By: Zara A

Unsurprisingly, this topic never fails to trigger controversial debates. Some people feel opposite-sex friendships are possible, whereas others like me believe this is not possible in MOST cases; particularly in so-called ‘close friendships.’

According to Mr Clark, EVERY rule has its exception… It is evident that *ugly* unattractive individuals have more luck in successfully retaining many more platonic opposite-sex friendships in comparison to those deemed *pretty* attractive. Next on his list were gays and lesbians, followed by virgins. Simply because unattractive *ugly* people are not cute, gays have no interest in vaginas, lesbians do not enjoy penises and virgins are somewhat scared of penises. I found Clark’s viewpoint incredibly funny; (I guess some people may find it rude or offensive but at the end of the day everyone is entitled to their own opinions right?) to be honest it does sound like a reasonable generalisation. What’s your stance on his controversial views, do you agree or disagree?

I firmly believe platonic relationships are one-sided, with one person physically attracted to and possibly pining over the other; be it secretly or blatantly. This may not be the case initially, but with time and the development of a ‘friendship and mutual trust’ one *if not both* person(s) will start to catch unintended feelings.

I guess with casual friendships a platonic state can remain. However, with a relationship of any depth; whereby emotional energy is shared, I do not believe it is possible. For example; a guy and girl speak literally every *other* day, spend a lot of one on one quality time together, he listens to her complain about how there are no good guys out their, provide each other with advice etc. At some stage in this process someone will begin to see the other in a different light (speaking based on numerous personal experiences).

Whilst online, I came across a blog by ‘Mr Thomas’. He talked about guys being stuck in the ‘just-friend zone’ whereby because a guy and girl are good friends she cannot see him as anything more than just a friend. He wonders whether this happens because these guys are perceived as being too available, too nice, ‘like a brother’ etc. He concluded by suggesting that girls need to seriously re-think this matter; so instead of using nice guys we should perhaps give them a chance. He posed the question “shouldn’t being a good friend and developing a healthy friendship be the first step towards nurturing a deeper friendship?” I totally agree with his point as it seems logical that building a friendship beforehand would offer a great foundation for a stable long-term relationship. But such is life…

There are countless arguments for and against the idea of platonic opposite-sex friendships. I could go on…but I’ve decided to keep this blog relatively short, controversial and somewhat sweet LOL. So now its time to hear your views!!!

Stay Blessed x

One of my TV addictions America’s Next Top Model is back tomorrow (in the US) with its 17^th cycle only this time with familiar faces as previous Top Model contestants return to compete for the title again. The price for the winner will be the title of ANTM, $100,000 CoverGirl contract, Vogue Italia fashion spread, Express fashion brand campaign and guest reporter for Extra. This cycle will also feature guest judges including The Game, Nicki Minaj, Kristin Cavallari, Tyson Beckford, Coco Rocha….

Honestly I think this a nice modification to the format as it’ll spice things up a little. I’m Team Bre All The Way

Name: Shannon Stewart
Age: 27
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  18 (Cycle 1)

Name: Camille McDonald
Age: 33
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  26 (cycle 2)

Name: Brittany Brower
Age: 29
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  22 (Cycle 4)

Name: Lisa D’Amato
Age: 30
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  24 (Cycle 5)

Name:  Bre Scullark
Age:  26
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  19 (Cycle 5)

Click to view slideshow.

Name: Bianca Golden
Age: 22
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  18 (Cycle 9)

Name: Dominique Reighard
Age: 27
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  23 (Cycle 10)

Name: Isis King
Age: 25
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  22 (Cycle 11)

Name: Sheena Sakai
Age: 24
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  21 (cycle 11)

Name:  Allison Harvard
Age:  23
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM: 20 (cycle 12)

Name: Laura Kirkpatrick
Age: 22
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  19 (Cycle 13)

Name: Angelea Preston
Age: 25
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  22 (Cycle 14)

Name: Kayla Ferrel
Age:  20
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  19 (Cycle 15)

Name:  Alexandria Everett
Age:  22
Age you were the first time you were on ANTM:  21 (Cycle 16)

Who was your favourite contestant?

By: ZaRa A

Lying is an unfortunate fact of life. It is one thing that does not discriminate. Both males and females do it and if you disagree with what I’m saying… You’re clearly in DENIAL and possibly LYING!

Generally, in conversations women will lie about things such as their age and weight (this becomes more evident in the ‘older’ woman). Whereas men will lie about their height, job position, how much they earn etc. However there seems to be a common ground where ‘the numbers of sexual partners’ are concerned. I tend to find that both genders frequently lie about how many sexual partners they have had. I’m sure many of you will agree with my observation.

