TresSugar

A-Ha's "Take On Me": The Literal Version

GiggleSugar — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:00:00 -0700

I hope this starts a trend in music video mashups. It's like "Mystery Science Theater" meets VH1's "Pop-Up Video." (Or something like that.) The formula? Take a music video and replace the lyrics with a narration of exactly what's going on in the video - scene by scene. Amazing! Here's the original version should you want to do a side-by-side comparison.

Eligible Bachelor Du Jour

GiggleSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 01:00:00 -0700

What's not to like? He's tallish, dark and oh, so handsome. And that's even before you consider his rather unusual musical abilities. Oh, and unlike lots of other boyfriends, it looks (and sounds) like he's got a looooot of time on his hands.

How Do I Handle This Strip Club Situation?

Tres Community — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:15 -0800

This post comes from Group Therapy in our TrèsSugar Community. Feel free to add your advice in the comments!

First of all my husband and I have been married for half of a year now. He's in the Navy and just got deployed, but right before the deployment he was sent to Hawaii for one day. I dropped him off at the airport and it was so hard for me to let him go. He called from Hawaii and we talked for five minutes then he said he had to go and he would call back.

As I was checking our bank account to check on the bills I noticed he had paid to go in to some type of club. While crying my eyes out because of how much I already missed him and knowing he wasn't coming home any time soon, I waited for him to call back. When he finally did I got him to tell me the truth and it turned out to be a strip club. This was his first time going into a strip club. The problem is that I feel so offended and disrespected. I know I'm not unattractive, and I'm very open minded in our sex life. So to me it seems as if I'm not enough for him, and that he didn't care about how I feel about strip clubs. The fact that he was lusting over those girls makes me so angry and upset.

To see the rest, .

When we talked I was so mad and disappointed and couldn't stop crying. But after a while I realized that I've been told not to say anything negative or upsetting to him since he was going on deployment to a very stressful environment. I won't be able to talk to him at all while he's gone, I can only send emails but I can't confront him there either. So I had to pretend that I got over it and that I was OK, so he wouldn't feel bad and guilty. But in reality I feel so disgusted and can't take the thought of him wanting someone else. I'm alone and don't have any family here, this is our first deployment and I'm still trying to handle it. He made things so much worse for me, now I'm not just worried about his safety, but also at the thought of when he goes to a port he's going to cheat on me. I'm just hurt and feel resentment towards him, but for as long as he's out I have to pretend I'm fine and support him through the emails. I know some people might think I'm over reacting, but to me this is just like cheating.

There's lots of great stuff going on in our community - join it, check it out, share your posts or advice in the great groups and maybe we'll feature it here on TrèsSugar!

Take Me to Your Leader: Canada

LibertySugar — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0700

Stephen Harper, 48, leads Canada as its prime minister and head of the Conservative Party he co-founded in 2003. His election marked the end of 12 years Liberal Party rule.

Recently newsworthy for its involvement in "NAFTA-gate," Harper's administration was accused of leaking a memo that summarized private statements by an Obama adviser that the Senator's private position on NAFTA differed from his public position. Harper has denounced such meddling in the US election as unfair and most likely illegal.

Born in Toronto, Harper is the the first Canadian Prime Minister since 1968 not to attend law school. Known for policy over pizazz, Harper quickly accomplished campaign promises after being elected to run the minority government. A supporter of the unpopular Canadian effort in Afghanistan, Harper appointed a nonpartisan committee to evaluate the mission. Canada's slow growth is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the prime minister. Hopefully his bachelor and master degrees in economics will prove useful.

The opposition has been aching to push the Conservatives out of power, and recent Conservative Party scandals may give them their opportunity. Recently opposition leader Jack Layton called Prime Minister Harper a tool of the US Republican Party . . . to his face . . . on the floor of Parliament. Parliamentary democracies are great, eh? To see video read more.

Source

Take Me to Your Leader: Britain

LibertySugar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:00:50 -0800

June 27, 2007, Gordon Brown, 56, finally became the Prime Minister of Britain, after serving over a decade as Tony Blair's heir apparent. As lore would have it, in 1994 the two Labour Party friends made a pact - Tony Blair would run for Prime Minister, and eventually pass the torch to the awkward and dour Brown.

Brown became Prime Minister when the unpopular Blair stepped down, and immediately confronted a series of crises, including a thwarted terrorist attack, and flooding across England. But, the unfortunate events did not stop there. Brown came under fire for scandals including the loss of a computer disk holding bank account details of 25 million people, the almost collapse of a major mortgage lender, and sketchy Labour Party financing. In an attempt to deflect such negative attention before a general election next year, Brown recently put the spotlight on eight young Cabinet ministers as a way to prove the Labour Party is the party of radical change.

For more information on Brown's road to power, read more.

Under Blair, Brown served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and presided over unprecedented growth while diminishing the Labour Party's reputation as a tax-and-spend party. Born and raised in Scotland, Brown credits his parents as "my inspiration, and the reason I am in politics." His father was a minister of the Church of Scotland.

Young Gordon started university at the young age of 16. Although he was extremely successful academically, his university career was dogged with medical complications. A rugby injury from high school, cost him his sight in one eye, and left him with only 30 percent vision in the other. Brown worked as a university instructor and wrote a number of books, including "The Real Divide," a study of poverty and inequality. He entered parliament in 1983, sharing an office with Tony Blair.
Source

Take Me to Your Leader: Venezuela

LibertySugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:02:28 -0800

Hugo Chavez, 53, is the president of Venezuela. A while back, he addressed the UN General Assembly the day after George W. Bush declaring that the room stank of sulphur because "the devil" had been there. I wasn't quite sure if he was joking or serious, but it looks like Chavez is serious about his anti-American sentiment.

