Le Blackberry

At long last I finally got my Blackberry! After months of smart phone envy and wandering into Vodafone wistfully looking at the range of Blackberrys, I now have my own one. It was a toss up between the Curve and the Bold and I decided on the Bold as it was newer and had a slightly wider keyboard which would make it easy for me to type. So far I am loving it and I can see exactly why Blackberrys are so popular. The phone just oozes sex appeal. Not only can I send and receive emails, use Yahoo Messenger, go onto Facebook and Twitter endlessly, I can also take photos, do some filming and download all sorts of nifty software. I am not alone in my complete and utter adulation for the Blackberry as I have several friends and fellow Bloggers who have fallen for it's charms. Also there are lots of celebrities who have the cute device as well such as Barack Obama, Madonna, Brad Pitt, Rhianna, Rachel Zoe, Linday Lohan, Reese Witherspoon, David Beckham, Halle Berry and many many more. The numbers of celebs with Blackberrys is so huge that a blog has been created which feature this. Celebrity Blackberry Sightings is a one stop celebrity shop for pictures of the famous and their Blackberry device. I am not sure who is behind this blog, (I suspect it is the creator of the Blackberry, Research in Motion) all I know is that they also publish RIMarkable which is like an unofficial guide to the Blackberry. You heard it here first.

Geek Chic

Who didn’t see this video of Pharrell Williams trying to sing his way into getting a big mac and fries at MacDonalds in Paris? He never got his big mac and fries but boy did I love him for trying. The performance was geekery in it’s finest form. There was a time when being called a geek or nerd was a huge insult; the term sums up visions of a social inept person with super large glasses who spends their time delved into computer books and comics. Not a good look. However over the last few years that image has been turned upside down as geeks have risen to the top of pop culture. With gadgets becoming de rigor in today’s society and Blackberrys, laptops, Twitter, Facebook now an integral part of our lives it is now chic to be a bit of a geek.

Take this quote from a character in an episode of the animated series, Freakazoid.
“Who writes all the best selling books? Nerds. Who directs the top grossing Hollywood movies? Nerds. Who creates the highly advanced technology that only they can understand? ...Nerds. And who are the people who run for the high office of the Presidency? No one but nerds.”

You can add President Barack Obama to that list, as well as a Blackberry addict, he admits to being a huge fan of Star Trek and collected comic books when he was younger. Not only that but Obama was the first President to embrace the web by introducing online voting which was instrumental in his historic victory. I am sure he is twittering his way through London at the G20 Summit as well as causing carnage in the capital. Other famous geeks are Kanye West, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) and Tiger Woods. On the TV side who can forget lovely, Seth Cohen from The OC decked out in his scuffed sneakers and plaid shirts creasing us up with his quirky observations. His character was based on none other than Josh Schwartz, the creator of The OC and Gossip Girl who is big player in TV.

As individuals have learned to embrace their inner geek the corporate world have cotton onto the act as well. IT companies such as The Geek Squad (who are so cool that they have sponsored London Fashion Week), Geeks on Call and Dial a Geek use the term to display their highly sophisticated IT skills. What can I say - I am a geek and proud! Check out a scene from Sex and the City where Carrie has a one to one with a geek when her Macbook crashes. Very funny!!

My Motherboard, Myself Part 1



My Motherboard, Myself Part 2

Mr and Mrs O

What a fantastic week it has been and it is not even over yet. The last few days has made me feel inspired, hopeful and most of all proud. Barack and Michelle Obama have become the first couple of The White House and exemplified that America have come a very long way since the end of slavery in 1865. With Barack we have  found a powerful orator who possess wonderful leadership skills and with Michelle we have someone who combines intelligence with charm and style. Since Obama's victory last October there has been a lot of talk about what Michelle would wear for the inauguration. People even went as far as to design mock ups of various outfits. She went for a gorgeous yellow gold sheath dress suit set off by cute Jimmy Choo brown heels. For the evening ball she chose a sumptuous white one shoulder gown designed by up and coming designer, Jason Wu. She looked like a graceful swan as she glided around the dance floor with hubby Barack. As awesome as the evening gown was it was the outfit that she wore during the day that stood out for me. Standing by your husband as he is sworn in as President of the most powerful country in the world is a momentous occasion of massive proportions and aside from your wedding day and birth of your children, there is no day bigger than that. So the outfit had to be sombre enough for the occasion but funky enough to reflect the Obama spark. By god she nailed it. That suit was perfect in every way - the cut, length and the colour made her look so vibrant and made her sparkle. 

The outfit was designed by Isabel Toledo, I don't know much about her (I am sure that will change) aside from the fact that she used to be Creative Director of Anne Klein. She is also married to artist, Ruben Toledo who created the wonderful illustrations in The Little Black Book of Style by Project Runway's, Nina Garcia - read my blog entry about it here. The Cuban born couple often collaborate on projects together and in 2005 they won the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for their work in fashion. So this week has been special in many ways - the election of America's first Black President and the unveiling of two brilliant couples. 

Black Love

Images of Black couples in the media has always been a turbulent one and more often than not it has often been negative. The relationship between Black men and women have historically been depicted as dysfunctional, unhealthy and sometime violent. When I was younger I used to wince when a Black couple came onto the big or small screen as I could tell that something horrible was going to happen. A lot of the depiction was down to racism and deep ignorance as well as an imbalance in the number of people of colour who are in production positions in film and TV. The 70s had a few gems in the shape of Lady Sings the Blues in which Diana Ross played jazz singer, Billie Holiday. The story demonstrated how Billie's life was marred by her drug addiction but what was poignant about the film were the loving scenes between Billie and her husband, Louis who was played by Billy Dee Williams. The Cosby Show carried the baton next with the tales of Cliff and Clair Huxtable and their five lively children. Cliff played by the legendary, Bill Cosby absolutely doted on Clair and was not ashamed to show it. Where The Cosby Show left off the films in the 90s and naughties took up and we saw films like Love Jones, Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball representing Black love in a realistic way. Just like any other the couples in these films had their ups and downs but they were treated in a respectful and positive way. Now we see Black love represented in the tallest order. The new President of the United States and his First Lady are a loving couple who have caught the imagination of the world. He the powerful orator who instill passion and pride in his countryman and she the tall elegant figure who is the backbone in the partnership. Together with their two daughters they will be the most glamorous family to enter the White House since JFK and his family swept everyone off their feet in 1960. So it was of great pleasure to me to see the image of Barack kissing his wife tenderly after he had won the presidential campaign plastered all over the media. Talk about full circle. Here's to you Barack and Michelle. Yes We Can!!!