Happy that I don't listen to the radio and so will not have to decide whether to change the station when "Birthday Cake" begins it's omnipresent rotation in the coming months. I'd never read that account of what he did do Rihanna before, and I really can't get past it.
I had a devout Mormon friend in high school and went to her house to work on a video presentation (she wasn't allowed to go to other people's houses unless they were in the church). Showed up wearing an outfit similar to that one (minus the boots), and they literally would not allow me into the house. At the time, she told me it would be more fun for us to film in the front yard, but later when we were back at school, my friend told me her father objected to my clothing choices.
I haven't watched glee at all this season, but this was remarkable. And this was a planned part of the episode pre-Saturday? What an odd trick of fate :(
I unironically love romantic comedies. My parents had a seriously drawn out, terrible divorce, my mom never remarried, and my dad was emotionally/physically unavailable for most of my life.
But romantic comedies always give me that little burst of energy and maybe a little (false?) hope that there's a boy out there for me. Sure, there are many, many problems with the genre and yeah they are full of sad stereotypes. I just (like Mindy Kaling states so eloquently in her book) really like watching people fall in love, even if it's fictional. When I'm feeling incapable of expressing emotions, I can watch Mr. Darcy stumble over his words in an awkward proposal, or when I'm feeling totally unlovable, imagine that there's a Jake Ryan waiting for me somewhere with a birthday cake. They're a cinematic upper, or a quick hit of sugar when you're feeling those post 3 p.m. doldrums on a Friday afternoon at work. Just enough to get you pumped up to take on challenges of real life.
When I saw her perform in Chicago last spring, she told a hilarious little story about her obsession with Beyonce and weaves and then showed off the weave she got in Chicago. I will love her forever.
Oh my God. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. And no one ever knows what movie it is that I'm talking about. "You know, with Mandy Moore? And the guy from 'Match Point' and 'A Single Man' before he started doing serious movies? No? Anyone? Bueller?"
Anyways, I watch it every time it comes on ABC Family. And it is my hope that Malia or Sasha gets up to some Mandy More-style shenanigans.
And that "Nessun Dorma" is involved somehow.
I doubled my monthly donation to Planned Parenthood as a result of this stupid decision on the part of SGK. Logical human beings are aware that Planned Parenthood isn't some sort of abortion fairy--rather, it is an organization that helps with women's reproductive issues in a way that no one else does.
My side story is that before the Obama administration's health care reform legislation, I lost my insurance, and then my new insurance called my endometriosis a pre-existing medical condition. And I would have had to pay out of pocket for any sort of treatment related to it. So I went to a Planned Parenthood, got regular pap smears and birth control at a price I was able to afford. So yes, PP does provide abortions, but it also provides that sort of care to millions of people like myself.
I wish they could've released this when Sarah Palin was all over the place. Now she's in her media death throes, with the only channel carrying her being FOX News, and this will give her relevance again. Relevance from now through the finish of next year's award season. Surely the Hollywood Lamestream Elite will give Julianne Moore some awards for this role.
I thought the Gawker Media hemorrhaging had come to an end. What the shit is going on?
Goodbye, Jim! You'll be missed.
Can someone invent a parent Facebook? Yes, I am single and child-free. I am also aware of the "hide" button. But I just have this belief that maybe people should exercise a tiny bit of a filter occasionally. Do I want to see 300 pictures of your kid? Or your kid's naked ass in the bathtub? No. Do you think Aidyn's going to be super pumped that she had a Facebook presence before she had the motor skills to untag herself? No.
I do have some friends who have babies that span the beauty spectrum, and they don't spend their free time posting pictures of their kids lying prostrate on floors. When I do see those children, in humiliating costumes or even just in diapers, those kids seem 10x cuter to me than the kids of people who overpost on Facebook.
