Ewa Mataya Laurance

Ewa Mataya Laurance or simply Ewa Laurance (born Ewa Svensson, February 26, 1964, Gävle, Sweden, and formerly known as Ewa Mataya) is a Swedish professional pool player, most notably on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour, and more recently a sports commentator for ESPN.

Laurance, nicknamed "the Striking Viking", has been playing pool since she was 14 years old. She moved to the United States in 1981 after competing at the New York City World Championships.



She has authored three books, The Ewa Mataya Pool Guide, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards, and Quick Start Guide to Pocket Billiards. She has also written monthly columns for Pool & Billiard magazine. In 2004, she was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.

Allison Fisher

Allison Fisher (born 24 February 1968) is an English professional pool (and former professional snooker) player. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the sport's upper levels. Feeling that she did not receive the same respect as the male players, she moved to the United States to play on the pool circuit. On 18 March 2009, she endorsed the Delta-13 billiard rack and has her own signature series.



For 2007, she was declared the female Player of the Year by all three of the major pool publications, Billiards Digest,Pool & Billiard Magazine, and InsidePOOL Magazine (in each case with Shane Van Boening as her male co-recipient of the honor), and also ranked #1 in the P&B "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll for that year. She has been the BD female Player of the Year for 11 of the 12 years spanning 1996–2007, including 6 in a row, 2002–2007.
On 8 June 2009, Fisher was nominated to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.

Sharni Vinson

Sharni Vinson (born July 22, 1983) is an Australian model, actress and dancer best known for the soap opera Home and Away and the film Step Up 3D.

Vinson portrayed the role of Cassie Turner in the Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2004 to 2008. She joined the show permanently in December 2004, having previously appeared twice on the show as a minor character and auditioning for the role of Martha McKenzie but losing out to Jodi Gordon. In 2006 Vinson was nominated for a TV Week Logie Award for Best New Talent for her performance in Home and Away. In April, 2008 Sharni announced she would be leaving the series to pursue a career in America.

She portrayed the role of Lori Mandel, a pregnant woman held hostage in a bank in CSI:NY. Vinson also had a guest role in episode 13 of NCIS, "Broken Bird", which first aired on 13 January 2009. She played the part of an airline hostess named Jeanette. Vinson also played a minor role in Cold Case episode "Metamorphosis" as Mia Romanov who worked at the circus.

She has also appeared in other Australian television shows such as Saturday Disney, The Footy Show, and the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children Telethon. She was also featured on the Australian televisions series Creature Features with her pet dog.

For her first film, Vinson was cast as the female lead in the third installment in the Step Up film series, titled Step Up 3D. Filming took place in late 2009 and the film was released on August 6, 2010. She was then cast as one of the leads of Forehead Crush 2, which was filmed in mid-2010 and is set to star in the action thriller No Man's Land from director Jason Cox.

This is so BANANAS!

This is so BANANAS!

First Taylor and now Brad Goreski is leaving Rachel Zoe. As of October 1^st, they will be no more. Unlike with Taylor, Brad will not be leaving on bad terms. 

Whatever shall Rachel do now?

Do we really care?

lalaG

Glee- Episode 2 Britney/Brittany

If you weren’t at home last night or looking on Hulu right now while you're at work to look at the Britney episode of Glee… then I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Yes I do know that I did not blog last week’s episode, don’t judge me.

Apparently Kurt has a Britney page on facebook with the people wanting them to perform a Britney song at Homecoming. Mr. Schuester says no and instead he wants some good old Christopher Cross to be performed. Brittany (the blond cheerleader and my favorite) objected because her name is actually Brittany S. Pierce. “Brittany S. Pierce. I’ve lived my entire life in Britney Spears’s shadow.”

In this episode, we get to meet Emma’s new boyfriend played by the oh so hunky John Stamos, Dentist Carl.  He just happens to be a dentist and he gets invited to Mr. Schuster’s class to teach the kids about dental hygiene (or something like that, I never got why he was invited, any hoo…) Dentist Carl gives the kids these tablets to show where the tartar is showing up on their teeth. Brittany, Artie and Rachel (shock!) teeth turn bright blue.  This leads to Brittany going to the dentist and getting put under some gas and she then performs “I’m a Slave 4 U.”  Now if you don’t know the actress that plays Brittany, Heather Morris, she once was a backup dancer for Beyonce on tour and on some live performances, so you know she can dance.

Santana accompanies Brittany to the dentist the next day for some laughing gas action and they perform “Me Against the Music.” Seeing these two play off each other is awesome

Rachel does “Baby… One More Time” in which she kinda over sings… but she looks exactly like Britney in the video, down to the moves, everything.  Mostly everyone likes the slutty Rachel

The best line of the night comes for Brittany after changing her mind about performing Britney songs, “I would just like to say that from now on I demand to have every solo in glee club. I sing and dance better than her … I'm more talented than all of you. It's Britney. Bitch.” PRICELESS

Artie performs “Stronger” as a flip to ex girlfriend Tina.  Mr. Schuester also shows his struggle with Emma and Carl’s relationship…

So Mr.Schuster decides to perform a Britney song at the homecoming show, but he is also gonna perform in it. The song is “Toxic” and they turn that song into a sex obsessed, Fosse-esque routine and I still don’t know how I feel about it… After the sex riot that happens as a result of this song, Sue gives us this line, “Not sure if you heard, William, but my spinal column was ruptured in a sex riot,”

Then Rachel sings a Paramore song, “The Only Exception,” to Finn.

