What: Korina Dress, $222

Where: Pixie Market

Who: Carin Webster

Why: Let’s face it. The eighties are back, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Shoulder pads, animal print leggings, lame, and tiered ruffles should probably never have come back, but this take on the tuxedo dress is a welcome addition to 2009.

Sadly, this production has nothing to do with Glenn Beck. Remember when we said that Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ was on its ways to Broadway via the Berkeley Repertory Theatre? Well it’s here and while it I didn’t get my wish of seeing Billie Joe with a viking hat, the set looks great, and Rebecca Naomi James from Passing Strange is in it, so that’s promising. Remember her German character and the “We.Just.Had.Sex” number? Loved her. From the looks of it, it may be the next Spring Awakening. They’re only in the rehearsal stages it seems, so let’s wait for the reviews to come in. The LATimes has more images of the set here.

Lou Ching is an all-around normal and attractive 20-year-old girl from Shanghai who likes clothes, (presumably) boys, the mall and has big dreams of becoming a singing superstar. So big that in August she became a contestant on China’s Let’s Go! Oriental Angel, a televised talent contest much like our beloved American Idol. So what’s the big deal? Lou is Black.

To clarify, Lou Jing is biracial. The product of an extra-marital affair between her Chinese mother and an African-American man, naturally the circumstances surrounding her birth make for great TV, which the show’s producers have played up, and playing Lou in the process. A baby born out of an affair is hardly news in any country, but the simple fact that her mom slept with a Black man and Lou was born has made the girl the focus of a rapidly growing debate about what it means to really be Chinese. Lou’s birth and upbringing in China, and pretty much her life until now, has been disregarded by many simply due to the fact that she has Black blood in her veins, something that I suspect would be different if her father was White. Naturally, she and her mother have their fair share of haters, some just displaying outright racism and disrespect towards both of them, hidden by the cloak of the internet. (more…)

Last night, The New York Times diversity affinity groups (read: the Black and Latino folks at the NYT) sponsored a screening of Chris Rock’s Good Hair, complete with a panel discussion.
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Let me start out with what I liked about the documentary, which Rock and three other men made to purportedly answer his daughter’s question: “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?”
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It was funny.
And there was an interesting section on how the “Black hair” business is actually making Asians and Caucasians rich. Oh, and it was fascinating to see how weaves make it from the heads of the devout in Chennai, India, (most get it shaved off as a sacrifice, or “tonsure,” to God; others wake up or stand to leave an “interesting movie” only to find it’s been cut off and sold on the black market) to the heads of the chicks in my Harlem, New York, neighborhood.

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Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let me tell you what pissed me off: (more…)

Only in our generation, a wholesale record store has “open to the public” days…Fashion’s Night Out anyone? [NYT]

Whoa. Bullies + unchecked violence = reverse Columbine, where victim shoots herself. Smh. [Jezebel]

Tell your boyfriend Football will make him crazy and MAYBE you can get the remote back on Sunday, Monday and “the occasional Thursday.” [NYT]

JUDGEMENT CALL: Ravonettes “Last Dance” [StereoGum]

WTF: During a pro-democracy protest, Guinean militia killed 157 participants, injured 1,200+ and sexually assaulted the women in attendance. Smells like Katrina… [G]

Trey Songz is on tour. You’re welcome. [MTV]

PS: Dear Jezebel, We Love Latoya, give her a raise.

image source

MTV is holding their Hottest MC’s countdown and I have a bone to pick…Raekwon is # 10, and 50 Cent is #9. How is 50 #9 when the album he promised us LAST YEAR still isn’t out? “Have a Baby By Me Baby” ain’t enough to swing me to his side, even if the track is aimed at the ladies and features Ne-Yo. Same for the high school musical ish “hospital scare” Fif released virally yesterday. Missed it? This man said he was rushed to the hospital after he listened to Fat Joe’s upcoming album. He’s an entertaining bully, smh. Bleh…

+ Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel drops today…do you care? Have you even heard her “new” first single, “I Want To Know What Love Is“? (me posting that link…yah, that’s my first time hearing it. sigh. We have to do better folks, BETTER!)

+ JUDGEMENT CALL: Britney Spears’ new jam “3″ [thx TGJ!]

+ Honestly, we love Queens MC (and Q-Tip’s cousin and Kanye’s OG rhyme coach) Consquence ’round these parts, but he’s never really been the cat for radio spins, however this song “Whatever U Want” might get him attention. Clip after the jump!

Thoughts?

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