Posh Spice
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Burqa Beauty
I'm too busy to write my own stories unfortunately so have to amuse you with other peoples:(
Afghan models reveal the beauty under the burqa
By Jon Hemming Sun Sep 30, 9:03 PM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A model strutting the catwalk is hardly revolutionary in most countries, but Afghan television's answer to "America's Next Top Model" is breaking boundaries and revealing the beauty under the burqa.
Nearly six years after the overthrow of the strict Islamist Taliban government, almost all women in deeply conservative Afghanistan still only appear in public wafting past in the burqa's pale blue, their dark eyes only occasionally visible behind the bars of its grille.
But in the relatively liberal northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a local television station has started to show a different image of Afghan women with an extremely low-budget take on the hit "America's Next Top Model," a reality TV show in which judges choose prospective models from a group of contestants over several weeks.
"I was really enthusiastic to make this program because I wanted the girls to present the clothes and themselves," said Sosan Soltani, the 18-year-old director of the program.
"Afghanistan is free and these girls are the future of this country," she said.
Four girls in brightly colored traditional costumes with baggy pants and long loose-fitting shawls and headscarves strode down the impromptu catwalk decked out in traditional Afghan rugs. Seemingly less confident than their Western counterparts, they avoided the gaze of the all-male film crew and press.
A quick change later, the same four appeared in camouflage combat trousers, sneakers and embroidered smocks. Then came denim jeans, open-toed sandals and colorful lightweight jackets.
None of this would be at all risque in the West, but in Afghanistan, such attire can spark outrage, especially when broadcast on television.
"According to Sharia law, Islam is absolutely against this," said Afghan Muslim cleric Abdul Raouf. "Not only is it banned by Islamic Sharia law, but if we apply Sharia law and to take this issue to justice, these girls should be punished."
"A STEP FORWARD"
More than 10 other models due to take part in the program failed to turn up after hearing that members of the international press would be present, fearing the wider broadcast of the show could lead to trouble for them, their friends said.
Those who did brave the possible backlash were determined.
"It is a great idea I think for Afghan girls, to encourage them to go a step forward," said 19-year-old model Katayoun Timour.
"We know that in Afghan society 90 percent of people think it is not good, that it's absolutely wrong," she said of the program. "We had objections from people, but I tell them it is not something bad, they should see it in a positive way."
But on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, it was hard to find anyone who objected to the program, especially among the young.
"It is a good program," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ahmad Sear. "People watch and like it, especially women are interested in this program -- through this program and the clothes they wear, they might be able to develop their country."
"Young people are interested in fashion and the program introduces new clothes to them," said businessman Ahmad Nasir. "It also complies with Afghan culture, so it's fine."
But asked if he looked more at the clothes or the girls, he replied with a smile: "The girls of course." Then added, "the clothes are important though."
Model Timour said she wanted the outside world to see a different image of Afghan women.
"I have seen outside Afghanistan they have a different kind of idea about women in Afghanistan -- they think they are always wearing the burqa and sitting at home but it is not like that," she said. "Girls in Afghanistan are beautiful."
Afghan models reveal the beauty under the burqa
By Jon Hemming Sun Sep 30, 9:03 PM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A model strutting the catwalk is hardly revolutionary in most countries, but Afghan television's answer to "America's Next Top Model" is breaking boundaries and revealing the beauty under the burqa.
Nearly six years after the overthrow of the strict Islamist Taliban government, almost all women in deeply conservative Afghanistan still only appear in public wafting past in the burqa's pale blue, their dark eyes only occasionally visible behind the bars of its grille.
But in the relatively liberal northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a local television station has started to show a different image of Afghan women with an extremely low-budget take on the hit "America's Next Top Model," a reality TV show in which judges choose prospective models from a group of contestants over several weeks.
"I was really enthusiastic to make this program because I wanted the girls to present the clothes and themselves," said Sosan Soltani, the 18-year-old director of the program.
"Afghanistan is free and these girls are the future of this country," she said.
Four girls in brightly colored traditional costumes with baggy pants and long loose-fitting shawls and headscarves strode down the impromptu catwalk decked out in traditional Afghan rugs. Seemingly less confident than their Western counterparts, they avoided the gaze of the all-male film crew and press.
A quick change later, the same four appeared in camouflage combat trousers, sneakers and embroidered smocks. Then came denim jeans, open-toed sandals and colorful lightweight jackets.
