McKey Crowned ANTM Cycle 11 Winner

Admittedly, I am an America’s Next Top Model enthusiast; I have seen every cycle at least two or more times and every cycle, I immediately fall in love or at least fall into deep like with one or two of the girls and this past season was no different. Granted, the two women I was rooting for did not come out on top, and this season rubbed me a little differently than any of the other cycles that preceded it.

Cycle 11 of America’s Next Top Model is the only cycle that left me thinking ‘Why?’ Throughout the past weeks I was rooting for firstly, Elina because I love a woman who knows who she is and what she stands for and the passion that was driving Elina is unmistakable and beautiful in itself, never mind the fact that she is absolutely gorgeous. When Elina was eliminated, I started rooting for Analeigh because of how down to earth she is; she shows us that something as simple as being courteous, polite and overall nice to other people is admirable and makes you even more attractive as a person. But when Analeigh was eliminated before Mr. Jay’s remarkable runway show and the two contestants left standing were Sam and McKey, I just sat on my couch, staring at the television asking myself ‘How?’ Never mind the fact that this past cycle of America’s Next Top Model seemed forced and tacky with an absolutely horrible performance by Tyra Banks throughout its entirety, but by the time the last two women were standing, I couldn’t help but ask myself where all of the women with actual model potential went.

When Tyra Banks boasts about how she is attracted to ugly pretty women or that she sees the ugliness in women to be beautiful, if I had any doubt of that ability before, she has proven to hold true to that self-proclamation. After Sam and McKey walked the Dr. Suess-like runway created by Mr. Jay and after hardly any ‘on the edge of your seat’ time waiting for her to announce the winner, Brittany ‘McKey’ Sullivan was crowned Ms. ANTM Cycle 11 Winner.

McKey did an exclusive interview for WPIX and not only is this an in-depth interview containing stuff you really didn’t want to know (such as the fact that McKey is full of useless information, such as why your pee smells weird after eating asparagus) but it really is an out of the ordinary interview because former ANTM cycle 11 contestant, Sheena, is the interviewer, which makes for a different kind of interview due to the fact that the two women are actually friends.

Although I personally think McKey is hideous and has a mouth that reminds me much of a horse, I do admit that she has come a very long way in the world of striking a pose for the camera. She walked into ANTM not knowing anything about modeling or how to take a pretty picture; in fact, during the first photo shoot, McKey boxed in place in order for the photographer to even take a picture. By the end of the season her body contortions were unexpected and a delight to see due to the amount of pictures we have seen throughout the cycles of this show where even as the time progresses, the women do not.

Along with the fame America’s Next Top Model has brought her, the former tomboy from Lake Forrest, Illinios also wins a contract with Elite model management, a spread and cover for Seventeen magazine, and a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl.

Can Angelina Jolie Really Just Fade Away?

In a recent interview with BBC News, Angelina Jolie talked about want to work less, spend more time at home with her more-than-a-handful of kids and just be one of us mere, normal folk.

On working less: “I don’t plan to keep acting very long. I’m ready to do a few things now and fade away and get ready to be a grandma one day. I’m not so worried that I want to keep this pace up and try to be something and be a celebrity.”

On making the decision to stop working: “I don’t think I’ll ever say that I’m never ever going to work, because maybe there’s that interesting project where I’ll feel creative, but certainly I think now I haven’t worked for a year — I’ll work for a few months in February. I won’t work again probably for another year, so maybe it’ll be once a year and then maybe it’ll be once every three years.”

On being with her kids: “I like being home a lot. First and foremost, I have a lot of children, and I need to make sure they’re growing right and they’ve got us there for them.”

So what do you think, will it really be that easy for Jolie to just fade into the background? I’m thinking no, but it is great to see someone taking a hands on approach to actually parenting instead of letting the nannies handle everything.

To watch the full BBC interview, click here and also be sure to check out Angelina Jolie’s newest movie, Changeling.

Book Review: The Wilde Women by Paula Wall

‘The Lord giveth and most women piss it away.’ With just the first sentence of the prologue of The Wilde Women, I knew I was in for a treat; honest insight of the intricate, and sometimes misunderstood, minds of women; straight from the source.

Paula Wall is brutally honest, charming and hysterical in this book that from the title and synopsis and through the prologue and first few chapters, we are led to believe is about the Wilde women—Sisters, Kat and Pearl who come from a long line of exquisite beauty that stops all men in their tracks and rebellion that only they can understand. However, The Wilde Women does not simply tell the tales of the lives Kat, Pearl and their mother, Lorna have lived, but it brings you in and accepts you as part of the small town of Five Points, a town much like any other, set in Tennessee circa 1920 after the historical stock market crash.