That’s about it.

It was a pretty good episode. I’m so happy that they put the spotlight on Heather Morris cause that girl is an AWESOME dancer.

lalaG

Gossip Girl---- “The Undergraduate”

Gossip Girl---- “The Undergraduate”

Ok… so sorry about last week’s lack of Gossip Girl review. Trust and believe I wanted to post something, but you know how that goes.

The episode started off with the “Gossip Girl” site being down. Some wondered if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but if you are a true fan of the show then you know Gossip Girl still gets all the good info about what’s going down.

Apparently there is this “club”, Hamilton House, at Columbia that all the most important chicks are trying to get into. This includes Blair and Serena.  When the dynamic duo show up to get a key (which is a necklace) some of their old rivals are there to greet them. Also in the mix is Juliet (Nate’s new crush) who happens to be the key master. Of course there is one key and everyone thought the key would automatically go to Serena. Um no, it goes to Blair. Yall know this Juliet chick is up to something…

Dan is playing single dad and Vanessa decides to move in to help him out with Milo. Rufus knows that Milo isn’t his grandson and has Dan do a paternity test. For those who have never seen a Gossip Girl concerning Georgina, the baby isn’t Dan’s (DUH). Georgina comes back from her “spa” week (which really a trip to the beach) and takes Milo from Dan and gives him some sob Georgina story about why she did it (Mobsters).

Eric is back on the scene and he finds out that Chuck is gonna be lurking back around New York, so he decides to go to Rufus and snitch. Chuck in the past had tried to get his freak on with Jenny before and now Rufus know. You know who else knows about that, Lily. She said not to worry, and you know she runs that house. Chuck hasn’t come clean about his past to new chick, Eva, but slowly but surely it does, but she still sticks around.

Back to Blair and Serena… Well Juliet is trying to pit Blair and Serena against each other and it seems like its working.  What Juliet forgets that this is a secret society in which past members have a say in who gets in. Yall all know that Lily was a past member… There is even a mock fight that is staged between Blair and Serena which is awesome. The truth comes out and Juliet is kicked out.

Best line of the night....

"Once men have tasted caviar, it baffles me how they settle for catfish". (Blair on Juliette & Nate)

i love me some Blair.

can't wait for next weeks

xoxo

lalaG

Glee... and the Britney Episode

There was going to be a Glee update blog last week, but for some reason it didn’t happen so please forgive me. I am so sure that I will not happen this weekend... because it is the Britney Episode.  I don't think people understand how great this is. Ok first off, it’s Britney... Second it’s going to have my favorite character whose name happens to be Brittany (the blond cheerleader) and she will be showing off her most FIERCE dancing skills (she was a backup dancer for Beyonce on tour)

Glee-- The Britney Episode

Lindsay Lohan Update

I like the red hair so much better

Ok we all knew it was coming, more jail time for Miss Lohan. A couple of days ago Lindsay tweeted that she had failed her drug test and that she knew she had a problem.  Now if this was a normal, un-celeb, we would have been in jail an hour after this drug test. Not Lindsay... countless websites and news shows showed Lindsay strolling on Robinson Blvd in L.A. shopping like nothing was going to even happen to her.  Then on Friday, Lindsay strolled into the court house rockin 6 inch Louboutins that cost $1395 dollars. Yes, dollars. Lindsay strolled on in like it was nothing and then it happened, she was sentenced to another 30 days in jail. Now the key word of that last sentence... was... because the judge decieded to overturn his ruling and Lindsay was released on $300,000 bond. Yes, dollars again. It is rumored that she will go back to rehab... but we all see how that turned out the last time....

lalaG

The Oldest Trade

By Deepak Adhikari
Kathmandu, Nepal

In the autumn of 2008, I and a friend working with an NGO run by sex-trafficking victims embarked on a research of sex trade in Kathmandu. Having previously worked on the subject for a cover story at Nepal Weekly magazine in 2004, I had some understanding of the subject. But my second attempt at exploring the dark side of this gruesome trade would prove to be a difficult experience. I met a girl, barely 14, who was trafficked from Dang and was forced to work in a run-down Gongabu restaurant that doubled as a brothel.
After listening to the girl’s harrowing story at a nearby shelter, my friend and I visited the restaurant where the waiters seemed laidback and the tea arrived after much delay. As we sipped our tea and scrutinised the place, the modus operandi started to unravel itself. A young woman who was applying lipstick and carelessly grooming herself seemed to eye us as prospective clients. Pin-ups of scantily clad models adorned the walls. Sitting there, I wondered about the misery the young girl had told us about.

I was reminded of this while reading Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddharth Kara, the first fellow on human trafficking at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Kara came face to face with the horrors of slavery in mid-1990s when he visited a refugee camp in Slovenia where he saw first hand the refugees living in limbo, and in utter despair. The Slovenian sojourn left an indelible impression on him.

Haunted by that, in 2000 he resolved to put aside his job as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch and began his life’s mission: to unveil the workings of sex trafficking. He visited brothels, massage parlours, sex clubs and met all those involved in this trade. After traversing 18 countries and interviewing more than 500 victims, he has produced a very compelling book.

