Thursday, March 31, 2011

Washington's New Brat Pack Masters Media

Source: all-breaking-news.com


ONE winter evening, Brian Beutler, 28, a reporter for the online publication Talking Points Memo, sat with his friend and roommate Dave Weigel, 29, a political reporter for Slate and a contributor to MSNBC, at a coffee shop on U Street. Recovering from a cold as snow fell outside, Mr. Beutler spoke about his younger well, relatively younger days in the city.

Everyones gotten a little bit older and a little more boring, Mr. Beutler said, speaking of a wave of Washington bloggers who have come of age together. Four years ago, we were far less professionalized, and the work was less rigorous and less stressful. So in addition to being younger, we were also a bit less overwhelmed. That all has changed.

In only a few years, these young men and others like them have become part of the journalistic establishment in Washington. Once they lived in groups in squalid homes and stayed out late, reading comic books in between posts as more seasoned reporters slogged their way through traditional publications like The Hill and Roll Call. Now the members of this Juicebox Mafia, as they were first called by Eli Lake of The Washington Times, in a reference to youth, have become destination reading for and respected by the citys power elite. Indeed, arguably they are themselves approaching power-elite status (as well as, gasp, age 30).

I look at those guys and call them Facebook pundits, said Tammy Haddad, the venerable Washington hostess and cable news veteran. Theyve risen up the media food chain. Theyre acknowledged by the White House. They measure their success in a different way than the Old Guard in this city used to.

Its a whole new stream a new vein of voices engaged and engaging with the power centers in Washington, added Ms. Haddad, known for the boldface-name-dotted brunch she holds annually before the White House Correspondents Association dinner.

There is precedent for such packs of smart, self-important young men in other capital cities. More than 50 years ago, Gay Talese wrote of the witty, irreverent sons of a conquering nation, led by George Plimpton, who once tromped through Paris.

Of course, Washington is not and never will be Paris. In a city where Ms. Haddads brunch is known simply as Tammys and where young Congressional staffers and reporters still cling to the bars on Capitol Hill, the scene these young men inhabit is as foreign as Mars. On Friday evenings its not uncommon to spot them at rock places like Black Cat or the 9:30 Club, or (juice boxes forsooth) drinking overpriced beer from cans or even Mason jars in grungy enclaves like the American Ice Company. But theyve also rerouted the aspirations of young journalists here, for whom a job in print media was once the holy grail.

This is the age of the individual voice, liberated by the new media, the former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan whose reinvention as a prodigious, immensely well-read blogger has inspired many to take to their laptops said in an e-mail. Anyone in the younger generation who yearns for a column on the Washington Post op-ed page is seeking oblivion.

That hasnt stopped traditional outlets from reaching out to them with mixed results. In the years surrounding the 2008 presidential election, The Washington Post employed Mr. Weigel; and The American Prospect and then The Post made his peer Ezra Klein into a multiplatform superman of blogging-twittering-column writing. The Atlantic and then Think Progress the online arm of the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund transformed Matt Yglesias from a formerly bored Harvard kid who hated reporting into an Internet star.

They are cognizant of their evolution.

I came here, and I had no professional affiliation, Mr. Klein, 26, said over lunch at Potenza, a decidedly grown-up restaurant in downtown Washington. I just had a blog that was mine, but I came out here and was trained as a magazine writer, and that was just a much more formalized way of journalism. You made calls. People answered calls. You took down what was said in a respectable account, and that began to influence my blogging. It became a lot less of an Ezra affair.

I think you can accuse me of having a much more staid tone than I had in college, Mr. Klein said, because Im a bit older, and you learn when people are reading your work you should be much more careful about what you say and what kind of motives you ascribe.

Yet this newly discovered caution didnt prevent Mr. Klein from attacking Senator Joseph I. Lieberman during the health care debate, when he wrote that Mr. Lieberman was willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score.

Ive said before, Ive regretted using that phrasing, Mr. Klein said. What frustrated me was so many people talked about how long that health care bill was, but didnt take the next step to say, O.K., I really need to work hard to explain it to people. Usually when people talked about the bills length, they talked about it not as part of their job, but they tended to see it as a failure of someone else. And thats not the way I look at complicated policy. When I look at complicated policy, its up to someone like me to explain things clearly. If that takes a lot of time, so be it. I have a blog, and Ive got a lot of space.

Being in the Brat Pack of the moment doesnt protect its members from public comeuppance. After the Daily Caller a conservative Web site run by Tucker Carlson published e-mail that Mr. Weigel had written in an off-the-cuff, off-the-record manner for the listserv JournoList, he resigned from The Post, under pressure.

Betsy Rothstein, editor of the media Web site FishbowlDC, has relentlessly accused the Juicebox Mafia of arrogance (Mr. Klein has blocked her site from his Twitter feeds). Their sense of themselves is so inflated, Ms. Rothstein said. I sometimes think they do good work, but if youre in their pack, even if what you say makes no sense, youre golden. I think their popularity is a myth.

And Douglas Brinkley, the Rice University professor and historian who is working on a biography of Walter Cronkite, expressed nostalgia for an earlier, more in-the-trenches generation of correspondents who didnt rely on Twitter posts and linking to generate content. Im not making a judgment, Professor Brinkley said. What I dont like is that before, people would start in foreign bureaus all over the world before making their way to Washington. You would be pushing into your deep 20s and have a really deep global background. What youve seen is a devaluation of serious journalism in favor of reporters who are able to create a brand identity.

Mr. Sullivan, 47, disagreed. I think they are more talented than the journalists of my generation and less self-important than the boomer generation, he wrote. People forget how hard it was to get a platform of any kind in the old days. The gatekeepers were few and strict. Lots of talent never got a chance, and I admire the way these bloggers have opened up the D.C. conversation.

Sitting in a darkened bar not far from the Washington Convention Center, drinking bourbon, Mr. Yglesias, 29, wistfully recalled his days as a student in Cambridge, Mass., where he developed his own blog with the help of his college roommate, who knew something about this new thing called HTML. It was through this blog that he found, among others, Mr. Klein like-minded policy obsessives who had found an outlet in the early part of the last decade.

Im actually glad I was able to avoid a certain amount of dues-paying, Mr. Yglesias said. But I flatter myself and would be completely egomaniacal if I didnt think that there was a certain amount of luck involved. Theres a reason why dues-paying is normally involved in this sort of thing.

