Source From http://www.blackamericaweb.com
We’re just one month into 2011, and things are already heading in a bad direction.
Birds are dropping like flies, and instant fame has hit a new time limit. An NFL quarterback decided to sit out his conference’s title game after an injury that wasn’t obvious to his fans, especially since he decided after riding an exercise bike on the sidelines that he could play no more (Yes, his team lost their bid to go to the Super Bowl.). The East Coast has experienced back-to-back to back snowstorms in the last month, and Egypt was disconnected from both the Internet and cell phone service. Yes, a whole country was cut off from the World Wide Web.
That’s the kind of month it’s been.
Here are our biggest candidates for the WTF Files this month. And you know what “WTF” means.
TED WILLIAMS
On Jan. 5, national news broke the “man with the golden voice” story about the 53-year-old homeless man “discovered” in Columbus, Ohio via The Columbus Dispatch and YouTube. The viral sensation was begging on the side of a highway with a sign offering to show off his radio voice for money. Williams’ truly exceptional voice was undeniable, and the video went around the web faster than the proverbial speeding bullet. Almost overnight, Williams was fielding job offers from MTV and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who also threw in a house. The recovering addict reunited with his 90-year-old mother on TV, and networks competed for who would have him on next. By Jan. 10th – just five days later – Williams was briefly detained by LAPD officers after an altercation with his estranged 29-year-old daughter. On Jan. 11th, Williams admits to a continued struggle with alcohol on the “Dr. Phil” show and consents to go to rehab provided by the talk show host. By Jan. 24, Williams had left the Texas rehab for parts unknown, his future as a voiceover star in doubt.
This marks a new record for fame time for insta–celebs – in this case, just 20 days. Will Williams be able to resume his promising career? His rise was as unlikely as his fall, so as this story has already proven, anything’s possible.
OSCAR DE LA RENTA and the CFDA
At an official state dinner for the Chinese president at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama decided to wear a gorgeous red and black dress designed by the late U.K. designer Alexander McQueen. Given that red has positive connotations in Chinese culture and that the dress was absolutely gorgeous, it seemed like a completely appropriate choice. But fashion designer Oscar De La Renta didn’t think so. He criticized the first lady for not wearing an American designer. Council of American Fashion Designers President Diane von Furstenburg chimed in, saying that Mrs. Obama could have done a lot to advance the work of American designers by wearing an American designer to the dinner.
Problem here is that neither De La Renta nor von Furstenburg are native-born Americans. De La Renta was born in the Dominican Republic and Diane von Furstenburg in Belgium, though both have made their homes and their fortunes in the U.S. as “U.S.” designers. See any contradiction here? Michelle Obama’s response to the criticism: “Women, wear what you love,” she told Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America.” So there, Oscar and Diane!
JAY CUTLER
Every quarterback dreams of getting to the Super Bowl. From the days of Pee-Wee Football through to college and the NFL, the thought of holding the Vince Lombardi trophy aloft is ever-present. That’s why when Jay Cutler, quarterback for the Chicago Bulls, exited their NFC title game with ….. what announcers described as a knee injury, fans, commentators and even other NFL players were perplexed (And several took to Twitter to call him out.) – maybe because Cutler was riding an exercise bike to “loosen up the knee” on the sidelines or maybe because he finished the game standing on the sidelines as both backup quarterbacks went in in his place.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to be paid an NFL QB’s salary, and I truly don’t feel I can continue on a bum knee, I’m at least going to fall down dramatically, clutching my knee, writhing in pain and possibly crying, screaming and begging to be put back in from the stretcher they take me out on. I’m just saying.
NATURE GONE WILD
Snowstorms. Dead birds. What is up with Mother Nature? Dick Clark had barely dropped the ball in Times Square when there were reports of the deaths of thousands of birds in Arkansas and Louisiana. The official cause of death of the Arkansas birds was “blunt-force trauma” possibly caused by loud fireworks in the area that startled the birds and caused them to … what? All die at once? All fly into trees? We’re still not sure.
As far as those dead fish in the Arkansas River, well, nobody really knows what killed them. As for the two million fish that washed up elsewhere in the Chesapeake Bay area around the same time, well, according to Reuters, that was because of unusually cold water temperatures – in January. Okay.
If you live along the I-95 corridor between Virginia and Boston, chances are you’ve seen snow this year. In the last 30 days, the East Coast has seen six snowstorms back to back. Record snowfalls have been recorded in Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, and there’s another one heading that way this week. But it’s the Midwest that takes the L this week – a combination of bitter cold temperatures and heavy snow is set to hit that region.
You know the Mayan calendar says the world ends in 2012. We weren’t sure about these Mayans before, but now …
THE RENT-TRAC BRAWL
Why, black people, why?
Maybe you haven’t heard about the brawl that took place in a gas station parking lot in Ocala, Florida. It actually happened on Dec. 30. Maybe you haven’t seen the video that showed the fight taking place between a group of 20-something black women, who, after a confrontation at a Florida nightclub, met up again at the gas station and started whaling on each other like they were auditioning for the WWF. Maybe you didn’t see one women fighting in a thong, while another was stripped almost completely as the brawl went on. By its end, discarded weave hair was being raised in victory, and the group of women who considered themselves the “winners” continued to party in the parking lot. You won’t see it here either, as this is a family-friendly website, and this video is NSFW (not safe for work). If you do choose to Google it, remember that once seen, certain things just can’t be unseen. FYI, the women were identified and arrested this month. And black people, we’ve got to do better.
UNPLUGGED IN EGYPT
As the country fell deeper into civil unrest due to increasing frustration with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the government took what can only be described as the nuclear option, at least figuratively. They cut Egypt off from the rest of the world by effectively denying the country access to the Internet or to mobile phone access. The autocratic ruler since 1981, Mubarak has alienated
….. his people due to a combination of circumstances, including high unemployment, low minimum wages and police brutality. Shutting down access to social media and cell phones in Egypt is far easier than in the U.S., as there are just four main Internet service providers and one major cell phone network, and the government has control over them. Given that that impacts Egypt’s 80 million people, it’s clear that social media and the Internet are not just convenient ways to stay in touch; they have become so necessary that they have to be cut off when a government is trying to subdue its people. They say it couldn’t happen here. But could it?
