A Closer Look

Since AmericanCurrents.com debuted last Fall, we've written about various topics – such as Tiger Woods, Sarah Palin, health care reform, Sarah Palin's visor, Barack Obama's presidency, Sarah Palin's opinion of the Family Guy animated television series, the Toyota recalls, Sarah Palin's possible 2012 presidential bid, global warming, and then there was something else about Sarah Palin.

Judging from the comments and emails we receive, some of you agree with us, some of you really disagree with us, and some of you have read things here that have enlightened you and allowed you to look at an issue with a different approach.

Today, we've asked the members of our panel to take a look at the issues they have written about, along with what their co-contributors have written on the same topics, to see if anything they've read here has allowed them to look an issue with a new angle. And yes, one of them is about Sarah Palin.

ROSEANNE FRANGIONE:
It has been well over a year since the inauguration of Barack Obama and I would guess that more has been written about his presidency than any other before him, at least at this stage of the game. I've been a critic of the Obama administration and some of you may go as far as to say that I've been a harsh critic. All I can tell you is that I write from my heart and my heart guides my mind. Upon reflecting upon the past year and two months, I'm willing to say that I may have been a bit too hard on Barack Obama.

Here are a few things that I can honestly say that I like about Barack Obama. First, he looks great with more gray in his hair. It makes him look mature, and more “presidential.” His resume may say “I don't have a lot of experience,” but his hair says, “I look like a president!” Next, he kept his Blackberry. Other presidents before him had to turn in their cellphones and PDA's, but not Barack Obama. He's a busy man on the go with an active wife and two kids. Good for him for being able to text an “lol” or two to Michelle from Air Force One. For as much as it pains me to say this, he can pronounce the word “nuclear,” and that is all I'm going to say on that topic. Even the strongest Republican has to respect a man who can earn a Nobel Prize for an hour's worth of work. Also, as a fan of Bravo's “Real Housewives” series, he and his administration gave the upcoming “Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.” the best storyline ever when they allowed Michaele Salahi, a soon-to-be “Housewife” cast member, along with her hubby Tariq, to crash a state dinner party! Let Bethenny Frankel and her wedding, her baby, and her Skinny Girl Margaritas try to compete with that! Best of all is Obama's Vice President, Joe Biden, who is always there to drop an “F” bomb or to say something totally inappropriate in front of an open microphone or a large group of reporters. He's funny and he makes me laugh, which is something I just can't say about Dick Cheney.

All in all, while I didn't vote for Barack Obama in 2008, I have to admit that while I don't agree with everything he does, he's making his presidency very enjoyable. The Bush administration, safe and stoic as it was, lacked the sense of humor found within the Obama presidency. For that alone, Barack Obama has earned my vote in 2012!


JEFF WEISS:
We at American Currents have spent many hours writing about Sarah Palin. She's consistently remained visible in the news media even though it's been more than a year since John McCain lost his bid for the White House. For the most part, I haven't portrayed Mrs. Palin in a very favorable light. To me, she seemed to be a bit of a dim bulb who was pushed into the spotlight because she fit an image that the GOP needed in the 2008 presidential campaign. I believed that the fact she continued to remain in the public eye was because of own hunger for attention.

However, I've taken a closer look at Sarah Palin and her views, and I was surprised at what I found. For example, she said at a fundraiser back in 2008, “We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.” Can anyone not agree that the best of America is actually in America? Think about it. The best of America is not in Canada. It's not in Australia. It is, as Palin stated, right here in the US of A. And who better to be Pro-America than American citizens? When is the last time you saw a North Korean singing the praises of America? That is something you will only see in America, as Sarah Palin wisely stated.

In 2009, when asked if she would be subjected to the same ethics inquiries as president that she faced as the governor of Alaska, Palin responded, “I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out.” Now think about that. People mocked Palin because there is no “Department of Law,” but if you really, really think about it, you can clearly see that Palin was using the example of a non-existent department to say the ethics charges against her were the same as that department – non existent. An answer like that is simply brilliance at work.

Thank you, Sarah Palin. Thank you for enlightening me and bringing this soon to be former Democrat into the loving arms of the GOP. I cannot wait to vote “R” in November. After all, like one Palin supporter posted Facebook recently, “its Rong not to vote for Republicans.”


SASHA SMITH:
The fact that that free health care passed is absolutely ridiculous. Why would our country want to improve the status of all citizens? Our country has always been established by privilege and with everyone getting the opportunity to have health care it puts everyone on the same playing field. It will give over 40 million Americans the opportunity to receive care that they have not been able to receive anymore. I feel as though if all Americans want affordable health care then they need to go out and get it on their own. Of course we all know how expensive health care is so not everyone will be able to get it and that makes sense.

