Summer Jam's Winding Down

The beginning of summer could be viewed as the opening scene of a movie. Shots into the night. The crews and casts. The concerts from every recreational park on the goodwill of every city or county's department of culture, and on the sponsorship of the big rollers in today's commerce -- Heineken, Lucky, Los Angeles Weekly, Downtown Long Beach Associates, Budweiser, Jack In The Box, Burger King, McDonalds, Sonoma Vineyard, CVS Pharmacy, Magic Johnson, Korbel, KLOX 95.5 Los Angeles, Amoeba Records, and so on -- throwing in the big bucks, making sure we party animals, pub-crawlers, concert goers and the Hollywood wannabes gets the best out of it. It is winding down and how could one explain it? Fun? Of course.

Besides all that summer jams and blasts, call it what you want, I somehow did something different during the course of the summer jams not letting anything block my way, no matter what. I read some fascinating books while the summerfest jammed all around. I combed through Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck after my daughter reading it and concluding some of the short stories did not have an ending suggesting there might be a sequel as in a movie or to suspend her readers to figure it out. And, also, interestingly, I read Jeanette Hardage's Mary Slessor -- Everybody's Mother: The Era and Impact of a Victorian Missionary published by WIPF & STOCK taking me aback to the civics lessons of Colonial Mentality which destroyed our cultural heritage bringing about modernity that we see today as civilization, and which ultimately nullified our ancient customs rather than reform them. Remember when "witchcraft, trial by ordeal, the murder of twins" for one must be the offspring of a demon and when barren women were derided as ekwesu, evils in our society? As the story goes on, Mary Slessor, the Scottish Presbyterian missionary, at age twenty-eight dabbled into an agrarian and primitive society in Calabar and did all she could as a missionary to leave a mark in the history books.

I also read The History of Black Religion: Your Spirits Walk Beside Us by Barbara Dianne Savage published by Harvard University Press, which narrates the relationship between a prominent black preacher, Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church in Chicago, and his most famous congregant, Barack Obama, who would become the president of the United States. Savage wrote with style here beginning with the early studies of black religion by W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, and Benjamin Mays and ending with a discussion of Obama and Wright. Interesting read!

Now the book is diverting my attention, so I must face the real deal and while summer is just fun. Nothing but fun, so to speak.

From Long Beach to Los Angeles, and from Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley, it's all about jazz and the summer jams. From Laguna Nigel to Ocean Side, the sweet breeze met the smooth jazz on several trips along the coasts of San Diego heading back North on the 405 Freeway onto the 5 Freeway jamming the farmlands of Central California. It also echoed on the playgrounds of California State University in Bakersfield, breezing through the beautiful smell of produce in Fresno. It's been a hell of a jam despite the "slowmo" economy. It's the economy really bad?

Then all along the 101 North, heading to Woodland Hills, Canoga Park Westlake Village, it's all about the summer jams.

For instance, the three day Long Beach Jazz Festival was one of its kind in the program's 22-year history. The lineup this year was another event that revealed there is actually no show like showbizness. The festival was dedicated to former NBA player and jazz musician Wayman Tisdale who passed away on Friday, May 15th, 2009. My girl, Los Angeles-based performer, Angie Stone, gave it her best with her fifth studio album "Unexpected" scheduled to hit record stores around mid-October and Stone taking her career to a whole new heights said, "people think there is a fixed sound for Angie Stone, but this will be something different across the board," and acknowledging "... there will be some collectible tracks in there. With the exception of Chuck, I'm working with all new producers. I also worked with Juanita Wynn, my sister in soul for the last seven years and she's incredible."

In Black Township's Leimert Park, the 2009 World Stage dropped its own line of programs on Sunday, August 09, on the Vision Theatre parking lot with a bunch of casts and fanfare even though the event and turnout was way below expectation. I was able to talk to a lot of the performers, and had looked forward to seeing Los Angeles Times veteran photo-jounalist, Francine Orr to show up for the historic community's event which unveiled some incredible talents.

