Inspired by Vogue magazine, voguing is characterized by model-like poses integrated with angular, linear, and rigid arm, leg, and body movements. This style of dance arose from Harlem ballrooms by African Americans and Latino Americans in the early 1960s. It was originally called "presentation" and later "performance." Over the years, the dance evolved into the more intricate and illusory form that is now called "vogue." Voguing is continually developed further as an established dance form that is practiced in the gay ballroom scene and clubs in major cities throughout the United States—mainly New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Miami, Detroit, and Chicago.
Formal competitions occur in the form of balls held by "houses"—family like collectives of LGBT dancers and performers.
Some legendary houses include the House of Garcon, the House of Icon, the House of Khan, the House of Evisu, the House of Karan, the House of Mizrahi, the House of Xtravaganza, the House of Ebony, the House of Revlon, the House of Prodigy, the House of Escada, the House of Omni, the House of Aviance, the House of Legacy, the House of Milan, the House of Princess, the House of Pend'avis, the House of LaBeija, the House of McQueen, and the House of Ninja among others.
("Legendary" in ballroom terms refers to a house that has been "serving," that is, walking or competing on the runway, for twenty years or more.) The House of Ninja was founded by Willi Ninja, who is considered the godfather of voguing. Members of a house are called "children." Sometimes children legally change their last name to show their affiliation with the house to which they belong
Many performers, particularly females, have used vogue-style dance as a part of their routines. The transgender member of Vogue Evolution, Leiomy Maldonado, is responsible for making her signature voguing move, the "Leiomy Lolly," popular. It is featured in Britney Spears' video for "If U Seek Amy" and Beyoncé and Lady Gaga's video for "Video Phone." "The dip" originated from voguing. Lil Mama and Chris Brown incorporated the "dip" in their music video for "Shawty Get Loose" as well as Ciara in many of her videos.
There are currently four distinct styles of vogue: Old Way (pre-1990); New Way (post-1990); Vogue Femme (circa 1995); and Dramatics, which includes stunts and tricks. Although vogue "femme" has been used in the ballroom scene as a catch-all phrase for overtly effeminate voguing as far back as the 1970s, as a recognizable style of voguing, it only came into its own around the mid-1990s.
It should be noted that the terms "Old Way" and "New Way" are generational. Earlier generations called the style of voguing the generation before them practiced "Old Way." Voguers, therefore, reuse these terms to refer to the evolutionary changes of the dance that are observable almost every ten years. Ten years from now, today's "New Way" will likely be deemed the "Old Way."
Old Way is characterized by the formation of lines, symmetry, and precision in the execution of formations with graceful, fluid-like action. In its purest, historical form, it is a duel between two rivals. Traditionally, Old Way rules dictated that one rival must "pin" another to "chop" (win the contest). Pinning involved the trapping of an opponent so that they could not execute any movements while the adversary was still in motion (usually voguing with the arms and hands called "hand performance" while the opponent was "pinned" against the floor doing "floor exercises" or against a wall).
New Way is characterized by more rigid, geometric movement coupled with "clicks" (limb contortions at the joints) and "arms control"—hand and wrist illusions, which usually include tutting and locking. New Way can also be described as a modified form of mime in which imaginary geometric shapes, such as a box, are introduced during motion and moved progressively around the dancer's body to display the dancer's dexterity and memory.
Vogue Femme is fluidity at its most extreme with exaggerated feminine movements influenced by ballet and modern dance. There are six elements of Vogue Femme: hands, duckwalk, catwalk, spins, dips and floor performance. The dip has been popularized by mainstream dance forms and is occasionally called the "5000," the "shablam," or the "shawam." When competing in a vogue battle, contestants must use each element in their routine.
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April 28, 2011
WHERE IS A DIFFERENT WORLD 2O11.....(THIS IS MUCH NEEDED)
A Different World is an American television sitcom which aired for six seasons on NBC (from September 24, 1987 – July 9, 1993). It was a spin-off series from The Cosby Show originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional historically black college in the state of Virginia.[1] After Bonet's departure, the series primarily focused on Southern belle Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and mathematics whiz Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). The series frequently depicted members of the major historically African American fraternities and sororities (along with the fictional Kappa Lambda Nu fraternity and Alpha Delta Rho sorority).
While it was a spin-off from The Cosby Show, A Different World typically addressed issues that were avoided by the Cosby Show writers (race and class relations, the Equal Rights Amendment). One episode that aired in 1990 was one of the first American network television episodes to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
An increase in enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities during the late 1980s and early 1990s has been credited to the success and popularity of A Different World.
While it was a spin-off from The Cosby Show, A Different World typically addressed issues that were avoided by the Cosby Show writers (race and class relations, the Equal Rights Amendment). One episode that aired in 1990 was one of the first American network television episodes to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
An increase in enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities during the late 1980s and early 1990s has been credited to the success and popularity of A Different World.
THIS IS WHAT SHE SAID....(SWEAR TO GOD)
Oh lover, don't you dare slow down
Go longer, you can last more rounds
Push harder, you're almost there now
So go lover, make mama proud
And when we're done, I don't wanna feel my legs
Go longer, you can last more rounds
Push harder, you're almost there now
So go lover, make mama proud
And when we're done, I don't wanna feel my legs
WHAT'S NEXT FOR TYLER PERRY....GOOD DEEDS....
The upcoming film, centers around Glen Deeds, an affluent, romantically engaged businessman who falls for a struggling, single mother (Thandie Newton). Tyler Perry, who plays the title role, tells Black Film:
It’s a romantic comedy that I play the lead role in. It’s about a guy that’s torn between the girl he’s going to marry and a new girl that he just meets and he falls in love with. So that’s a little different for me.
The Cast also features Phylicia Rashad and Brian White, however, Tyler Perry’s popular character ‘Madea” will not be making an appearance in this film.
It’s a romantic comedy that I play the lead role in. It’s about a guy that’s torn between the girl he’s going to marry and a new girl that he just meets and he falls in love with. So that’s a little different for me.
The Cast also features Phylicia Rashad and Brian White, however, Tyler Perry’s popular character ‘Madea” will not be making an appearance in this film.
April 27, 2011
INTRODUCING.....SINGLE LADIES....(WILL YOU BE WATCHING?)
It 's about Val, Keisha, and April, three best friends with different philosophies on sex and relationships, The lead characters are:
Val (Stacey Dash) is an ambitious, aspiring fashion mogul who believes in fate, romance and finding
that special someone to be with forever.
Keisha (LisaRaye McCoy) is a former video dancer who believes in making her own luck, her own money and
choosing men with her head instead of her heart.
April (Charity Shea,) has found the "perfect" man for the "ideal" marriage - but is learning that
marriage might not be her happily ever after.
The series introduces Christina (Kassandra Clementi) a free-spirited, wild child intern with an
eye for fashion that Val takes under her wing.
ADVICE OF THE DAY....
Negativity and hate are as contagious as smiling and being happy...be conscious who you decide to surround yourself with.
Growing Ranks of Non-Traditional Couples Face Uncertainty, Expensive Rules
For decades, gay and lesbian couples have known the financial difficulties of living together without the protection of an official marriage. If the government doesn't recognize a relationship, taxes, estate planning, buying property, and dividing assets after a breakup all get messier—and pricier.
The number of unmarried cohabiting couples has surged, meaning millions more Americans, gay and straight, are facing these issues. New laws and court rulings are increasingly recognizing the rights of live-in couples, but so much rapid change is also making the legal and financial status of couples more confusing. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 7.5 million heterosexual couples and 620,000 same-sex couples lived together in 2010, compared with 6.7 million heterosexual couples and 476,000 same-sex couples in 2009. The total number of cohabiting couples in legally unrecognized relationships rose 14 percent since 2009, a trend Census analysts attributed partly to the weak economy. Disputes between these nontraditional couples are also on the rise. A survey of the 1,600-member American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found 48 percent of the divorce attorneys have detected more court battles between live-in couples in the past five years.
"One of the greatest benefits of marriage is divorce," says Richard Wilson, an attorney at Grund & Leavitt in Chicago. State laws prescribe how a married couple's assets should be split, usually with protections for the poorer member of the couple. Without such guidelines, untangling a couple's finances can be tricky. Even if people maintain separate bank accounts, couples are increasingly relying on each other's credit, says Margaret Hickey, an attorney at Becker, Hickey & Poster in Milwaukee. For example, she says, one member of a couple with a better credit score might buy a car, but the other partner might be the one driving it and making payments on the loan: Who should keep the car in a breakup?
Erika Karp married her wife, Sari Kessler, on a spring day 12 years ago in New York City's Central Park. Because the marriage isn't recognized by state or federal law, Karp has spent "tens of thousands of dollars" on lawyers and financial advisers who specialize in gay and lesbian couples. Karp, 47, took out life insurance policies to pay estate taxes because as an unrecognized couple her estate wouldn't transfer tax-free to her spouse, which is opposite the case with traditional married couples. She wanted to ensure that the 45-year-old Kessler, a jazz singer, and their three daughters ages 3, 6, and 9 could afford to stay in their Manhattan home if Karp died. "It's extraordinarily expensive," says Karp, head of global sector research at investment bank UBS (UBS). "I am fortunate to have had the wherewithal and resources to do it."
Complicated Planning
Legal and financial planning for unrecognized couples may be more costly than for traditional couples because the issues are so complicated. Adoptions of children and cohabitation agreements, for example, must hold up even when families cross state lines. To hold shared assets like real estate, a couple can set up a trust, which ensures inheritance rights while minimizing income and estate taxes, according to Jane King, president of Fairfield Financial Advisors in Wellesley, Mass. "There is no gay economic advantage that makes up for those extra fees people need to pay to lawyers and planners," says Lee Badgett, who has studied the issue as an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and as research director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy in Los Angeles. It's dangerous to leave matters like custody of your children or holding on to your home to nonspecialists, says Howard Forman, an attorney at Turkel, Forman & de la Vega in New York. "It's heart-wrenching when you see people who think they are protected and they're not."
Judges and politicians in a growing number of states are beginning to recognize the rights of gay couples and unmarried straight couples. A law that takes effect June 1 in Illinois grants civil unions to both gay and unmarried straight couples, offering them many of the same rights as marriage. A similar law takes effect in Hawaii at the beginning of 2012, while Delaware's legislature on Apr. 14 approved a civil union bill, which the governor says he will sign, that is restricted to same-sex couples. On Apr. 5, Washington State, which already offers domestic partnerships, recognized same-sex marriages performed outside the state. Other states, including Maryland, Colorado, and New York, are debating civil union or same-sex marriage laws.