I also want to talk about how this health care bill will affect the drug companies and lobbyist. I mean they no longer will be able to regulate the market with their own prices. What are the drug companies suppose to do now? It will be much harder for them to increase the prices since the government is the one who will be regulating the new health care policy. The health care policy will be taking money away from the rich. How are they going to get richer? I understand that some might find it a human right to have health care but I think it's a benefit and government does not need to get involved. The private citizens of the United States were handling the situation on their own.

In any case, we need to figure out what will happen now and how this is going to affect our tax dollars.

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On behalf of Roseanne, Sasha, and all of the AmericanCurrents.com editors and contributors, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy APRIL FOOLS DAY! 
- Jeff Weiss

Catholic Church Abuse Scandal: Sasha Smith

The Catholic Church has been in a sexual abuse scandal since I was a school girl at a Catholic school over 15 years ago. When is this going to end? If nuns were in a sexual scandal for over 15 years the pope would have had an investigation 15 years ago. I think the Catholic church is finally moving in the right direction with airing their dirty laundry and settling all these sexual abuse cases. The first step is acknowledging that there is a problem.

Moving into the second step, an investigation does need to be happen and the Church needs to eradicate all those standing in the way of a valid investigation and those trying to hinder the truth from coming out. The final step will probably be the most difficult task for the pope and that will be to punish all those involved and allow them to go through the secular legal system as well.

The sad part about this story is that these children are sexual abused by their spiritual leaders who they are taught to worship, traumatized and end up becoming perpetrators themselves. It's a vicious cycle and the pope addressing this issue can save millions of other children from being abused. The Catholic church has a reason to be proud of the pope taking an aggressive stand against those abusing their power.

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Louisiana Prom Controversy: Sasha Smith

Mississippi should be ashamed of itself. Every year there is some prom scandal in this state. Most years it's connected to a white student wanting to take a black student to the prom or the fact that some cities in Mississippi still have  have segregated proms. Since I've moved to the South, I've realized two things in regards to civil rights. 1. Some parts of the South are going to hold on to the past as long as they can and 2. It will try to bring back the days of old. It's like some parts of the South are stuck in a time warp. 

In 2010, why does the school district think it's okay to make decisions about an 18 year old woman's sexuality. The school board should be focused on what their national rankings are and how they will combat the economic conditions of schools. Since the methods of funding education is still based on property tax, Mississippi should be worried about getting school books, saving the arts and providing meals to those students in Mississippi. 

Why is it illegal to sell vibrators in Mississippi but not guns? Has anyone every killed themselves at school with a vibrator? Of course not but school shootings are on the rise. Why are the school districts more concerned about an 18 year old woman's sexuality versus safety? Mississippi needs to get it's priorities straight. I think the ACLU has a very valid case. Public school's have no right to make a student feel horrible about there prom date choice. I also hope the students at this high school stand up for the classmate and challenge the administration. 

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Sasha Rates The Red Carpet

The Oscars were the zenith of the red carpet for fashion award the 2010 award season. It was refreshing to finally see dresses that fit the occasion and bodies of all shapes and sizes looking equally amazing. This awards season has had it's up and downs but finally I think we have some great fashion to talk about. So let's get right to it.

My most underdeveloped fashion eye is the male Tuxedo. I tend to think all men look great in a tux but what I have learned this award season is that it's all about the right fit of the shirt.

Best Male Dress Nominees:
George Clooney
Matt Damon
Tom Ford
Ryan Reynolds

Winner- Tom Ford (wearing Tom Ford) - Now I know what you are thinking. It's unfair to pick a fashion designer wearing his own tux but the truth of the matter is he looked the best. If I had any doubts about what a tux should look like on a man, Tom Ford has cleared all of that up.

Loser- Robert Downey Jr.- I wasn't feeling anything, the glasses, the blue bow tie and especially the sneakers. His look wasn't right at all. Even if he was at the Grammy's I would have voted him worst dress. It was just all wrong. He needs a stylist and I'm available.

Best Thick Chick Nominees:
Mariah Carey (Yes she is a thick chick)
Queen Latifah
Mo'Nique
Oprah Winfrey

Winner - Queen Latifah in Badley Mischka. She's certainly looks like a cover girl here. I'm so proud of her to represent for the big girls. Big is beautiful, even if big is always trying to be small. She gave the skinny girls a run for their money this evening. Her skin is glowing and the beaded shoulder was the right touch for her. She's been doing a great job this award season. If I can still remember her People's Choice Award dress than her stylist is doing their job.