I had also spoken to Leimert Park resident, hand drummer, Marvin "Brother Rock" Rock of the Leimert Park Drum Church founded by Nigerian-born Najite Agindotan. Najite was the Chief Priest, Fela Kuti's hand drummer at kalakuta republic. Najite Olokun Prophesy plays weekend at the House of Blues in Hollywood with his cast of Omo ogun, Rock Samori, N'gala, Sherwood Nat Nyema, Nate Morgan, Charley, Kpapko Adu, Phil Ramelin, Bobby Bryant, Alaah-Deen, Andrew Gerald, Chini Kopano, Ndugu, Makida Anderson, and Carol Abata. Bobby Bryant plays alto sax while joined by fellow windist Alaah Deen on tenor saxophone.

Sitting down with Najite and chatting on the course of Leimert Park projects in reviving its cultural landscape, he said the city hasn't done much to promote the historic park's cultural awareness despite all the efforts he had put to bring back life to the community and his own idea of the Leimert Park Drum Church was to make it a yearly thing as in all cultures and fests.

The summer fests is winding down, for sure, and the reamaining lineups seems to be tempting and would be overwhelming. In keeping funk alive, the Long Beach Funk Fest was held on the streets of Long Beach, on the corner of Pine and Broadway, and it was all explosive, featuring back in the day funksters' Mandrill. Dawn Silva, Charles Wright and The Meters' Experience popped up to sustain the future through pure funk. The jam was on till midnight, Saturday, August 29 to wind it down, and I probably have one more big event to attend depending on my schedule -- the one week two festivals at the 33rd Annual Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival featuring Al Jarreau, Neville Brothers, Rick Braun, my buddy Jonathan Butler, Dr. John and the legendary R & B Revue, also, featuring Tommy Castro, Bernard Allison, Rick Estrin and Janiva Magness. The Jazz and Blues Festival starts Sept. 12 for the jazz concerts and Sept 13 for the blues at Johnson's Beach in Guerneville, on the plains of the wine country of Sonoma County.

It's going to be fun, without a doubt, so stick around as there is more to come and time to deal with the nasty political issues of the day, home and abroad.

Content : Links

12 hottest swimsuit videos


Lucy Pinder's Premier league strip tease

Audrina Patridge : Comeback

Born :Audrina Cathleen Patridge
Date :May 9, 1985 (age 24)
Place :Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation :Actress/Television personality
Years active :2005–present
Official Website :www.audrinaxo.com

Audrina Cathleen Patridge (born May 9, 1985) is an American television personality and actress, best known as one of the original primary cast members on the MTV reality show The Hills. Audrina will be appearing as the lead in her own reality series The Audrina Show which premieres in 2010.

Megan Fox : Cheerleader's Dream

Megan fox dressed as a hot little cheerleader for some movie.

Born :Megan Denise Fox
Date :May 16, 1986 (age 23)
Place :Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States
Occupation :Actress/Model
Years active :2001–present
Domestic partner(s) :Brian Austin Green (2004–2009)

Fox has eight known tattoos, including her ex-fiancé's name "Brian" on her lower hip and a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm. Fox also has another tattoo on her right shoulder that reads, "We will all laugh at gilded butterflies" a line adapted from William Shakespeare's play King Lear, a yin and yang tattoo on her left inner wrist, a poem on the left side of her rib cage that reads "there once was a little girl who never knew love until a boy broke her HEART," and a Chinese word for "strength" on her neck. Fox also has a crescent moon overlapping a five pointed star on the inner aspect of her lower leg above her right ankle. This tattoo is the only known colored tattoo that Fox has.

Annalynne Mccord : Nylon Magazine Shoot....Photoshoot

Pictures of Annalynne Mccord from nylon magazine.

Born :AnnaLynne McCord
Date :16 July 1987 (age 22)
Place :Atlanta, Georgia,United States
Years active :2002-present


AnnaLynne McCord (born July 16, 1987) is an American actress.
Known for playing a range of vixen-type roles, McCord first gained prominence in 2007 as the scheming Eden Lord on the FX television series Nip/Tuck, and as the pampered Loren Wakefield on the MyNetworkTV telenovela American Heiress. In film, she has appeared in the action feature Transporter 2, as well as the thriller Day of the Dead.

