Everyone Else Does A Wrap-Up
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: My Top Ten Favorite Television Moments of 2005
Topic: TV: The Soft Blue Glow
Every year, television provides me with countless hours of entertainment. This is the first time I've decided to honor my favorite television moments. Welcome to the first annual Kiki-TV Awards.

10. Joan Rivers accidently flipping the bird to America at large while showing off her line of nail polish on QVC.

9.Tyra Banks getting a mammogram and removing her bra to let her boobs sag on television talk show.

8. Evander Holyfield trying to do the two-step on Dancing With the Stars. You could see him counting the steps in his head!!!

7. Chris Rock's incredibly funny Jude Law joke at the Oscars. I agreed with him! "And who is Jude Law? Why is he in every movie I have seen the last four years? Even the movies he`s not acting in, if you look at the credits, he made cupcakes or something. He`s in everything!"


6. Terry McMillian and her gay ex-husband's interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

5. Terry McMillan's incredibly angry interview on theTavis Smiley Show.

McMillan: I paid for his college education, you get a vehicle, and if he's able--I basically paid 300 and some odd thousand dollars to get him a pet grooming business. Two days ago or three days ago, I find out he sold everything in it and split. OK? And everything he's been doing, he's been ly--he lied in his court documents, made them available on the internet. He and his attorney both are guilty of trying to spread rumors about me being a homophobe, all kinds of things. I mean, I didn't know that you could lie in court documents. Everything in his court documents are lies with one exception--two exceptions. One, that he's gay, and two, his name is Jonathan Plummer. And I resent this.


4. Reality TV darling and plus-size model Toccara's pole dance on VH-1's Celebrity Fit Club 2. Hey ya'll, it was to lose weight! ;-)

3. Tom Cruise beingthiscloseto having his head explode on The Today Show when discussing anti-depressants with Matt Lauer.

2. Mike Meyers and Chris Tucker's reactions to Kanye West's comments on a NBC telethon to raise money for the victims of Katrina.

and Number 1, drum roll please....
1. Kanye West's infamous George Bush comments:

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food. (...) those are my people down there.

(...) "We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us."

[Meyers, visibly uncomfortable, reads from prompter script. Camera cuts back to Kanye, who pauses, then says]

"George Bush doesn't care about black people!"

[camera abruptly switches back to a stunned Myers, then to actor Chris Tucker]

Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

You Call This A Love Song
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Alicia Keys Unbreakable
Topic: Thoughts on Music
Take a gander at Alicia Keys' latest hit single, the incredibly catchy Unbreakable:

<strong>"Unbreakable"

We could fight like Ike and Tina
Or give back like Bill and Camille
Be rich like Oprah and Steadman
Or instead struggle like Flo and James Evans
Cuz he ain't no different from you
And she ain't no different from me
So we got to live our dreams
Like the people on TV

We gotta stay tuned
Cuz there's more to see (Unbreakable)
Through the technical difficulties (Unbreakable)
We might have to take a break
But ya'll know we'll be back next week
I'm singing this love is unbreakable
Oh yeah yeah...

Yeah, clap your hands everybody
Clap your hands everybody
Lets do it like this, come on

See, we could act out like Will and Jada
Or like Kimora and Russell makin' paper, oh yeah
All in the family like the Jacksons
And have enough kids to make a band like Joe and Katherine, yeah

She ain't no different from me
And he ain't no different from you
So we got to live our dreams
Like the people on TV

We gotta stay tuned
Cuz there's more to see (Unbreakable)
Through the technical difficulties (Unbreakable)
We might have to take a break
But ya'll know we'll be back next week
I'm singing this love is unbreakable

We're living our dreams...yeah...
We're living our dreams
We're living our dreams
We're living our dreeeeeeeeeeeeams
(ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh)
We're living our dreams(We're living our dreams)
We're living our dreams(We're living our dreams)
We're living our dreeeeeeeeeeeeams
(oooooooohhhhhhh oohhh yeah yeah)

And we got to stay tuned
Cuz there's more to see (Unbreakable)
Through the technical difficulties (Unbreakable)
We might have to take a break
But ya'll know we'll be back next week
I'm singing this love is unbreakable
Sing it one more time now
Ya'll know we'll be breaking up
But we just might be back next week
This love is unbreakable(ha,ha,ha,yeah,yeah)
Break it down, break it down like this
Yeah...

No thing, no money, no sin, no temptation, talking 'bout nothing
No thing, no money, no sin, no temptation, talking 'bout nothing
No thing, no money, no sin, no temptation, talking 'bout nothing
No thing, no money, no sin, no temptation, talking 'bout nothing
Yeeeeeeaaaaahhh.......
(Unbreakable)
Yeah, yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah
(Unbreakable)
We just might be breaking up
But ya'll know we'll be back next week
I'm singing this love is unbreakable

The problem with this song is that the examples relationships that were unbreakable by life's circumstances are extremely flawed.

We can fight like Ike and Tina...Ike and Tina didn't just fight. Ike kicked Tina's ass. She was a victim of dosmetic abuse. Not to mention, their relationship was unbreakable. She left him because he beat her.

We can be rich like Oprah and Steadman...
Are Oprah and Steadman even together anymore?

Or instead struggle like Flo and James Evans
This is a sitcom couple, and they were unbreakable because they writers wrote them that way not because they had special connection.

All in the family like the Jacksons
And have enough kids to make a band like Joe and Katherine, yeah

Didn't Joe abuse his children? Didn't he cheat on his wife? Didn't his children FIRE HIM from being their manager? Didn't Joe put the welfare of his family behind the desire to make them famous? His children are screwed up, to say the least. The Jacksons are one of America's most dysfunctional fammilies. Who would want to emulate them in any shape or form?

Aren't there any better examples of long lasting Black relationships that she could've referenced? What about the late Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee? Or Frank and Daphne Reid? The fact that she went for the most obvious proves how shallowly people take their relationships. This song would have been more tolerable to me with its obvious flaws if she hadn't reference Ike and Tina Turner. I would have overlooked the Jacksons' reference because despite their dysfunctionality, Joe and Katherine are still together. Saying that Ike and Tina were just fighting is like saying that Antartica is a little nippy.

