O.K., friends: The world got just a little bit bigger today. Thanks to my high school friend, Angela Renee Simpson—no singing slouch in her own right—I now know the name of countertenor Matthew Truss, an ’06 Boston Conservatory grad, and apparently one of the hottest new talents out.
If, like me, you get to the opera about once a kalpa, or you confuse the word “countertenor” with “counterterrorist,” prepare to be stunned by Mr. Truss’s rendition of “Addio, addio miei sosprir,”from 18th century Bavarian composer Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.
Tina Fey-lin: Impersonating the Republican VP nominee on SNL
Former Not Ready for Prime-Time Player Tina Fey helped open the 34th season of Saturday Night Live by playing the role she was genetically formed to play: Alaska governor / G.O.P. VP nominee Sarah Palin, above.
With cast member Amy Poehler doing her manic Hillary Clinton jibe, the two delivered five funny minutes straight from the headlines and from Palin’s disastrous interview with ABC news anchor Charles Gibson, completely overshadowing the fact that Olympic octomedalist Michael Phelps was hosting and platinum rapper Lil Wayne performing.
If you missed it this weekend, check it out on YouTube before NBC tears it down like they do everything else on the service. Or, better, just go to Hulu.
And baby makes six: The Obama family and their newest member(s)
How legitimate are Sarah Palin’s calls that her family be kept out of the press, as she and John McCain attempt to win the White House? Furthermore, is there an implied double standard at work when she does so?
The ultimate hypocrisy is that these woebegone, frightened opponents of change, sworn enemies of race-based college-admission initiatives, are now demanding their own affirmative action program for white folks applying to the electoral college. They want the bar for admission to the White House to be placed so low that legitimate scrutiny and criticism of Palin’s qualifications, record and family values can all be placed off limits. Byron York of National Review, a rare conservative who acknowledges the double standard, captured it best: “If the Obamas had a 17-year-old daughter who was unmarried and pregnant by a tough-talking black kid, my guess is if they all appeared onstage at a Democratic convention and the delegates were cheering wildly, a number of conservatives might be discussing the issue of dysfunctional black families.”
After Alaskan governor / Republican V.P. nominee Sarah Palin—above, with youngest daughter, Piper, and John McCain—gave her presentation at the Republican National Convention last week, like you, I kept getting asked what I thought of the speech.
“Oh: It was a great speech,” I’d respond, utterly serious. “A great speech.” A beat. “It was complete nonsense. But it was a great speech!”
Affianwan, Calabar South, Nigeria, 2005 (Photo by Phyllis Galembo)
Photographer Phyllis Galembo burrows deep into what she calls “the transformative power of costume and ritual” by shooting large-format chromes of revelers and worshippers in remote parts of Nigeria, Haiti, and other Caribbean and African countries.
Feelin’ super, post- the DNC? Let this black T-shirt warm your back and strike fear in the hearts of your Republican opponents.
This is an officially licensed Alex Ross t-shirt depicting Super Obama in which these Alex Ross shirts have been screen printed with the Super Barack Obama image on front. These Barack Obama t-shirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks.
That’s how my web strategist, Lena West of xynoMedia, qualifies her decision, late one night hanging out and drinking with friends, to get pizza from Domino’s:
10:43pm: We ordered online.
12:20am: Our order is delivered. Yes, the 30 minute pizza people delivered a pizza almost 2 hours later. The pizza was cold and the delivery guy, Luis, arrived sans Rebecca’s CinnaStix (they tell you your delivery person’s name with the Pizza Tracker online interface). Luis apologized and said he would return in about 15 minutes with the CinnaStix. We also saw through the online interface that our order was made by Vanessa as soon as we placed it, but it sat in a “HeatWave” bag for almost 2 hours after it was made.
