“Layla” is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally released by their blues rock band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970). It is considered one of rock music’s definitive love songs, featuring an unmistakable guitar figure played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, and a piano coda that comprises the second half of the song. Its famously contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon.
The song was inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nizami Ganjavi’s The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which Ian Dallas had given to Clapton. The book moved Clapton profoundly, as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her In his autobiography, Clapton states, “Ian Dallas told me the tale of Layla and Manjun [sic], a romantic Persian love story in which a young man, Manjun [sic], falls passionately in love with the beautiful Layla, but is forbidden by her father to marry her and goes crazy with desire.” The song was further inspired by Clapton’s then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison.
This is why they can’t stand this President. They see what he inspires.
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/514566186043187200/photo/1
Soooo sweet. I love the way she is touching his suit sleeve.
The Cast of ‘A Different World’ 20 Years Later – ‘Oprah: Where Are They Now?’
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act September 18, 2014 at 1:40PM
Oprah reunites members of the beloved cast and discovers how the show has impacted its audience.
All-new episodes of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” return to the OWN network, starting Sunday, October 5, at 9/8c.
Here’s a tease of one of them in the video below.
It’s been more than two decades since the hit sitcom “A Different World,” the first television show about campus life at a historically black college, went off the air. Now, Oprah reunites members of the beloved cast and discovers how the show has impacted its audience.
To this day, Cree Summer, the actress who played Winifred “Freddie” Brooks, says she hears from fans who credit “A Different World” for inspiring them to go to college.
Jasmine Guy – best known as Southern belle Whitley Gilbert – says Bill Cosby, the show’s creator, is the one to thank for the positive impact. “That’s the genius of Dr. Cosby,” Jasmine says. “He understood the power of the medium, and so he chose a setting that would influence people, as well as make them laugh.”
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/the-cast-of-a-different-world-20-years-later-oprah-where-are-they-now-20140918
YAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Wendy Williams is Crushing the Competition in the Ratings, as Queen Latifah’s Show Struggles In Last Place
Shadow and Act By Sergio | Shadow and Act September 18, 2014 at 2:31PM
Whatever she’s doing, it’s working for her, since Wendy Williams is the No. 1 talk show with a key demographic.
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Whatever she doing, she’s doing something right, since “The Wendy Williams Show” was the No. 1 rated syndicated daytime talk show with the key demographic of women 25-54 in its sixth season premiere last week.
Her show increased its rating by some 36% from last year, meaning that Williams has now become the talk show to beat, that advertisers are dying to sponsor, and currently nothing else looks like it can compete.
The show beat out all contenders for the demo, including “Ellen,” which came in second, “Michael and Kelly,” which came in third, with “Dr. Phil,” “The Real,” “Steve Harvey,” “Meredith Viera” and “Dr. Oz” following, in that order.
Dead last was “The Queen Latifah Show,” which, although it has already started its new season, is rumored to be in trouble, and may not make it to January.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/wendy-williams-is-no-1-with-women-in-the-ratings-20140918
Watch Interesting & Informative Urbanworld Panel Discussion w/ Ava DuVernay & David Oyelowo on ‘Selma’
Shadow and Act By Sergio |
Shadow and Act September 22, 2014 at 3:09PM
On Saturday night, at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York, where Ava DuVernay screened about 5 minutes of her upcoming first studio project, “Selma,” the director also participated in a panel conversation about the film, with its star, David Oyelowo, who plays Martin Luther King Jr in the film.
The panel, introduced by filmmaker Shola Lynch (“Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed” and “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners”), is very interesting, and informative, and might whet your appetite for what’s to come, when the film opens in theaters later this year.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/watch-urbanworld-panel-discussion-about-ava-duvernays-selma-20140922
Urbanworld 2014 Review: Gina Prince-Bythewood’s ‘Beyond The Lights’- A Fun, Fierce, Showbiz Love Story
Shadow and Act By Nijla Mumin |
Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 8:46AM
In “Beyond The Lights,” Director Gina Prince-Bythewood weaves a story of music and romance, examining how a young girl’s (Noni Jean) youthful aspirations to become a singer are later shaped by the image-obsessed pop culture landscape her music exists in.
