The Root 100 Is Back! (Featuring Toure, TJ Holmes and Melissa Harris Perry)

ToureNewark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker, musician Esperanza Spalding and writer Toure made The Root 100 list of influencers today. The annual rundown of movers and shakers this year includes a lot of folks I've written about here at The Snob over the past four years, including the prolific Melissa Harris Perry, TV show host and author Marc Lamont Hill, my not-boyfriend on The Daily Show Wyatt Cenac, my other not-boyfriend who married some woman who wasn't me CNN's TJ Holmes, the best haircut in the biz (and sharpest tack in MSNBC's dayside drawer) Tamron Hall, the man formerly known as "pretty, pretty princess" Harold Ford Jr., my Twitter friend Jamil Smith who's a producer on The Rachel Maddow Show, pundit Jamal Simmons, this site's most prolific corrections letter writer, super political pundit Roland S. Martin, fellow blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates and comic, Onion editor and Black Snob theme song performer Baratunde Thurston. There's also a bunch of super rich/famous/fancy people on the list to, such as your Beyonces and your Jay-Zs. But they're on every list everywhere, so they don't matter. The Root will have an awards reception for their honorees Nov. 5th here in Washington, D.C. at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, so sit politely by your laptops and wait for your e-vites. (The Root)

The Snob, Roland Martin, Toure and Baratunde Have A Panel Chat At NABJ, No One Dies

(Left to right) Baratunde Thurston of The Onion and Jack & Jill Politics, your friend neighborhood SNOB, author and MSNBC commentator Toure and, finally, my Uncle Rolly Rolls, the resident "Alpha" male, Roland S. Martin at NABJ last week. (Photo by Dr. Syb)No one in the audience died. We didn't kill each other. It was awesome. I think I only rolled my eyes once or twice. I got to finally meet Toure and Roland, as well as several other journalism folks and aspiring journalists -- including finally meeting the wonderfully charming Bomani Jones, who asked our panel for advice on his whole "I don't smile so people think I look mean because I'm a black guy on camera" thing. I think I suggested that he develop a half-smirk. Or, what I like to call, "The Dick Cheney."

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The Snob Is Coming to NABJ in Philadelphia Friday!

For the first time ever, The Snob will be on a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists' Annual Conference, this year being held in Philadelphia. I'll be part of a Friday afternoon panel about using your journalism skills to create your own niche in political coverage and commentary. Called "The Politics of Race," the panel features myself, Danielle Belton, aka The Black Snob; CNN and TV One's Roland Martin, who's probably best known around these parts as a guy who likes to send me correction emails; MSNBC contributor and author of Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? A Look At What It Means To Be Black Now, Toure; and comedian/political satirist Baratunde Thurston of The Onion and Jack and Jill Politics. The panel will take place Friday, Aug. 5 at 2:15 p.m. through 3:45 p.m. in room 121C. It's sure to be a fun one!

Al Sharpton Is On Your TeeVee, Sayin' Stuff

Not too long after the NAACP ripped CNN and others for their lack of black prime time anchors, Rev. Al Sharpton, Civil Rights activist and sayer of uncomfortable things, has been made the new afternoon host of some random news program on MSNBC. He's replacing Cenk Uygur who was kind of terrible in the same slot. Sharpton, while not a polished broadcast journalist, brings a much more unpredictable sense to the program, as conservatives, barely able to contain their disgust, attempt to have a debate with him on air.

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