Posted on Thursday, August 6, 2015

‘Born Again Virgin’ Recap: Did You Watch Last Night?

Hello World,

I have a confession. Although “Sex and the City” went off of the air more than 10 years ago at this point, I still watch at least one rerun a week. I’ve been on the SATC tour in NYC, and I even have the SATC board game. I truly feel like I know Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda & Samantha, and the girlfriends are really a part of my life even now.

That’s why when I heard about a new show featuring 30-something girlfriends (Not “Girlfriends”…another confession…I only discovered that wonderful show after it went off of the air, but that is another post for another day.) looking for love, and one of those women is choosing to do it (or not do it actually) while celibate, I knew I had to least watch once. “Born Again Virgin” is not a Christian show. Let me get that out of the way. Jenna, the central character of the sitcom, is a born again virgin meaning she is taking sex off the table so that it won’t cloud her decision in making the right choice of a mate. She decided to become celibate after realizing that her “body count”has surpassed her age. Ouch. Although “Born Again Virgin” is not a Christian show, however, I still think it has the potential to introduce many women to the best way of making a choice in a mate. And many of these women may not have considered this style of dating before…

The pilot episode of “Born Again Virgin” originally aired in February, and the feedback to the innovative show was so positive that the show is now back for a full season. The new season debuted last night with two, 30-minute episodes…

Episode 1: “No New Friends”

In the first scene, we see Jenna (Danielle Nicolet) dreaming about having sex…While Jenna is not doing it in real life, she can at least dream about it! So Jenna gets mad when she is awakened and thereby deprived of the only sexual experience she can have since she declared herself celibate four months ago…

Once she completely wakes up, she realizes that long-term celibacy is going to be hard, and she decides to join a Modern Day Virgins celibacy support group to the ridicule of her roommate Kelly (Meagan Holder), a hard-driving pr exec and her other roommate Tara (Eva Marcille), who is an over-the-top actress. During the first meeting, it becomes clear to her that the group is not made up of born again virgins. The group is for actual virgins. But she keeps her secret opting to stay in the group for the support she thinks it will give her particularly as she is constantly being tempted by one of her neighbors fine-as-wine Donovan (Durrell “Tank” Babbs). In fact, Jenna was dreaming about Donovan in the beginning of the show. How many of you know that when you are trying to walk on a higher path, the devil will set up a roadblock! At the end of the meeting, the group leader encourages the virgins to either call Jesus or her if they get weak in between meetings. Amen!

Jenna decides to host the next meeting of the Modern Day Virgins at her home, but her friends, who are curious about the group, crash the meeting. A random remark from Tara, who has no-filter (Think Samantha on SATC), reveals that Jenna is not an actual virgin. The group leader goes crazy and yells, “She’s been deflowered” while making the rest of the virgins evacuate her home like a bomb went off. But one virgin stays behind. She is intrigued that Jenna has actually been where she wants to go and asks for her help, saying that she is going to have sex with or without her help. Jenna makes up the plain Jane virgin with “hair and makeup,” and she is ready to go get her blessing so to speak. And before she even leaves the building, she encounters Donovan who is willing and able to bless her. The next day, her hair askew and her makeup smudged, she bumps into Jenna as she getting on the elevator to leave the building as she never left in the first place! She recounts her experience to Jenna who realizes that her temptation has deflowered her new friend. She is not pleased and decides she needs “no new friends.”

Episode 2: Go Hard or Go Home

Another reason why I like the show is that Jenna is a writer and has committed herself to blogging about her no sex in the city experience (I think the setting is Atlanta). (Sound familiar? Think me two years ago.) Although her blog seems to be successful as it is, she decides to take it up a notch by adding vlogging to her site. During her first video which she makes in a luxurious bedroom (sidebar: Why does every writer on TV seem to be doing better financially than most of the writers I know in real life?), she gets up from her laptop to show her audience something and realizes that she is wearing granny panties! Why wear sexy panties if no one is going to see them? Jenna’s vlogging, however, does attract new visitors to her site, particularly one 15-year-old girl who wants to stop having sex with her boyfriend but worries he will leave her if she does. Jenna is able to give some good advice to the teenager based on her own experiences.

Meanwhile, Kelly is working hard to get a new client, an NBA basketball player who is interviewing pr companies to market and promote his new video game. Kelly, who is very competitive, beats the basketball player at his own video game so to speak but simultaneously loses the account. The male ego is very delicate. But she won the account back by pretending she cannot play actual basketball very well, and his male ego is restored.

