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Monday, May 16, 2011

Who's Next In Line?

Photo from first major role in "Strictly Business."
I can only speak for black men, but we have a standard when it comes to beauty. For almost two decades now, that standard bas been Halle Berry. Heck, I even watched that garbage of a movie, "Monster's Ball," just to see her. Many times I've heard black guys (and some women) say, "She looks good, but she's no Halle Berry."

Halle will be 45 years old come August 14th. Now, she still looks stunning, but I do think it's time to name a successor.

I want to nominate five black women (in no particular order) to replace Halle Berry as the next "standard." This person will be referred to whenever someone wants to make a comparison to a beautiful black woman. Who's next in line to be the next Halle?

#1 - Beyonce Knowles

Pros: She is known on a first name basis like Halle, so that helps. She's a world music icon and she has music videos that sets tons of trends in the dance clubs. Most under-30 somethings would argue that she took over the title from Halle at least four or five years ago.

Cons: Is she likable? She tends to have controversy follow her and accusations of arrogance. "Sasha Fierce" was even recently booed by paparazzi. How do you get booed by paparazzi?

#2 - Serena Williams

Pros: Also has first name fame and is a worldwide icon. Her fashion is eccentric and considered a trend setter by some. She also represents some of the dark chocolate goodness a lot of us love.

Cons: Is she a tad bit too much to handle physically and emotionally? She has biceps like Rambo and an attitude to match (given that she's threatened to do bodily harm on a tennis judge once).

#3 - K.D. Aubert

Pros: With lips that would bring a lollipop to tears of joy, Karen Denise started small as the strawberry girl in the Fanta cola commercials. She became more popular after her role in the horrible movie, "Soul Plane" and has now appeared on TV shows, commercials, and movies. She's young enough and has the personality and look to become "the standard."

Cons: She's yet to go mainstream. She doesn't have the name recognition as the others on the list and could get lost in the shuffle unless she has a major movie role coming soon.

#4 - Megan Good

Pros: Physically, Megan possesses some of the same qualities as K.D. She's much more accomplished in television and movies with her latest appearance in a recent release called "Jumping the Broom." She's curvy and has the sex appeal to carry the torch for the next decade. She is gaining steam as a "horror babe" with appearances in "The Unborn," "Saw V," and "One Missed Call."

Cons: Also like K.D., she isn't mainstream yet, but she's on her way. She still has a long way to go to compare to Halle, who is a household name and has done countless of major movies with leading roles.

#5 - Jennifer Hudson

Pros: She doesn't have that iconic first name, but she definitely has full name recognition. Jennifer Hudson slowly became a household name thanks to her performance on "American Idol" and her first movie break, "Dreamgirls." Hudson won 29 awards for her role in "Dreamgirls." She's also a success story with her weight loss after losing 80 lbs. A beautiful woman to match the voice.

Cons: Doesn't have that "boom boom pow." Hudson is more cute than she is sexy. You would be more inclined to pinch the cheeks on face rather than below her waist. She just doesn't have that "come get me" in her.

So, after going through the five that come to mind for me, which one do you think should carry the torch? If it's not any of the five, then list your write-in candidate in the comments below.

So many of the black sex symbols that came to my mind when making this list were over 35 years old: Stacey Dash (45), Lisa Raye (44), Sanna Lathan (39), Gabrielle Union (38), Leila Arcieri (37). I thought that maybe I was stuck in my generation, so I Googled some Top 10 Black Women lists and on three different lists, six of the 10 were over 35.

Maybe it's too soon to pass the torch. Maybe Halle has some "Lena Horne" in her and can hold her beauty for yet another decade.

Now that I think about it, what about black men standards? Denzel Washington was the standard for handsome black men for close to two decades as well. A shout out to anyone who wants to take the reins on this one and run with it: who is the standard the sistas go with now? Boris? Idris? Who?

First lady to comment below and volunteer to put their Top 5 Black Men nominees on their site will get linked to this post.

White guys and girls, I don't want to leave you out. You all have so many in which to choose from the acting stages to the recording studios. Who have you considered "the standard" over the last decade or two? Brad Pitt? Angelina Jolie? Jennifer Anniston? George Clooney?

First white man or woman to comment below and volunteer to put their Top 5 White Men / Women nominees on their site will get linked to this post.

