Omg, so this has got be the new anthem for me and the girls. For sure, alot of ladies can agree with the fact that there are too many tigerasos out there! Love, love, love this. best part: she's dominican :)
This movie was shot in my mom's hometown of Santiago, Dominican Republic. It's only been sreened in Toronto but i'm hoping through it's popularity there, it'll eventually come down here.
"Largely shot in real crime-infested neighborhoods and local slums, "La Soga" is as much a meditation on the embattled Dominican culture as it is a crime drama, with the soulful intensity of such films as "The Harder They Come" and "City of God.""- LA Times
read full story on the movie: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/09/la-soga-the-inside-scoop-on-murder-and-corruption-in-the-dominican-republic-.html
TEGUCIGALPA -- The Honduran army ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya and exiled him on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to seek another term in office.
U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union expressed deep concern after troops came for Zelaya, an ally of socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, around dawn and took him away from his residence.
Speaking on Venezuelan state television, Chavez - who has long championed the left in Latin America - said he would do everything necessary to abort the coup against his close ally.
A military plane flew Zelaya to Costa Rica and CNN's Spanish-language channel said he had asked for asylum there.
Pro-government protesters burned tires in front of the presidential palace in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, and two fighter jets screamed through the sky over the city.
Honduras, an impoverished Central American country, had been politically stable since the end of military rule in the early 1980s, but Zelaya's push to change the constitution to allow him another term has split the country's institutions.
Zelaya fired military chief Gen. Romeo Vasquez last week for refusing to help him run an unofficial referendum on Sunday on extending the four-year term limit on Honduran presidents.
Zelaya told Venezuela-based Telesur television station that he was "kidnapped" by soldiers and called on Hondurans to peacefully resist the coup.
OBAMA CALLS FOR CALM
The EU condemned the coup and Obama called for calm.
Honduras was a staunch U.S. ally in the 1980s when Washington helped Central American governments fight left-wing guerrillas.
"Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," Obama said.
It was the first successful military ouster of a president in Central America since the Cold War era. An opposition deputy said Congress would chose Roberto Micheletti, the head of Congress, as acting president later on Sunday.
The country's Supreme Court last week came out against Zelaya and ordered him to reinstate fired military chief Vasquez. The court said on Sunday it had told the army to remove the president.
"It acted to defend the rule of law," the court said in a statement read on Honduran radio.
The global economic crisis has curbed growth in Honduras, which lives off coffee and textile exports and remittances from Honduran workers abroad. Recent opinion polls indicate public support for Zelaya has fallen as low as 30 percent.
Honduras, home to around 7 million people, is a major drug trafficking transit point.
It is also a big coffee producer but there was no immediate sign the unrest would affect production
While surfing the internet I came across a dope article (which happen to be written by one of my gal cousins) about Dominican women and there obsession with "pelo malo and pelo bueno" an obsession which roots from the constant denial of african heritage within the Dominican Culture. My cousin who wrote the article has started a project named "Belleza project" which is a collection of photgraphs which capture the issue at hand *Check her out* http://interconnex.org/Jasmin_Ortiz_/BELLEZA%20SERIES/Pelo%20Bueno%20-%20Pelo%20Malo.html
"PELO BUENO - PELO MALO"
As long as I can remember, trying to figure out the best way to manage my puffy, tangled hair was always a task for both my mother and I. We would visit hair salons often to try the latest techniques, treatments, or hair-dos to help tame my puff. From avocado to mayonnaise to leave-in conditioners, there was always a new magic potion that would outdo the last. My relatives would point out that my hair was a mix of both “pelo malo” and “pelo bueno.” The “pelo malo” or “bad hair”, as they say, came from my father’s super tight curls and the “pelo bueno” or “good hair” came from my mother’s flat, straight mane. My father, a black Dominican, and mother, a white Dominican, proudly raised their children to appreciate their