Take a Risk! Travel to Mexico!

If you haven't heard about the new flu epidemic, then obviously something is wrong with you. Because it is everywhere. The media is hyping up this 'new' virus with the strength of a million men, mostly to the effect of paranoia and fear. After all, the symptoms of the new H1N1 virus are strikingly similar to those of the regular flu. Don't be alarmed!

Saying that, this issue is a bit close to heart for the author: I'm due to travel to Mexico in a few weeks for a vacation. Unless they close the borders, I'm going, and this viewpoint helps to put a clear, don't-worry-be-happy viewpoint on this whole issue.

However, it still stands that there are 2, 400 suspected infections and 150 deaths from the new flu virus; only 26 of the infections and seven deaths have been laboratory-confirmed, though. That fact hasn't stopped countries like Argentina and Cuba from banning flights to Mexico. Japan refuses to give visas to visiting Mexicans, and France is trying to get a suspension of fights between Mexico and the European Union. America has not yet taken the extreme position of blocking the borders, although it was discussed with Congress on Wednesday. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said that the U.S. has no plans to close the borders, with the agreement of both WHO and the CDC in Atlanta. Scientists say that closing the border would have little effect: Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Washington, says that "once the virus has spread beyond its initial focus, travel restrictions just aren't effective." On top of that, you must consider the economic results if airfare is canceled to and from Mexico; there is about 4,000 flights between the U.S. and Mexico occur daily. "It's not worth the social disruption it would cause," Longini continues.

Based on how 'international' our world truly is, there is not practicality in shutting off a country completely. And, according to Orbitz, people are still booking their trips to Mexico, creating a new type of risk-taker.

Links About This Flu (and Mexico):
How to Deal with Swine Flu: Heeding the Mistakes of 1976
Live From Mexico: Avoiding Swine Flu While Working on That Tan
Google Maps- Tracking H1N1 Cases

Fashion Designers Predict Flu Epidemic

Left, Commes de Garçons, right Junya Watanabe; Photos from The Moment
While no health officials anywhere on the planet were expecting the swine flu epidemic, fashion designers sure were. Designers like Comme des Garçons and Alexander McQueen were surely predicting some sort of SARS-like outbreak, because they (among other designers) featured masks and assorted head coverings in their latest runway shows.

However, I would stick with CDC-approved masks. According to WHO, they're very easy to make, and can be made with ready materials! Woo-who!

Fashion Showdown: Carla Bruni and Spain's Princess Letizia

Well, well, looks like international fashion ambassador/French first lady Carla Bruni has met her match: the equally fabulous, if not disturbingly similar, Spain's Princess Letizia.

Wow, they even walk the same. Photo from NYmag.com

The Telegraph goes as far as to say that "they made the steps leading to Madrid's Zarzuela Palace resemble a catwalk." Carla Bruni and the Princess wore similar dresses (Bruni's was blue, and the Princess' magenta), but while Bruni stayed with her modest black Louboutin heels, Princess Letizia donned a pair of sky-high platform heels in a shade of lavender. So who eclipsed the other in terms of fashion-forwardness? The Grazia says the Princess (and not just because she gets the better title) for her bold choice of a snug bandage dress "knowing she's about to meet a supermodel." Luckily enough for Princess Letizia, her husband towers over her at six foot four inches, so she won't have to worry about trading down for flats

Bruni's husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was in town (and by "town," I mean "Madrid.") for two days of talks with the Spanish royal family. The couple met King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at Madrid's Zarzuela Palace. They were honored with a military parade and later lunched at the Pardo palace, the traditional home-away-from-home for traveling dignitaries when visiting the capital of Spain.

Reports say that 'highly intimate' pictures of Bruni with her ex-lover and philosopher Raphael Enthoven. Thieves reportedly broke into the flat of Enthoven's brother and stole the prints and videos from the flat. However, Bruni's approval ratings skyrocketed when nude photos of her were leaked, so this new development may not be as harmful as the thieves intend it to be.

Palin Loses Confirmation Vote

Breaking News:

Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin has lost a confirmation vote in the Alaskan Assembly.

Her nominee for State Attorney General, Wayne Anthony Ross, was rejected by representatives in a 35-23 vote. Looks like the "future of the GOP" has some issues in her own backyard.

Obama and the Abortion Problem

It may come as no suprise to most that the election of President Obama did not necessarily harken a period of bipartisanship in the US Congress. As we have seen throughout the Obama administration's first several months in office, the Democratic and Republican parties are increasingly divergent on most issues. Perhaps the most shocking instance being the Recovery Plan passed by Congress early in President Obama's term where hardly any Republicans joined the Democratic coalition to reinvigorate the economy. As Obama transitions into other policy discussions, this fundamental didivide between the parties is becoming ever more clear.

Let's take for instance the topic of abortion:

Since President Obama's election last November the amount of private and public demonstrations against abortion has dramatically increased. Additionally, many more constituants are now contacting their Congressmen and Senators in a national effort to prevent the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act (which would firmly establish abortion as a right in federal law).