I always think of myself as an explainer, he continued. I just try and put sophisticated ideas into the news cycle and connect people with smart ideas that are relevant. One person can only make so much of a difference. I made it my mission years ago to address filibuster reform, and now theyre debating it on the Senate floor. I consider that an achievement I played a part in, and if it succeeds, its even more of an achievement.

In an ending worthy of St. Elmos Fire, Mr. Yglesias now lives with his girlfriend, Kate Crawford, 27, who works at a trade association for science museums. Mr. Klein is engaged to Annie Lowrey, a 26-year-old reporter for Slate. Theyve grown up, Ms. Lowrey said of her fianc and his cohorts. Theyre not spring chickens anymore.

Back at the coffee shop, Mr. Weigel noted another way the groups behavior had shifted since its early days in Washington.

We had a weekly trivia team, and Ezra was often on it, he recalled. These days, he said, I think functionally you couldnt commit to that on a weeknight, because Ezras on TV four times a week.

Chronicles of a Natural Apostolic: DO NOT cut your hair, I repeat, PLEASE don't do it

Sometimes I tend to forget the many struggles I encountered when I was transitioning...


I remember being extremely discouraged and upset over my hair. I wanted my relaxer to grow out, I wanted natural hair, but all the while my hair was breaking and thinning. It seemed impossible that I would ever achieve the thick, healthy locs that I saw so many other naturals wearing. There were people close to me that went natural too, but none of them did a full transition without big chopping or trimming their hair. But every time I so much as thought to pick up the scissors it was as it something within me was screaming... Kendra please, DO NOT cut your hair, I repeat PLEASE don't do it!

First of all, it is a MYTH that your hair will not grow if you choose not to cut it or trim it. I am a living witness along with many other women. I did not cut my hair, I did not trim my hair, I left it alone and took care of it. Yes my hair went through a stage where it was very dry. Yes my hair went through a stage where it was breaking and thinning. Yes my hair went through a stage where I never thought it would be healthy again. But the storm is always worst before it is over. Look at my hair now. That is why, I am asking you, DO NOT cut your hair, I repeat PLEASE don't do it!


We have to learn to look at the BIGGER picture. If you are doing it just to do it, this message isn't for you. But if you are a

ONE GOD,
Apostolic,
Pentecostal,
Holy Ghost Filled,
Tongue Talker,
Baptized in Jesus Name,
Living Holy and Separated from the World,

You cannot AFFORD to cut your hair. Is it worth losing the power of angels? Is it worth losing authority in prayer? Is it worth losing your identity as an apostolic woman? We are known for uncut hair because it is what the bible teaches. My sister in love Courtney told me a story about a lady in her church,

Her son was trying so hard Sunday after Sunday to get the Holy Ghost. For some reason he could not pray through. Finally one Sunday she took her hair and laid it on her son. She began to remind God of the power that she had because her hair was uncut, and you know what happened almost instantly? Her son received the Holy Ghost!!!
What is that was your son? Does God come on the scene immediately for you? Do you want him to?

I know personally of apostolic women who gave in and cut their hair. As a result, they were miserable, depressed and regreted ever going it. You undergo a major spiritual catastrophe by cutting your hair. You will not receive the same results in prayer. You will not have the same anointing you once possessed. Uncut hair is serious business. OH GOD give us revelation and understanding!
Sister, DO NOT cut your hair, I repeat PLEASE don't do it!


Consider this: why is it that when a woman backslides, the first thing she does is cut her hair?? The devil knows that we carry the glory of God upon our uncut hair. The devil knows that there is POWER in our hair. We have a distinct anointing when we have uncut hair. I remember the first time I walked into a Pentecostal church where the ladies had uncut hair, you could FEEL the difference in anointing on the women! There was something about them that was so beautiful, holy and radiant. They almost looked like angels to me (that is no exaggeration).

I remember my immediate thought was that I wanted to be like them. And now I am like them! I wouldn't trade it for the world and neither should you.

Its time to bring EVERY thought into captivity! God touch our minds and show us truth. We need revelation in these last days.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; "

 (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)



Baby's First Sign!!!

  After the horrible day we had yesterday, this was such a wonderful and much needed lift! E understands the sign for "play", but cannot do it. He can do the sign for "milk", but we are not yet sure he associates it. This is the first sign he has done that we know for sure he understands and associates. I am so very proud of my little man for picking this up so quickly! * Please excuse my Clemson pajama pants in the video lol

Cassidy's Naturals Night Out - Saturday April 9th!!


Cassidy at Natural Selection blog has been putting together great  events for us in the Bay Area.  The next event will be next Saturday, April 9th at 7pm.  Here is more about the event from Cassidy's blog: 

"We’ll be taking over Head Designs Salon in Oakland for the evening where you’ll get to enjoy music, champagne, and meeting new and old Bay Area Naturals friends!  There will be FOUR styling demonstrations by the expert stylists at Head Designs Salon.  Styles will feature transitioners, loc’ers, and loose naturals — so we’re covering a huge part of the natural hair spectrum! The stylists will be using Komaza Care products!  Even more exciting is that the Komaza Care Family will BE at the event so you can get to know the amazing women (and men) behind the company.  Attendees will also have the chance to win giveaways sponsored by Komaza Care and NaturallyCurly.com.  But not to worry, if you don’t win big,  all attendees will receive goodie bags with product samples and CurlMart coupons sponsored by NaturallyCurly.com."

East: Kentucky 62, Ohio State 60: Kentucky Climbs as Another No. 1 Falls

Source: all-breaking-news.com


Ohio State had barged its way to the East Regional unlike any other team that reached the Round of 16. But after two other top seeds, Pittsburgh and Duke, made sooner-than-predicted exits, the Buckeyes found themselves at the center of a scarlet-and-gray bulls-eye in the East Region.

In a thriller that came down to the final buzzer, Ohio State joined the ranks of the favorites to fall, victims of a 62-60 defeat to fourth-seeded Kentucky at the Prudential Center in a classic that will be recalled for years in Lexington.

Its hard, Matta said. I mean, I have to be honest with you, as I told them, I dont know what to say after the game.

While an interior battle between Kentuckys rugged forward Josh Harrellson and the Ohio State standout Jared Sullinger commanded attention, the night came down to a jumper by the guard Brandon Knight with 5.4 seconds left to secure the win.

Harrellson led Kentucky with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Sullinger scored 21 points and added 16 rebounds to lead the Buckeyes.

After Jon Diebler tied the game at 60-60 with 21.2 seconds remaining on a dead-on 3-pointer, Kentucky opted not to call a time out. Knight led a furious push down the court, opted not to curl around a screen and pulled up for an open look on the right side.