Tara, on the other hand, is trying to get the attention of Lisa Wu, yes Lisa Wu from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and now “Hollywood Divas” as she is trying to position herself as a reality star. When Tara and her roommates meet for dinner one night, Tara, who is secretly video recording the dinner, manufactures a crazy fight with her girlfriends and knocks all of their food of the table in “anger.” She shows the video to Lisa expecting to impress her with her antics but instead the reality show star encourages her to not sink that low! The irony is that Lisa was taping their conversation for her reality show…

So that is my quick and dirty recap of the first two episodes of “Born Again Virgin.” The show airs on TV One on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. CST.

FYI: I didn’t take the best notes this time around because I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but I will be back next week with a thorough recap!

Will you be watching?

Any thoughts?

Posted on Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Why I’m Glad Future Supposedly Broke Off His Engagement to Ciara…Breaking Down Future’s Huffington Post Interview

Just Say No to Missionary Dating Yo!

Hello World,

So I rolled over in my bed and decided to pick up my phone and look at FB for a second or two before going back to bed…Awww, yes the perils of sleeping with your phone next to you on the night stand…Mane, I happened upon rapper Future’s Huffington Post interview that was done by Marcus Lamont Hill and posted yesterday or hours ago since I’m posting in the middle of the night…Hill asked Future, Ciara’s ex-fiancé, about Russell’s Wilson announcement that he and Ciara are choosing to be celibate in their relationship until when or if they get married and if he waited with Ciara too…Below is the exchange from the article “Future: Ciara And I Didn’t Wait To Have Sex, But We Prayed After.”

When host Marc Lamont Hill told Future about Ciara and Russell Wilson’s decision to abstain, Future said that while God never told him to wait for sex, Ciara did say she wanted to pray when the deed was done.

“God told me something else. He ain’t tell me to wait. I guarantee you that,” Future said. “We prayed afterwards though. After we did it, we prayed. That’s a true story.”

And here is the video clip of the entire exchange about this question:

Folk, I’m sleepy, but I had to do it…I had to blog about this because it brought back so many hurtful memories of dating men who weren’t bad dudes but just didn’t share the same amount of devotion I have to my faith…I tried “missionary dating” which is when you date someone and try to get them to commit to Jesus Christ through your relationship…It never worked for me although I tried several times…From what Russell Wilson has said of Ciara and what Future has said of Ciara, her faith in God is important to her…Based on what Russell Wilson said of his current relationship with Ciara, he gets that, but Future still seems puzzled about Ciara’s faith…Obviously, Ciara didn’t chose to be celibate in her relationship with Future, and it’s not up to me to judge her for her choice. But, if what Future said is true, her heart is pointed toward God…

I love a lot of things about my husband, but one of the things I love the most about him is his commitment to his faith…On Sunday morning, he beats me going to church…And he is more involved in church activities than I am…It is such a relief…I’m exhaling to borrow a phrase from Terry McMillan….

And I’m not the only one who has had this experience…Tamera Mowry, who is married to Adam Housley, shared about “missionary dating” in an interview with EBONY magazine…

I tried the ‘missionary dating’ [in the past] where you have a person with a great heart who you think is perfect and wonderful except for this one important area that you try to change. That’s unfair to that person. That person needs to be who they are 100%. And it’s unfair to you. You don’t want to drag somebody to church with you. My husband wakes up on Sundays and says ‘Hey, are we going to church today?’ It just makes [waiting] all worthwhile. I dated guys who did not share those same beliefs and it was hard. There were many nights of heartbreak and crying, and that’s not what God wants for us.

To read the rest of the article, go to [INTERVIEW] Tia and Tamera on Marriage and Motherhood.

Here is what the Bible has to say:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14

In another part of Future’s Huffington Post interview, Future says that he was the one who broke off their engagement…I got thoughts on that too, but I will keep them to myself for now…Suffice it to say, you have to be equally yoked so it was good that their engagement ended although I know it must have been very hurtful…

Alright, I can go back to sleep now…

Nite…

Any thoughts?

Posted on Monday, July 13, 2015

Russell Wilson & Ciara Are One of at Least 7 Celebrity Couples Who Chose Celibacy Before Marriage…

Read About Other Celebrity Couples Who Were Celibate Before Marriage in Today's Post...

Hello World,

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson created headlines recently when he revealed in an interview with Pastor Miles McPherson from The Rock Church in San Diego, California that Wilson and his girlfriend, singer and dancer Ciara have opted to be celibate in their dating relationship of five to six months…

Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Wilson: I met this girl named Ciara, who is the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s the most kind person, the most engaging person. I could probably learn more from her … everything that I could ever want.

And so I’ll never forget: She was on tour, she was traveling, and I was looking at her in the mirror. I was sitting in the dressing room, and she was getting ready to go, about 15 minutes before she went onstage. And she was sitting there, and God spoke to me and said, ‘I need you to lead her.’ And I was like, ‘Really? Right now?’