All the thick chicks represented well and there is not going to be a loser in this category this year.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Gown:
Penelope Cruz
Vera Farmiga
Maggie Gllyenhaal
Anna Kendrick
Mo'Nique

Winner- Vera Farmiga in Marchesa..Yes.. her dress was bold, daring and you almost wanted to hate it but you couldn't. The color was perfect on her skin and the structure was outstanding. If Cameron Diaz had has this dress on it wouldn't have worked but it most certainly did for me. Trust me.. I reviewed this dress over and over and it's a winner.

Loser - This one is very obvious to me: Maggie Gyllenhaal. Tie die does not equal Oscars.

Best Dressed Over 40
Kathryn Bigelow
Meryl Streep
Signorney Weaver

Winner - Meryl Streep in Chris March- I'm really beginning to love white on the red carpet. Now, we usually don't expect much from Ms. Streep but this might be as good as it gets so we will take it. Plus, we always want to support a Project Runway designer. They are the best!

Loser - Sarah Jessica Parker - I can't even believe my fingers are typing this but we expect so much more from our Sex and The City star. She's suppose to be a fashion icon and role model. It was just a miss for her and I guess being a new mom of twins has it's downfall on your personal style. On the upside of things. Her jewelery was my favorite of the night. She wins Best Accessories.

Best Dressed Under 30
Miley Cyrus
Gabourey Sidibe
Kristen Stewart
Vanessa Hudgens (Grammy after party dress)

Winner- Miley Cyrus in Jenny Peckham was a huge surprise for me. " I throw my hands up" on this dress. Now other fashion critique had  a lot to say about it but I l-o-v-e-s it on her and as we say "If it looks good on you."

Most Disappointing Dress- Zoe Saldana in Givenchy. I loved the colors. I'm going gaga over the shoes but the bottom ruffles I couldn't get over. I've tried looking the dress in different angles and tried to be objective but I just couldn't. In the words of Khole Kardshian "not every dress is suppose to be worn straight off the runway." This is a perfect example. I still plan on catching Zoe on the cover of Essence magazine April issue though. She's still fab in my eyes.


Overall Best Dressed- Sandra Bullock in Christian Dior. It was really hard I'm not going to lie. J.Lo gave her a run for her money but Sandra was just glowing and hence the glow and shimmer coming off her dress. And a big congrats to her win. I hope she enjoyed the cheeseburger she wanted to eat after the show.

I'd love to hear who you think was best and worst dressed. Let me know by leaving a comment.

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The Oscars: Sasha Smith

The Academy Awards were really wonderful. I wasn't sure who was going to win but I wasn't surprised by who won. After watching a 60 Minutes segment about the Hurt Locker last week it came upon me that this was a unique film. I knew it was going to be a winner in some form or fashion. Hurt Locker being a big winner, now that I didn't see coming. Who knew they were going to sweep so many awards but well deserved. I definitely plan on watching the film as soon as I get the chance.

There are so many stories within this film. Kathryn Bigelow has an amazing personal story. I didn't realize that a woman director has never won the Best Picture award before. To win the award the night before International Women's Day (March 8) is symbolic in itself. On a gossip note, Ms. Bigelow was formerly married to James Cameron, director of Avatar, who was also nominated for Best Picture is always a good tabloid story. All in all, I will be watching the film.

My film interest was also sparked by some of the foreign films like Cove. I'm not a big animal rights activist but it certainly looks like a great story. Who would want to kill dolphins? I think the scene of the beach water being turned blood red by all the dolphins being killed peaked my curiosity. I'm sure PETA was invested in supporting that film. I'll most certainly catch it on Netflix.

All in all, it was a really nice program and congrats to all the winners. It seemed like everyone was genuinely happy for everyone.

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Sasha Reviews The Academy Awards

The set was beautiful, the lights were amazing and the stars were shinning. It was the 82 annual Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. It was the best show of the awards season this year and I doubt that any other show will top last night. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin opened up with a very comedic routine and kept it short and sweet. The most important part is that it was really funny. Having the combo of two hosts was a great idea. It was the perfect Ying and Yang. Of course Steve Martin, ended up being a little better than Alec Baldwin but that was to be expected.

Presenters looked fabulous and were matched up well. For example, Tina Fey and Robert Downy Jr.'s skit is still memorable in my head. Not just because Tina had a fabulous black lace dress on and Colin had a horrible aqua bow tie and awful aqua sunglasses but their little writer and actor skit was entertaining. I'm not sure if her sweating was a part of the skit or if she just had too many drinks before she under all those lights with HD camera's everywhere. I'm sure she will make a note to herself for next year.

