No wonder the Jets ain’t isht… SMH. Via NYPost : Jets owner Woody Johnson was asked if it was more important for him that his team have a winning season or Romney wins next month’s presidential election. “I think you always have to put country first,” said Johnson, who is the chairman of Romney’s campaign in New York, on Bloomberg TV’s “Money Matters.” “I think it’s very, very important not only for us, but for our kids and grandkids that this election come off with Mitt Romney and Ryan as president and vice president.” Johnson vented his frustration with the Jets’ 34-0 loss to the 49ers on Sunday. “The coaches and I were not happy with what happened yesterday, and the players aren’t either,” Johnson said. “So our job now . . . we are still leading in the AFC East , but that performance was absolutely unacceptable.” Like his coach Rex Ryan, Johnson had to fend off questions about Tim Tebow replacing Sanchez as the team’s starting quarterback. “There’s going to be more pressure, but this quarterback can get the job done,” Johnson said. “He really can. He had a bad day, the whole team had a bad day. Receivers have to be in the right spot. A few plays here and there, which is the norm of football today that went against us . .. and it could have been a different game.” The question about the 2-2 Jets’ starting quarterback situation have grown as Sanchez has struggled the past three weeks after a stellar season opener against the Bills. “It doesn’t mean Tim Tebow is going to be starting next week, but it’s a question that’s going to be asked more frequently if this progresses because it’s unacceptable,” Johnson said. “We failed in all three areas — offense, defense, special teams — and we let our fans down.” Sounds like this guy is oblivious to the fact that BOTH his teams are losers. Photo Credit: Dale Stephanos
Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire featuring Nicki Minaj (Live) – Music – More Music Videos Gabby Douglas Performs With Alicia Keys And Nicki Minaj 2012 Video Music Awards (VMA’s) MTV
POTUS Barack Obama Shut It Down at the DNC last night. He let us know that he’s fought a good fight and that times have changed. “I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention,” Obama said. “The times have changed –- and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president. “I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs. If the critics are right that I’ve made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them. And while I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, ‘I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.’” “America,” Obama offered at the conclusion of his speech, “I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder — but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer — but we travel it together. We don’t turn back.” “After all that we’ve been through, I don’t believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help the small businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. We have been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not going back,” said Obama. “We are moving forward.” The comments concluded a three-day convention that was equal parts proudly unapologetic about the president’s record and hostile to Mitt Romney’s. There were mishaps: one self-inflicted (platform language over Jerusalem’s status as the capital of Israel), the other a force of nature (concerns over thunderstorms forced the campaign to move the final night into the much more confined Time Warner Cable Arena). But by the count of most observers, including some Republicans, it was a bigger hit than the GOP conventions that preceded it. In case you missed our President’s speech we’ve got it here… It was a good week at the DNC Source Images via Youtube/Getty
We got such strong reactions from our post about Rashida Jones picking her white side to make it in Hollyweird that we felt compelled to do a little digging into her old interviews and we had to revisit this 2005 Glamour Magazine interview that really delved into Rashida’s upbringing alongside her sister Kidad and includes quotes from their actress mom Peggy Lipton and their producer dad Quincy Jones. It goes a long way in explaining why Rashida relates so well to Jewish folk and how she got turned off black men. We thought it was also interesting because her sister Kidada, who relates more to her black side, even says at one point that Rashida passed for white back in the day. Here’s some excerpts from the part of the interview about their childhood, we’ve bolded the parts of the interview that stood out most to us: RASHIDA: I wouldn’t trade my family for anything. My mother shocked her Jewish parents by marrying out of her religion and race. And my father: growing up poor and black, buckling the odds and becoming so successful, having the attitude of “I love