Who didn’t want to be a singer when they grew up? I know I did. My friends and I would perform imaginary concerts to SWV and TLC records, using TV remotes as microphones. In a strange way, I still view music and singing as my original passion, and often wonder what my life would’ve been like if I’d pursued that passion.
In “Beyond The Lights,” Director Gina Prince-Bythewood weaves a story of music and romance, examining how a young girl’s (Noni Jean) youthful aspirations to become a singer are later shaped by the image-obsessed pop culture landscape her music exists in. Struggling with her newfound success, she attempts suicide, but is saved by a police officer, Kaz (Nate Parker), who sees something deeper in her.
This description runs the risk of not being compelling, but it is. That is the gift of Gina Prince Bythewood- her ability to infuse a level of meaning into subjects that are often plagued with clichés. In “Love and Basketball,” she transported us to a high school prom as fellow basketball player-BFF’s Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) intensely stared at each other while dancing with their respective dates, only to make love with one another that night to the classic Maxwell remake, “This Woman’s Work.”
Bythewood works her same magic here. Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Noni Jean and Parker and are beautifully matched, and the fruits of their chemistry are best shown in the ways their faces and bodies move, dance, and blend together. From Parker’s awkward, turned-on smirks to shots of their brown skin under soft natural light, they electrify. They are hot, and it’s nothing like watching two hot people get to know each other in strange, yet interesting ways, like watching airplanes fly overhead while Noni sneaks a meal of soul food that her showbiz mother doesn’t want her to eat.
Minnie Driver plays her showbiz mom, Macy Jean, who vacillates between loving protector and media mogul reminiscent of P. Diddy. Her performance elevates the character beyond villain into a complex negotiator attempting to rear her daughter in an extreme world winning, of being the best even if it means making music that you don’t like, or getting naked for men behind video cameras.
In the wrong hands, this film could’ve been ruined. It could’ve been a simplistic mirror of the pop culture world it sought to examine. But Bythewood writes and directs Noni as a textured character we want to follow, not only as she performs onstage, but also in her real life. She is fascinating in the way Rihanna or Nicki Minaj might be if they were stripped of the ability to mold an image, if we were allowed into the warring sides of their lives, minus the mainstream media filter and Instagram/Twitter posts.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/urbanworld-2014-review-gina-prince-bythewoods-beyond-the-lights-a-fun-fierce-showbiz-love-story-20140923
Recapping Evening w/ Author Zane, the Men of ‘Addicted’ & Director Bille Woodruff at Urbanworld
Shadow and Act By Monique A. Williams |
Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 12:07PM
On Friday, September 19, 2014 at Manhattan’s AMC Loews 34th Street 14, the 18th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival (www.urbanworld.org), presented a panel for the upcoming Lionsgate/Codeblack Films release, “Addicted,” which included a Q & A with the film’s stars, the author of the novel the movie is based on, and the director. Exclusive scenes from the upcoming film were also shown.
In the early 2000’s, author Zane ushered in a new era of urban erotica, much of it tasteless, poorly written and formulaic. However, its popularity cannot be denied, as was evident at the UrbanWorld Panel Discussion for the film adaptation of her most prolific piece, “Addicted.”
Hosted by Bevy Smith, the audience was primed for an interesting night.
Directed by music video empresario Bille Woodruff, “Addicted” boasts a beautiful box of chocolate morsels. Sharon Neal (who was not present) stars as Zoe, the beautiful wife of the very delicious Jason (Boris Kodjoe). On the outside, it appears as if they have it all, success, money and passionate sex in the shower. But of course, there’s no fun in that.
Cue the Cuban Brad Pitt, William Levy (“The Single Mom’s Club”), who sent the audience into a frenzy with every utterance. He plays the ultra sexy Latin lover Quentin who Zoe just can’t resist. Of course, if she’s addicted to sex, is it really a battle?
Then, Tyson Beckford is thrown into the mix, another of Neal’s onscreen paramours. The scene we were privileged to see was rough, rugged and raw.
