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Did that sound like a dis? It actually wasn't... It's just my way of telling you that there's a new place for us all to indulge in our not-so-secret obsession with pop culture--but with a new female spin.
As of yesterday, Gawker Media is the proud parent of yet another (brilliant) trash talkin' website: Jezebel. This one aims to tackle "Celebrity, Sex and Fashion--Without the Airbrushing"--a.k.a., injecting the "women's perspective" to its media massacre. I can't quite say I can tell what about the site makes it that different from the once-venerable-now-stale Gawker, but I can say that 2 days of reportage (such as it is) has made me smile more than once. And it's the first site I checked when I tuned on my computer tonight--and I wasn't disappointed I did (love the Angie coverage, y'all).
Worth a peek if you're interested in a touch of celeb news... which I'm sure you're not. Ahem.
Call it the luck of the (black) Irish: I've been sent to Miami for three days to observe a convening of the Foundation's Reproductive Rights grantees--and so far so good. Today was mostly travel, check-in, and settling in to our surroundings. Tomorrow, though, the hard work begins. Which is why I spent my evening "enjoying my own company," as I said to Jess (who is currently on a company boondoggle in Cancun... ah, the for-profit world).
Anyway, this enjoyment of my own self took the form tonight of taking up residence in a bar along Lincoln Road called Finnegan's 2, where I nursed an Amstel Light for about an hour and half while reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (loving every minute of it; definitely pick it up). Then I wandered down to the far end of Lincoln, popping into stores; then turned and headed back up towards Collins, where my hotel is, stopping first to have the sushi I had been craving all day. The concierge recommended a place called Sushi Siam, and though I'm usually wary of sushi places that try to mix with another cuisine (here, Thai), I figured I'd give it a shot. It was... fine--though the seaweed tasted a bit too "seaweedy" for my taste. The lesson? Never second-guess your own instincts.
Still, it's been a great few hours. I'm taking a breather back in the room for a bit to watch what I believe is the season finale of "Heroes" (can't wait!) and then either going to venture down toward Ocean Avenue and see what's happening there in the way of dessert. Or I'll just hop next door and check out the quality of their gelato. Not bad, friends. Not bad at all.
You know how sometimes you'll be given a piece of information, and interesting as it might be, it kinda flies out of your head--only to be resurrected days or even weeks later through some odd consequence of fate? Well, this is one of those times.
10 days ago, when I was at the Georgia Rule premiere, a friend of mine mentioned, very late in the evening (and after numerous glasses of wine), that she'd just run into Liz Holtzman in the bathroom. Liz Holtzman, for those of you who don't know, was a congresswoman from NY for many years, and a Brooklyn D.A.--which means that back in the day she was really the shiz-ite.
Anyway, point is, this friend related to me that Holtzman had been talking to her about her newest book, and how she was having trouble getting any press for it. The name of the book really caught me--because who wouldn't love its suggestion to come true? The title: The Impeachment of George W. Bush.
Now you'd think something like that would stay with me, but sadly, I completely forgot about it until today, as I was riding down the elevator at work, thinking about a recent meeting I'd had with another sometime NY politician named Liz, when boom! The Holtzman thing came flying back. So anyway, I did an Amazon search, found the book, and thought I'd recommend a peek at it to all of you.
And in case you're wondering what qualifies Holtzman to categorize and call for the impeachment of the Commander in Chief, just keep in mind she's got professional experience: Holtzman sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment. Hard to beat, huh?
From today's New York Times, a profile and video offering on the wife of Presidential hopeful Barack Obama. As much as I like Obama, I must say I like Michelle even more, and sometimes have that same feeling when watching her stump for her husband that I did watching Kerry Kennedy Cuomo stump for hers--i.e., that SHE ought to have been the one running, rather than playing the role of back-up singer (though In the Cuomo/ Kennedy Cuomo case the imbalance was much greater, for sure).
In any case, I'm hoping that Michelle will continue to get ample face-time as this race continues. My only gripe: can we stop talking already about how she's "meaner" and "tougher" than he is? There are more options for black women, certainly, than being either the coddling mammy or the stone cold butch... How about we let Michelle be the three-dimensional person she is? A radical notion, I'm aware, but one with striving for.
Not that many of us need any more on a daily basis to make us furious, but just in case you're looking for another hit of "this world is so fucked up I cannot stand it another minute," check out this article in today's NYT about homeless gay youth.
And just in case you're thinking, "How big a problem could that be?" here's a statistic to make you think again: "While gay men and lesbians make up 3 percent to 5 percent of the general population, more than 20 percent of homeless youths under age 21 in many urban areas are gay."
It's grim, people...very grim. (And don't forget to check out the interactive feature for an even more powerful kick in the gut.)
From Grist, a revealing interview with News Corp's head honcho, the one and only--and apparently earth-loving--Rupert Murdoch. In case you were as busy (and as crippled) as I was last week, and thus missed the news, Rupe-dog has pledged to take News Corp and all of its holdings (Fox News Channel, the NY Post, 20th Century Fox, to name but a few) carbon neutral in the coming years--and he wants you to make the same promise to the earth.
I hate to say it, but the man has done a good thing. It may have taken some "arm-twisting" by his son James, but a good deed is a good deed--especially when it comes to safeguarding the earth's future.
In case you thought the really bad news was that none of our kids will get into the Ivy League, the NY Times is here to tell you that there's worse news than that: a whole set of so-called "second-tier" schools are now ready and willing to reject your kids, too--thanks to all the overflow of Ivy League rejects. The future looks bright, friends...
Did that sound like a dis? It actually wasn't... It's just my way of telling you that there's a new place for us all to indulge in our not-so-secret obsession with pop culture--but with a new female spin.
