Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
I’m no hater, but I raised my eyebrows a few times during Beyonce’s pyrotechnic-infused Super Bowl performance.
Here's the thing: Queen Bey was beyond phenomenal Sunday night. After all the tongue wagging over her lip synching at President Obama’s inauguration, she needed to bring her A game and boy did she. She killed it, as the saying goes. Even if her skimpy bodysuit outfit was a tad on the dominatrix side, Beyonce looked gorgeous with her flowing, blonde mane blowing out behind her as she stomped around the stage. Her confidence is inspiring. I love the fact that she’s not rail thin and still manages to be as Jay Z raps, “the hottest chick in the game.“ Seeing Destiny’s Child pop up to join her onstage only added to the thrill. I spent much of the halftime show bouncing around and yelling at the TV screen.
Girlfriend turned it out in the dance department, but there were moments when she was gyrating like a stripper who needed money to pay her back rent. You never see Tina Turner laid out across a dirty floor like that. Diana Ross either.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
Today, I heard from the National Constitution Center that former vice president Al Gore couldn’t accommodate the Daily News’ interview request because of his busy schedule.
Really, Al?
Might it also be because Gore, who’s due in Philly Monday for a book event, has been taking too much heat over his sale of Current TV to Al-Jazeera? After all, Gore, who has written three books on the topic, is Mr. Climate Change. And Al-Jazeera is owned by the oil-rich government of Qatar. No wonder some are looking sideways at the $500 million deal which profitted the former presidential candidate an estimated $100 million.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
Flora Pauling couldn’t stop thinking about the 5-year-old girl abudcted from Bryant Elementary School earlier this month.
It didn’t help that her 29-year-old daughter also kept reminding her of the incident and nudging her to do something. “She wore me out,” Pauling said.
So, Pauling, a Democratic state committee woman from the 34th ward, started making calls. She reached out to friends, female city council people, everyone she could think of and asked them to come out for a vigil on Saturday at 2 p.m. outside Bryant Elementary at 60th Street and Cedar Avenue. A friend of hers called the upcoming gathering a “flash mob for old people.”
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
This is a guest blog post by my Daily News colleague Valeria Russ, who does a much better job than I do keeping up with these kinds of cultural activities:
Haile Gerima, the Ethiopian-born filmmaker, will host the Philadelphia premiere of his award-winning film, Teza at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at International House, 3701 Chestnut Street. Gerima, who has taught film a Howard University since 1975, first received international acclaim for his 1993 film Sankofa.
Teza, which means “morning dew” in Amharic, examines the displacement of African intellectuals through the story of a young Ethiopian doctor, who after studying medicine in Germany returns home to find the country he had remembered, changed by political and military turmoil.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
Don't believe everything you read online. I was reminded of that after I did a quick Google search before getting on the phone with Eve, the Grammy-award winning rapper, and then congratulated her on being pregnant. She's not.
“It’s been circulating a lot. A lot. I don’t know where it came from," Eve said of the pregnancy rumors. "I’ve been saying my due date is the album, May 14th, just turning it into that. But no, I'm not pregnant.”
What about the boyfriend, I asked. According to reports I'd read, she's dating a hunky British entrepreneur named Maximillion Cooper and also getting heat from some fans upset with her being in an interracial relationship.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
What’s in a name? Bubbly by any other name would still be champagne, right? Not so fast. Champagne producers in France are in a tizzy because a sparkling California beverage on the menu for Pres. Obama’s inauguration luncheon Monday is being billed as champagne.
Mon dieu!
"Champagne only comes from Champagne," Sam Heitner, the director of the U.S. Champagne Bureau, told Agence France Presse.
Ah geesh. I spotted this ad in a blog post on Philebrity.com and immediately went into say-it-ain't-so mode.
Then, I clicked on the Parx Casino site and saw that it was. Parx is having an "I Have a Dream Sweepstakes" that concludes on the Martin Luther King Federal holiday on Monday. The reference, of course, is to the slain civil rights leader's 1963 speech calling for an end to racism.
How tasteless.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
A wine especially for gays?
At first, it sounded like a joke. But then I clicked on the email touting Égalité as “the first wine created in support of equality for gay Americans.”
Then I got it.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
In the land of cheese steaks, no one should have a problem selling plus-size underwear.
But tell that to Valerie and Phil Cuttino, owners of Lovely's Lingerie inside the inside the Pennsport Mall at Moyamensing Avenue and Moore Street in South Philly. Ever since they opened in May, keeping the business open has been a struggle.
In December, Valerie in desperation wrote into the "Steve Harvey Morning Show" asking for help. Harvey interviewed her live on the air and before she'd even hung up, her website crashed because of all folks trying to get on lovelyslingerie.net. Lovely's phone also started ringing and people began wandering in.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
The University of Texas had no choice but to take action against Beverly Kearney, the Hall of Famer who led the school to six national championships. She resigned on Saturday after admitting to having had an affair with a former student athlete. It’s tragic but the school did what it had to do when it learned of the impropriety and placed her on leave in November.
Yeah, people can argue that what took place between Kearney and the unnamed athlete was consensual and that their relationship took place years ago. But universities have to avoid even the faintest whiff of sexual impropriety of any kind whatsoever. Even if they aren’t always spelled out, there should be certain boundaries between coaches and tudent athlete boundaries. Kearney crossed them when she entered into a sexual relationship with a student athlete.
Kearney became a national symbol of resilience after a 2002 accident left her partially paralyzed. Against the odds, she managed to walk again and return to coaching. I first read about her in “Holla Back but Listen First: A Life Guide for Young Adults.” I reached out to the book’s author, a friend of mine, Mister Mann Frisby, who told me, “I have nothing to say about her right now.”
Read more from Jenice Armstrong at Earth to Philly, the Daily News blog on anything and everything "Green."
Reach Jenice at armstrj@phillynews.com.