No one who read the book is pretending that is anything more than porn on paper, but the stars aim to legitimize it. Boris Kodjoe was drawn to this film because he “wanted to see Bille’s vision, to discuss the topic of sex addiction, a topic ignored in our community.” Former model, Levy adds that “Addicted” is “not only sexy; it’s a deep story. I think sex is a real addiction, a real disease.” Tyson says, “the bad boy wears down scene after scene and becomes more sensitive to Zoe’s needs.”
Let’s be real here. It’s not deep.
The main star of the film is going to be the sex scenes. Woodruff intimated that “with sex scenes, we try not to overshoot it.” Though they were storyboarded and choreographed so the actors knew what they were going for. From what we saw, it was a job well done.
Save for the trailer, there were no clips of Zoe’s therapist, played by Tasha Smith. From what I remember of the book, this is perfect casting as the judgmental, in your face, neck snapping professional. Very professional.
The film was shot in 21 days with 2 months prep, and all actors shot their sex scenes on the first days on set.
As a Black woman, I have never found that there is a lack of sexualized Black female characters in the media. Quite the contrary. However, Zane says that with “Addicted,” “Women’s empowerment is my true goal. Sexuality is the area of women’s lives where we are insecure.” But a woman having multiple sex partners is berated by her psychiatrist, and made to feel ashamed of her sexuality with a label of Sex Addict? Where is the empowerment? Who does this empower?
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/recapping-evening-w-author-zane-the-men-of-addicted-director-bille-woodruff-at-urbanworld-20140923
Awkward Black Girl’s Next Misadventure: Her Own Studio
Photo of Jai Tiggett By Jai Tiggett | Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 12:30PM
Shadow And Act recently spent time with Issa Rae, her friends, family, and professional team for an in-depth look at how ColorCreative got started, as well as Issa’s life and career, and how she’s built “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” into a full-fledged entertainment brand.
Today is the launch of Issa Rae Productions’ ColorCreative.TV, a platform that will introduce three new half-hour television pilots by underrepresented talent into the TV landscape. Recently, Shadow And Act spent time with Issa Rae, her friends, family, and professional team for an in-depth look at how ColorCreative got started, as well as Issa’s life and career, and how she’s built “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” into a full-fledged entertainment brand.
“Television today has a very limited scope and range in its depictions of people of color… We want to change that.”
So goes the tagline of the “Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $56,000 online and effectively launched the career of multi-hyphenate content creator Issa Rae back in 2011. Before then, she was producing and funding her web series out of pocket with a small group of collaborators and limited resources. But when Issa took to Kickstarter to request the funds to produce a second season, it was the audience – a large cross section of many young, awkward, and black YouTube viewers who appreciated the diversity in the series and related to Issa Rae’s comedic voice – that turned out in massive numbers to support the project.
In the three years that followed, she was not only able to fund another season of “ABG” in partnership with Pharrell Williams’ iamOTHER multi-media collective, but the success of the series led to a number of other projects – currently, a TV show co-written with Larry Wilmore for HBO, a hosting gig on Aspire TV’s talk show “Exhale,” a Lorraine Hansberry biopic in which she’s set to play Nina Simone, a book of essays for Simon & Schuster that’s due out in February 2015, the launch of three television pilots with ColorCreative.TV, several web series on her thriving Youtube channel, and more.
“This could be complete bull, but I would say that 40% of my time is spent producing and working with other writers of color, and the other 60% is developing and working on my own stuff,” says Issa from her new offices in Inglewood.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/exclusive-an-in-depth-look-inside-issa-rae-productions-and-colorcreativetv-20140923
5 Netflix Streaming Titles You May Not Know Are Available & May Want to Check Out (9/23/14)
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 6:11PM
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/5-netflix-streaming-titles-you-may-not-know-are-available-may-want-to-check-out-9-23-14-20140923
‘Forgotten Four: The Integration of Pro Football’ – Narrated by Jeffrey Wright (World Premiere Tonight, 9/23)
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson By Tambay A. Obenson |
Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 7:04PM
Premium entertainment network EPIX has announced that “Forgotten Four: The Integration of Pro Football,” an EPIX Original Documentary, will make its World Premiere [tonight] Tuesday, September 23, 2014, at 8PM ET.
