TresSugar

Angelina Jolie Strikes a Stunning Pose For the Cover of Newsweek

Allie Merriam — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:49:41 PST

Angelina Jolie covers Newsweek's new edition and, inside the issue, speaks about her directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey. The image on the front of the magazine is striking, with Angelina's face set against a black background. Angelina touched on the research and real-life stories she used when creating the love story set during the '90s Bosnian war. She also shared what it was like becoming a mom to her son Maddox at the age of 27. Angelina said:

On how she researched the story: "[I] read a lot of books about the war. I talked to a lot of people, I watched, I listened. I just wanted to tell the real story . . . I wanted to be respectful of people."
On using real-life stories: "I listened to my cast, most of whom lived through the war. I listened to their stories and tried to incorporate it into the work."
On becoming a mom at 27 to Maddox: "[I] never was a babysitter . . . I didn’t know whether to give one bottle or 30 bottles. I called my mother."

Imagining Diana at 50: Are You Curious?

Tara Block — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:10:00 PDT

This Friday, July 1, would have been Princess Diana's 50th birthday, so this week's issue of Newsweek imagines what Diana's life would be like if she were alive at 50.

The issue's cover features a superimposed image of a digitally aged Diana walking with Kate Middleton, and the story inside includes everything from what her Facebook page and Twitter would look like to her future fashion to her imagined love life - according to the magazine, she would have been married two more times.

Do you find this all interesting, or does it seem a bit on the morbid side, maybe even disrespectful?

George Clooney Talks Kissing Babies, Drinking Bong Water, and His Womanizing Past in Newsweek

Lauren Turner — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:33:52 PST

George Clooney is featured in the current edition of Newsweek magazine to chat about his work in Sudan. The actor's philanthropic work has taken him to Africa on multiple occasions, even landing him a face-to-face meeting with President Obama. George has become increasingly vocal about his humanitarian efforts when he's not on the red carpet or enjoying the luxurious perks of his movie star status. He opened up about his take on celebrity, got honest about his past drug use and womanizing ways, and admitted to feeling "unclean" after Oscar campaigning. Here's more:

On using celebrity to help: "Celebrity can help focus news media where they have abdicated their responsibility. We can't make policy, but we can 'encourage' politicians more than ever before. There is more attention on celebrity than ever before - and there is a use for that besides selling products."
On being followed by cameras: "If they're going to follow me anyway, I want them to follow me here."
On getting involved in Darfur: "I had just come out of Oscar season - I had two movies up - and you really do campaign, like kissing babies. So by the time it's over, you sort of feel unclean. You want to do something that makes you feel better."
On why he won't run for office: "I didn't live my life in the right way for politics, you know. I f*cked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that's the truth. That's gonna be my campaign slogan: 'I drank the bong water.'?"
On relief workers: "These guys have a day job that pays them nothing and is dangerous. My day job pays very well, and the worst thing that happens is you get some bad food from craft service."

Newsweek Turns a Critical Eye on the Politics of Beauty

BellaSugar — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:00:26 PDT

If you're fascinated by how beauty affects society, go bookmark Newsweek's special report on the subject. The series of articles examines the politics of beauty - because, whether it's fair or not, our culture is overwhelmingly lookist.

The stories are all worth reading, particularly these poll results about beauty in the workplace. (Depressingly, hiring managers admitted that on average, they ranked a person's appearance more important than her education.) And this essay highlighting the double standards of beauty for men and women feels like a modern version of Gloria Steinem's famous If Men Could Menstruate essay. Not everything is as strong - we're unconvinced that all makeup artists are conniving tricksters out to get your money - but all of the stories provide plenty to think about. Definitely worth a read.

Family Wellness: Newsweek's Health Guide to Better Living

LilSugar — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:30:11 PDT

A family may eat, sleep, and exercise, but that doesn't mean they have a handle on their health! It's what mom and dad are serving up at the table, the length of their slumber, and the amount of exercise the parents and kiddos get that matters. Newsweek's Healthy Living For Every Age is an easy-to-navigate guide with sections on everything from the truth about infant vaccines to fighting childhood obesity and health insurance to mammograms. Since the text is broken down by age, a family can pinpoint which areas it needs to focus on. Then take the optimum health quiz and see how you fare.

Well Said: Bikinis and Burqas More Common Than You Think

TresSugar — Fri, 21 May 2010 04:00:09 PDT

"One decides to veil, the other decides to flaunt. But both have internalized the idea of being sex objects as central to their identity."

