Obama on "The View"

Barack Obama was the marquee guest on one of my favorite television shows on Friday. He was both serious (discussing the Reverend Wright issue and Iraq) and light-hearted (joking that Brad Pitt received the "good-looking" genes from their shared gene pool--according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the two are distant cousins) while chatting with the women of "The View."

For an in-depth analysis of the non-verbal communication among Obama and the co-hosts, see this NY Times article. Juicy highlights include a discussion of the way that Barack Obama "patted Joy Behar's arm" and "whispered so intimately in Barbara Walters's ear." (As an aside, my Tivo and I were able to confirm that both of these things happened, but the gestures were so subtle and happened so fast that I probably wouldn't have noticed them had I not been primed by the article before I watched the episode...)

The Fan Is Back

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the first post after a two-month hiatus. So much has happened in the past two months--the presidential campaign continues to play out like a soap opera, March Madness brackets will be announced this Sunday, Jovovich-Hawk's affordable line has arrived at Target...I had no idea where to start, and this alone had discouraged me from diving into the blogosphere again. Everything changed when I stumbled upon this sports and fashion news: LeBron James became just the third man (behind George Clooney and Richard Gere) to grace the cover of Vogue Magazine--yes, that Vogue Magazine. Whether the editors at Vogue intended it or not, the cover has proven controversial, as some have questioned whether the depiction of James perpetuates racial stereotypes. (For more on the cover controversy, click here).