The 60-minute documentary, narrated by Jeffrey Wright and produced by Ross Greenburg, tells the little-known story of 4 outstanding and brave African American men – Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley and Bill Willis – who broke the color barrier in pro football in 1946, one year before Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey were credited with integrating Major League Baseball.
EPIX has joined forces with the National Football League to celebrate the achievements of the “Forgotten Four” with local screenings in NFL team markets across the country, that were followed by panel discussions on the current state of race relations and athletics.
The hardships and triumphs of the “Forgotten Four” are told through the recollections of their families and those who have researched these pioneers. Those interviewed include “Forgotten Four” family members Tony Motley (Marion Motley’s grandson), Mike Brown (Paul Brown’s son), Clem and William Willis, Jr. (Bill Willis’ sons), Karin L. Cohen (Kenny Washington’s daughter) and Kalai Strode (Woody Strode’s son).
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/forgotten-four-the-integration-of-pro-football-narrated-by-jeffrey-wright-world-premiere-tonight-9-23-20140923
U.S. Acts to Curb Firms’ Moves Overseas to Avoid Taxes
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
SEPT. 22, 2014
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced rules on Monday that are aimed at making it more difficult for American companies to lower their tax bills by relocating overseas and that would wipe out the benefits for those that do. It is the administration’s latest move to sidestep a paralyzed Congress and tackle a politically charged element of President Obama’s agenda.
“While there’s no substitute for congressional action, my administration will act wherever we can to protect the progress the American people have worked so hard to bring about,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the regulations on the so-called corporate inversions were announced.
The changes will affect only deals that were completed starting Monday. But they could include pending inversion deals, like the one involving AbbVie, an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company that is in the process of acquiring its smaller British rival, Shire, or the Minneapolis medical device maker Medtronic, which is acquiring Covidien in Ireland.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/business/treasury-creates-new-hurdles-to-inversion-moves.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0
Starz In Black Sets U.S. TV Premiere of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ for This Sunday, Sept 28 at 10pm (Details)
Shadow and Act By Press Release | Shadow and Act September 23, 2014 at 5:24PM
WHAT: Starz, in an acquisition from Monterey Media, will exclusively debut the U.S. television premiere of the award-winning film, Half of a Yellow Sun, starring Emmy, Academy Award nominee and five-time Golden Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, on Sunday, September 28, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT on STARZ IN BLACK.
The film will also be available on the network’s associated STARZ ON DEMAND and STARZ PLAY online services.
Based on the award-winning novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun is a romantic drama set in the backdrop of 1960s Nigeria during the country’s turbulent civil war. The film centers around the diverging destinies of two sisters, Olanna (played by Thandie Newton) and Kainene (played by Anika Noni Rose) who are glamorous twins from a wealthy Nigerian family. Upon returning to a privileged city life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria after their expensive English education, the two women make very different choices. Olanna shocks her family by going to live with her lover, the “revolutionary professor” Odenigbo (portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his devoted houseboy Ugwu (played by John Boyega) in the dusty university town of Nsukka; Kainene turns out to be a fiercely successful businesswoman when she takes over the family interests, and surprises even herself when she falls in love with Richard (portrayed by Joseph Mawle), an English writer. Preoccupied by their romantic entanglements, and a betrayal between the sisters, the events of their life seem to loom larger than politics. However, they become caught up in the events of the Nigerian civil war, in which the lgbo people fought an impassioned struggle to establish Biafra as an independent republic, ending in chilling violence which shocked the entire world. Half of a Yellow Sun takes the sisters and their lovers on a journey through the war which is powerful, intensely emotional and, as the response of readers around the world has shown, it is a story which can touch everyone’s heart.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/starz-in-black-sets-us-tv-premiere-of-half-of-a-yellow-sun-for-this-sunday-sept-28-at-10pm-details-20140923?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
I got the feeling
LOL Get it pops!
Ain’t mad a him..LOL
My Illinois People:
IF you have an Illinois Driver’s License or Illinois State ID
AND
will be using the address on the DL or State ID for the residence on your voting registration application….
YOU can do Paperless Registration
Here is the link:
https://ova.elections.il.gov/
Helpful hint: Enter your information EXACTLY as it appears on your DL or State ID. Within 4 days, you will be registered to vote if all the information checks out.