Viva La Boheme
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Rent
Topic: Movie Reviews
What is Bohemianism?:
Though a Bohemian is a native of the Czech province of Bohemia, a secondary meaning for bohemian emerged in 19th century France. The term was used to describe artists, writers, and disenchanted people of all sorts who wished to live non-traditional lifestyles.he term reflects the French perception, held since the 15th century, that the gypsies had come from Bohemia. Literary bohemians were associated in the French imagination with roving gypsies, outsiders apart from conventional society and untroubled by its disapproval. The term carries a connotation of arcane enlightenment (the opposite of 'Philistines'), and also carries a less frequently intended, pejorative connotation of carelessness with personal hygiene. Bohemians were often associated with drugs and self-induced poverty. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism


Rent...the movie
A review by Rocki White
November 27, 2005

I will admit first off that I am not a Rent-o-phile. I have never seen the musical although I do know that the musical, now entering its tenth season on Broadway, has had more guest performers than the entire run of the Love Boat. I know it is supposed to be based on the play/book La Boheme, which I know nothing about. I also know the creator, Jonathon Larson, died before the show hit Broadway. I also know the show won a Pulitzer for best drama, and a slew of 1996 Tony Awards. During the 1996-1997 Broadway season, I saw another innovative show that critics loved--Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. From the Broadway: The American Musical compilation CD, I knew the popular song Season of Life from Rent. However, I didn't discover that until winter 2004. Needless to say, I went into the movie not knowing much about the plot of the show, but looking to be entertained and not disappointed by the film adaptation.

I was not disappointed with Rent...the movie although it was directed by Chris Columbus (who ruined Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets for me). Out of four stars, I give it three solid stars. However, I should delve into the flaws before I heap on the praise. That would only be fair.

Rent is a time capsule of a New York City that no longer exists. As a matter of fact, the NYC that Rent takes place in didn't even exist when the show hit Broadway. In 1995, AIDS was no longer a death sentence and phrases like "living with AIDS" were the norm. AZT was replaced with Protease Inhibitors. The heart of NYC bohemia, SoHo and Greenwich Village, became filled with Yuppies who were the only ones able to afford the soaring rents (no pun intended).

In the Giuliani era of NYC, Times Square and 42nd Street was cleaned of its charm. The hookers, the homeless (Squeegee Men), and drug addicts had been bulldozed out of sight by the corporate sponsors and family entertainment. Even the gays and lesbians seemed less threatening as they became more and more a marketing niche as opposed to a hated and disenfranchised population. And ironically enough, Rent came to Broadway stage at a time when Broadway was starting to sell out its soul to Disney, Hollywood actors (no offense Hugh Jackman), and musical tracks instead of real life musicians.

Rent was dated when it became a hit, but somehow it works. It works on stage and works on the screen. As a native New Yorker who remembers dirty streets, crack heads, graffiti-ed subways, and the squatters and tent cities in Tompkins Square Park, Rent is a beautiful reminder that New York is good even when it is really bad. It's full of youthful ambition and a will to succeed even when the odds are stacked against you. Death, sickness, poverty, and hunger are the prices one must pay to live out their dreams. Rent is about fulfilling dreams when everything works against you. It's also, as the Seasons of Life eludes, about love and living for only today.

Except for the lesbian lawyer Joanne, played by Tracie Thomas, and erotic dancer Mimi, played by a feline sexy Rosario Dawson, everyone in the movie are holdovers from the original stage production. Some critics say that they are too old to be playing characters that are at least 10 years younger. I don't hold their age against them--is there a time limit on optimism, ambition, dreams? You'll recognize Jesse L. Martin from his stint on Law and Order; Taye Diggs from How Stella Got Her Groove Back; and Diggs' wife, Idina Menzel from her Tony-award winning stint in Broadway's Wicked.

I was wholly moved by the plot, the acting, the singing, and of the NYC of long ago. I sat until the end of the credits singing along until finally the lights came up. I knew in my heart that I would be buying the original Broadway soundtrack and movie soundtrack and the DVD when it came out. I hope the movie gets an Oscar nod for best picture, best movie score, and that Rosario Dawson gets an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Rent! You gotta see it!

YOU CALL THAT JAZZ HANDS!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: All That Jazz
Topic: Movie Reviews
All That Jazz is a semi-autobiographical film about director, choreographer, and dancer Bob Fosse. Fosse was a Chicago native who used tour with vaudeville groups until he made it to Broadway. As a choreographer, he was well known for his sexualized movements and penchant for fishnets and bowler hats. The movie stars Roy Schneider as Joe Gideon cum Bob Fosse-- a chain-smoking tyrant of a choreographer with an ego as huge a his sexual appetite for women. Roy Schneider does a great job of assuming the sinewy characteristics of a life-long dancer.

Bob Fosse co-wrote and directed All That Jazz. ATJ gives us a peek inside the genius of Fosse. It is a fantastical story told as part musical, docudrama, and camp. (When Joe Gideon's alter-ego leans in beside the real Gideon, in bed after heart surgery, and whispers "cue hospital hallucination, you know, finally, that this is no ordinary flick.) Fosse skewers not only the financiers of Broadway musicals and the women he bedded, he also sticks it to himself the hardest. Gideon is such a jerk that when he is faced with a heart attack from years of drinking, screwing and pill-popping, you can?t decide if you want him to live or die.

All that Jazz is a movie that requires concentration with the quick cuts from Joe?s present to his past and into his imagination. There are also several viewings of Joe's daily routine (The routine consists of Joe popping a pill, using eye drops, taking a shower, shaking the pain out of his wrist, and then facing himself in the mirror to utter ?Show time.?). At first, the repetitions come off as annoying but eventually you realize it is a comparison of learning a dance. You repeat and repeat and repeat until you get it right. (And once it hits the stage, you repeat and repeat and repeat for 8 shows a week.) The theme of repetition and perfection come up in the film often.

