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Tina Fey was voted the Associated Press’ Entertainer of the Year. And it’s not surprising when Fey’s name was bandied about as much as Sarah Palins’ during the run up to the election. But oh how the male dominated press with their inadequate penises have to bring a successful woman down. Look at how Hilary Clinton and even Sarah Palin was treated by the press, although my sympathy for the latter is next to zero.
So perhaps now we won’t have to read or listen to male chauvinist b/s about how “women aren’t funny.” It’s a lot like the b/s from a male LA Times writer last week who stated that Nicole Kidman “is not a star,” and that Nicole Kidman, one of the most famous and successful actresses of her generation, can’t sell a movie. What utter bull-shit. These “men” have small dicks. That’s all I have to say about it.
Ginger Liu
This fall was privy to Hollywood firsts and Hollywood backstabbing at its finest with director Catherine Hardwicke ‘s teen phenomenon, ‘Twilight,’ grossing $70 million at the box office in its first weekend and welcoming Hardwicke as the first woman director ever to dominate Hollywood with such a high return. Stephanie Meyer’s adapted first novel had already grossed more than $160 million dollars in its first few weeks and Hardwicke was touted as the industry insider to finally shift Hollywood from its paternal hands of testosterone theatre, (the same Hollywood who had recently declared Nicole Kidman as box office poison because she is a woman), and proved that teenage girls, once forgotten, were a viable and lucrative audience. But Twilight’s producers, Summit Entertainment, fired Hardwicke mid-promo junket, demanding the second installment of the franchise to begin principle filming in the New Year; Hardwicke wasn’t ready. When a director makes a movie for $40 million and that movie grosses more than four times that amount in its initial release, it’s not often the director is fired. It seems Hollywood is ready for a black male president but not yet ready to trust the keys of the city to its creative women.
Ginger Liu
ALL SITES UNDER CONSTRUCTION. WEBSITE COMING SOON! Feel for my bags.
The British Empire is the greatest empire the world has ever known and once covered 25% of the world. When one moves to the USA, one learns to be patriotic especially when the American media sells America and gets it wrong. America may have been the richest country in the 20th century but it is not the greatest. After all, what is the greatest influence on American life? Why, the English language of course. One gets tired of all the American bullshit and the false bragging.
China is one of the greatest nations and has a bigger influence on life than America but China doesn’t brag like America does. China invented paper, ink, gunpowder, the list is endless. There are China towns in almost every country. Are there America towns in other countries? America’s influence on the world is the make believe, the fantasy moving pictures. This is wonderful of course but it is not essential to life. It is not the invention of ink on paper, of books, of language. They did not invent democracy and they are not the greatest nation since the Roman Empire. What they are are the biggest braggers and self-obsessed, paranoid nation on the planet. They write about themselves constantly. Talk radio, talks, talks, talks about themselves. Do you think Britain or France could give a crap if the world loves their nation or not? Every day in America the media worries about America not being liked abroad. They think that the whole world is watching and that the whole world gives a damn. I can’t tell you how many times an American has come up to me to bitch about not being liked abroad. As if they had a clue anyway because they’ve never been abroad. Europeans and Asians and Australasians couldn’t give a crap if other nations like them or not. Get over yourself. Pull your fat asses away from the TV and the radio, don’t listen to the manipulating, fear mongering media, and actually live life, travel to foreign lands. I had an American come up to me and say that the French don’t drive or own cars. This person had never been to France. Another American wondered if I was living in the USA because there was opportunity here and not in Britain, as if I’d come from a third world country. I’ve had americans react so violently at the thought that their country was not better than other countries, that the British, German, and French healthcare system was just propaganda made up by Michael Moore. These morons have never traveled to any of these countries yet they all knew more about it than the people who lived there because the American media fed them an American dream. They are so in love with themselves and this false notion that they are the greatest that they think foreigners can’t get through the day without thinking about America. Boy, do I have news for you. And we have to suffer scores of movies about how America is not loved or how America is no longer a great country. I got news for you. We got it good in Europe and Australia. We got free healthcare, cheap education, and more than 5 weeks holiday a year. We enjoy life and we don’t obsess about ourselves. America, get over yourself. Maybe the whole world hates you because like a spoilt child you bore everyone to tears with false vanity.
America I love your optimism. I love your fight. I love your friendly people and your welcoming arms. But get this straight, you are a great nation but you are not the greatest nation, you are one of many. Get over yourselves and travel. See the world and enjoy it.
Welcome to Spork Foods and two sisters who want to change the world week-by-week with healthy gourmet vegan food and a back to basics food philosophy, all served with a generous sprinkle of warm family hospitality.