Judges in both federal and state court are wrestling with similar issues. The Obama Administration is no longer defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act, under which same-sex couples cannot access more than 1,000 federal marriage benefits, from immigration to taxes, and states can ignore same-sex marriages performed by other states. Among the first cases affected is the lawsuit of an 81-year-old woman who is fighting the payment of $363,000 in estate taxes after the death of her wife. In the past year, judges in New York granted a divorce to a lesbian couple married in Vermont and recognized the inheritance rights of a man who married his husband in Canada.
Anti-Rights Moves
Not every jurisdiction has granted more rights to unofficial couples. In Indiana, the legislature on Mar. 29 took the first step toward a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Constitutions in 29 states already restrict marriage to one man and one woman, and 18 of those states do so in ways that could also be interpreted as banning civil unions or domestic partnerships, according to a tally by gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
Conservative judges are taking a harder line on the rights of unmarried straight couples amid concern over setting precedents that could later be applied to gay couples, says Linda Lea Viken, an attorney in Rapid City, S.D., who is president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. "It's a changing area of the law," Viken says. "Some places are becoming more hostile to same-sex relationships. Others are becoming more liberal." A civil union or domestic partnership can complicate rather than simplify legal matters. After the Illinois civil union law takes effect, Wilson, the Chicago attorney, says he will "still encourage people to do all the things they always do" to protect themselves, from adopting children to assigning powers of attorney to partners in case of hospitalization. That's because civil union rules generally don't cross state lines. Unlike marriages, civil unions represent "political compromises," Wilson says.
Domestic partnerships and civil unions don't give couples the same breaks on federal taxes traditional couples receive. Without a federally recognized marriage, any asset transferred from one member of a couple to the other, whether after a death, a breakup, or even just adding a partner's name to the title on a home, may be considered a gift by the Internal Revenue Service and can trigger a tax bill, Wilson says. Because the laws affecting her relationship remain in flux, Karp says she worries daily that she might not have done enough to cover every eventuality. "It shouldn't be a privilege for me to be able to protect my family and my home," she says.
The number of unmarried cohabiting couples has surged, meaning millions more Americans, gay and straight, are facing these issues. New laws and court rulings are increasingly recognizing the rights of live-in couples, but so much rapid change is also making the legal and financial status of couples more confusing. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 7.5 million heterosexual couples and 620,000 same-sex couples lived together in 2010, compared with 6.7 million heterosexual couples and 476,000 same-sex couples in 2009. The total number of cohabiting couples in legally unrecognized relationships rose 14 percent since 2009, a trend Census analysts attributed partly to the weak economy. Disputes between these nontraditional couples are also on the rise. A survey of the 1,600-member American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found 48 percent of the divorce attorneys have detected more court battles between live-in couples in the past five years.
"One of the greatest benefits of marriage is divorce," says Richard Wilson, an attorney at Grund & Leavitt in Chicago. State laws prescribe how a married couple's assets should be split, usually with protections for the poorer member of the couple. Without such guidelines, untangling a couple's finances can be tricky. Even if people maintain separate bank accounts, couples are increasingly relying on each other's credit, says Margaret Hickey, an attorney at Becker, Hickey & Poster in Milwaukee. For example, she says, one member of a couple with a better credit score might buy a car, but the other partner might be the one driving it and making payments on the loan: Who should keep the car in a breakup?
Erika Karp married her wife, Sari Kessler, on a spring day 12 years ago in New York City's Central Park. Because the marriage isn't recognized by state or federal law, Karp has spent "tens of thousands of dollars" on lawyers and financial advisers who specialize in gay and lesbian couples. Karp, 47, took out life insurance policies to pay estate taxes because as an unrecognized couple her estate wouldn't transfer tax-free to her spouse, which is opposite the case with traditional married couples. She wanted to ensure that the 45-year-old Kessler, a jazz singer, and their three daughters ages 3, 6, and 9 could afford to stay in their Manhattan home if Karp died. "It's extraordinarily expensive," says Karp, head of global sector research at investment bank UBS (UBS). "I am fortunate to have had the wherewithal and resources to do it."
Complicated Planning
Legal and financial planning for unrecognized couples may be more costly than for traditional couples because the issues are so complicated. Adoptions of children and cohabitation agreements, for example, must hold up even when families cross state lines. To hold shared assets like real estate, a couple can set up a trust, which ensures inheritance rights while minimizing income and estate taxes, according to Jane King, president of Fairfield Financial Advisors in Wellesley, Mass. "There is no gay economic advantage that makes up for those extra fees people need to pay to lawyers and planners," says Lee Badgett, who has studied the issue as an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and as research director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy in Los Angeles. It's dangerous to leave matters like custody of your children or holding on to your home to nonspecialists, says Howard Forman, an attorney at Turkel, Forman & de la Vega in New York. "It's heart-wrenching when you see people who think they are protected and they're not."
Judges and politicians in a growing number of states are beginning to recognize the rights of gay couples and unmarried straight couples. A law that takes effect June 1 in Illinois grants civil unions to both gay and unmarried straight couples, offering them many of the same rights as marriage. A similar law takes effect in Hawaii at the beginning of 2012, while Delaware's legislature on Apr. 14 approved a civil union bill, which the governor says he will sign, that is restricted to same-sex couples. On Apr. 5, Washington State, which already offers domestic partnerships, recognized same-sex marriages performed outside the state. Other states, including Maryland, Colorado, and New York, are debating civil union or same-sex marriage laws.
Judges in both federal and state court are wrestling with similar issues. The Obama Administration is no longer defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act, under which same-sex couples cannot access more than 1,000 federal marriage benefits, from immigration to taxes, and states can ignore same-sex marriages performed by other states. Among the first cases affected is the lawsuit of an 81-year-old woman who is fighting the payment of $363,000 in estate taxes after the death of her wife. In the past year, judges in New York granted a divorce to a lesbian couple married in Vermont and recognized the inheritance rights of a man who married his husband in Canada.
Anti-Rights Moves
Not every jurisdiction has granted more rights to unofficial couples. In Indiana, the legislature on Mar. 29 took the first step toward a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Constitutions in 29 states already restrict marriage to one man and one woman, and 18 of those states do so in ways that could also be interpreted as banning civil unions or domestic partnerships, according to a tally by gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
Conservative judges are taking a harder line on the rights of unmarried straight couples amid concern over setting precedents that could later be applied to gay couples, says Linda Lea Viken, an attorney in Rapid City, S.D., who is president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. "It's a changing area of the law," Viken says. "Some places are becoming more hostile to same-sex relationships. Others are becoming more liberal." A civil union or domestic partnership can complicate rather than simplify legal matters. After the Illinois civil union law takes effect, Wilson, the Chicago attorney, says he will "still encourage people to do all the things they always do" to protect themselves, from adopting children to assigning powers of attorney to partners in case of hospitalization. That's because civil union rules generally don't cross state lines. Unlike marriages, civil unions represent "political compromises," Wilson says.
Domestic partnerships and civil unions don't give couples the same breaks on federal taxes traditional couples receive. Without a federally recognized marriage, any asset transferred from one member of a couple to the other, whether after a death, a breakup, or even just adding a partner's name to the title on a home, may be considered a gift by the Internal Revenue Service and can trigger a tax bill, Wilson says. Because the laws affecting her relationship remain in flux, Karp says she worries daily that she might not have done enough to cover every eventuality. "It shouldn't be a privilege for me to be able to protect my family and my home," she says.
April 26, 2011
GET INTO THE LYRICS.....STAY....
Don't talk
Just listen
First of all
I have to be honest with you baby
I lied
When i told you i never wanted to see you again
Can you please stay
Just for tonight
And maybe we can do something
Like make love
Watch the sunrise
Or listen to jojo, k-ci, sing us a verse
Slide closer baby
Ha, that devante baby
Oh you feel so sexy, so good
Sorry i left you
Left you cryin
But since you've been gone
I've been all alone
Cause all of my tears
You know they left me drownin
Please baby i'm beggin
For you to stay at home
[Bridge:]
Tonight
Let's start our love again
Tonight
We can be more than just friends
Don't you know
The sun
Is going down
So baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
[Chorus:]
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
So here we are
Just me and you
We're thinkin of the things
That we used to do babe
Tonight is yours, lady
Yours and mine
Let's try again to put our trust on the line, yeah
Tonight
Let's start our love again
Tonight
We can more than just friends
Don't you know
The sun
Is going down
So baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Forget about yesterday
Cause i want you so bad
Make love to me like you never had
My love
Is coming down
So baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Just listen
First of all
I have to be honest with you baby
I lied
When i told you i never wanted to see you again
Can you please stay
Just for tonight
And maybe we can do something
Like make love
Watch the sunrise
Or listen to jojo, k-ci, sing us a verse
Slide closer baby
Ha, that devante baby
Oh you feel so sexy, so good
Sorry i left you
Left you cryin
But since you've been gone
I've been all alone
Cause all of my tears
You know they left me drownin
Please baby i'm beggin
For you to stay at home
[Bridge:]
Tonight
Let's start our love again
Tonight
We can be more than just friends
Don't you know
The sun
Is going down
So baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
[Chorus:]
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
So here we are
Just me and you
We're thinkin of the things
That we used to do babe
Tonight is yours, lady
Yours and mine
Let's try again to put our trust on the line, yeah
Tonight
Let's start our love again
Tonight
We can more than just friends
Don't you know
The sun
Is going down
So baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
Forget about yesterday
Cause i want you so bad
Make love to me like you never had
My love
Is coming down
So baby won't you just stay
For a little while
Baby won't you just stay
For a little while
April 25, 2011
WORDS OF WISDOM...
If whoever you are dating/married to/booed up with does not have your best regards/interests at heart, you are wasting your time.
Love and like are often fleeting but somebody that genuinely cares about you will always care.
This might be a repost but it's that good!
Love and like are often fleeting but somebody that genuinely cares about you will always care.
This might be a repost but it's that good!