this woman! We’re going to have babies and to hell with anyone who doesn’t like it!” KIDADA: We had a sweet, encapsulated family. We were our own little world. But there’s the warmth of love inside a family, and then there’s the outside world. When I was born in 1974, there were almost no other biracial families–or black families–in our neighborhood. I was brown-skinned with short, curly hair. Mommy would take me out in my stroller and people would say, “What a beautiful baby…whose is it?” Rashida came along in 1976. She had straight hair and lighter skin. My eyes were brown; hers were green. IN preschool, our mother enrolled us in the Buckley School, an exclusive private school. It was almost all white. RASHIDA: In reaction to all that differentess, Kidada tried hard to define herself as a unique person by becoming a real tomboy. KIDADA: While Rashida wore girly dresses, I loved my Mr. T dolls and my Jaws T-shirt. But seeing the straight hair like the other girls had, like my sister had…I felt: “It’s not fair! I want that hair!” PEGGY: I was the besotted mother of two beautiful daughters I’d had with the man I loved–I saw Kidada through those eyes. I thought she had the most gorgeous hair–those curly, curly ringlets. I still think so! KIDADA: One day a little blond classmate just out and called me “Chocolate bar.” I shot back: “Vanilla!” QUINCY: I felt deeply for Kidada; I thought racism would be over by the eighties. My role was to put things in perspective for her, project optimism, imply that things were better than they’d been for me growing up on the south side of Chicago in the 1930s. KIDADA: I had another hurdle as a kid: I was dyslexic. I was held back in second grade. I flunked algebra three times. The hair, the skin, the frustration with schoolwork: It was all part of the shake. I was a strong-willed, quirky child–mischievous. RASHIDA: Kidada was cool. I was a dork. I had a serious case of worship for my big sister. She was so strong, so popular, so rebellious. Here’s the difference in our charisma: When I was 8 and Kidada was 10, we tried to get invited into the audience of our favorite TV shows. Mine was Not Necessarily the News, a mock news show, and hers was Punky Brewster, about a spunky orphan. I went by the book, writing a fan letter–and I got back a form letter. Kidada called the show, used her charm, wouldn’t take no for an answer. Within a week she was invited to the set! KIDADA: I was kicked out of Buckley in second grade for behavior problems. I didn’t want my mother to come to my new school. If kids saw her, it would be: “your mom’s white!” I told Mom she couldn’t pick me up; she had to wait down the street in her car. Did Rashida have that problem? No! She passed for white. RASHIDA: “Passed”?! I had no control over how I looked. This is my natural hair, these are my natural eyes! I’ve never tried to be anything that I’m not. Today I feel guilty, knowing that because of the way our genes tumbled out, Kidada had to go through pain I didn’t have to endure. Loving her so much, I’m sad that I’ll never share that experience with her. KIDADA: Let me make this clear: My feelings about my looks were never “in comparison to” Rashida. It was the white girls in class that I compared myself to. Racial issues didn’t exist at home. Our parents weren’t black and white; they were Mommy and Daddy. RASHIDA: But it was different with our grandparents. Our dad’s father died before we were born. We didn’t see our dad’s mother often. I felt comfortable with Mommy’s parents, who’d come to love my dad like a son. Kidada wasn’t so comfortable with them. I felt Jewish; Kidada didn’t. KIDADA: I knew Mommy’s parents were upset at first when she married a black man, and though they did the best they could, I picked up on what I thought was their subtle disapproval of me. Mommy says they loved me, but I felt estranged from them. While Rashida stayed and excelled at Buckley, Kidada bumped from school to school; she got expelled from 10 in all because of behavior problems, which turned out to be related to her dyslexia. KIDADA: We had a nanny, Anna, from El Salvador. I couldn’t get away with stuff with her. Mommy knew Anna could give her the backup she needed in the discipline department because she was my color. Anna was my “ethnic mama.” PEGGY: Kidada never wanted to be white. She spoke with a little…twist in her language. She had ‘tude. Rashida spoke more primly, and her identity touched all bases. She’d announce, “I’m going to be the first female, black, Jewish president of the U.S.!” KIDADA: When I was 11, a white girlfriend and I were going to meet up with these boys she knew. I’d told her, because I wanted to be accepted, “Tell them I’m tan.” When we met them, the one she was setting me up with said, “You didn’t tell me she was black.” That’s When I started defining myself as black, period. Why fight