Prada Japan Under Fire for Firing 'Ugly' Employees

After claiming last week she would file a lawsuit against the apparently discriminatory Japanese division of Prada, Rina Bovrisse (pictured right), a former retail manager for Prada Japan, is now suing her former employers because she says they forced her to fire employees the Prada Japan CEO deemed unappealing. She was fired after refusing to do so.This is not the first time this has happened. Earlier, a woman who applied for a job at Prada Japan told The Cut she believed she was turned down because the supervisor did not like her personal appearance. And in August of last year, American Apparel was under fire for only hiring pretty people.

Bovrisse has set up a Facebook fan page, and she explains, "The level of harassment is beyond human understanding. My responsibility is to protect hard-working women and make sure their working environment is safe...I think Japan is a developed country but in terms of sexual harassment and human rights for females, especially in the workplace, it's very behind. It’s almost like 50 years ago in the United States."

Lady Gaga Defends "Telephone" Video

It has been over a week since Lady Gaga has released the video for her current single "Telephone" (also, "Alejandro" has made it to the radio- confirmed!), and since then, conservative Americans are getting all riled up over what they call a "disgusting" brainwashing video on sadomasochism and homosexuality! As if this video hasn't been troubled enough with the whole "banned-on-MTV/not-banned-on-MTV" thing. Watch the video where two women from (wait for it...) FOX News discuss this "sado-masochist porn," or as the rest of the world knows it, the "Telephone" music video:

Gaga responded:

"There are transsexual women and transgender women and suddenly it becomes poisonous and something else because there are some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It's not a choice, we're born this way. That's why for me this video is groundbreaking because it has one foot in the art community and one foot in the commercial world.

I told Beyoncé this after it aired, you'll see this video is not just great now but six months from now what this video will mean. Hearing people say the video is sadomasochistic or that the video promotes murder for young people, it's my personal belief that the video is getting so much attention, not because of those themes because I've done those themes before, haven't I?

There are no rules or limits when it comes to love. But I see love as separate from sex."

Gaga, who has told the public that she is bisexual, is clearly upset that she is being attacked for a video featuring homosexuality and murder (but, let me note the murder is not graphic, and it is done in an artful way. And trust me- I know artful murder, I'm a Tarantino fan), but I applaud her for being so graceful about the whole thing. [Perez Hilton]

DVD of the Week: Funny Games

(DVD of the Week is a new column by Kayla. Since I watch so many movies, and usually once a week [but hardly ever new releases], I thought it would make a good column and/or help other people discover new movies.)

Funny Games (2007)
Directed by: Michael Haneke
Starring: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet

I will always trust the critics' quotes movie producers put on the front of DVD boxes from now on. Because the ones for this movie was spot on: this movie does not "play nice, easy, or fair."

If I had to give you a basic summary of the plot, it would be this: a well-to-do bourgeois family of three heads to their summer home for the summer. Instead of a nice vacation, however, what they get is two sociopaths playing "games" with them over the duration of one horrific night. However, this being an art-house film, there's so much more than that. This movie is horrifying, but it is important to note that it is not gory. Much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a lot of the horrific things in this movie happen off-screen. However, unlike Massacre, this movie has more of a point then "what they don't show is usually the scariest." The whole point of this film is to parody the audience. People, especially Americans, revel in violence on television and in movies. I'm especially guilty of this, being an avid fan of Tarantino and his religion of artful gore. What Funny Games aims to do is, by promising everything (or, in this case, a torture porn film worthy of A Clockwork Orange or Hostel), yet gives us, the anxious audience waiting for gore, nothing.

It's easy to pass this film off as the country club version of The Strangers. There is even a similar line: "Why are you doing this to us?" And while The Strangers fufills the audiences' thoughts that these invaders are indeed crazy buy having them answer, "Because you were home," Funny Games plays an even darker game with, "Why not?"

Lady Gaga: "Telephone" Brings Jails, Sandwichs, and Tarantino

After watching Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance" about a hundred times, I became convinced it was the best music video ever! Or at least the most fashionably outrageous video ever. That's why I was hard to believe that she could continue topping it for her later videos.



While I'm not convinced it's better than "Bad Romance," the world premiere of the video for "Telephone" is certainly more fun. A basic summary of the video would that Lady Gaga is in jail after killing her boyfriend in the "Paparazzi" video. She spends some time singing, but Beyonce bails her out and together they go on a murderous, Tarantino-inspired rampage. I give her props for using Quentin Tarantino's infamous prop from Kill Bill Vol. 1, and it's my opinion that the music video is better in its second half, after Gaga is released from jail. Watch it and read what Gaga has to say about it after the jump >>

More Gaga news: Confirmed next single is "Alejandro."

Even MORE Gaga news: Check out the poster for the "Telephone" video! It's wonderfully vintage.

Sunday Shows: Fareed Zakaria GPS

image from google

I'll admit it- I'm tired of healthcare debates. This morning I decided to watch the only show not featuring congressmen rallying against (or for) the healthcare bill. So, instead of watching Kathleen Sebelius I tuned in for an interview of General David Petraeus, Commander US Central Command, with Fareed Zakaria.

My own father is a Petraeus fan so I decided that it'd be beneficial for me to at least understand what made him so "great." I have to say that Petraeus has had an excellent career; graduating at the top of his class at West Point he went on to earn a doctorate in international relations at the Woodrow Wilson School. He's served around the world in a variety of support and command positions. Most recently, as the commander of multinational forces in Iraq, Petraeus became a front-man for the Obama administration's terror policy. While I was not completely taken in by Petraeus's arguments I must agree that he is relatively articulate, aware, and politically savvy. I'm weary of his demonstrated support for the surge and continued US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now there has been a lot of speculation within the beltway and across the country that General Petraeus might attempt a 2012 presidential run. He has claimed numerous times that he has no political ambitions. However, would I be surprised to see him form an exploratory committee? Absolutely not. In fact, he does have a vaguely presidential voice. His interview gave you a sense that he understood the nuances of current events, politics, and his area of operations but left many of his answers intentionally vague. With coaching I think he could become a strong and potentially competitive Republican primary challenge.