Photo: Major Productions
November 2009 Archives
At Pasco High, in Dade City, Florida, students who need to get dressed up for special occasions - including job interviews, competitions, graduation, or even *duh!* the prom - but who can't afford the wardrobe, are getting a little bit of help by a group called the Pirate Angel Project. The Project, which was co-founded by Debbie Smith, the high school's cafeteria manager, has set up a system which will allow students to browse a boutique-style room for clothes and accessories. The fund - which is also a memorial for three students from Pasco High who passed away within the last few years - is supported by community donations. So lend a hand! Contribute those discarded, age-old prom dresses you'll never wear again to a worthy cause. (If your parents paid for said garments, maybe ask first?) For more information, check out the Pirate Angel Project on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of The AP
The rest of the show is sort of focused on Gossip Girl's return to her roots: We circle back to issues from the show's very first episode, including Jenny being from Brooklyn (the shame!); Chuck Bass and Jenny; Jenny in trouble; Serena and Nate; and Serena's wild, untamable bosom behavior. It's actually a pretty good one! But also, it reminded me how much better the show was in its first season. Perhaps this was the signal of a return to old form? Let's hope. After all, the show's Thanksgiving episodes are usually pretty solid -- and that's what's coming up next week. Stay tuned.
Check out the Teen Vogue Q&A here. (Sadly, no info revealed re: the Is He Dating Miley Cyrus? question)
Last night at the AMAs, Rihanna performed "Hard" and "Wait is over," while simultaneously wearing an only semi-existent jumpsuit. It was sort of amazing! I think that seeing the outfit is perhaps more important than seeing the performance, but you should definitely check out the truly amazing video for (equally awesome) song that she did with Jay-Z, called Run This Town. In the meantime, I leave you with this:
The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened in theaters everywhere this weekend, and apparently earned the third-biggest opening weekend numbers of all time, bringing in $140.7 million. I contributed $14 to that $140.7 million, and... well, I will say that the movie was certainly worth its weight in underage ab shots. It was also high on melodrama, but I guess that is the whole point of The Twilight Saga? Personally, I thought the werewolves could have been a little more realistic, and the film about 45 minutes shorter. Also, not that I am Stanislavski or anything but, maybe Robert Pattinson should learn to speak with his mouth slightly more open? Dakota Fanning, however, was excellent. And that is all I will say on this.
As I may have mentioned here in the past, I am really into Lykke Li. First of all, she has some truly amazing dance moves. Also, the woman has a real talent for using gaudy accessories as percussion, which is usually a plus in my book. And of course, her style should serve as an example to petite women everywhere who want to dress with attitude. (Hint: Five inch-heeled boots, biker shorts, and as many gold chains as you can pile on.) But most importantly, she just writes and sings really good songs. Check out her debut album, Youth Novels, which came out in 2008, or her myspace, which has a bunch of new songs on it as well.
(File this post under: This was just a public service announcement)
The other night was the premiere for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. What is that, you ask? Lol JK hilarious. Anyway, there was a star-studded premiere featuring (duh) Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, plus like, 50 Cent? And basically everyone else in the universe. I will be withholding judgment on the actual film until Sunday at 11:10pm, when, um, I will apparently be seeing it, according to my ticket.
Until then, let us please analyze the outfits/postures/body language/hand placement of all of our favorite Twilight friends. Yay!
First up: Kristen Stewart
Hey, look who got dressed up all fancy! I think that sometimes people forget that despite her surly demeanor, Kristen Stewart is just... really pretty. (Which is why we allow her to be so surly in the first place.) Yay for her. She looks nice.
Taylor Lautner
He almost creepily does not look like a 17-year-old. Especially when you see him as a THIRTEEN-year-old. Seriously, watch this video. It is amazing. Oh, but don't they look so cute here?
Robert Pattinson
I know that everyone, everywhere, is going to disagree with me on this, but I actually thought Robert Pattinson looked slightly strange. Like maybe an actual vampire? But what do I know, I have only read book one of this series.
Ashley Greene
This dress feels slightly too old for her, but Ashley Greene looks lovely anyway.
Dakota Fanning
This girl is perpetually age-appropriate. I approve of that quality. Also this outfit.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Wait... what? Why is she here?
Until then, let us please analyze the outfits/postures/body language/hand placement of all of our favorite Twilight friends. Yay!