Regular Voter Registration closes October 4, 2014
Steven Thrasher @thrasherxy
Follow
Hodler: Since Obama took office, crime AND prison populations have dropped 10%, first time this has happened in 40 years
12:17 PM – 23 Sep 2014
Stay on it, Rikyrah.
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/514444621230125056/photo/1
FLOTUS’ HAIR IS ON POINT
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/514425510454390784/photo/1
https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP/status/514423391567499264/photo/1
The 2014 ‘No Debate’ Club
09/23/14 10:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Maine’s three-way gubernatorial race is one of the most fascinating contests of the year, but if voters are looking forward to the upcoming debates, they should start lowering their expectations (thanks to reader C.G. for the tip).
Gov. Paul LePage said Monday he’s leaning toward not doing any debates in the race for the Blaine House because he doesn’t want to share a stage with his Democratic challenger, Rep. Mike Michaud.
The governor made the comment during an interview with WMTW News 8 for a political profile piece that is set to air in early October.
“I won’t be on a stage with Mike Michaud – I don’t think – from here on out,” LePage said.
Apparently, an independent group ran a television ad in Maine recently, calling attention to the far-right governor characterizing Social Security as “welfare.” LePage didn’t like the ad, urged Michaud to denounce it, and when the Democrat declined, the Republican incumbent decided he’d use this as a justification not to debate.
Note, there’s a debate already set for Oct. 21 in Maine, scheduled to include LePage, Michaud, and independent Eliot Culter, but as of yesterday, the governor is no longer inclined to show up.
And this got me thinking: how many other candidates in tough statewide races are also refusing to debate?
I added the “tough” qualifier because there are some races in which the incumbent is such a lock to win re-election that he or she just doesn’t see much of a point in participating in a debate. If a lawmaker is facing token opposition and is likely to will win by 40+ points, there’s no real public expectation that he or she will share a stage for an hour with a rival with no chance of success.
But in competitive contests, voters have come to expect top-of-the-ticket policymakers to engage their challengers in a public forum. And for the most part, incumbents and challenger oblige, fearful that they’ll be labeled a “coward” for refusing.
To be sure, some incumbents are reluctant to debate, but they usually come around in the end. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) clearly didn’t want to debate, but he finally accepted an invitation yesterday. Texas’ Greg Abbott (R) wasn’t eager to share a stage with Wendy Davis (D), but they debated last week. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy (R) balked for quite a while before agreeing to debate Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), but they’re scheduled to have two events before the election.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-2014-no-debate-club
Cowards with NO SUBSTANCE.
Viola Davis Answers NYT Critic Who Called Her ‘Less Classically Beautiful’
Sep 22, 14 by EURPublisher01
It appears as if Viola Davis has used Maya Angelou to address Alessandra Stanley, the New York Times TV critic who made headlines for suggesting that Shonda Rhimes is an “angry black woman” who has made the cultural stereotype palatable by channeling it through her popular primetime characters.
During the misguided piece, Stanley says Viola Davis’ character Annalise in the forthcoming Shondaland production “How to Get Away With Murder,” “is sexual and even sexy, in a slightly menacing way, but the actress doesn’t look at all like the typical star of a network drama.”
Stanley continues: “Ignoring the narrow beauty standards some African-American women are held to, Ms. Rhimes chose a performer who is older, darker-skinned and less classically beautiful than Ms. Washington, or for that matter Halle Berry, who played an astronaut on the summer mini-series ‘Extant.’”
On Sunday, Davis decided to tweet the following words from Maya Angelou
Viola Davis ✔ @violadavis
Follow
You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise!!!
11:14 PM – 19 Sep 2014
Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2014/09/viola-davis-answers-nyt-critic-who-called-her-less-classically-beautiful/#6heq7pAMxr3D3BwR.99
https://twitter.com/markknoller/status/514421293341765634/photo/1
New Hampshire GOP embraces ‘personhood’ as election nears
09/23/14 12:33 PM
By Steve Benen
Elections in New Hampshire always tend to be interesting, but 2014 is shaping up to be quite a year in the Granite State. Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) is seeking a second term; there’s a closely watched U.S. Senate race underway pitting two prominent figures, including former Sen. Scott Brown; there’s a very competitive U.S. House race in the 1st district; and Democrats hope to reclaim the state Senate this year.