The awards were still over three hours but I was able to watch the whole thing without leaving the room. The John Hughes tribute was touching and Ferris Bueller's quote at the end of the tribute was perfect. "Life moves pretty fast if you don't stop to look around, you could miss it." The Oscars this year were just able to live up to the viewers expectations. As we know there are a lot of award categories and they can sometimes lead to a boring show but somehow the Oscar writers were able to make even the Best Makeup category exciting with Ben Stiller dressed up in full Avatar makeup as one of those blue people. Clearly the writers have been watching all the other award shows like I have and realized that they needed to step their game up seriously. There were no disappointed moments like the Grammys or feeling bored to death when I watched the People's Choice Awards.

I definitely enjoyed James Taylor performance and the dance performance with some of my favorite So You Think You Can Dance stars on stage. It was really great to have the musical and dance performance that broke up the monotony a little bit. I also loved the banner that the Documentary winners of COVE brought on stage  asking folks to send a text message to help save Dolphins. I thought it was really cute and somewhat rebellious.

Of course the talk of the night are the winners of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. It was nice to see Monique win supporting actress  for Precious but of course everyone is talking about the same thing they talked about when Denzel Washington won his award. Are blacks only going to win awards for portraying negative images of themselves? This is a debate that will probably go on and on until a black woman or man wins the award for a positive story. There was also some drama with Sandra Bullock winning for The Blind Side. Apparently, Vanessa Williams was on the view discussing the same topic. Williams mentioned her hope for more positive roles of blacks in films. In particular, the films with positive images of blacks are not the one's getting nominated or winning if they make it to nomination. I think this is a whole other blog post and we can come back to it later.  I'm not a director so I can't contribute to this but maybe I could start writing a story that is positive and hope to win an Oscar myself.

All in all it was a good show. Nielsen ratings show that it has grown 14% from last year. Of course people being home from the recession might be a factor but a good show is a good show and that is what we got on Sunday night.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my Oscar Fashion run-down

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Can Miss America Survive? Sasha Smith

This is the first time I'm hearing about such news. It's pretty sad. I know most of my followers are probably surprised at this comment. As a feminist that I am upset about a program that only glorifies a woman's beauty for her to win an award is something that I am sad to lose but I'm being honest.

Since I was a little girl, (even when I was in Canada,) I always enjoyed watching the pageant. I always enjoyed the Miss USA pageant and even more so the Miss World and Miss Universe. In my opinion, one of the positive aspects of the pageants is the patriotism that these women get to experience. Even in the Miss USA pageant, the women have a lot of pride in representing their home state. I think it's important to be proud of where you came from. I'm constantly talking about my national heritage and my ethnic heritage to folks I know and strangers.

Not too long ago, I found myself looking up the dates of the pageants cause I had realized that I hadn't seen one advertised for a really long time. I found out that I missed the Miss Universe and looked up the winners from the countries I'm connected to and even added these women to my Twitter account. I also realize that most recently the former Miss. South Carolina (who's currently on Amazing Race) and other pageant women who have made stupid comments or committed acts of indiscretion against the official pageant rules have given the pageant a bad name in the past couple of years. I think these women misrepresent the other hundreds of pageant women who are about something and can be good role models for young women. I almost can't believe that I'm writing this but it's true.

I personally know a former Ms. Georgia who is a wonderful role model to women and I would prefer her being a role model to my kids than Britney Spears any day. I think we have to expand our thoughts on what is seen as positive or negative and I've definitely learned to do that in the past couple of years. I think there is a major opportunity at this turning point in the pageants life span to reinvent itself and create a more modern view of what a pageant could be and bring back some nationalism.

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Sea World Tragedy: Sasha Smith

Sea World is very brave. Is it me or they are a law suite waiting to happen. But I'm also sure that all their employees have an iron clad contract that they sign before agreeing to work there. As I was watching my one of my news shows, I saw family members talking about how Dawn had dedicated her life to animals and all she ever wanted to do was swim with the whales. Her family members said that Dawn was living her dream by swimming with the whales everyday. I thought it was really touching and it was important for Dawn's family members to express this to the world.

I was very sad to hear that Tilikum killed Dawn. I have never had a connection with animals until recently and never even owned a pet. I do wonder if Tilikum has learned it's lesson and what the behavior modification training will be for the whale. It seems as though since the shows started back up right away I wonder if the whale knows it didn't anything wrong. Based on all the news allegations, Tilikum was upset by the scent of Dawn's hair which is why he pulled her ponytail in the water and drowned her. There is clearly something that is upsetting him. My biggest concern is what is wrong with this whale. I haven't heard Sea World make any statements about how they are going to investigate Tilikum's little killer problem.

