1. Mike Tyson’s Daughter Dies

I was saddened to hear about the death of Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter today.

2. Where in the World is Kevin Bacon’s Blackberry?

I had to post this because I was actually in New York for the Memorial Day weekend when this story broke. I got off the D train and stopped at a convenience store in Harlem on 134th and Lenox. While I was waiting for my friend to pay for her items, I picked up the Post, which had a cover story about Bacon getting robbed on the subway. Poor guy. Am I the only one who likes the fact that he still rides the subway even though he’s a star?  I hope he gets his Crackberry back.  I wouldn’t know what to do without mine.

3. Dear Eminem: I Think You Made That Song Already

I just realized last week that  Eminem’s “new music” sounds exactly like his old music as I was listening to "We Made You? on 96.1 The Beat. Seriously, his new songs "We Made You" and "Crack a Bottle" are way too reminiscent of his old hits "My Name Is" and "Just Lose It."  Apparently this is his formula: Make fun of celebrities +  Mention Dr. Dre’s name + Sing an annoying hook = A hit song.  But don’t take my word for it, even MTV agrees, it’s pretty much more of the same.

4. VH1’s Charm School Host Lala Vasquez Goes Off on Dallas Fans

I saw this video of Lala, who has a son with Denver Nugget Carmello Anthony, going off on fans last week, but I had to post it today after watching the latest episode of VH1’s Charm School last night. (Yes, I admit that show is one of my guilty pleasures … but I digress.) Although Ricki Lake and Lala are trying to teach the ladies how to be charming; based on this recent video, the Charm School chicks might be rubbing off on Lala. In her defense, she said she was only responding after Dallas fans were taunting her and her son.

Back in the day (like one year ago), trailers were only made to promote movies. These days, however, comics books and graphic novels are getting the trailer treatment more and more. For example, check out this video teaser for the new graphic novel The Nobody, by Jeff Lemire — coming your way soon from Vertigo/DC Comics:

Hello Creative Loafers.  In the words of Jay-Z: “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Neph…”  So now that we are BFFs, I need to share with you the top three things in Hollyweird that are making me scratch my head and say “WTF?” on this wonderful Wednesday afternoon:

1. Pink pulls a Katie Perry

So Pink supposedly told a tabloid that she is “drum roll please” BISEXUAL!  Uh, ok, no surprise there ... but apparently she thinks we didn’t know that already because she’s using her Twitter account to tell the universe that she is so not bisexual. Oh, and according to her, bisexuality is so 1991. WTF?!  I still love her music. Pink rocks. Period.

2. Very married hip-hop producer Swizz Beats confirms he’s dating Alicia Keys

Rumors about Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys dating have been circulating forever. The initial leak came from Mashonda, the very unhappy wife of Swizz Beats who is also the mother of his child. Well, Swizz recently confirmed that Alicia is his “Boo.” WTF! So does this officially make Alicia Keys a hip-hop homewrecker?  I’m just saying …

3. I wish a man would cheat on me after I birthed eight of his children

This whole Jon and Kate Plus Eight drama wasn’t even on my radar screen until last night. A friend and I were walking down Tryon, headed to The Color Purple play when a Fox Charlotte cameraman tried to get us to go on camera to talk about how we felt about this hot topic. We declined since neither of us watches the show, but apparently the rest of America is watching it. Honestly, the idea of eight children running around on my television screen is not my idea of entertainment. That sounds more like torture for a single gal like me.

Acclaimed author Terry McMillan is coming to Charlotte. She'll take the stage with fellow New York Times best-selling author Omar Tyree Sat., April18 at the McGlohon Theatre.

This event is a part of the "Change is Coming to Charlotte" Event Series. Sponsored by RealEyes Bookstore and the Charlotte Literary Festival; the "Change is Coming to Charlotte" Event Series is a fundraiser for the Charlotte Literary Festival and the Kickoff to Writing Scholarship Program.

But before McMillan hits the stage, she gave Creative Loafing 15 minutes to pick her brain.

Creative Loafing: What do you think of the current state of the literary market?

Terry McMillan: Based on what's going on with the economy, the market is tougher, especially for African-American writers. And there's so much of the street fiction out there that it's starting to cancel each other out. As far as African-American writers in general, there are a lot of fine young writers out here who are not getting the kind of attention that they deserve. Good quality fiction has seemed to fascinate the publishing industry as much as some of this other stuff — because it doesn't seem to have been selling. But, I think publishers are getting tired of this fiction that is written with all of this gratuitous sex and violence. It doesn't represent what's going on. It's not even pleasurable to read. Some of that stuff is scary.

So, what are you currently reading?

I just started reading James McBride, Song Yet Sung. And I started reading a memoir by a writer, a Southern writer, his name is Rick Bragg.

Do you plan on ever writing a memoir?

No. My life hasn't been tragic enough. And plus, I don't think my life is all that interesting. And I don't want people to know — this is my business. I write fiction to express and explain a lot of things that I see happen to people and some of which that has happened to me, emotionally, but I can dispense with it through my characters. To me, it is a lot more redeeming. I love memoirs, especially really good ones. But there have been some horrific things that have happened to people, but I don't think that's one of the things you need to write a good one. But what's been happening over the last few years is the more shocking it is, the more they think it is interesting. You don't have to have a catastrophic life to write a good memoir.

What are you working on now?

I'm working a novel, yes, Lord. I just changed the title of a chapter. What was it called? "If I Sit Still Long Enough." That's not the chapter now, it's called "14 Years." That's the name of a chapter, but the novel is called Getting Back To Happy. I'm about two-thirds through it. I'm going to read from it in North Carolina. I cannot believe how many times I've been to North Carolina. I just came back from North Carolina. I was in Greensboro; I was at Wake Forest [University].

Oprah Winfrey bought the movie rights to your novel, The Interruption of Everything. Are we ever going to see this book on the big screen?

I think it fell apart. They had someone write a script and Sony wasn't happy with it. I thought the script was better than the book. [She laughs.] The writer was really good and what she did, she did it quite well. Then they watered it down and what they did was made it too Hallmark-ish and that's what turned off Sony.

It seems that your characters age as you do. Is that something you plan while writing or is that just how it comes out?

That's just how it comes out. It's sort of like, I use fiction as a way of making sense of not just my life, but people that I know may be going though something comparable. In that instance, it just so happens that it's about middle-aged women. The book that I'm working on now is about the women from Waiting to Exhale. I revisit them 15 years later, and what I'm working on after that is about an older woman.