With only two episodes left of Game of Thrones Season 2 (man, did that go fast or what?), the plot is really thickening now. There was plenty of intrigue and twists all served up in its usual bloody way in tonight's Episode 17: A Man Without Honor. Jaime brutally murders two people, those creepy undead people go on a mass slaughter on Qarth over Daenerys' stolen dragons -- but perhaps the most horrifying bloodbath of all to watch and comprehend last night was, OMG, Sansa Stark finally got her period!
It's not surprising how she reacted when she woke from a nightmare (about her almost being raped by those rioting peasants from last week) and looked down at her bloody legs and then at the huge blood stain on her sheets. Interesting that her nightmare ended, not with her being rescued, but with one of the peasants stabbing and killing her. At times that might seem a more palatable option to the life she's currently leading as Joffrey's wife.
When Sansa saw the blood, she freaked. Who could blame her. Now that she got her period, she can start making babies with Joffrey, which means ... eww. That's a thought that would make anyone scream.
So of course her first reaction is to grab a knife and try to cut the spot out for fear of Cersei finding out. But it was too late. Cersei eventually finds out and sits Sansa down for a little talk about the birds and the bees.
"I thought it would be less messy," Sansa tells Cersei, which put a light touch on the heavier conversation to come -- that about Joffrey and Sansa's desire to have lots of princes and princesses. Sansa tries to convince Cersei once again that she "loves" the king, but Cersei doesn't buy it, tells her she can "try" to love him if she wants, but that the most important thing in her life should be her forthcoming children. It was a sad and somewhat unexpected thing to hear from tough as nails Cersei, who also found a tender moment with her brother Tyrion later in the show.
"The more people you love, the weaker you are," Cersei says. "Love no one but your children."
Which might be also an allusion to her brother Jaime Lannister, who, imprisoned, finds himself in the middle of a verbal showdown with Lady Catelyn Stark. Apparently Jaime isn't all ruthless and despicable. Cersei, in that talk with Tyrion, reveals how Jaime was so determined to be there for her during all of her births that he had to threaten the guards to let him in the birthing room. Awww. If you could get past the yuck factor of them being brother and sister, you might actually think that was really sweet.
There were numerous moments in last night's show that made you stop and go, huh, well, that was unexpected of a certain character ... not the least of which was Theon Greyjoy's expression of surprise when the bodies of two young children burned beyond recognition were lowered by ropes before Winterfell. GASP! Are these really the bodies of Bran and Rickon Stark!? And why did Theon look so distressed and disbelieving when he supposedly ordered their search and capture?!
What was the most surprising scene for you in last night's episode?
Image via HBO
Leave it to family members, strangers, and friends to pretty much ruin a woman's pregnancy with their insensitive comments. Seriously, what are some people thinking when they make these remarks and ask these questions of expectant moms? We have no idea but we've rounded up some doozies from the CafeMom community, anonymously of course, to marvel at the cluelessness all around ...
Image via JohnE777/Flickr
My 7-year-old daughter frequently disagrees with my parenting decisions and prefers to express her frustration through the written word rather than verbally.
Here is part of my growing collection of "hate mail" from my darling daughter to her horrible parents. Notice her excellent handwriting skills! (She still spells many words phonetically, so translations are included.)
I never intended to breastfeed, did not think it was for me at all. But once I tried it, and loved it, and found that my babies loved it and benefited from it, it was only natural I tried to convince friends and relatives to do the same -- or to at least give it a shot! What many women and newbies don't realize is that for all the nutritional and health benefits there are for baby, there are just as many for mom. Here are 6 amazing benefits to breastfeeding that I love to tell my friends about. Hey, would you mind sharing this for me?
Image via iStock
The disappearance of 6-year-old Isabel Celis is becoming a horrible case of deja vu. Five days and counting, and she is still missing and, with every passing day, hope is evaporating a little more. Feels very similar to how everyone felt 5 years and 9 days ago, when 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese resort. Today, in the midst of the search for Celis, a new photo of Madeleine McCann was released.
Well, didn't that make my mom fears go into overdrive. Two loved little girls from (seemingly) solid families, tucked in one minute and then gone the next. Without a trace. But one similarity around the disappearance of the two girls has me freaking out more than any other and seriously questioning how I put my kids to bed each and every night.
Read more: Madeleine McCann Could Still Be Alive (VIDEO)
In both the cases of Isabel and Maddie, the bedroom windows appeared messed with. Maddie's mom, Kate, the one who discovered her gone after returning from a restaurant down the road to check on her daughter (still can't believe she'd do that, but ...), found the front door unlocked and the ground level bedroom window open. This leads you to believe that the abductor got in through the window and exited through the front door.
During a search of Isabel's house, police found the screen of her bedroom window knocked out. The window of the bedroom of Lisa Irwin, the 10-month-old who has been missing for months now, also showed signs of tampering.
Read more: Missing 6-Year-Old Isabel Celis' Disappearance From Her Own Bed Is Every Parent's Fear
Deep breath. Child abductions are rare. Child abductions at home are even more rare. Who knows if that's what really happened to Isabel, Maddie, or Lisa. You cannot shield your child from the world or live your life in fear that there's a slim chance they could be abducted.
Duly noted.
But if you have children of your own, you also can't help freaking out a little (or a lot) every time one of these rare cases saturates your consciousness thanks to the media. Because statistics don't mean a darn thing when it's your child or when you imagine it could have been your child.
So why not lower the risk of it happening? Doesn't the benefit outweigh the risk?
Should we all lock our kids' windows at night?