First up: Kristen Stewart
Hey, look who got dressed up all fancy! I think that sometimes people forget that despite her surly demeanor, Kristen Stewart is just... really pretty. (Which is why we allow her to be so surly in the first place.) Yay for her. She looks nice.
Taylor Lautner
He almost creepily does not look like a 17-year-old. Especially when you see him as a THIRTEEN-year-old. Seriously, watch this video. It is amazing. Oh, but don't they look so cute here?Robert Pattinson
I know that everyone, everywhere, is going to disagree with me on this, but I actually thought Robert Pattinson looked slightly strange. Like maybe an actual vampire? But what do I know, I have only read book one of this series.
Ashley Greene
This dress feels slightly too old for her, but Ashley Greene looks lovely anyway.Dakota Fanning
This girl is perpetually age-appropriate. I approve of that quality. Also this outfit.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Wait... what? Why is she here? 
Taylor Swift was on the cover of December's In Style magazine, and the teen country superstar (who recently racked up a crazy amount of awards at the CMAs) claims that she and Twilight's Taylor Lautner -- werewolf hunk and super-buff teen dream extraordinaire -- are totally not dating. She is happy to be single, she says, because it is by choice. And also because not having a boyfriend frees up her time for activities such as: writing in her diary, and lighting scented candles. O Swifty! That is too adorable. Excuse me while I go watch the totally Jane Austen-inspired video for Love Story.
Last Friday, Fantastic Mr. Fox -- Wes Anderson's long-awaited film adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl book -- was released in theaters. The film, which Anderson wrote with The Squid and the Whale's Noah Baumbach, does not feature any live humans on camera (although Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray all supply voices) -- it is stop-motion animation, and the actors are tiny dolls -- and yet, Anderson has managed to create characters so lifelike and so distinct that they might as well exist in the same universe as Ritchie and Margot Tenenbaum. Except for that they exist in that of Roald Dahl. The story, which expands upon Dahl's slim original edition, tells the story of a charming, scheming, somewhat reckless father fox (Foxy, voiced by Clooney) who accidentally jeopardizes the lives of himself and everyone he loves. It is a witty, sometimes emotional, and fantastically beautiful film: every tiny detail is tended to with great care, right down to the thumbtacks on walls, or books on shelves. And, of course, there are the outfits. Foxy wears a suit cut from the same cloth (literally) as one of Anderson's custom-made corduroy numbers, but even those characters who spend the majority of the film in their pajamas have distinct -- and distinctly Andersonian -- identities. And perhaps you won't come out of the movie with new outfits in mind (unless you ave a thing for matronly frocks), but this one is a must-see regardless. Aren't style and fashion basically the same thing, after all? 
You gotta give Upton a little bit of credit: Unlike one C. Prejean, she has realized that the best way to endear herself to the American public following public disgrace was not to make a sex tape (shocker!), but to make fun of herself. She's good-humored enough in this clip, and presumably the humiliation of being nationally recognized as ignorant taught her something. (Otherwise, why would she bother with this demeaning little "adventure"?) And while I wouldn't say that she won me over, what I take issue with here is actually Jimmy Kimmel. Obviously, instead of sending Upton out to learn about, um, the things she obviously doesn't know (like foreign politics and geography) -- which by the way would have been equally amusing -- Kimmel feels compelled to send her to Babies R Us to learn about ... her body. Because she must be such an idiot that she doesn't know what to do with it! Perhaps a long-held distaste for Kimmel is influencing me here, but I must say I find the whole thing mean-spirited and distasteful. And that is my two cents for the moment!
"These are the children who most need a safe place to learn, a place to heal, a place to learn reconciliation, a place to build a better future and a place -- to just be children. Yet the education for these children is often forgotten. Tens of millions of children and adolescents in conflict are not in school."
I'm cool with all that, but don't you think that, in that case, selling a silver spoon to rich babies for $500+ sends sort of a weird message? Just saying.
The whole scenario is set up under the premise that Hillary Duff, miraculously Dan's new girlfriend (that dude never eases in to things, huh?) has to leave school in order to shoot another of her awesomely Twilight-meets-Lord of the Rings-hybrid of a fake-o movie, which Vanessa is nerdily obsessed with in a way that I love. So, to give her as much of a "college experience" as possible -- and also to try to convince her to stay -- Dan and V go down one of those cheesy "15 things you have to do while in college,' lists. After having consumed many drinks, the trio gets to the last one, which is have a threesome, so they do it. (There's a little girl-on-girl make-out session, but otherwise it's pretty tame.) The weirdest thing about the situation is that, um, they all end up spooning in bed together? Which just seems really unlikely. But oh well. Of course, we find out while the trio are cozily tucked into bed that, um, Duff is actually not going anywhere and that the potential for future awkwardness/lesbian subplots is limitless.
