-husband, Walter Keane.

Harvey Weinstein‘s shop still had plenty to celebrate; awards frontrunner The Imitation Game will earn north of $8 million over the long holiday weekend after expanding nationwide on Christmas Day.

Two other award contenders made their limited box-office debuts on Thursday: the Martin Luther King Jr. drama Selma and American Sniper. On Friday, Selma earned another $211,000 from 19 runs. American Sniper posted an impressive location average of $49,870 after grossing $199,000 for the day from only four theaters.

Among holdovers, Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is doing strong holiday business, earning $7.4 million on Friday to come in No. 4. The Fox threequel is projected to finish Sunday with a domestic total north of $55 million.

Sony’s Annie, opening opposite Secret of the Tomb and Hobbit last weekend, placed No. 5 with $6.1 million. By weekend’s end, Annie’s domestic total should be $46.3 million.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-hobbit-back-top-759805

Cuba Gooding Jr. Will Star in a TV Dramatization of O.J. Simpson’s Trial

Cuba Gooding Jr. will play O.J. Simpson in Ryan Murphy's new FX miniseries.
Cuba Gooding Jr. will play O.J. Simpson in Ryan Murphy’s new FX miniseries.

It’s his first TV series lead

Cuba Gooding Jr. has been cast as O.J. Simpson in the first season of FX’s new series American Crime Story, which takes as its subject the 1995 murder trial of the infamous ex-footballer.

This will be the Academy Award–winning actor’s first lead role in a TV series, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sarah Paulson, of American Horror Story, has been cast as prosecutor Marcia Clark in the debut season, which is entitled The People vs. O.J. Simpson and reportedly hews close to Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 book on the trial The Run of His Life.

Producer Ryan Murphy, who co-created Glee and American Horror Story, said the new series does not yet have an official premier date but might debut in January 2016. Each season, he says, will dramatize trials that transfixed the public in real life.

7 Ways I Resist The Urge To QUIT

Resist the urge to quit

There are times when I feel the urge to quit on my goals and dreams. The eight hundred pound gorilla jumps on my back and makes an attempt to paralyze my efforts to finish strong. Then suddenly, I realize that it’s an illusion…smoke and mirrors to get me to QUIT! During these difficult times I must find the strength and courage to keep going! Resistance and opposition shows up when I am working on something GREAT! When they call, I have learned not to answer. These two are not attracted to low hanging fruit. They prefer fruit that grows at higher altitudes. There is a unique and delicious taste that comes from fruit that grows on “successful” trees!

1.    Become still and get clear.

When I lack clarity, I become hazardous to any project that I am working on. Visualize this, you are driving down a major interstate that’s currently under construction. You see a sign that says merge right. Then 1 mile later, you read another sign that says make a U-turn. Then you see another sign that’s says road closed…confusing, right. That’s what happens when I am not clear about my goals and dreams. During these times, I remove all distractions from my life and I get still. I stop, look and listen to the quiet still voice within…the soul. My soul will never lie to me or make a mistake as it relates to giving me guidance and direction. I believe that it’s my internal compass for mastering the life that I was created to LIVE!

2.    Remember my purpose.

I can recall times in my life when I poisoned my purpose by giving energy to toxic thoughts, people and situations. Garbage in will always be garbage out no matter how the trash is packaged and presented. It takes backbone, grit and mountain size faith to live on purpose. What I know to be true is that discovering my purpose was easier than keeping and working with my purpose. When I stopped working against my purpose and started working with it, the urge to quit vaporized…immediately! We (purpose and I) have become inseparable, like Siamese twins.

3.    Connect with my tribe.

When I reach out to the people of valor in my life, spectacular and amazing things happen. They remind me that all “successful” people have danced with the thought of quitting…at least once. They reiterate the notion that the “yellow brick road” that leads to success was designed for rest stops, not exits called Quit. They encourage and cheer for me when everything that is looming around me is screaming “QUIT NOW and don’t even think about trying again!” My tribe will always speak “truth” with love and they have a strong desire of helping me cross “my” finish line. If you don’t have a tribe, I urge you to find one that’s unique to you and your purpose! What I know for sure, is that your tribe/community will always recognize and support U as it relates to your gifts and talents!

4.    Commit to all things positive.

365 days of the year, no matter how I’m feeling, I must commit to keeping my self-worth and confidence intact. Positivity is a state of mind! I guard my positive environment like I was hired to guard a maximum security prison…it’s that serious!! What I expose my mind to will reflect in my behavior. If I want to know what’s happening in my mind, I examine my behavior. My actions will always follow my thoughts and my current state of mind. Actions do not know how to think, they only know how to follow orders. What I read, what I hear and what I see all play a vital role in maintaining a positive state of mind. I can tell when I have been exposed to buffoonery and negativity. They have the power to paralyze and leave me feeling helpless/ empty. This is how my internal compass send me warning signs that I am off course and that it is time to change directions. I call these “girl you better get up moments”…or else!