Sex Trafficking provides answer to one of the world’s most appalling (some would say the oldest) trades: selling sex. The book—which covers India, Nepal, Europe and Africa—analyses in detail the economic aspect of sex trafficking. “Sex slavery is primarily a crime of economic benefit,” he writes. According to Kara, the origin of sex trafficking can be traced to a few phenomena: collapse of the Soviet Union, spread of globalisation and capitalism. “The supply of slave erupted in 1990s concurrently with the havoc wreaked by economic globalisation,” he writes. He suggests: sex trafficking is the most profitable industry because the labour cost is very cheap.

The book opens with the story of Maya, “a gaunt and distressed” 19-year-old from Sindhupalchowk, who spent “four years as sex slave in each of Mumbai’s two main red-light districts, Kamathipura and Falkland Road.” Maya was duped with the promise of a job at a carpet factory in Kathmandu. Once in the Indian brothel, she was raped, tortured, starved and even drugged. Finally, she fled, but only to discover that she was infected with HIV. Even returning home was fraught with stigma. “They (the rescuers) helped me contact my father, but he told me not to come home. He said I can never be married because I have HIV. I can only bring shame,” she tells the author. She had come out of the brothel in Kamathipura that was established in the 17th century for the service of British troops.

Globally, 500,000 to 600,000 women are trafficked every year. The reasons outlined by the author are poverty, bias against the gender or particular ethnicity, lawlessness, military conflict, social instability, and above all, disparities in economic opportunity. Along the shady edge of the huge movement of people and demand for sex and money, sex trafficking thrives.

Kara says factors such as corruption in law enforcement, border control and judicial system allow traffickers to conduct their business with minimal consequences. When he says “police take bribes in every country I visited to allow sex-slaves establishments to operate” it sounds like he is talking about Nepal. “Lack of coordination among origin and destination countries also hampers prosecution of trafficking crimes,” he writes, “…The absence of political will to enforce the law, as well as endemic corruption, allows trafficking…”

At one point, a victim’s mother laments: “So many bad men are hurting young girls. How can we stop them? Is there any end to the suffering of women?” Kara suggests a number of ways to control the trafficking. He urges the UN to create an international slavery and trafficking inspection force; targeted and proactive raids against establishments that have sex-slaves; forming fast-track courts to prosecute trafficking crimes; and imposing stringent laws with massive penalties for traffickers.

As a work of narrative journalism, Sex Trafficking is gripping. It’s erudite, evocative and above all an engaging read. No other work has dealt with the subject as comprehensively. The book deserves a wide readership.

The article was first published in The Kathmandu Post.

The Coke of Life Runneth Over

By Aritro Bhattacharya
Kolkata, India
Ever got hooked on to something? Something like a Jimmi Hendrix number, or a failed love, or one of those stages in Max Payne where the life-serum won't ever suffice, or perhaps that childhood habit of picking your nose, or like putting into mouth whatever you find in your nasal cavities? Ever felt that overwhelming desire to do that 'thing' that would take your life a fermi closer to those pearly gates of Bliss? Ever done that? Ever got deprived of that? Ever stayed up through a night (or nights) waiting for that strum at say 4:15 of the song, or peek-a-booing at the tube-station nemesis, or nourishing a nemesis in your broken heart? If you have, you will know what I am talking about.