Meanwhile, back Uptown, Jenny is alternating between soulless diva in pursuit of (Upper Manhattan) world domination, and "the Jenny we used to know," (for like a secondback in season one, before she made any friends). But that's standard fare around Gossip Girl -- I, for one, am mainly excited about next week's drama, in which we face: Threesome Aftermath!
Carrie Prejean continues to be all over the news these days. As if it wasn't enough to get stripped of her crown, or become enmeshed in various scandals over a) gay marriage b) the money she borrowed for breast implants c) her topless picture experiment or d) the alleged defamation of her character that was someone else's (California's?) fault (...?), now Carrie Prejean is making headlines by talking about how the scandalous topless pictures that she took are a product of, um, our culture. She writes:
"Unfortunately, pornography has become mainstreamed -- it rushes at us through big screens, portable screens; soft-core porn is on mainstream TV cable stations, hard-core porn is just a mouse click away on the internet, and the envelope of what seems acceptable seems to get pushed farther and farther as more and more people are exposed to this material.
The result is that girls grow up in a culture where it is hard to have an innocent, healthy, normal view of themselves, how they should behave, how they should act, and how they should dress."
"Our bodies are temples of the Lord. We should earn respect and admiration for our hearts, not for showing skin to look sexy ... I have since learned that your outer beauty can only get you so far in life."
It is possible that Carrie Prejean has learned a lesson throughout her various troubled experiences with the press. But, given the great lengths to which she has gone in order to keep her google search numbers high, I am presuming it is a different message than, say, that which mentors and nuns might have hoped for.
Last weekend, Taylor Swift hosted SNL, and in addition to every variety of sparkly dress imaginable (I can't find many stills but you can watch the episode here), there was also a lot of... you know, actual funniness, and the young Swift proved that she is a) endearing b) a really good singer whose ability to write catchy songs about very little is admirable, and c) a pretty decent actress! Swift started with an appropriately self-deprecating monologue, in which she sang a little song about boys (Taylor Lautner, douchebag exes, Kanye West) and her affinity for sparkles, and then proceeded to do harpy teen, herself, Kate Gosselin, deviant member of the law enforcement, and... Shakira -- her impression was spot on -- as the night went on. What more could one ask for in a 1 1/2 hour late-night television experience?
Sherri Hill has just unveiled her 2010 Prom Dress Collection, and the looks, which involve all manners of florals, sheers, layers, and pastels, invoke a sort of Midsummer Night's Dream feeling: irreverent, but also romantic and a little bit dreamy. The dresses are flowy and tulle-laden, but also (most importantly) fun, and unique. Check them out here.
"There's no answer that's not going to tip you one way or the other. Think about every hypothetical situation: 'OK, we are. We aren't. I'm a lesbian.' I'm just trying to keep something. I'm not going to give the fiending an answer. I know that people are really funny about 'Well, you chose to be an actor, why don't you just f---ing give your whole life away?! Can I have your firstborn child?'"
-"New Moon" star Kristen Stewart, talking to Entertainment Weekly
Uh oh. Rachel Christie, otherwise known as Miss England, was forced to resign her post (and withdraw from the Miss World competition) this Friday after she reportedly got into a BRAWL -- at a nightclub! -- with another beauty queen. (Sara Jones, aka Miss Manchester.) The fight was apparently over a guy. Girls! Pageantry doesn't really need any more bad press these days. Carrie Prejean is providing plenty to go around.
On an equally fascinating note, Christie will now shift her focus to... training for the 2012 Olympics, were she hopes to compete in the heptathlon. Which I had never heard of until today.
After nine months of near silence, Rihanna is finally speaking publicly about her incident with Chris Brown: this Thursday, when her interview with Diane Sawyer will air on Good Morning America (and on 20/20 the following day), and she has also been quoted by Glamour, which is honoring the singer at its annual Women of the Year event at Carnegie Hall.
"I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears," Rihanna told Glamour magazine. "I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn't heard."
Stay tuned.
But then again, it's high school -- any other way would just go against human nature. That is why they make so many amazing movies for discontent teenagers.