Image via torbakhopper/Flickr
We are HUGE fans of Jenny Lawson, AKA The Bloggess, here at The Stir. And it's not just because we are lucky enough to have her as one of our columnists, but because ... what's not to love? The 38-year-old mom is charming (when not hiding in the bathroom), is off-the-charts hysterical, likes to use the word "motherfucker" as often as possible, and talks quite openly about her vagina. And if all that isn't awesome enough, Lawson's new memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, packed with as many arm condoms and cougar vampires as you could possibly stand, hits the world Monday.
Lawson's book entertains just as much as it conveys the message that, in her own unique words: "The very thing that makes people weird is also what makes them great. I want people to know that the things we want to pretend never happened are the very things that make life worth living. I'd also like them to buy another 10 copies to give to their friends and family."
We really wanted to highlight some of the funniest, classic Lawson moments of her new book, but honestly it was just too hard because every line is incomprehensibly hysterical. So we asked Jenny herself to tell us her personal highlights, and here's what she said:
The Stir: What was the hardest part of this book to write?
Jenny: I think it was the one about the being stabbed in the face by a serial killer. Not just because it sucks to get stabbed in the face. Mostly because I had to describe what a panic attack feels like and it made me have a panic attack. It wasn't fun.
"So then Victor wakes up and sees my face covered in blood and is all 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' I related to the group of awestruck bystanders. "And I'm like, 'I KNOW, RIGHT? THE NIGHT STALKER STABBED ME! and right then Victor jumps up and unsheathes his sword and runs down the hall brandishing his sword after the night Stalker, which was weird, because the the documentary had said he was still in jail, but I guess when you wake up and your wife's been stabbed you probably aren't thinking terribly straight, and personally I was just impressed at how quickly he'd unseathed his sowrd to run down the hall after a dangerous serial kill--"
Victor interuppted me: "Please, for the love of God, stop talking."
I looked at him curiously and wonderd what part of the story he was most appalled by, and then quickly clarified, "Oh! When I said he 'unsheathed his sword,' I didn't mean his penis, y'all. I was referring tothe samurai sword we keep next to the bed."
The Stir: There are a lot of animal (dead, alive, vampire) stories in your book. Which one moved you the most?
Jenny: My favorite animal was my pet duck Daffodil who was eaten by homeless people. I liked him better before he was eaten though. (A 5-year-old Jenny set her beloved duck free under a bridge in town when he got too big to keep at home.)
A month later the local news ran a story on the fact that all of the ducks in the river had gone missing and had been eaten by homeless people living under the bridge. It was aparently a bad neighborhood for ducks. I started, wide-eyed, at my mom as I stammered out, "HOBOS. ATE. MY. DAFFODIL." My mom stared back with a tightened jaw, wondering wehtehr she should just lie to me, but instead she decided it was time to stop protecting me from real life and sighed, saying, "It sounds nicer if you call them 'transients,' dear.' I nodded mechanically. I was traumatized, but my vocabulary was improving."
The Stir: Did any part of this book have you laughing out loud at the recollection of it?
Jenny: I laughed when I realized that I sent my principal an email with the word "recto-vaginal" in it (to fact-check some details about an agricultural class she took back in high school in which students artificially inseminated cows). But it was one of those weird nervous laughs where I wished that I would stop sending emails when I was drunk.
[My sister] agreed that I should probably call his secretary and ask him to delete the e-mail from his account before he opened it. It was too late, though, because he'd immediately opened it and replied to it, and seemed entirely unfazed. Also, he assured me that practically no one was doing it rectovaginally back in the early nineties, which is totally so true on so many levels. He also looked for photographs, but never found any, probably because no one ever takes pictures of underage girls with their arms up cow vaginas. Most likely because those pictures are more likely to end up in evidence lockers than in books about golden childhood memories.
Read more Jenny at TheBloggess and get her stellar parenting advice in Ill Advised here on The Stir! Now you really might want to go and buy Jenny's book before she stabs you in the face ...
If everyone was wondering when Jessica Dorrell might actually go out in public again so an eager photog could snap a shot of how she is holding up amidst the scandal, or to tell her side of the story, we'll probably have to keep wondering a while longer. No one has seen, heard, or stolen a photo of the latest scandal girl since this story broke. Now that the University of Arkansas has placed the 25-year-old Dorrell on paid administrative leave, she has even less of an excuse to leave her house or wherever she's been holed up for the past week. Not that she was going to just show up at her desk business as usual or start talking to the media anyway. But at least being able to earn a paycheck while staying at home buys her more time to plot her next move.
Paid administrative leave is a fancy HR term for when your boss thinks you've done something wrong or bad, but he needs to look into it a little more before he cans you. That way he can say he did a thorough investigation into the matter and legally cover his ass. Firing Bobby Petrino was pretty much a no-brainer -- he lied numerous times about his motorcycle accident and about his relationship with an employee he hired into a $55,735 a year position in his program.
Read more: Bobby Petrino Got Fired, But Jessica Dorrell Got Screwed
But the university knows it has to step cautiously around Dorrell. It appears that even though she went willingly into the relationship with the former Razorbacks coach, she may technically be a victim of sexual harassment due to Petrino's power position, and she may be considering legal action against the university. The university, via Petrino, is responsible for the mess she is in, after all, and her ruined reputation. I'm sure there are plenty of other legal fears batting around because of that.
Read more: New Bobby Petrino Details Expose a Crazy, Lovesick 'Teenager'
Not only that, but it's in the university's own best interests for Dorrell to stay away and keep quiet about all that went on, because anything she does say -- to the media, her friends, her co-workers -- is just going to make them look worse. By making this a personnel matter, with the whole financial thing dangling as a carrot, Dorrell has even more reason to clam up.
But Dorrell can't keep hiding forever. Eventually she is going to have to tell her side of the story to someone. Sorry, but the world needs to know this before it's ever going to let her put it behind her and move on. It may not be right but it's just the way these things go.