Encompassing sisters who are bitter rivals, townspeople who are so real and who you know so much about you feel like you’ve known them for years, disgustingly rich personalities, poor personalities with lost hope, whiskey, a shotgun wedding, love gained and lost and gained again, and a whorehouse that saves a town, Paula Wall has struck gold with this novel.

As soon as Wall broke away from Kat and Pearl Wilde, I didn’t think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. I loved both of the characters simply because I felt validated in some of the decisions I have personally made in the journey of my life; I felt as if I could be one of these women. The first step an author must take in writing a novel is making their characters easy to relate to and for me, these two characters hit the nail on the head. While I admittedly slowed down the pace in which I had begun reading this book, as soon as I began to know more about the townspeople in Five Points, my pace quickened again and I was hooked; I did not want this book to end. Wall’s writing style is eccentric, poetic and tragically beautiful; I swear that if Paula Wall was a journalist, she could make the Iraq war sound stunning. Her style reminded me a bit of Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway and also Jeanette Winterson in Written on the Body; all beautiful, poetic, captivating and hard to tear yourself away from.

While this is the first piece of writing I have read by Wall, I am eager to read the others. She has previously written The Rock Orchard, a national bestselling novel, as well as two collections of writing entitled If I Were a Man, I’d Marry Me and My Love Is Free…But the Rest of Me Don’t Come Cheap, all possessing extremely favorable reviews and equally as luring titles.

If you are in the mood for an entertaining, thought-provoking, hilarious and eccentric read unlike any of the books you’ve read this year, I could not recommend The Wilde Women enough.

Rating:

This post can also be seen on The Pajama Mommy Community.

Are You Caught Up? Season 2 Finale of Army Wives Airs November 2nd

This past season of Army Wives was sure to keep us on our toes; the lives of the people we feel as if we’ve grown close to have been turned upside down and inside out and the biggest climactic cliff hanger is yet to come.

The season 2 finale of Army Wives will air on Sunday, November 2 at 10pm. Are you caught up? This past season has been chock-full of twists and turns and to fully appreciate the looming season finale, you can watch both seasons of Army Wives in their entirety on myLifetime.

You can watch the preview of the season 2 finale below; the lives of the families we’ve all grown so close to over the past months are sure to change come season 3.

Suspect in Custody in Hudson Murder Case

The actress we’ve grown to love from Dreamgirls and also appearing with our beloved Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City is making headlines left and right recently; but it isn’t her acting that is getting her featured in newspapers across the country, it is a scandal involving the murder of both her mother and her brother.

Sustaining fatal gunshot wounds, Hudson’s mother and brother were found killed in her Chicago home on Friday. Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the deaths appeared to be the result of domestic abuse, the Associated Press reported, and an active Amber Alert has been issues for the 7 year old cousin of Hudson’s, Julian King.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, William Balfour, a suspect in the murders was taken into police custody on Friday. Balfour, said to be the estranged husband of Jennifer’s sister, Julia, remains in custody today and the missing child Julian King, his step-son and Jennifer’s nephew, was not found with him. Police issued an alert on Friday looking for a 1994 white Chevrolet Suburban, which is said to be registered to Jason Hudson, Jennifer’s brother; as of Saturday afternoon, police are reportedly continuing the search for it.

PureSound Records Gives Independent Musicians a Platform

People worldwide are spending more and more time on social media and networking websites than anything else on the internet today. With websites such as MySpace, Last.FM and Pandora, specifically catering to music, independent musicians often lose the limelight and the chance to attract new audiences to their music to more well known musicians and bands. Social music sites also continuously become victims to conglomerate record companies and are forced to close shop due to lawsuits and also due to being bought (and ruined) by bigger, billion-dollar industries. It is for these reasons and also many others that independent music and musicians ultimately suffer and because of that, two independent musicians wanted to give the independent music scene a place to thrive and the chance for independent musicians to attain a concrete fan base.

PureSound Records is an organized, easy to use, social media and networking platform specifically for independent (unsigned) musicians and people who want to be introduced to new music.

PureSound Records not only gives independent musicians a chance to connect and interact with people from all over the world who have been exposed to their music through the website, but they can also connect with other musicians, venues, as well as labels shopping for new talent. This website has the ability to kick start your music career with a world-wide fan base and supportive platform with the potential that nearly no other website has.