It seems on all these dimensions, women generally lie downwards and men generally lie upwards. Women will pretend that they are younger than they actually are, they will pretend that they are fewer pounds (or even stones) lighter than they actually are and they will also pretend that they have had fewer sexual partners than they actually have. In contrast, men will pretend that they are taller than they actually are (although sometimes this lie can be an epic failure especially when he claims to be taller than you but is clearly below eye level), they pretend to be in higher positioned, better paid jobs than they actually are and unsurprisingly they tend to EXAGGERATE the number of sexual partners they have had *to boost their ego I guess*.

I’m sure everyone is guilty of either lying up or down (and many of you *like myself* may also have been a victim of these lies). Feel free to share any experiences… be them funny or sad, direct or indirect, true or false… I would still love to hear ‘em!

Also, why do you think people feel the need to lie about such things? Truthfulness seems to be a crime these days. But why?

Share your views!

Stay Blessed x

To be completely honest I didn’t think this album would have done as well as her first three but Beyonce had gotten another #1 in the charts for her new album 4.

This song is good but my personal favourites are Party Featuring Andre 3000, End of Time and Countdown.

Below is the alternative version of her Run The World video.

Yea the first video was Better.

I’m starting to like this track alot although i will not be on his upcoming album Take Care.

I’ve composed this list based on the effect these characters had on me when I’ve watched these films. Not to say I find the actors themselves particularly appealing, Although some of them are sexy!

You’re entitled to your opinion Haters as to whether you agree or disagree with the choices I’ve made on the list but I stand by them.

So in no particular order:

1. Billy Dee Williams as Louis McKay in Lady Sings The Blues & Brain in Mahogany

2. Allen Payne as Jason Alexander in Jason’s Lyric

3. Larenz Tate as Darius Lovehall in Love Jones

4. Tupac Shakur as Lucky in Poetic Justice

5. Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow

6. Omar Epps as Quincy in Love & Basketball

7. Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy and Michael Sullivan in Sleepers

8. Ryan Gosling as Noah in The Notebook

9. Takeshi Kanershiro as Jin in House of Flying Daggers

So Who Do You Think Should Be No. 10?

By: Zara A

Cheating is one of, if not the most controversial subjects whereby relationships are concerned. It happens literally every day, hour, minute, second (I’m sure you get my drift lol). The sad thing is that many people are oblivious to this social dilemma, as in several cases people live their lives never knowing whether or not they’ve been Played.

From my discussions about cheating, there is usually a general consensus that men are the ‘cheating dogs’ and undoubtedly cheat more than their female counterparts. Whilst men have always had the worse reputation for straying, recent studies have shown that women are swiftly catching up. According to one survey, women are actually more unfaithful than men. Approximately forty per cent of females cheat on partners, in comparison to 34 per cent of males. Hard to believe?

Personally, I feel that both sexes are just as bad as each other where cheating is involved; it just boils down to an individual’s wants (NOT NEEDS), moral reasoning and of course self-control (or lack of). Undeniably, society (particularly the media) tends to focus largely on the sex lives of male professionals. Classic examples include infidelities by Sportsman such as Tiger Wood, John Terry, Ashley Cole and most recently Ryan Giggs… Cheating is one thing; but with your brothers wife out of the thousands you could possibly have chosen from *speechless*. Gigg’s case became so high profile it even made it to discussions in the House of Commons! Seriously, did he really think he could hide his track record forever?

Evidently, women are more likely to lie about infidelities. Women are a lot better at hiding their tracks and being strategic about their sexual activities. They can discreetly sustain affairs whilst carrying on with their daily lives as normal. I guess being such a good liar means the chances of getting caught are slim (obviously a generalisation). But in spite of apparent equality and a more sexually open society, women are still judged more harshly for their promiscuous sex lives than men.

According to Dr Holmes:

‘Women are better liars because they’re more psychologically sophisticated, you can argue about whether its nature or nurture, but women are programmed to be much more relationship and people orientated than men.’

To be honest women are taught to ‘lie’ from childhood. Those simple, altruistic lies such as saying we’ve had a lovely time when we really haven’t, that someone looks nice when they really don’t, or that we’re delighted with a gift when in fact we actually dislike it, are just some of the small ways that lying oils the wheels of our social lives, keeps the peace and makes others happy by consciously protecting their feelings.

So… Do women cheat? Yes, of course. Why do women lie? Because we must and because we can! (Not to say I’m a cheat ).

Stay Blessed x

Frank Ocean part of the US alternative Hip-Hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All a.k.a, OFWGKTA, has released a new video for Novacane from his album, Nostalgia, Ultra.  I don’t think the video does the song any justice so I’ve posted just the audio video below.

Frank Ocean – Novacane

As most of you don’t know I *Heart* Frank Ocean I think him and The Weeknd are amongst some of the best musicians are there right now. And although their very underrated the fact that they have legions of fans who listen to them anyway (Youtube will back up my argument), shows that it’s just about time they blow up.