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Tiger's Apology: Sasha Smith

I have the same opinion of Tiger Woods as I did when his first affair became public. It's not my business and it's nothing new in American culture. Why do we care so much what an athlete is doing on his own personal time? It clearly wasn't affecting his golf game, but if anything making his affairs public would probably hurt his game.

Americans are fascinated with flaws. Tiger was simply too perfect for everyone. To find out that he was a man who had no self control when it came to being committed and being  monogamous to his wife. How many Americans does this involve? The last I found out that was 50% Americans aren't able to stay married to their spouses. They end up getting divorced. In the Black community the divorce rate is even higher at 60%. And since Tiger is Black (even if he doesn't admit it,) why are we so surprised?

What would be really surprising is if someone took the time to realize that there are a lot of issues that citizens have to deal with and that we should try to work on solutions to fixing them. For instance, let's get everyone health care so if the have a need to talk to a shrink for some mental health issues such as stress, depression or any other disorder they can talk to someone and figure out a life plan versus using sex, drugs and alcohol to fix their problems.

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Spy School: Sasha Smith

 My professional degree is in social work not a the law. I have no idea what or who are in legal rights in this case. Morally, it is common sense for the school to notify the students and the parents of what the school's rights are when issuing the school laptops. I have a cell phone that my employer pays a part of. I could not image my horror if I found out that they were taping my phone and listening to all my conversations. The phone naturally serves as my work phone but personal phone. I would be highly upset and consider a law myself if the same thing happened to me.

In this day age, technology has taken over and we must continue to carve the way to still maintain citizen's personal rights and privacy. I am all for making strides in technology but there have been too many instances where it crosses the line. If the school suspected that the student was taking some type of "pill," they should have talked to his parents and maybe they would have assisted the school by getting to the bottom of it. I think the school also are intervening with the family and home by making assumptions that the parents would not have handled the situation. 

As Americans we need to find a balance of when we should be getting involved and when we shouldn't be getting involved. Looking at the young student that was beat up in front of three security guards in Seattle, I wonder why those officials didn't get more involved and in comparison to this case the officials initiated their own investigation. If we could find the perfect balance, I guess we would all be in a better place.

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Super Bowl Ads: Sasha Smith

There was certainly a common theme going on for the super-bowl commercials. The theme was hetero-sexism. As I was tweeting for the American Currents site last night, no one seemed to mention the obvious. I realized that the majority of the 106 million viewers might have been men but I refuse to believe that women were not at least 40% of the viewers. According to Nielsen, an additional 15 million viewers went online just to view the commercials. This also leads me to believe that those additional viewers are highly likely to be women and those who are not into football but want to see the famous Super-Bowl commercial ads.

Why is it still so funny to make fun of women or continue to play us in stereotypical roles? I'm going to get off my ranting and raving about how sexist the ads were but it's just part of my feminist duties here at American Currents.

So... moving on to best commercial. I would have to say one of my favorite commercials was the Etrade babies. They have been doing that series for a while but I absolutely love having the babies talk about business. It really makes me feel as though managing my money on Etrade is probably attainable even for someone like me. I also can't deny that the Doritos series of commercials were pretty cool. Of course, I was a little uncomfortable with the one with the Black woman as the single mom and wondering why we've never seen an Asian woman as a single mom but I'm going to have to let it go. I'm not in television marketing but if I was I would try to veer from the norm. I would most definitely stray away from negative stereotypes of Black women.

Onto flop of the night....Jay Leno, Oprah and David Letterman... what was that? I'm so confused and not sure why Oprah was brought into the mix. I guess as the queen of daytime she was trying to save the men of nighttime from arguing. Well that commercial was a flop for me. I have even less interest in Leno and Letterman drama after that ad. Actually, it seems like a fake now that they are cool enough to do an ad together.

The shocker of the night of course was the pro-life commercial with the Tebow family. I'm glad that we are having ads with social and political issues but of course it's not an issue that I support. All in all, the ads were pretty memorable if I can still recall them 48 hours after the game. Hopefully my Falcons or Patriots will be playing next year and than it will be even more  unforgettable.

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The Fallout Over Rahm Emanuel's Comment: Sasha Smith

Criticizing every single thing someone in Obama's cabinet does is getting old. I guess its not going to end so I might as well accept it now. I mean even something said in a closed door meeting is now being criticized. I thought this was going to end but I guess not. Personally, I don't think Rahm Emanuel owes folks anything else. He apologized and it's over. If people want to act like they have never said anything inappropriate before in their lives behind closed doors than they are lying. 

Health care reform is a very important issue and I can completely understand Emanuel's frustration at all those in government who don't care about the American people's well being. Regardless of what party line you are on, healthcare should be one of the top issues that we are concerned about. We should want to fix the issue and make it a better

I don't have much else to say but when Rush Limbaugh stops saying "retard" on his public show than maybe I will start to care when others say it in closed door meetings.