Why do you think the university put Dorrell on paid leave instead of just outright firing her? What are they afraid of?
Image via get directly down/Flickr
Jessica Dorrell may not be an innocent victim in this whole sordid Bobby Petrino affair, but she deserves more sympathy and understanding than people are giving her. If not sympathy, then they should at least stop immediately jumping to conclusions about her relationship with Petrino. If the current actions of the university are any indication, there's a lot more going on here than we know. Bobby Petrino was fired for lying about the relationship and misleading the university, as well he deserves. Josh Morgan, Dorrell's presumed ex-fiance, has also left his job as director of swimming and diving operations -- no word on whether he left voluntarily or was fired for some mysterious reason.
But as of this point in time, Dorrell still has her job as student-athlete development coordinator of the football program. This can only mean one thing ...
Dorrell's role in the scandal is not cut-and-dried -- from either an ethical or legal point of view. Word has it that Dorrell, who has gone into "safe mode" and is not even returning calls to her friends and family, has hired a lawyer and might now sue the university for sexual harassment.
Surely that's one of the reasons the university has not fired Dorrell already. Apparently under Arkansas law, someone can be sexually harassed even when the relationship and the sex is consensual, as long as other factors are at play.
Read more: Bobby Petrino Got Fired, But Jessica Dorrell Got Screwed
Bobby Petrino was clearly in a power position over Dorrell, being the football god he was, her boss, and also being twice her age. He hired her on his staff, out of several other candidates, under the illicit guise of their relationship. He gave her $20,000 as a "gift."
Sure, Dorrell accepted and went willingly along with all of it -- but who knows why. Maybe it was more about the relationship than the money or the job -- did anyone consider that Dorrell might have been in love with him? Who knows what Petrino told her or promised her. Perhaps the lavish gifts and promotion -- and her engagement -- were all concessions for a life she knew she would never have with a married family man. She is 25, after all. Women that age are known to be impressionable and naive.
Read more: Jessica Dorrell Ruined Her Wedding for Old Bobby Petrino & His Bike
While everyone can argue to death who is more at fault for the relationship, ultimately it's the university that's responsible for letting it happen and for the fallout, and Dorrell's lawyer undoubtedly knows that. Fire Dorrell and they are almost guaranteed a lawsuit, and this whole mess drags on even longer. Right now all the players are weighing their cards, waiting for the other to make the first move before they make theirs.
Was it sexual harassment? Legally and technically -- probably. But is it really really? That all depends on Jessica Dorrell. It's her move now. Will she try to play the victim and sue, foolishly thinking this could save even a shred of her reputation and dignity? Or will she just let it lie, hope it goes away, and somehow try to make a new life for herself, big lesson learned. This game is far from over yet.
Was Jessica Dorrell sexually harassed by Coach Petrino and should she sue the university over it? Will this help her?
Image via Chris Graythen/Getty
Google the name Jessica Dorrell today and you get stories about the 25-year-old woman's alleged affair with Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino -- and also her wedding registry at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Or what you would suppose is her wedding registry, because how many Jessica Dorrells are engaged to Josh Morgans? It's possible that the All-Clad 4-piece multi-cooker for $150 and the Waterford "Carrina Essence" stemware at $80 each are the stuff of dreams of some other engaged couple of the same names. But it doesn't diminish the fact that this Dorrell is also engaged and also very much the subject of the latest sports scandal by allegedly having a relationship with a much older and prominent University of Arkansas sports figure that is married with four children. The whole thing is blowing up as we speak and couldn't get any messier, except for one thing ...
Dorrell and Morgan's engagement photos have also hit the web. If the registry is in fact theirs, their wedding was planned for June 9, just two months away. How sorry do you feel for Morgan right now? What a way to find out that his relationship wasn't what he thought it was. One site has even photo-shopped the face of Petrino over the face of Morgan to bill them as "the Dorrell-Petrino engagement photos." Internet trolls have also attacked Dorrell's online wedding page, forcing her to take it down.
Petrino has already admitted to the "previous inappropriate relationship" with Dorrell, who happened to be on the back of his motorcycle when he crashed it Sunday night. Dorrell, a former student, volleyball player, and employee at the university, was recently hired by Petrino to work directly under him in his football program.
Her fiance Josh Morgan also works at the university, as director of swimming and diving operations for the Razorbacks. Classy.
More on Bobby Petrino Scandal: Bobby Petrino's Lust for Sexy 25-Year-Old May End His Career
No one has heard a peep from Dorrell or Morgan. I am sure they are pretty much in relationship hell right now. Petrino is pretty banged up, no one has seen Dorrell yet, so lord knows what kind of physical shape she is in. Can't imagine she left the scene unscathed judging from Petrino's mangled face and neck. She had to sustain some type of injury and how the heck would she explain that away to her fiance?
But perhaps the bigger question here is how Dorrell could find herself in this situation in the first place. It's easy to understand Petrino's motive for entering into the relationship -- Petrino is, well, a guy, and Dorrell is young, blonde, and gorgeous, as well as an athlete.
But Dorrell seemed to have such a bright future ahead. She's so young, engaged to a hunky swimmer, has a great job, er, well. You would have thought she was all grown up now and would use that college-educated brain of hers. But relationships and attraction are a befuddling thing. But not more befuddling than the thought that Dorrell might have invited her boss to her wedding (ya think?).
That's probably not on Dorrell's "problem" list anymore because when everything shakes itself out and Dorrell is done "explaining things," I can't imagine that Morgan is going to be sticking around for that that long. Lucky for him he found out when he did, I guess. Can't say the same for Petrino's wife, unfortunately.
Do you think that Morgan should break off the engagement or is it worth salvaging?