It’s against this backdrop that the state Republican Party made a curious decision about picking a culture-war fight.
The New Hampshire Republican Party toughened its stance on abortion over the weekend, adding support for fetal “personhood” rights into its official party platform.
The party adopted new language at its annual convention on Saturday that pledges to “support pre-born child’s fundamental right to life and personhood under the Fourteenth Amendment, and implement all Constitutional and legal protections,” according to the New Hampshire Journal.
Just so we’re clear, personhood measures ban all abortions, IVF treatments, and common forms of hormonal birth control.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-hampshire-gop-embraces-personhood-election-nears
CDC: Ebola cases could reach at least 550,000 by January
CNN) — The number of Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone could rise to between 550,000 and 1.4 million by January if there are no “additional interventions or changes in community behavior,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Tuesday. The estimate was derived from a new forecasting tool developed by the CDC.
The range of estimated cases to come — from 550,000 to 1.4 million — is wide because officials say they think the current case count is highly under-reported. The official death toll from Ebola in West Africa has climbed to more than 2,800 in six months, with 5,800 cases confirmed as of Monday, the World Health Organization said.
But the CDC estimates that if 70% of people with Ebola are properly cared for in medical facilities, the epidemic could begin to decrease and eventually end. Given that several countries and organizations have pledged to provide more support for the Ebola-affected countries, the CDC report suggests the higher projections of cases in the coming months might be avoided.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/world/africa/ebola-outbreak/index.html
all those banshees screaming about how we should have boots on the ground in Iraq, how about boots on the ground in Ferguson?
Lawdy, lemme guess disgruntled worker who blames Obama?
Viola Davis Answers NYT Critic Who Called Her ‘Less Classically Beautiful’
Viola Davis ✔ @violadavis
Follow
You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise!!!
11:14 PM – 19 Sep 2014
Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2014/09/viola-davis-answers-nyt-critic-who-called-her-less-classically-beautiful/#WXPkcR0W0OkxmgJg.99
Google latest to walk away from ALEC
09/22/14 04:44 PM
By Steve Benen
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) no doubt found it easier to operate when it was largely unknown, working behind the scenes to advance a far-right agenda. As we’ve discussed before, shadowy obscurity allowed ALEC to be more effective.
But as the group made the transition from obscurity to notoriety, suddenly the organization that quietly wrote ready-made legislation for Republican legislators started losing friends who saw associations with ALEC as a public-relations problem.
Google plans to sever its relationship with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council following a wave of public scrutiny about the conservative group’s climate-change views.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt indicated in an interview Monday with NPR’s Diane Rehm that Google would drop its ALEC membership “in the future,” but did not specify a date.
A caller asked Schmidt about Google’s ALEC ties, and the chairman responded that Google funded them for an unspecified cause, but added, “I think the consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake, and so we’re trying to not do that in the future.”
In this case, climate change seemed to be the impetus for the disassociation. “Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place,” Schmidt said. “And so we should not be aligned with such people – they’re just, they’re just literally lying.”
Ouch.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/google-latest-walk-away-alec
ummm
ummm…
WHAT DA PHUQ?
………………..
How Sugar Daddies Are Financing College Education
The popular website Seeking Arrangement sets up “mutually beneficial relationships” between wealthy older men and young female students. What the site doesn’t talk about is sex.
Caroline Kitchener
Sep 19 2014, 10:33 AM ET
At 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night, Amanda, a senior at Princeton University, got her first text message from Stephen, a 60-something Wall Street banker. He wanted her at his New York City apartment. Immediately.
“I told him it was too late—the trains just stopped running,” Amanda said. “He said he’d send a limo.”
Amanda agreed, on the condition that she’d be back on campus for her 10 o’clock class the next morning. After dinner at a fancy restaurant, sex, and some post-sex apartment decorating, Amanda was back in the limo. When she got back to Princeton, she had just enough time to change her clothes, grab her books, and run to class.
