How Could You Be So Heartless. LOL.

For the last 36 hours the internet has been abuzz and at the top of the trending topics and google searches is one man, Kanye West. During Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, Mr. West went on stage after they announced Taylor Swift’s name for the Female Video of the year. Now I will be the first to admit that when they announced Taylor’s name as opposed to Beyonce, Pink, or even Lady Gaga, I was twittering away about my surprise at the choice but none of us could have prepared for Kanye’s stunt. He climbed on stage during her speech and snatched the microphone away from her. He then proclaimed that Beyonce should have won. (please see the video clip below). While he was doing it I kicked out about five tweets, and about 20 minutes later, he was a trending topic.

Kanye’s Beyonce outburst mimicked everyone’s thoughts when they read Taylor swift’s name, fortunately or unfortunately, he was in the position and obviously inebriated enough to jump on stage and say it. I read some of the public tweets and there was talk of racism, with the n word being tossed around, lots of douche bags (The AntiPopBlog called him the Doucher of the Day), and a slew of other negative things that I thought were a bit over the top, but were all a reflection of how people felt nonetheless. While I thought what Kanye did was mean, I never felt like he was the devil or evil, or stealing candy from a baby as some tweets pointed out. Maybe I am heartless or maybe I just didn’t see it as a big deal. West later took to his website to issue an apology and did the same today as well.

http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/

Today proved to be one of Kanye’s worst days as a celebrity, sure but lucky for him he had a chance to redeem himself, in the form of Jay Leno’s premiere on which he was slated to perform with Jay-Z and Rhianna. Prior to the performance, Jay Leno brought out Kanye who requested a chance to speak. He was apologetic and based on his appearance, it was clear that he was sincere. Jay asked him how his mother would feel about it and his 20 second pause and struggle to hold back tears showed his sincerity.

I must say that I am kinda on Kanye’s side. As far as what he did to Taylor, it was rude, but in his defense, we were all thinking the same thing, he just had the balls to voice his opinion. And while its not an excuse, he had been sipping on Hennessey the whole night, starting from the red carpet.

I think when he sobered up and realized it didn’t go over as well as his drunk mind may have thought it would’ve, he sincerely apologized. So I suppose now the question becomes do we forgive this man who continues to act out? A man who lost his mother, who was one of his closest friends, and never took time to mourn. A man who is fed up with not being able to lead a private life when he wants to, as he is constantly hounded by paparazzi. A man who is egotistical and also emotionally unstable. How do we deal with him when he acts out? I honestly think we expect too much of celebrities. They are still people. They can be mean, they can be rude, they can be nice, then can be anything that someone in your everyday life is. We expect them to be perfect, but why? If we look at all of the deaths that have happened as of late, we can see what happens when celebrities are pushed to the limits, while they don’t deal with financial issues, such as job loss, and healthcare, they deal with things that most regular people cannot imagine. They end up addicted to drugs, they party too hard, and they act out in egotistical ways. Imagine not being able to do something as simple as going to Target. That is something Kanye can’t do and something Michael Jackson couldn’t do. Imagine how that could effect someone. When my ex put me on a pedestal I couldn’t stand it, imagine the whole world putting you on a pedestal. So while I feel bad for what happened to Taylor Swift during her special moment, nothing in me wanted to jump on the I Hate Kanye band wagon.

Movie Review: 2 Days in Paris

2 Days in Paris, is a movie that came highly recommended by many different friends. The movie is set in Paris and Adam Goldberg stars as Jack, the American boyfriend to Julie Delpy, who plays Marion, a French photographer, who was transplanted in NYC. After spending time in Venice, the couple head to Paris for two days on their way back to New York City.

Throughout the movie, there were various awkward moments and so much sarcasm it would make any cynic puke. While the infighting was charming at times, I couldn’t comb through it enough to find the love story. Jack is obsessed with the idea that Marion is a whore and Marion is obviously emotionally unstable and acts out at various random moments in the film. Her family, mom, dad, and younger sister are also a bit awkward. The four argue a bit too much and her father is a quirky artist who is a bit too obsessed with sex.

I usually can look at a movie objectively enough to see why someone would love and hate it, but this movie really just doesn’t do it for me. Perhaps its because the cynical love story taints Paris’ romantic backdrop. In fact, somehow the movie actually makes Paris less desirable. It makes it a drab city. One more akin to its gloomy neighbor, London as oppose to its romantic twin, Barcelona.