-Stanford educated Shiite Amal Ghandour tells Newsweek that Muslim women like the new Miss USA don't differ that much from those who decide to wear the veil. She reasons that many women who wear the full-covering veil see themselves as prizes for the men they hope to attract. I never really thought of it that way.

Speed Read: Glee Creator Calls For Boycott of Newsweek

TresSugar — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:30:00 PDT

After a Newsweek article said gay actors can't act straight, Glee creator calls for boycott - Entertainment Weekly
College friends say Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is not gay - Politico
Comedy Central cancels Sarah Silverman Program - Huffington Post
Did the Daily Show ask Aasif Mandvi to stop talking about Muslims? - Gawker
Facebook pushing for Betty White to host the Oscars . . . and Emmys - People
Psychic says he predicted Barbara Walters's heart surgery - New York Post
Wanted: Jewish-American princesses for Jersey Shore-ish show - Radar

The F Word: A Feminist's Work Is Never Done

TresSugar — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:00:43 PDT

For Generation X feminism was an eye roll-inducing word, but for Gen Y it's just a word. It's not worthy of anger or praise; it's a word for a war that's over. Newsweek, though, has set out to prove a generation wrong, and it's using itself as the example.

In 1970, 46 women employees of Newsweek filed a gender-discrimination case because women were not allowed to write. Producer, director, and (let's not forget) writer Nora Ephron's first job was at Newsweek in 1962. She described the magazine's ethos best in "My First New York," this week's New York magazine article featuring the famous and nonfamous remembering their arrival in the Big Apple.

I said I hoped to become a writer, and the man who interviewed me assured me that women weren’t writers at Newsweek. It would never have crossed my mind to object or to say, “You’re going to turn out to be wrong about me.” It was a given in those days that if you were a woman and you wanted to do certain things, you were going to have to be the exception to the rule. I was hired as a mail girl, for $55 a week.

This story is so foreign it's almost quaint. After all Ephron did prove him wrong. But somewhere between it not occurring to her to speak up in 1962 and 2010, feminism became loud, insufferable, embarrassing, and finally silent. It's not the idea young women reject (feminism only means gender equality), but its usefulness in a world where women outnumber men in college and a recession that hit men so hard it has its own name. When you consider the prefix "post" was attached to feminism as early as 1919, it's no wonder women grew weary of it long ago. But to find out why total gender equality is still a myth,

"I don't think that not wanting to identify yourself as a feminist is particular to this generation," says New York Times columnist Gail Collins. "But the assumption that everything is fine is very strong with this [group]." Yet as Newsweek illustrates with numerous statistics, gender equality remains a myth. Women may write for the magazine now, but men wrote 43 of its 49 cover stories in 2009. Go beyond Newsweek and outside New York, and women make 77 cents on the male dollar. Data from the Department of Education shows women earn 20 percent less than men (across all professions) despite having higher GPAs in every subject.

So the question really isn't whether feminism's work is finished, but rather how can it be when everyone thinks it is?

Vintage Geek: The Internet? Bah!

GeekSugar — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:45:18 PST

I just stumbled upon this gem of a Newsweek article from 1995. I love browsing through vintage finds, from old magazine ads to television commercials of yore. And coming across something tech-related is even funnier, given the pace at which development and innovation comes to the industry. This article is particularly great. Not only is it written in a bit of a curmudgeonly voice, but it's blatantly off the mark when it comes to predicting the future of the Internet:

"Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."

To read my favorite sentence (it's hilarious!),

"Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure."

The article does, of course, make some valid points relative to 1995, but it's a glimpse into the past and a look at how far we've come! Just think, 15 years from now someone may be excerpting GeekSugar, snickering over our predictions and coverage. Like any trend, there are sure to be hits and misses - but I'm going to disagree with this article say the Internet was one big home run. If you're curious, check out the full article.

The Last Decade in Less Than Seven Minutes

TresSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST

Believe it or not, we're about to start a new decade in less than two months. That means we can all get ready for the barrage of recaps about the last 10 years, which have truly seen a lot of strange and sad events. This has been a decade dominated by terrorism, wars, Terri Schiavo, Hurricane Katrina, and gay marriage bans. But we've also witnessed the rise of YouTube, the Rick Roll, the iPod, Michael Phelps, and Barack Obama. Gearing up for the end of the year, Newsweek put together a seven-minute roundup of this decade's most memorable moments. I'm sure VH1 is taking notes for the inevitable upcoming show called something like "I Love the 2000s." What will we call this decade, anyway?