Lucy Pinder : Bikini Candid : Zoo Magazine

Lucy Pinder bikini pictures from ZOO Magaznie. Read what she has to say about herself on the pictures.Enjoy!!!

Birth name :Lucy Katherine Pinder
Birthdate :20 December 1983 (age 25)
Birth location :Winchester, Hampshire, England
Measurements :32G–26–32 in. (86–66–86 cm)(Does that bother you)
Height :5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight :c. 108 lb (49 kg; 7.7 st)
Shoe size :5-7 (UK)
Eye colour :Brown
Hair colour :Brown
Official Website :www.lucypinder.info


In the summer of 2003, Pinder was spotted by freelance photographer Lee Earle while sunbathing on Bournemouth beach. As a result of the photographs taken that day, she signed a professional modelling contract with Daily Star.

Pinder is an ambassador for Kick 4 Life, a charity that uses football to fight poverty and disease in developing countries. She was going to go to university but her modelling career took off. She has 11 GCSEs and two A-levels.

Why We Bother ?
she is voted to have the best pair of boobs in the world. It will surely intrest you unless you like no girls.

DIARY: That Art & Soul Festival In Oakland, California

The last time I was in the Bay Area, I did not pay much attention to the goings on, particularly Oakland from around which I hadn't been anywhere in the city for quite some time. It had been in and out, business as usual, so, not much to talk about in that regard. But this time around, a whole lot turned out differently. I wasn't aware of the turn around of things in downtown Oakland and for not to have checked in for a while, I was impressed. The city changed, indeed!

The raggedy, skid row, home of the Black Panthers and the classless sleep on your door step, ghetto-crawling neigborhood is no longer what it used to be. Oakland is totally transformed, and thanks to Jerry Brown who as Mayor of Oakland saw the necessary steps required to making things happen for folks long abandoned. The story of Oakland and its overnight transformation is overwhelming.

As it happened, the 9th Annual Arts & Soul Festival in Oakland had to be my calling since I have not seen the city in many years, and besides, each time I pop up in the Bay Area, Oakland never crossed my mind for I had thought of where it's jamming -- San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley, Saratoga, Stockton, Santa Rosa, the farming-vineyards of Sonoma County coupled with other big recreational neigborhoods in the Bay Area, of the Woodstock and Coachella type -- for the groove and all that stuff.

But nevertheless, this time around, there was an event and I had to be focused to see how it unfolds. Quite fascinating.

August 14: I arrived Oakland and checked into the Ambassador Hotel on the corner of Franklin and 13th Street. A little bit tired, I made some calls to see who is around town. Not much, though, and for Friday night, I couldn't figure out what's it I was going to do before the festival kicks out the next day. I decided to go to bed and get some rest. No, I did not go to bed immediately; I popped up the news networks to see what's happening in my neck of the woods and what the Republican airheads are talking about.

However, it turned out to be the same old song -- the mud-slinging so-called conservatives who only think for themselves and how to protect their ill-gotten wealth negating the fact that under any circumstances in a democratic fabric, that there are people, underprivileged, who will always need help of some sort to overcome their predicament. It is natural and the Republicans and the newly coined Blue Dog Democrats, whatever that is, don't seem to realize and unfortunately they are not getting it. I still don't get it myself and I am not going to be part of a debate that does not make sense at all in a situation a desperately dying fellow should be allowed to die on the grounds of having no medical coverage.

What are we talking about here?

An organized society?

Well, since politics, they say, makes strange bed-fellows, let's believe in the rule of law, upholding and respecting democracy; and hopefully the Republican airheads would come to terms with reality and do the right thing. Cable News Network and all that news-related channels, including Fox, had become a bore.

August 15: I got up fresh and ready like Freddy for the festival. There wasn't much happening on the streets of the high-towered downtown Oakland when I peeped through the window of my hotel room.