Joe is working on a film project that is overdue to the movie company ( in real life it is a version of Bob Fosse's biographical film Lenny based on the life of comedian Lenny Bruce). He relentlessly watches the draft over and over again finding every flaw but never finding what good is in it. From every dance that is rehearsed ad nauseum to the parade of women that come in and out of Joe's life, his mere existence is about repetition until perfection but he never finds it. This movie, however, is as close to perfect as a bio-pic can get (witty, sexy, good music, great dancing, excellent acting).

All that Jazz also takes me back to the late 70s and early 80s when Broadway musicals seemed to having a revival in NYC. I fondly remember seeing commercials on television for Evita, Dreamgirls, A Chorus Line, Annie, La Cage Aux Folles and other favorites. I also remember hearing songs from those musicals played on the radio--re-edited and discofied for everyone. All that Jazz and Cabaret melded into one for me as kid. Life, theater, and the movies were just one big song and dance routine.

(I did especially the dance routine that Joe's daughter and girlfriend did to a life recording of Peter Allen's "Everything Old Is New Again."

---

Who is Bob Fosse Any Way? Bob Fosse (June 23, 1927 - September 23, 1987) was a musical theater choreographer and director.

Fosse developed a jazz dance style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a stylized, cynical sexuality. Bowler hats, fishnet stockings, canes and chairs were distinctive trademarks. His dance routines are intense and demanding, requiring considerable stamina. Technically the style involves moving one part of the body whilst holding the rest in a still pose - a combination of precisely-executed gestures ("hand ballet", to use his own term), both sinuous flows and rapid kicks and jerks. The filmed routines in Cabaret (1972) are particularly characteristic: the vulgar energy of vaudeville and burlesque updated and cooly contained within a slick, knowing sophistication.

About Musical theater From My Childhood

More recent eras
1976 brought one of the great contemporary musicals to the stage. A Chorus Line emerged from recorded group therapy-style sessions Michael Bennett conducted with gypsies - those who sing and dance in support of the leading players - from the Broadway community. From hundreds of hours of tapes, James Kirkwood and Nick Dante fashioned a book about an audition for a musical, incorporating into it many of the real-life stories of those who had sat in on the sessions - and some of whom eventually played variations of themselves or each other in the show. With music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, A Chorus Line first opened at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in lower Manhattan. Advance word-of-mouth - that something extraordinary was about to explode - boosted box office sales, and after critics ran out of superlatives to describe what they witnessed on opening night, what initially had been planned as a limited engagement eventually moved to the Shubert Theater uptown for a run that seemed to last forever. The show swept the Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize, and its hit song, What I Did for Love, became an instant standard.

Clearly, Broadway audiences were eager to welcome musicals that strayed from the usual style and substance. John Kander and Fred Ebb explored pre-World War II Nazi Germany in Cabaret and Prohibition-era Chicago, which relied on old vaudeville techniques to tell its tale of murder and the media. Pippin, by Stephen Schwartz, was set in the days of Charlemagne. Federico Fellini's autobiographical film 8? became Maury Yeston's Nine. But old-fashioned values were embraced, as well, in such hits as Annie, 42nd Street, My One and Only, and popular revivals of No, No, Nanette and Irene.
---


Coming next week, a review of the movie adaptation of Rent.

All I Need Is Jesus, Antidepressants, and a Good Book
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Depression
Yesterday, I felt better than I have felt in nearly three months. In July, I had stopped taking my anti-depressants after nearly four years of use. I thought I finally had a grip on my depression, because I had the two things I really worked hard to achieve: a position as a youth services librarian and a baby to call my own. However, the stress of those two things pushed me near the edge.

Throughout August, I kept fooling myself about falling into yet another depression. To people looking at me from the outside, I am the same person. I'm just as loud, gregarious, well-groomed, and fun as I always was. But on the inside I didn't feel quite right. I could feel myself being swallowed up by the stress of life--mainly caring for my baby and working with children. I couldn't sleep and my temper was horrible. Eating was a drug of distraction and calming. Then one night, I was watching Metallica's documentary Some Kind of Monster (really good flick, by the way) and downing a really good bottle of red wine (which I normally hate) and my soul went black. Pills, knife, suffocation, or running out into traffic.

It was time to see my faithful psychiatrist again. It was time to get straight again. Anti-depressants may be over prescribed in this country. Womenmay be over diagnosed as being depressed. But I tell you, I need anti-depressants. I don't like being in that black hole of despair or having that feeling of wanting to rip off my skin to feel something else beside bleak empty sadness. Today, I feel better. I can love and care for my daughter as I want. I take her crying in stride now. It's what babies do. I love her little smile, her little fingers snatching the glasses off my face, and the way she grabs my face and blows drool up my nose. It's gross but I love it.

I also have God and Jesus. I like them guys. I love them guys. To me, they're two people--the father and the son. I talk to them, and I believe they listen. I watch certain evangelists on television. Sometimes their words are soothing. I like Joel Osteen's parable approach to preaching. I like how Joyce Meyers encourages people to change for the better with God's help. I like T.D. Jakes because he moves my spirit. I don't know if they're charlatans are not, but they inspire. They help me in connecting with my God.

I've also been reading some good books. My first foray in JUDY BLUME'S children's and Young Adult literature has been very satisfying. I've been reading "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret." Oh my goodness! Why didn't someone give me this books when I was between the ages of 11 and 13. Besides just helping me through puberty, it would have helped me with my, then, struggle with God and Religion (at that age, I couldn't separate God from organized religion). I'm currently reading "Deenie" with great delight and I now know why Judy Blume has been popular all this time with children.


Read on, America, read on!

