SAG Awards -- the dresses, of course.

I'm not shallow, just focused.
Where do I begin? I have to admit that I kind of bumped into E's red carpet coverage after it had already started. I'm a bit of a snob in that I only really look for when the Academy Awards are on -- all the other awards I either catch...or not.


Lets start on a high note. Kate Winslet (who I now officially love after having seen her on a DVD of the HBO show Extras), was absolutely beautiful -- even my husband, who humors me with my fashion obsession, was like "wow!" She was tastefully poured into a glamorous royal blue gown by Narciso Rodriguez -- love the tiny little cut out on the side that you can't see in any picture I found on the web. Oh well, gotta watch "E". She was just the total package.

Eva Longoria Parker was holding it down for us petite ladies. She looked altogether lovely, though I wouldn't have picked her dress for myself. But she looked good in it. (See her above with Rosario Dawson -- and she's just leaning backwards - not pregnant. And if she was, it wouldn't be our business.)

Speaking of total package, Rosario Dawson turned it out -- perfect dress, hair and makeup, as opposed to Marisa Tomei: whose dress was pretty, but whose makeup was so non-existent and hair so boring that I kept forgetting who I was writing about as I was writing this.










Claire Danes looked great, I hate to say, since she's not my favorite person. Nothing personal. I saw her on some show once where someone who was a big fan of hers ran into her and she basically treated this fan like she was $#!* on her shoe. Or was it a he? It was a long time ago. I can't remember. Her hair did look pretty as well, but remember, I'm not allowed to say anything nice about her.

On the other hand, I could totally tell that Brad Pitt was just itching to get away from the way too personal questions of Guiliana Rancic (paraphrasing: "tell me how Angelina has made you grow...." Blech.), but he was totally cool about it, and changed the subject in a slick way.

Speaking of Angelina Jolie, I love, love, love her, but in my opinion, her dress looked like something a mother of the bride would wear. She got big points from my husband for saying that she just wanted to be comfortable. He's very practical, my man.





January Jones' dress looked like "Oh, Mighty Isis" was going to make a comeback. I did not like it. Not one little bit.








A bigger yuck was Dana Delany's dress -- hideous. It was funny, though that she said "I actualy bought this" and the reporter (I can't remember if it was Guiliana or skinny Debbie Matenopolis) said with surprise "wow, you bought this?!" It's a sad commentary on how many dresses are lent to the stars, many of whom could probably afford to buy them outright -- of course, it's left up to us suckers to do that. Her dress was killing me though, and not in a good way. I would much prefer Angelina Jolie's dress.

Surprise to me was how disappointed I was in Diane Lane's ensemble. She usually looks so put together. Her hair looked like it needed a good condition, and her dress was nothing special at all. (I just remember red because her hair looked so bad. And this picture does not show you how bad it looked on TV -- I'm just sayin'.)


Amy Adams' dress was having an identity crisis. It looked much better up close than far away -- when I first saw it, the top looked like a breastplate with cascading ruffles down one side. I don't want to pick on the pigmentally challenged, but she looks pale as death in this picture.

Keisha Whitaker looked so pretty. I know you are saying "Who?" Don't sleep. Forrest Whittaker's wife is gorgeous and she was certainly rockin' her dress last night.






Penelope Cruz's dress looked like a velvety bag. Unfortunate. She's so pretty. On her show, Rachel Zoe once said that black is hard to wear on TV as all the details of a black dress tend to go flat -- maybe it was prettier in person.




Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire, another very, very attractive woman in a dress that was unfortunate. It kinda looked like a bridesmaids gown. Her beauty still stood out, though.

Taraji P. Henson looked fabulous. Her hair was making me jealous. So was the fact that she was holding Brad Pitt's hand -- though I really would have been jealous if it had been George Clooney or Taye Diggs.






Tina Fey is a wonderful comedian and writer, but I did not like her dress. I suppose she'll tell me to suck it. It looked like something you would wear on a night out in the 80's, not to an awards show. This is your chance to glam it up. Come on, Tina. I'm sitting at home with baby throw up on my shoulder and God knows where else. I need to live vicariously though you guys. This is important! My last time to wear a glamorous gown was prom -- which was the 80's, so you know what a wreck I looked like. (Though my wedding gown (from 1998) still rocks!)

For an example of perfect glam -- see Evan Rachel Wood. Wow! Everything was perfect. The dress was pretty and fit her perfectly. The color of her dress and her hair worked so well with her skin tone and everything combined to make a wonderful look

1.20.09

Much to our delight, a couple of people changed the name on street signs for Bush Street in San Francisco to Obama. :)

I'm late to write about this, and mostly, I'm writing about it because I want to be able to look back and remember this day -- not because the things that are written in here are new news to anyone (it was six days ago now).

Two things that struck me:

1) After President Obama's swearing in, I heard the crowd sing to the Bush's helicopter: "Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah. Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah. Hey, Hey, Hey. Goodbye." I don't think that was a loving farewell song. ;) I have to say, it gave me a good laugh. There must have been many, many, many people singing that for it to come though clearly on T.V. I didn't notice any of the news people on MSNBC mention it though. Hmmm. I started the day watching TVOne's coverage, which I enjoyed. It was good to get the African American perspective on the inauguration. I wonder if they made mention of the crowd's glee at the departure of Mr. Bush.