At 10:45 AM, I was already on Broadway and 14th Street checking out the vendors, the area's local press and patrons who had showed up with delight for the festival's 9th year anniversary. The streets and sidewalks had already been flooded with the four stages ready to explode with performances of the day. On the stage at 12th and Clay, Loquet, BoDeans and Grammy Award winning artist, Shawn Colvin, were scheduled to perform. The stage in front of Oakland City Hall scheduled Abby and the Pipsqueaks, Jump Street and some local voices. The stage on 12th and Broadway had a Gospel showcase presented by Edwin Hawkins and the Community of Unity featuring Bishop Walter L. Hawkins of the Love Center Choir, Terrence Kelly and the Oakland Interfaith Choir,Sharon Wynn Davison, Sunny Hawkins and the Music Department, Men of Edurance, Derrick Hall and Company, while on 12th and Jefferson it was an all out jazz enssemble. The crowd was awesome and with summer almost winding down the vendors and organizers did the best they could to go with the flow especially in a 'slowmo' economy.

I walked around the four points of the festival and bumped into an artist whose booth had displayed all her finest works with the husband setting up the gallery. We chatted for a moment before the festival rose for the day. She was optimistic the festival "will eventually" be one of the big shows to be talked about in the near future despite its 9th-year of existence. I strolled down to the Oakland Convention Center on Broadway and 14th Street which is about 12 minutes away from the Oakland International Airport. Going inside the Convention Center sits Oakland China Town, The Preservation Park and some shopping complexes. A few short blocks took me to the Waterfront, Jack London Square and the Paramount Theatre which also is blocks away from my hotel room.

At about 7:45 PM, I checked back to my room for some rest before my buddy, South African-born, Berkeley-based sports freak, Johnson Boipelo Andile, comes around for some crazy sports talk and all that follows in a night of showdowns and pub-crawling. Andile had arrived late and we still hanged out anyway, talking about boxing which turned out to be his favorite sports, and he is really crazy about it going back to the heydays when boxing was real and very entertaining.

He talked about how boxing "is" no longer what it used to be and that all the fuss about Dominican Republic born undefeated Fernando Guerrero who now fights out of Salisbury, Maryland, is being overrated towards his upcoming fight August 29, when he meets Louis Turner in the middleweight division at Fitzgerald's Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. I'm not sure if I have been following up nowadays in what's been going on in boxing ever since it was commercialized nobody takes the sport seriously anymore. I had no idea who Gurrero was until he popped it up and on a critical note, he agreed with me "boxing ain't longer what it used to be."

We had talked extensively about the good-old days of boxing when all division were powerhouses. The days of Jeff Chandler, Azumah Nelson, Roberto Duran, Mustafa Hamsho, Salvador Sanchez, Eddie Mustapha Muhammad, Mathew Saad Muhammad, Dwight Braxton, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Michael Spinks, Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas "Hitman" Hearns' "The Showdown," Marvellous Marvin Hagle-John "The Beast" Mugabi duel, Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney race war, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton, Ernie Shavers and numerous other superb pugilists of the day.

After all these talks on boxing greats over some drinks at the hotel lobby, we drove out on San Pablo running through University Avenue where it meets Oxford at UC Bekeley. We found a spot, a bar and hangout, kind of, continuing our discourses on boxing retrieving "The Spinks Jinx," "Thriller in Manila," "Rumble in the Jungle," "Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello 1 & 2," and things like that related to boxing of the profound era when boxing had class.

August 16: It's been fun all over the previous day and I'm already up to deal with the happenings around downtown Oakland. The show continued with style and the performances were all great. Smooth jazz artist Bobby Caldwell had played and the crowd he had pulled was unbelievable. A night of jazz. The two day festival reached its climax.

August 17: I had traveled to Concord meeting Emmanuel Onyeador at his friend's ranch and vineyard. We talked more over some fine wine. David Iphie who lives in Pittsburg had stopped by to join us. Iphie picked Onyeador and myself and we drove to his house in the embrace of his wife and uncle, UC Davis trained agronomist, Humphrey Ezuma, who was visiting the shores of this land for a moment. The usual local politics popped up which I will be writing about in a different essay, while Iphie's wife prepared a delicious ofe olugbo, bitter leaf soup with varieties of meat and dried fish. We talked more and I enjoyed the company.

