Ladies with style

In a city where discrimination was once an everyday occurrence, now acceptance and assimilation is the key. Under the noise of the No.6 train on Westchester ave. there are a couple of ladies who really know how to do some hair. Although they were not always ladies….Four of the eight stylists at Lupe’s Place are transgender. Lupe Gonzalez opened the salon in 1993, she comes from a big family and had only been in New York for six years prior to that from Puebla, Mexico.
She had other jobs before getting the hair salon, but “I came as a boy, but I was very feminine.” said Lupe. Up until about 1991 Ms. Gonzalez was Mr. Gonzalez with a mustache and short hair. In the midst of the Bronx seems like a dubious choice for the salon considering it’s nearly thirteen miles away from the heart of the city’s gay communities, Chelsea and the West Village. But in the twenty first century things have become more acceptable and less judged, Lupe can set up shop wherever she wants.
The shop functions like any other hair salon in New York City covered in the fog of hairspray, brushing on highlights, to the noise of the hot blow dryer, Ms. Gonzalez and the ladies have things under control. With a steady cliental who wouldn’t go anywhere else, it is a family shop whose PR is strictly through word of mouth. With the booming salsa music and girl’s just want to have fun vibe, it shows exactly that, girl’s just want to have one. It turns out that not everything in this city has been overrun with industry and commercial Mecca’s.

Jones Soda Co. gone YENTL!

Did you ever think that a honey ham or even latkes could quench your thirst? Well look now further then all of you favorite holiday meals to get that extra bubbly you've been searching for. Jones Soda Co. is known for it's quirky and clever flavors such as Perspiration, Dirt, Sports Cream and Natural Field Turf for its contract to supply soda to Qwest field home of the Seattle Sea hawks. The company — fortunately or unfortunately — prides itself on the accuracy of the taste. Jones Soda Co., the Seattle-based purveyor of offbeat fizzy water, is selling holiday-themed limited-edition packs of flavored sodas.

If you never thought ham would be kosher, you thought to soon, all their products including the ham flavored soda from the Christmas pack is kosher. Their Hanukkah pack includes Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas. The Thanksgiving themed pack includes Green Pea, Sweet Potato, Dinner Roll, Turkey and Gravy, and Antacid sodas. And if you had any doubt the Christmas pack will feature such flavors as Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham.

The company also makes traditional flavors such as root beer, cherry and strawberry sodas. A portion of the proceeds from the holiday packs will go to charity. You don't have to look far either, the soda should be in your local groceries soda isle. So go out and complete your holiday feast with a little offbeat fizzy lifting drink.

p.s.-If you were wondering all the drinks are vegetarian as well!

The newest Superhero: "The RipAway 1000"

Has there ever been a time in your life where you were the lowest on the totem pole. Where you felt bullied and made fun of. Maybe there was even a moment in life where it has become so bad that the physical abuse in school has increased. Increased all the way to the highest form of sheer embarrassment, a wedgie. Well if this was you, or you just feel remorse for little Jimmy or Billy. Introducing the new "Rip Away 1000." The newest technology in the anti-wedgie.

Thanks to two twin boys Jared and Justin Serovich from Columbus , Ohio, we no longer have to live in fear of the wedgie. Jared and Justin are just 8 years old and in the third grade. They invented this new invention in hopes of winning the invention convention in their hometown, Ohio. As they were horsing around, giving each other the treatment. Their mother's partner sarcastically said someone ought to invent wedgie-proof underwear, and so they did. When the bully tries to grab your underwear and perform the act, because of the Velcro which is used to hold the underwear closed, the underwear breaks open and ends up in the bully's hand instead of you know where. They have landed numerous TV appearances after the underwear, and they will forever be thanked by geeks and kids who could never quite escape the horror which is the wedgie, but now can roam the halls of their schools freely.

Like brown is the new black, is Iphone the Judaism?

Standing in line for hours at a time does not seem to phase many of the costumers who wait on these lines overnight to be the firsts to get the brand new Apple Iphone. People praise it like an unlikely religious devotion. But what makes it better then the rest? It comes standard with a high-tech camera, a phone, text messaging, a portable media player, visual voicemail, and WIFI connection. All of this isn't far off from what most phones can do, except for the touch screen. The reason for the high-demand of such a pointless product, is that people have to to feel they have the latest and greatest. It gives them a sense of a power trip, because of the high price tag, being $399, it leads them to believe it is the best out there. Even though within a few months there will be something better out there, and those same gullible, naive people will be standing on the same lines for what evers next.