Next on my list:
Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen
A Parents Guide to Homeschooling
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
My Cup Runneth Over by Whytock
The Italian Affair by Lauren Fraser
Bridge to Terabitha by Katherine Paterson
The Road to Oz by Frank Baum

Picturing Cameron Diaz as the Bitch Helped
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: In her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
Topic: Book Reviews


About a month ago, I saw an ad online for the movie In her Shoes with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. This chick flick is based on the book of the same name by Jennifer Weiner. I read Jennifer's first book, Good in Bed, because it had a plus-sized protagonist. I ended up hating GIB, because the ending ended up reading like a cheesy soap opera plot. You could see the mistakes the main character was going to make a mile away. In Her Shoes seemed liked a better plot, so I picked it up about two years ago. I couldn't even get through the first chapter before I wretched. However, I judged the book too harshly.

Once I saw that they had made a movie out of IHS, I decided to give it another chance. Plus, imaging Cameron Diaz as the bitch sister helped immensely. At first, I found the 500-page book daunting but soon I was devouring the book like a pint of cookie dough ice cream.

Younger sister Maggie is a rebellious teenager stuck in a 28-year-old's body. She drinks and has sex recklessly, and is incredibly selfish. She often blames her learning disabilities for her actions. She actually just lacks self-esteem. Older sister Rose is the more responsible sister who feels compelled to take care of her screw-up of a sister although Maggie is never grateful. Rose is established in her career, smart, single-minded but heavyset. She makes herself invisible with dull clothes, makeup and hair. She too lacks a certain self-esteem.

Maggie's story is well thought out, and you can almost believe her character arc. Rose's story, no pun intended, is less fleshed out. You're never fully aware as to why she continues to help her sister besides familial obligation. Maggie and Rose also discover they have a long, lost grandmother in Florida. Her name is Ella. Ella brings the sisters together into a mutual and loving relationship, and rediscovers her family.

It is a wonderful story divided into three parts. Despite the length, I went through the book in about ten days. I was unable to put it down once I got past the third chapter. I was dying to know what came next. It didn't hurt that I got to imagine Cameron Diaz as the "dumb sister" who was the world class manipulator although she had "learning disabilities."

After reading the book, I am certainly excited to see the movie. I'm curious how mean they're going to let Cameron Diaz be as Maggie. Since her wonderful performance in Being John Malkovich, Diaz has only played the lovable kook. (I'm not counting that three hour bore Gangs of New York.)

Out of five stars, I give the book In Her Shoes three and a half stars. I give Good In Bed two stars.
----

Good in Bed is a painful book to read because the main character, Cannie, is so unpleasant. She is full of bitterness for the father who abandoned her, and the ex-boyfriend who writes about their relationship in a woman's magazine. She also loathes her mother's lesbian lover and is generally unaccepting of their relationship. (Which is odd because she longs for her size to be accepted by society.) You hardly want to root for her.
Cannie is a woman in need of good therapy and a hug. She's so full of self-loathing that she makes the most hideous decisions that you can see coming a mile away especially when it comes to her ex-boyfriend Bruce. Cannie hides her pain through jokes and sarcasm, but it wears thin.

Cannie is also a very physical woman, which real-life studies say should help her have a higher self-esteem. She turns to exercise like some women turn to comfort food. This was the best aspect of the book, because most plus-sized women are portrayed as couch potatoes.

The book does become soap opera-ish when she becomes best buds with a thin movie starlet and nearly loses her baby. I forgive this because it's fiction. But do yourself a favor, and borrow this audio book from the library.

Obsession By Any Other Name is Still Obsession
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Flower By Kenzo Oriental Perfume
Topic: Beauty Thoughts & Reviews
My friend sent me a wonderful bottle of perfume as a gift the other day. It is called FlowerbyKenzo Oriental Perfume. It smells wonderfully like Calvin Klein Obsession on me. It fades a little quicker than CkO. The bottle is also absolutely sleek, slender, and pretty. It sort of has an art deco feel to it. It makes me wish I had a glass-top vanity to display it. I don't know if Flower by Kenzo is going to knock Poeme or Obsession down from my number scent spot, but it is doing a pretty good job of being my steady number #2.

I Can Read Damnit!!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: What My Mother Doesn't Know in the Clearcut
Topic: Book Reviews
Today I started and finished a wonderful young adult (a.k.a. teen) novel called “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones. This book has two distinctive features: it was one of the most challenged books (books that people try to ban from schools and public libraries) of 2004 and it was written in a poetry format.

I picked up the book to read in honor of Banned Books Week(September 24-October 1st). I am also trying to re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone. At the library, we are planning a 4 hour and 51 minute read-a-thon of banned/challenged books (based on the list compiled by the American Library Association). I picked up Sones’ book expecting something depressing, overtly sexual, or sensational. It turned out to be a sweet and uplifting tale. The book is subtle. The main character, Sophia, deals with anti-Semitism, her parents’ rocky marriage, and her burgeoning love life without hitting the reader over the head. The simple and innocent language that Sones’ has her character speak with makes her story much more powerful. You get the feeling that a teenager actually wrote this, and not an adult pretending what a teen of the 21st century might say or do.

And since we’re on the topic of books, let me also recommend the very adult novel Clearcut by Nina Shengold. I am only a quarter of the way through this book, but I’m already completely engrossed. This is, so far, a sexy story about Pacific Northwest woodsman, Earley Ritter, and his lust for a Greek tree planter named Zan. The downside is that Zan is the girlfriend of Reed, the hippie college dropout Earley employs as a partner in cutting tree stumps. The story takes place in the 1970s when sex seemed much easier to have and had fewer consequences. I can’t wait to see where this story goes. I’m already casting the movie in my head. Earley is large, broad, unkempt man in his late 20s that two women find sexy. What man in Hollywood is fairly tall and can be sexy will being unkempt? I’m thinking Viggo Mortensen (although he may be too old)
or Heath Ledger.