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Would an Independent President Mend the Partisan Divide? Sasha Smith

An Independent would be ideal as a President. It's ideal because it is bipartisan for the most part. This is ideal for a someone going into the new presidency. Obama making a change to Independent would be rather interesting. I have no idea how the American people would react or even how American politicians would deal with it. I have a feeling that folks here in Atlanta wouldn't go for it. I think people want you to chose a side at the end of the day. I'm not saying it's right or wrong I'm just describing our culture as I see it. 

At this point in Obama's first term, I don't think it will make a difference in the polls or how people feel about him. The infamous saying, action speak louder than words. Obama's actions are important now more than ever. Our country and government is split right down the middle and I personally am looking to my fearless leader to bring us all back to the middle. Being the American President is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world but I have faith he was voted in because he can do the job. It will be critical for Obama and his cabinet to spend the next year working really hard to alleviate some of the tensions our country is going through. 

I never vote on a President based on what party he is apart of. I always vote on the person who I think can do the best job. I think many people do that and that we will eventually move away from party lines. It hasn't gotten us anywhere in the past so there might be a future without them.

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Sasha Reviews the Grammy Awards

I’m still deciding if I loved or hated the 52nd Annual Grammys. I definitely loved the red carpet on the E! network. They did a great job covering all the action. I’m not sure if it’s the Fashionista in me, the E! network presentation, or it was really more exciting than the Grammys. I guess it’s also the excitement of the unknown. We were all waiting to see what Gaga was going to wear and of course our Armani costume was not a disappointment. It was disappointing not to see her do an acceptance speech since the awards she won were not televised.

CBS did impress me with their time gadget indicating precisely when the next performance was going to be coming up. I did like that feature. Performances worth mentioning of course Beyonce did her thing, Black Eyed Peas and Pink. I’ve seen Beyonce live several times and might try to catch the opening of BEP tour in Atlanta next week but I never considered going to see a Pink show. I bought her album and love songs but was the most impressed with her Cirque du Soleil abilities while singing and without a harness. My heart was throbbing the whole time she was on that sheet up in the air spinning. It was flawless. Pink get’s an American Currents two thumbs up for that performance.

By now we all have heard the news about Taylor Swift beating out veterans for Album of the Year. I’m not going to deny that the hour that I might spend in my car everyday I might have heard 3 to 5 Swift songs in that time. She definitely sold a lot of albums and is getting serious air time but her performance was a flop and so was her stage outfit. I realize she is really young and really skinny so not everything is going to look great on her but her stylist are going to have to do a better job if she is going to become a mega star anytime soon.

It’s obvious that pop and country music is dominating the music industry right now. It was very obvious that urban music was missing from the show. I wouldn’t call myself a rap fan but it was clear with the solo rap performance with Drake, Eminem, and Wheezy were the last performance of the show. The Grammys thought showing the winners of Best Comedy and Speech were more important than best R&B album. All in all, I’m already looking forward to next year’s show and interested to know if Sade’s album coming out soon will be making a big comeback.

As I rerun the night over in my head, I’m going to give the Grammys a 7.8 out of 10. The Red Carpet was fun to watch but highly disappointed with the dress selections for the women. I don’t think I’ve ever been as impressed with the mens suits as I have this year. Even Pink’s husband Carey Hart, looked awesome in a suit with all his tattoos. Drum roll……… And best dress goes to……… Fergie. I selected Fergie because she wore a Grammy dress. It was fun, short, and something I haven’t seen before. The Grammy attire is supposed to be fun and funky. Everyone else who I considered looked great but it was to Oscar like. There has got to be some distinction in what gowns to wear to what red carpet.

We’ll catch you at the next red carpet.

(Picture highlights include, Gaga, Fergie, and those who don’t belong on the Red Carpet, General Larry Platt (American’s Idol’s “Pants on the Ground” contestant) and Snookie from Jersery Shore.)

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Terror Trial May Move from NYC: Sasha Smith

I would love to see research on the last 10 first time President's and see if they were half as criticized for everything they did in their first year or term as much as Obama is getting criticized. He can not make one move without someone having something to say about it. He takes Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of Guantanamo Bay to address the human rights folks request and then other's complain. He decides to try the terrorist it's a problem.

Is there really a difference of where he is tried? Probably not in this particular case. If you are American and not aware of what happened on 9/11 then you were under five years old or living under a rock. Is Mohammed going to get a fair trail regardless of where he is tried? Probably not. Is he going to going to get away with what he is being accused of? Probably not. Why critics are trying to judge Obama's move I'm not quite sure. The only thing it leads me to believe that this is all connected to Obama's race.

