My Friend Jon's Play & the Friday Finds
My friend Jon is doing a play at The Other Space at The Santa Monica Playhouse, and I went to see him tonight. It's the first time I've gotten to see him really act, and he's very funny. :) I'd seen him in another play, but his role wasn't very large, and I'd seen him in some commercials and an episode of Almost Perfect, but this time I got to see him really do stuff, and he's damn funny. :) The play is called Pecker Patter and was written by two men as a sort of male version of The Vagina Monologues (and you will never know how hard it was for me to type out that v-word, which I have lividly hated my entire life, so bygones if it offends you; I only mentioned it because it's a relevant title...that word is just ugly-sounding). The play is very amusing most of the time and downright guffaw-worthy a lot of the time, and Jon was hilarious, so it was fun. The play just got extended, though I do not know if Jon will get any more performances, other than the ones he's already slated for, because he's an understudy, and if you live in LA, you should check it out. It's written by Frank "Franky C" Carrasquillo and Mel Kohl, and is directed by Frank Bonner. I'm sure Mr. Bonner would rather I point out he's a sharp director, but he will always be near and dear to my heart as Herb Tarlek of WKRP in Cincinatti, so if his name sounds familiar, there you go. :) I found a review of the play online, but I'm not going to post it, because it makes the play sound dreadfully boring, plus the reviewer must not have been paying much attention to the show, because he got some parts of it very wrong...but then that seems to be par for the course a lot of the time when it comes to reviewers.
Bygones.
So now, the Finds...
I have to start out with my pal KJ's embroidered flowered pendants, because frankly, they are too adorable and should be on the neck of every person with half a wit of fashion sense. If only some celebrity would wear one in public, I know they would be all the rage overnight. They're just that hip and cute. :) You will find them at the bottom of the linked page, or the orange one is linked from her initials.
I used to kickbox and liked it a lot, but I had to quit because I had a carwreck, and the high impact of the kickboxing workout caused a LOT of pain in my coccyx. I think I am ready to give it a try at home, though, so I'm thinking of buying a bag. My only problem is that I don't know which size to get...any ideas, comments or suggestions??? If you haven't tried kickboxing, it's a great workout, both aerobic and muscular, and I heartily recommend it. Along with rockclimbing, which is handsdown my favorite athletic-type activity, ever. It's insanely zen, and I say that as someone who could never get zen to save my life. But it sooo is. And incredibly empowering.
The G8 summit is about to start. If you haven't signed the declaration at ONE, or if you would like to get a cool white wristband or make a donation to help fight world poverty, hunger, and the spread of disease, go for it! And if you have HBO, I heartily recommend the HBO film, The Girl In the Cafe, starring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. It's a very good movie, and Bill Nighy is incredible in it. I wish it were being released theatrically so he could have an Oscar. He's just wonderful.
I have a Visor Prism which I let the battery run totally out on, which of course wiped every single bit of data I had in it out. So I lost some apps I'd downloaded to it, and when I started using it again recently, well, I needed them. I am happy to tell you that Palm (which took over Handspring) still offers Visor support and upgrades, which can be found here. Now if only my Visor were wifi, life would be totally cool! :)
Amy L. Burns is another blogging buddy of mine, one who paints (among many other things). I think The Fens is my favorite of her paintings. :) Hi, Amy! (kd)
My friend Hope hearts Nicole nail polish (by OPI) like there's no tomorrow, and since she is handsdown the girliest girl I know, I have to take her word for it that it rocks. I certainly agree that the shade names are cute. And 60% off is not a bad deal. :)
Speaking of Hope, she works at Origins, has beautiful, glowing, peaches and cream skin, and vouches for their product, so if'n ya need some skin stuff, hit it.
Me? I'm a Lancome girl. :) Re-Surface totally rocks; worth every single penny. And smells like sugar and tea. :) If you have over 30 skin that's startin' to show a few little lines around the eyes, I really recommend it.
And now, it's 5:18am, so I really have to go get in bed. I have to study for my driving test and make more jewelry this weekend, as well as update my website with all that green stone stuff and new jewelry. Have a safe and happy 4th.
a bientot!
Jenie
Bygones.
So now, the Finds...
I have to start out with my pal KJ's embroidered flowered pendants, because frankly, they are too adorable and should be on the neck of every person with half a wit of fashion sense. If only some celebrity would wear one in public, I know they would be all the rage overnight. They're just that hip and cute. :) You will find them at the bottom of the linked page, or the orange one is linked from her initials.
I used to kickbox and liked it a lot, but I had to quit because I had a carwreck, and the high impact of the kickboxing workout caused a LOT of pain in my coccyx. I think I am ready to give it a try at home, though, so I'm thinking of buying a bag. My only problem is that I don't know which size to get...any ideas, comments or suggestions??? If you haven't tried kickboxing, it's a great workout, both aerobic and muscular, and I heartily recommend it. Along with rockclimbing, which is handsdown my favorite athletic-type activity, ever. It's insanely zen, and I say that as someone who could never get zen to save my life. But it sooo is. And incredibly empowering.