ALL IN A WORD-GHETTO
Recently the word "ghetto" has been used in slang as an adjective rather than a noun. It is used to indicate an object's relation to the inner city or black culture, and also more broadly, and somewhat offensively, to denote something that is shabby or of low quality. While "ghetto" as an adjective can be used derogatorily, the African American community, particularly the hip hop scene, has taken the word for themselves and begun using it in a more positive sense that transcends its derogatory origins.
MUST SEE TV...ONLY ON SHOWTIME.....
"How is this legal?" I asked myself several times watching the premiere of Showtime's Gigolos (tonight, 11/10c). The show portrays five male workers in the slippery field of escorting. To many, the words "escort" and "gigolo" are euphemisms for "prostitute," but Garren James, the owner of the escort company Cowboys 4 Angels that's profiled on this show, draws the line early on to new hire Vin: "We are a companion service and clients pay a rate per hour. First thing you're gonna do is collect the money from the client and then from there, whatever happens between you two is two consenting adults. It's illegal for you to take any money after that for any sort of sexual services or whatever."
So, escorting theoretically is based on a loophole: you can pay for sex just as long as you pretend you're paying for companionship and do the money exchange up front. Gigolos, though, goes on to obliterate the pretense when we see a client jump escort Nick's bones within minutes of meeting. The services requested and rendered are made even further explicit when a married couple arranges for escort Jimmy to have sex with the wife with no trace of the foreplay of euphemism. A softcore scene of what appears to be hardcore sex ensues.
So what gives? How is it legal for Jimmy to walk into a room, get paid, have sex and leave, and why on Earth would he consent to do it on camera? The answer is simple: he wasn't paid. At the end of the show's credits, a typical porn disclaimer stating that everyone having sex on camera is of legal age pops up. Then, in small print at the bottom of the screen is: "No one depicted in this program was remunerated in exchange for engaging in sexual activity." So that's how they did it.
To portray escorting, Showtime had to strip it of an essential element: the exchange of funds. What made it to air is just highly orchestrated sex amongst consensual adults (after all, a pro-bono gigolo is just an attentive dude). Using a loophole to portray the loopholed world of male escorting makes Gigolos a double loophole all the way. Whoa. That's so intense.
That's maybe the most fascinating thing about the Showtime reality series (whose realness is automatically demoted a few notches with the "remunerated" disclaimer). A few more stray observations from the premiere:
- This show represents among the very best and worst portrayals of men's treatment of women. On one hand, the 'los livelihood depends on being as sweet and respectful as possible to the women they encounter. On the other, they speak openly about their process of manipulation. Watching Gigolos, I thought of several alternate titles: Smarmy Lives, CrazySexyDouche and Extreme Douche-Uponing being among my favorites.
- The raciest thing about this show is the commentary on newbie Vin's skin color. In advance of the crew's first meeting with Vin, Nick muses, "If he's really black, he's on ghetto time, so he'll be 20 minutes late." Giggles fly on the racism of this statement. Then, after he sees mixed-race Vin's less-than-mahogany complexion, Nick notes, "Actually, he's more black...ish." Finally, when the guys "allow" Vin to join their women-pleasing crew, Nick explains, "We decided to give Vin a place in our crew 'cause he's black. I'll say it." At least all the racialism didn't lead to discrimination?
- Nick, by the way and per his Twitter, is recording an album. It's never too early to get excited.
- Brace yourself for Brace. He makes Snooki's orange complexion look positively designer imposter.
- The women who hire these men are the most fascinating on the show. We meet a two-toned haired teacher, a wife and a "really rich lady." Given the remunerating disclaimer, they presumably are agreeing to show their faces and admit their escorting habit to the world all for the sake of a free ride. You have to wonder how they'll end up paying for this. Everyone does eventually.
- Gigolos is a candid reality show a la The Real Housewives, and yet a competition breaks out anyway over who'll get to take on the "really rich lady" as a client. Dudes! Everything is a game to them!
- Jimmy: "Well, my parents don't know that I'm a gigolo." Now they do. Oops.
April 22, 2011
RIP BLACK BUTTERFLY....
The body of a 16-year-old honor student from North Carolina -- missing since December -- has been found in a Maryland river, her father and police said Thursday.
Russell Barnes, the girl's father, said that a female body found in the Susquehanna River in northeast Maryland is that of his daughter, Phylicia Barnes. It was recovered about 40 miles from where she was last seen, in the city of Baltimore.
On Thursday night, Maryland State Police Superintendent Terrence Sheridan and Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld confirmed at a press conference that the body is that of the teenager student from Charlotte, North Carolina.
"All of us, since that fateful day, have been praying and hoping for a different outcome," said Bealefeld. "But unfortunately, we are here today."
Phylicia Barnes' body was one of two found Wednesday in the river -- one south and the other north of the Conowingo Dam -- state police said.
Her body was recovered around 10 a.m. that morning, less than three hours after people spotted it and flagged down police, said Sheridan. Authorities spotted another body -- which hasn't been identified but was described by the superintendent as a black male weighing 240 pounds and standing about 6 feet, 4 inches tall -- floating in water about three to four miles away just before 2 p.m.Wednesday. There were no clothes on either body.
"There's no other indication of any connection," Sheridan said of the bodies, besides the fact both were found in the same river, though he didn't rule out a link.
The teenage girl said she was going out to get something to eat and maybe a haircut when she left a residence in Baltimore where she'd been staying with her half-sister, according to that city's police.
Later, authorities said they feared that Barnes had been abducted or otherwise harmed. She had left her debit card where she was staying, and hadn't answered her cell phone since her disappearance, her mother, Janice Sallis, told HLN.
Sallis, who described herself as very "protective" as a mother, said she was "stunned" and "devastated" after learning from one of Phylicia Barnes' siblings "there was a listing of 20 different guys going in and out" of where the teen was staying. The mother claimed that the daughter was also allowed to drink alcohol.
On Thursday, Russell Barnes said that his daughter didn't know anyone besides immediate family in Baltimore.
"She's a well-loved individual, with everyone," Russel Barnes told HLN's "Nancy Grace."
According to police, Phylicia Barnes communicated through text messages with her half-sister about 12:30 p.m. the day she disappeared.
The half-sister's ex-boyfriend was moving out of the apartment and he saw the teenage girl on the couch around 1:30 p.m. But he said when he came back around 5:10 p.m., she was not there there. The door was reportedly unlocked, and music was blasting very loudly in the apartment.
In January, Baltimore police spokesman Anthony J. Guglielmi said the FBI did a profile on the girl and found no reason that she might run away. She was a good student with no major emotional disturbances in her life, he said.
"The fact set of this case is different than anything else we've seen," he said.
Her body was positively identified at the Baltimore city medical examiner's office thanks to a tattoo on "her lower extremity," said Sheridan. He added there was "no indication of any overt wounds or injuries," nor any indication either body found was weighed down.
The superintendent said the bodies may have been dumped much further down the fast-moving river, and said that its cold temperatures may have prevented the bodies from signficantly decomposing for several months.
"The medical examiner has indicated that it's not out of the ream that the body could have been there" since December, said Sheridan. "If you look at that river, look at how fast it's moving, all sorts of things could have happened."
Bealefeld, the top policeman in Baltimore, vowed that authorities will "work as hard now as we've worked all those days since December 28." A city police spokesman earlier said more than 100 Baltimore police officers, Maryland State Police troopers and FBI agents had been working on the case.
"Our goal is simply to bring closure to Phylicia Barnes' family ... and hold those responsible accountable," Bealefeld said.
The girl's father called the discovery of her body a "first step" in providing closure. But he said that the family won't be fully satisfied until justice is done.
"We're still not finished," Russell Barnes said. "We're going to find out what happened with Phylicia ... There are a lot of answers that we need to find out."
April 21, 2011
SEASONS CHANGE.....
Some dreams, are in the night time
And some seem like yesterday
But leaves turn brown and fade
Ships sail away
You long to say a thousand words but
Seasons Change.
It feels, like it's forever
No reason for emptiness
But time just runs away
No more day by day,
You dream and yearn and sees the day when
Seasons Change
I want you
I want to feel you by my side
I need you
Don't you know I need you baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I'll sacrifice tomorrow just to have you here today
Forever, seems so far away
This time full of ample play
You dream about today
Belief slips away
The wings of love they come away and
Seasons change
I want you
Don't hide your feelings from inside
I need you
Got to have your love now baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I want you
I want to feel you by my side
I need you
I got to have your love now baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I'll sacrifice tomorrow just to have you here today
People change, feelings change-
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
People change- people change
People change- people change
And some seem like yesterday
But leaves turn brown and fade
Ships sail away
You long to say a thousand words but
Seasons Change.
It feels, like it's forever
No reason for emptiness
But time just runs away
No more day by day,
You dream and yearn and sees the day when
Seasons Change
I want you
I want to feel you by my side
I need you
Don't you know I need you baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I'll sacrifice tomorrow just to have you here today
Forever, seems so far away
This time full of ample play
You dream about today
Belief slips away
The wings of love they come away and
Seasons change
I want you
Don't hide your feelings from inside
I need you
Got to have your love now baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I want you
I want to feel you by my side
I need you
I got to have your love now baby
Seasons change
Feelings change
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
Seasons change
People change
I'll sacrifice tomorrow just to have you here today
People change, feelings change-
It's been so long
I've found you yet it seems like yesterday
People change- people change
People change- people change
DEFINITION...MAN'S MAN...
He's the real class act.
He always shaves and wears clothes that fit. He's worldly, educated, and a gentleman.
He thinks that buttoned shirts are not just for special occasions and that newspapers have more than one section. While he is polite, he is not a pushover.
He will swear when he needs to, but will try to control his temper.
He can handle his liquor and keeps himself in shape. Most importantly, he will admit his faults and errors, because that is what real men do.
He doesn't have to be gay or straight, black or white, Republic or Democrat, Athiest or Evangelical; he just does what ever he thinks makes himself a good person that he can be proud of.
For these reasons, women want him and men want to be him.
He always shaves and wears clothes that fit. He's worldly, educated, and a gentleman.
He thinks that buttoned shirts are not just for special occasions and that newspapers have more than one section. While he is polite, he is not a pushover.
He will swear when he needs to, but will try to control his temper.
He can handle his liquor and keeps himself in shape. Most importantly, he will admit his faults and errors, because that is what real men do.
He doesn't have to be gay or straight, black or white, Republic or Democrat, Athiest or Evangelical; he just does what ever he thinks makes himself a good person that he can be proud of.