Fashion Food for Thought
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Beauty Thoughts & Reviews
fashion
The Great Flip-Flop Flap
Why we scorn the lowly thong.
By Amanda Fortini
Posted Friday, July 22, 2005, at 2:52 PM PT

The last time a thong was glimpsed at the White House, it was clinging to the backside of Monica Lewinsky. But recently thongs of a different sort—the shoes more popularly known as flip-flops—appeared at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In a photograph of the Northwestern University women's lacrosse team taken with President Bush, four sets of flip-flops are plainly on display. The president, a lacrosse stick in each hand, appears characteristically unfazed. The girls smile tranquilly, unaware that their exposed toes are a scandal in the making.

Upon seeing the photo on the team's Web site, midfielder Kate Darmody's dismayed older brother shot off an e-mail: "YOU WORE FLIP-FLOPS TO THE WHITE HOUSE???!!!" The Chicago Tribune ran an article fretting about whether flip-flops were appropriate for formal occasions, quoting a team mother: "As somebody who is 52 years old it mortified me. I don't go out of the house without pantyhose on." The young women were forced to defend their faux pas. "I tried to think of something that would go well with my outfit and at the same time not be that uncomfortable," the 22-year-old Darmody said. "Nobody was wearing old beach flip-flops," noted her teammate, 20-year-old Aly Josephs, who had opted for a bejeweled brown pair. While the controversy obviously reveals a generation gap when it comes to views on casual dressing, it also raises the question: Why do we scorn the flip-flop?

It is often assumed that the flip-flop provokes us because it reveals too much flesh: toe cleavage, phallic protrusions—the foot's private parts. In truth, however, we aren't nearly so prudish. Mules and open-toed shoes, for example, both expose plenty of skin and fissures and are generally inoffensive. In the lacrosse team photo, the other front-row athletes wear strappy sandals that are at least as minimalist as their teammates' flip-flops. About these shoes there has not been a critical word.

If it's not the foot revealed by the flop-flop that bothers us, then it must be the flip-flop itself. Partly, I think, it's that the flip-flop seems altogether lazy—not only on the part of the wearer, who can't be bothered with buckles or laces, but on the part of the shoe. The flip-flop, essentially a flat piece of rubber or leather held on the foot by a thin strip (known to designers as a "toe plug") that fits between the first and second toes, seems too simple, crudely put together, lacking in underlying design. We'd like our shoes to be the product of more ambition. Our contempt for the flip-flop might also arise from the "toe plug," that undignified strip content to slum around precincts other sandals wouldn't be caught dead in. The trouble may not be that the flip-flop reveals the toes, but that it prefers the dark, dirty places between them.

Mostly, though, our problem with flip-flops is one of pedigree. While the style has been around for centuries—Cleopatra likely slipped her hennaed feet into some version of flip-flops—in the United States, the shoe's origins are shady. They were first favored by fringe groups: surfers and habitual beach-goers. (Mules and stilettos, by contrast, were originally worn by Hollywood starlets.) Most fashion historians agree that flip-flops first appeared in this country sometime around World War II, as rubber imitations of the wooden thongs, called zori, that had long been worn in Japan. Elizabeth Semmelhack, a curator for Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum, has stated that returning soldiers brought flip-flops back as souvenirs, while other scholars have argued that the rubber thongs were created during the war for use in submarines. Whatever the case, the flimsy sandals, dubbed "go-aheads" because it was nearly impossible to walk backward while wearing them, first caught on in California and Hawaii after the war, and then spread to beach communities in other parts of the country.

These were the cheap, poorly constructed flip-flops sold in large bins at the local grocery or discount store, made of shoddy rubber that could be smelled all the way down the aisle. These were the ever-breaking shoes Jimmy Buffet sang about in "Margaritaville"—"I blew out my flip-flop/ Stepped on a pop-top"—and for years, they remained the official footwear of the beach bum. Two forces brought them into the mainstream: The dot-com boom of the early '90s created "casual Fridays" and gave the slob-with-a-lot-of-leisure-time look a certain cachet; and the fashion world, ever fond of the ironic gesture, adopted the lowbrow shoes as a wry counterpoint to expensive clothing. By early 2003, flip-flops had completed their journey from subculture accessory to cultural staple. Designers like Helmut Lang, Burberry, and Manolo Blahnik offered various interpretations, and fashion writers crowed about the "Year of the Upmarket Flip-Flop." With women and men flip-flopping down filthy streets all over America, the trend shows no signs of abating.

In fact, it appears that the flip-flop's status is changing, perhaps because the young have no memory of its humble beginnings. Teenagers now wear flip-flops to prom under long sequined gowns. Celebrities prefer them to stilettos for walks down the red carpet. Fara Abramson, the self-proclaimed "Flip-Flop Guru" and co-owner of www.flipfloptrunkshow.com, says that many women get married in white flip-flops, as Sarah Michelle Gellar did. And perhaps the president didn't notice the girls' shoes—or lack of them—because his own daughter Jenna is an enthusiast; she wore a black pair with pink Capri pants to her court appearance in 2001. If this isn't enough to convince you that flip-flops are fast becoming part of our cultural uniform, consider that Old Navy, the McDonald's of clothiers, declared April 3, 2005, the "First Official Day of Flip-Flops," announcing sales of "more than 45 million pairs." (There are now so many flip-flops in the world that discarded rubber thongs wash up by the thousands on the shores of Australia's Cocos and Keeling Islands.)

Why have flip-flops caught on? Perhaps it's because they provide a certain visceral satisfaction. There's the catchy, onomatopoeic name. And the metronomic noise they make when you walk—pleasing, I suspect, because it confirms your existence with every step. But for most, flip-flops are about ease and comfort; they're easy to slip on and more comfortable to wear than shoes with some structure. And this is precisely why the recent instance of flip-floppery met with such objection, even as the shoes have become mainstream: You're not supposed to be at ease when you're meeting the president.

Amanda Fortini is a Slate contributor.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2123214/

The New Fall TV Season
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Just Call Me Spud
Topic: TV: The Soft Blue Glow
Next week kicks off the new fall television schedule--Fox is early to the game. I've already checked out the season premieres of House, M.D. and The O.C. to my extreme pleasure. Desperate Housewives rolls out on September 25th. There's so much I'm looking forward to that I had to create a chart in order to keep up. Thank you Entertainment Weekly for the nifty guide.