As his teammates jumped on the courtside tables, Knight celebrated by showing the crowd the Kentucky printed across his jersey. The Wildcats (28-8) will play No. 2 North Carolina (29-7) on Sunday in the East regional final.

I just thank God for being able to make shots like that, Knight said. And just when it comes to crunch time, a couple of seconds left and the game on the line, I focus in and make sure I am making the right decisions.

The Buckeyes (34-3) had crushed No. 16 Texas-San Antonio and No. 8 George Mason by an average of 30.5 points. In fact, they looked so convincing that a joke circulated that they were the states best basketball team, not the Cleveland Cavaliers of the N.B.A.

Incredible season, said Matta, whose only good news might have come afterward when Sullinger, a freshman, promised to return to Columbus next season. Incredible run for us. These guys, I told them Ive never had a team like this.

Still, despite receiving the top over all seed, Ohio State drew perhaps the most difficult route to the Final Four of the No. 1 teams. And the Wildcats, perhaps undervalued with their seed, presented a very different challenge from Ohio States two prior tournament games.

But Kentucky was shorthanded after five rotation players, including four starters, picked up two fouls by halftime. With the game tied at 30-30 at intermission, the Wildcats had 11 team fouls to Ohio States 2.

Although the Wildcats managed to stay in the game, their foul trouble created an intriguing subplot, limiting the versatile forward Terrence Jones to 25 minutes. Foul trouble or not, Coach John Calipari has used a limited bench all season.

They are fouling too! Calipari, who was assessed with a technical in the second half, screamed repeatedly at the officials.

Harrellson and Sullinger banged bodies in the paint and tussled for rebounds and loose balls. Harrellson, who was averaging 7.3 points a game, added some zest to the matchup in the first half by ferociously spiking a ball off Sullinger as he fell out of bounds, the type of schoolyard move that might have caused of fight had it not occurred in the N.C.A.A. tournament.

But Kentuckys biggest shot came from one of its quietest performers. Although Knight hit a game-winner over 13th-seeded Princeton in the Round of 64, he shot just 3 for 10 from the field Friday.

Every shot I shoot I want to go in, Knight said. I dont really see it as pressure. Sometimes you miss those shots. Sometimes you make them.

The Wildcats pulled ahead by 60-57 on a sidelines-out-of-bounds play after a timeout with 41.8 seconds to play, with Deandre Liggins kissing a runner off of the backboard. Diebler responded with a big shot of his own, making way for Knight.

As he sat in the Wildcats locker room, even the matter-of-fact Knight said he was unsure whether he would be able to fall asleep because of the excitement. But the Buckeyes locker room, a few steps down the hallway, was stunned silent after Ohio State became the latest heavyweight to go down.

It hurts just because we felt we could make a run at a championship, Diebler said. I mean, we had a great run. But it does hurt to kind of end like this.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

# BRAZILLIAN MIX MÁFIA! #

SEGURA A BOMBA!!!

NOVO PROJETO EM PARCERIA 3 DJ'S DO BRAZIL. FORMAM O MAIS NOVO PROJETO DE MÚSICA ELECTRÔNICA # BRAZILLIAN MIX MÁFIA! # Dj's ZONATT'S (SÃO PAULO), ALLAN GUTERRES (RIO DE JANEIRO), PABLO HENRIQUE (MINAS GERAIS).

CONFIRA EM DESTAQUE ALGUMAS PRODUÇÕES E REMIXES DO TRIO NO SOUNDCLOUD!

Latest tracks by Brazillian Mix Máfia!

DJ JUNIOR ROCHA





The Black Pearl (Dave Darell Remix) - Scotty

http://www22.zippyshare.com/v/31734341/file.html

Workers Give Glimpse of Japan�s Nuclear Crisis

Source: all-breaking-news.com

That was the scene at J-Village, 12 miles south of the plant, on the night of March 15. Hundreds of firefighters, Self-Defense Forces and workers from Tokyo Electric Power convened there, arguing long and loudly about how best to restore cooling systems and prevent nuclear fuel from overheating. Complicating matters, a lack of phone service meant that they had little input from upper management.

There were so many ideas, the meeting turned into a panic, said one longtime Tokyo Electric veteran present that day. He made the comments in an interview with The New York Times, one of several interviews that provided a rare glimpse of the crisis as the companys workers experienced it. There were serious arguments between the various sections about whether to go, how to use electrical lines, which facilities to use and so on.

The quarreling echoed the alarm bells ringing throughout Tokyo Electric, which has been grappling with an unprecedented set of challenges since March 11, when the severe earthquake and massive tsunami upended northeastern Japan. It is also a rare glimpse, through interviews, e-mails and blog posts, into the problems faced by the thousands of often anxious but eager Tokyo Electric Power employees working to re-establish order.

Many of them especially the small number charged with approaching damaged reactors and exposing themselves to unusually high doses of radiation are viewed as heroes, preventing the worlds second worst nuclear calamity from becoming even more dire.

But unlike their bosses, who appear daily in blue work coats to apologize to the public and explain why the company has not yet succeeded in taming the reactors, the front-line workers have remained almost entirely anonymous.

In the interviews and in some e-mail and published blog items, several line workers expressed frustration at the slow pace of the recovery efforts, sometimes conflicting orders from their bosses and unavoidable hurdles like damaged roads. In many cases, the line workers want the public to know that they feel remorse for the nuclear crisis, but also that they are trying their best to fix it.

My town is gone, wrote a worker named Emiko Ueno, in an email obtained by The Times. My parents are still missing. I still cannot get in the area because of the evacuation order. I still have to work in such a mental state. This is my limit.

At the top, a manager who circulated her note urged his workers to please think about what you can do for Fukushima after reading this e-mail.

Tokyo Electric keeps a tight lid on its workers under normal circumstances, and workers say they risk censure for speaking out. Some, however, have become lightning rods. Soon after the crisis began, Mitsuko Otsuki, who worked at the Daiichi plant after the earthquake, wrote on a social media site, called Mixi, that Tokyo Electric workers were trying hard and risking their lives to repair the plant.

She apologized for the confusion and the insecurity that people felt as a result of the nuclear accident. But Ms. Otsuki soon removed the post from her site because, she said, people had misinterpreted what she meant to say. It was too early, she added, to ask people to stop being critical of Tokyo Electric.

In the early days after the earthquake and tsunami, many Tokyo Electric workers had little time to speak out. An explosion had blown the roof off of one of the reactor buildings in Fukushima, heightening fears of large-scale radiation exposure. To stabilize the reactors and restart cooling systems, the company rushed to reconnect the power plant to the electric grid.