5.    Create daily rituals.

Every morning before I get out of bed, I pray, meditate and visualize my day. I never allow my emotions to dictate this sacred time with self. My emotions may shift, however, I must always remain constant with my morning inspiration. It’s priceless!

6.    Prepare while I recover.

Certain life events have left me feeling wounded like a defeated heavyweight boxer. During these times, it’s vital that I take time to heal and recover. I give myself permission to rest and regroup according to my watch. This recuperation time must be determined by me and me alone!

7.    Terminate the word Quit!

I stop partnering with that loathsome loser called quit. No further explanation needed for this tip. Just delete the word from your new and empowered vocabulary and add the word persevere.  Just carry on and keep going no matter what…all the way to “your” finish line!

“Perseverance is stubbornness with a purpose.”-Josh Shipp

– See more at: http://www.blacklifecoaches.net/2014/12/18/7-ways-resist-urge-quit/#sthash.8B3pbFYP.dpuf

First Theater to Screen The Interview Loses Internet for 5 Days

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Atlanta’s Plaza Theatre, one of the first movie houses in the United States to announce screenings of the The Interview, has been without Internet all week.

As most everyone who has had Internet service during the last two weeks is aware, Sony Pictures was hacked by North Korea in apparent retaliation for the studio’s production of The Interview, which involves a plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Fearing further reprisal, Sony decided to cancel the film’s Christmas Day release.

“When we were told we couldn’t play it, I flipped out,” recalled Michael Furlinger, the Plaza’s owner.

Furlinger’s sentiments were echoed throughout the country, notably by a programmer at the Alamo Drafthouse theater and the President of the United States, who said, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States.”

Consequently, on Tuesday–two days before Christmas–Sony reconsidered, allowing a limited release of the film.

Jubilant Plaza employees added big red letters spelling out “Freedom Prevails” to their marquee, then took to the Internet to share the news.

Or, rather, they would have taken to the Internet. But it hadn’t been working for more than a day. “We heard from AT&T Cares that service was down in the area,” Furlinger said.

The outage precluded the Plaza from selling tickets Tuesday and Wednesday via the Web, or to moviegoers and other First Amendment fans lined up at the box office hoping to pay with credit cards. Nevertheless, the Plaza sold out all 1300 seats. Service remained down yesterday, costing the Plaza between $2,000 and $3,000 at the concession stand, where 80 percent of patrons use credit cards.

“These things never happen on slow weekends,” Furlinger lamented this afternoon.

The obvious question is whether North Korea, whose own Internet was reportedly shut down this week by the United States in retaliation for the Sony hack, is behind the Plaza outage. FBI agents present at the Plaza’s Christmas Day screenings didn’t think so. Nor did Furlinger, who began to explain that the Internet had gone down before he received the go-ahead from Sony. Furlinger had to cut his explanation short, however, upon learning that he had a phone call “from the office of the president.”

It was the president of AT&T.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-thomson/first-theater-to-screen-t_b_6383532.html

Report: Harbaugh to sign with Michigan

Another day, another report on Jim Harbaugh’s coaching future. And this one says Michigan fans should plan on seeing him in Ann Arbor soon.

Jason Cole of Bleacher Report is reporting that two San Francisco 49ers staff members and a third NFL source expect Harbaugh to become the next coach at Michigan.

“Jim has figured out that his style is best-suited for the college game,” Cole reports one source as saying.

Harbaugh’s agent, David Dunn, did not respond when reached out by Cole for comment.

A contingent from Michigan is reportedly in the Bay Area this weekend looking to lock down a deal with Harbaugh following the 49ers’ last game of the season Sunday against Arizona.

Harbaugh still has one year left on a 5-year, $25-million contract signed with San Francisco in 2011, but it has been widely reported by most insiders that he will not be returning due to a fallout with the ownership.

Harbaugh has reportedly been offered a 6-year, $48-million contract by Michigan.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/12/27/report-harbaugh-to-sign-with-michigan/20948481/

Don Lemon Among the Worst Journalists of 2014: Report

This year, there was no shortage of material to choose from, since the CNN news anchor made a seemingly limitless number of bad word choices.

455839508-don-lemon-host-cnn-attends-the-2014-adcolor-awards

The Columbia Journalism Review blog Darts & Laurels has named CNN’s Don Lemon one of the worst journalists of 2014. Lemon, who saw this year become a series of flubs and bad sound bites, can do nothing but grow from this experience, since he can’t do much worse.

According to the blog, which announced winners of the “Darts” award, Lemon was the only named journalist, with other “award winners” including programs or publications like Fox & Friends and Rolling Stone.

Lemon amassed quite the résumé of head-scratching, wince-inducing moments, as the CJR blog notes. On March 20 the CNN host, very seriously, asked guests if missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was swallowed by a black hole: “I know it’s preposterous,” he added. “But is it preposterous?”

Lemon also famously argued that spanking children is akin to training dogs and said he believed that the release of U.S. Army prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl was similar to the fictional Showtime series Homeland, CJR notes. In addition, while covering the riots in Ferguson, Mo., after the nonindictment of now retired Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, Lemon nonchalantly added, “Obviously, there’s a smell of marijuana in the air.”