Let's clear the fizz,.. er the mist. If there is one thing I would really take to my pyre, it would be a tumbler of the black bubbly I guess. The 7X-ed serum. My sip of nothing-to-do. My swig of this-rajma-is-inedible. My mouth rinse of no-time-to-brush. My kick of more-cola-less-whiskey-else-I'll-puke. My champagne of code-is-running. My fistful can of Maa-am-in-US. My metabolism of acid-in-the-duodenum. My immunity of am-gulping-pesticides. My diversity of cherry-Zero-Diet-Classic.
It’s cliche to be writing in the first person with zillions of narcissistic atoms and dog-eared phrases and hyphenated pseudoChetanism, but then, that's what the cola does to you, I guess. My love affair with the thing started way back in the 90s. When the jerk in me was schooling, the MMS jokes were being brewed, Kapil Dev was sending those moustached express 'uns, the ACDs were just getting coiled up, size Zero meant you flunked (believe me, even the Coca Cola Company was yet to invent the sexy black-and-red cans), SRK was toppling girls from the roof-tops, Sushmita Sen had just earned her tiara, and most significantly, people were not Googling to get the address of their parents' homes. Then, suddenly, as a Sunday Superhit Muqabla (Baba Sehgal anchored it, DD2, 9:00 pm, my first brush with cleavage and midriffs) was belting out those thunder-thigh-ed numbers, a group of people starts singing something like 'Share my dream, share my Coca Cola, always the real thing'. And there you go. The Coke had re arrived. Even through my 14" black-and-white grainy window, I was hooked on. Not because it tasted great. Because ThumsUp (then owned by Parle) was stronger, Gold Spot would you give you that Zing Thing, Limca would heal up your acidogenic mutton rogan josh, and Tree Tops would nourish the kids. Still it hooked me on. And it was that advertisement. Yes, it was something special. Even now, after 15 odd years, I keep rummaging the Youtube and the Orkut for that tune. But somehow it eludes me.
The next stone in the pond was when Coke launched those cans. It was sheer loss of virginity for that cola-worshipper in me. It was like I gave everything to that swish of the can-opening, the red, chilled aluminum, and the aura of chic that it carried. It was pricey, especially to the middle-class happy with the half/one liter monoliths of the overtly grotesque but financially viable glass jerrycans. It was meant for a single use, for a single go and as happens with those pricey prostitutes, once you let loose, there's no stopping. I gave in my heart, and to date I remember all those things I was ready to sacrifice or achieve, as the situation demanded, for 330 ml of liquid sin. And even now I remember those empty cans on my table, kept as trophies of my conquests, jostling for space with those lost pages of innocence. I would trade my right hand for getting back one of those deformed, dented cans, but they are gone forever.
I tried Coke with all sorts of edible, and potable stuff, with mixed results. Like I once heaped in two spoonfuls of drinking chocolate into a glass of stale Coke. Tried dropping two pellets of mint for my own 'refreshing' drink. Contrary to those forwarded videos, my house did not blow up. But my appetite was disturbed for a couple of days. I drank it with tea, dipped slices of bread into it, added it to a glass of milk for color, and, to top all, dissolved a couple of sleeping pills to make the whole idea of popping pills more palatable!!
I can bore myself to death with these Coke-stories. But stop I should, and stop I will, with this last story.
Many nights ago, I was down with jaundice. An acute case of yellow pee. And the doctor sentenced me to three months of despair, uncertainty and a no-Coke regime. Over those moments of solitude and introspection, I had made a couple of promises. One was to get into the US someday, with an I-20 valid for five years, and the other was to grab a can of Coke, after clearing the Port of Entry, to celebrate that. One of the promises was fulfilled. The pain and guilt of the unkept one do haunt me. And then what do I do? Spend a tenner for sure. To get all dizzy as the carbonated liquid sizzles and singes down into my guts. As I kill yet another demon of mine. The joie-de-vivre, emanating from that fizz and sugar and water keeps me alive. To tell another story. To grab another Coke. As they say, the show must go on.

Rush of Colour

By Pritha Lal
Springville, Utah, USA

Kaku

By Shubhomoy Banerjee

Anand, Gujarat, India
I would call him Kaku-the Bengali word for an uncle, younger to one’s father. I however, knew that he was a year or two older than my father was. But I never cared to know what such an uncle would be called in Bengali. Born in Gujarat to a Punjabi father and a Bengali mother, I was more fluent in Gujarati than I was in Punjabi or Bengali. The only bit of these two languages, would be spoken when I was at home, where too, Hindi was the main language of our conversation. Having me call him Kaku was my mother’s attempt to prevent my alienation from her mother tongue and my father did not seem to mind.

Kaku, like my mother was a Bengali. I did not know his name till the time I was about 15. My parents would call him by his shortened surname. He was my father’s friend from college. And as my father would often claim, his best friend. I would meet him every year during Diwali. That was the time when a group of my parents’ friends, from college would gather at our house or we would move to the houses of one of them. Kaku himself did not stay in Gujarat. But he would religiously come down every year to whichever place the friends would decide to meet. I would look forward to those gatherings, mainly for two reasons. The first one was that this was the time, when I would find my parents really happy. Diwali was the time when my mother would be having her vacations in the university at Anand, where she taught and she herself preferred this time of the year for the gatherings. The rigours of their jobs would leave very little time for my parents to really enjoy their lives. In fact, I would seldom hear them talking over matters other than insurance premiums and electricity and telephone bills. But those four days, every year, would present a totally different facet of my parents’ personalities. They would laugh, in fact roll in laughter and fight mock boxing bouts. Most importantly, the love between them would be clearly visible in those four days, before everything went back to square one for the next one year.

Another and probably, a more important reason why I would look forward to those visits would be because of the fact that Kaku would earmark a day exclusively for us kids. That day, which would normally be the second day of those four days, he would take us kids out on a tour of the city. We would have lunch outside, and he would load us with gifts and chocolates. This in fact made him a favourite among the kids and we would look forward to meeting him.
He had not married. Though, I would often wonder, why, I never asked him or any one primarily out of fear of my parents’ rebukes. In fact that fact seemed to work in our favour, because he could take time out for us. He had grown up in Jharkhand, and was equally comfortable in both Bengali and Hindi. He also had a fair amount of command over Gujarati, though he would always insist on speaking Bengali with me. I would enjoy that. He himself was not very fluent in Bengali but spoke better Bengali than I did. He would call me Mamoni, the mother, though my parents had named me Ananya.

Two of his characteristics stand out in my memory. He was a chain smoker and would often take a cigarette break every ten minutes from the conversations which he would have with my parents. The other was his noisy breathing. His breath would be clearly audible even in the din of the conversation between my parents and his friends. He loved home made food and would often pester my mother for various Bengali recipes, which she did not mind preparing. She said it was because of the contentment she would see on his face after the meal. He would arrange for all the preparations, wandering in the markets for that perfect ingredient. He had a sweet tooth and would keep the refrigerators full with different sweets, every time the friends would meet. And he would also smuggle them out both for himself and for the kids. He would tell me stories of his childhood and his college. He was an expert in mimicking others and would make my parents roll in laughter by making faces and sounds. He seemed to have an elephantine memory and clearly remembered many incidents which had happened in his college days, involving my father or his other friends. He had a great love for reading and it was he who introduced me to the world of Ruskin Bond and R K Narayan. He would devour my story books over and over again and would get me lots of them every time he took us out.