The G8 summit is about to start. If you haven't signed the declaration at ONE, or if you would like to get a cool white wristband or make a donation to help fight world poverty, hunger, and the spread of disease, go for it! And if you have HBO, I heartily recommend the HBO film, The Girl In the Cafe, starring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. It's a very good movie, and Bill Nighy is incredible in it. I wish it were being released theatrically so he could have an Oscar. He's just wonderful.
I have a Visor Prism which I let the battery run totally out on, which of course wiped every single bit of data I had in it out. So I lost some apps I'd downloaded to it, and when I started using it again recently, well, I needed them. I am happy to tell you that Palm (which took over Handspring) still offers Visor support and upgrades, which can be found here. Now if only my Visor were wifi, life would be totally cool! :)
Amy L. Burns is another blogging buddy of mine, one who paints (among many other things). I think The Fens is my favorite of her paintings. :) Hi, Amy! (kd)
My friend Hope hearts Nicole nail polish (by OPI) like there's no tomorrow, and since she is handsdown the girliest girl I know, I have to take her word for it that it rocks. I certainly agree that the shade names are cute. And 60% off is not a bad deal. :)
Speaking of Hope, she works at Origins, has beautiful, glowing, peaches and cream skin, and vouches for their product, so if'n ya need some skin stuff, hit it.
Me? I'm a Lancome girl. :) Re-Surface totally rocks; worth every single penny. And smells like sugar and tea. :) If you have over 30 skin that's startin' to show a few little lines around the eyes, I really recommend it.
And now, it's 5:18am, so I really have to go get in bed. I have to study for my driving test and make more jewelry this weekend, as well as update my website with all that green stone stuff and new jewelry. Have a safe and happy 4th.
a bientot!
Jenie
posted by Jenie at 4:19 AM
5 Comments:
if you would like to get a cool white wristband or make a donation to help fight world poverty, hunger, and the spread of disease, go for it!
My post will be deemed Politically incorrect, but here goes...
Africa's corrupt leaders siphon off foreign aid, so how much of our donations really get to the needy/starving?
Throwing outside money at the problems of Africa will not solve them. Change has to come from within. We are only prolonging Africa's misery by throwing money at them.
"Fifty years of aid has done little to lift Africa from the abyss.By the African Union's own estimate, Africa loses as much as US$148-billion a year to corruption."
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f3ab4197-7f3b-4af1-9796-844325e44d0e
I don't think you should throw money at a problem. I think you should research the people you are giving money to; what they do with it, what percentage of it gets to the intended targets, what the organization's history is. I agree change must come from within and that Africa's leaders need to stand up and take responsibility for their people. That is the only way to permanently change things, rather than slapping a bandaid on a gaping wound. You are correct in this. But it is irresponsible and dispassionate to use that as an excuse not to get involved. When I give money to an organization, I look to see where the money goes. I look to see how it is spent. I look to see whether or not and how the people I mean it for benefit. If I then agree with that, I give money.
I don't find your post politically incorrect if you are honest in your feelings, but I would ask you to check into what you *can* do to help before you assume you can do nothing. Unless you don't feel able to help, in which case, don't. This isn't about guilt or politics, and I am not you. It's about my own feelings on the matter and my desire to help educate people in Africa so that they may work to give themselves a better life and a better government, or perhaps at least stop trading in the misery of their fellow human beings. AIDS is rampant there, and something has to be done, and frankly, if *any* of the money I give stops some man from raping a little girl because he is ignorant and buys into the myth that sex with a virgin will cure his disease, I don't care how much more of what I give makes someone else rich. (that being said, I research where my money is going before I send it so that I don't make corrupt bastards rich, if I can help it.)
I agree with you that pressure needs to be put on Africa's leaders to stop the corruption and make sure aid is spent correctly. But who is going to do that?? I don't see any of the leaders here applying that pressure. I don't see Tony Blair travelling to South Africa and saying "look, you'll spend our pounds properly or else." No one in the G8 is doing that. I frankly don't think they care. Less than 1% of the US budget goes to foreign aid, so why should American legislators care how that money is spent? They toss the prerequisite sum at whatever they've agreed the trouble is, and move on, with no accountability. What message does that send?? The majority of American dollars going into foreign aid comes from people like you and me. So it's up to us to pay attention to where the money goes and to send our money where we have educated ourselves it will do the most good. That's what I do, and that's all I can ask of anyone else.
And just for the record, I am not into the wearing of wristbands for the fashion statement, I just kinda think that particular wristband is kinda neat, and I like the idea it stands for.
Well, I was going to post a witty and frivolous comment about how much I really like OPI nail polish - especially the color "Drama Queen" because, really, what better name for nail polish could there be, but after reading all this serious stuff about Africa and AIDS and political correctness it just kinda seems lame so forget I said anything ;-)
But thanks for the mention about my pendants - you rock!
KJ
Levity. Bring on the levity. :) I only wear nail polish on my toes, but now that both you and Hope have sung OPI's praises, I have to try it. She liked Drama Queen too. :)
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