But the pièce de résistance in Lemon’s beautifully absurd line of reasoning in 2014 happened on his Nov. 18 show, when he lectured a reported Bill Cosby rape victim about how to prevent sexual assault: “You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it,” he said. “Meaning the use of teeth, right?”

Joining Lemon in the kiddie pool of bad journalism from 2014 is Rolling Stone (for its infamously debunked University of Virginia gang rape story), CBS’ 60 Minutes (which did an entire piece on Ebola in Liberia, called “The Ebola Hot Zone,” that didn’t include one interview with an actual person from the affected area) and Fox & Friends (for its insensitive Ray Rice elevator joke).

Read more at Darts & Laurels.

5 Black Students Named Rhodes Scholars

 

They were among 207 finalists from 86 colleges and universities who were selected in 16 geographic districts.

2015_rhodes_scholars

(Left to right) Tayo Sanders, Rachel Harmon, Ridwan Hassen, Sarah Yerima, Robert Fisher

 

Five black students have been selected as Rhodes Scholars in one of the highest academic achievements for U.S. college students, according to the Rhodes Trust, which administers the program, and the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

The 2015 class of Rhodes Scholars was chosen from a pool of 877 students who were endorsed by 305 colleges and universities. There were 207 finalists from 86 colleges and universities who were selected in 16 different geographic districts, the Journal says. Two students from each district were chosen as Rhodes Scholars. Students can enter the competition in the district in which they reside or the district where they attended college. The 32 outstanding students will begin their studies at Oxford University in October 2015, according to the Rhodes Trust.

Alain LeRoy Locke, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1907, was the first black Rhodes Scholar, according to Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root’s editor-in-chief and the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. Locke was born in Philadelphia in 1885, the only son of a lawyer and teacher, both of whom had been born free, Gates writes. Since then, others have joined the exclusive ranks.

Here is a list of the five most recent winners, according to the Rhodes Trust, which made the announcement in November.

Robert A. Fisher is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is majoring in political science with minors in history and Africana studies. He previously won a Truman Scholarship. Fisher is the student body president at the university and has a perfect academic record. Fisher will study for a master’s degree in comparative social policy at Oxford.

Rachel V. Harmon is from Champaign, Ill. She is a senior at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, where she is majoring in industrial and labor relations. Before starting her college career, Harmon was an AmeriCorps volunteer at a rural elementary school in the Mississippi Delta. She plans to study for a master’s degree in evidence-based social policy at Oxford.

Ridwan Y. Hassen is a senior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He is majoring in computer science with an emphasis on neuroscience. He began his college career at Emory University and transferred to Dartmouth after two years. He is the son of refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia. At Dartmouth, he is a member of the Endurance Racing Team. Hassen is planning to pursue a master’s degree in public policy at Oxford.

Tayo A. Sanders II is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he is majoring in materials science. Sanders previously won a Goldwater Scholarship. He has conducted research in the nanomaterials laboratory at the University of Strasbourg in France. Sanders is a triathlete. At Oxford, Sanders plans to earn a PhD in materials science.

Sarah E. Yerima is a senior at Princeton University in New Jersey. She is majoring in sociology. During the summer of 2013, Yerima completed an intensive program in Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro. She will enroll in a two-year master’s degree program in politics at Oxford. After studying at Oxford, Yerima plans to enter a joint JD/PhD program and hopes to become a professor of law.

Rockets take the lead in their division with big overtime win

Can Howard fight for a Title?


Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 12.56.56 PM

It looks like the Rockets are trying to do some damage this year.  The team took the lead in their division after a win over the Memphis Grizzlies last night.  The game was a big one, since the Grizzlies are second in the Southwest division, right behind the Rockets.  In fact, a win would have given them the lead. James Harden and Josh Smith led the way, with Harden dropping in 32.  Josh Smith also contributed 21, with the team winning a close 117-111 battle in overtime.

BOSSes – do you think that Dwight Howard is really tough enough to compete for a championship?  He’s now 29 years old and has been accused by some players of being soft and unfocused.  Is he too much of a choir boy or can he be the bad boy that takes down the title?  Right now, Portland, Memphis, Dallas and Golden State stand strongest in the west, but of course, you can never write off the Spurs.

As for the man who called Howard soft?  Kobe Bryant and his Lakers are stinking up the NBA, with an embarrassing 9 – 21 record, winning just about 30% of their games.  They are currently the second-worst team in the west, so maybe Kobe should have tried a little harder to keep Dwight in Los Angeles.  Read more about last night’s game:

Harden and Dwight Howard each scored four points in the extra five-minute period as the Rockets improved to 21-7 to grab the Southwest division lead from the Grizzlies, who fell to 21-8.

Harden also passed out 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds for the Rockets, who signed Smith hours earlier after the forward had been dropped Monday by Detroit. Smith played 32 minutes and hit 9-of-21 shots from the field as well as grabbing eight rebounds.

http://www.brothersonsports.com/rockets-take-the-lead-in-their-division-with-big-overtime-win/