In Tokyo, bosses at Tokyo Electric ordered transmission and distribution teams to prepare their gear, including tons of batteries, cables and transformers. On March 14, workers were told that the assignment was dangerous and that they could opt out. Few did. Many workers felt duty-bound to go to Fukushima, particularly those with families who were directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

One worker said in an interview that he left for Fukushima on March 15. His convoy had free rein on the highways, which had been cleared for utility vehicles. The local roads were slower going because parts of some streets had literally disappeared.

After heated arguments about how to proceed during the impromptu meeting at J-Village, teams on March 16 went to the Daiichi plant. Everyone wore a mask and special suit. There, they jury-rigged a connection that carried electricity from a nearby substation to the plant.

I wanted to plug in the cable as soon as possible so the plant would have power again, but the nuclear people wanted to check the safety of various instruments first, the worker said. I was so excited to do something that I couldnt stand the slow speed of the decision making.

Soon, the team split up and some workers went to a nearby substation. When the power lines were connected, the workers retreated to J-Village to wait. The next day, their patience was rewarded.

At J-Village on March 18, several dozen Tokyo Electric workers who had completed their tasks were killing time when their boss walked to a white board where their to-do list was written. Next to the last item, he wrote the character ryo, which means good or, in this case, completed.

Ill never forget the moment when the manager told us we were done, said the longtime Tokyo Electric veteran present that day. Everyone started yelling and crying.

Many of the workers also used their cellphone cameras to take pictures of the white board and the character, which was circled in red ink. Lacking beer, the worker and his friends celebrated by sharing two bottles of Coca-Cola.

The bubbles tasted so good, he said.

Before heading back to Tokyo, the workers were tested to see how much radiation they had absorbed. No one, it turned out, had taken in inordinate amounts. They were tested again at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba.

Back in Tokyo, the workers were given a day off. Many slept while others were glued to the television, captivated by the images from the power plants they had just worked to repair.

I couldnt sleep when I came back, the worker said. I was exhausted, but I was also excited. I couldnt stop watching television.

But like several false dawns in the effort to control the plant, the work they did to extend electrical power to the facility has yet to provide the turning point it once seemed to promise. The main reactor buildings are either too badly damaged, or too laden with radioactivity, to readily reconnect plumbing and electrical systems. And fellow workers at the plant now face even more severe hazards in keeping the reactors cool by pouring water on the fuel in the reactors and spent fuel pools.

Even in the Tokyo office of the power company, the lights and heaters are shut off to save energy. Many people wear coats at their desks and go home when it gets dark. The nuclear crisis is far from over; their company faces possible bankruptcy or nationalization, and many workers fear for their jobs.

TERRIBLE Day

  This is certainly going down as my husband's worst birthday ever. We did not schedule the procedure today on purpose. We do not get much say in the scheduling of these things. We were supposed to have the sedated ABR test today. It was supposed to be a pretty easy little test where E would be put to sleep and then they would take about an hour to record brain activity. Easy peasy, right? WRONG!

  My little guy was such a trooper. He had not had anything to eat for six hours, he was due for a nap, and he was still a happy little ball of sunshine. He laughed and played with all the doctors and nurses. He smiled and looked curiously at them as they applied tourniquets and poked around looking for veins. He even let them hold him down on the table to start the IV with no fussing. Then, they poked him. That's when my heart broke. He stopped crying and I thought they were done. They weren't done. They didn't get  it. They tried again. They tried a third time. They called in an anesthesiology resident. He didn't get it. They called in the transport team (the folks who have to be awesome because they're doing IVs in the back of a bumpy ambulance in emergency situations). The transport team didn't get it either. They called the nurse called, "the best 'stick' in the hospital." She failed too. I was standing outside the room in the hall. I could not take it at all. I could not watch them poke and prod my screaming little boy. As soon as I saw them fail yet again, I would rush in and pick him up and snuggle and cuddle him. His dad was having to be the bad guy and help hold him down each attempt. I chose not to be around when they were doing that so that when I got to hold him, he felt like there was SOMEWHERE safe. We were both a wreck. I apparently looked like enough of a distraught mess that the janitor even came up to hug me and said she would be praying for me.

  They tried seven times to start the IV. They even tried twice in his scalp. They said we were in that catch-22 situation where he wasn't allowed to have food 6 hours prior and no liquids 4 hours prior. His veins were just not dilated enough. They decided to stop for the day and try again with an anesthesiologist that could administer gas sedation. He was on vacation at the moment. Apparently, in this BIG hospital with a GIANT pediatric unit that is supposed to be so prestigious, there is only one guy that can do this. We now have to wait until he can see us which will be no earlier than April 8th. No, that doesn't mean we go back on the 8th, it means that is when he will be back from his vacation. Who knows at that point how backed up he will be and when he can finally get around to us. The audiologists said they will be really pressing him to see us though since time lost in this situation can be a big deal.

  Once we were back home, E was happily playing like nothing ever happened. He will have some lovely bruises and I will be afraid to take him out in public for fear that people will call DSS. Don't forget the lovely purple one already developing right on his forehead from where they tried that one! Tad and I are tired. We are emotionally and physically tired. We are hurt, confused, and frustrated. If you are reading this and are upset that we didn't call you directly on the phone, please understand that we are all used up at the moment and do not wish to talk. We are also quite angry and cannot bring ourselves to muster up any sugar or spice, so it is probably best that we just keep to ourselves until the clouds clear. Thank you all in advance for your continued prayers, support, and understanding.

  Oh...and just so you know...we have decided to have "mulligan" birthday since this one turned out so incredibly nasty. We have decided to reschedule my husband's birthday for next week.

Length retention Fall 2010 - Winter 2011

Throughout the cold seasons I try to do as much as I can to retain length. Since I dislike cold weather so much this is the best time of the year to keep my hair up and protected. When its cold I need to be able to throw on hats and coats without worrying about my hair.

I started here:
Line 3


And now I am here:
Line 6.5

 From line 3 - line 6.5, not bad; each line is 1 inch from the previous line. I am really close to 7 and may be at that line but I did not flat iron my hair until it was bone straight. I got results very similar to the previous winter so it looks like I may have discovered a length retention routine that works for me. My secret? Keep it simple. Complicated regimens and numerous treatments may yield good results also, but why put yourself (and wallet) through that stress if you don't need to. To see the steps I followed each week click here: Fall 2010 -W inter 2011 Regimen

There are a few things I would have changed about the regimen:

1. I would have started the scalp moisturizing and massages earlier in the winter, maybe around mid-December.

2. I liked the yarn braids but because it was my first experience with them they were not as great for my length retention as I would have like for them to be - my ends were dry when I removed the braids. I should have focused a lot more attention to moisturizing the portion of the braids that held the ends of my hair.