Image via Chris Graythen/Getty
Confession: Scary Mommy Jill Smokler is awesome. And not just because Kathie Lee called her "smokin'" or Billy Ray Cyrus (you know, Miley's dad) said she has a "cool" last name while talking about her new book on the Today show today. Jill is an awesome mom blogger because she keeps it real and allows all the rest of us who screw up on a regular basis to keep it real, too. Confessions of a Scary Mommy, also the name of Jill's blog, is THE book you should be giving all moms-to-be and new mothers so they can get that notion of being "perfect" out of their mommy brains as soon as possible when they start having perfectly normal terrible thoughts like this:
Everyone thinks I'm such a great mom for teaching my daughter how to read already. It wasn't me. It was the LeapFrog pen. I had no idea she could read.
When I send thank-you notes to people I don't like, I dump an ass-load of glitter or confetti in the envelope just to passive-aggressively piss them off.
There's a brat bullying my kid at school. It's taking all of my might not to trip him every time I see him walking down the hallway.
I "accidentally" tripped a child on the playground yesterday.
I sometimes try to get sick, just so I have an excuse to go to sleep at 6 p.m.
My pregnancy has been blissfully easy, but I pretend to be crippled with exhaustion just so I can be alone. Otherwise, I might kill my husband.
Newborns are UGLY. Yes, even mine.
I'm 38 years old and I still pee in the pool.
Most nights, I end up doing my son's homework for him. It's wrong, but just so much easier.
I knew my daughter had lice but I sent her to school anyway because I didn't want to cancel my hair appointment.
Jill's book is a collection of the best confessions from her site, as well as some personal stories about becoming a mom and some of her own challenges and thoughts to put it all in perspective. Reading those confessions is pretty addicting and they make you feel pretty darn good.
But if you want more, you'll just have to order Jill's book, it's on sale now. You can also watch Jill's appearance on the Today show this morning -- she was on the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. time slots. She rocked it.
Care to confess anything yourself today? What's your biggest mommy confession?
Image via msnbc
The trailer for the movie Sparkle was released today, and it's seriously chill-inducing. Knowing that this film is Whitney Houston's last performance and that she served as one of the producers of the film is pretty heavy stuff. Fan or not, it's always a little jarring to see someone who died so tragically so recently come to life again before your eyes, and especially playing a role that is so eerily close to her real life and her own tragic ending.
Houston plays Emma Williams, mom to three sisters who form an all-girl Motown sensation that is the subject of the story. Emma is a former performer herself, and tries to help her daughters deal with the fallout of fame and drug addiction. Strangely familiar, right?
Watching the trailer causes a collision of a lot of different reactions. First it's, wow, I really want to see this movie. Really good actors, a sexy gritty storyline, and amazing music -- definitely mark this soundtrack for download. You've got former A-Idol Jordin Sparks in the lead role and helping to write some of the original music (along with Cee Lo Green and Houston), so that's not a surprise.
But all that aside, there's Houston. She's not the main character of the movie, but I found myself watching the trailer looking specifically for her. She looks beautiful, strong, and healthy. When you see her on the screen, talking all sassy to her "daughters," you remember that yes, Houston could act! She was good, she had a future, she could have made a comeback. Top it off with clips of her performing a soul-shattering gospel tune "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," it's hard not to get depressed and ask why?
How sad that this is Houston's first acting appearance in 15 years, the one that everyone was saying might have turned her career around -- and it's also the last film any of us will ever see her in.
Watch the trailer to get a taste of the movie that will hit theaters August 17 and that is now apart of Houston's tragic legacy:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Does seeing this trailer make you want to see the full movie?
Image and video via Yahoo! Movies
Upon watching the promos that Katie Couric is going to be guest co-hosting Good Morning America next week, I thought: Wow, that is an extremely bright fuchsia dress. My head kind of hurts already. Couric is definitely going to brighten up the set of the ABC morning show in more ways than one. Couric was America's Sweetheart when she was on NBC's Today. It's because of her that Today has been winning the morning show ratings war since 1995, although GMA has gotten feisty in recent years and isn't that far behind ... a gap the network hopes to narrow even more with Couric on board next week.
Couric's personality was made for morning TV (evening news, not so much, as everyone found out the hard way). The 55-year-old host has always done better with lifestyle and gossip than politics and hard news. She was and is always so approachable and smiley and funny, the type of person who is good to have talking to you in the background as you brush your teeth and chase your kids in the morning. It worked well when she was with Matt Lauer because that guy never smiles, so they balanced each other out.
But George Stephanopoulos is equally approachable and smiley and funny. Is there such a thing as too much happiness in the morning?
I'm all for starting the day off on a positive note, but I'm not altogether sure that this "super bubbly" pairing will not make the heads of grumpy Americans explode so early in their day.
Something tells me that there's going to be a lot of laughs, jokes, and stunts on the show all next week, at least if the promos released by GMA are any indication. Katie jokingly mistakenly calls George "Matt." Weatherman Sam Champion tells Lara Spencer "that'll do" as Couric walks past during a discussion of who will do the show next week while Robin is on vacation. Wolfgang Puck seems to make some sort of joke about Katie's boobs. Hahaha, you guys.
I just worry that with all that hilarity and joy going on, everyone is going be so sucked in that nobody will feel like going to work. Or -- the opposite -- that it will make us realize how truly crappy our jobs really are and we'll just be depressed. Either way, I'd be worried if I were you, Robin Roberts.
Are you a fan of Katie Couric?
Image via GMA
If Spike Lee is as smart as he'd like everyone to believe he is, he will "do the right thing" and get in touch with David and Elaine McClain as soon as possible. He will offer the 70-year-old couple a big "make right" gesture for his huge Twitter screw-up that put them in danger as part of this whole Trayvon Martin mess. He should act quickly, before one of the many, many lawyers salivating at the thought of suing the filmmaker gets their hands on them first. Although with the way this story is breaking, something tells me one of them probably already has ...