He goes, ‘I want you and need you to lead her.’

So I told her right then and there, ‘What would you do if we took all that extra stuff off the table and just did it Jesus’ way?’

McPherson: Elaborate on what that means, because there’s a lot of people out here, their minds are going a whole lot of different places right now, and we wanna know.

Wilson: Yeah, we’re talking about sex.

For me, I knew that God had brought me into her life to bless her and for her to bless me and to bless so many people with the impact that she has, that I have. We’re not gonna be perfect, by any means. Life’s not perfect. Nobody’s perfect, but he’s anointed both of us, and I know that He’s calling for us to do something miraculous, something special.

I said to her, and she completely agreed: ‘Could we love each other without that?’ If you can really love somebody without that, then you can really love somebody.

Below is the video if you want to see for yourself.

But Russell Wilson & Ciara aren’t the only celebrity couple who opted for celibacy before marriage…

2. DeVon Franklin & Meagan Good

DeVon Franklin, vice president of production for Columbia Pictures and author “Produced By Faith: Enjoy Real Success Without Losing Your True Self and actress Meagan Good, who got married on June 16, 2012, were celibate for 10 months, according to a The Christian Post interview. The couple have written a book about their celibate courtship, “The Wait,” which comes out in February 2016, according to Franklin’s Facebook page. In fact, Franklin, who is also a minister, revealed in a GlobalGrind.com interview that he was celibate for 10 YEARS before he married Good.

Franklin said in a GlobalGrind.com interview: The thing I couldn’t do which was eating me apart, going back to this idea of being whoever God created you to be. Sometimes we want to be this person at home, this person in the office, this person at church and then we get our lines mixed up. And trying to be different people to different situations, it tears you apart. So what was happening with me is that I would go and preach one thing but then I was living another, and I could not do it. I could not look at myself in the mirror. I’m like, no, I can’t live like this, so I had to stop and say, ‘You know what, until I get married, [sex is] off the table.’

3. Adam Housley & Tamera Mowry

Adam Housley, who is a senior correspondent for Fox News, and Tamera Mowry, co-host on “The Real” talk show, dated for approximately six years who before they got married on May 15, 2011. Mowry has revealed that they waited three years before becoming intimate, but she opted to become “re-virginized” and be celibate again for three additional years before they got married. She recently gave birth to their second child Ariah Talea on July 1!

Mowry said in a YBF interview: We actually didn’t wait before we got married to be intimate…but we did wait 3 years. (The two have been together for 6 years). I wanted to do what felt right for me. I became re-virginized. It’s something that just felt right for me. It was just a personal choice. And even after being intimate, we decided as a couple to be celibate until the wedding.

4. Courtney B. Vance & Angela Bassett

Actors Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett got married on October 17, 1997 after they began dating in 1996. They wrote about their love for one another in their book Friends: A Love Story.

Vance in their book: Don’t be ashamed to save yourself sexually for the person you’re going to marry. When you’re dating, it can be helpful to communicate a standard message up front: ‘I just want to be clear that I’m saving myself for my husband (or wife), so there’s not going to be any sex. I’m not even going to think about it. So let’s just get to know each other.’ You’ll know that if the person sticks around, they like you for who you are, rather than thinking they’re going to get sex from you.”

5. Rev. Wilbert Floyd & Cee Cee Michaela Floyd

Cee Cee Michaela Floyd, who was once a star on the UPN hit comedy “Girlfriends” and is now a minister, was celibate for 10 years and 9 months before marrying Rev. Wilbert Floyd on Feb. 20, 2011. I interviewed her in my book After the Altar Call: The Sisters’ Guide to Developing a Personal Relationship With God

Michaela Floyd: I remember I was on an airplane, and I was reading a book. I can’t remember what the name was, but in this book was one of the scriptures out of Psalms―that verse that says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Oh my God, that really blessed me. As simple as that was, I had never heard anything like it. This is so much bigger than your parents just having a baby. Before you were in your mother’s womb, God had a purpose for you. I realized I didn’t want to take my body parts and use them for anything because I was literally made by God. I can’t just walk around and let folks dabble with my makeup. You know what I’m saying? And that is when I made my vow to be abstinent until I got married.

Two other celebrity couples were also celibate before they got married. Unfortunately, they have since divorced:

There are some single celebrities who have opted to practice celibacy as well:

Obviously, celibacy before marriage is God’s standard according to the Bible, but do you think celibacy is practical in today’s times? What do you think about the decision of Russell Wilsonn & Ciara to be celibate? Is it harder for celebrities to be celibate?

Any thoughts?