We can do this for all ethnic groups who care to join (I didn't forget about you Iz (Jessica Alba?) and Reckmonster - (Manny Pacquiao?).

Let's find out what each group likes!

Turning heads since 1991.

17 comments:

  1. 45 or not, the top three on my list are Halle Berry, Jen Aniston and Anne Hathaway (more or less in that order). Of the 3, only one is under 40 (Anne is 28).

    So Halle, 45 or not, is still the winner winner Chicken dinner.

    And while Monster's ball was awesome, Swordfish was my first taste of Berry's berries. I own that shit on bluray!

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  2. "Berry's berries?" LOL! I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other races and their list. I personally think I could easily do a Top 5 of my favorite Latinas. White women would be difficult because there are so many of them on TV thanks to the CW. LOL!

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  3. I try not to divide my women into pigment categories. My lists are more like "Top 4 in their 40's" or "Top 5 small-frame women."

    I don't care if you're black or white or a creamy caramel. Hot is hot.

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  4. Oh, I agree that "hot is hot," but I wanted to put a racial spin on it because every child has an icon and / or dream date. And although we want America to be a transparent society, I don't think we're there yet. So, until then, I figured I'd ask "who's next in line?"

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  5. I'd personally be afraid of Jennifer Hudson. Girl's got some pipes. One screaming orgasm. and you're deaf forever...

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  6. LOL! Leave it to you to take it to another level!

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  7. IMHO, it's too soon for Halle to be passing the torch. The other day we were joking about how nice it would be if when sick you could leave your body at the repair shop and rent another one...I requested to rent Halle Berry's body.

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  8. LOL @Manny Pacquiao!

    I have to disagree with you, though, as I think Hudson is definitely sexy, and she has an amazing talent. Notice how they didn't ask Beyonce to sing in the Aretha Franklin medley at the Grammys.

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  9. Cake, it sounds like you've been watching "Avatar" lately. :)

    Tsaritsa, I picked Manny because I figured that was the only person from the Philippines that any one from the states would know. As for Bey and her singing, she tends to over-do things.

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  10. UH, Q, I hate to break it to you, but y'all KNOW of a lot of celebrities that are Filipino (or part Filipino) and you just don't know it! Just a short list: Enrique Iglesias, Nia Peeples, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rob Schneider, Tia Carrere, Vanessa Hudgens, Apl. De Ap (Black Eyed Peas), Cheryl Burke (dancing with the stars), Cris Judd (dude that was married to Jennifer Lopez for a minute, Phoebe Cates, Batista (the wrestler), Bruno Mars,and I could go on and on and on...but you get the idea!

    I still think Halle rules over all those other chicks you mentioned. I don't really find that I'm terribly attracted to Asian men, as a group. I just find something "hot" about individuals - regardless of race. And I know I'm probably sounding all biased, but I think I find "mixed" people to be beautiful and most attractive (hence, Halle ruling for as long as she has!!!). I don't know if my Top 5 list would make any sense - because it's all over the place. The top 5 men who want to marry me but don't know it are, in no particular order:
    Matt Damon, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Shemar Moore, Dave Gahan (lead singer from Depeche Mode...don't ask - this goes back to H.S.) and I have this RETARDED crazy cougar crush on this little cutie named Jesse McCartney. I'm almost embarrassed that I wrote this list out.

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  11. Cheryl Burke is hotter than fish grease. Are you sure you're not making these up? I had no idea what any of them were. I think I knew Tia Carrere, but Chris Judd? Lou Diamond? Enrique? You could have won a lot of money off of me in a bet (Chuck E. Cheese corrupted me as a child).

    Dag, I can't get anyone to bite on doing another racial list for me. Maybe we are becoming more transparent. As for Jesse, isn't that Justin Beiber's older brother or something?

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  12. KD Aubert and Lisa Raye are very beautiful ladies. Hell they all are. Beyonce: I have a friend that works at a spa in New York and say's she is a major BITCH!

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  13. @ Sonia - that's the going topic on Bey. People say that she's too arrogant to be the queen of anything. I have no idea, but I've seen nothing to discredit that accusation.

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  14. This is a good post! You go ladies! Well done!

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  15. This post is written very well and presented in an equally awesome way. Thank you so much for sharing.

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