Queen Of The Damned @nstxrk - Tumblr Blog

Me watching The Chosen:

That was the last sunrise I ever saw. Perhaps the kindest thing the dark gift has given me. // It was the last time I saw my brother. It was the last time I saw the sun. It was the only time I ever felt free.

Interview with the Vampire (2022 - ) // Sinners (2025)

justlous-art

tony is tired of avengers press conferences (thank you mr. chris pine for the reference)

deathberi

#worried much huh

wells-hannah

BROOKE DAVIS ↳ ONE TREE HILL 9x11

redbelles

THE MUMMY (1999) + letterboxd reviewspart two ↳ part one | insp.

scholarshit

John Singleton Tribute (pt.1)

GUNS & BUTTER: a Portrait of Melvin

This week we lost acclaimed director and filmmaker John Singleton. Known for classic films like Boyz N The Hood, Poetic Justice, Baby Boy, Higher Learning, Rosewood and many more. Reflecting on his dynamic body of work, I realized just how much of my own perspective of the world has been directly influenced and shaped by his stories, his portraits of Black masculinity. Never flat, his Black male characters were always nuanced and complicated. For the next couple days, I’m highlighting a few of those portraits in tribute to this great story-teller.

Perhaps my most favorite John Singleton character is Melvin from the 2001 film Baby Boy. So much can be said about Baby Boy, it is a story with many, many layers. The focus is typically on Jody (Tyrese Gibson), the 20-year-old titular character that refuses to man up to his responsibilities. But aside from the shocking scene of a naked Melvin (Ving Rhames) scrambling eggs in the kitchen, not too much has been said about this particular character; a reformed thug whose experience and tough love helps push Jody along. Many of the characters in Baby Boy are exaggerated, plot-devices used to advance the narrative arch of Jody’s saga. Melvin, however, is a different story.

Melvin is much more than a plot-device. In fact, he represents a really powerful Black male presence rarely depicted. Melvin’s story is complicated. He’s not a dedicated father like Furious Styles (Boyz N The Hood). He’s not a teacher like Professor Maurice Phipps (Higher Learning). Melvin is not a role model. He’s a low life, a killer, a thug, a gang banger, but he is also someone who figured out his way in the world. Melvin has found comfort in his imperfections, a lesson he tries to impart on Jody. In the end, you understand that Jody didn’t need a “role model” he needed a Melvin. A man, like him, with flaws and mistakes. A man who doesn’t project perfection or even pretend to have it all together. A man who has dealt with some shit and came out on the other side.

This character, Melvin, this portrait of Black masculinity is complex. And it is in this complexity that his presence is most compelling because, in the end, his realness is undeniable. Every Black man has a Melvin or at least knows a Melvin. Melvin might be your dad, or an uncle, a friend, a just a random crackhead in our hood. These Melvins are essential in helping us find our way in the world. A world that is full of shit and tragedy and imperfection. It isn’t pretty and it never really quite gets there, and that’s “the real”!

My Melvin was an uncle who spent much of my childhood between stints in prison, homeless, or hooked on drugs and booze. When he was sober, he always had jokes and was kind and friendly. But he couldn’t shake his addictions to drugs and alcohol and over the years his presence (albeit infrequent) swung from simply repulsive to downright embarrassing. The summer I left home to go away to college, he invited me to make some extra money by coming to work with him. At the time he was a laborer fixing potholes and repairing sidewalks, etc. My very first day, I lasted all of 30 minutes on the job and was sent home after passing out from heat exhaustion! When my uncle came home that night, he passed me $100 bucks and informed me that the foreman said I was not to come back. He then looked me in the eye and said “I knew you weren’t going to cut it out there. But I took you out there for a reason. I already ruined my life, I don’t have any options but this kind of work. But you, you have a bright future in front of you. You’re the kind of person that needs to be in an air-conditioned room with your feet under a desk. So when you go off to college, remember, if you fuck up this is all you’ll be left with.”

So as I sit in my air-conditioned office, feet under my desk, I give thanks for the Melvins out there, the unsung heroes that help raise up Black baby boys into Black men.