August 18: Back to the crazy-dubby Los Angeles-Hollywood where every 'damn' soul is really freaking out, and business as usual, I guess. It was indeed a trip to remember, and Oakland, for your excellence in the arts, I think I would like to visit again.

The Meaning Of Igbo Resistance And Survival

By Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

A major preoccupation of an aggressor/conqueror state is to seek to effectuate a process of memory erasure over its overrun nation and land. This is the opportunity for the conqueror to begin to construct a bogus narrative of possession and control of the targeted society that arrogates it to the fictive role of primary agent of the course of history. The enduring success of Chinua Achebe’s Things fall Apart is that the classic not only anticipates this conqueror’s predilection but it subverts the triumphalism of the latter’s pyrrhic victory. Despite the District Commissioner’s bombastically-titled anthropological treatise at the end of the novel, heralding the latest European “possession and control” of another region of Africa, this time Igboland, the future direction of history here neither lies with the administrator nor his evolving occupation regime – nor indeed with his conquering capital back home in Europe! To locate the source for change and transformation in Igboland, subsequently, we need to examine carefully the import and circumstance of historian Obierika’s address to the administrator on the life and times of his friend and people’s hero, Ogbuefi Okonkwo, who had recently committed suicide. We are reminded that as he speaks, two full sentences into a third, Obierika’s voice “trembled and choked his words”, trailing off into gasps and silences of deep contemplation. It is precisely within the context of these kaleidoscopic frames of Obierika’s recalls and introspection that we discern the sowing of the nation’s regenerative seeds of resistance and quest for the restoration of lost sovereignty. It is therefore not surprising that Okonkwo’s grandchildren would spearhead the freeing of Nigeria, to which Igboland had since been arbitrarily incorporated by the conquest, from the British occupation.

For the aggressor state with a clear genocidal goal, memory erasure of the crime scene at the targeted nation is even more frantically pursued. On the morrow of the conclusion of its execution of the second phase of the Igbo genocide in January 1970, genocidist Nigeria wheeled out pretentious cartographers to embark on erasing the illustrious name, Biafra, from all maps and records that it could lay its hand on! During its meetings, the Gowon genocidist junta in power banned the words “sun”, “sunlight”, “sunshine”, “sundown”, “sunflower”, “sunrise” or any other word-derivatives from the sun that unmistakably reference the inveterate Land of the Rising Sun. This task and symbolism of “sun-banning” and “sun-bashing” were of course bizarre if not daft as the junta itself was to discover much sooner than later – and from a most unlikely source indeed. At the time, a British military advisor to the junta, who was out dinning with a senior member of the council in Lagos, unwittingly compared Igbo national consciousness and tenacity with that of the Pole. The advisor, who had studied modern history at university and was a great admirer of the exceptional endurance of Polish people in history, stated that the Igbo had demonstrated similar courage in the latter’s defence of Biafra and that a “rebirth of Biafra was a distinct possibility in my lifetime” – unlike the 123 years it took the Polish state to re-appear after its disappearance from the world map! The advisor was then in his early 30s and the obvious implications of his Igbo-Polish analysis were not lost on his host. The junta member co-diner was understandably most outraged by the advisor’s crass insensitivity on the subject which he readily shared with his junta colleagues. Predictably, the immediate consequence of the hapless advisor’s impudence was an early recall home to Britain.