The meetings continued every year and Kaku had by now become an integral part of my life. He was my friend. I shared all my secrets with him and he would never leak them out to my parents. It was he whom I first confided into when I fell in love. That was when I was in Class XII. He promised me that he would never divulge it to my parents. I would, almost everyday, tell him about my boyfriend and the bliss of love which I had started experiencing and which my parents had experienced almost two decades ago. One day, I gathered enough courage to ask him about his marriage. I asked him why I did not have a Kakima. He said that he was waiting for my Kakima to come to him. I did not understand but chose not to probe further as I heard that sudden tinge of pain in his voice. I, for one, never wanted Kaku to be hurt. I thought of clarifying it with my mother someday.

Kaku was the one who finally convinced my parents to allow me to study pharmaceutical sciences. My parents wanted me to become an engineer. But my heart lay in medicinal chemistry. Try as hard as I would, I could not come round convincing my parents to allow me to go for pharmaceutical sciences. But one phone call from Kaku and they agreed. How? I don’t know till today. It is better not to question miracles. I got myself admitted into a pharmacy college at Ahmedabad and that gave me an added advantage of being at home during Diwali, when Kaku would come visiting. My father’s other friends had by then moved to different parts of the country and the world, and the gatherings would now be less frequent, though they always stayed in touch. Kaku had moved too. But, he would still come down every Diwali to our place and celebrate Diwali with us.

By now, I was big enough to gain insights into peoples’ minds. Kaku came across as a lonely person, who would forever want to be surrounded by friends. The excitement he showed in those days during the Diwali vacations, could put any child to shame. In fact, it seemed that he would conserve all his energy for that gathering, a homecoming which he often termed it as.

But he had started showing changes too. He had been losing weight and each year he would look thinner than what he was in the previous year. He now suffered from asthma, “thanks to the smoking”, he would say and his breathing had become more audible. But his sweet tooth and the love for home made food had stayed unchanged. And he was still waiting for kakima to come to him.

It would often occur to me, why he never invited us to his place. Earlier, it was quite matter-of-fact that since all my father’s friends stayed in Gujarat, it would be feasible that he come down rather than we go to his place. But things were different now. Two of my father’s friends had moved to Delhi, one was in Hyderabad and one had moved to the US. Kaku was staying in Mumbai and it was an overnight journey from Baroda, where we stayed. Still, it would always be him who came down to Baroda during Diwali. This was another mystery which I never tried to clarify.

One such Diwali, I had to be in Bangalore for a training programme. I was now working in a reputed pharmaceutical company in Ahmedabad. I was 26, already had had two break ups and had decided to be single for the rest of my life. My parents were not exactly aware of this intention of mine, but they did leave me alone and never pestered me to get married. I frantically searched for an option to be home just for a day when Kaku would come visiting. My parents had not told me that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and his days were numbered and he might not survive even the Navratri. Unaware of everything, I booked a flight from Bangalore to be at home just for one day. Then began the Herculean task of convincing the authorities in Ahmedabad to allow me the leave. But I did not have to struggle much. A phone call from home on the seventh day of Navratri, made sure that the last Diwali was in fact the last time I had met him. Kaku had lost his battle to cancer. He had given my parents’ numbers as the ICE numbers and the body would be handed over only to them.

All of those who would be a part of the gatherings were present at his funeral. Probably, the only people he called his own and who in his own words was his family. I felt a sense of loss. The feeling was similar to what I had felt, when Paresh, my second boy friend had finally decided to settle down in Canada and was insensitive enough to invite me to his wedding to a non resident Gujarati Patel in Ottawa. After Paresh, Kaku was the only person, I dared to trust. He was my best friend. And with Kaku gone, I suddenly felt bereft of any friend in this world. Six months after his death, I made clear to my parents my intentions of remaining single. I had thought this would come as a shock for my parents and I had in fact braced myself up for a showdown between me and my parents that would possibly have been a natural corollary to such an announcement. But it was actually my turn to be shocked. They did not show any sense of shock or disbelief at such a big decision. But I chose to leave it at that, since I normally do not question miracles.

But I did ask my mother about this (pleasantly) shocking behaviour of theirs and it was then that I finally came to know about Kakima, the aunt I always wanted to have but never had and the wife Kaku had always wanted but never had. She was with Kaku in MBA school and Kaku had vowed that he would marry only her and wait till his death for her. And that he did. This stubbornness in him was something, which I was surprisingly unaware of.

My mother told me that they would find me to be a replica of Kaku in many aspects, including the way of talking and other idiosyncracies. I had unknowingly, taken up a large part of his nature, which came as a revelation to me that day. And my parents had expected a similar streak of stubbornness in me. Somehow, they did have this inkling that I desired to remain single. And they thought it would probably be very tough to talk me out as I was probably as stubborn as Kaku was, probably more. This was the sole reason why they chose not to argue or convince me about changing my decision despite not being exactly comfortable with the same.

Willow Smith - "Whip My Hair" Official Choreography

Willow Smith - "Whip My Hair" Official Choreography

Im teachin myself this TONIGHT!
and this song is pretty awesome
lalaG

Lindsay Lohan--- You must really like jail.....

