Former Miss Argentina dies after plastic surgery

Urban Chameleon news

Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNN) -- A former Miss Argentina died Sunday after complications arising from plastic surgery, the official Telam news agency said.

Solange Magnano, 37, died in a hospital after being transferred from a clinic where she underwent an elective surgery on her buttocks on Wednesday, the agency reported.

Magnano ran her own modeling agency in Argentina, and had been a model and Miss Argentina in 1994. She also was the mother of 7-year-old twins.

The cause of her death was under investigation, authorities said.

News of her death shocked her fans. By Monday, a tribute page on the social networking site Facebook had more than 830 members.

"This is a horrible day. We will miss you, Sol," one Facebook poster wrote.

"You couldn't be any more beautiful than you already were," another person added. "You had to pay with your life."

Magnano's most recent project was a runway show to be held in December in her hometown of San Francisco, Argentina, according to Telam.

In recent years, Argentina has become an international destination for plastic surgery. The costs of such procedures there are much lower than in other countries.

Estimates say that 1 in 30 Argentines has gone under the knife, making surgeons here some of the most experienced on the globe.

Medical tourism has seen a huge jump over the past decade, and is projected to be a $100 billion global industry by 2010, according to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
source from cnn.com

Jay Z, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith Present Fela on Broadway

Urban Chameleon news

The fact that a show about the life of the Nigerian, activist, musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti has been brought to Broadway with the help of Jay Z, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith- is pretty spectacular! In going to see the show Fela last Saturday I would encourage you to buy your tickets today and see for yourself how unbelievably powerful this musical is. It is not to be missed!

Jay-Z, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Have Joined ‘Fela!’ as Producers

By PATRICK HEALY

Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have signed on as producers of the new Broadway musical “Fela!” and will attend the show’s opening night at the Eugene O’Neill Theater next Monday, Nov. 23, a publicist for the production said.

“Fela!” represents the first time that Jay-Z and the Smiths have joined a producing team of a Broadway show. Their artistic involvement in the musical is bound to be minimal, given that the show is already in previews and had a critically acclaimed run Off Broadway last year.

But the presence of three high-wattage celebrities at opening night, and the likelihood that they will promote the show through television appearances and media interviews, is bound to raise the public profile of “Fela!” at a time when theatergoers have plenty of choices for Broadway musicals.

Revivals of “Ragtime,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” and “Bye Bye Birdie” opened this fall, as did the new musical “Memphis,” and the much-anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” opens next month. Several musical entries from last season, like “Billy Elliot,” “Hair” and “Next to Normal,” are still going strong.

Conceived by the Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones, “Fela!” centers on the life and work of the Afrobeat superstar Fela Anikulapo Kuti. There are no widely known stars in the cast, which makes the involvement of Jay-Z and the Smiths even more of a boon for marketing purposes. It was not known on Monday how much money the three had invested in the musical; the three were not immediately available for interviews, said the publicist, Billy Zavelson.

He also confirmed that the opening date would be Nov. 23, as originally scheduled. At first, Jay-Z had a scheduling conflict for Nov. 23, so the 24th became an option if the Smiths could rearrange their own calendar. But the alignment of the three stars has been worked out, and all of them will be making a relatively rare red-carpet appearance on Broadway.

source from artsbeat.blog

Al Roker's Good News Too Good to be True

Urban Chameleon moment

The reaction of this little girl, Deidra Shore, when Al Roker tells her that she is the Kid Reporter winner on the Today Show is PRICELESS!



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White House Party Crashers

Urban Chameleon news

Although it is frightening to think how easy it was for two people to get that close to President Obama considering the amount of threats he's received I doubt that this couple was out to stab him with a fork as reported as a possibility in the CNN video below. This story is about a couple who managed to successfully crash a White House party and to be honest I'm a little mad that I didn't think to do it first.