For these reasons, women want him and men want to be him.
THE IMPORTANT OF A MENTOR IN THE WORKPLACE....
You recently started a new job and are eager to find a mentor. How do you recruit someone for this role?
Patiently. Joe Watson, chief executive of Without Excuses, a diversity consulting firm in Reston, Virginia, said: "Too many workers are waiting for the equivalent of the 'Career Fairy' to come down and appoint them a divine mentor who can look out for their interests. These types of relationships take chemistry, synergy and trust, none of which happen overnight."
Why are mentors important?
It's all about perspective. Mentors can provide institutional knowledge about your employer, your industry and the politics involved in both. Neil Fiore, an executive coach in Berkeley, California, said this knowledge could enable employees to "expand the learning curve" and react to situations from a more informed vantage point.
"Mentors allow you the benefit of their experience to see around corners and anticipate what is coming at you so you can make better decisions," Fiore said.
What qualities should you look for in a mentor?
Find someone whose advice you respect and who is supportive and willing to offer constructive criticism. Barbara Wankoff, national director of workplace solutions at the auditing firm KPMG in New York, said the best mentors were selfless and committed to meeting regularly.
"It all comes down to time and availability," Wankoff said. "You want a mentor who is going to make your needs a priority, no matter what might get in the way."
Vincent Brown, managing partner at Global Lead, a diversity consulting firm based in Cincinnati, said employees should note their career goals before setting out to find a mentor. "You can't be mentored," he said, "if you don't know what areas you want to improve."
Should you seek someone whose life experiences mirror your own?
It is most important to choose someone you can trust and communicate with freely. That need not be someone of the same race, sex or ethnicity, although a common background can be helpful.
That was true for Robert Jeffrey Jr., chief executive of ColorsNW, a publishing company in Seattle.Jeffrey said that early in his career, when he was one of a handful of African-Americans at a local newspaper, an African-American woman who had been at the company for years became his mentor.
"She gave me what I call 'real talk' about the political environment at the company and how to navigate the place as an African-American," Jeffrey recalled. "Even if another mentor was completely sincere, he or she wouldn't have been able to give me that kind of support."
Once you've identified a potential mentor, do you need to formalize the arrangement?
There are a wide range of mentor relationships in the workplace. Depending on your company and your mentor, you may not even need to acknowledge the relationship at all.
Some employers require that you notify them of the arrangement and have both parties sign a standard contract that outlines basic responsibilities for each.
A growing number of companies have taken a third approach, establishing formal mentor programs through their human resources departments. Based on personality tests, these programs pair employees with executives who have volunteered to serve for a certain period.
At Dow Chemical, based in Midland, Michigan, more than 8,000 employees have obtained mentors through such a program. Julie Fasone Holder, corporate vice president for human resources, diversity and inclusion and public affairs, said the effort was intended to make finding mentors less intimidating. She said when the match did not work out, participants were encouraged to try again.
Is it acceptable to have more than one mentor?
It may be preferable. If your primary mentor is busy or out of the office, it is good to have a backup. Rich Wellins, senior vice president of Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting company in Pittsburgh, said that, since no one was skilled in everything, a network of mentors could increase your chances of getting good counsel.
"Your career is something that should be governed by what amounts to a board of directors," Wellins said.
Patiently. Joe Watson, chief executive of Without Excuses, a diversity consulting firm in Reston, Virginia, said: "Too many workers are waiting for the equivalent of the 'Career Fairy' to come down and appoint them a divine mentor who can look out for their interests. These types of relationships take chemistry, synergy and trust, none of which happen overnight."
Why are mentors important?
It's all about perspective. Mentors can provide institutional knowledge about your employer, your industry and the politics involved in both. Neil Fiore, an executive coach in Berkeley, California, said this knowledge could enable employees to "expand the learning curve" and react to situations from a more informed vantage point.
"Mentors allow you the benefit of their experience to see around corners and anticipate what is coming at you so you can make better decisions," Fiore said.
What qualities should you look for in a mentor?
Find someone whose advice you respect and who is supportive and willing to offer constructive criticism. Barbara Wankoff, national director of workplace solutions at the auditing firm KPMG in New York, said the best mentors were selfless and committed to meeting regularly.
"It all comes down to time and availability," Wankoff said. "You want a mentor who is going to make your needs a priority, no matter what might get in the way."
Vincent Brown, managing partner at Global Lead, a diversity consulting firm based in Cincinnati, said employees should note their career goals before setting out to find a mentor. "You can't be mentored," he said, "if you don't know what areas you want to improve."
Should you seek someone whose life experiences mirror your own?
It is most important to choose someone you can trust and communicate with freely. That need not be someone of the same race, sex or ethnicity, although a common background can be helpful.
That was true for Robert Jeffrey Jr., chief executive of ColorsNW, a publishing company in Seattle.Jeffrey said that early in his career, when he was one of a handful of African-Americans at a local newspaper, an African-American woman who had been at the company for years became his mentor.
"She gave me what I call 'real talk' about the political environment at the company and how to navigate the place as an African-American," Jeffrey recalled. "Even if another mentor was completely sincere, he or she wouldn't have been able to give me that kind of support."
Once you've identified a potential mentor, do you need to formalize the arrangement?
There are a wide range of mentor relationships in the workplace. Depending on your company and your mentor, you may not even need to acknowledge the relationship at all.
Some employers require that you notify them of the arrangement and have both parties sign a standard contract that outlines basic responsibilities for each.
A growing number of companies have taken a third approach, establishing formal mentor programs through their human resources departments. Based on personality tests, these programs pair employees with executives who have volunteered to serve for a certain period.
At Dow Chemical, based in Midland, Michigan, more than 8,000 employees have obtained mentors through such a program. Julie Fasone Holder, corporate vice president for human resources, diversity and inclusion and public affairs, said the effort was intended to make finding mentors less intimidating. She said when the match did not work out, participants were encouraged to try again.
Is it acceptable to have more than one mentor?
It may be preferable. If your primary mentor is busy or out of the office, it is good to have a backup. Rich Wellins, senior vice president of Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting company in Pittsburgh, said that, since no one was skilled in everything, a network of mentors could increase your chances of getting good counsel.
"Your career is something that should be governed by what amounts to a board of directors," Wellins said.
April 20, 2011
ALL IN A WORD....L-O-V-E
Love is overrated by definition....Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In English, the word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure ("I loved that meal") to intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my partner").
T. PERRY QUEENS OUT ON SPIKE LEE.....(FUNNY)
Tyler Perry voiced his frustration with Spike Lee on Tuesday at a Beverly Hills press conference for the West Coast premiere of his new film Madea's Big Happy Family, according to Box Office Magazine.
In a 2009 interview with Black Enterprise's Ed Gordon, Lee alluded to Perry's work on film and television in particular as coonery buffoonery.
"I'm so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee," Perry said during the press conference. "Spike can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, 'this is a coon, this is a buffoon.' I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies. This is what he said: 'you vote by what you see,' as if black people don't know what they want to see."
"I am sick of him -- he talked about Whoopi, he talked about Oprah, he talked about me, he talked about Clint Eastwood. Spike needs to shut the hell up!" Perry reportedly said.
Regarding Perry, Lee has said, "Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors. I know it's making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better."
Lee went on to say, "I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows [House of Payne, Meet the Browns], and I am scratching my head. We got a black president, and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep 'n' Eat?"
"A lot of this is on us, you vote with your pocket book, your wallet, you vote with your time, sitting in front of the idiot box. And the man has a huge audience, and he's, Tyler's very smart in what he's done," said Lee.
Lee believes that directors are different.
"We shouldn't think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make]" said Lee. "As African-Americans, we're not one monolithic group, so there is room for all of that. But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to Amos n' Andy."
At the press conference on Tuesday, Perry discussed housing with the criticism he receives from some people in the black community.
"I've never seen Jewish people attack Seinfeld and say, 'This is a stereotype,'" he said. "I've never seen Italian people attack The Sopranos, I've never seen Jewish people complaining about Mrs. Doubtfire or Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. I never saw it. It's always black people, and this is something that I cannot undo."
Perry says other black artists faced similar critiques from their African-American peers.
"Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois went through the exact same thing; Langston Hughes said that Zora Neale Hurston, the woman who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, was a new version of the 'darkie' because she spoke in a southern dialect and a Southern tone. And I'm sick of it from us; we don't have to worry about anybody else trying to destroy us and take shots because we do it to ourselves," said Perry.
LIFE LESSON #177....THANKS MARC
When going through a door, never look back. That way you won’t feel obligated to wait and hold it if there is someone close behind.
(Disclaimer: This statement has no metaphoric meaning; take it literally.)
(Disclaimer: This statement has no metaphoric meaning; take it literally.)
April 19, 2011
IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW....THERE IS "REAL" BLACK ROYALTY IN 2011.....
Princess Angela of Liechtenstein (3 February 1958 in Bocas del Toro, Panama) is the wife of Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein. Princess Angela and her son, Prince Alfons (b.London 18 May 2001), are the highest ranked black members of a reigning European dynasty.
On 29 January 2000, at 11:00 am, she married Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City. The couple met a few years earlier in New York at a reception and became friends. The bride wore a white dress that she designed.
Prince Alfons Constantin Maria of Liechtenstein (b. London, 18 May 2001), who is slated to become a ranking dynast of the Princely House in the 18th year of his life.
ONLY ON BRAVO.....
“Proving you don’t have to reside in N.Y.C. to be fabulous, the cast of “The A-List: Dallas” is set to gallop onto the reality scene with a group of Dallas-based gay men and sassy straight women who lead racy and high-limits lives.”
And then, officially, here’s a bit more: “Deep in the heart of Texas, this cast of socialite scene-making men and women are out to prove their New York counterparts have not cornered the market on having big dreams and bigger dramas. Dallas has recently surged onto the pop culture radar as a focal point for food, fashion and fabulous, earning it a spot worthy of exploring with this top-tier cast of natives.
WORDS OF WISDOM....
The most important five people in your life will have the greatest effect on you. Who they are and what they emit is the sum total of the majority of who you are.
April 18, 2011
April 14, 2011
PEACE TO THE FAMILY.....10 YR. OLD BOY I STHE ONLY SURVIVOR AND HAS TO DEAL WITH THIS FOR LIFE........TRULY SAD....
NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- Angela Gilliam called the police at 7:43 p.m. Tuesday. She was worried about her niece's well-being and said there was a domestic tussle going on at the younger woman's apartment in this hardscrabble city on New York's Hudson River.
Police headed to the apartment but by the time they got there, it was empty.
Seventeen minutes later, Gilliam's grand-nephew La'Shaun Armstrong stood shivering and soaking wet in a firehouse down the street, struggling to get the words out: His mother, 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong, had driven their minivan off a boat ramp and into the river, taking her three other children with her.
All of them died.
Only 10-year-old La'Shaun survived, managing to open the driver's window and escape the van just before it slipped beneath the surface.
As the van hit the river, Lashanda Armstrong told her terrified kids, "If I'm going to die, you're going to die with me," NBC reported.
Police were still working Wednesday night to piece together the events that led to Tuesday's tragic plunge that killed Armstrong and three children: Landen Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Laianna Pierre.
Story continues below
Advertisement
Earlier Tuesday, Armstrong appeared stressed when she picked up the children at the Young and Unique Christian Development Child Care, said Shaniesha Strange, supervisor in the infant room.
"The only thing she'd say was that she was so alone," Strange said Wednesday. "She's a single parent. She takes great care of her kids, goes to school and works. She really needed a helping hand."
Police question the man they identified as the father of the three dead children, Jean Pierre, but did not give details. He apparently didn't live with the mother and children and could not immediately be located for comment.
Hetty Minatee, another teacher at the day care center, said Armstrong had enrolled the four children there in September. At first Jean Pierre would come in with Armstrong and sometimes would pick up the kids.
"A couple weeks ago, she came in a little upset," Minatee said. "She said, 'Miss Minatee, I don't want the father to pick the kids up or have any contact with them.' She said she was trying to get a court order so he could never see the kids again."
Meave Ryan, the woman who found young La’Shaun standing by the water, shivering, said that the boy told her, "There was an argument about cheating, that his stepfather was cheating on his mother," she said.
Ryan was driving by the water when she saw La’Shaun standing there, soaking wet and waving his arms at passing cars. From the New York Times:
Meave Ryan saw the boy waving his arms as she braked to a stop behind a string of cars. The other cars went on through the intersection, but she rolled down the window. “He was screaming for help,” she said. “He said, ‘My mommy just drove the car in the water.’
From Armstrong's apartment, Lashanda would have taken a right turn onto Washington Street, site of George Washington's headquarters during the American Revolution, and driven straight toward the river, downhill all the way. She'd be familiar with the boat launch, neighbors said. She watched fireworks over the river from the corner near her house. A half-mile drive would have gotten her there. A hard left then a quick right turn would take the van into the water.
Fire Chief Michael Vatter said the vehicle went under in the 45-degree water within two minutes.
A passer-by found a soaked and cold La'Shaun Armstrong along the shore and took him to a firehouse for help.
"He got out of the car, got up onto the boat ramp, turned around and it was gone," Vatter said.
Divers searched for about an hour before finding the minivan submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards from the shore. They used a tow truck to pull it up the ramp.
La'Shaun is staying with Gilliam and "doing fine," she said.
"She was a good mother. She was going through some stuff," Gilliam said of her niece. "Nobody knows what my niece went through." She would not elaborate.
Police said there was no history of domestic violence at the address.
Neighbors in the city of about 30,000 said the children seemed energetic and happy and would play on the block and ride bikes.
"She was a very good mom," said Tina Claybourne. "She took care of her kids. She always was with her kids."
Just last month, she donated money to help the family of a baby killed in a fire across the street from Armstrong's apartment. The loss of four children in such a short time hit the community hard.
Police headed to the apartment but by the time they got there, it was empty.
Seventeen minutes later, Gilliam's grand-nephew La'Shaun Armstrong stood shivering and soaking wet in a firehouse down the street, struggling to get the words out: His mother, 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong, had driven their minivan off a boat ramp and into the river, taking her three other children with her.
All of them died.
Only 10-year-old La'Shaun survived, managing to open the driver's window and escape the van just before it slipped beneath the surface.
As the van hit the river, Lashanda Armstrong told her terrified kids, "If I'm going to die, you're going to die with me," NBC reported.
Police were still working Wednesday night to piece together the events that led to Tuesday's tragic plunge that killed Armstrong and three children: Landen Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Laianna Pierre.
Story continues below
Advertisement
Earlier Tuesday, Armstrong appeared stressed when she picked up the children at the Young and Unique Christian Development Child Care, said Shaniesha Strange, supervisor in the infant room.
"The only thing she'd say was that she was so alone," Strange said Wednesday. "She's a single parent. She takes great care of her kids, goes to school and works. She really needed a helping hand."
Police question the man they identified as the father of the three dead children, Jean Pierre, but did not give details. He apparently didn't live with the mother and children and could not immediately be located for comment.
Hetty Minatee, another teacher at the day care center, said Armstrong had enrolled the four children there in September. At first Jean Pierre would come in with Armstrong and sometimes would pick up the kids.
"A couple weeks ago, she came in a little upset," Minatee said. "She said, 'Miss Minatee, I don't want the father to pick the kids up or have any contact with them.' She said she was trying to get a court order so he could never see the kids again."
Meave Ryan, the woman who found young La’Shaun standing by the water, shivering, said that the boy told her, "There was an argument about cheating, that his stepfather was cheating on his mother," she said.
Ryan was driving by the water when she saw La’Shaun standing there, soaking wet and waving his arms at passing cars. From the New York Times:
Meave Ryan saw the boy waving his arms as she braked to a stop behind a string of cars. The other cars went on through the intersection, but she rolled down the window. “He was screaming for help,” she said. “He said, ‘My mommy just drove the car in the water.’
From Armstrong's apartment, Lashanda would have taken a right turn onto Washington Street, site of George Washington's headquarters during the American Revolution, and driven straight toward the river, downhill all the way. She'd be familiar with the boat launch, neighbors said. She watched fireworks over the river from the corner near her house. A half-mile drive would have gotten her there. A hard left then a quick right turn would take the van into the water.
Fire Chief Michael Vatter said the vehicle went under in the 45-degree water within two minutes.
A passer-by found a soaked and cold La'Shaun Armstrong along the shore and took him to a firehouse for help.
"He got out of the car, got up onto the boat ramp, turned around and it was gone," Vatter said.
Divers searched for about an hour before finding the minivan submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards from the shore. They used a tow truck to pull it up the ramp.
La'Shaun is staying with Gilliam and "doing fine," she said.
"She was a good mother. She was going through some stuff," Gilliam said of her niece. "Nobody knows what my niece went through." She would not elaborate.
Police said there was no history of domestic violence at the address.
Neighbors in the city of about 30,000 said the children seemed energetic and happy and would play on the block and ride bikes.
"She was a very good mom," said Tina Claybourne. "She took care of her kids. She always was with her kids."
Just last month, she donated money to help the family of a baby killed in a fire across the street from Armstrong's apartment. The loss of four children in such a short time hit the community hard.
GOOD LOOK FOR BET....BET Announces New Series Starring Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcolm Jamal Warner....
The BET networks has announced plans to air a new family comedy series starring former Girlfriends star Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcolm Jamal Warner, of The Cosby Show fame.
The show titled Reed Between The Lines will feature the two actors playing professional parents (she's a psychologist, he's an English professor) of three children.
The premier season airs in October.
In related news, both The Game and BET's Let's Stay Together have been renewed for 22 episode seasons.
New episodes will premier in January. On the strength of these two shows, BET had its most watched quarter ever.
April 13, 2011
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA.....LEARN SOMETHING!
'Black in Latin America': The Other African Americans
Less than 5 percent of the 11.5 million Africans wrenched into slavery ended up in the United States. That is one reason Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. decided to explore the lives and cultures of blacks from Brazil to Haiti, from Peru to Mexico, in his new PBS television series.
The series will air over four weeks on Tuesdays, April 19 and 26 and May 3 and 10, 2011, at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS stations. Check your local listings for time and channel. Here are PBS's descriptions of the series.
Episode 1: Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided
In Haiti, The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. tells the story of the birth of the first-ever black republic, and finds out how the slaves' hard-fought liberation over Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire became a double-edged sword. In the Dominican Republic, Gates explores how race has been socially constructed in a society whose people reflect centuries of intermarriage, and how the country's troubled history with Haiti informs notions about racial classification.
Episode 2: Cuba: The Next Revolution
In Cuba, Gates finds out how the culture, religion, politics and music of this island are inextricably linked to the huge amount of slave labor imported to produce its enormously profitable 19th-century sugar industry, and how race and racism have fared since Fidel Castro's communist revolution in 1959.
Episode 3: Brazil: A Racial Paradise?
In Brazil, Gates delves behind the facade of Carnival to discover how this "rainbow nation" is waking up to its legacy as the world's largest slave economy.
Episode 4: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet
In Mexico and Peru, Gates explores the almost unknown history of the significant numbers of black people -- the two countries together received far more slaves than did the United States -- brought to these countries as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, and the worlds of culture that their descendants have created in Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, the Costa Chica region on the Pacific, and in and around Lima, Peru.
Less than 5 percent of the 11.5 million Africans wrenched into slavery ended up in the United States. That is one reason Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. decided to explore the lives and cultures of blacks from Brazil to Haiti, from Peru to Mexico, in his new PBS television series.
The series will air over four weeks on Tuesdays, April 19 and 26 and May 3 and 10, 2011, at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS stations. Check your local listings for time and channel. Here are PBS's descriptions of the series.
Episode 1: Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided
In Haiti, The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. tells the story of the birth of the first-ever black republic, and finds out how the slaves' hard-fought liberation over Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire became a double-edged sword. In the Dominican Republic, Gates explores how race has been socially constructed in a society whose people reflect centuries of intermarriage, and how the country's troubled history with Haiti informs notions about racial classification.
Episode 2: Cuba: The Next Revolution
In Cuba, Gates finds out how the culture, religion, politics and music of this island are inextricably linked to the huge amount of slave labor imported to produce its enormously profitable 19th-century sugar industry, and how race and racism have fared since Fidel Castro's communist revolution in 1959.
Episode 3: Brazil: A Racial Paradise?
In Brazil, Gates delves behind the facade of Carnival to discover how this "rainbow nation" is waking up to its legacy as the world's largest slave economy.