None of this would be at all risque in the West, but in Afghanistan, such attire can spark outrage, especially when broadcast on television.
"According to Sharia law, Islam is absolutely against this," said Afghan Muslim cleric Abdul Raouf. "Not only is it banned by Islamic Sharia law, but if we apply Sharia law and to take this issue to justice, these girls should be punished."
"A STEP FORWARD"
More than 10 other models due to take part in the program failed to turn up after hearing that members of the international press would be present, fearing the wider broadcast of the show could lead to trouble for them, their friends said.
Those who did brave the possible backlash were determined.
"It is a great idea I think for Afghan girls, to encourage them to go a step forward," said 19-year-old model Katayoun Timour.
"We know that in Afghan society 90 percent of people think it is not good, that it's absolutely wrong," she said of the program. "We had objections from people, but I tell them it is not something bad, they should see it in a positive way."
But on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, it was hard to find anyone who objected to the program, especially among the young.
"It is a good program," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ahmad Sear. "People watch and like it, especially women are interested in this program -- through this program and the clothes they wear, they might be able to develop their country."
"Young people are interested in fashion and the program introduces new clothes to them," said businessman Ahmad Nasir. "It also complies with Afghan culture, so it's fine."
But asked if he looked more at the clothes or the girls, he replied with a smile: "The girls of course." Then added, "the clothes are important though."
Model Timour said she wanted the outside world to see a different image of Afghan women.
"I have seen outside Afghanistan they have a different kind of idea about women in Afghanistan -- they think they are always wearing the burqa and sitting at home but it is not like that," she said. "Girls in Afghanistan are beautiful."
Friday, September 07, 2007
My boyfriend rocks
I finally noticed that he told the hanger on, the leach, the mooch, the noose, etc etc etc to stop taking credit for his hard work. Heh heh.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Don't feed the humans
This story is hilarious ahahaha. Personally I think Knightley is over rated and the thinks too much of her horsey self.
Keira Knightley: pin-up or put down?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2007
The Atonement star may be a modern screen idol, but her looks have unleashed a battle of the sexes. Jasper Gerard and Becky Pugh fight their corners
Jasper Gerard: A textbook English Beauty
Since Kate Moss porked out a bit, celebrity magazines have been forced to find other young lovelies to illustrate those summer staples headlined: "Fears grow for dangerously thin [fill in the latest name here]".
The woman they often settle on is Keira Knightley, normally shown across a double page in a tiny bikini, looking "dangerously thin". This is accompanied by a "think" piece, invariably by a woman who is less thin, bewailing "whatever happened to the fuller figure all men secretly adore?" Hmm.
Alas, such photos of "painfully thin" Keira do not repel me as they surely should; indeed, even after studying a Knightley "painfully thin" photo for hours, I'm forced to conclude - against my better self - "Nope, I still wouldn't feed her."
Keira Knightley: what's not to like? You see, The Terrible Truth Which Responsible People Are Not Meant To Acknowledge is that most men under 40 like women to look a bit peckish.
In zoos, signs declare "don't feed the animals"; in Hollywood, they don't feed the humans. And that's the deal: we pay stars oodles and drool over them. In return, we get to eat all the Custard Creams.
An editor of another newspaper asked me to write a somewhat counter-intuitive piece recently on why I was apparently driven into a frenzy by photos of Beth Ditto, a veritable walking EU grain mountain of a singer. And lovely though she surely is, and far be it from me to turn down work, I gave up: I didn't, quite literally, have the stomach for it.
You see, the tastes of many men of a certain age were honed by early shots of a "painfully thin" Moss in those heroin-chic days. Older men spluttered; younger ones never recovered.
Now, teenagers who grew up with Knightley's tomboy beauty in Pirates of the Caribbean will never lust after those old-style Page Three girls who looked like they were attached to a pair of giant milk urns.
But Knightley's sexiness springs from far more than her Norfolk-esque flatness, a "flaw" she is the first to joke about. Any youngish guy who says he doesn't find her attractive must a) never have met her or b) be Graham Norton.
I first interviewed her after she had starred in the 2002 remake of Doctor Zhivago. I ambled along with scant enthusiasm: young actresses tend to give good photo but dreary quote. Yet I was spellbound, and not exclusively by her physical charms.
Even calibrating for the obvious truth that we consider beautiful people fascinating and hilarious, she was enormous fun.
