Are Tattoos Really So Tacky?

Hey World,
Just wanted to bring attention to a celebitchy blogpost about Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes. Celebitchy was responding to a star magazine report as to why Victoria and Katie haven't been hanging out as much as before. Allegedly it is because Victoria had encouraged to get Katie a tattoo, but Katie refused, saying that tattoos are "tacky." Celebitchy criticized Katie for this by bashing her fashion sense, but I can see where she is coming from. I think that tattoos can look "trashy," especially when people: 1. have a lot of them all over their bodies and 2. are old people. And oh yeah, I have more of a thing against girls who wear tattoos. I can't stand seeing stars like Keyshia Cole, Amy Winehouse, or Eve wearing nice dresses but they're tatted up all over. In this way, the tattoos are distracting and gross. I don't mind if the tattoos are unique ones and are small and discreet, like Victoria Beckham's, but otherwise, I'm usually not a tattoo person. I just think that if I got a tattoo, I would end up regretting it later because I am fickle. I don't want to be 80 and have tattoos from when I was 25. And don't even get me started on if you work in a conservative, workplace environment or are looking for a job. I don't care what anyone says. When I see someone with a tattoo, I look at them differently. I mean, why would you want to mess up your skin on purpose? Some people have the nicest, clearest skin, yet they want to mark it up with tattoos. If Katie really said that, then I co-sign with her.

Movie Review: La Vie En Rose

Hey World,
I just saw La Vie en Rose over the weekend through netflix.com, and it was pretty good. I wanted to see the film for a few reasons. For one thing, I have always been interested in French films and French culture in general, so it was a must-see. Secondly, I have always wanted to know more about Edith Piaf's life. Up until now, I had not known much about Piaf except that she was a very famous French singer. Like whenever people think of all-time popular French singers, Piaf is usually number one. Also, I had first seen the promotions for the film while staying in London last spring, and I couldn't wait to see it once I returned to the States.
The movie basically is a typical biopic of a highs and lows of a singing legend, as portrayed by the wonderful Marion Cotillard as Piaf. The movie arguably not be as interesting if I wasn't as interested in Piaf's life as I already am, but I have learned a few interesting tidbits on Piaf, like:

1. She was not originally French, but of Italian-Algerian descent. That really shocked me because the French have adopted her so much as an icon that I had always assumed that she had a total Gallic heritage.
2. For a time, she was raised by the prostitutes from her grandmother's whorehouse. This was also shocking for me-how hard a life Piaf had lived.
3. Edith Piaf was not her real name. Piaf is a French colloquialism or slang word for "sparrow."

Those were some of the more jarring things that I had learned from the film. It had just amazed me that someone who was so talented had such heartache through her short life. What also amazed me was how Cotillard was able to play a young Piaf and Piaf when she became ill with the arthritis and the liver cancer. I mean, you could also attribute it to the make-up (The film's make-up artists have just won an Oscar for Best Makeup, which is well deserved), which was well done because Cotillard did not look like a young person trying to look sick and old. The make-up was believable. Let us also not forget Cotillard's Oscar-winning performance of the different phases of Piaf's life.

Anywho, I could go on and on, but La Vie En Rose is definitely a must-see.

Was Aretha Franklin Overreacting?

Hi World,
Even though the Grammy Awards ceremony was a week ago (boy, time really flies!) I wanted to comment on something. It was interesting how Aretha Franklin attacked Beyonce for her calling Tina Turner a "queen." On one hand, I can see how Aretha, the Queen of Soul, would be upset. She has worked very hard to get where she is today in the music business. She has been known longer than Tina Turner has, and look what happens. Aretha is lumped together with some other singers, and Tina Turner is the queen. On the other hand, maybe Ms. Franklin should chill out. I mean, when u look at Beyonce's package, it's obvious that Tina Turner is an influence. Aretha should have taken it as Tina Turner being a queen to Beyonce, and not a queen to everyone. It was a mistake for Aretha to complain to the press about it because it shows that she is insecure. I mean, with no disrespect to the Queen of Soul, but you may have the voice, but Tina Turner has the body, and looks often trump true talent, especially in the entertainment industry. Don't worry Aretha, Beyonce calling someone else the queen over u isn't going to make you NOT the queen anymore. It should, though, make you think about how others see you. Again, with no disrespect, but you need to lose some weight. I mean, A LOT of weight. It's getting to the point where it is not only unhealthy, but people have been making cruel jokes about it. You may not be young, but you are still alive and an amazing singer. This whole Beyonce thing should have been your wake up call to change up ure image. Im juat saying. U don't have to listen to me or anyone else. What do I know, I'm just a blogger, right?