This recent surge in advocacy has evidently been caused due to an overwhelming fear that, under Obama, abortion will become even more prevalent in American society. Given the intensity of this fear, Democrats nation-wide will need to become even more persuasive and dedicated to a woman's right to choose in the months ahead. Hopefully, with enough counter-grassroots activity by progressive organizations, the Freedom of Choice bill will succeed and the United States will finally cement its dedication to women's rights. The Democratic Party must push for a quick passage of this bill as soon as possible in order to prevent the mainstream media from enflaming the debate. Additionally, in the weeks ahead, I anticipate the focus of political pudits everywhere shifting to rural district Democratic representatives. Given the overwhelming Christian character of many of these districts, enormous efforts to unite the Democratic Party on this bill must be made. The American public must come to understand the liberal arguement on the abortion effort in order to prevent such blatant character assaults such as the one mounted in this political cartoon.

Miley and Zac: Still One-Up-ing Jonas Brothers

Unless you are a tween, or one of the parents of a tween, chances are you did NOT spend your weekend waiting in line to buy a ticket to Hannah Montana the Movie, starring Miley Cyrus (and, of course, her pop-star lookalike, Hannah Montana). However, lots of people must have, because Miley's new movie made an unexpected $34 million this weekend, placing ahead of the sure-to-win Observe and Report, starring Seth Rogen and Anna Faris (It placed a measley fourth, behind Vin Diesel's been-there-done-that The Fast and Furious). Miley appears on the May edition of the very grown-up magazine Glamour.

Zac Efron spent his Saturday night hosting SNL (with musical guest, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's), and his spot managed a 5.1 rating, beating everything else in primetime and Seth Rogen's guest appearence the previous week. He partook in a brilliant sketch about the realities of life after High School Musical, seen below:



He is also starring in the new film, 17 Again, opening Friday. Of course, his performance in SNL might be enough to get people to watch this new movie of his.

The Disney group that still has to find their way in serious Hollywood? The Jonas Brother's, whose dominance is retained to tween music and Radio Disney. Their box-office failure, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, may have been a bad omen for tween culture, but Miley and Zac seem to be holding up just fine.

Leighton Meester talks Blair Waldorf

Well, you know I must post any reference to Blair Waldorf that I possibly can. Leighton Meester, the actress that plays Blair Waldorf in the hit Upper East Side drama Gossip Girl, sat down to talk with The Moment's Horacio Silva and answered some Gossip Girl-related questions, inclusing some aobut Blair's future.

Your character, Blair, is very carnal and knowing for an 18-year-old. Were you a precocious teen?
I actually find Blair naïve. I look at young girls like her who are obsessed with guys and with being the most popular and the prettiest, and I just want to shake them. Maybe you just grow up a little faster when you’re a young performer, but I was definitely never like that.

To what extent has your personal style influenced what Blair wears on the show?
Not at all. If anything, it’s the opposite. Her style is a little expensive for my taste but it loudly communicates that she is who she is and that she does what she does. I find that admirable. And she’s always dressed appropriately, which I can’t always say about myself.

Describe the look that your character has popularized.
It’s kind of this updated Japanese schoolgirl look. Every other outfit is larger than life — even when it’s prim and proper — and heavily accessorized. I wear ties, bows, colored tights, heels and stuff that you could never get away with at school. But I think that the most important part of Blair’s look is her headband, which is like her crown.


Your character graduates from high school next season. What’s going to happen to your look?
It’s yet to be decided, but I’m definitely going to college — to N.Y.U. — and not wearing any more school uniforms. Thank god we’re not pretending we all get held back and just continue with high school like all those other high school shows. I guess I’ll wear magnificent clothes every day that don’t have anything to do with school.


Ah, any reader not interested in Gossip Girl may pass this over, sneering at the smugness and the false-pretentiousness that the show gives off. But before you judge- this is more than a teenage soap opera. This is a New York drama about rich teens with a sense of style.

Anna Faris: The Unapologetic Ditz

There is no denying that Anna Faris plays ditzy to the tee. Despite her well-played, if purposelessly depthless Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie franchise, she has never played as shallow and ditzy a girl as Brandi, the incredibly idiotic and extremely crass cosmetics-counter girl in this month's Observe and Report. Dressed in outfits the movie's director described as "the dirty intern," Brandi is subjected to a nude man in the mall parking lot and the so-called 'psychological' damage that follows.


“When you play a girl who is trying to get the guy, there’s so much pressure to make people fall in love with you," Faris told New York Magazine. "It’s like your job is to be the most charming person you could possibly imagine—who sometimes falls. That’s fun sometimes, but it’s also really exhausting.” Ironically, neither her character nor any other character she has ever played is the typical romantic comedy heroine, and especially not the one in Observe and Report. Instead, she has played (among) a clueless housewife in Brokeback Mountain, a ditzy starlet in Lost in Translation (a performance reportedly based on Cameron Diaz), and a callow Playboy bunny in House Bunny. But it is her shockingly unapologetic performances in the asinine Scary Movie franchise that has people talking about her. She travels to a world of comedy atypical of female comedians- one of slapstick, gross, yet incredibly hysterical humor. She tends to push things to the edge. Her performance in Observe and Report is a clear example of that. Her character, the extremely drunk Brandi, throws up on herself, several times. It is just classlessness, or is it brilliant acting? Lately, the controversy surrounding her new movie centers around a psuedo-rape scene, in which her character Brandi, upon drinking and drugging herself to 'lower her standards' and falling into bed with Seth Rogen's character, becomes unconscious. The sex scene continues, until Rogen stops and wonders if what he is doing is wrong. Faris's character then wakes up and slurs, "Why are you stoppin’, motherf****r?” Faris explains the scene to New York Magazine: “It kind of gives you pause. It’s like date rape. Like, hmmm, that’s funny, uh, right?”