Jenny Moos reports on Eva Longoria, Jessica Alba Petting (Video, Humor)

I have work to do, so I should not be taking the time to post anything so sill, but Jenny Moos's report on Eva Longoria and Jessica Alba petting at the Democratic National Convention was hilarious enough to make me pause and post.

Hooray for Kung Fu Bear: I Needed This

After obsessing about the oil spill in the Gulf that will give us ugliness through August and beyond; writing about North and South Korea talking war; waking up to this morning's news that Israel had attacked a Gaza aid flotilla and 10 people died; contemplating Memorial Day and the number of dead in Afghanistan so far; hearing this evening of the tropical storms in in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador killing 115 people and leaving this gigantic sink hole that swallowed a house and a three-story building, I needed something light like this video of a bear in Japan at a zoo in Hiroshima folks are calling Kung Fu Bear because he can twirl a stick like a baton.

Janelle Monae: I Like this Little Girl Telling Sci Fi Stories in Music

I like the song, the visuals, dance, and storyline in the music video below. Thank you Martin Lindsey for posting this to Facebook. It's the Janelle Monáe "Tightrope" music video featuring Big Boi of OutKast. I'm always happy to learn of new music produced by young people that I can enjoy.

Part of the appeal for me, aside from the lyrics, beat, and dance, is the science fiction flavor. Her new album is called ArchAndroid. She told the Chicago Tribune that she "identifies with androids."

(The album is) a self-empowerment manifesto couched inside a futuristic “emotion-picture” about an android’s battle to overcome oppression. The notion of space travel and “new worlds” becomes a metaphor for breaking the chains that enslave minorities of all types – a theme that has a long tradition in African-American music, from Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic to Cannibal Ox and OutKast.

She also visits the android theme in "Metropolis."

Go, girl, go! My novel includes a subculture of disenfranchised people who practice illegal magic.

Plus this girl, Janelle Monáe, is hot with some Michael Jackson/James Brown old school swagger and skills.



I saw Big Boi on the Martha Stewart Show a while back as I was flipping channels. Thought I was seeing things. Talk about your odd matches, Martha talking about bling and "B-O-I, BTW!" as she said to her audience. Comedy.

Big Boi's released his first solo album, "Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty." Martha asked him if he was breaking up with André 3000. He said, "No."

All the tuxedos in the video also reminded me of the Nicholas Brothers. Here they are dancing Stormy Weather, one of Lena Horne's old films.



Michael Jackson admired them as well. In the clip below he and other Jacksons dance with the tappers, reminding us of all the training that family had.

Lenny Kravitz promotes Gulf Aid Concert (Video)

If you can get your mind off his sexiness, then this Lenny Kravitz video is great for promoting this Sunday's Gulf Aid Concert. Or maybe it's because Kravitz is so sexy, this video is great for promoting this Sunday's Gulf Aid Concert.

Organizers of this Sunday's Gulf Aid benefit concert at Mardi Gras World River City have released the full schedule. Acts will appear on two stages at the site near the Uptown end of Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the "Wetlands Indoor Stage" and the "Coastal Outdoor Stage."

Lenny Kravitz and John Legend close out the Wetlands Stage, preceded by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and special guests rapper Mos Def and trumpeter Terence Blanchard. (story)

The Times Picayune also reports that "Gulf Aid concert beneficiaries haven't been chosen."

Wondering where the proceeds from your $50 ticket to the Gulf Aid benefit show will go?

Unfortunately, the answer isn't crystal-clear, but organizers promise the money will go where it's needed -- in particular, to people who have been directly impacted by the spill.

Planning for the Sunday concert has been a whirlwind, to the point where the beneficiaries have yet to be chosen, organizers said. But the founders of the nonprofit Gulf Relief Foundation, all New Orleans businessmen, have laid out specific criteria for how the proceeds from each ticket sold will be distributed.

I won't be able to attend, but I hope they get the money worked out so the right people get the help they need.

Related Posts and Links:

• Obama Goes on Warpath
• More on Obama's Ire and Oil Spill News
• "I Can't Believe this is Happening."
• Donate your hair to make oil containment boom.
• Poem: Oil
• Photos: Brown Pelicans covered in oil wash ashore
• Books on Louisiana Wetlands
• Graphic presentation: How the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Happened
• Seven hours of data missing from Deepwater Horizon operations just before explosion
• Schedule released for Gulf Aid Concert with Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, and Alvin Toussaint plus others
• Actor Keven Costner joins horde hawking oil clean-up solutions.
• Huffington Post Oil Spill Coverage
• The Blowout Preventer malfunction and a scientist tells how we wrecked the ocean.
• NOLA.com/Times Picayune Oil Spill Coverage
• New Orleans Ladder runs extensive round-up of links.