The site is very simple to use and the best part is that whether you are signing up as a member who simply wants to be exposed to artists of all genres, an artist, venue, or even a record label, signing up and receiving everything PureSound Records has to offer is completely free.

As an artist, the website gives you a platform to upload your music and offer it for download or streaming, a gallery to upload your pictures or album art, a chart to show you exactly where your music stands on the site compared to other artists, a list of your fans, music from either yourself or other artists on the site that you have added as favorites, areas for video, comments, a guestbook, blog, a section to promote upcoming events, and a bio so fans, fellow artists, venues and labels can get to know a little more about you. As an artist, you also keep full rights over the music that is uploaded to PureSound Records, so you are able to offer your music to fans without losing any credit over the music you have created. This website also gives you a chance to save money, with a feature that is in the works for artists to be able to offer merchandise such as T-shirts without having to buy anything in bulk and potentially lose money. You have complete control over your music, merchandise, and also how much you charge for these items. PureSound Records gives you the control you need in order to further your exposure and your career.

PureSound Records is a dynamic community for independent music and musicians and will continue to strengthen the independent music scenes everywhere through the power of social media and networking.

Sign Up FREE Now!

Lindsay Lohan Confirms She is Dating Samantha Ronson

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson have been photographed by paparazzi several (hundreds) of times and Lohan finally confirmed the public’s assumption that she and Samantha Ronson are an item. Not only that, but she and Ronson, a 31 year old DJ, are said to have been dating for “a very long time.”

Lohan confirmed this on Monday night during the syndicated radio program “Loveline.” Lohan’s publicist, Leslie Sloane-Zelnik, told The Associated Press on Monday that Lohan is not engaged to be married, as the tabloids have been publishing as of late.

All I can say is good for them! The pictures that have been coming out of the two of them show them having a great time and truly enjoying each other’s company and with that, you can want nothing more.

Lynne Spears’ Reaction to Bristol Palin’s Pregnancy

Teen pregnancies are popping up all over the place, but perhaps the two most notable of the year were 17 year old Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy and birth of daughter Maddie and 17 years old Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But there is one, major difference between the two–Lynne Spears believes that Jamie Lynn was crucified by the public for her pregnancy while Bristol’s pregnancy is being celebrated while her mother, Sarah Palin, is continuously being congratulated and applauded.

Lynne Spears says:

“Every woman in the world has applauded her strength and her convictions and poor little old Jamie Lynn, you saw how she was crucified - everybody did, firsthand,” Lynne said. “I just feel like it’s been a very hypocritical situation.”

Lynne also speaks about how the public has accused Jamie Lynn of glamorizing teen pregnancy, which she says isn’t the case.

“We don’t want this said, ’cause this would be glamorizing, but I will tell you a secret: her baby does sleep all night,” Lynne explained. “What do you think about those apples?

“Maddie is the best baby I have ever seen,” Lynne added. “She is like a little angel. She’s so contented. She laughs and she coos and ahead of herself with her stages. But of course we can’t tell that because then we would just glamorize it more.”

C. Leigh Purtill Talks Books with Connie Martinson

We’ve reviewed her two books, Love, Meg and All About Vee and now we have the chance to get to know C. Leigh Purtill a little better. We find out more about the books, the original titles and plots before the editor and publishers got a hold of them and even better, we find out more about Purtill herself in this two-part interview with Connie Martinson on Connie Martinson Talks Books.

Pamela Anderson Tells Kids About Sex Tape

Pamela Anderson’s two kids begged and pleaded with her to see Borat. All of their friends had seen it, were talking about it and they were not letting up; they had the see this movie. It was then that Pamela Anderson realized she would have to tell her 10 and 12 year old children about her infamous sex tape.

She says, “I explained to them… ‘Mom and daddy run about naked all the time and we taped some things… and someone stole the tape.’ They really wanted to see Borat and I finally had a breakdown and let them because all their friends had (seen it) and I said: ‘There are a few things we have to talk about before you see Borat.’ So I did sit down with them and watch Borat. I kind of went ‘La la la’ over the parts I didn’t want them to hear… I tried to muddle through that.”

Hopefully other celebrities realize that sex tapes are not always a good idea to take part in. Limit yourselves, people! While it may seem like fun and games now, because you are a celebrity, it will most likely get leaked and then you’ll have to tell your kids about how “you and [insert person's name/relationship here] didn’t always make the best decisions.” Learning experiences, right?

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