OFF THE LIST, BUT SOME HOW ON THE LAWN

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, November 26, 2009 A couple of aspiring reality-TV stars from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House's state dinner Tuesday night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation to mingle with the likes of Vice President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- polo-playing socialites known for a bitter family feud over a Fauquier County winery and their possible roles in the forthcoming "The Real Housewives of Washington" -- were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering. "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page at 9:08 p.m. But a White House official said the couple were not invited to the dinner, not included on the official guest list and never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent. A woman describing herself as a publicist for the Salahis denied that they were interlopers. Pressed for details, Mahogany Jones sent a statement saying simply: "The Salahis were honored to be a part of such a prestigious event. . . . They both had a wonderful time." While the White House offered no official explanation, it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. The uninvited guests were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although it is unknown whether they met the Obamas and the guest of honor. "Everyone who enters the White House grounds goes through magnetometers and several other levels of screenings," said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service. "That was the case with the state dinner last night. No one was under any risk or threat." Donovan said a preliminary internal investigation Wednesday identified "a Secret Service checkpoint which did not follow proper procedure to ensure these two individuals were on the invited guest list." He declined to give further details. An administration official said the White House will conduct its own review. The Salahis, both in their 40s, showed up about halfway through the guest arrivals. A Marine announced their names, and the couple -- he in a tux, she in a striking red and gold lehenga (traditional Indian formalwear) -- swept pass reporters and photographers, stopping several times to pose for pictures. They then walked into the White House lower hallway, where they mingled with guests on the red carpet before heading up to the cocktail reception in the East Room. Later, they posted pictures that seem to chart their course through the night: Michaele posing with Marines outside near the White House doors, and with Katie Couric and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) inside the mansion. In the East Room, the Salahis both cozied up to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and his wife, Michelle. But the best was yet to come: Once inside the dinner tent, they got pictures that appeared to show them with ABC's Robin Roberts, Bollywood composer AR Rahman, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Obama Chief of Staff Emanuel (identified as "Ron" in the couple's Facebook photo caption) and two with a grinning vice president. The photos end there -- no shots of the Salahis sitting at a table, their seatmates or the post-dinner entertainment. How could it happen? A former White House senior staffer -- who more than a decade ago encountered a crasher at one of the executive mansion's less-fancy parties -- offered this theory:
read the rest on washingtonpost.com

Does it take Thanksgiving to be Thankful?

by today’s Urban Chameleon contributor

Growing up my parents didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, yes, they did not believe in acknowledging what turned out to be a false symbol of cooperation from English Colonist before stripping the Native Americans of their land. (I got deep on you) Plus we were vegetarians that ate fish. So instead, by influence of my Jamaican father, we would head over to one of the many West Indian spots on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn and get down on some escovitch red snapper, rice and peas, sweet plantains, breadfruit and sorrel. It was our tradition of not commemorating another tradition.

Besides it wasn’t until junior high school where I was first introduced to chicken anyway and then turkey and then it was on. For the remainder of my junior high and high school career I was a closet meat eater hiding this disgraceful secret from my parents. In the meantime, I was creating deep bonds with friends just by the amount of flavored birds we went through together. Then when I began to be invited to their homes for thanksgiving dinner I was so excited to indulge in the festivities just by having meat to accompany what would have once been lonely side dishes. Hell! I had forgotten all about the Native Americans and the land.

It wasn’t until I got older (and came out of the kitchen closet) that I realized in all the Thanksgivings I spent with family and friends whether traditionally or nontraditionally the only thing that mattered was being together (the true marketed version of the holiday) and although some may say that it shouldn’t have to take Thanksgiving to remember to be thankful as busy as our modern lives are we sometimes need that reminder. (I mean I don’t know about you but I have an iPhone alarm set reminding me to pay bills.)

However, I sometimes wonder if the voice of Native American’s were more prominent if this holiday would exist. For had it been the day before where a Black leader was gunned down that was marked a holiday, people would be buck out here. How effective is the oppressed race you belong to? A tablespoon of truth and sarcasm is good for the soul.

How about I just say happy celebrating being with family and friends let’s try to do it more often, besides plantains go good with turkey.