There were other bouts of farcical treats on display in Nigeria during the period aimed at erasing the memory of the Igbo genocide. Junta and other state publications and those of their sympathisers would print the name Biafra, a proper noun, with a lower case “b” or box the name in quotes or even invert the “b” to read “p”, such was the intensity of the schizophrenia that wracked the minds of the members of the council over the all important subject of the historic imprint of Igbo resistance and survival. The Awolowoists and Awolowoids on the junta even toyed with the idea of abolishing money altogether in the economy of the resourceful and enterprising Igbo. They reasoned that this would deliver the final solution that had eluded them during the “encirclement, siege, pounding, and withering away” strategy of the previous 44 months… They ended up with the “compromise” pittance of £20.00 per the surviving male-head of the Igbo family – a derisory sum, which, they reckoned, stood no chance of averting the catastrophe of social implosion they envisaged would occur in Igboland subsequently. We mustn’t fail to note that the £20.00 handout excluded the hundreds of thousands of Igbo families whose male-heads had been murdered during the period… Dreadfully, the accent placed by Nigeria on this third phase of the genocide, starting from 12 January 1970, was the economic strangulation of the 9 million Igbo survivors… 3.1 million Igbo had been murdered in the genocide between 29 May 1966 and 12 January 1970.

Celebration

Igbo survival from the genocide is arguably the most extraordinary feature for celebration in an otherwise depressing and devastating age of pestilence in Africa of the past half of a century. Few people believed that the Igbo would survive their ordeal, especially from September 1968 when 8-10,000 Igbo, mostly children and older people, died each day as the overall brutish conditions imposed by the genocidist siege deteriorated catastrophically… The Igbo were probably the only people in the world who were convinced that they would survive. And when they did, the aftermath was electrifying. In spontaneous celebration, the Igbo prefaced their exchange of greetings with each other for quite a while with the exaltation, “Happy Survival!”: “Happy Survival! Nne”, “Happy Survival! Nna”, “Happy Survival! Nwannem”, “Happy Survival! Nwanna”, “Happy Survival! Nwunyem”, ‘Happy Survival! Oriaku”, “Happy Survival! Dim”, ‘Happy Survival! Kedu?”, “Happy Survival! Ndeewo”, “Happy Survival! Ke Kwanu?”, “Happy Survival! Odogwu”, “Happy Survival! Okee Mmadu”, “Happy Survival! Dianyi”, “Happy Survival! Umu Igbo”, “Happy Survival Ndiigbo”. Igbo survival, at the end, does represent the stunning triumph of the human spirit over the savage forces that had tried determinably for four years to destroy it. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s description of her majestic tome on the subject, Half of a Yellow Sun (this sun, yet again – odi egwu!), as a “love story” couldn’t therefore be more appropriate.

Forty years on, first and second generations removed from their parents and grandparents respectively who freed British-occupied Nigeria in 1960 and survived the follow-up genocide, Ogbuefi Okonkwo’s progeny are once again tasked and poised to restore Igbo lost sovereignty. Everyone knows of their firm resolve and ability to achieve this goal. Surely, the successful outcome of this endeavour is the most eagerly awaited news in Africa of these early years of the new millennium.

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is the author of Biafra Revisited (African Renaissance, 2006)

It's Baaaaack! Project Runway Premieres Tonight!

Pour the pinot, pop the corn, pass the dutchie and prepare yourself for another magically delicious season of designer drama as Project Runway (woo!) debuts on its new channel, Lifetime, tonight at 10 pm!

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The lost Season 6 will finally air after 8 months of legal shenanigans, and I haven't been this excited for television since RuPaul's Drag Race and its glittery gays were swirling around on Logo. (Puhleeze tell me that Season Two is in production!)

But I digress. This is about PR! All of our favorites judges are back, including Heidi, Tim, Michael and Nina (yes, we are on a first name basis). And speaking of favorites, as if the PR premiere weren't enough, Lifetime is airing a special All Star Challenge tonight at 8 pm, featuring eight past PR finalists competing for $100,000!

I'm practically schvitzing with anticipation! Where the H are my blotting papers when I need them?

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Be there tonight at 8!

Fab Look of the Day

Go Mo! One of my favorite funny girls, Monique, made a dazzling arrival at the Hoodie Awards this past weekend in Vegas looking like a svelte and feathery dream!

Although I do wish her buhbies were perched just a tad higher, it is clear losing 40 pounds and wearing strategically placed undergarments has worked wonders for Miss Mo! And more importantly, she is giving me effects with this dress! The silhouette makes her look long, lean and luscious. I also love the fact that she paired it with simple hair, soft makeup and minimal accessories. Claps and snaps to her handlers, good work out of each and every one of you!