What I'm Looking Forward to Watching
King of the Hill, Last season
The Simpsons
The King of Queens
Arrested Development
Freddie Prinze Jr’s sitcom on ABC
Everybody Hates Chris
The OC
Bernie Mac
Desperate Housewives
Curb Your Enthusiasm
House
The Office
Lost
Nightstalker with Gabrielle Union (It might be good!)

Through all of these TV shows and my trying work schedule, I still have to find time to watch my favorite Lifetime show--Strong Medicine with Rick(y) Schroeder.

TV Guide's Fall Schedule

Pop Culture Hits Or Are They Misses?
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Say What?
Topic: Celebrity News/Thoughts
Britney Spears became a mother of a baby boy on my birthday! How do you like them apples? Madonna is now a middle-aged, proper mum. What next? Christina Aguilera enters a nunnery? Does nobody want to be our slutty sex symbol anymore?

It's a boy! Spears confirms birth of baby

1 hour, 4 minutes ago


Pop singer Britney Spears announced the birth of her baby boy on Thursday, saying on her web site that everyone was happy and healthy.

"It's a boy!" said the greeting on www.britneyspears.com, over a picture of blue balloons and Spears kissing her husband Kevin Federline. It added: "Everyone is happy, healthy and doing wonderful. Thank you all for your love and well wishes."

The site gave no other details, but it confirmed published reports that Spears had given birth. Us Weekly magazine said the baby was born by Caesarean section on Wednesday at a hospital Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles.

Spears, 23, married dancer Federline in September last year. The Web site did not give the boy's name, but Us Weekly said the couple planned to call him Preston Michael Spears Federline.

The baby is the first for Spears but the third for Federline, 27, who has two children by his former girlfriend, actress Shar Jackson.


Yahoo News

***

I saw The Transporter 2this weekend. It was a visually engaging, simple-plotted, and fun Sunday afternoon flick. It wasn't better than it's over-the-top predecessor, The Transporter, but it will make its way to my DVD collection. Not to mention, I think Jason Statham is sexy with his lean body and bald head.

***

I really enjoy it when Keanu Reeves plays tortured good guy. He's really good at it. His seemingly blankness works. He's a white canvas that holds any color. Some would say his acting is bad, but his heroes aren't created for their great elocution. They're created for their mournful eyes, sinewy bodies, and the internal struggle. In the prozac, zoloft, anti-depressant world we live in, we've all become drugged up cut out cardboard versions of ourselves. Our eyes and our faces are devoid of emotion and depth as the drugs supress all, but our souls are in turmoil. Keanu Reeves does the perfect job of portraying the heroes of our ages. He does a fine turn in the surprisingly entertaining Constantine

If only all of us could take a dance with the devil and come out looking as great as Mr. Reeves. (Danced with the devil twice! Don't forget that Keanu was the devil's son in Devil's Advocate!)

On A Lighter Note, A Few of My Favorite Beauty Things
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Something a Little light hearted
Topic: Beauty Thoughts & Reviews
I like buying, wearing, and experimenting with make-up although, now that I am a mom, I don't wear it everyday or as often as I like. However, I still like it. Here's a few products that I like in now particular order.


A Few of My Favorite Beauty Things

1. Calvin Klein Perfumes and Fragrances: My two favorite fragrances are CkOne for women because it is light, citrusy and flirty and Obsession for women because it is musky, sexy and with a hint of vanilla. Each perfume represents a personality I want to represent. Not to mention, I change perfumes according to the seasons. Something heavy in the fall and winter where smell and subtly have to represent sexiness. With the showing of flesh in the summer, it is easier to be sexy.

2. I love Tommy Girl perfume because it is also clean, citrusy, and something about it reminds me of being on the beach. This is the reason that I also adore the fragance Clean--it smells like fresh soap. Like freshly laundered clothes or an Ivory Soap cleaned baby.

3. My final favorite scent is Poeme by Lancome because it has a distinctive sweet and vanilla scent, but not so much vanilla as to make it smell like food. It is a little heavy for spring and summertime but great for the fall.

4. My favorite foundation is Cover Girl's TruBlend, because even if you go up or down a shade it will match very well. It goes on light, covers up imperfections, gives you a smooth look, and is not greasy. Not to mention, it cost less than $10 in the drugstores and a little goes along way.

5. I also value Cover Girl's CG Smoothers Eyeliner. They're fattish eyeliner pencils that can wear as eyeliner or all over your lid. It goes on smoothly, cools on the skin, and comes in an array of pretty eye-opening colors. Some can be a little glittery, so you may want to avoid it depending on your age or number of wrinkles.

6. Estee Lauder's Pure Color Liquid Eyeliner is the bomb, because 1. the packaging is beauitful and 2. it handles really well for liquid eyeliner. The Khaki color has to be the best for brown eyes because of the gold flecks. The pointed eyeliner brush also makes it easy to do a little cat-eye flick just above the lids.

7. Once Removed Nail Polish Remover is an excellent nail polish remover especially if you wear light colors. It doesn't stink, it moisturizes your cuticles, doesn't dry out nail bed, and a little dab will help you fix manicure or pedicure boo-boos.

8. And since we're speaking of manicure and pedicures, your aresenal would not be complete without OPI's Drip Dry which is worth every single penny of it's $11 price tag. It lasts for a long time, and it dries your nails almost immediately. If used as directed, you can tie your shoes or wash your dishes within five minutes of using this stuff.

9. Tarte 24/7 Lip Sheers are wondeful, because they act as a great base for your lip liners, lipstick and/or lip gloss. A little dab of this and my lipstick color actually stayed all the way on from breakfast to mid afternoon.