I even found myself asking - in that hideously lascivious way of the perspiring older hack - if she had a boyfriend. To which she slapped me on the knee and reminded me she was only 17, and I instantly felt rather ashamed.
Next time I saw her was on a train and I looked up to see her sitting opposite me: disguised in ordinary clothes but unmistakeable.
I was about to shout out a greeting, blowing her disguise to the entire carriage, when she moved a finger to her delectable lips, motioning me to "shh". She smiled, and nothing was said. A review of her role in her new film Atonement accused her of lacking "passion", but that surely misses her appeal.
She is perfect for elegant, period pieces where emotion lies in what is unspoken. If you like your cinematic sex unsubtle, watch Sharon Stone. Knightley attracts because she isn't brassy and upfront.
She is demure, her mischievous sexuality all the more intriguing for hiding beneath a veneer of cut-glass restraint and her loveliness so very English.
Becky Pugh: An unemotive plank of wood
When I look at Keira Knightley I do not see the subtly sexy siren that so many men drool over - I see a mediocre actress who wears a permanent pout. She may be beautiful, demure and successful but to me she is just a pretty plank of wood (albeit one that came briefly to life in her Oscar-nominated role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice).
Planks of wood are not sexy. Sexiness is about joie de vivre, and Keira has none. And no, this isn't about her being terribly thin. I don't mind that she is extremely slender, even if it does set a tiresome standard for us lesser mortals. It's just that being that skinny makes it look as though she forgoes the most pleasurable things in life, like food.
Something vital is missing. Where's the oomph in Keira? Where is the sparkle? There is no glint in her eye, no liberating quirkiness with which either sex can fall in love. She should pose less and laugh more; cheer up and chill out.
Perhaps it's because she works too hard.
"I really don't have time for much," she says. "You have to take the work while it's there because it won't be there for ever. I might as well enjoy it now." Exactly! I'd like to see her doing just that.
She gets her roles because the camera adores her perfect face and because she is reliable, giving a wide berth to the hedonistic lifestyle of so many of her contemporaries. In my view she certainly doesn't get them on the strength of her ability to act.
Lots of men fancy Keira, my boyfriend included. He once told me: "I want to sleep with her, but sometimes she looks too thin." Empire magazine once voted her the sexiest movie actress of all time.
Lots of women are bewitched by her. They think she lights up the screen. They watch her rigid, passionless performances and love her unconditionally. Not me. I just want to shake her.
I'm not averse to a pin-up; I have a fair few girl-crushes myself. In fact there are legions of women I love so much that I'd like to be them (Kate Moss in her pre-Pete days, Jade Jagger, Natalie Portman), but I do not want to be Keira Knightley.
Her flaws are not to be overlooked - she is amazingly quick to point them out herself. Her seemingly radiant skin is prone to acne. Her abs are only to-die-for if you like the washboard stomach of a teenage boy.
She lacks an innate sense of style - all those beanies and bovver boots are deeply unsexy. Dressed by stylists in Chanel couture, she is a knock-out. Dressed by herself, she completely misses the mark.
And as for that infuriating pout… I've examined Keira's face in repose a couple of times and concluded that her mouth is normal, entirely pout-free. So why pout? It makes her look sullen at best, deranged at worst.
Finally, and call me bitchy if you must, below that staggering visage lurks a minuscule pair of breasts and a shapeless pair of pins. In a still shot her face is as breathtakingly beautiful as a work of art, but there is a lifelessness about her that I just don't see as sexy.
I understand a man wanting a photograph of Keira on his wall - but not him wanting her in his bed. An unemotive plank of wood.
The Telegraph
Keira Knightley: pin-up or put down?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2007
The Atonement star may be a modern screen idol, but her looks have unleashed a battle of the sexes. Jasper Gerard and Becky Pugh fight their corners
Jasper Gerard: A textbook English Beauty
Since Kate Moss porked out a bit, celebrity magazines have been forced to find other young lovelies to illustrate those summer staples headlined: "Fears grow for dangerously thin [fill in the latest name here]".
The woman they often settle on is Keira Knightley, normally shown across a double page in a tiny bikini, looking "dangerously thin". This is accompanied by a "think" piece, invariably by a woman who is less thin, bewailing "whatever happened to the fuller figure all men secretly adore?" Hmm.