3. I think I would have benefited from an additional henna treatment. I am noticing that at this point of my healthy hair journey I am moving away from following a strict regimen and trying to do what my hair tells me.

Now that Spring is here (although it's still cold out) it's time to enjoy this length. My goal this Spring/Summer is to actually wear my hair out more. I find myself getting stuck in a protective styling routine because they enable me to only worry about my hair once a week.


BTW, last night I found some fabric paint in my craft room so next time the lines/numbers on my shirt will be a lot easier to see in pics;)

Rauhofer's B'day Bash 04, District 36, NYC 3/26/11

"Isn't it beautiful? Alright."

Warning: There is some foul language during the first few minutes of the film.

Nappy Heads Unite (A Short Film)



Thoughts?

How Gandhi Became Gandhi

Source: all-breaking-news.com

A sweeper woman stopped by for an hour a day, the functionary explained, but afterward things inevitably became filthy again. But wasnt it a central tenet of the Mahatmas teachings that his followers clean up after themselves? We all clean the toilets together, on Gandhijis birthday, the secretary answered, as a symbol to show that we understand his message. Gandhi had many messages, some ignored, some misunderstood, some as relevant today as when first enunciated. Most Americans many middle-class Indians, for that matter know what they know about the Mahatma from Ben Kingsleys Academy Award-winning screen portrayal. His was a mesmerizing performance, but the script barely hinted at the bewildering complexity of the real man, who was at the same time an earnest pilgrim and a wily politician, an advocate of celibacy and the architect of satyagraha (truth force), a revivalist, a revolutionary and a social reformer. It is this last avatar that interests Joseph Lelyveld most. Great Soul concentrates on what he calls Gandhis evolving sense of his constituency and social vision, and his subsequent struggle to impose that vision on an India at once worshipful and obdurate. Lelyveld is especially qualified to write about Gandhis career on both sides of the Indian Ocean: he covered South Africa for The New York Times (winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for his book about apartheid, Move Your Shadow), and spent several years in the late 1960s reporting from India. He brings to his subject a reporters healthy skepticism and an old India hands stubborn fascination with the subcontinent and its people. This is not a full-scale biography. Nor is it for beginners. Lelyveld assumes his readers are familiar with the basic outlines of Gandhis life, and while the book includes a bare-bones chronology and is helpfully divided into South African and Indian sections, it moves backward and forward so often, its sometimes harder than it should be to follow the shifting course of Gandhis thought. But Great Soul is a noteworthy book, nonetheless, vivid, nuanced and cleareyed. The two decades Gandhi spent in South Africa are too often seen merely as prelude. Lelyveld treats them with the seriousness they deserve. I believe implicitly that all men are born equal, Gandhi once wrote in the midst of one of his campaigns against untouchability. I have fought this doctrine of superiority in South Africa inch by inch. It actually took a long time for the Mahatma to turn that implicit belief into explicit action, Lelyveld reminds us. When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrived in Durban from Bombay in 1893, he was a natty 23-year-old British-trained lawyer, hired to help represent one wealthy Muslim Indian trader in a dreary civil suit against another, and primarily interested in matters of religion and diet, not politics: in an early advertisement he proclaimed himself an Agent for the Esoteric Christian Union and the London Vegetarian Society. But, Lelyveld writes, South Africa . . . challenged him from the start to explain what he thought he was doing there in his brown skin. Initially, Gandhi was simply affronted that discriminatory laws and bigoted custom lumped educated well-to-do Indians like him with coolies, the impoverished mine, plantation and railroad workers who made up the bulk of the regions immigrant Indian population. The nonviolent campaigns he waged to bring about equality between Indians and whites over the next 20 years would lead him slowly and unsteadily, but inexorably to advocate equality between Indian and Indian, first across caste and religious lines and then between rich and poor. (His identification with the aspirations of black people would not come until long after he had left Africa.) As Lelyveld shows, the outcomes of Gandhis campaigns in South Africa were neither clear-cut nor long-lasting: after one, his own supporters beat him bloody because they thought hed settled too quickly for a compromise with the government. But they taught him how to move the masses not only middle-class Hindu and Muslim immigrants but the poorest of the poor as well. He had, as he himself said, found his vocation in life. Soon after returning to India in 1915, Gandhi set forth what he called the four pillars on which the structure of swaraj self-rule would ever rest: an unshakable alliance between Hindus and Muslims; universal acceptance of the doctrine of nonviolence, as tenet, not tactic; the transformation of Indias approximately 650,000 villages by spinning and other self-sustaining handicrafts; and an end to the evil concept of untouchability. Lelyveld shrewdly examines Gandhis noble but doomed battles to achieve them all. He made a host of enemies along the way orthodox Hindus who believed him overly sympathetic to Muslims, Muslims who saw his calls for religious unity as part of a Hindu plot, Britons who thought him a charlatan, radical revolutionaries who believed him a reactionary. But no antagonist was more implacable than Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the brilliant, quick-tempered untouchable leader still largely unknown in the West who saw the Mahatmas nonviolent efforts to eradicate untouchability as a sideshow at best. He even objected to the word Gandhi coined for his people Harijans or children of God as patronizing; he preferred Dalits, from the Sanskrit for crushed, broken. Sometimes, Gandhi said Indian freedom would never come until untouchability was expunged; sometimes he argued that untouchability could be eliminated only after independence was won. He was unapologetic about that kind of inconsistency. I cant devote myself entirely to untouchability and say, Neglect Hindu-Muslim unity or swaraj, he told a friend. All these things run into one another and are interdependent. You will find at one time in my life an emphasis on one thing, at another time on [an]other. But that is just like a pianist, now emphasizing one note and now [an]other. It was also like the politician he said he was, always careful to balance the demands of one group of constituents against those of another. As Lelyveld has written in Move Your Shadow, Gandhi had hoped to bring about Indias freedom as the moral achievement of millions of individual Indians, as the result of a social revolution in which the collapse of alien rule would be little more than a byproduct of a struggle for self-reliance and economic equality. Foreign rule did collapse, in the end, but strife and inequality among Indians worsened. Gandhi is still routinely called the father of the nation in India, but it is hard to see what remains of him beyond what Lelyveld calls his nimbus. His notions about sex and spinning and simple living have long since been abandoned. Hindu-Muslim tension still smolders just beneath the uneasy surface. Untouchability survives, too, and standard-issue polychrome statues of Ambedkar in red tie and double-breasted electric-blue suit now outnumber those of the sparsely clothed Mahatma wherever Dalits are still crowded together. Gandhi saw most of this coming and sometimes despaired. The real tragedy of his life, Lelyveld argues, was not because he was assassinated, nor because his noblest qualities inflamed the hatred in his killers heart. The tragic element is that he was ultimately forced, like Lear, to see the limits of his ambition to remake his world. Nonetheless, Lelyveld also writes, while he may have struggled with doubt and self until his last days, Gandhi made the predicament of the millions his own, whatever the tensions among them, as no other leader of modern times has. And, for all his inconsistencies, his dream for India remained constant throughout his life. Today, Gandhi wrote less than three weeks before he was murdered by a member of his own faith, we must forget that we are Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims or Parsis. . . . It is of no consequence by what name we call God in our homes. That was a revolutionary notion when he first urged Indians to unite against their oppressors in South Africa before the turn of the 20th century. It was revolutionary when he came home to India at the time of World War I, and still revolutionary in 1947 when India was simultaneously liberated and ripped apart by the religious hatred he had repeatedly risked his life to quell, and sadly, it remains revolutionary today for India and, by extension, for the wider world as well. Geoffrey C. Ward, a biographer and a screenwriter for documentary films, spent part of his boyhood in India and is currently writing a book about partition.