The Goldberg sisters started Spork Foods in January of this year. They are third generation Angelinos with a family history in entrepreneurship. Jenny is the chef and a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Culinary Arts in New York City and has a BA degree in Environmental Studies. She honed her skills in vegan restaurants in Los Angeles then decided to go it alone as a private chef. This soon evolved into the weekly cooking classes she has today. Jenny is on a mission to teach her community about the “beautiful healing power of food.” She sees her classes as a community building exercise. “We are filling in the pieces lost in society from a generation of fast and convenient food.”
Heather is in charge of the business and marketing side of Spork Foods. She works full-time at an environmental non-profit organization where she educates people’s awareness in environmental issues. Heather talks about making their home inviting and familiar to their clients and points out the photographs of the sister’s family that hang on the wall behind them. “We want to pick up the pieces from a generation lost on fast food,” she says. Part of that philosophy starts at the table where the class sit and eat with the sisters after the food has been prepared.
Knowing that just the term ‘Vegan’ is enough to turn people away from their business, the name “Spork” was chosen as a fun way of demystifying the public’s outdated point of view of vegan food. Jenny goes a step further by turning vegan into delicious gourmet and heart healthy food. Dishes such as Pear, Fig and Sage Tarts with Roasted Garlic Aioli and Pink Lemonade Cupcakes are certainly mouth watering enough to put a spanner in the works of most die-hard meat eaters. Plus it’s all wheat, refined sugar, and dairy free.
Jenny suggests it’s time to eat and we step in to the kitchen, which boasts picturesque views of Silver Lake from the window and a white tiled kitchen countertop to die for. Jenny had spent the day testing the dishes she will prepare for tomorrow’s dessert class. Heather and I sit near the counter and chat while Jenny brings out the food. I am spoiled with Cannoli stuffed with Orange Vegan Ricotta, Chocolate Mint Truffles, and Chocolate Kuala Donut and Cinnamon Glaze. These sisters really know a thing or two about hospitality.
There are 4 themed weekend classes that emphasize organic, local, sustainable, and seasonal ingredients. Jenny is also available for one-on-one consultations and will take you shopping around Silver Lake farmers market. Parents of vegans wishing to learn how to cook for their kids, other chefs, and repeat students have come along to the classes.
If you care enough about your health and want to eat well, I urge you to take a class or two. You’ll receive some sisterly love thrown in for good measure.
English-Italian, singer songwriter, Jack Savoretti plays LA’s Hotel Cafe Wednesday night at 10 pm. He’s been compared to Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, and Neil Diamond. He’s just finished a European tour and his music has appeared on One Tree Hill and Sisters of the Traveling Pants 2. At 23 years old he’s on the cusp of international stardom. I caught up with him today to talk about music, traveling, and football (soccer).
My interview and concert photographs will follow.
Jack Savoretti performs on Wednesday 3rd December at 10 PM
The Hotel Cafe
For Thanksgiving I visited my Aunt, my father’s sister, who is a world renowned Chinese ethnomusicologist, a retired music professor at Arizona State University, author, and recent speaker at the Library of Congress in Washington where she lectured on a rare Chinese opera form: Kunqü: China’s First Great Multi-art Theatrical Tradition . Professor Marjory Bong-Ray Liu is the sole expert on the form and recently donated decades of research to the Library of Congress. My aunt and my father were the product of a mixed marriage; the children of a bold English explorer mother and Internationalist Chinese father. My father married an English woman, making me quarter Chinese.
I shared Thanksgiving with my Aunt and her grown children. Her husband was Chinese, making their children more than two thirds Chinese. Around the table where the mixed races of Chinese, English, and Japanese. In a sea of dark hair and dark eyes, I was the only cousin with red hair and blue eyes. Everyone talked with pride of their heritage and I found joy in belonging to a family of “mutts.” This brought my Aunt in to the discussion of President-elect Obama. She spoke for all of us in our understanding of this new president as a man of mixed-race and not an African American man. This is not a triumph for African Americans, after all he is half caucasian, this is an undoubtable triumph for a nation built on the mixed races and a changing landscape of all nations, literally mixing together. This is the triumph of the “mutt.” This is a triumph for the millions of mixed-race Americans who make this country strong but also for those who have suffered the racism that goes hand-in-hand with those who are “different.” African American’s may shout the loudest but they are certainly not the only non-caucasians who have suffered in this country. Let’s not forget the Asians, Indians, and hispanics.
Our new president is not a black president, he is and always will be, a mixed-race president. I am proud of my Chinese and English heritage and the new president who represents all of us who are “mutts” from many great nations.
I’m a redhead and growing up at school in England is tough for a ”ginger.” We suffer relentless name calling and teasing that pours into adult life with repeated shouts of “Fergie.” I learned to be tough at school. Facebook’s Kick a Ginger Day should not have been allowed publication.
All bullying is wrong. Yes, I do have a sense of humor but there are plenty of
children out there who suffer daily at the hands of school bullies. There should be zero tolerance.