Stephen is just one of the many men Amanda has met on Seeking Arrangement, a website that connects “sugar babies”—young, pretty women—with “sugar daddies”—usually rich, older men. On Seeking Arrangement, the most important part of the profile is the number at the top of the page: net worth. Men with annual incomes of over $5 or $10 million get the most attention. The site advertises “mutually beneficial relationships,” in which young women shower men with attention in exchange for “the finer things in life”—fancy dinners, extravagant vacations, or monthly allowances. What the site doesn’t talk about is sex. But sex, I was told by multiple sugar babies, is what everybody’s thinking about.
“’Sugar babies are escorts,” said Tammy Castle, a professor at James Madison University whose research includes analyzing the content of escort websites. “[The administrators of the Seeking Arrangement] are trying to avoid the negative stigma of prostitution by advertising this as just another dating website, but money is exchanged for arrangements that may include sex.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/09/how-sugar-daddies-are-financing-college-education/379533/
WHORES, plain & simple.
The oldest profession.
Indeed. Whores.
GOP scumbag Frank Luntz was behind Goodell’s horrible press conference.
…………
The Political-Messaging Huckster Behind Roger Goodell’s Awful Presser
Roger Goodell was talking, but the words weren’t his alone. “That speech was all Frank,” says an associate of pollster Frank Luntz, lord of the dark arts of political messaging, who frequently works with Goodell and the NFL. “As soon as I heard Goodell’s intro, I was laughing.”
The part that got him giggling was the line “We will get our house in order first.” The NFL commissioner used that same phrase minutes later, in response to a question from a New York Post reporter about whether he would resign. “That’s textbook stuff that Frank uses all the time,” says the source…
As it happened, Luntz himself was watching the press conference, in his capacity as a Fox Sports 1 talking head (he moonlights as a Fox News commentator and analyst). Not long after the commissioner left the podium, Luntz gave his review.
“This,” he puffered, “was language perfection.”…
As a consultant, Luntz is probably most famous for having framed the GOP’s message on the estate tax (or “death tax”) and global warming (or “climate change”). His first noteworthy communications job came as a pollster for Pat Buchanan during a 1992 run at the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. That campaign was one long open appeal to the racist, nativist, homophobic fringe of the right…
In recent years Luntz has begun to move his dial-turning focus groups into the realm of sports. The source, who says that away from work Luntz is “the nicest, most generous man you’ll ever meet,” claims the consultant would never work another campaign if he could get away with it.
So what does it look like when Luntz mixes his passion and his profession? He helped NHL owners craft their propaganda during the 2012 lockout… More recently, Luntz has done some focus-grouping on behalf of Dan Snyder during the owner’s disaster of a campaign to save the Redskins nickname…
It’s likely not a coincidence that three owners with whom Luntz has worked very closely—Washington’s Snyder, Carolina’s Jerry Richardson, and the Bears’ George McCaskey, for whom Luntz emceed a 2012 Veterans Day event in which ex-Bears and military veterans discussed concussions and brain trauma—were among the first and few owners to publicly support Goodell after TMZ released the second Ray Rice video and put the NFL in its current state of crisis…
http://deadspin.com/the-political-messaging-huckster-behind-roger-goodells-1637322802
Luntz is an incestuous POS.
ummm
ummm..
has to be photoshopped
https://twitter.com/Laser_Cat/status/502150128690421760/photo/1
What is this? LOL a horse in a hotel room?
https://twitter.com/southerntalker/status/514392853209157632/photo/1
Some of these are interesting
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Iconic Portrait Photos Throughout History Recreated with John Malkovich as the Subject
Published on September 22, 2014 by Michael Zhang
http://petapixel.com/2014/09/22/iconic-portrait-photos-throughout-history-recreated-john-malkovich-subject/
Among the crowd at Adams and Broad Streets was the family and friends of victims of gun violence, including the parents of Jordan Davis, 17, and the mother of Trayvon Martin, 17. .
http://youtu.be/WVx9JjEDANg
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Layla! Gone Girl, I love me some Clapton.
Excuse me, where are my manners. Good Morning, Everyone. :-)
Good morning. I love Eric Clapton too.
“I say my darling, you were wonderful tonight.”