Episode 4: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet
In Mexico and Peru, Gates explores the almost unknown history of the significant numbers of black people -- the two countries together received far more slaves than did the United States -- brought to these countries as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, and the worlds of culture that their descendants have created in Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, the Costa Chica region on the Pacific, and in and around Lima, Peru.
IN CASE YOU ARE INTO IT AND NEVER KNOEW WHAT IT WAS CALLED.....
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure— often sexual— from acts involving the infliction or receiving of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. A subset of BDSM, practitioners of sadomasochism usually seek out sexual gratification from these acts, but often seek out other forms of pleasure as well. While the terms sadist and masochist specifically refer to one who either enjoys giving pain(sadist), or one who enjoys receiving pain(masochist), many practitioners of sadomasochism describe themselves as at least somewhat of a switch, or someone who can receive pleasure from either inflicting or receiving pain.
The acronym S&M is often used for sadomasochism, although practitioners themselves normally drop the & and use the acronym SM or S/M. Sadomasochism should be differentiated from the clinical paraphilias which require that such practices lead to clinically significant distress or impairment for a diagnosis. Similarly, sexual sadism within the context of mutual consent should not be mistaken for acts of sexual violence or aggression.
The acronym S&M is often used for sadomasochism, although practitioners themselves normally drop the & and use the acronym SM or S/M. Sadomasochism should be differentiated from the clinical paraphilias which require that such practices lead to clinically significant distress or impairment for a diagnosis. Similarly, sexual sadism within the context of mutual consent should not be mistaken for acts of sexual violence or aggression.
EIGHT THINGS HE LOVES IN BED......
1. When you tell him what to do
Don’t be shy, it’s okay to moan “put your tongue there baby.” Men love when women give them verbal instructions in bed. Why? Because men aren’t mind readers and they know that a little direction goes a long way. So if your man is having a little trouble figuring things out, don’t stay silent while he fumbles around you female parts. Tell him exactly where and how you want it. Hey, at the end of the day it helps everyone out.
2. When you let him watch you masturbate
Men are visual creatures. This means they get aroused by “seeing” you. That’s why men LOVE to watch women masturbate. But sometimes we ladies can be a bit shy about sharing “me time” with our man. Don’t be shy. Your man loves your body and he loves to watch. So be sure to treat him to a little masterpiece theater. Remember, he can look but he can’t touch. And while you pleasure yourself, this is also a great time for you to combine those verbal instructions with a little visual aid. And who doesn’t learn better with visual aids? ;) (my personal favorite)
3. When you take control
Most of the time men initiate sex. And we decide whether they’re going to get it. But just imagine how boring would it be to always chase down a man for sex, and then watch him lay there while we pleasured him? Don’t be that woman. Men find it thrilling when they don’t have to be the one to always initiate sex. And it’s always pleasing and exciting when a woman switches it up a bit by taking control from on top or down below!
4. When you talk dirty
It’s good to be a lil’ bad! So get a little naughty with the wordplay in bed. The ability to look your man straight in the eye and say, “I want to you to %$& me in the #%$ so ^*$# hard!” displays confidence. And like I wrote before, men love confidence. Plus, it has been shown that lovers who talk dirty together have better sex and stronger orgasms. So let loose, show him that bad girl side of you, and talk dirty to your man.
5. When you swallow
Ok, this is sometimes a hard pill for women to swallow- no pun intended- but your man loves when you enjoy every “inch” and every “ounce” of him. And for the ladies that totally object, think of it this way: How would if feel if your man was down on you and at your moment of climax, he turned away because he didn’t want any of your delicious juiciness on or in him? Think about it ladies…
6. When you tell him how great he is
Men are ego driven- especially in the bedroom. So while he’s thrusting, sweating, and putting in all that work, make sure you smile and tell him how sexy and great he is. Everyone, men and women, love compliments and appreciation.
7. When you play with his nipples
Women aren’t the only ones who experience pleasure from their nipples. This is an incredibly erogenous zone for both sexes. So when you get down to business tonight, don’t forget to lick, suck, and lightly pinch your man’s nipples. It’s an area on their body that gets neglected- so he will be pleasantly surprised.
8. When you share your fantasies
Everyone fantasizes. And if you and your partner are sexually open, then your man is definitely curious about your fantasies. Maybe it’s blindfolds, handcuffs or wearing a nurse’s uniform, either way, share your fantasies with your man. And ask him about his. Sex is about being fun and intimate. And a major part of intimacy is honesty. Share your fantasies with your man- and give him the opportunity to make them a reality!
Don’t be shy, it’s okay to moan “put your tongue there baby.” Men love when women give them verbal instructions in bed. Why? Because men aren’t mind readers and they know that a little direction goes a long way. So if your man is having a little trouble figuring things out, don’t stay silent while he fumbles around you female parts. Tell him exactly where and how you want it. Hey, at the end of the day it helps everyone out.
2. When you let him watch you masturbate
Men are visual creatures. This means they get aroused by “seeing” you. That’s why men LOVE to watch women masturbate. But sometimes we ladies can be a bit shy about sharing “me time” with our man. Don’t be shy. Your man loves your body and he loves to watch. So be sure to treat him to a little masterpiece theater. Remember, he can look but he can’t touch. And while you pleasure yourself, this is also a great time for you to combine those verbal instructions with a little visual aid. And who doesn’t learn better with visual aids? ;) (my personal favorite)
3. When you take control
Most of the time men initiate sex. And we decide whether they’re going to get it. But just imagine how boring would it be to always chase down a man for sex, and then watch him lay there while we pleasured him? Don’t be that woman. Men find it thrilling when they don’t have to be the one to always initiate sex. And it’s always pleasing and exciting when a woman switches it up a bit by taking control from on top or down below!
4. When you talk dirty
It’s good to be a lil’ bad! So get a little naughty with the wordplay in bed. The ability to look your man straight in the eye and say, “I want to you to %$& me in the #%$ so ^*$# hard!” displays confidence. And like I wrote before, men love confidence. Plus, it has been shown that lovers who talk dirty together have better sex and stronger orgasms. So let loose, show him that bad girl side of you, and talk dirty to your man.
5. When you swallow
Ok, this is sometimes a hard pill for women to swallow- no pun intended- but your man loves when you enjoy every “inch” and every “ounce” of him. And for the ladies that totally object, think of it this way: How would if feel if your man was down on you and at your moment of climax, he turned away because he didn’t want any of your delicious juiciness on or in him? Think about it ladies…
6. When you tell him how great he is
Men are ego driven- especially in the bedroom. So while he’s thrusting, sweating, and putting in all that work, make sure you smile and tell him how sexy and great he is. Everyone, men and women, love compliments and appreciation.
7. When you play with his nipples
Women aren’t the only ones who experience pleasure from their nipples. This is an incredibly erogenous zone for both sexes. So when you get down to business tonight, don’t forget to lick, suck, and lightly pinch your man’s nipples. It’s an area on their body that gets neglected- so he will be pleasantly surprised.
8. When you share your fantasies
Everyone fantasizes. And if you and your partner are sexually open, then your man is definitely curious about your fantasies. Maybe it’s blindfolds, handcuffs or wearing a nurse’s uniform, either way, share your fantasies with your man. And ask him about his. Sex is about being fun and intimate. And a major part of intimacy is honesty. Share your fantasies with your man- and give him the opportunity to make them a reality!
April 12, 2011
GET INTO THE LYRICS....
I guess U've heard of my reputation
I've had my share of foolin' around
But everybody needs stimulation
And mine just happens 2 be all over town
It's an easy-money occupation
First-class psychiatry
But just once, I'd wanna make love without taking off my clothes
Just once, I wanna make love with somebody who really and truly knows
CHORUS:
Contrary 2 rumor
Gigolos get lonely 2
All my lovers need stimulation
But honey babe, I think that I need U
Maybe U're the kind of person
That could turn my world around
Oh, won't U gimme a little inspiration
Maybe that's what I need 2 make me settle down
It's an easy-money occupation
But honey, one thing understand
I've got more money than U could imagine in your wildest dreams
But honey, money don't make no happy man
CHORUS
(Listen)
Just once I wanna make love without takin' off my clothes
Just once I wanna make love with somebody who knows
That I got more money than U could ever see
But honey, money won't get me up off my knees
Gigolos get lonely 2
All my lovers need stimulation ([Ooh stimulate])
But honey babe (honey babe), I think that I need U (I need U)
CHORUS
What cha gonna do, baby?
Oh, what cha, what cha gonna do?
Hey, what cha gonna do, baby?
Oh, what cha, what cha gonna do? (Oh)
Ah, do U think we could have dinner sometime, baby? {fade out}
Well, how about 2 night?
Baby
I've had my share of foolin' around
But everybody needs stimulation
And mine just happens 2 be all over town
It's an easy-money occupation
First-class psychiatry
But just once, I'd wanna make love without taking off my clothes
Just once, I wanna make love with somebody who really and truly knows
CHORUS:
Contrary 2 rumor
Gigolos get lonely 2
All my lovers need stimulation
But honey babe, I think that I need U
Maybe U're the kind of person
That could turn my world around
Oh, won't U gimme a little inspiration
Maybe that's what I need 2 make me settle down
It's an easy-money occupation
But honey, one thing understand
I've got more money than U could imagine in your wildest dreams
But honey, money don't make no happy man
CHORUS
(Listen)
Just once I wanna make love without takin' off my clothes
Just once I wanna make love with somebody who knows
That I got more money than U could ever see
But honey, money won't get me up off my knees
Gigolos get lonely 2
All my lovers need stimulation ([Ooh stimulate])
But honey babe (honey babe), I think that I need U (I need U)
CHORUS
What cha gonna do, baby?
Oh, what cha, what cha gonna do?
Hey, what cha gonna do, baby?
Oh, what cha, what cha gonna do? (Oh)
Ah, do U think we could have dinner sometime, baby? {fade out}
Well, how about 2 night?
Baby
GET INTO THE WORDS....
Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
MUST SEE TV TONIGHT....YOU KNOW 5 BLACK SISTERS IS GOING TO BE GOOD DRAMA....
The Braxton Sisters Take Over WE tv with their Special Brand of Sisterly Love Premiering Tuesday, 4/12 at 9pm ET/PT!