it? Everyone wanted to put me in a box. On passports, at doctor’s offices, when I changed schools, there were boxes to check: Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, Asian. I don’t mean any dishonor to my mother–who is the most wonderful mother in the world, and we are so alike–but: I am black. Rashida answers questions about “what” she is differently. She uses all the adjectives: black, white, Jewish. RASHIDA: Yes, I do. And I get: “But you look so white!” “You’re not black!” I want to say: “Do you know how hurtful that is to somebody who identifies so strongly with half of who she is?” Still, that’s not as bad as when people don’t know. A year ago a taxi driver said to me, That Jennifer Lopez is a beautiful woman. Thank God she left that disgusting black man, Puffy.” I said, “I’m black.” He tried to smooth it over. IF you’re obviously black, white people watch their tongues, but with me they think they can say anything. When people don’t know “what” you are, you get your heart broken daily. KIDADA: Rashida has it harder than I do: She can feel rejection from both parties. RASHIDA: When I audition for white roles, I’m told I’m “too exotic.” When I go up for black roles, I’m told I’m “too light.” I’ve lost a lot of jobs, looking the way I do. PEGGY: As Kidada grew older, it became clear that she wouldn’t be comfortable unless she was around kids who looked more like her. So I searched for a private school that had a good proportion of black students, and when she was 12, I found one. KIDADA: That changed everything. I’d go to my black girlfriends’ houses and–I wanted their life! I lived in a gated house in a gated neighborhood, where playdates were: “My security will call your security.” Going to my black friends’ houses, I saw a world that was warm and real, where families sat down for dinner together. At our house, Rashida and I often ate dinner on trays, watching TV in Anna’s room, because our dada was composing and performing at night and Mom sat in on his sessions. RASHIDA: But any family, from any background, can have that coziness too. KIDADA: I’m sure that’s true, but I experienced all that heart and soul in black families. I started putting pressure on Mommy to let me go to a mostly black public school. I was on her and on her and on her. I wouldn’t let up until she said yes. PEGGY: So one day when Kidada was 14, we drove to Fairfax High, where I gave a fake address and enrolled her. KIDADA: All those kids! A deejay in the quad at lunch! Bus passes! All those cute black boys; no offense, but I thought white boys were boring. I fit in right away; the kids had my outgoing vibe. My skin and hair had been inconveniences at my other schools–I could never get those Madonna spiked bangs that all the white girls were wearing–but my girlfriends at Fairfax thought my skin was beautiful, and they loved to put their hands in my hair and braid it. The kids knew who my dad was an my stock went up. I felt secure. I was home. RASHIDA: Our parents divorced when I was 10; Kidada went to live with Dad in his new house in Bel Air, and I moved with Mom to a house in Brentwood. Mom was very depressed after the divorce, and I made it my business to keep her company. KIDADA: I wanted to live with Dad not because he was the black parent, but because he traveled. I could get away with more. RASHIDA: At this time, anyone looking at Kidada and me would have seen two very different girls. I wore my navy blue jumper and crisp white blouse; K wore baggy Adidas sweatsuits and door-knocker earrings. My life was school, school, school. I’m with Bill Cosby: It’s every bit as black as it is white to be a nerd with a book in your hand. KIDADA: The fact that Rashida was good at school while I was dyslexic intimidated me and pushed me more into my defiant role. I was ditching classes and going to clubs. RASHIDA: About this time, Kidada was replacing me with younger girls from Fairfax who she could lead and be friends with. KIDADA: They were my little sisters, as far as I was concerned. RASHIDA: When I’d go to our dad’s house on weekends, eager to see Kidada, the new “little sisters” would be there. She’d be dressing them up like dolls. It hurt! I was jealous! KIDADA: You felt that? I always thought you’d rejected me. RASHIDA: Still, our love for the same music–Prince, Bobby Brown, Bell Biv DeVoe–would bring us together on weekends. It sounds like the Jones girls had quite an interesting upbringing, but it’s clear that Kidada always knew she was attracted to black men and Rashida was more open to “others.” Still, we thought it interesting that Rashida says she never tried to be what she wasn’t but later in the story she describes how once she went to college at Harvard she “chose” her black side and created an identity to “fit in” with the black crowd there. Hit the flip for that and to see actual scans from the story.