Alas, such photos of "painfully thin" Keira do not repel me as they surely should; indeed, even after studying a Knightley "painfully thin" photo for hours, I'm forced to conclude - against my better self - "Nope, I still wouldn't feed her."
Keira Knightley: what's not to like? You see, The Terrible Truth Which Responsible People Are Not Meant To Acknowledge is that most men under 40 like women to look a bit peckish.
In zoos, signs declare "don't feed the animals"; in Hollywood, they don't feed the humans. And that's the deal: we pay stars oodles and drool over them. In return, we get to eat all the Custard Creams.
An editor of another newspaper asked me to write a somewhat counter-intuitive piece recently on why I was apparently driven into a frenzy by photos of Beth Ditto, a veritable walking EU grain mountain of a singer. And lovely though she surely is, and far be it from me to turn down work, I gave up: I didn't, quite literally, have the stomach for it.
You see, the tastes of many men of a certain age were honed by early shots of a "painfully thin" Moss in those heroin-chic days. Older men spluttered; younger ones never recovered.
Now, teenagers who grew up with Knightley's tomboy beauty in Pirates of the Caribbean will never lust after those old-style Page Three girls who looked like they were attached to a pair of giant milk urns.
But Knightley's sexiness springs from far more than her Norfolk-esque flatness, a "flaw" she is the first to joke about. Any youngish guy who says he doesn't find her attractive must a) never have met her or b) be Graham Norton.
I first interviewed her after she had starred in the 2002 remake of Doctor Zhivago. I ambled along with scant enthusiasm: young actresses tend to give good photo but dreary quote. Yet I was spellbound, and not exclusively by her physical charms.
Even calibrating for the obvious truth that we consider beautiful people fascinating and hilarious, she was enormous fun.
I even found myself asking - in that hideously lascivious way of the perspiring older hack - if she had a boyfriend. To which she slapped me on the knee and reminded me she was only 17, and I instantly felt rather ashamed.
Next time I saw her was on a train and I looked up to see her sitting opposite me: disguised in ordinary clothes but unmistakeable.
I was about to shout out a greeting, blowing her disguise to the entire carriage, when she moved a finger to her delectable lips, motioning me to "shh". She smiled, and nothing was said. A review of her role in her new film Atonement accused her of lacking "passion", but that surely misses her appeal.
She is perfect for elegant, period pieces where emotion lies in what is unspoken. If you like your cinematic sex unsubtle, watch Sharon Stone. Knightley attracts because she isn't brassy and upfront.
She is demure, her mischievous sexuality all the more intriguing for hiding beneath a veneer of cut-glass restraint and her loveliness so very English.
Becky Pugh: An unemotive plank of wood
When I look at Keira Knightley I do not see the subtly sexy siren that so many men drool over - I see a mediocre actress who wears a permanent pout. She may be beautiful, demure and successful but to me she is just a pretty plank of wood (albeit one that came briefly to life in her Oscar-nominated role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice).
Planks of wood are not sexy. Sexiness is about joie de vivre, and Keira has none. And no, this isn't about her being terribly thin. I don't mind that she is extremely slender, even if it does set a tiresome standard for us lesser mortals. It's just that being that skinny makes it look as though she forgoes the most pleasurable things in life, like food.
Something vital is missing. Where's the oomph in Keira? Where is the sparkle? There is no glint in her eye, no liberating quirkiness with which either sex can fall in love. She should pose less and laugh more; cheer up and chill out.
Perhaps it's because she works too hard.
"I really don't have time for much," she says. "You have to take the work while it's there because it won't be there for ever. I might as well enjoy it now." Exactly! I'd like to see her doing just that.
She gets her roles because the camera adores her perfect face and because she is reliable, giving a wide berth to the hedonistic lifestyle of so many of her contemporaries. In my view she certainly doesn't get them on the strength of her ability to act.
Lots of men fancy Keira, my boyfriend included. He once told me: "I want to sleep with her, but sometimes she looks too thin." Empire magazine once voted her the sexiest movie actress of all time.
Lots of women are bewitched by her. They think she lights up the screen. They watch her rigid, passionless performances and love her unconditionally. Not me. I just want to shake her.
I'm not averse to a pin-up; I have a fair few girl-crushes myself. In fact there are legions of women I love so much that I'd like to be them (Kate Moss in her pre-Pete days, Jade Jagger, Natalie Portman), but I do not want to be Keira Knightley.