The most interesting part to me was their fight at the end, during which Marion’s monologue over their visual fighting, she proclaims, “And here it is, one more one less. Another wasted love story.” In this moment, I related to the movie and while I didn’t enjoy it, that line made the 96 minutes less of a waste of time.

No Place in the Race

Last month, South Africa’s Caster Semenya, who won the World Championship in Berlin, became the center of controversy when her gender came into question. The IAAF required her to undergo gender testing, after winning the race by a huge margin. I’m sure her deep voice and strong features didn’t help either. When I heard about the controversy I was very taken aback, because i never knew that athletic organizations did gender testing. How embarrassing. A number of specialists were called in and following testing, she returned to her native South Africa where she was well received as “our girl”.

Today reports show that Semenya is biologically a hermaphrodite. She has no womb or ovaries and has internal testes. So now the question becomes, does her win still stand? The IAAF is forwarding the results to experts for further testing, but I wonder if that is even necessary. Being a hermaphrodite is a medical condition that automatically sets you apart from the rest of society and I’m sure it comes with loads of psychological and emotional baggage and a lifelong feeling to fit in. When you find something you enjoy, such as track and field and you excel at that, who are we, as a society and the IAAF as an organization to take away from her happiness? She should be considered what she identifies as. If she does not identify as a man, surely you cannot expect her to run against men, and to disqualify her because of a medical condition that she cannot change seems illogical. So in a world that caters to a sort of normalcy, where does Ms. Semenya fit in?

Check this link for the full article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/sep/10/caster-semenya-hermaphrodite-iaaf-test

“B****”

Well that’s what Hillary Clinton would’ve said if she could’ve. During a recent press conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mrs. Clinton got a little upset when a Congolese student in the crowd asked for her husband’s opinion. It was later found out the the translator mixed things up and they actually wanted to know Obama’s thoughts. Hillary’s camp blamed her attitude on jet lag, riiiiiggghhttt.

Movie Review: Vicky Christina Barcelona

Vicky Christina Barcelona is a charming and fanciful tale. A fantasy for all of those that dream of a romantic Europe. The story takes place against the backdrop of one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, Barcelona. The two main characters, Vicky and Christina decide to spend a summer in Barcelona. A summer that is going pleasantly well, becomes much more exciting and sexual when Juan Antonio Gonzales, an artist who paints as well as he charms, enters the scene. He convinces the girls to runaway with him for a weekend and from there the sexually, romantic, artsy tale takes flight. Constant wine drinking, bike riding, kisses, art, conversations about love, painting, and photography left me glued to the screen, swooning all the while imagining myself as a character.

About halfway through the movie, Penelope Cruz reemerges in yet another successfully romantic role. I am a fan of all of the roles that she plays and as Juan Antonio’s suicidal ex lover, she does not disappoint. She brings a gorgeous and deeply romantic touch to the movie. As a hopeless lover and obvious tortured soul, she adds drama.

With quotes such as “Love is transient” and “Only unfulfilled loved, can be romantic”, this movie left me fantasizing about my upcoming European travels, and even left me missing a certain someone who represented Juan Antonio in my life. The movie serves as a great influence of artistic creations, as I was left writing poetry immediately after.

Woody Allen, of whose films I am not an aficionado, does an excellent job making a believable story out of this girl’s European fantasy. Vicky Christina Barcelona is not only a must see, but it is a movie that all lovers of great films should own.

Swine Flu and Sensationalism

I talked to my mother on Monday, and one of the first things out of her mouth is “Be careful, the swine flu is going around. You and Keondra make sure you wash your hands.” We were dying laughing because it sounded pretty ridiculous. I have been reading headlines about the swine flu since I left the country, but I haven’t actually read any of the articles but the headlines have been enough and apparently the panic is increasing.

While the swine flu is spreading, I do think that we have to acknowledge the amount of sensationalism that is going on through the US media. While the swine flu is real it is only affecting a very small percentage of the population and it is very unlikely to be fatal. Headlines like yahoo news’ “Is swine flu the ‘big one’?” just seem a bit unnecessary. So people, wash your hands but no need to start counting down the days until swine flu causes the extinction of the human race.

Random Question of the Day

When will the world’s obsession with Obama end? I’m getting a bit tired of seeing his face one the cover of all the magazines on the stand. Its almost May people!!!