Big girls need love too! Some Female Olympians Say They’re Judged More On Looks Than On Athletic Skill We’re thinking Gabby Douglas would agree with this gripe right about now… American weightlifter Holley Mangold tips the scales at 346 pounds (157 kilograms) and she is proud of being the heaviest woman at the London Olympics. Mangold, 22, who competed in the women’s 75 kilogram-plus division, is one of growing number of women athletes speaking out at their frustration with the public scrutiny of their body size and image rather than their fitness and skills. At the 2012 Olympics, a list of top female athletes have hit back at critics who have called them fat including British heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, Australian swimmer Liesel Jones, and the Brazilian women’s soccer team. British weightlifter Zoe Smith won fans when she hit back at attacks on Twitter saying she looked like a “lesbian” and a “bloke”, addressing her critics as “chauvinistic, pigheaded blokes who feel emasculated (as) we .. are stronger than them”. The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF), a UK charity aiming to get more women into sport to build self-esteem and confidence, said only 12 percent of British girls at age 14 were doing enough exercise to meet recommended guidelines. WSFF Chief Executive Sue Tibballs said their research found negative body image was consistently cited as a barrier for girls participating in exercise as popular culture gave out the message it was more important to be thin than fit. Quite interesting that weightlifting often requires these women to be this size…..and then they are criticized for it. Source Image via Wenn
Josh Hutcherson, a co-founder of LGBT group Straight But Not Narrow, will receive the Vanguard Award at the 23rd annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 21. The organization made the announcement today, adding of The Hunger Games star: “Emerging as a leader in a new generation of equality advocates, Josh Hutcherson has consistently used his platform to help young people understand that no one should face discrimination simply because of who they are. Josh’s commitment to achieving equality for every American is a message he carries in his work both on screen and off, earning him the honor of being GLAAD’s youngest-ever Vanguard Award recipient.” Josh Hutcherson PSA Ellen DeGeneres will host the ceremony, which will include a performance by Jason Mraz and appearances by Betty White, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Joshua Jackson, Kat Graham and others. Past recipients of the Vanguard Award – which recognizes a celebrity who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT folks – include Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold, Aaron Spelling, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Taylor, Eric McCormack and Antonio Banderas.
Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans apparently has or had issues with cutting herself, according to former pal Tori Rhyne, who is selling her out hardcore lately. Rhyne tells Radar that Jenelle’s extensive and well-documented family turmoil initially put her in a bad place, leading to Evans’ self-destructive behavior. “They’re all crazy,” Rhyne said of the Evans family. Well, yeah. Tori says that when Jenelle’s parents split, “It just messed with her head” and that Jenelle would constantly call her crying about any number of things. Rhyne said she would reassure her things would get better, and became painfully aware of Jenelle’s cutting fixation when she would visit her house. Even with her wrists concealed, either wrapped or covered by long sleeves, “Sometimes you [could] see the blood and stuff,” Rhyne recalled. She says she’d try to cheer Jenelle Evans up by telling her that “she is not alone,” but with only mixed results, leading to a rift between the girls. Rhyne admits her frustration with Jenelle even caused her to turn physically abusive toward her at times – even before their INSANE fight on Teen Mom 2 (below). Jenelle Evans Fights Roommate on Teen Mom 2 “I would actually slap her cuts that she had on her wrist,” Rhyne says. “I knew it was gonna hurt her a little bit, but I wanted to make a point.” Consider it made. Studies indicate between 2-3 million Americans have inflicted harm to themselves intentionally, Jenelle and Demi Lovato included. If you’re one of them, get help. As for Jenelle, she recently broke up with Gary Head and is said to be off drugs and seeking custody of son Jace , so hopefully she’s doing better.
As band’s first album in nearly eight years hits stores on Tuesday, Mark Hoppus tells MTV News that Blink is back from the brink. By James Montgomery Blink-182 Photo: Jeff Kravitz/Film Magic It’s been almost eight years since Blink-182 released their last album but, in a lot of ways, it feels much, much longer. There’s been no shortage of drama in that period, starting with the band’s ’05 breakup and continuing right on through the deaths of close friends Jerry Finn and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein , and the plane crash that left drummer Travis Barker seriously injured. There was the gradual cooling of tensions and the triumphant reunion , the raucous tour kickoff and finally, the two-year process of recording a new album. And after all that, Blink are finally back with Neighborhoods , a record that crams all those highs and lows into just 36 minutes. It hit stores Tuesday (September 27), bringing one (very dark) chapter of the band’s career to a close, while simultaneously jump-starting another. And on the day of its release, MTV News emailed Blink’s Mark Hoppus to get his take on the long road he and his bandmates took, and just what lies ahead. Echoing the sentiments of many long-suffering Blink fans, he’s having a hard time wrapping his head around all of this too. “[It’s