This Trayvon Martin situation is ugly enough as it is, the last thing we need are some greedy, opportunistic people making a profit off of the sad and untimely death of a 17-year-old boy. That said, lawyers still need to get involved here -- prosecutors who should charge the original tweeter, Marcus Higgins, and Spike Lee with defamation of character and interfering with a police investigation.
Davonne Higgins, 33, made the original tweet with the address of George Michael Zimmerman, Martin's shooter, and send it to several celebrities, including Lee, who was the only one to retweet it. But the address was wrong; he confused McClain's 41-year-old son, George W. Zimmerman, who once lived at the address now occupied by the McClains, with the notorious one.
The couple, who both worked in the local school system, had to leave their home for a hotel after getting several threatening letters and people showing up at their doorstep. They are very upset and scared, can you blame them?
At the very least, Lee -- and even Higgins -- should pay for any expenses the couple had in moving out, and maybe throw in a new car for their trouble. I'm sure he can afford it.
Lee already deleted his tweet, and Higgins apologized for making his original one, but we've yet to hear any kind of "I'm sorry" from Lee. He's probably too busy trying to defend himself against the onslaught of Tweeters who are now baraging him with racist tweets in the fallout. it's just all so ugly. And getting uglier.
Lee can afford whatever kind of legal defense or lawsuit comes his way because of this, and the way our society works, the publicity would probably wind up being a good thing for him, anyway.
Perhaps the better and more severe punishment is the one that may be coming outside the workings of the legal system. In retweeting the couple's private address, Lee may have violated Twitter's policy stating you can't publish or post people's private or confidential info without their permission.
The penalty? Suspending Lee's Twitter account and get him to stop talking. Kinda like the sound of that.
Do you think Spike Lee should be charged for Tweeting badly?
Image via david_shankbone/Flickr
It was windy as my son walked from school to our car at pick-up, so he put up the hood on his grey and yellow Nashville Predators sweatshirt to cover his face. I couldn't help think: My 8-year-old has no idea who Trayvon Martin is, no idea that in that simple act of trying to stay warm that he has done a thousand times before he was taking a stand against racial stereotyping and profiling and this country's race issues in general. Wow! I wouldn't begin to know how to explain all that to him. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, am I the only person who thinks this whole "Wear a Hoodie" movement is getting a little out of control?
It all started when Geraldo Rivera made a very absurd statement about hoodies being signs of devious behavior and encouraged parents to stop letting their kids wear them. If I did that, I would have to throw out half of my son's clothes, because he loves them. And frankly, so do I.
More from The Stir: George Zimmerman May Be a Racist But That's Not All (VIDEO)
The world took that ludicrous statement and ran with it, making hoodies the symbol of racial discrimination, profiling, and injustice. Everyone and their grandmothers started taking pictures of themselves in hoodies to show their support for the Martin family and to fight the perception that hoodies are the reason we don't trust certain factions of the population and to remember the victims who died because of that, namely Trayvon.
Congregations across the country wore their hoodies to church yesterday. Rally after rally features protesters in hoodies. Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm is one of numerous public figures and celebrities appearing in one.
There are "hoodie" movements popping up everywhere, such as the Red Hoodie Movement on Tumblr. The Miami Heat snapped a photo that's now going viral of members of the team wearing hoodies. Trayvon Martins' father Tracy has thanked the public for this touching outpouring of support.
I am not going to stop my kids from wearing hoods, or going to encourage my kids to wear more hoodies -- or even stop buying or wearing hoodies myself, because of Trayvon or not because of Trayvon. I agree we need to spread the word and fight against this, but that means starting underneath our clothes, going deeper into our minds and hearts. It's about education, empathy, and understanding, something not easily taught through social media or photo ops.
If it were my son who was killed, I'm not sure how I would feel about everyone latching on to a piece of polyester and cotton as a symbol of my son, who he was, or how he died. It feels like a gimmick, like the next planking or Tebowing or fill-in-the-blank Internet meme. I think of my son in his hoodie and wonder how many people posting pictures of themselves in hooded sweatshirts really understand what happened to Trayvon and the deeper issues behind it, or are just doing it because it's the "thing of the moment."
Are you wearing a hoodie in support of Trayvon Martin and other victims of race related crimes?
Can't a once influential and but now largely irrelevant Republican go in and have a heart transplant without Twitter blowing up anymore? Nope, especially when you are the polarizing, controverisal former vice president Dick Cheney. Cheney would not be able to have an ingrown toenail removed without the entire Webiverse jumping on the chance to come up with some pithy hate tweets about the man. I mean Dick Cheney + New Heart ... the joke possibilities are almost overwhelming here.
Cheney, 71, has a history of heart attacks, suffers heart disease and had previous surgery for a pacemaker. He had the transplant yesterday and is recovering nicely at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. Sorry, folks, looks like the transplant went just fine.
The irony of all this is, as much as the haters are on Cheney again, they really, really want the transplant to succeed because if he wasn't around anymore, they wouldn't be able to Tweet gems like this:
I hate to kill the boners of young girls all over the world but if there IS a vampire on earth it's not Robert Pattinson. It's Dick Cheney. @JenKirkman
I feel sorry for the rest of Dick Cheney's organs. They were all packed to leave. @kirkfox
Organ donor cards should have a box that reads "unless it's Dick Cheney." @dgardner
Dick Cheney gets heart. Bush to meet The Wizard about brain this afternoon. @AralBalkin
Do these tweets cross the line at all? Even if you hate a guy and his politics, is this is really bad taste?
You go, Kim K! Word that Kim Kardashian has changed her mind and might be pressing charges against the animal activist flour bomber is great news for the world.