Obviously, the nation is split in half based on his current approval polls, but I've yet to hear him make such a major mistake that it's worth spending the hours and hours of bashing our President. Someone should ask the analyst at Fox news how American their perspectives are. If you are going to criticize someone one, at least attempt to have some valid solutions and acknowledge that the one your idolized (Bush) is the one that created 80% of the current problems Obama has to fix now. Why do we continue to expect one man to fix all our problems in a year? Americans need to take responsibility for the lack of civic engagement that has led to our current situations. Maybe with so many people disliking our President, they will finally get involved in local, state and federal politics at a more in depth level. Be apart of the solution and not just the problem folks.

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The Dangers of Fake Fragrances

I love perfume. I personally wish I could afford all the perfumes that I love. But the truth of the matter is perfume is very expensive. For most women, it's their most expensive beauty item. "Fake fragrances" do smell somewhat similar to the real thing at the immediate spray but than the lingering smell is not same. I think I found that out at age 14. One of my favorite things to do at the mall when I was a tween was to visit the fragrance counter. My favorite thing to do at the mall as an adult is to visit the fragrance counter. There are so many perfumes to smell.

I personally wouldn't buy fake fragrances but I understand folks that do. I think that the America that we live in is obsessed with beauty and beauty products. Those who can not afford the authentic fragrances feel the need to fit into our American culture by having a replica. I don't think that we should judge folks that buy these products but we should consider why they think it's so important and why we allow these products to contain such harmful materials. If Channel and Dolce and Gabanna perfumes had dangerous chemicals in them there would be an uproar amongst the middle and upper class citizens that buy them. But let's be honest about who the clientele is of these harmful perfumes. It's not going to be Georgia's Governor's wife.

This is probably a similar trend not only for perfumes but other products that are not "name brand." We definitely need to have stricter policies on who can create products and put them out on the market. I hope this blog and others who have more scientific information are sharing this with public so those that are using the products can be more aware of the harm they are causing to themselves. After hearing of this report, I will share it with others and never even think about buying imitations.

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The iPad Hype: Sasha Smith

Yes, the iPad. It was so unexpected. I just logged onto my Safari browser and saw the ad for the iPad on my apple.com homepage. I didn't have time to investigate so I kept it moving but then there was immediate chatter amongst techy's that I know and on all over Twitter. This morning, I finally decided to watch Steve Jobs' video on the launching of his new venture.

I watched it and most times I truly enjoy these little seminars and presentations by Mr. Jobs. I must say I was not impressed. I was not impressed at all. I mean it just seemed like a mega iPhone. I have an iPhone now and I'm not 100% happy with my phone as it is never mind a mega iPhone.  Now, don't get me wrong. I was converted to a MAC user for life since the moment my hands touched my own MAC keyboard in June of 2006. The iPad just seems like a joke and I doubt I would be buying one.  It's a mega iPhone that is mega overpriced. I guess in this economy we just tend to think twice about what's worth it. I also find it interesting that Apple stock went down recently as well. I have no idea if there is a connection but could be a forecast for this new product.

It's seems like the perfect toy for tweens and teenagers who's parents want to give them material things to make up for the time they don't spend with them. I guess I'm being pretty harsh but if your not a MAC user, you might as well buy a computer or a PC laptop for almost $900.00. I realize that our country is obsessed with the Internet and having immediate access to information but the iPad just doesn't seem worth it. Maybe there is something that I'm missing but this is a stretch for Steve Jobs and I don't know if he is going to sell it. We will have to stay tuned.

On a complete side note, Steve Jobs didn't look the most healthy in his little Apple presentation. Wasn't there rumors of him being sick? Hit me up on Twitter @sashaasmith if you have more details or want to share your opinion.

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Illegal Downloads: Sasha Smith

This issue effects me more than most people. My partner is in the music industry and is always talking about the need for something to be done about the issue of illegal downloads. Many people (including myself at one point,) probably think it's not a big deal downloading MP3s. Well that is so not true. Movies, games and music are all created by folks who have put their blood sweat and tears into creating these multimedia technology that keeps us entertained. We have to think about the Americans who are working on these pieces of merchandise and they also have family's to feed. The person who suffers the most are the designers and engineers. At first glance, we see these huge corporations making billions of dollars but the more we steal illegal downloads the less the money funnels down to everyone. Someone has to make up for the loss of money that the big corporations are losing from the public stealing it. 