Get Cheap Corsets through Online Store and Look Curvy


If you are thinking about getting a tailor-made cheap corsets suiting your body measurements then you must be willing to shell out substantial amount to your local physical corset maker. However, if you do not want to spend that much amount and wish to have same quality then you can purchase it from online stores.
Well, you can actually tell your body measurement and design preferences along with the shades of color and type of cloth to the provider or the online storeowner from a place where the cost of production is fairly cheap.  And the desired corset will be shipped to your address. So, what would have cost you say $1000 will be available to you at $ 500 (including the shipping charges) and there will not be any compromise in quality. This is all possible through the power of Internet that has shrunk the globe where you can actually get all these and that too without any fuss or any extraneous efforts.
Alternatively, there are many online storeowners who generally run stock clearance sell (the quality is intact, its only that the corsets are manufactured in larger volumes and hence the necessity of sale) or offer great discount. You just need to find out the required store through Internet.

Get Cheap Corsets through Online Store and Look Curvy


If you are thinking about getting a tailor-made cheap corsets suiting your body measurements then you must be willing to shell out substantial amount to your local physical corset maker. However, if you do not want to spend that much amount and wish to have same quality then you can purchase it from online stores.
Well, you can actually tell your body measurement and design preferences along with the shades of color and type of cloth to the provider or the online storeowner from a place where the cost of production is fairly cheap.  And the desired corset will be shipped to your address. So, what would have cost you say $1000 will be available to you at $ 500 (including the shipping charges) and there will not be any compromise in quality. This is all possible through the power of Internet that has shrunk the globe where you can actually get all these and that too without any fuss or any extraneous efforts.
Alternatively, there are many online storeowners who generally run stock clearance sell (the quality is intact, its only that the corsets are manufactured in larger volumes and hence the necessity of sale) or offer great discount. You just need to find out the required store through Internet.

News Analysis: Doctrine for Libya: Not Carved in Stone

Source: all-breaking-news.com


In laying out his justification for the American-led assault on Libya on Monday night, the president offered the most detailed portrait of when he might commit the countrys military might in a tumultuous world. He would take action, he said, if vital national security interests were at stake. He would consider it if economic interests were threatened, or if there was a humanitarian crisis so deep it could not be ignored. But in those two instances, he would hesitate unless there was international participation, and the cost was not too high. But these conditions seemed tailor made for Libya, and the president seemed to provide little guidance for what position he would take in other, more vital nations in the region now roiled by an Arab Spring of popular uprising. Nor did Mr. Obamas speech on Monday shed light on whether the president would use force in other trouble spots. If there were ever a speech more dedicated to eliminating the idea of a doctrine, this was it, said David J. Rothkopf, the author of Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power. He basically said, We have American values and theyre going to define us, and were going to stick to them provided its not too hard to do so. Some of Mr. Obamas advisers have said he has studiously avoided turning Libya into a case study for his view of foreign policy, given that it is not vital to American interests in the region and that his administration is trying to play down the United States role in what they hope will be a NATO-led mission. To their minds, the limited use of air power in Libya does not call for an inspiring or sweeping statement of the role of governmental power. The Libya standard may not apply to the rest of the world. In fact, Mr. Obamas description of his criteria for military intervention offers little hint of what he might do in Ivory Coast, for example, where the United Nations says at least 700,000 people have fled their homes in Abidjan to escape daily gunfire spurred by Laurent Gbagbos efforts to stay in power after losing a presidential election in November, and where 10,000 civilians were holed up in a Catholic mission in one town, seeking refuge from Mr. Gbagbos forces. Nor does it easily apply to Darfur, where the Sudanese government is defying a United Nations Security Council resolution by bombing rebels, and where the United Nations estimates that at least 300,000 people have died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by a counterinsurgency campaign that began in 2003. As for the rest of the Middle East, White House officials say the president will respond to the unfolding events on a country-by-country basis, and will resist a one-size-fits-all American policy. One administration official argued that Libya was different from Ivory Coast because, he said, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, had threatened to hunt down civilians in Benghazi in their homes. Mr. Obama alluded to that in his speech, when he compared Benghazi to Charlotte, N. C., a city of a similar size, with a population of 700,000. In the cases where America did act, Mr. Obama had a number of caveats. He said that the burden of action should not be Americas alone that there needed to be a multilateral partnership and that regime change should not be the task of the United States military. To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq, the president said, in a swipe at his predecessor, President George W. Bush. Not that he spared President Bill Clinton, either. Mr. Obama never used the word Rwanda, where genocide took the lives of one million people during the Clinton administration. But he invoked it indirectly. As president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action, he said. In a 28-minute speech, Mr. Obama, a reluctant commander in chief who campaigned against the war in Iraq and set his primary agenda as creating jobs and passing the health care overhaul, staked out a vexing middle ground. If anything, some analysts said, it revealed a deeply pragmatic president, one less ideological than some predecessors, and more likely to balance many issues, including budgets and an analysis of American interests. There is no Obama doctrine because the president is not doctrinaire, said Robert S. Litwak, vice president for programs at the Woodrow Wilson Center. In Libya, he is grappling with persisting tensions in U.S. foreign policy that can be managed but not resolved between mulitilateralism and unilateralism and in confronting a humanitarian challenge rooted in the character of the Qaddafi regime, which is seeking international cover behind the principle of state sovereignty. Although the presidents address was not viewed as enunciating a true, new doctrine, it no doubt benefited military commanders and military planners to hear Mr. Obamas detailed discussion of when, how and for what interests he would invest the lives of their troops. It was a reasonable speech expressing clear direction and guidance to the Department of Defense and to the various commands involved, but it was not an over-arching recalibration of national military strategy, said Adm. Timothy J. Keating, who retired after serving as the senior officer overseeing two of the militarys combatant headquarters, Pacific Command and Northern Command. Gary Hart, the former Democratic senator from Colorado, described Libya as the face of 21st century conflict, and argued that the violence there proved it was time for Mr. Obama to enunciate a set of strategic principles. In the wake of Libya, now would be a very good time for President Obama to announce an Obama doctrine, similar to the Truman Doctrine of 1947, that lays out the terms and conditions under which the U.S. will use its military power, Mr. Hart said in an e-mail. We cannot simply respond in ad hoc fashion to these local and regional crises. A set of principles for intervention would give the American people and our allies a sense of purpose and context for our actions."