been] eight years since the last Blink-182 album was released. I can’t believe it. It seems like just last year, and yet so much has happened since then,” he wrote to us. “And now, finally, the new album that we’ve been talking about and working on for the past two years is out. This is the best part, the part where it turns from ideas in our head and abstract descriptions of what it might or will sound like, into a being unto itself. A CD. An mp3. A thing … that people can listen to for themselves.” And while Hoppus is thankful to begin moving forward, he can’t help but look back too. It’s sort of inevitable, given everything that’s happened in the eight years between Blink albums. But, in a lot of ways, those trials and tribulations have not only made the band stronger, but helped create an album they are all endlessly proud of. And now, it’s all yours. “It has been a long trip to get here … five years of pain and animosity, the passing of some of our dearest friends, the rebuilding of our band. And now the new album is here,” Hoppus continued. “Initial reaction to the songs and record has been overwhelmingly positive, and for that I’m truly grateful and excited. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with us through thick and thin. This record is for all of you. I hope the album means as much to you as it does to us.” Share your reviews of the latest Blink album in the comments below! Related Artists blink-182 Mark Hoppus
‘I haven’t seen the films,’ frontwoman Ritzy Bryan confesses, despite landing lead-off track on ‘Breaking Dawn’ soundtrack. By James Montgomery Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” Photo: Summit Entertainment There are some bands prepared for the increased attention that a spot on a “Twilight” soundtrack brings. And then there are bands like voluminous rockers the Joy Formidable who, despite snagging the opening slot on the upcoming “Breaking Dawn” soundtrack , remain blissfully unaware of everything to come. Or, really, everything about the “Twilight” series, for that matter. “I can’t say I’ve ever read one. I haven’t seen the films either, but I have heard the soundtracks, and I was familiar with some of the songs, you know, Metric and the Black Keys ,” frontwoman Ritzy Bryan told MTV News. “So I was more aware of the musical side of ‘Twilight’ than I was the books or the movies. Actually, I know very little [about the books]. I know they’re about vampires, and I know they’ve connected very much with an audience … so they’re obviously much enjoyed by a lot of people.” And yet, despite all that, their contribution to the “Breaking Dawn” soundtrack — a ringing, downright desperate song called “Endtapes” that will be the album’s lead-off track — fits seamlessly; mostly because, as Bryan explained, it is very much about the themes that remain central to the “Twilight” series. “The song was written at the same time as our album, and because of that, it has a lot of the tone and the feel of the album. And those songs, there’s a lot of turbulence going on, and it definitely chronicles a year that was very turbulent on one hand, but you know, it’s me trying to push for that hope and that sense of optimism,” she said. “It’s a song that captures that spirit. It’s a song about the frustration of not being able to have closure on a difficult situation.” And given that, unlike fellow “Breaking Dawn” artist Christina Perri , she’s basically oblivious to the entire “Twilight” phenomenon, Bryan has no idea where “Endtapes” will be used in the upcoming “Breaking Dawn” film … shoot, she’s not even sure she and her bandmates will get invited to the premiere. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t go, of course. “I don’t know anything about that! If we get an invite, I wouldn’t mind going to the cinema. I haven’t been to the cinema for such a long time,” she laughed. “We’ve been perpetually on the road for about a year and a half, and we watch lots and lots of DVDs in our van, but a trip to the cinema would be wonderful. I would have to do some laundry, but that would be fine!” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com .
Soulja Boy has issued an apology for dissing U.S. troops on his song “Let’s Be Real.” The offending lyrics were as follows: “F–k the FBI and f–k all the army troops… fighting for what? B—h be your own man… I’ll be flying through the clouds with green like I’m Peter Pan.” The Atlanta rapper released the following statement to the Global Grind site : “In no way do I want to hurt any of our honorable soldiers who put their lives at risk, regardless of how they feel about the two wars we fight in. I am just frustrated that we haven’t been able to bring you all home quick enough and my frustration got the best of me. I am deeply sorry. As an artist, I let my words get the best of me. Sometimes there are things that we feel, things that we want to express, and when we put them on paper and speak them out loud, they can come out wrong. When I expressed my frustration with the U.S. Army, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them. So, I write this to give my sincerest apology to all members of the United States military services, as well as their families that were offended by my most recent lyrics.” However, Soulja Boy seemed to take a less diplomatic approach in a Tweet he sent earlier: “If people would listen and have more info they would know I was talking about the funds of war not being put towards education.” And he posted this earlier: “Some people just mess with me because its me. Y’all know that for a fact. They know I love America they just doing this cuz its me. Whatever.” Military Vet Demands Apology From Soulja Boy For Bashing The Army Troops [VIDEO] Soulja Boy Makes It Rain For 21st Birthday [VIDEO] Soulja Boy Hit With $1 Million Lawsuit Soulja Boy Says He Will “Hoe That N*igga Ice-T On Everything”