Dominican culture. However, that did not include a conscious and open embracing of our obvious African heritage. Not that being proud of my African decent was ever discouraged or purposely concealed, it was just never discussed. I was Dominican and there was no need to understand the color of my skin or the texture of my hair. Although it was evident that my skin was dark and my hair extra thick and curly, race was never an issue as a child. Today, as a conscious black Dominican woman, I have done away with chemically treating my hair. Still, I continue to deal with racial comments that my hair alone generates. Choosing to wear my hair natural stirs many mixed feelings and reactions from my family and community both in the United States and in the Dominican Republic. I have walked through the neighborhoods of Washington Heights, one of New York City’s predominantly Dominican communities, only to receive insults and negative looks. During the spring of 2005, I stayed in the town of Herrera, Dominican Republic. I noticed that, like in Washington Heights, my natural hair made people uneasy. Men would call me names like, “pajona” or “leona” and the women would give me looks of dissaproval as if walking out of my house with my hair in this way was a big “no-no.” I would have random people come up to me and suggest I visit “So-n-So’s” salon to chemically relax my hair. “She’ll do wonders with that pajon!” they would tell me. Dominican-owned hair salons are like magical places for anyone who is seeking to transform their wooly hair into silky manes. If they’re lucky, they’ll have someone in their family who has a talent for working the blow dryer or does wonders with the “plancha” which will save them about $45 a week. If not, their weekly appointment at “Salon Yokasta” or “Vilmania Hair Salon” is as religious as going to church every Sunday. I spent the last three years visiting Dominican beauty salons and barbershops in New York’s Washington Heights and in the Dominican Republic. I have spent this time documenting men, women and children of all ages as they metamorphosis themselves with hair-straightening tools, chemicals, fades, and braids. These beauty-altering institutions are my main subjects in my body of work because of the role they’ve played in helping me discover issues with perceived beauty and identity. I am fascinated by the power hair has in expressing, celebrating and, simultaneously, erasing ones heritage. I encourage everyone to view my work with an openness and willingness to look a little deeper into what we think is beautiful and ask ourselves, “How will we ever learn to love and accept each other when we fail to accept and love ourselves?” -(Jasmin ortiz)
Current TV journalist, Laura Ling, is being sentenced to 12 years in North Korea for a "grave crime" against the nation and illegally crossing into N. Korea. She was doing a story on the trafficking of women and its unclear whether they strayed into N. Korea or were grabbed by border gaurds.
*i think she was kidnapped, and now she might be doing 12 years because their government thinks they were spying? this came as a real shocker for me because im a fan of Laura and Lisa Ling as journalists. i hope she's safe and i pray she gets out of there soon.
I WANT TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE THAT TRANSPIRED AT ELEMENT NIGHTCLUB IN LOS ANGELES ON SATURDAY MAY 23RD. ANYBODY THAT ATTENDED CLEARLY SAW ME ARRIVE AND LEAVE WIHTOUT THE PERFORMANCE THAT THEY WERE PROMISED. I LEFT THE VENUE BECAUSE THE PARTY WAS PROMOTED AS A FULL PERFORMANCE AND NOT AS A NIGHT THAT I WAS HOSTING. THE FLYER FOR THE PARTY SAID "MAIN SHOW" WHICH LEAD PEOPLE TO BELIEVE I WAS GIVING A SHOW AND ALLOWED PROMOTERS TO CHARGE 40 DOLLARS A PERSON. I HAD A SHOW AT CAL STATE THAT NIGHT AND AT NO TIME DID I INTEND TO DO ANOTHER SHOW AT ELEMENT. I WAS BEING PAID TO HOST A PARTY AND WHEN I SHOWED UP THE MONEY I WAS PROMISED FOR THAT SIMPLE TASK WAS SHORT. THE PROMOTERS WERE ASKING ME TO "JUST DO ONE OR TWO SONGS" AND LEAVE BUT I AM AN ARTIST AND I TAKE PRIDE IN THE SHOW I'VE PUT TOGETHER. I REFUSE TO STEP ON STAGE AND ALLOW PEOPLE TO BELIEVE THAT I AM OKAY WITH THEM PAYING 40 DOLLARS TO SEE ME RAP OVER TWO RECORDS THAT MY DJ PLAYS. I LOVE MY FANS TOO MUCH FOR THAT AND THEREFORE I LEFT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EXPLAINING THE MISHAP IN THE HANDS OF THE EVENT ORGANIZERS. I APOLOGIZE TO ANYBODY IN LA THAT WAS DECEIVED AND I PROMISE THAT WHEN I RETURN I WILL DRAIN MY BODY OF ALL ITS ENERGY WHEN I HIT THAT FUCKIN STAGE AND GIVE U ALL THE BEST PERFORMANCE I CAN. I LOVE YOU ALL.
I Love a guy that loves and appreciates a REAL WOMAN!... Now thats hard to find these days The recession seems to be affecting our pockets and minimizing our options of men