Kardashian can't be blamed for not pressing charges against the woman initially. It was only flour, after all, and in the flurry of the moment, with all the OMGs and cameras, she decided to downplay the incident so as not to take away from the charity event she was attending. She was scheduled for an hour and a half, and making a statement at the police station would have eaten into her face time.
But hearing that she was going to let this lady off the hook entirely was kind of infuriating. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes -- and ages -- and this woman is one of them. Just because Kim is a celebrity who puts herself out there and is often the butt of criticism and ridicule does not mean that she does not deserve the same respect as anyone else.
More from The Stir: Kim Kardashian Should Have Worn This Dress When She Got Flour Bombed
Part of the grey area was that the heckler used flour -- how harmless can you get? Kim was able to clean herself off perfectly with a blow dryer and towels. No big deal. None of her expensive clothes were ruined. But what if it had been a bucket of fake blood, like activists used to use in the old days? Or some type of hazardous substance? Or a gun?
By pressing charges against this woman Kardashian is sending a powerful message to bullies everywhere that it's fine to have opinions and to voice them. But violence of any kind is just not cool, and will get you into a bit of a mess, and not the type you can easily get rid of with a blow dryer, either.
In case you missed the grand event:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Do you agree with Kardashian's decision not to let the flour bomber get away with it after all?
So, yeah, it sucks that Camille Grammer won't be returning for season 3 of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Unless of course you are among the many that can't her and consider her a mean, vindictive poser -- well then it's good news for you! Whether you are Team Grammer or not, you have to admit that at least Grammer is leaving the show in a very un-Housewives way: without any drama. Grammer is sad to be going and would have stayed on if she could have. There was no bad-mouthing or other assorted nastiness that sometimes accompanies these things. With all the ways this might have gone down behind closed doors, she parlayed this to the public in a very diplomatic and dignified way. Everyone has said Grammer has gotten a touch of class lately, and this proves it!
Grammer very casually broke the news a grand opening of a new Blizz Frozen Yogurt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last night, where she was partying with some of her fellow Housewives. She told a reporter from US Weekly:
"I can't say too much at this moment, but we couldn't get it worked out. I love these girls. I really do. I've had so much fun with the franchise, but I guess the producers and I couldn't come to an agreement."
The 43-year-old's Twitter feed is streaming today with well-wishers leaving comments of "we'll miss you" "we're sad," to which Camille responded with "aww thank yous" and hearts. Honestly, this is probably a really good thing for Camille, and a good time to make this break. Everything else in her life seems to be falling into place, and that always makes transitions easier and sometimes welcome.
More from The Stir: Camille Grammer Changing Her Name Is Her Classiest Move Yet
She's recently reached a divorce settlement with her ex Kelsey Grammer, and she's been dating a hot younger guy, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, for several months. Her money and notoriety aren't going away any time soon, so what's not to embrace?
Here's a video from a while ago that shows that classy, humble side we were really loving lately ...
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Are you happy or sad that Camille is leaving RHOBH?
So here I sit NOT planning to see The Hunger Games this weekend because it's going to be too darn crowded, plus already read the book and know what happens (still can't wait to see it on DVD!). But there's still lots of ways to take part in all the excitement of opening weekend with fun online distractions like one of the many Hunger Games name generators on the web. I came across a few that were worth about five minutes of my time to fiddle with (but probably not more than that, sorry to say).
Here's the wackiness that ensued when I plugged in some basic info to find out what my name would be if I was a character in The Hunger Games:
Vulture.com has a name generator that allows you to plug in your real name and gender, so at least you get either a boy or girl name. I did not like the first one at all, so I actually plugged my name in three times to see what the options were.
More from The Stir: Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling Totally Gets 'The Hunger Games' (PHOTOS)
Option 1:
Did not like because the first name reminded me of "labia" and followed by "lapworth" did not create a good association for me.
Option 2:
A little "disease" sounding, but better ...
The one I liked best was Option 3 (pictured on top), which I got by eliminating my middle name: Sagitarria Baxwoll, because that just sounds badass. The name of a chick you would not want to mess with. I might actually have a shot of winning The Hunger Games with a name like that.
More from The Stir: 'Hunger Games' Reviews Say Movie Lives Up to the Hype (VIDEO)
Hungernames.com (that's an "N" in there, not a "G") gives you random, non-gender specific names such as Wormwood Ragbone. Weird, but at least you find out how you will die: Wormwood by acid rain. Which is better than some of the other silly names and causes of death: Dogtooth Craydundle, killed by a "fishing hook to the eye," or Donkey Nibbleton, slayed by a "sharply worded insult."
And our 5 minutes are up, this is Sagitarria Baxwoll signing off ...
Try one of these name generators and tell us in comments what your Hunger Games name is!
Images via: vulture.com (first three); hungernames.com
The attorney advising George Zimmerman (only advising because he hasn't been formally charged yet) in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin went on network television this morning. The main reason Craig Sonner appeared on CBS was to tell the world that what Zimmerman did was purely out of self-defense and not because Martin was black at all. And here it begins. What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Either Zimmerman was right: That he shot a man -- wearing a hoodie and supposedly acting "suspiciously" and who he claims later attacked him -- purely in self defense.
Or Martin's family is right: That Zimmerman shot Martin because he was profiling Martin, assumed because he was black he was up to no good, and shot him because he figured the boy had to be carrying a gun.
At some point we just have to say ... who cares which one it was. As fundamental as the race issue seems to this story, at the crux of it all it really doesn't matter. The way we're told the incident went down, even with many conflicting accounts, George Zimmerman was not justified in shooting Martin under any circumstances whatsoever.