Wall Street vs. Detroit

With the recent government ousting of General Motors CEO, Rick Wagner, I can’t help, but ask, why is the government being so hard on the car industry and letting the greedy bastards on Wall Street off scott free? Without hesitation, the former administration, yes that includes Bush and Congress, gave the banks a $700 billion injection, with no questions ask. Then in comes Obama and the new Democrat majority Congress and what do they do, they give the banks another couple hundred billion dollars. Now I don’t claim to be an economist but it is estimated that the banks lost over $3 trillion dollars, between bad mortgages and bad investments and Congress blindly gives them upwards of a trillion dollars without asking a single question as to how they are going to spend the money.

Now enter the executives from the auto industry. Congress gets caught up in the fact that they flew private jets to D.C., when coming to BEG for money, and Congress is not hearing it. They put them through the ringer. Do they think that the CEOs of the banks don’t have private jets? While all this nonsense was going on, I think Jon Stewart said it best on “The Daily Show”, to sum it up, he pointed out that at least they have a product. You can see what they are giving to society. The banks have no product and based on the current state of our financial institutions, they would be the last people that I would be giving money to.

The greed of the banks got us into this mess so what the hell would possess anyone to give them more money. Clearly the monkeys on Wall Street have a gambling problem and they are not winning. Millions upon millions of people will be affected by the collapse of the auto industry, everyday people, whose livelihoods and retirements are dependent solely on the Big 3. Between travels, I stay in Detroit and the effects of the decline of the auto industry have been evident for the last five years. Michigan was in a single state recession, prior to the rest of the country catching up. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Michigan is one of three states to have a negative population growth in 2008. This is affecting everyday Americans. These are the people that need the money and the jobs, and the only way that they will get help is if the auto companies get government funds. They do not need nearly as much as Wall Street has already received so, what is the hold up?

Nuclear Bullies

If we can have nuclear weapons, why can’t other countries have them? Why should we be able to wreak havoc on countries who cannot defend themselves against such forces? While I can understand that when launching a nuclear attack, we do not want them to be able to retaliate, why should we want to launch such an attack? What happen to common human decency?

Lower East Side’s Hidden Gem

Two weeks ago I received a private invite to the Woodward Gallery in Manhatten’s Lower East Side. When I got off the D train at Grand Street I was pretty sure that I was in Chinatown and just knew that I was walking the wrong way. With my iPhone/GPS in hand I start following the directions, reluctantly. Looking at the numbers on the building, I should’ve been very close, but looking at the buildings I felt I was far from my destination and while my shoes were cute, my feet were aching. Suddenly I look up and spot a red flag on the building that read “Woodward Gallery”. I had arrived.

Once inside, I was amazed by the simple beauty of the space. The featured exhibit was “Margaret Morrison: Larger Than Life”, an exhibit of oil paintings of your favorite childhood candy. Think gummy worms, gumballs, wax lips and ring pops! The theme of the event was “Candy and Champagne” and I filled up on both. I was given a ring pop and told that I had to wear it on my finger until I left.

Shortly after I spotted my friends, a man walked up and introduced himself as John Woodward (who just so happens to be the Director/Co owner of the gallery). I was taken aback by his humility and explained briefly that I was drawn to the gallery after seeing that they had Jean-Michel Basquiat (my favorite artist of all time) and Andy Warhol originals, which are hard to view unless they are on tour. After I explained my love for Basquiat, he proceeded to tell me how he was good friends with both artists. I was floored. So we chatted and he shared stories about Warhol and Basquiat. Imagine my amazement.

Kristine Woodward, John’s wife, and Owner/Vice-President of the gallery, and an amazingly nice woman,  took a small group of us on a tour of the vault, which is a sub level, temperature controlled room where they hold loads of original paintings by some of America’s most famous artists. Of course I asked to see Basquiat and Warhol originals and we also saw the first LOVE, that Robert Indiana painted.

Overall the Woodward Gallery is one of the best that NYC has to offer. The humility of the Woodwards was inspiring and the collection is one that you can only find in this hidden gem.  So if you are lucky enough to get invited to a private event or can get an appointment for a tour, I highly recommend it. And if you can actually afford one of the pieces, feel free to add a Basquiat to your tab for me!

http://www.woodwardgallery.net/