There is another issue with having a generational culture who think it's okay to steal music, movies, or games. This is someone's livelihood. Would you be okay with looking at your pay check and realizing it's not all there cause someone took some of it and there was really no way to follow up on it? I questioned my partner about his thoughts and he thinks that the Copyright and Intellectual Property Right laws need to be changed. When these laws were written, illegal downloads didn't  exist. We need to change the policy so we can change the culture of people thinking they are not stealing. As I think about it, my nieces have probably never bought a CD or gone to a music store. All they know is downloading music from the Internet as there source of musical entertainment. People who think they are taking away from the Clive Davis' and Steven Spielberg's by downloading materials for free but they are not. They are taking away from the guy painting  on a movie set or the song writer who stayed up all night to write a song he believes in. Their the one's who we are stealing from. Having immediate access and information is one of the blessings of the Internet but being able to steal information and merchandise on the Internet is one of it's curses.

Now, in terms of the issue of employers monitoring their employees computers, I think that is overboard. I mean employers know who is the surfing the net by who's work is not getting work done. I most certainly don't think of downloading illegal materials at work and never will. Do I know folks who do? Yes. Would I ever do it? Never. It's just not worth it. I'm trying to keep my job and I'm too busy at work to even have time figure out how to break into any systems to get games, movies or music. I also respect my place of business and the designers and engineers such as my partner who are dedicated to what they do.

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Sasha's Golden Globe Awards Review

The Golden Globe Awards is one of the best award shows during the annual award season. First off, it's one of the only really live shows. With that comes the unexpected facial moments, comments and those small moments that a non live show would televise. For example, Jennifer Aniston (who looked so stunning, I'm starting to believe that she has had some work done and is no longer "au nautrel") was wearing a dress with a slit that was all the way up to her waist. Well it was very sexy but also very revealing and once she walked out on stage to present an award we saw her goodies. We also got to hear James Cameron say he had to pee at the beginning of accepting his award for Best Director. Another on going joke throughout the show was mentioning Meryl Streep by which actor she slept with in each movie she was nominated for. (Julie & Julia and It's Complicated) and and Ricky Gervais was definitely an interesting choice for hosting the show. Since the show was live, they weren't able to edit out when he took swigs of beer that he hid in the podium and his awful and somewhat mean jokes. Well enough of some of the bloopers that no other blogger is talking about but me.

The show opened up as the Critic Awards did with Mo'Nique winning Best Supporting Actress for the movie Precious. She definitely won the best speech award for talking about the courage that the director and the cast had for doing such a real story. It convinced me to go and see the movie finally. Other movies that got rave reviews at the awards were Julie & Julia and Up in the Air. Avatar won it all at the end of the night, and I must admit it was probably worth the millions of dollars that Cameron spent on that movie. It was exciting to see a new show like Glee win an award for best T.V. Show. Apparently, it's a great show that everyone loves. I was excited to see another true story Blind Side honored with Sandra Bullock win for Best Actress. The theme of the night throughout the show was that we are all connected and should always treat each other like human beings.

Everyone was dressed elegantly and it definitely looked like everyone was having a great time. I was torn on picking my best dressed award for this evening but I think i'm going to have to go with a tie. It's going to be Christina Aguilera and Tony Collette.

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Pat Robertson's Devlish Comments on Haiti: Sasha Smith

Pat Robertson's comments are horrible but as I keep saying racism is alive and well in America. It's no surprise that this so called Christian white man had these horrible things to say. As far as I know God loves all people whether you do good or bad and fortunately for Pat many folks in the Haitian community will not forgive him but I guess God will.

As I listened to Al Sharpton this morning on the radio, he made a great comment about how Pat's Robertson's comments are no different than those "Christian" white slave owners who said slavery was good and it was what God wanted. The citizens of Haiti never asked for a corrupt government. Who wants greed and selfishness to be qualities of their government's leadership? Haitian's fought against the French colonies because they just wanted to be free like most natives in the world who wanted to remain on their own land with their own leadership. How is this different than Americans fighting for their own freedom from the British? As a matter of fact, America benefited from the Haitian revolt against the French. America was able to gain the Louisiana Territory which now encapsulates 13 southern states. The truth is if Haiti is being punished according to Robertson than I better leave this half of the hemisphere today based on America's crooked past. 

All in all, Robertson got what he wanted. Everyone is talking about him and he is promoting his right wing organizations and the uneducated donor who thinks they are doing the right thing is just breeding continuos hate by sustaining him and the next generation of his family and followers. The truth is the citizens of Haiti and those who care about the devastation that has occurred have much larger problems to worry about than Pat Robertson. They need to rebuild a country that was already at an 80% poverty level and fix a corrupted government system. I'm proud to have an American president who see' the value in helping others when they are down. I'm proud to have voted for Barack Obama.

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