You must like jail?

I thought I was tired last night as I was reading through my tweets last night…

“Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test and if I am asked, I am prepared to appear before judge Fox next week as a result.”

This tweet is from none other than Lindsey Lohan herself. Um, excuse me? How long have you been out of rehab? Child what has happened to you? Let’s go back and take a look at her history…

Lindsey got her start in acting and modeling early on. Her first role was in the remake of The Parent Trap and after that she started doing a few movies other movies which helped boost her popularity, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Critics praised Lindsey for some of her movie role, even comparing her to Jodie Foster (a child actress who successfully made the transition to Academy Award winning actress.) Also a few albums were thrown in the mix, I’m sure you can find them on Half.com for 99 cents.

Around the time when Lindsey turned 18, things started to go downhill with multiple DUI arrests, movies that flopped and bad relationships. Lindsey has been in and out of rehab multiple times for multiple issues.  With every entrance into a rehab facility, one always thinks that she will come out better than ever, but it never happens. Things actually get worse.

In July 2010, a judge sentences Lindsey Lohan to 90 days in jail. After Lindsey is released from jail, she is to go straight to a rehab facility. Now I know what you are thinking, she has been to rehab before and it didn’t work and I was thinking the same thing too. Well unlike the other rehabs she went to (which are like day spas) this one would be different and help her kick her drug habit. Some of yall are like me and are actually rooting for her.  Well… because of overcrowding, Lindsey’s jail time is reduced to only 14 days, but she is still sent straight to rehab. Lindsey was released from rehab only 24 days into the program….She was ordered to submit to random drug and alcohol screenings and attend psychotherapy and behavior therapy twice a week, as well as five 12-step sessions a week.  Any failure to attend the sessions or to pass the drug tests could result in a 30-day jail sentence.

“Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn't go away over night. I am working hard to overcome it and am taking positive steps forward every day. I am testing every single day and doing what I must do to prevent any mishaps in the future”

Listen Lindsey, you need to get your shit together. All that money you have spending while living in hotels, buying expensive cars and traveling to places where you don’t need to go is all gonna run out soon. The only skills that you have is acting skills and honey last time I checked you are uninsurable and therefore no one wants to hire you. Lindsey, stop blaming your dad and stop listening to your mom. You are an adult who needs to make her own decisions in life about where you are going to next. I still believe that you can make a comeback. Maybe you need to talk to someone like Amy Winehouse or Robert Downey Jr. or someone like that.

lalaG

Hakuna Matata

By Pritha Lal
Springville, Utah, USA

This is what the web says in the most succinct matter about the Lion King –

“Based on the 1994 Disney animated film, THE LION KING continues to reign as one of the most popular shows on Broadway and around the world. The global phenomenon is the winner of more than 70 major awards worldwide, including the Tony Award® for Best Musical, and the Grammy® for Best Musical Show Album.”

Facts and the fiction of the tale aside, this Tim Rice and Elton John production, is a brilliant spectacle of light, color, music and creative genius. Nothing new there, as far as Broadway goes, especially if you have seen the Wicked at the Gershwin on Broadway from an orchestra seat, you think you have seen the pinnacle of all shows.  Yet, Lion King left me in awe because this is the first time, I saw a two dimension, television screen cartoon, unfold into a three dimensional phenomenon with the vivacity of texture and color that was simply inconceivable.

 I would hate to describe the details of the visuals, simply because it would take away the thrill from those who haven’t seen it, and also because the power of prose in any language is limited. The visuals are impeccable as is the music. Of course you have heard all the songs before and you think you know what to expect. Yet, the melody of the song is only accented and accentuated by what you see in front of your eyes. The frolic of “Hakuna Matata” or the romance of the “Can you feel the love tonight?” or the “life” in “Circle of life” are all just something you have to let your senses take in. Talking about it would be making it trite.  My favorite however was a song “They live in you”, which is not in the cartoon. It plays twice, once when Mufasa explains to Simba, how the “great kings” look down from the skies, and later when Simba, himself makes that realization. For that latter scene alone, I would watch the musical many times over.  I know I am dragging Neel to the Mandalay Bay at Vegas at the first available opportunity, the show has been running there for a while.

The show is on tour in different cities across the world, see it if you can, doesn’t really matter if you have a child to accompany you as an excuse or not. Once the lights dim and the strains of Rafiki wake up the Savannah, you will be one with the visions that will unfold in front of you, and forget the engineering details of lights, camera, actions and an amazing amount of mechanics…

Gossip Girl---- "Bells Du Jour"

Ok I know some of yall out there are closet Gossip Girl fans, you aint gotta hide your guilty pleasure here on the pages of Pop Culture Fashionista.  I absolutely love, love that show. If not for the fashion, then for the drama (and you know I love other folks drama.)  Well this season premiere was everything you ever wanted and more.

So much going on… Blair (my fave person on the show) and Serena are living it up in Paris doing what they do best, shopping and chatting up the lovely French boys. Blair and Serena are enjoying the time they are spending together in Paris, but Blair lets Serena know that she is happy that she will be at Brown University in the fall and not having to live in the “Serena shadow.”  What Blair doesn’t know that Serena was accepted to Columbia University (Blair was accepted last season.) It seems like Blair is having such a hard time looking for love when Chuck Bass is still in her mind and heart, but while standing in front of her favorite painting, Blair runs into someone who she thinks is her knight in shining armor, but is he?