This product will definitely make a stiff Christmas competitor, although it is going through a technology war right now. The Iphone was designed to be used with AT&T, although consumers don't find this fair. Until one very lucky Glen rock teenager learn how to unlock the Iphone, freeing it from it's exclusive use with AT&T. George Hotz has gained loads of fame uncovering this secret, yet has started a mobile uprising.. There have been full on small businesses and companies created which have devoted themselves to unlocking Iphones from Apple customers. Apple has threatened customers if they were to unlock the phone and use a different service provider the phone won't work, but the "hackers" have assured us that this is all rubbish and it is completely safe. It may be safe, but it is entirely illegal! But that hasn't stop people from doing this and things of it's sort before. Now before you go out and buy yourself an Iphone and fall into the usual consumer craze trap for the newest and latest, consider that your just a pawn in someone who is much wealthier then you's chess game.

Can't wait 'till Easter!

Thankfully for mothers in Rockdale County, Ga it is not Easter, just yet. Deputies in the county have recently made an unusual arrest. Mathew Jackson, 20 was arrested for allegedly selling LSD and other hallucinogens baked into duck-shaped chocolate candy. The candy was wrapped in gold and silver foil with mushroom like drugs baked into the chocolate. More than 74 ducks were found. Although we were assured no ducks were harmed in the making of this chocolate, they're actually all feeling rather good. :)

He was arrested for possession with the intent of selling LSD and psilocin. He is awaiting a bond hearing. It would have been one trippy Easter if these would have hit the market.

Louis Vuitton, gone communist?

What does the Berlin wall, french designer handbags, and Mikhail Gorbachev have in common? Well if you were thinking Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton and he did an ad for them driving in front of the remains of the Berlin wall, then you are right! Apparently the only way to catch the eye of young and rich socialites nowadays is to bring an old world communist feel into the mix.

Is this what Gorbachev meant by perestroika? I always thought it had something to do with economic reforms, but this is much more interesting. The ad shows Gorabchev sitting in his limo with a bit of an uneasy almost constipated look on his face passing the remains of the Berlin Wall, with an open Louis Vuitton bag beside him. The ad says, "A journey brings us face to face with ourselves."

The former communist strong hand of the Soviet Union faces the ruins of "communist" Berlin without a look of remorse. Is this ad in a way giving the people the satisfaction of dragging Gorbachev's face through the mud of what he once supported and believed in, now in ruin and demise? That would be what we would like to think, but in actuality he's driving in a limo with Louis Vuitton, I don't really feel like he's suffering.

Or maybe this is one of the conciliation prizes for winning the Nobel peace prize, much like a beauty pageant, most of what politics is anyway now, a popularity contest. This may also be a way of showing people that he really isn't such a bad guy after all, he is just an average General Secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. He is human, and just enjoys the finer things in life, and if he doesn't get them, well you know how this ends.

All these options are great, but instead of this being Gorbachev's big comeback as an up and coming fashion model, I think this may be Louis Vuitton's ploy to show the world that most anybody will do anything for some money, or a good chunk of it at that! It is also possible Gorbachev's contract was in French, because Louis Vuitton is french, and he was legally bound to the ad, that would explain the puss on his face. Just like how many licks it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, we may never know.

When looking at the ad, I'm sure you didn't notice the array of magazines atop the Louis Vuttion bag, well you may have noticed them, but didn't think too deep as to what they said. Well someone with loads of time and a magnifying glass did read them. The headline of the magazine says, "The Murder of Litvinenko: They Wanted to Give Up the Suspect for $7,000."

The reference is to Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB spy who died last November after being poisoned, On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused President Vladimir Putin of his murder. Was the message placed there deliberately? And what did it mean? Louis Vuitton stated that the message was not deliberate, but a stylist just randomly brought in Russian magazines to the set, to make the ad look more authentic. But it feels natural to question Gorbachev's connection to the KGB, Litvinenko's death, and president Putin. Is this the continuation of Mikhail's glasnost where there was freedom of information and no censorship for mass media. Is Louis Vuitton carrying out his word? It is very hard for me to believe that in an industry where sesame seeds are meticulously glued on to burger buns with magnifying glasses that those magazines would coincidentally, controversially end up in this particular ad.

This brings me to the conclusion, throughout all this questioning and efforts, Louis Vuitton still comes out on top because despite all of this controversy they are still selling a very expensive bag. Like the old saying goes, "Any publicity is good publicity!" Louis Vuitton is not just another mindless fashion staple, but a profound media genius!