Crisis Shifts German Politics, Maybe for Good

Source: all-breaking-news.com

Economists have played down the effects that the earthquake and nuclear emergency in Japan will have on global growth. But the elections in the state of Baden-Wrttemberg on Sunday were transformed by the events there. After a contest that became largely a referendum on atomic energy, voters swept aside the Christian Democratic Union, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel that had governed the state for 58 years, and set the stage for the first German state government led by the Green Party, longtime opponents of nuclear power. The vote is all the more astonishing because Baden-Wrttemberg is a conservative, wealthy state that exemplifies both the post-1945 birth, and the renaissance of Germanys export-driven economy. Stuttgart, the state capital, is the headquarters of Daimler and Porsche. The medium-sized firms that are the backbone of German export success flourish, while the Black Forest embodies a very German reverence of nature. Now the Greens, led by a former Communist, will be in charge. They want speed limits on the autobahns where those Daimlers and Porsches roam free. Their party platform refers to cars as the most inefficient form of mobility. Not only this signals a departure from the old, post-1945 Germany. The most direct affect of the vote Sunday will be to push Germany away from nuclear power, which today provides 23 percent of its electricity. The vote result was clearly attributable to the atomic energy issue, said Dieter Fuchs, a professor of political science at the University of Stuttgart. There is no way that government policy wont be affected. Mrs. Merkel, whose belated conversion to nuclear power critic did not win over voters, conceded as much Monday. In view of the incident in Japan and the shape of things in Fukushima, we simply cant go back to business as usual, she said in Berlin. She also said her party will have to work for a long time to overcome the pain from this defeat. The vote signaled that the categories that have defined politics here since World War II have eroded. For decades, the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats dominated, with the Free Democrats playing a supporting role. The Greens emerged in the 1970s, from an era of protest untypical of orderly West Germany. Now the Greens are in position to lead a German state for the first time with the Social Democrats as minority partner. Baden-Wrttemberg has sent both traditional governing parties into opposition, the Frankfurter Allgemeine said in a front-page editorial Monday. That is a shock. The Greens espouse many political positions that would be considered left-wing in America, but behind the progressive image lurks a strain of conservativism that was key to success on Sunday. The party has in effect become a new political entity, liberal on social issues but wary of much of modern life. The Green Party is skeptical of digital technology and its potential to be used to gather information on citizens. Its emphasis on preserving the environment was in step with conservatives desire to preserve the traditional character of Baden-Wrttemberg, exemplified by vine-covered hillsides and tidy Black Forest villages. The party also channeled popular outrage against a costly expansion of the Stuttgart train station that had been supported by the Christian Democrats. There is a fundamental skepticism against forced modernization, Mr. Fuchs said. Winfried Kretschmann, the 62-year old former teacher who leads the states Green party, was a communist organizer as a university student but said on his Web site that his radicalism back then was a fundamental political error. Instead, Mr. Kretschmann emphasized his Catholic roots. The Web site of the Green Party reassured voters Monday that its leaders do not plan to tamper with the regions economic success, built around big manufacturers like Bosch and mid-sized engineering and machinery companies. At 4.5 percent, Baden-Wrttemberg has the lowest jobless rate in Germany. The people voted for us in order for the state to remain as successful as it is, the Green party said. The Greens are a mainstream party through and through, especially in this state, said Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at the Otto-Suhr Institute at the Free University of Berlin. That contrasts with other protest parties in Europe, many of which lean rightward, embrace nationalism and mistrust immigrants. The Greens national co-chairman, Cem zdemir, is Turkish. Mr. Kretschmann will face difficult tests of party principles against economic reality, choices that may determine whether the vote in Baden-Wrttemberg marks a permanent political shift or just a short-term reaction to catastrophic events far away. The state is 45 percent owner of Energie Baden-Wrttemberg, or EnBW, which generates about half of its electricity from nuclear power plants. In its election platform, the Green party promised to shut down one plant immediately and the other in 2012. Both have been shut down temporarily because of a moratorium declared by Mrs. Merkel after the disaster in Japan. It is unclear where the replacement power will come from, said Georg Zachmann, an energy specialist at Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels. In Baden-Wrttemberg there will be some very tough choices to be made, Mr. Zachmann said. The Greens now own assets that they do not want. Its kind of a poison pill. The Frankfurter Allgemeine said: This was a victory in exceptional circumstances. Normal governing will be more difficult.

Featured Reader - Christina!

From the Big Chop to natural thick healthy hair, Christina talks to us about her natural hair transition. 

Q: What kind of hair styles have you rocked, before embracing your natural hair?
A:  I was relaxed, and rocked braids during high school and first year of collage. My relax hair journey started pretty late, I must have been around 13 or 14. But I would go months in between a touch up. I wasn't a very girly girl. So for me, I learned about a lot of things later in life - hair, makeup (I am still learning that), dresses (I was / am a tomboy) and so on.

Q:  When and why did you decide to start wearing your hair naturally?
A:  I honestly stumbled onto a natural hair website one night in 2006/2007 and thought it would be a great idea- I did the big chopped three times before I finally decided in 2009, to just go natural. My last and final Big Chop was December 2009. It was more of a decision to see what and how far along my hair would go. I didn't transition at all. What I did (or my brother did) was to take clippers to my head and shave everything off. So I did this three times- I think, that first shower after the hair is gone is my real reason for doing it so many times!!!!!!!! Its a wonderful feeling of freedom.

