celebrating beautiful women’s month

Below is a poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked to share her ‘beauty tips’. It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;
one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

*from an email forwarded to me by a friend. Share this amongst your friends to empower other women you know.

Survivor Tocantins: Why I Believe Spencer Didn’t Deserve To Go

Spencer Duhm, 19, student is the 5th casualty in Survivor Tocantins.

I was neither a Spencer fan, nor did I hate him from the beginning. However, his not-so-recent boot in Survivor Tocantins’ 5th episode was heartbreaking (not really to the level when it was Brendan who got voted off, but still heartbreaking).Why, you might ask?! I’ve listed my reasons below…

1. Spencer needs to redeem himself. For the first 5 episodes, I don’t believe Spencer has shown exactly what he’s capable of delivering in the game when it comes to competitive aspects. For one, he hasn’t had much share of air-time and the only time he did manage to step into the spotlight was the episode he got voted out. He’s being “gay” held no factor in him being voted off or of his team’s opinion of him, I hope he thinks that way. There was just too much fire in him that I think the show failed to bring out. He might have proved to be an interesting player post-merge. Tsk.

2. JT misjudged the situation. Yeah, he’s the typical alpha male. JT’s overzealous personality tells me he will not go that far into the game (I could be wrong). But Survivor is all about subtlety. You need to know when to pull out your cards, and you do not necessarily need to show off how “good” you are. Sometimes, it’s all about performing well when it matters. Spencer did not perform poorly in the immunity challenge for the episode where he was voted off. (Recap: Spencer went through some major bashing for his “poor” challenge performance because he had to go up against a fairly strong competitor in Tyson. While JT? Don’t even bother asking how well he did against Sierra.)

3. Spencer is a Survivor superfan. He might as well have represented a major demographic of Survivor fans out here, who religiously watch the show on a weekly basis. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s smart. He could have really brought in a lot of strategy into the game.

Survivor Tocantins Episode 4: “Iron Sharpens Iron”

The most striking revelation with Survivor Tocantins, episode per episode, is that Coach has the makings of a good leader… in theory. But Survivor is a game that requires action, that subjects your action in a microscopic view such that your strengths and weaknesses are magnified for other castaways to see. Consequently, these are the determiners on whether you get booted out or they prefer you to stay.

It’s been episode 4 so far and lots of the talks that transpired with every discussion for each episode has one element that has never went missing – Coach. After the debate of whether whose going to be a leader of the tribe, Brendan finally comes to term with the idea of leading the tribe if his tribe feels it is the right decision. It probably hit Coach’s ego so hard, thinking that he’s been refused the role he claims to do for a living, but Coach claims he is okay with Brendan being the leader, provided that he can assume the role once Brendan is voted out. (Did he just have the temerity to say that?) Anyway, Brendan is finding it quite pointless because it has been all talk and no action, which he believes is what impedes the tribe’s success.

Then, Coach goes off to say that he isn’t going to vote off Brendan.. after all, he’s made the claim to bring the best into the finals. He isn’t going to cower in front of Brendan’s growing power in the tribe, is he? Let’s see though.. Coach then let out one of the most quotable quote of all quotable quotes in Survivor history, “iron sharpens iron” so he decides it would be better to keep Brendan around since he (Coach) is obviously the stronger one.

Which brings me to the next topic, the reward challenge. He claims to be much stronger (physically) than Brendan: “If you look at me, and you look at Brendan, who looks stronger? I do.” Of course you’d say that, Coach. And why was the leaner and skinnier Tyson assigned on carrying the pole during the challenge? I thought Coach was stronger than Brendan, as he claims at least? Now, why was he given the task of putting on the weight bags to the pole? (pauses) As a Survivor recap at EW pointed out, “I was a bit surprised to see Timbira pick the scrawny Tyson to be one of the weight bearers instead of the sturdier Coach, but then I remembered that Coach is Coach.” Coach never fails to amuse me with his irony, either.

Sierra is stoked to have been initially voted as the weakest and now is a part of the four-way Exile alliance.

One interesting development, and one more worthy of being talked about, of the episode is the solidification of the four-way intra-tribe alliance that was built on Exile. Now that Taj has found the last clue to the immunity idol, this alliance has the makings of going all the way through. If everything goes as planned, we already have the final four determined. And I tell you, it isn’t quite bad as three of my bets are part of it: Brendan, Stephen, and Taj. Hopefully, Tyson won’t spoil the party next week.

As for the boot, Sandy knew it was coming. It was one of the less surprising part of the episode. For a while there, I did fear about Sydney’s position given that she exposed her own game in a conversation she had with Stephen at the shelter wherein she revealed that the conniving part of the game is what she loves. Hmm.. Going back to what I said on top, it’s really about magnifying what you say or do in the game as it could ultimately affect how your tribemates perceive them. In this case, it could have cost Sydney the boot.

Lucky 13

*photo courtesy of mtv.com

The 8th season of American Idol has been marked with several changes and revisions to the show’s mechanics right off the bat. The most evident being the addition of Kara to the AI judges and the longer Hollywood week period leading up to the final 12 finalists that will compete to become the next American Idol. Well, well, well… I admit, I fell for it. I had been reading lots of spoilers but the announcement of a final 13, instead of 12, was so spontaneously done that I shared Anoop’s reaction.

To provide a little context, 8 contestants who failed to garner enough votes during the first three rundown of the top 36 contestants to determine the top 12, were given a second chance in their so-called Wildcard phase. The best feature about this stage of the competition is that it is the judges who get to decide which singers make it through.