What kind of American English do u Speak?

Hello Cyberspace:

Check out the link for this interesting quiz. Here are my results:


50% General American English

35% Yankee

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofamericanenglishdoyouspeakquiz

Too Good to be True

I knew that something funny was going on after I had downloaded the Qtrax software. When I had first heard about Qtrax, the music file sharing software that was supposed to provide free music to its subscribers, I had jumped for joy, at least inwardly. The downloads were supposed to be paid for by advertisers, so no worries there, right? WRONG! Dead WRONG!! I thought that there may have been something awry with my computer because I was unable to start downloading, but alas, I have just found an article from SKY News http://news.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/tech/0,,91221-12508,00.html that basically says that the record companies deny ever giving Qtrax permission to distribute its music. I knew that these companies would NEVER, EVER give out their stuff so easily, but when I had first heard about Qtrax on the news, I figured it was a go. But of course, you should never take what you hear, see, or read in the media at face value, but why do I keep making the same mistake? Now, qtrax is on hold. It's as if music downloaders have tasted the fruit of Eden like Eve, and the record companies are like God, telling them that they are banished, or something like that, lol! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

10 Most Twisted Animated TV Shows

There have been a lot of great TV cartoon series over the decades, but only a few deserve the moniker of “twisted.” Here are our choices for the ten most twisted cartoons on American TV.

read more | digg story

John McCain Campaign Ad

Hello World,
I was checking out youtube.com's channels for the presidential candidates, and I stumbled upon this web campaign ad from John McCain's channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7OKBAT0Fk

The ad's tag line is "John McCain: The Democrats' Worst Nightmare." It is a funny tag line because it implies that McCain is such an imposing adversary that he is making the Democrats shake in their boots. The ad is a simple 38-second montage of video clips of journalists, strategists, and the like uttering McCain's name. Of course you have the usual Republican commentators such as Larry Elder praising McCain's attributes. It is funny how a such a short ad can say so much, or perhaps so little.

Obama Wins the Hearts of South Carolinians

Hey World,
Have you heard? Barack Obama has just won the South Carolina primary, with no small help from the likes of celebs such as Usher and Kerry Washinton. Check out the bossip.com link for pictures:
http://www.bossip.com/11231/sc-stand-up/

It's interesting that The Associated Press http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/obama-wins-big-in-south-carolina/20080126073309990001 made a point to mention that black women especially came out in support for Obama. The journalists could have just been stating the facts, but nonetheless, it's notable. Perhaps Obama strikes a chord with Black women, I don't know. Hopefully, none of them are vying for his affection. You'd better watch out, Michelle (just kidding!).

What I thought unworthy to note was the fact that John Edwards was born in South Carolina. I mean, that's a nice fun fact, but it seems like the media is attempting to imply that Edwards should win brownie points just because he is from there. Like it's ironic that Edwards didn't take South Carolina because he was born there when he has had more to do with North Carolina than anything else, since he was a Senator from there for a number of years. Man, the news media can be so predictable.

Well, good job Obama. Hillary Clinton must be annoyed, but we can't always get what we want.

Heath Ledger

Words can't express how terrible that I feel about the whole Heath Ledger situation. It is trite and cliche to say that he was so young and promising and blah, blah, blah, because even though that is all true, his life was a human life, and that made him special enough, whether he was a Hollywood star or not.

No disrespect to the dead, but a part of me wonders if I would care as much if Heath was just a regular person who died suddenly. I fear that while, yes, I would be saddened, but not as much because the person is not a celebrity or another famous person, and that makes me question myself as a person. It makes me question who I consider to be important to worry and cry about, and how celebrities make you feel like you know them personally when you don't and most likely never will.

Another issue in this Heath Ledger tragedy is the issue of whether or not it was accidental or suicide. I personally don't want to think it is suicide because he had too much to live for. He had a successful career and a daughter. At the same token, I don't want to think that it was a drug overdose either, but if I could choose, I'd choose the latter. When u think about it, though, there is a slight bias. I think that if Heath was not successful, people would be more inclined to think it to be suicide because that is the "sexier" story. In news, as they say, if it bleeds, it leads.

Well, I guess we will know more when the full autopsy report comes out, but the circumstances of the whole thing are bizarre. It's like an episode of CSI or something. A naked, dead body. The odd supporting characters such as the masseuse who found Heath and, of all people, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen! That is a WTF moment if I have ever heard of one.

I am exhausted from the whole thing, at least for right now. Whenever some other thought comes to mind, I will post it.