Q:  Did you have any big fears about going back to your natural texture?
A:  Not really. My biggest concern was what was I going to do a big chop again (this was after the first 2 Big Chops). I just armed myself with information and decided to see where this journey would take me. But I will say this, after my first Big Chopped, I lived in Austria and my after last Big Chop I moved to Nigeria, now I am back in Europe (Scandinavia), it is hard because, I don't see many natural haired people. Maybe because its winter, hopefully during summer, I will see more sisters rocking natural. So I basically turn to the internet and other blogs to help me along. It's an ongoing process. I try and learn as much as I can. I recently learned to do my own braiding, which went very well. So now, I want to learn how to cornrow my own hair and do much more. I figure it's my own hair. Why not do the best I can for it?

Q:  What are three products you can't live without for nurturing/styling your hair?
A: Amla oil - I used to use this even when my hair was relaxed. So I basically know this product and I live by it. Shea Butter - I finally got my hands on some raw, unrefined, shea butter and boy do I love it. Not just for hair, but I use it all over my body. Conditioner - Honestly, Any!!!!!!!  If I read about a certain conditioner and I can actually find it, then I just go out and buy it. Thus far, I found Herbal Essence, which is my new favorite product, after Garnier Fructis.  

Q: What would you say to someone who's thinking about embracing their natural hair, but scared about being rejected in various parts of their lives?
A: I get scared too, even now, my hair is soooo thick, so long and I get scared since I don't have the 'full arsenal' of products that many naturals have tried. What gets me through it is that it's just hair. And its coming out of my scalp. Its all mine, and looks different from another person. Making me wholeheartedly unique. Also, I like to tie my hair with head wraps, hats, beanie and now since I have learned how to braid - I am always good to go! Find something that works for you, for those 'wanna give in days' and believe me, everyone has those days. Hang in there. Its truly worth it.

Q: How can we keep up with you and your journey i.e. blog, twitter,facebook, fotki, tumblr, personal or professional website?
A: http://afropeanqueen.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The shop is open!








Ben gave me the go ahead to show off the shop! It should be much easier to navigate now that it has been redone, and Mac users should be able to shop now too! The last website was a mess, thanks to me. :) Ben took this project over a few weeks ago and I think he has done a really good job. I love the way it turned out!









So to bribe some of you to try it out and be our guinea pigs we are offering 20% off for the next 5 days. All you have to do is use the coupon code "blog friends" at checkout. If you encounter any hiccups just email Ben at ben@thehandmadedress.com.










Now for the really exciting part! Ben added a forum to the new site! I'm so excited about this! I can't wait for you guys to join, we can have our little virtual sewing circle and share sewing projects now. I'll get to hear about all of your projects for a change! I'm still learning how it works, but the only real way to get the kinks ironed out is to dive in! So head on over and sign up. I can't wait to start chatting! xo, Sam

Flat Twistout w/ 2 Braids

You get it first...


This is a style I wore to the CurlyNikki gathering a while back. I got a few questions on how I maintained the look and this is how.

The flat twists were done on dry hair that was an old twist-out. The older the twist-out the more stretched out the look. 

This look was originally done on freshly washed hair but as the days passed the look got a little messy and this video basically demonstrates the steps I took to refresh the style.

To achieve/refresh this style:
1. Create two plaits/braids in the front
2. Separate the rest of the hair into easy to work with sections
3. Using a water-based product, flat twist from the crown to the nape (this will encourage length with the look)
4. When hair is 100% dry remove the twist (apply oil if desired) and fluff until you are happy with the look



Edit: The error with the video not playing should be resolved. If it does not play for you please let me know

Video Tutorial: High Bun (2 Variations)

Hello ladies! As promised, I have put together a video tutorial of how to to a high bun.

This is a super easy and quick style. They are great for every day and you can dress them up for church too!

You will find that no matter the length of your hair, you will be able to rock one of the versions of the high bun. I hope you all attempt this style soon!

For questions or success stories just leave me a comment!!

HOT TRACKS

Moby - Shot In The Back Of The Head (E-Thunder Remix)

Chris The Greek Panaghi ft Sophia Cruz - If This Ain't Love (Chris The Greek Panaghi Club Mix)

Offer Nissim Feat. Epiphony & Elisete - Million Stars (Original Club Mix DJ Akken Intro Edit)

Eduardo Lujan - Komodo (Hard & Dirty Rework)

Sandy Resek & Sly Deejays - We Are On Your Side (DJ Daniel Castillo Tribal Side Mix)

Product Review: Sparkling Sake

Since I am usually the one to buy a new food or beverage product before other much more skeptical people would, I want to try to put my risky behavior to good use...by telling you all about it.  While I was at Trader Joe's last weekend, I grabbed a bottle of the Trader Joe's-san's Sparkling Sake.  No reason why.  If I remember correctly, I was thinking about sushi, which I love to have with sake...so I grabbed a bottle and threw it in my basket. I never got the sushi.


Trader Joe's can be kind of silly with their product names, but if you don't take yourself too seriously and give them a try, you may find that you are usually impressed, especially for the price point.  So, last night as I was waiting around for my dinner companion to finish his studying and get dressed, so that we could finally get out of the house and get something to eat, I decided that I needed a drink.  It was time to open this interesting blue bottle.

I popped the cap and poured a glass.  (this picture is after I took a few sips). 


  It was slightly sweet, but not too.  It was bubbly, just like champagne, but with a smooth sake flavor.  For $8 per bottle, it is a refreshing option, and would even be fantastic mixed into cocktails. I am thinking of a lychee-sake martini.  So, if you are looking for something different to drink or serve, this gets my stamp of approval. 
I left my glass on the counter and sat down at my computer to write some notes and answer a few emails, while I was still waiting to go to dinner.  With all of my concentration focused on my computer, I did not see when B came back out into the kitchen.  He grabbed my glass and walked it over to me..."Madame...", he said, holding out my glass for me to take.  I look at him startled, as I quickly grabbed my glass.  I thought something was wrong with him.  Never has he brought me my drink (even if I did pour it myself...baby steps, I guess).  "Are you ok?", I asked. "Yes, drink up and let's go.", he answered.  Suddenly I am the one keeping us from dinner.  Studying eyeballs for 8 hours straight can make you a little delirious sometimes.