One episode was dedicated to allow the top 12 (or 13, now that we already know it) another shot at performing, and impressing, the judges to show they have what it takes to be the American Idol (as they often bill it.. pardon me for the cliche). Some were impressive, while others nailed their own coffin. But the results were pleasing for my part since two of my bets made it through… Megan Joy Corkrey was chosen over the-girl-who-just-won’t-stop-crying-that-she-starts-to-get-on-my-nerves Tatiana del Toro. Huh, even her attempt to mimic Jorge’s “when I get emotional, I turn into Spanish” plea did not do much.

Last, but certainly not the least, to perform for the night was Anoop Desai. I had to agree with Simon that it wasn’t the best vocal performance, but Anoop never fails to charm the audience. So, it came as a total shock when Anoop was about to leave the stage after Matt Giraud was announced to be the 12th finalist, and Simon announced that they just made a decision to make it a top 13 instead of 12.  13 wasn’t such an unlucky number, was it for Anoop?

Now that Anoop’s part of the pack, I look forward for more exciting weeks at AI. Keep voting guys!

Wildcard Round: American Idol Season 8

I can almost smell the kick-off for American Idol Season 8’s “real” competition. Now that the first top 9 of the final 12 have been indentified, previous contestants will have a shot of becoming the final 3 that would complete the top 12 that will get to compete to become the American Idol winner for this season.

Some of those that skirted through the first 9 positions in the top 12 were tough competitors, but after a four-year absence, the Wildcard mechanic to the show was brought back. This provided an opportunity for previous contestants that did not get enough viewer votes to prove themselves yet again, this time to the judges. Personally, this delighted me as some of my favorites in the top 36 did not make the initial cut.

Before providing a rundown of the eight contenders vying for the three wildcard positions, let’s do a little recap of the first 9 contestants who are set to compete in the top 12.

First round:

*Alexis Grace

*Jeremy Michael Sarver

*Danny Gokey

Second round:

*Adam Lambert

*Kris Allen

*Allison Iraheta

Third round:

*Lil Rounds

*Scott McIntyre

*Jorge Nunez

Two people I am most pleased about of making it into the Wildcard round after failing to get enough votes to make the top three for their respective batches are Megan Corkrey and Anoop Desai.

Simon Cowell of Anoop Desai: original, likable and talented.

Anoop Desai impressed judges right off his initial audition and during the Hollywood elimination. But more importantly, he endeared several fans of the show. He did a pretty magnificent job with his rendition of Monica’s “Angel of Mine”. But he was undeniably a part of a tough group during the first batch of elimination round. Cowell referred to Anoop as “one of the easiest decisions out of the eight [for the Wildcard]“.

Megan Corkrey is one of the judges' favorites all along.

These two contestants have the talent, plus they are both spirited and fun performers. I believe they’d deliver much to the weekly competition, if they do make it to the final 12.

The rest of the eight contestants vying for the final spot after the Wildcard round include: Matt Giraud, (drama queen) Tatiana del Toro, Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, and Jesse Langseth.

Who’s the Poison Apple Now?

“I think Coach is used to being a leader, but I think that it is a role that Brendan does better.” – Erinn Lobdell, in reference to Benjamin “Coach” Wade

The third episode for CBS’ exciting new season of Survivor Tocantins was living up to the hype that host Jeff Probst single-handedly started (thank goodness!). At least, we, Survivor fans, have more to be excited about, especially after CBS has confirmed that two more Survivor seasons will be on the way, thus you can expect to watch Season 20 (how is that possible?), if you’re such a fan. Not complaining though. Anyways, off to my episode analysis…

Brendan finding the hidden immunity idol at the treemail.

Good: The highlight of the episode for me has got to be Brendan finding the hidden immunity idol. At least now with his tribe all shaken up after losing three challenges (and two people) in a row, plus Erinn and Coach’s unending word war between talks of trust and leadership, he knows that he’s in safe hands in this game, provided that he’s smart enough in flushing out the idol. Knowing Brendan, I can be confident of that. Another bright side to this episode is Taj and Brendan’s plan (while on exile) to form a ’secret alliance’. It would be interesting to have two players from opposing tribes to plot this out together and have something to look forward to come merge time. I mean, members of the opposing tribe might enter the merge thinking it is going to be one tribe versus the other in a ’survival of the fittest’ scenario. But this ’secret alliance’ formation is going to deliver ‘the biggest upset in Survivor history‘, as Taj would put it. Strategy is definitely shaping up real fast.

Bad: Coach. During Jeff’s pre-show assessment of Coach, he pointed out how he’s never seen any previous castaway so full of himself, except of course Richard Hatch, as Ben Wade (or Coach) is. Truth is, I have no problem with Ben being in-love with himself. I just wish he has the actions to back it up. But so far, he’s been all talk and no action. And his performance hasn’t been as impressive as his resume appears, so far. I am glad that Erinn is stepping up to him and trying to put him in his place. Erinn’s reference to Coach being the leader of the Timbira tribe probably took a huge hit on Coach’s ego that prompted Jeff to respond. Funny, funny, funny!

Jalapao tribe working together in building the staircase for the Immunity Challenge.

In-Between: Timbira was initially my favorite tribe, thanks to Brendan and Tyson. However, Jalapao’s recent success in the game is quite impressive. They are the ones showing more unity and strategy in the challenges. JT and Joe are leading them during these physical challenges while the rest are hanging in there. And I do believe there’s more upfront game involved in Jalapao, while the Timbira camp is filled with so much drama and animosity. This should set the stage for an exciting episode this week as we see the continuation of the battle between, no not Timbira and Jalapao, but Erinn and Coach.