10. Finally, we have a tie for mascaras. There is Maybelline's Lash Discovery mascara with its tiny brush that hits every single lash on top and bottom without smudging. Then there's Prescriptives's False Eyelashes masacara which extends the lashes to a foot long. Clinique also has a mascara that when applied gives you eyelashes like Twiggy. I feel really sexy when I wear it. :-)

RACING AROUND THE MOMMY TRACK
Mood:  not sure
I am reading a very good book called Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety by Judy Warner. It is basically hitting on the head, more on the side of the head than on top dead center, of what has been bothering me with my own life as a new mother. Essentially, women are under extreme pressure to raise bright, healthy, well-adjusted children with little or no assistance from society. This would be society with both the big S and the little s. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins and sisters live too far away to help. These mothers? husbands are there but only half-way. They?re the sensitive and supportive type that the 21st century requires American men to be, but they?re essentially leaving the majority of caretaking in the hands of their wives?and not just the caretaking of the children but of them and of the households.

Some of this does truly apply to me, but the book, of what I?ve read of it, is deeply flawed. For one, it only focuses on the upper-middle-class mother who is well-educated, gave up a high paying job, and now fills her life with raising the perfect child in the perfect suburban environment. If not in the perfect suburban environment, then whatever is the closest facsimile. It doesn?t focus on a woman like me who is clearly middle-class by all socio-economic definitions, but in the lower levels of middle-class. It doesn?t really focus on women like me who are African-American (or anything else besides born and bred American White) or continue to work or have the extra difficulty of trying to raise a ?special child? (in this case a child who is openly adopted and dealing with society?s insensitivity to that).

I have not given up anything grand to become a mother like a career. I brown bag my lunch, do my own pedicures, attempt to wax my own eyebrows, and wear spit-up proof clothes. I wear comfortable shoes, a wash and go hairstyle, and limited my make-up application routine to eyeliner and lip gloss, if I?m lucky. I attempt to go with the flow when it comes to my daughter yet I am cursed with the desire to be perfect or, at the very least, be approved of. The approval I crave comes from several different people and in different forms. I know I shouldn?t crave any outside approval at all, but I need it.

Quietly and to myself and not even really to God, I?m trying to figure out how the adoption agency thought I?d be a good mother. Me? The overweight asthmatic woman who will most certainly not be playing tag with my child when she learns to run? The woman who can?t get pregnant without intervention and then properly miscarries every single pregnancy is a different manner? (This should be some sign to someone that I wasn?t supposed to be a mother.) Finally, I am the woman who once swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills and chased it with a glass of wine. How could the adoption agency approve me after knowing all this? Does this sound like a woman who would be a good mother? Who knows?but this doubt makes me need approval. Wait?what I really mean to say is that this doubt causes me to need other people to NOT question or doubt my methods. If they also approve, that would be extra great.

The older mothers, who are old enough to be my mother, at work are constantly giving me advice whether I ask for it or not. I?m being told constantly about not leaving my child alone in her crib when I use the bathroom or about the benefits of private school or teaching my child to read an ?Adult? bible when she?s old enough or that I should make my daughter?s own baby food from scratch. I?m a newbie in the office and I am also their junior (in age not necessarily in the job?s hierarchy). I take the advice with a smile and a seemingly deep sense of gratitude, when inside I am seething. I want them to shut up. Or, at the very least, answer the question I put forth. I?ve learned to not ask questions, but when asked how my baby?s doing I gush like the proud mommy and say ?she?s doing great, sleeping through the night but she?s starting to exhibit some signs of separation anxiety.? When will I learn to shut up before I get to the ?but? part?

Then there?s the stressful, to say the least, two months of living with my mother-in-law. I don?t know who I want to kill first. Her or I for even suggesting that she come and help. It was a stupid idea. Men don?t understand this. Wives, they sort of get it. Every single day, every single decision I made was met with a question from my mother-in-law. Once she changed a pair of socks I had put on my daughter to another pair. I?m not sure why, but it irked me. Then, one day, I tried to have a mom-to-mom; woman-to-woman conversation with her. Tried to explain that with my new job and becoming a new mom, I was more stressful than usual. That I usually handle things better and that I?m more polite. It was an apology of sorts and a request. Here I was, succumbing to her better mothership and hoping for some bit of advice--maybe even a firm shoulder shake or the vague ?things will get better.? Do you know what I got? I got an ?I can take [your daughter] to live with me until she?s older.? She volunteered to take my child away--Another smack in the face, another brick of doubt in my doubt tower. Another day when someone else doesn?t approve of me. She essentially told me, whether or not that was the intention, that I was too much of a mess to raise my own child and that it would be best for her to take her.

There?s also the disapproval of strangers, from the control freak mothers described in Warner?s book who are trying to raise the perfect child or them giving up their jobs were for naught. I don?t seek these people?s approvals, but that doesn?t make their disapproval less painful. At the children?s desk of the library where I work, I talk to the moms and coo over their babies and toddlers. I ask time-killing questions like ?where did you get that stroller?? They become excited and smile and ask incredulously if I am also a mom. When I respond, I get follow up questions. How old is she, blah, blah, blah? When she was younger, I?d tell them her age and they look at me disapprovingly. ?Three months and you?re already back to work?? I nod and then the follow up statement to the follow up question is ?wow that?s so young for daycare!? I bite my lip. I become extremely angry. I want to jump over the table and throttle them. I want to shout that ?I couldn?t afford to stay home any longer, so I?m back here at work helping with all of the Birth to 5 years reading programs so your child can have a step up in life.? But I chill. I set myself up for the disapproval. Don?t get me started with the breastfeeding Nazis.

I say all of this to say that there is some sort of perfect mother pathology in this country that is being forced onto mothers by women and mothers?their so-called sisters in the struggle. And those of us, who want their children to have better lives or a ?fighting chance? or have the slightest of doubt in their mothering ability, inject that pathology directly into our veins like Heroine addicts. We start to judge ourselves and our ability on the sick neurosis of society. We?re slowly killing ourselves with the desire to be perfect when that perfectionism doesn?t exist. We can?t appreciate the smiles our babies give us because we?re so wrapped up in our guilt or desire to be overwhelmingly approved of. The slightest fussiness from our child only verifies our poor mothering ability. Any who?Ms. Warner is saying it better than me in her book.