2) I wished that Rev. Lowery's speech had been the invocation speech -- who knows if he is against gay marriage (actually, after looking it up on the internet, I found he does support civil unions), but he hasn't been reported as saying, as Rick Warren has, that gay marriage is as bad as incest or pedophila.

Here's the text of the Lowery benediction. Check out how he slipped words from the Negro National Anthem into the benediction (at the beginning, not the stuff at the end about yellow being mellow, the red man getting ahead man, etc., etc.). I thought that was very cool, classy and appropriate for all of us in the United States, Black, White, Brown, whatever we may be.

Text of the benediction by Rev. Joseph Lowery during President Barack Obama's inauguration, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
"God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

The West Wing, Obama Style

Cool.

Daily Chocolate: Quote of the Day

"Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly" - From the book Praying in Color, by Sybil MacBeth.

This goes out to all my fellow perfectionists. It doesn't have to be perfect all the time -- sometimes it just needs to get done.

Stop It!

So you all know about the Gov. Blagojevich scandal -- the Illinois Governor who wanted people to pay him in exchange for him appointing them to the vacant senate seat left by President-Elect Obama. And, of course, you know that he appointed Roland Burris to that seat. Though no one seems to be implying that this appointment was illegally done, politicians are saying that ANY appointee by Blagojevich would be considered tainted in light of what the Governor has done. I feel sorry for Burris. He's just caught up in the middle of this. Now Burris has gone to the swearing in of the Senate, and they would not let him in. Andrea Mitchell from CNN was saying this doesn't look very good - that a Black Senator - the only Black Senator (Wow! Really?! That's sad. I didn't realize that.) is being shut out, especially since he seems to be above board in his dealings. Now, in all fairness, the Senste is not letting him in because the Illinois Secretary of State would not sign his paperwork. My real issue is with the State of Illinois -- if they weren't going to recognize anyone appointed by Blagojevich, then they should have gone on ahead and impeached him long ago, when this first came to light, so that Illinois could have a junior senator appointed. Now they're just clogging up the works.

However, Bobby Rush, a Congressman from Illinois, said that not letting Burris in would be akin to a lynching. NO.

I'm getting really tired of hearing the term lynching used to describe something that is unfair at least, discriminatory at worst. If Burris's treatment by the Senate and Illinois Secretary of State should be compared to anything racially motivated (and I'm not saying it is, just that it looks awful bad) it's Jim Crow, not lynching. Shutting this Black politician out while the rest of the Senate is all White faces is NOT equal to the horror of being chased down, beat down, and strung up while people taunt you, laugh, and sometimes take pictures of the whole sorry event. That's horrific, and the term shouldn't be used lightly.

Falling Out Of Fashion

There was a study done at Brigham Young University that found that there have been fewer Black and Hispanic protagonists in Newbery winning books since 1980 than there were in Newbery winners from 1951 to 1979. As an African American Children's Librarian, I see books featuring African American protagonists getting Newbery Honors (basically a runner-up position), but not winning the award, not since 2000's Bud, Not Buddy (a wonderful book that thoroughly deserved to win the Newbery, and actually appeals to kids and librarians, unlike some Newbery choices) -- and I don't see a whole lot of books featuring Latino protagonists even getting the Newbery Honor -- correct me if I am wrong - it's very possible with my brain addled by maternity leave and lack of sleep.

I remember growing up in the 70's and my mother bringing all sorts of wonderful books home, by Eloise Greenfield, John Steptoe, Leo and Diane Dillon, and later, in the 80's, Mildred Taylor, Walter Dean Myers, and Virginia Hamilton. By the time I started working at a library as a page in the mid 80's, those books almost seemed like nostalgia. What I mean by that is there just didn't seem to be a whole lot of newer books about Black kids coming out at that time -- or maybe the library where I worked just wasn't buying them -- or maybe I just wasn't reading them.

I wonder if it is because there were most likely more books about Black protagonists in the 70's -- it seems like it was almost like an awakening on the part of the publishing industry - that Blacks were writing books and a viable group to market books and shows to (kind of what I see with Latinos nowadays -- can anyone say DragonTales, Dora the Explorer, or Go Diego! and yet, like I said, I can't think of a book with a Latino protagonist that has won the Newbery or a Newbury Honor). It was also the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement and I'm sure that publishers were eager to show they were current. Is it that we aren't seen as needing these books as much since we've "made it"? (Yeah, right.) Or is it because there are the Pura Belpre and Coretta Scott King awards for Latino and Black authors and illustrators? (By the way, is there an award for great Asian American children's fiction? If so, I've never heard of it.) There was an uproar a few years ago with someone saying that we didn't need awards like the CSK anymore -- which, if African American and Latino writers are being recognized for their work less now than from 1951 to 1979, is complete bunk.