Monique has chosen the perfect time to get ready for her close up. She has the industry abuzz with her apparent star turn in the highly anticipated film, Precious, and will soon debut her own late night talk show on BET. Good for you girl!

Source

Joanna Krupa : Jack Magazine Pictures

Joanna Krupa pictures from Jack Magazine



Date of birth :April 23, 1979 (age 30)
Place of birth :Warsaw, Poland
Height :5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Hair color :Blonde
Eye color :Blue/Green
Measurements :32-24-32
Weight :130lb
Dress size :4
Shoe size :38
Official Website :www.joannakrupa.com



Joanna Krupa (born April 23, 1979) is a Polish-American model and actress.Krupa was born in Warsaw, Poland. Joanna has a younger sister, Marta. She moved to Chicago, Illinois with her family at the age of five.

Krupa has appeared on various magazine covers including ENVY, FHM, Personal, Inside Sport, Stuff, Steppin' Out, Teeze, and Maxim, in which she was named the Sexiest Swimsuit Model in the World. Maxim named her #61 in its 2006 Hot 100 list. She was also voted German Maxim's Model of the Year 2004-2005. Krupa has also appeared in Playboy. Krupa has also been a lingerie model for Frederick's of Hollywood. She was a Miss Howard TV model for the month of December 2007.

Bar Rafaeli: Behind The Scenes: Bikini Candids

Behind the scenes bikini candids of Bar Rafaeli


Birth name :Bar Refaeli
Date of birth :June 4, 1985 (age 24)
Place of birth :Hod HaSharon, Israel
Height :1.74 m (5 feet 8.5 inches)
Hair color :Light brown
Eye color :Blue
Measurements :89-60-89 (EU) (35-24-35)
Dress size :6 (US); 36 (EU)
Shoe size :40 (EU)[1]; 9 (US)
Official Website :www.barrefaeli.co.il



Bar Refaeli (Hebrew: בר רפאלי‎, born June 4, 1985) is an Israeli model, known for her modeling work and for her relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. She is the cover model of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.


Refaeli began her modeling career before the age of 8 months for a baby commercial. By age 15, she was featured in campaigns for the fashion brands Castro and Pilpel, also starring in a commercial for Milki. Refaeli won the title "Model of The Year" in a beauty contest in 2000 and 2001. She was also chosen to be the home model of Renuar fashion network and appeared in their summer 2002 and winter 2003 catalogs.

Content : Links

Vanessa Hudgens Needs To Keep Her Clothes On

Ali Landry Is Still a Hottie(No Doubt)

Mallika Sherawat

The Shigoto Launch at Ninja

The Japanese-inspired setting was the perfect touch to transport those of us who attended the Shigoto launch at Ninja NYC to ancient Tokyo. From the artsy serving dishes to booths surrounded by scenic rocks and trees, from bamboo fences and walkways offsetting coal black floors and walls, it was an ethnic extravaganza! The singular path in front crowded by photographers and fashion addicts was soon dotted with models sporting Shigoto.

The models were diversified in ethnicity but shared one thing in common: harem pants! Wide and spacious throughout and snug at the ankle, this trend has surfaced quite rapidly, with some success and very many failures. For Shigoto, they came is varied colors: red, white, turquoise and blue, even emblazoned with SHIGOTO in rhinestones.

Fun fact: harem pants like these were worn by Japanese construction workers centuries ago. The men accessorized the slightly baggy look with shoes that separated the big toe from the rest.

Elle and Momma

The designer, Jasper Momma, proud of his accomplishments and more than willing to share his inspiration behind the collection, tells me that he traveled to Japan to find rich, quality fabrics to make the pants with. This is the one part that is completely unlike the uniform in which it was borrowed, Momma says the construction workers pants were made of much thinner, cheaper fabric.

Best part of the night, the separated toe socks in our goodie bags!

-Reporting by Nastasia, Inaword Intern