American Girl Movie. A Playlist and an Apology.

-The American Girls (screen shot from http://www.americangirl.com/agcn/index.html)


As old as I am, I should not be this excited for the first theatrical release of an American Girl story. Even though I have no idea who this new Kit girl is, I always loved American Girl. As presents when I was little I received the purple and black modern American Girl Varsity Bomber jacket that I rocked hard with my red,green, yellow and blue plaid uniform as well as the starter set of Addy books. At the library I read through all the books in each series, gaining knowledge about American history as I went. I also collected American Girl trading cards and I still have some sitting on my bookshelf at home along with my Hello Kitty and Spice Girls paraphernalia. My favorite characters were Samantha, the posh Victorian who was friends with dirty and poor Nellie; Molly with her 40s charm that prompted me to ask my mother if I could pin curl my hair; and of course Addy, the fearless freed slave girl who came to New York and longed for her family to be reunited. Unfortunately I did not connect with Kirsten as much and Felicity was a bit too history book American for me. I got lost after they brought out Josefina, but was happy that they kept doing different eras and slowly added more diversity to the historical sisterhood. I'm still waiting for the Civil Rights Era doll, but I won't hold my breath.

(Imagine this in a kids size...yea, I was styling)

A.O. Scott of the New York Times, describes the film and its importance in this New York Times Article and he does hit on some solid points about the film industry and target audiences. We've seen it with Tyler Perry and the continued success of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's pre-NYU empire and all the Disney Channel productions (Lizzie McGuire, Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, That's So Raven, Hannah Montana). Even a Barbie theatrical production a few years ago prompted signs of joy and relief that girls could still partake in the idealism. Even more relief was prompted when Disney announced it would make another cartoon fairy tale, and this time starring Maddy, the black princess from NOLA.* There is an audience that needs films like this and in the hypersexualized culture that we live in, the innocence of being an American girl is something to be desired. Sure we know its not all sugar and spice and everything nice. Life is something more like that's portrayed in crazy movies like KIDS or Thirteen, but people do still want a bit of the fantasy, the escape, and the idealism. NOT a crazy essentialized idealism, but something that's not on the wild and crazy end of the spectrum and not on the Disney Channel. It also can't hurt to have a nice little Depression Era story in this crazy recession.

Of course this is not an end all be all. Coming out of the American Girl franchise its still steeped in ideas of consumerism and promoting good little shoppers and brand loyalty out of American girls who will see the film, dolls in hand and probably dressed in some of the costumes from the catalog. Proper gender roles will still be inscribed and who knows what Abigail Breslin may do in a few years. But still, it has to be better than when my sister was forced to take me to the Spice Girls movie after Saturday School at the old Flatbush Pavillion on Flatbush and 7th Avenue in Brooklyn and my friends and I bought Spice Girls lollipops everyday to get the free stickers that I collected. For that, I apologize Shirley.

Celebrate all it means being a girl:




*Really Random: Ever noticed how these modern ethnic minority fairy tales are all localized: Mulan was Chinese in China, Pocahantas was Native American in emerging colonial America, and now this black girl is from the South. Understandably Jasmine was from the Middle East, that was based on the Arabian Nights stories. I also do understand why these characters need locations to make their stories work, but I still find it interesting. I wonder if the Grimm Brothers gave locations to Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty.

He Came Classy With It

Way back when, Noel Gallagher of Oasis stated his dismay at a rap artist being chosen to headline the Glastonbury festival out her in the jolly ole'. Glastonbury was supposed to remain for guitar based rock music (even if Amy Winehouse was performing as well, but not going there). It was plastered all over the free newspapers of London, but I heard nothing of a retort by Jay-Z, which you have to admit is a bit unusual for a rapper.

This is perhaps the classiest comeback. As reported by Spinner, Jay -Z simply acquiesed to Gallagher, performing classic Oasis song, "Wonderwall" at the show as part of his set.

Summer Forecast: Sun Showers

AKA Crown Heights, this is not looking good.


The Associated Press (via the NY Times) has reported that 4 black 14 year-olds have been arrested for throwing rocks and yelling racial epithets at a Jewish school bus full of toddlers (See article here). As we've seen both here and here, things have not been shaping up so nicely this summer.
Unfortunately the neighborhood will continue to live under the cloud of the 1991 deaths and riot. Although the storm may have come and gone, apparently there are still showers of racial discord that still have not been properly addressed.

Throwback Pop Culture Clip

It's Thursday and it's that time again. In honor of the Vogue Italia release and all the wonderful British tabloid coverage of black women, weaves, and hair loss I bring you Naomi Campbell with another lost soul, Michael Jackson. Poor Naomi has even gone and upset Nelson Mandela, and is now banned from his 90th birthday concert this week. Shame on you for upsetting a venerable old man.

My Favorite Scenes: Talent Show Redirect

Doing my usual internet procrastination, I came across this blog entry which basically did all of my homework for me. idd it so well I've gone from a C student to an A+. Click here for a link to "What Would Thembi Do?" and her article on The Black Sitcom and The Talent Showcase. It fits right in with my references to Eddie Winslow, Aunt Rachel, Tia, Tamera, Roger, and Marcus singing at every chance they got in the last My Favorite Scenes.

When I Grow Up! Revisited.