Back in the states, Lilly and Rufus come back home from traveling and Rufus decides to give Dan a ring. Well if you didn’t see what happened at the end of last season… Georgina is knocked up and Dan *rips open envelope Maury style* is the father.  Well that’s what Georgina says…

Nate is whoring it up with Chuck’s little black book. He meets a girl who tried to play hard to get, but they run into each other again at an event Lily is throwing… more on that later

Vanessa shows up to Dan’s apartment with her hair still looking like a bad wig and she finds out the big secret Dan had been hiding and why he was AWOL for the summer.

Lilly is worried about Chuck and rightfully so… so she starts doing some investigating. She looks into his banking records and find out he is doing some un-Chuck like activities, like traveling on a train and in coach no less… Lilly starts to think that something is wrong…

Blair and Serena go on a double date with the guy she meets in the museum. She finds out that he is a driver for a prince, and not the actual prince. This changes her attitude on the whole date. She starts to treat him differently and pays more attention to the prince, who happens to be with Serena. Blair then gets a phone call from her mother who tells Blair that Serena is now going to Columbia (Lilly told her.) Blair runs outside and Serena follows, and they have a moment.  When I say moment, I mean Blair pushes Serena into a fountain.  Blair goes back inside… blah blah blah… The guy is actually a prince. Wanted to find out if Blair liked him for him and not because he was a prince.

Blair goes back to the hotel and finds Serena packing to go back home and Blair pours out her heart to Serena about missing Chuck and living under the Serena shadow. They make up, again.

Chuck is still alive. Shacking with a chick who doesn’t know he is Chuck Bass, and all the charges that were showing up, was actually his…

No Jenny and her dark makeup this episode.

Technology Today! Good or Bad??

So thankfully we are blessed with numerous types of technology. I know I would almost go crazy if I didn't have my phone. If I couldn't text, talk, check my email and check my social accounts it would become irritating. Sometimes and I know I am not the only one who feels this way but with all the new technology, it's like people don't know how to personally communicate. I think if you take away people's phones they would almost become mute. Sometimes a nice conversation is a lot better than texting. So much more can be said on the phone and you can have a better understanding actually hearing someones voice. I understand that there is a time and place for everything and at appropriate times, it's better to text. Personally, I prefer to hear someones voice.
Secondly, I HATE, HATE, HATE to read a message and not understand a damn thing. When I read a message, I don't want to have to decode it before I read it. It's cool to short hand in text messages but when you send someone a message and you are making up words, using numbers instead of letters tells me one thing... you can't spell. It would take more time to think oh im going to use the #3, 5 or 2 instead of "e" or "s". The sad part young children, preteens, can't spell small words and feel like they can hide behind texting and use it as an excuse. What happens, when these same people go to try to get a job and they write the same way they text?? I'll tell you.. you are not getting hired! Then you are looking crazy saying ooh they are just being racist. FYI it's not your race it's your ignorance that speaks for you.

The last season of Oprah...

It's the last season of Oprah and you already know she is going out with a bang...

Oprah gives away....

Peoples heads will explode

the MTV VMA's

As I said a few blogs back, id write about the VMA’s that came on last night. After last year’s Kanye/Taylor incident, there was sure to be either total awesomeness or total wack. It was neither, it was a complete and utter clusterf*ck. The night started off awesome, an episode of Jersey Shore.

FIST PUMP!

Yes I know I said I would never watch this show, but I’m hooked! I’m only 3 episodes in and I’ve got favorites already… but that’s another blog for another time. Then MTV decided on doing a white carpet instead of a red carpet. How original MTV, now please go back to playing just videos. I should have known that the evening was going to go down the toilet with the introduction of Drake.

I betta find yo lovin...

 Ok, I will admit, Drake is growing on me but I can only see Degrassi High every time I look at him! There were many others that rolled onto the white carpet and for the life of me I cannot remember who they are. The only reason behind my memory loss is the one performance they had on the white carpet, Nicki Minaj with Will.I.Am.

*DEAD*

This performance was a complete mess. First off, she was lip syncin, what rapper does that? I can understand if there was some serious dancing going on stage, but there wasn’t. I can’t go in too deep cause there will a separate blog about this.


The show started with Eminem and it was a decent performance. Ri Ri came on stage and sang her part for the “Love the way you Lie” song. I just wish she wouldn’t have put on that red wig… it was tooooo much. There were a lot of other performances that I really just don’t remember cause they didn’t stand out too much. It was a very dull show. Justin Beiber came out and did his thing.

He dances like a white Usher and it shows in all his moves. Then Usher came on. Awesome as usual. Taylor Swift came on and sang a new, untitled song which if you listen to the lyrics, it sounds like she hasn’t gotten over the Kanye incident. Lord, help her.

Oh and let me interrupt here... Lady Gaga was there... She changed 3 times. The last outfit was a meat dress. I shit you not.

There were some more people… um…yea… and then, there was Kanye. Dressed in all red, he also did an untitled song that will most likely be on the new album and it was awesome. "Let's have a toast for the douche bag, Let's have a toast for the scumbag...every one of them I know." Love him or hate him, he knows what to do to get people to talk and watch everything he is doing.