Chavez's irreverent and revolutionary positions have made him internationally controversial. Recently, he made the news for a failed referendum, his first major electoral defeat. The president hoped to centralize his power and remove term limits. Voters rejected the proposal by a slim margin.

Chavez, a former soldier, came to power in 1998 on the backs of soaring oil revenues and class unrest. As president he has nationalized major companies, asserted government control over oil projects, withdrawn from the International Monetary Fund and represented anti-American attitudes in Latin America. He has also cracked down on the freedom of the press often dominating television with his long-winded national addresses.

Still Interested? For additional info, read more

The New York Times Topic Page

Time Magazine Profile

Hugo Chavez vs. America

Source

Take Me to Your Leader: Liberia

LibertySugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:12:56 -0800

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 69, became Africa's first female elected head of state when Liberians elected her as their president in 2005. A Harvard-educated economist, Johnson-Sirleaf came to power, bolstered by her loyal supporters who carried "Ellen! She's Our Man!" posters during the close elections.

Johnson-Sirleaf's criticism of Liberia's former military regime led to her imprisonment twice in the 1980s. She fled Liberia two times, gaining international-finance experience while in exile. To find out about this amazing woman, read more.

Among her supporters, Johnson-Sirleaf finds educated Liberians as well as members of the old elite descended from freed American slaves who founded Liberia - "land of the free." According to Johnson-Sirleaf, she pursued the presidency "to bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency"

Laura Bush had this to write about Johnson-Sirleaf in Time:

Johnson-Sirleaf's courage and commitment to her country are an inspiration to me and women around the world.

I agree with Laura. Johnson-Sirleaf is truly inspiring!

Source

Take Me to Your Leader: Germany

LibertySugar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:08:02 -0800

Angela Merkel, 52, is the German Chancellor and first female leader of Germany. She ranked number one on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful Women 2007.

At the 2007 Group of Eight ( G8 ) summit, Angela kept her fellow world-leaders focused on the agenda of climate change and poverty. As rotating head of the European Union, she led the way in creating a new European treaty. At home in Germany she enjoys approval ratings as high as 75 percent, and presides over declining unemployment and healthy economic growth.

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall and unification of Germany, Angela lived in East Germany working as a scientist. While living in communist East Germany, Angela never participated in public life. Yet, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, she joined the Christian Democratic Union of East Germany (a political party). By 2000 she had been elected chairperson of the CDU and in 2005 the German people elected Angela as their chancellor.

You might remember Angela from her infamously awkward encounter with George W. Bush in 2006. For a video clip to refresh your memory, read more!

Source

Who's Your Favorite Female Author?

TresSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

It's no secret that we love female writers around here at Sugar HQ, but according to Publishers Weekly, no book written by a woman was good enough to make the list of the top 10 titles of 2009. Maybe it's time for women to start taking masculine pen names again.

In response to the disappointing list, the group Women in Letters and Literary Arts (WILLA) has put together a list of books that were overlooked, written by authors like Lorrie Moore, Rita Dove, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant, and Alicia Ostriker.

I thought it could be fun to make our own list of amazing female authors. So tell me: who is your favorite author, who also happens to be a woman? (And if you're looking for books written by either sex, check out our list of November must reads.)

Source: Flickr User netsella

Ask a Trader: Is He Into Me?

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Conventional Wisdom is a different kind of advice column. Your questions will be answered by people from all walks of life rather than by advice experts. This week, a trader helps out a frustrated woman. If you have a question you'd like answered on Conventional Wisdom, you can submit it here.

Today's question:

I have been seeing this man for a little over a month. He is significantly older than me (13 years) and pretty busy. We talked last weekend and both said we wanted to take things slow due to failed past relationships (jumping into them too quickly; he was engaged).

That's perfectly fine with me, but the problem is that we never talk. We Facebook message each other, but it's extremely brief two word phrases. When the weekend hits, we might see each other one day. When we do see each other, he acts like he really enjoys my company until I say something nice (he runs a gallery, so I told him if he ever needs help getting a show set up, to let me know) in which case he kind of buries his head. He also won't respond if I send him a compliment via one of our Facebook messages.

He does let me keep some toiletries at his house if I ever spend the night, which is rare - we don't have sex either. I really like this guy and want to get to know him, but it seems impossible and I feel like I'm just getting strung along. Should I talk to him and tell him what I expect with "taking it slow" or something? Or does it seem he really isn't into me at all? Would he really string me along if he knows I don't want to get hurt anymore?

Signed,
Taking it Too Slow

To see the trader's answer, read more.

Dear Taking it Too Slow,

It sounds like, for whatever reason, this guy is not romantically attracted to you. You are right to worry that he lets you stay overnight and keep toiletries at his house, without ever making a move. You say you really like him, but I must recommend that you not waste too much more time on him without knowing he feels the same way because it sounds like you keep putting forth effort, without getting anything back from him. Tell him how you feel, and if he shares those feelings then you can explore the possibility of a real relationship together. If he says he's just not ready, this is your cue to move on and trade up. And no need to second-guess breaking off your sexless sleepovers: if he really does have feelings for you, he'll come back when he's ready, and if you want to, you can give him another shot.

Signed,
A Trader