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President Obama Hosts India's Singh for First State Visit

Urban Chameleon news

President Barack Obama says the U.S. partnership with India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century. Mr. Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to reporters after a two-hour meeting.

President Barack Obama says the U.S. partnership with India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century. The statement came as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the first state visit of the Obama presidency. The leaders of the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest pledged to work together to strengthen the global economy, curb climate change, limit the spread of nuclear weapons and fight terrorism. After a two-hour meeting with Mr. Obama, Prime Minister Singh told reporters he has invited the president and his family to visit him in India next year. "I have invited President Obama to visit India. A very warm welcome awaits him, his gracious wife and his two daughters," said Mr. Singh. Mr. Obama praised his visitor as an honest and wise man, and accepted his offer. "I have happily accepted his gracious invitation to visit India next year," he said. After their meeting, Mr. Obama said he and the Indian leader had agreed to "work even closer" to share information between their law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism. Mr. Singh promised to cooperate more closely with the U.S. to defeat terrorists. "The forces of terrorism in our region pose a grave threat to the entire civilized world, and have to be defeated," he said. When questioned about the long-standing rivalry between India and Pakistan, Mr. Obama said it is not Washington's role to try to resolve the conflict from the outside. But he said the U.S. can find ways to help. "On the other hand, we want to be encouraging of ways in which both India and Pakistan can feel secure and focus on the development of their own countries and their people," Mr. Obama said. The U.S. is India's largest trading partner, and the president paid tribute to India's large and growing economic role in Asia and throughout the world. The United States and India have disagreed on their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases, with the climate change summit taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark next month. But Mr. Obama said the two leaders had moved a step closer to bridging the gap. The day ended with the Obama administration's first state dinner. The president honored Mr. Singh with a toast in which he celebrated a "great and growing partnership" between the two countries. "To the future that beckons all of us," he said. "Let us answer its call and let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us." Prime Minister Singh told the president he was overwhelmed by the Obamas' hospitality, and he called Mr. Obama an inspiration. "Mr. President, your journey to the White House has captured the imagination of millions and millions of people in India," he said. More than 330 guests attended the dinner, which was held in an elaborate tent on the White House lawn, instead of the usual location for such events, the much smaller State Dining Room. source from www1.voanews.com


In other news First Lady Michelle Obama looked smoking hot in a gleaming silver-sequined, cream-colored gown (last) night to the first state dinner held by her husband’s administration. She was tending to her hostess duties in a strapless silhouette with the beads forming an abstract floral pattern that was custom-made by (Indian designer) Naeem Khan.
source from apakistannews.com

Time for a Spliff Break

Urban Chameleon news

When life is just too rough

and the man has got his foot up ya' ass

it may be time for a SPLIFF BREAK.

Have you applied for you medical marijuana card today?

Behind a heavy locked door, Oregon’s newest cannabis café, run by Oregon NORML, prepared to begin its first day of service for medical marijuana patients. Perhaps unsurprisingly on the first day, things started slowly, with a press conference that started 30 minutes late.

NORML executive director Madeline Martinez called marijuana “the safest medicine known to mankind” and said she expected up to 300 people until 10pm tonight. Seven people will be checking the doors to make sure all patrons are Oregon NORML and Oregon Medical Marijuana Program cardholders. Café workers also hold cards.

“We’re never going to stop,” Martinez said. She says the Rumpspanker’s space has surrendered its liquor license to avoid problems with the OLCC. Rumpspankers will keep conjuring cookies and scones. But now mostly volcanoes, a vaporization method of marijuana intake, adorn the flat surfaces of the cafe.

Martinez also spoke of “harnessing the black market” and using it to help the economy. Oregon NORML founder Anna Diaz said in the six years the organization has been meeting, there has never been an incident with the police, and that they are “hoping to be respectful” to their neighbors.

Elizabeth, who had two spinal surgeries in the past three years, just received her medical marijuana card and hopes to convene with other marijuana users on how to deal with pain. “They’ll know my name here,” she said, as the scent of fresh weed wafted by.

The rest, to be honest, is a little hazy
source blogweek.com