Grammy award winning artist Toni Braxton, her four equally-talented sisters and their mom cook up raucous family drama mixed with love, laughter, rivalry, and bankruptcy!
Join Toni – “The Superstar”, Traci – “The Underdog,” Towanda – “Mrs. Congeniality,” Trina – “The Wildcard,” Tamar – “Baby” and their headstrong mother Evelyn – “The Force,” as they yell, cry and harmonize their way across the Braxton family stage. These tight-knit sisters are not afraid to reveal the intricacies of their sisterhood as they battle it out for the spotlight with sibling rivalry, man drama, bankruptcy, a DUI and much more. See if their sisterly bond can withstand the trials and tribulations of life in the fab lane.
Watch the drama unfold as Toni Braxton fights to make it back to the top from bankruptcy, Traci catches a case dealing with her possessive husband, Towanda entertains with her lackadaisical marriage, Trina battles alcohol abuse, and Tamar’s misdirected issues cause drama with what seems like everyone.
Braxton Family Values is sure to unveil the realities of sisterhood and dispel the myth that money solves everything.
April 11, 2011
RUN CARL, RUN...(JUST NOT IN HEELS)
Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis is planning to run for New Jersey Senate.
A state Democratic Party official says Lewis will announce his candidacy on Monday.
Lewis has called a 2 p.m. news conference in Burlington County to announce his “political plans.”
His advisory, issued Sunday night, contained no specific details.
However, a party official speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the 49-year-old Lewis, says the civic activist and four-time medalist plans to run in the 8th legislative district.
The seat is now held by Republican Dawn Addiego.
Monday is the filing deadline for anyone who wants to run for the New Jersey Legislature.
All 120 seats of the Senate and Assembly will be on November’s ballot.
Both houses are controlled by Democrats.
Lebron James Gets FACE TIME As New Audemars Piguet Spokesman....HAWT!!!!
LeBron James just added another revenue stream to his ever expanding multi-million dollar brand. The Miami Heat star is now the new global ambassador for Audemars Piguet watches, the world's oldest watch manufacturer still in the hands of its founding families. LeBron is also creating his very own watch with the company to be auctioned off for his charity.
April 6, 2011
THE FOUR THINGS A MAN SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO BUY FOR HIMSELF.....
When I was in high school, I worked at a restaurant part time. One of my co-workers was this really fly hostess who was a few years my elder. I think she was in like community college or something. In any case, every now and then, she would put me on to the ways of women, what they liked, what they didn’t like.
Much of her lessons have been forgotten, admittedly, but there was one lesson she taught me that has stuck with me forever. It goes as follows:
A woman should never have to buy her own flowers, jewelry, or perfume
I believe her father told her this, and I thought it good and fair advice. My mother also once told me a man should buy his woman flowers at least once a month. This is good advice as well. Over the years, I have also noticed another item or purchase a woman should never have to make on her own: A day at the spa. All men should get their special lady a day at the spa, whether it be for a special occasion or not. So those are the four things a woman should never have to buy for herself, which begs the question: What should a man never have to buy for himself? Even if he has the means to do so, I thought, there should be some items men should receive from others instead of treating themselves.
I’ve thought long and hard about this list and I’m finally ready to share it with everyone else. Feel free to add anything both to the list of things a woman should never have to buy for herself (which I’m sure my woman readers are going to do anyway) and the list of things a man should never have to buy for himself.
Here it is, four things a man should never have to purchase for himself. No further explanations necessary.
A Watch: We all keep time on our cellular devices these days, so the watch has seemingly been put on the back burner, but it’s also resurrected the importance of a nice time piece. These days, no man is wearing a watch for its functionality, we’re wearing one because they’re fashionable and demonstrate our appreciation for the old school.
Tickets To A Game: I’ve mentioned this gift before, because I just think it’s so obvious for the woman who is dating a sports fan. Unless he’s already a season ticket holder, nothing will please a man more than two or so tickets to a competitive sporting event. A rule I’d like to add to this purchase: If bought as a birthday/Father’s Day/Christmas gift, encourage the man to go to the event with one of his friends. If bought just for the sake of being nice, the woman has a right to impose herself on the second ticket.
Cologne: The funny thing about this gift is how possessive women are over it. I remember I once put on some cologne before heading out on a date with an ex-girlfriend of mine. As we were walking to our destination she says, “What are you wearing?” I forget what the scent was, but when I told her she then asked, “Where did you get it from?” I said, “It was a gift.” She asked, “Who got it for you?” I said, “Umm, an ex of mine.” She said, “Okay…” Then there was silence. We continued walking down 34th street, which for those who know is a haven for bootleggers and street vendors. Out of nowhere, my ex stops at a table filled with name brand colognes on the cheap. She’s sampling, smelling, asking me to smell this bottle and that before she finally settles on D&G. I liked it too. She tells the vendor she’ll take the D&G, pays for it, and then hands me the bag. “I’ll get you another cologne later, but until then, the next time you put some on, you put this on. I don’t want to smell what another woman bought you.” To me, this still makes sense, so ladies, buy a man a scent. He should smell good on his own but he should smell magical because of you.
Gadgets: This is strictly for those who are in a committed relationship because gadgets are expensive. Though the watch may seem like the jewelry equivalent to a man, it’s actually gadgets. This sort of gift can range anywhere from Beats By Dre Headphones (any woman who wants to buy me a pair, I would love you for it) to an iPad 2. Although, I wouldn’t trust a woman who bought me an iPad 2 out of fear she added a hidden tracking device app that she keeps tabs on at all times, but I digress. The point is, gadgets, ladies. Get them for that special guy. And yes, Madden 2012 counts as a gadget.
Hats/Tailored Suit: Here’s the deal with this purchase, it doesn’t look good on every man. But hey, I can’t speak for every man here, I can only speak for me and I make hats look good. If you’re dating one of those guys who looks ridiculous in hats, go with a tailored suit. A reader actually emailed me about this very thing a couple of weeks ago, saying she took her man on a date to a customized hat shop. I thought it was a great idea. Like a man should know a woman’s ring size, a woman should know her man’s hat size, or if applicable, his suit measurements. I actually had another ex-girlfriend of mine go in my closet, take one of my tailored suits along with another suit I hadn’t gotten tailored yet, and had the tailor make the necessary adjustments as a Christmas gift. But it didn’t get done in time, so she gave me the pick-up ticket as a gift. Unfortunately, we broke up soon after, and she sure did take the ticket with her.
Much of her lessons have been forgotten, admittedly, but there was one lesson she taught me that has stuck with me forever. It goes as follows:
A woman should never have to buy her own flowers, jewelry, or perfume
I believe her father told her this, and I thought it good and fair advice. My mother also once told me a man should buy his woman flowers at least once a month. This is good advice as well. Over the years, I have also noticed another item or purchase a woman should never have to make on her own: A day at the spa. All men should get their special lady a day at the spa, whether it be for a special occasion or not. So those are the four things a woman should never have to buy for herself, which begs the question: What should a man never have to buy for himself? Even if he has the means to do so, I thought, there should be some items men should receive from others instead of treating themselves.
I’ve thought long and hard about this list and I’m finally ready to share it with everyone else. Feel free to add anything both to the list of things a woman should never have to buy for herself (which I’m sure my woman readers are going to do anyway) and the list of things a man should never have to buy for himself.
Here it is, four things a man should never have to purchase for himself. No further explanations necessary.
A Watch: We all keep time on our cellular devices these days, so the watch has seemingly been put on the back burner, but it’s also resurrected the importance of a nice time piece. These days, no man is wearing a watch for its functionality, we’re wearing one because they’re fashionable and demonstrate our appreciation for the old school.
Tickets To A Game: I’ve mentioned this gift before, because I just think it’s so obvious for the woman who is dating a sports fan. Unless he’s already a season ticket holder, nothing will please a man more than two or so tickets to a competitive sporting event. A rule I’d like to add to this purchase: If bought as a birthday/Father’s Day/Christmas gift, encourage the man to go to the event with one of his friends. If bought just for the sake of being nice, the woman has a right to impose herself on the second ticket.
Cologne: The funny thing about this gift is how possessive women are over it. I remember I once put on some cologne before heading out on a date with an ex-girlfriend of mine. As we were walking to our destination she says, “What are you wearing?” I forget what the scent was, but when I told her she then asked, “Where did you get it from?” I said, “It was a gift.” She asked, “Who got it for you?” I said, “Umm, an ex of mine.” She said, “Okay…” Then there was silence. We continued walking down 34th street, which for those who know is a haven for bootleggers and street vendors. Out of nowhere, my ex stops at a table filled with name brand colognes on the cheap. She’s sampling, smelling, asking me to smell this bottle and that before she finally settles on D&G. I liked it too. She tells the vendor she’ll take the D&G, pays for it, and then hands me the bag. “I’ll get you another cologne later, but until then, the next time you put some on, you put this on. I don’t want to smell what another woman bought you.” To me, this still makes sense, so ladies, buy a man a scent. He should smell good on his own but he should smell magical because of you.
Gadgets: This is strictly for those who are in a committed relationship because gadgets are expensive. Though the watch may seem like the jewelry equivalent to a man, it’s actually gadgets. This sort of gift can range anywhere from Beats By Dre Headphones (any woman who wants to buy me a pair, I would love you for it) to an iPad 2. Although, I wouldn’t trust a woman who bought me an iPad 2 out of fear she added a hidden tracking device app that she keeps tabs on at all times, but I digress. The point is, gadgets, ladies. Get them for that special guy. And yes, Madden 2012 counts as a gadget.
Hats/Tailored Suit: Here’s the deal with this purchase, it doesn’t look good on every man. But hey, I can’t speak for every man here, I can only speak for me and I make hats look good. If you’re dating one of those guys who looks ridiculous in hats, go with a tailored suit. A reader actually emailed me about this very thing a couple of weeks ago, saying she took her man on a date to a customized hat shop. I thought it was a great idea. Like a man should know a woman’s ring size, a woman should know her man’s hat size, or if applicable, his suit measurements. I actually had another ex-girlfriend of mine go in my closet, take one of my tailored suits along with another suit I hadn’t gotten tailored yet, and had the tailor make the necessary adjustments as a Christmas gift. But it didn’t get done in time, so she gave me the pick-up ticket as a gift. Unfortunately, we broke up soon after, and she sure did take the ticket with her.
April 5, 2011
WORDS OF WISDOM...TO LIVE BY....