So it is unlikely that this awesome concierge position will actually be my future. (I have no real future career). But it does remind you of that special time in elementary school when this question is first asked and wide eyed optimistic children respond with the careers that society seems to be based around. You then have a classroom full of doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, fire fighters, U.S. presidents and hair stylists. However as you get older reality starts to set in, as well as likes, dislikes and your parents desires change those goals and more diverse careers emerge like lawyers,journalists, fashion models, actors, and artists.

At some point when you start college you learn what an investment banker is and that there are these organizations called consulting firms and hedge funds. (Some kids know what they are growing up, but I'm not talking about those privileged ones.) Once again career ideals change and people who once wanted to be a doctor or teacher see the lure of business and venture there. But is there anything inherently wrong with that?(Full disclaimer: I went to the dinners, decided Boston Consulting Group was the only firm I liked, started my cover letter and then remembered I did not really want to do that so never applied.)

The New York Times visits the issue this week in a piece entitled "Big Paychecks or Service." The author discusses the pull on students who once had other goals to enter business fields where they can make loads of money. Usually its a base salary around 60-70 thousand and then tens of thousands of dollars added on in bonuses-serious cash for a 21-23 year old to make on their first job, and a salary that most people in other career fields,say primary education or journalism, spend their careers attempting to earn.

The article does address a huge issue in that many people do lose sight of their larger goals in life chasing money at a young age. I have also seen the torture it wreaks on students in the process. There are countless interviews and math evaluations. You fly around the country so that different offices can determine their approval in the midst of working on your thesis, carrying a full course load, and you are still expected to participate in student life. Students take the leap from "I came here to go back and better my community" to "I came here and want some money so I can ascribe to the lifestyle in front of me, the community will figure it out eventually."But it also ignores the fact that many people also choose this path for other reasons. For one, some people actually have families that need financial assistance and this is perhaps the best way out at the moment. People also have plans for their lives post banking. This often serves as the launchpad for one's own business ideas. Many do go back to working towards their goal and this was simply a fun or necessary financial detour along the way. Similarly, just like young people that go about their grand tour post college, this banking lifestyle is a great way to travel and live in other cities essentially on your jobs dime.


Also there are tons of students that just don't have a clue as to what they are doing post graduation. They flit and flutter around during the summer and find a job that often is not in hard core business. Others do go for further education bettering themselves and building more debt in the process. And still several do reach their original goals simply taking detours along the way. It's not a dichotomy of "we help people" vs. "we help ourselves." Often it's more of a mix and I have heard of quite the fair share of students doing teaching programs just to get the free education masters whether or not they will ever actually use it. Even more, there are some people that actually enjoy the idea of investment banking and consulting and hedge funds and all that business jazz. They love quantitative evaluations

This long ramble was just to say that I found the New York Times article biased. Within the limits of the line or word count I am certain there was a way to take into consideration the other side of the story and not simply paint a wide brush over the students that pick a different route. Maybe colleges should enact more loan forgiveness programs like the ones available at several law schools. Perhaps that would help in the battle.

Sidenote: I did like the point about schools homogenizing their students. While not necessarily in the case of careers, there is a point there.

On the Street|Cinched: Why the New York Times need a clue?

It was the New York times that started the fist bump foolishness. In perhaps the cutest article ever about Barack Obama and his assistant, Reggie Love they spoke of "closed-fist high-fives" to which my friends and I laughed, knowing that they had to be talking about a "pound" or "dap." That was alright New York Times. You just needed a way to express the imagery of the action to the public. Little did you know Michelle and Barack would do it a few days on tv, making the public aware of something they were already aware of (Even the Dalai Lama gives pounds. I've seen pics.)

There was also that random Style article about chipped nail polish that discussed how it was now acceptable to have chipped nails. I convened with friends again. We decided it wasn't and that the article was silly. But then again, London girls think black tights or stocking with holes in the summer is acceptable, so I just may be old fashioned like that.

This past weekend we were graced with Bill Cunningham's "On the Street|Cinhed" audio visual feature. Check it out here.
Now I'm just concerned about my hometown paper.

Things I wonder:
1. Where did they find so many shirtless guys? Sure people go shirtless on their block, and NYC did just have a heatwave, but those dudes were passing a Zara making it one of 4 or 5 locations(that I can think of), and the shirtless is just not that normal. It had to all be at the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

2. Really NY Times? One, this is not new. As Mr. Cunningham pointed out, guys have been wearing baggy jeans for quite some time now. Contrary to popular belief, they often did wear belts with them. There had to be away for the jeans not to completely fall off. Also, I've seen this ridiculousness in Brooklyn for quite some time from baggy to fitted jeans. Top Shottas are Top Shottas everywhere.

3. I'm a fan of relating history to everything. After all I was a history concentrator. The depression connection was a little weak. I'm somewhat doubting that super low rise jeans will come in fashion for men as a way of rationing fabric. It's supposedly going out for women though, so who knows. That along with the graffiti connection and the relevance to hip hop culture should have been developed more. Really, my history tf would have graded you worse than they graded me.

4. White kids do live in the city, not just Long Island, Westchester and the UES (which may as well not be the city). They also adapt to and contribute to these fashion musings. But they are not top shottas. Sorry.

Gawker agrees this is ridiculous.

Hey, New York Times. See how I knew this was all bogus. I could be a real help. Hire me!

H.A.U.L.