By calling 9-1-1, he did his job as a community watchman and should have let police take it from there, go home and lock his doors or whatever, but he chose not to -- against orders from a 9-1-1 operator. From a log of 9-1-1 calls recently leaked, we know that Zimmerman was a chronic 9-1-1 caller, including several reports of "suspicious" black men but also very trivial matters, like kids playing in the street or open garage doors -- things none of us would ever think of as a public threat.
Racism unfortunately is everywhere and it should be disdained and punished when it motivates a crime. But let's not let that cloud what really happened here: Zimmerman called 9-1-1 because he thought all these mundane disturbances or events, including Trayvon Martin, were serious and warranted police attention. When he did not get the urgent response he wanted, he felt that was justification enough to take matter into his own hands.
Regardless of the underlying motivation, Zimmerman made a wrong and life-altering choice. We all have to pay for our choices. The real outrage is that Zimmerman seems to be getting away with his. That's really what his lawyer should be spending time addressing on TV.
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
How critical do you feel race is in the Trayvon Martin killing? When is a crime just a crime?
Image via david_shankbone/Flickr
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Ohmygah y'all! Take a look at Miley Cyrus' hand, this is huge news! Look, look at it! This is the same Miley Cyrus who is dating Liam Helmsworth, by the by, the hottie of the moment, the star of the biggest film and teen phenomenon right now, The Hunger Games. Miley really wants you and everyone to see this photo of her sparkly, gorgeous ... new manicure? Never mind the $50,000 rock on her ring finger blaring a hole in your brain, Cyrus posted this twitpic because she was excited about some orange nail polish.
Nice try, Miley! We see right through that ... because we've done it a million times ourselves.
Cyrus tweeted this along with the photo: “I am soooo obsessed with @jennahipp nail foundations! It looks so chic and classic!” That was her "cover" of course. My guess is that she really tweeted this picture, which just so happens to be her left hand which includes a ginormous diamond, to mess with our heads a little.
She knew how people would react to a photo like this and what rumors would start bubbling, otherwise she would have taken a picture of her right hand, c'mon! You pretend that you are showing a picture or sharing a note or relaying gossip that prominently mentions one topic, but then you coyly slip in the real reason you are even bringing this up in the first place -- in this case a reminder to all the teens/women/cougars out there that engagement or not, LIAM IS HERS. The Hunger Games hit theaters this week, so timing is everything.
Cyrus has denied the engagement rumors of course ... even referring to Helmsworth as her "boyfriend" in a tweet the next day. It's just so fun and silly and 10th grade, isn't it? Have to wonder how Helmsworth will react to his girl's latest social media stunt, since it won't be the first time he's questioned her maturity. Check it out:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Wow, would you wear a diamond ring on your finger BEFORE you're actually engaged?
Image via MileyCyrus/Twitter
George Zimmerman is not just very likely a racist. Not that being that isn't plenty bad on its own ... but looking at a log of 9-1-1 calls he made over the years outlines pretty clearly that this guy has other serious problems too. A control complex? Paranoia? Vigilante tendencies? Who knows what, but it's clearly something more than just a blatant bias and profiling of black men. This guy pretty much called police when a garbage can fell over or a leaf fell from a tree -- okay maybe not this bad but pretty darn close to anything out of the norm happening in his neighborhood.
He once reported "children running and playing in the street." I can understand fearing for a child's safety in the road or obstructing traffic, in which case you should go up to the kids and tell them to get the heck out of the road. Problem solved.
As a neighborhood watch guy, you'd assume he knew the basic rule of only dialling 9-1-1 if it's pretty serious, life or death, or a criminal or safety matter. I wonder if someone at the 9-1-1 center didn't leak Zimmerman's 9-1-1 call log because they felt someone should have noticed a possible loose cannon on their hands and send someone to have a talk with the guy. At least drop off a pamphlet or something reviewing the "neighborhood watch" guidelines.
Some of the other weird/paranoid/unreasonable things Zimmerman called the police for include:
An open garage door;
Trash in the roadway;
A loud party;
Yellow speed bike doing wheelies in the roadway;
A pot hole;
His landlord trying to collect his rent;
His ex-roommate letting people he doesn't like his house;
A stray dog;
A car driving around the neighborhood.
I can only imagine what other skeletons must be lurking in Zimmerman's upbringing and background, or what psychologists might be saying about this kind of behavior. I'm sure we will hear more in the coming days and weeks as this case is not going away until Zimmerman is made to pay for shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month.
Here's the latest:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Do you think someone should have noticed this strange behavior before it reached the point that someone got killed?
Image via bogieharmond/Flickr
Now that the season finale of The Walking Dead is dead and buried (season 3 resurrects in October), one would expect all of the actors we've come to know and love might get to take a shower once in a while and even comb their hair (looking at you, Lori <).
As much as we appreciate the authenticity of Rick, Lori, Andrea, Glenn, and Shane wearing clothing they found in abandoned cars and doused in zombie guts half the time, they are a bunch of pretty good-looking actors who no doubt clean up pretty well.
Are you just a little curious what they look like when they are not pitchforking corpses in the head? Take a look at our slideshow and marvel at the transformations, along with some little factoids you may not know about them ...
On the outside, swans are graceful, revered members of the bird kingdom long held as symbols of ultimate beauty and love in literature and the arts. Now that mating season is upon us, you might see more of these majestic waterfowl at the town park or lake and even be tempted to move up close for a picture of the sweet white bird or to toss them some bread.
Well. Don't buy into the deception.
Best advice is, run away. Keep you and your children away from these mean f**kers at all costs. Swans are the most underestimated and devious of all waterfowl. They just want to kill you and eat you, and they know they have us all totally fooled by their pretty exterior. Swans are scarier than pit bulls and hungry lions, and as proof take a look at this recent video of a Florida woman being attacked by a swan at a bank. Crazy bird actually walked into the bank!