Both my grandmas worked in houses in the Jim Crow South. One of them is still alive and absolutely loathed The Help. She is still happy black women are getting roles, but at the end of the movie said "So, that movie was made to make white people feel better." My other grandma, who passed more than a decade ago, is probably rolling over in her grave about this movie.
It would be okay if this movie were being made in a cinematic atmosphere like that of the white woman's experience in America--where yes, there's some stereotypical nonsense, but there are also roles that continue to push boundaries and show that the experience of womanhood is multifaceted and not limited to victimhood.
Black women are frequently depicted as either hookers or magic negroes (maids or like Jennifer Hudson's character in the first Sex and the City movie). We are almost never fully developed human beings. The Help is another example of that.
I am very, very happy for the women who won for The Help. But the book and movie are still horrible. [www.abwh.org]
The deluded parents are the worst! I mean, I can kind of deal with the ambitious ones, but to see your kid and not be realistic about his/her abilities is short changing you AND your kid. Do something your child can excel at and you're not wasting your time and energy. And then everyone is happy.
We had a child in our summer day camps who was four and would routinely pee on balance beams or in the back, far reaches of the gym. When we told his parents, and asked that they maybe talk to him about his habits (he never wet himself, ever, so we couldn't offer proof), they refused, saying we were mistaken and it was another kid. The gym owner had to step in in the end. He was pulled from summer camp, but then popped up again in regular classes, same story. His sister was on our team, so we just had to quietly deal with his ridiculousness.
I don't necessarily think it's a competition between parents/sports for who is most insane. Every parent who pushes his/her child so hard that other people notice is living vicariously through the kid. I say this is as a former gymnast, former cheerleader, and former gymnastics coach, and with a father who coaches Little League. Because I can easily see your Football Dad and raise you a Texas Cheerleading Mom or a Texas Gymnast Mom. Those are two of the most ferocious people, ever.
The thing about the sports featured on reality TV is that they are incredibly expensive. My dad had kids on his team who couldn't afford new uniforms, which were a fraction of the cost of a team leotard for my girls in gymnastics. These moms in pageants and gymnastics and figure skating are spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on something that has a shelf life even shorter than a professional football player. In all of these activities, you peak at a young age, and you're battling a biological clock in addition to maybe an overbearing parent or a Bela Karolyi-esque coach.
I was a gymnast, then a cheerleader, then a gymnastics coach. And I...there are not even words for the crazies that are gym moms. And, cheer moms--well, we already know they are capable of murder for hire plots.
Can't we just assume that any child on this show is a candidate for any number of terrible mental health issues? Well, some of the kids appear to be really into it and enjoy it. But the children who have to be drugged/juiced/dragged on-stage are really just auditioning for a future episode of Intervention.
One of my New Year's resolutions was to wear heels more, and so this morning, I wore a pair of booties to work. Stopped off at Bartells to pick up some terrible office snacks, and while kneeling to pick up a bag of Gummi Bears, my ankle rolled and I sort of fell, then caught myself and ended up in a kind of lunge. I love these shoes, but I needed a good excuse to quit my New Year's resolution and return to ballet flats. Other than my innate clumsiness.
So, thanks, Science!
They already opened up a few of these in Seattle--I've been to one and it is actually pretty cool. It doesn't look like a regular Starbucks, it just looks like a chill coffeehouse that serves booze. I'm sure it's a studied, market researched sort of chill, but it's awesome.
Seattle
Vancouver, B.C.
Victoria
Portland
Spokane and Tacoma tie for last
Vancouver, B.C.
Victoria
Portland
Spokane and Tacoma tie for last
(Vancouver, WA is a suburb of Portland)
Love,
Seattle
My goal in life as a little black girl growing up in the late 80s, early 90s was to be a cross between Clair Huxtable, Whitley Gilbert, and Ashley Banks. I am succeeding.
And for as much as the Real Housewives of Atlanta can be a questionable show perpetrating horrific stereotypes, I do kind of admire Phaedra Parks.