So that’s my MTV VMA’s wrap up. It was wack and I’m pissed that I wasted my time on this bull. The only good thing that came out of this was hanging out with Ashley.

So, i dont know if ill ever do this again. Well... there is a BET awards show coming up... you know those are DRAMA!

lalaG

just ugh...

is she bout to ice skate?

Chumki

By Anindita Baidya
Anand, Gujarat, India

The name has a tinkle in it, sounds like little rays of light reflecting on some shining little beads...

Her life is not as shining though...!

Chumki, she worked as a domestic help at my cousin’s place.  Chumki, all of 12, she was the sole bread-earner for a family of six.

I met her for the first time during my visit to my cousin's place at Rajabajaar, in Kolkata.  I had thrown up temper and staged protests saying that my cousin has no right to employ a child.  Chumki should go to school and secure her future.  To all that, my cousin only replied that my altercation does not really change Chumki’s reality.  So, if my conviction is not real, what is?

Chukmki was the eldest of the siblings.  She had four sisters and her mother was pregnant with her eighth child.  Five children had survived; two had died one-two months after their birth.  Chumki’s parents had owned a small piece of land in a village in Purulia.  Her father reportedly was an alcoholic who spent most of the time under some tree shed in the village while his wife toiled in her own and other villagers’ land to earn a wage.  They lost their little land in debt and that is when the entire family migrated to Kolkata.  Chumki’s father was not in a position to toil, he suffered from a chronic lung infection and was often irritated and bit up his wife and daughters.  The other siblings were quite small and Chumki’s mother waited for them to grow up enough to get themselves employed as domestic workers as well.

Chumki’s mother, hoping to have a son, went on with her eighth pregnancy and when I met Chumki, her mother was in the seventh month of pregnancy and so had stopped working at the flats; Chumki compensated for her mother’s absence too.

She worked day-long, obediently listening to all the orders her employers had for her; at times she looked at my books with hunger and a tinge of sadness in her eyes.  Whenever there was a delicacy cooked in the house, my cousin would give some to her.  Chumki never had any.  She took her serving to be shared among all her sisters and if possible her ma. 

Chumki had made me feel so helpless.   Her presence challenged and laughed at my theoretical convictions which I had no clue to transform into action.  There I was sitting, looking at her eyes and my heart bleeding and watching her mopping the floor and narrating her mother’s experiences at the small village of Purulia.  She had no tale to tell of her own!

That was about five years back.  After my cousin left Kolkata, we had no clue as to what happened to Chumki. 

Her memory has not faded with time.  I wander where is Chumki now? Is she still working in those flats, is her mother satisfied with a son or is  still trying for one?  Or has Chumki been married off to start her job of procreation while still working as domestic help?

I have no answer! There are questions but no answers...

Will her fate change ever? For that matter, will the fate of the any of the Chumkis change.......do we have an answer?

Five Little Indians

Five Little Indians was formed in January 2007 with former members of some well-known Calcutta-based bands. The band merges melodic rock and a heavier sound with singer-songwriter sensibilities. FLI's use of Hindustani Classical vocals as another voice — and not as a 'fusion' ploy — results in a unique soundscape that can only be defined as its own, Neel Adhikari, a band member shares proudly.

What makes this band different from those mushrooming in every nook and corner of the world, Neel claims, is the variety of influences that inspire the music. “Our listening infects our musicality. The goal has been to keep our infections intact instead of sanitizing the music, yet we didn't want to become a fusion band because we're rockers at heart. So the main challenge has been arranging the songs and keeping it true to the song writing.”

The band is looking forward to performing for audience outside India and the release of its debut album. “We plan to release it ourselves. We don’t want to sell our copyrights to some big label that would release the album and then not do justice to the marketing. We have just bought off www.fivelittleindans.com and the website should be up in a couple of months. We all have home studios, so technically we don’t need the support of a label,” Neel says.

And though Neel agrees that rock music doesn’t earn him or any rocker a living in India as yet and having a double-life is not as uncommon as others might think, we wish him and his team a quick and successful retreat from the world of boring 9 to 5s to the lives of the true Rock icons!

Till then, catch them live when the not so little Indian boys raid your city the next time! 

Team

My Little Magazine

Who they are....

FLI played its debut show at the Eastwind Festival 2008. The same year, the band's single Screaming At The Sun saw a worldwide release as part of Stupidditties 2, a compilation of Indian "un-metal" music from ennui. BOMB. In January 2009, FLI headlined the Campus Rock Idols competition along with Skinny Alley. Along with The Supersonics and Bertie da Silva & Orphic Hat, the band co-organised and played Elektrik Kool Rock Revue I, the first show of a original music concert series that aims to re-establish Calcutta as a blooming bed for rock'n'roll creativity.

Preferring exclusive appearances, FLI headlined the Hornbill festival in Kohima, Nagaland in December 2009 and the Autumn Festival in Shillong in November 2009, apart from playing in Tango and Deja Vu (Shillong) and Dream Cafe (Kohima).

2010 saw FLI performing at the Rock N' India festival in Bengaluru alongside Richard Marx and a host of other international artists. The band has also played at Opus, bFlat and Kyra in Bangaluru. The band was recently featured in the June 2010 issue of Rolling Stone India magazine. Five Little Indians is now working on its debut album.