Granted, this video is not as horrible as overexaggerated and sensationalized to the hilt above. Biologically speaking, the part about swans wanting to murder you may or may not be factually correct, but that's not what you think when you are in the process of being stalked and terrorized by one that was clearly a lot more calculated than the swan shown in this video. If you had been in that position yourself about eight years ago in a kayak on a pond in the Hamptons you would totally acknowledge this.
The swan who attacked me is so famous for terrorizing people in the Hamptons that he has a name and several articles written about him. Fred the Swan is a male who resides on Georgica Pond in East Hampton, near a place that rents ocean kayaks. If you dare ...
It was a lovely early summer Saturday when my husband, his best friend, and my brother-in-law set out on the pond with our sights set on an afternoon of riding waves. What should have taken about a half hour of paddling through the tranquil water to the sea ended up a horrific two-and-a-half hour ordeal. Just minutes in the water, we were contantly followed, hissed and lurched at, and redirected by Ferocious Freddie. At one point the swan and his big-ass ruffled body came so close to my brother-in-law that he capsized and for a moment there, I thought he was a goner.
By the time I got to the ocean I was so anxiety ridden and nauseous I had no desire to play in the water. I just wanted to go home, but that meant enduring another trip from hell back through the pond. Honestly can't say how we made it back, I think the fear caused me to block it all out.
Fred was only doing what swans do -- he was protecting wife and baby swans by trying to scare us away and off his pond. He probably has to deal with hundreds of annoying kayakers like me intruding on his home on a daily basis and how does he know any one of them is not there to hurt his family. I give him that.
But he's also ruined the whole "beautiful swan thing" for me and lots of others, because I tell this story any time "swans" come up in conversation, which is surprisingly a lot more than you think.
Just something the ponder the next time your toddler asks if he can pet the pretty white duckie.
What type of animal terrifies you? Have you ever been attacked by a swan?
Image via Mary Thompson/Flickr
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Your child has possibly been killed, please come and identify the body. They are the most incomprehensible words a parent could ever hear, ones most of us surely try to push away when we hear tragic stories like the 22 children who were killed in a bus crash in Switzerland overnight. As investigators figure out the how and why, as two schools mourn the death of beloved teachers and classmates, the parents of those 12-year-olds are in a private hell. Not just because their child has probably died, but also because many are flying by private military plane to the accident far from their home. Process that for a minute ... they can't run to their baby's side right now -- they actually have to take mass transit to get to them.
Excruciatingly painful hours, minutes, and seconds before they can touch, feel, and hold their child for one last time.
If I were one of those parents right now, I would pray for my plane to crash.
This horrific accident summons the story of an acquaintance whose daughter was killed by a car while on summer vacation with her father. The mother was a few hours drive away at home, shopping. When the call came that her daughter had died, she was in a mall of all places. Please come right away. Well, she couldn't get there right away. She had to drive several hours and I can't imagine how I would have been able to keep my heart beating and my brain from caving in on itself from grief and despair for that long.
I can't believe one's body or mind could continue to function in those circumstances, but apparently they do, because the parents of those 22 children are flying to the accident site to identify their children's bodies. Just days earlier they were helping their children pack parkas, long underwear, hats, and other cold-weather gear needed for a ski trips in the Swiss Alps. The bus was just out of the resort parking lot a few minutes when it hit a curb and crashed into the wall of a roadway tunnel, killing 28 people, most of them children.
Even after the initial shock and services, what happens after? How do these parents begin to go through their children's suitcases, knowing their child's little hands were the last ones to pack those clothes? What do you do with the toothbrushes that last touched their sweet little mouths? How do you come to grips that you won't be able to ask your child, Did you have fun? What was your favorite part of the trip? Or any other question ever again?
There are no answers to any of these questions, and right now the only one I can really think to ask is why? Why.
What is going through your mind right now as a parent hearing about this terrible, terrible tragedy?
It's not shocking that the old boys at NBC let ever popular and highly regarded local news anchor Sue Simmons go from the network. If you live outside of NYC, you probably know Sue for her infamous "What the f**k are you doing?" comment while on air four years ago, that resulted in over two million YouTube hits. But that's not why they are letting her go at the same time they are keeping her longtime co-anchor Chuck Scarborough for another three years and breaking up a three-decades-long dream team, a media institution.
The network hasn't given a reason for her firing, but this is broadcast news, after all, and if you ever watched the movie Broadcast News, you would understand that network news and gender sexism goes hand in hand. (Total digression, but did you ever notice that an aging Chuck Scarborough looks an awful lot like actor William Hurt in that movie, who got "promoted" to high ranking news spots based on his looks alone? Is this a coincidence? I think not.)
What's hard to get is that if they are going by looks alone, there's no contest. Sue Simmons looks way younger than Chuck. In fact, Sue looks exactly the same as she did when she started in this biz three decades ago.
Sue Simmons looks a.maz.ing for 68 years old. I actually almost fell to the floor when I read that was her age. Those network execs must be totally blind. Not that looks should matter so much in news, but it does, and Sue is still one hot chick. She's just as spunky and New York as she's always been. On the other hand, Chuck Scarborough, who is obviously still handsome, has definitely assumed the role of dapper grandpa.
No one should worry about Sue Simmons landing on her feet. She is smart, talented, a media powerhouse who could spin this change into a million different directions. But if she decides to hang up the news gig, I would not discourage her from trying something lighter and more fun like writing an anti-aging, beauty secrets book. That's news I would definitely like to know.
Did you miss Sue's famous on-air blunder? It's classic:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Network news people seem to think we only want to watch young and perky people -- does that really matter to you as a viewer?
Image via albri1home/YouTube