“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
5 GREAT IDEAS FOR THIS SPRING....
1.Take time to plan. Without a plan, you’re stuck with good intentions that you can’t execute. If you have extra time over spring break, do some personal reflection and goal setting. Think about one behavior at a time. What would you like to change about nutrition? Write it down. Continue this until you have a list of changes that have been on your mind.
Be consistent. Don’t think about how far you have to go, think about what you will do today to work on that change. For example: I will eat two whole fruits a day. I will not snack in front of the TV or computer.
2. Clean out your cabinets. Spring says “let's clean up” for some reason. Why not take a day to really get your cabinets in order? Pull everything out and assess. Do you have a lot of packaged, heavily processed foods or snacks? What nourishing foods can you add to your pantry? Healthy items include: nuts, fresh and dried fruit, dried and canned beans, whole grains (whole wheat pasta, cous cous, brown rice), canned salmon and tuna, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, salt-free dried herbs and spices.
3. Visit a running or sporting goods store. The problem with exercising is we tend to assume it is something to suffer through. You don’t have to do any exercise that feels uncomfortable. Exercise is not punishment. Maybe you would have fun jogging in a pool, rollerblading, or just simply walking after work. Take stock of your fitness equipment.
Don’t assume you have to squeeze yourself into spandex or workout clothes. Find at least one outfit that makes you look and feel good.
4. Make a “don’t do” list. There’s never enough time in the day to prepare meals and exercise. If this is you, there’s too much on your plate. Period. It’s not a race to see how
much you can squeeze into your calendar. There will always be things to do. Why not spend some time making your first-ever “don’t do” list? All you need to do is think about
what you are currently doing that eats up time in your day. Are you spending too much screen time – TV and computer? Volunteering too much? Pulling more than your fair
share in the family? It’s time to delegate and get some help.
5. Love yourself. Most people would probably read this and say, “well of course I love myself.” But if you really think about it, we're our own worst critics, especially when we
know we need to change. We judge ourselves by so many things each day – what we weigh, what we put in our mouths, if we were too lazy to exercise, we’re not _____
enough. The reality is, the better you feel about yourself, the more positive you are, the more successful you will be. Write down three things about yourself you love, ask
others what they love most about you, and then write down three negative things you will no longer tell yourself.
When you want to change habits, it can be hard just figuring out where to start. That’s what’s so powerful about “Nothing changes until you do.” It shows that change starts within. It also says that you already have what you need to change. You don’t need to wait for someone to solve your problems. You can change your own life.
Be consistent. Don’t think about how far you have to go, think about what you will do today to work on that change. For example: I will eat two whole fruits a day. I will not snack in front of the TV or computer.
2. Clean out your cabinets. Spring says “let's clean up” for some reason. Why not take a day to really get your cabinets in order? Pull everything out and assess. Do you have a lot of packaged, heavily processed foods or snacks? What nourishing foods can you add to your pantry? Healthy items include: nuts, fresh and dried fruit, dried and canned beans, whole grains (whole wheat pasta, cous cous, brown rice), canned salmon and tuna, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, salt-free dried herbs and spices.
3. Visit a running or sporting goods store. The problem with exercising is we tend to assume it is something to suffer through. You don’t have to do any exercise that feels uncomfortable. Exercise is not punishment. Maybe you would have fun jogging in a pool, rollerblading, or just simply walking after work. Take stock of your fitness equipment.
Don’t assume you have to squeeze yourself into spandex or workout clothes. Find at least one outfit that makes you look and feel good.
4. Make a “don’t do” list. There’s never enough time in the day to prepare meals and exercise. If this is you, there’s too much on your plate. Period. It’s not a race to see how
much you can squeeze into your calendar. There will always be things to do. Why not spend some time making your first-ever “don’t do” list? All you need to do is think about
what you are currently doing that eats up time in your day. Are you spending too much screen time – TV and computer? Volunteering too much? Pulling more than your fair
share in the family? It’s time to delegate and get some help.
5. Love yourself. Most people would probably read this and say, “well of course I love myself.” But if you really think about it, we're our own worst critics, especially when we
know we need to change. We judge ourselves by so many things each day – what we weigh, what we put in our mouths, if we were too lazy to exercise, we’re not _____
enough. The reality is, the better you feel about yourself, the more positive you are, the more successful you will be. Write down three things about yourself you love, ask
others what they love most about you, and then write down three negative things you will no longer tell yourself.
When you want to change habits, it can be hard just figuring out where to start. That’s what’s so powerful about “Nothing changes until you do.” It shows that change starts within. It also says that you already have what you need to change. You don’t need to wait for someone to solve your problems. You can change your own life.
April 4, 2011
CLASSIC....JUST IN THAT KIND OF MOOD....
I want you the right way
I want you
But I want you to want me too
Want you to want me, baby
Just like I want you
I give you all the love I want in return sweet daring. Pure happiness is all I cave.
It's too bad, It's just too sad
You don't want me now
But I'm gonna change your mind
Someway,somehow,oh baby
Repeat
this one way love is just a fantasy, oh sugar
To share is precious, pure and fair
Don't play with something you should cherish for life,oh baby
Don't you wanna care
Ain't it lonely out there
Repeat
Repeat and fade
ALL IN THE LABEL.....
Ladies and Gentleman...
If you are over the age of 21 and dating but are unmarried...Your partner is NOT your girlfriend or your boyfriend...that is your MAN Or WOMAN..
When you classify somebody as you would a kid, they often act that way.
If you are over the age of 21 and dating but are unmarried...Your partner is NOT your girlfriend or your boyfriend...that is your MAN Or WOMAN..
When you classify somebody as you would a kid, they often act that way.
SHOUT OUT TO HAITI AND AHITAIN PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.....
Nineteen year old college freshman, Lisa Drouillard, was crowned Miss New York recently but now the daughter of Haitian immigrants has her eye set on the larger prize of winning Miss Teen USA, a title that hasn’t been held by a New Yorker for 30 years.
Drouillard brought her Haitian flavor to the competition and wants to use her relative celebrity to encourage the young people of Haiti.
Drouillard said, “I have a sense of pride being Haitian. I feel like I haven’t gotten there yet, but I do know that I inspire every child in my neighborhood.”
GET INTO THE LYRICS....
Ooh...ooh...ooh...ooh...hey, hey, hey, hey...yea...
Oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...ooh...oh...oh...
You stay awake half the night
Love is just a perfect chance
It must be love that’s on your mind
You’re doin’ things you wouldn’t before, oh...
Love will make you oh, so happy
Inside, ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha...)
Love will make you oh, so sad
Make you cry, ha, ha, ha
Oh...changes
That’s what love makes you do, hoo...
Changes
That’s what love makes one do
Oh...oh...oh...oh...
Uh, ooh...
Wonder if it’s real this time
Or just another half-goodbye
You walk around starry eyed
Can’t believe that love would hurt again, oh...love
Love (Love) will (Will) make (Make) you (You) oh, so happy (Oh, so happy)
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha...ha...)
Love (Will) will (Make) make (You) you oh, so sad (Oh, so sad)
Make you cry (Make you cry), ha, ha, ha (Oh, yes, it will)
Changes
That’s what love makes you do, hoo...
Changes
Oh, what love makes one do
Love will make you oh, so happy
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha..oh, ha...)
Love will make you oh, so sad (Oh...oh...)
Make you cry (Oh, ooh, make you cry), ha, ha, ha (Ooh, make you cry)
(Love) Love (Will) will (Make) make (You) you oh, so happy
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Oh...oh...yeah...)
Love (Love) will (Will) make you (Make you) oh, so sad (Oh, so sad)
Make you cry (Ooh, yes, it will), ha, ha, ha (Ooh, yes, it will)
(If you’ve ever been in love you know what I mean)
Love (Love) will (Will) make (Make you) you oh, so happy (Oh, so happy)
Inside
Oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...oh...ooh...oh...oh...
You stay awake half the night
Love is just a perfect chance
It must be love that’s on your mind
You’re doin’ things you wouldn’t before, oh...
Love will make you oh, so happy
Inside, ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha...)
Love will make you oh, so sad
Make you cry, ha, ha, ha
Oh...changes
That’s what love makes you do, hoo...
Changes
That’s what love makes one do
Oh...oh...oh...oh...
Uh, ooh...
Wonder if it’s real this time
Or just another half-goodbye
You walk around starry eyed
Can’t believe that love would hurt again, oh...love
Love (Love) will (Will) make (Make) you (You) oh, so happy (Oh, so happy)
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha...ha...)
Love (Will) will (Make) make (You) you oh, so sad (Oh, so sad)
Make you cry (Make you cry), ha, ha, ha (Oh, yes, it will)
Changes
That’s what love makes you do, hoo...
Changes
Oh, what love makes one do
Love will make you oh, so happy
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Ha...ha...ha..oh, ha...)
Love will make you oh, so sad (Oh...oh...)
Make you cry (Oh, ooh, make you cry), ha, ha, ha (Ooh, make you cry)
(Love) Love (Will) will (Make) make (You) you oh, so happy
Inside (Inside), ha, ha, ha (Oh...oh...yeah...)
Love (Love) will (Will) make you (Make you) oh, so sad (Oh, so sad)
Make you cry (Ooh, yes, it will), ha, ha, ha (Ooh, yes, it will)
(If you’ve ever been in love you know what I mean)
Love (Love) will (Will) make (Make you) you oh, so happy (Oh, so happy)
Inside
Barack Obama 2012 Campaign Launch Video - "It Begins With Us"...
The First Family is about to go into over-drive with re-election campaign, as well as keeping up with the long list of current issues in making America better and the many activities the White House is currently focusing on. And reportedly, President Obama is setting a goal to raise a record $1 billion.
http://www.barackobama.com/
http://www.barackobama.com/
April 3, 2011
FIRST OPENLY GAY NAACP LEADER...
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has just chosen it first openly gay man to head a local branch of its historical organization founded in 1909, Ravi Perry. Perry is a Clark University political science professor in Worcester, Mass.
In a statement, Perry said,"This is the new NAACP. This is human rights organization, and wehave an obligation to fight discrimination at all levels."
The NAACP is engaging in an effort to increase membership by broadening its agenda to confront prejudices in all its varied forms. The organization came out against California'a Proposition 8, the ballot measure banning gay marriages during the height of public debate in the state.
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