The Weeknd – Wicked Games

19yr old British model Leomie Anderson recently wrote an open letter to the Sunday Times about what it is being a black in the modelling industry. Check it out below:

“I have been working as a model for more than three years. I’ve been photographed for Italian Vogue, Dazed & Confused and ID. I’ve modelled at Paris, New York and London Fashion Weeks, but I haven’t done Milan Fashion Week. I’ve heard from other black models that it’s much harder to get work in Milan. The successful black girls don’t even bother travelling there for castings, because they know they won’t do as well, even if they’ve walked for great designers in all the other cities. Even people from Milan will say that the fashion market there is very behind. They’d rather stick with what they know.

I’ve only had one racist comment made directly at me. I’d gone to a casting for a London fashion designer, I can’t say who. They just said: “We only want pale-skinned girls to be in our show.” To be honest, I didn’t feel emotional about it. I just thought: “Well, it’s not my fault. That’s their opinion. They are out of date, and in time, they’ll have to change; they can’t continue with that perspective.”

Click to view slideshow.

When I started at Premier Models, Carole [White, the founder] warned me that some designers would have outdated views, and that it’s not personal. Annie [Wil­shaw, her booker at Premier] is bored with it: she says black girls have to work twice as hard to get picked up. Actually, it made me feel better that they raised the issue with me, that they weren’t awkward about it. And Annie is right: it is a lot harder for us. If a show uses 20 girls, there’ll only be space for two ethnic minorities — if that. There’s nothing to stop a fashion designer using only white girls in a show. There’s no union representation for models, and a designer can do whatever works for them.

Even though it may not be right, fashion portrays what people want to be; it reflects society, it’s the world we live in The preference for white skin seems to happen especially if a designer has been in the industry for a long time. But it’s a generalised mentality among fashion houses — they used to have mostly white customers, so it made sense to have white models, but now there are many more eastern Europeans, Asians and women from the Middle East buying fashion. The houses are struggling to adjust to the new market. It’s also possibly recession-related. In any time of rapid social change, people stick to what they know, and in fashion that’s the white girl.

“Shadeism” definitely exists: there are different attitudes to different shades of black. Lighter-skinned models are used more than darker-skinned ones, and if darker models are used, it tends to be for a traditional African look.

When designers create an African or tribal print, they’ll get a black girl to model it. I’d say I was in the middle of the spectrum — I’m dark-skinned, but I don’t have traditional African features, so I tend not to be stereotyped. There can also be problems with hair and make-up. Hair stylists never pack black hair products, because they don’t expect to see black girls. They can be scared to work with our hair. I wouldn’t call it racism; it’s just that finding real black hair is rare. Make-up is improving — girls such as Jourdan Dunn and Ajak doing well has helped — but sometimes, when my make-up is finished, it doesn’t look as nice as it does on white skin. They don’t know how to adjust to our skin tone.

You’ll find bitchy models, but it’s not because of race, it’s just their personality. I’ve never had any comments that have made me feel uncomfortable. Once you’ve got the job, everyone just behaves normally. I read about James Brown’s comments. [He repeatedly called the black presenter Ben Douglas a nigger and his female companion a nigger’s bitch, following the Baftas ceremony.] Maybe he was trying to be funny, but using that word is not cool, and it’s pretty out of date to find it funny. I’ve actually met James Brown — he was nice and asked me about my mother. He didn’t seem racist to me. When people are drunk, they say things they don’t mean. Things always go wrong when people aren’t in their right mind. Especially if you’re in the public eye, you’ll always get caught out. And if you’re in the public eye, you have a responsibility not to offend.

Even though it may not be right, fashion portrays what people want to be; it reflects society, it’s the world we live in. The idea of fashion looking better on white skin is associated with an old sense of elitism, yet society has become much more diverse. In time, I think fashion will change.

Fashion is always outrageous, though, and famously politically incorrect. The bitchiness is part of that outrageousness. If fashion stuck to the rules, it wouldn’t be such a big industry. Even if racism went away completely, they would find something else to be outrageous about. I would like to see fashion be more open and less prejudiced to different ethnicities, but it is the way it is because it’s such an exclusive world. Its exclusivity is why people want to be in it. If fashion had a broader perspective of beauty, would there be such a thing as a supermodel?

As it is now, if a black girl does well, it’s seen as more of an achievement. That’s what drives me to succeed. I don’t think talking about racism in fashion will change anything. Even if fashion changes, it’s not going to change the world. I’d rather just have a positive attitude. If I were feeling discriminated against, I might go into a casting thinking I’m not going to get this job. It’s negativity that will disadvantage me.”

I’m a big Kanye West Fan so when I heard the news that Nigerian artist D’banj and CEO and producer Don Jazzy from Mo Hits Records had been signed to (Getting Out Our Dreams) G.O.O.D Music is was literally like *WOAH*.

I truly think that this is a very good look for African music and having being added to the current artist on G.O.O.D music such as Common, Pusha T, Big Sean, John Legend, Chyi Da Prynce and Kid Cudi there’s no going wrong.

Check out some of D’banj’s hits below:

*Fall In Love*

*Suddenly*

*Gbono Feli Feli*