Her flaws are not to be overlooked - she is amazingly quick to point them out herself. Her seemingly radiant skin is prone to acne. Her abs are only to-die-for if you like the washboard stomach of a teenage boy.
She lacks an innate sense of style - all those beanies and bovver boots are deeply unsexy. Dressed by stylists in Chanel couture, she is a knock-out. Dressed by herself, she completely misses the mark.
And as for that infuriating pout… I've examined Keira's face in repose a couple of times and concluded that her mouth is normal, entirely pout-free. So why pout? It makes her look sullen at best, deranged at worst.
Finally, and call me bitchy if you must, below that staggering visage lurks a minuscule pair of breasts and a shapeless pair of pins. In a still shot her face is as breathtakingly beautiful as a work of art, but there is a lifelessness about her that I just don't see as sexy.
I understand a man wanting a photograph of Keira on his wall - but not him wanting her in his bed. An unemotive plank of wood.
The Telegraph
Sunday, August 19, 2007
My family
I spent the entire afternoon today with my nephew and niece. My nephew is the most fearless and playful child I have ever come across, and, he is a comedian. At two and a half years old, he donned his painting smock, pulled a pair of diapers over his head and started playing his colourful toy saxophone.
A, my beautiful little baby. My niece at a week old is the spitting image of my dad and his mother. My sister-in-law today said that Lillian's eyes are grey and that she would love for them to stay that way. I don't think she knows that my grandmother's eyes were grey, I don't think she realises that her daughter is the mirror image of me when i was a baby. It is an odd thing indeed to hold a tiny being in your arms that is a replica of you yet not of you, an image of a loved one that you will never see again. Such a conflict of emotions, such pain yet joy. God does indeed work in strange ways.
Jonathan held his cup today, handed it to me and said it was leaking. I took it from him and sure enough it was. And then I realise that he said leaking. Two and a half years old, where the heck did he hear about leaking, and knowing what it meant.
These are my brother's children, I love them so. If I love my nephew and niece this way, what does it feel like to love one's child? Since I held my brother's daughter in my arms a week ago, I have been plagued with memories of my childhood, of my brothers, of trying my darndess to be their champion. I wonder if they remember the times I put them first because I was so worried that something would happen to them and that I wouldn't be there to protect them. Ah, my brothers, they are both grown men, but I still see them as my little brothers. And still see us playing hide and seek, walking home together after school, and sitting around my mom as she read to us from the big book of fairy tales.
Our family is not the same because my dad is gone. But it has grown, for we are now plus three, one sister-in-law and two beautiful children. If only my dad was here.
A, my beautiful little baby. My niece at a week old is the spitting image of my dad and his mother. My sister-in-law today said that Lillian's eyes are grey and that she would love for them to stay that way. I don't think she knows that my grandmother's eyes were grey, I don't think she realises that her daughter is the mirror image of me when i was a baby. It is an odd thing indeed to hold a tiny being in your arms that is a replica of you yet not of you, an image of a loved one that you will never see again. Such a conflict of emotions, such pain yet joy. God does indeed work in strange ways.
Jonathan held his cup today, handed it to me and said it was leaking. I took it from him and sure enough it was. And then I realise that he said leaking. Two and a half years old, where the heck did he hear about leaking, and knowing what it meant.
These are my brother's children, I love them so. If I love my nephew and niece this way, what does it feel like to love one's child? Since I held my brother's daughter in my arms a week ago, I have been plagued with memories of my childhood, of my brothers, of trying my darndess to be their champion. I wonder if they remember the times I put them first because I was so worried that something would happen to them and that I wouldn't be there to protect them. Ah, my brothers, they are both grown men, but I still see them as my little brothers. And still see us playing hide and seek, walking home together after school, and sitting around my mom as she read to us from the big book of fairy tales.
Our family is not the same because my dad is gone. But it has grown, for we are now plus three, one sister-in-law and two beautiful children. If only my dad was here.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Lillian
Today I am the proud aunt of a brand new niece. She is six pounds of perfection and is the spitting image of my paternal grandmother. My nephew Jonathan looks more like his mother's side of the family so I'm very happy that my niece looks like our side of the family.
I've told my boyfriend many times that I want one, and I think he's finally coming around. yaeh.
I've told my boyfriend many times that I want one, and I think he's finally coming around. yaeh.
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