More Katrina Relief Info
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Still Pissed At G.W.B
PLEASE READ EMAIL IN ITS ENTIRETY and PLEASE POST and or FORWARD

Join KEVIN POWELL and special guests as they present a BENEFIT for New Orleans

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 at CANAL ROOM
285 West Broadway, at Canal Street
downtown Manhattan in New York City
7PM-11PM
21 and over with ID, and please RSVP to cher_harrison@yahoo.com

Admission is FREE but you MUST bring one or more of the following items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. These items will be loaded onto a big truck in front of CANAL ROOM and driven directly to Claiborne County Health Center in Port Gibson, Mississippi, run by Dr. Demitri Marshall. It is one of the closest rescue and help centers in the New Orleans area and in a position to really get these items to people in need. PLEASE make sure clothing and shoes and sneakers are new OR clean and in good condition....

Clothing for children and adults
Adult shoes and sneakers
Adult socks
Children's shoes and sneakers
Children socks
Bottles of water
Diapers
Baby wipes
Baby food
Baby aspirin
Aspirin
Vitamins
Toilet paper
Sanitary napkins
Portable radios with batteries
Plastic forks, knives, and spoons
Cotton balls
Cotton swabs
Hydrogen peroxide BUT NOT rubbing alcohol, because that is flammable
Band aids
Shaving cream
Male AND female razors
Blankets
Air mattresses
Sheets
Pillows and pillow cases
Gift cards for gas
Wal mart gift cards
Garbage bags
Cleaning supplies
Soap
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Flashlights
Batteries
Candles
Books for children, including coloring books
Books for adults
Magazines

If you are placing donated items in a bag PLEASE LABEL. For example, Children's shoes or Adult shoes, or Children's clothes or Adult clothes.

We will NOT be taking monetary donations. See information below on where you can send financial contributions.

CANAL ROOM ownership is generously donating the space but there will be a CASH BAR ALL NIGHT.

Guest deejays, musical performers, and corporate sponsors to be announced shortly

Monetary donations can be sent to these outlets, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need.

BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
PO Box 803209
Dallas, TX 75240
OR you can make an online donation by going to www.blackamericaweb.com/relief
This fund has been set up by nationally syndicated radio personality TOM JOYNER


NAACP Disaster Relief Efforts

The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. NAACP units across the nation have begun collecting resources that will be placed on trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas. Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.

Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to

NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215

Donations can also be made online at www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
FYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America's oldest civil rights organization

www.teamrescueone.com
Set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife Sonya Miller

You can mail or ship non perishable items to these following locations, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need....

Center for LIFE Outreach Center
121 Saint Landry Street
Lafayette, LA 70506
atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson
337-504-5374

Mohammad Mosque 65
2600 Plank Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad
225-923-1400
225-357-3079

Lewis Temple CME Church
272 Medgar Evers Street
Grambling, LA 71245
atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
318-247-3793

St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway
Dallas, TX 75223
atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies
214-821-2970

S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3815 Live Oak
Houston, Texas 77004
atten.: Deloyd Parker
713-521-0641


Alternative media outlets where you can get a more accurate and balanced presentation of the New Orleans catastrophe....

www.diversityinc.com
www.alternet.org
www.blackelectorate.com
www.npr.org
www.daveyd.com
www.slate.com
www.bet.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.democracynow.org
www.blackamericaweb.com

PLEASE VISIT all these websites.


Five things you can do to help immediately

1. Duplicate what we are doing elsewhere in New York City, in your city or town, on your college campus, at your church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious institution, via your fraternity or sorority, or via your local civic or social organization.

2. Cut and paste the information in this eblast about

Items needed by survivors of the New Orleans catastrophe
Monetary donations
Where you can ship non perishable items
Alternative media outlets
Five things you can do to help immediately

and share this information, as a ONE SHEET, with folks near and far, via email, or as a hand out at your event, religious institution, and with your civic or social organization.

3. Voice your opinion to local and national media, and to elected officials, via letter, email, op ed article, or phonecall, regarding the coverage of the New Orleans catastrophe, as well as to the federal government's on going handling of the situation.

4. Ask the hotel you frequent, such as the Marriott or Holiday Inn, to give your hotel points to an individual or family in need of a stay for a night, a few nights, or longer, depending on how many points you have. Be sure to get confirmation that your points have been applied in that way. Encourage others to do the same. Also inquire if your airline frequent flyer mileage can be used for hotel stays as well. Finally, either offer to pay for hotel rooms, or encourage others to do so, including your place of employment or worship or your organization.

5. Dare to care about other human beings, no matter their race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, geography, culture, clothing, hairstyle, or accent or language. Like September 11th, the New Orleans catastrophe is a harsh reminder that all life is precious, as is each day we have on this earth.

AND REMEMBER that our attention and response to the New Orleans catastrophe needs to happen in three stages...DISASTER, RECOVERY, and REBUILDING. We need you for all three stages.


Media inquiries for BENEFIT for New Orleans....

APRIL SILVER, Akila Worksongs pr.media@akilaworksongs.com

I'm Slightly Pleased
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Corporate Responsibility
I am pleased that the big coroporations I listed in my last entry are doing things to help with the Katrina Relief Effort. I am curious if they are doing more than the U.S. Government at this point.

It is becoming clearer to me that if this type of natural disaster had happen in Texas or someplace where 67% of the population were not black and poor, the current government would have reacted faster in their rescue response. And why does it seem that the only help the government is providing is the deployment of the U.S. National Guards. The national guards are being ordered to shoot on sight armed looters and roving gangs. If the government had reacted sooner, perhaps this type of situation would not have developed. I suppose this is what Wal-Mart and KMart deserve for selling guns. :-/

Is there some law that says that the U.S. Military cannot shoot Americans on American soil? Or did I just make that up from too many U.S. Espionage movies.

more later, I'm sure...