loving LOUIS VUITTON

source pinterest

Loving the trunks used as decor in the home.

celebrity mumma GWEN STEFANI

Gwen Stefani with her cute 5 year old Kingston

I'm just tryin' to get myself a drink, pal.

I saw this on facebook but I try not to repost things quite this colorful there.

I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done this week. We'll see. I can't believe next week is already October 7. My clinic-mate said, "Look, it's fucking Christmas already." I think he might be right.

Hacky sack

I’m not really a journalist, you know. I mean, every now and then I do something that might loosely be defined as journalism, but ultimately I’m a bit of a dilettante. I’ve never done any real training (rather like Johann Hari, then) or taken any exams to prove my mettle; and I never quite got round the joining the union.

So I’m not really sure how it would affect me if Ivan Lewis’s proposal, that seriously misbehaving journalists should be struck off, were actually to end up on the statute book. I mean, the people who tend to get struck off are the likes of lawyers and doctors, proper professionals who have to ascribe to codes of ethical conduct. Is journalism in the same sort of zone? I would have thought that proper, trained, accredited hacks would rather welcome such a move, as it protects their jobs from the predations of cheaper, untrained wannabes, but it seems that very few of them have a good word to say about Lewis‘s proposal – possibly wondering whether certain indiscretions in their own professional lives might, under a new regime, provoke expulsion from inky-fingered Eden. In any case, the details are far too blurry: would struck-off journalists just be banned from working for newspapers? All print media? Broadcast as well? And how the hell could you stop them writing for an online product?

Talking of which, Italian lawmakers aligned with Silvio Berlusconi are trying to pass a clause that would enforce a right to reply for those who believe they’ve been defamed on a blog. The blogger would have just 48 hours to accept the submission, or face a potential fine of 12,000 euros. Which seems perfectly fair to me. If I’ve ever said anything horrid about you in nearly six years of blogging, please feel free to answer back in the receptacle provided. In Italian, though, naturally.

PS: Martin Moore of the Media Standards Trust on why a registry of journalists is a silly idea; Hari’s editor, however, seems pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

celebrity mumma SARAH JESSICA PARKER

Sarah Jessica Parker with adorable Tabitha. x

meet HAVEN GARNER WARREN

"When Haven was born, I fell in love all over again," says proud papa Cash. "It’s the most incredible experience."

   It was love at first sight," Jessica adds. "It did take a couple of days for it to sink in that I have another baby! We're incredibly blessed to have two healthy, sweet little munchkins."

The 30-year-old actress opens up about her birth story. "I wasn't screaming and hollering like you see in the movies but it was still intense... I didn't scream for either (birth) but I was definitely more uncomfortable with the second. Labour is painful."

She goes on to explain the meaning behind Haven's name, revealing the baby was born while still in the amniotic sac.

  "When I delivered Haven she was born still inside the amniotic sac, which is rare," Jessica shares. "When I was in recovery we still hadn't chosen her name. Cash picked her up and said she came into the world in her 'safe haven' and it clicked right then for both of us...The doctor had never seen anything like it before. He grabbed the nurse and said: 'Look at this!' I was in the middle of pushing and he told me to hold on a minute and not to push! He was wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt and said: 'Oh I have to get my scrubs on for this!' The sac burst on its own after she came out. It was a trip."

Jess went on to say that her dreams of a big family are coming true.

"All I ever wanted was to have a big family. There's probably a fantasy in there for Cash to have a boy who he can rough house with and play sports with because Honor is so girlie. Maybe Haven will be a little tomboy."

While Cash, 32, loves being surrounded by beautiful girls, there's one downside. "If there’s any discussion, Cash doesn’t win. Girls have the majority vote here!" Cash adds, "I think we have a great family unit and I want to enjoy being married again and have Jessica not be pregnant for a while. We want to go back to being a married couple."

You can read the full interview in this week's OK! magazine.

Hitler has only got one fishball

Sorry, yet another attractive-Asian-teenagers-in-swastikas story, closely following the Japanese cosplay and Thai game show tales. And we’re back in the Land of Smiles, for the tale of a Catholic school in Chiang Mai where the kids interpreted fancy dress in a manner that the present Pontiff might find a little disturbing (albeit less so in his younger days). The link, incidentally, is to the Daily Mail, in case you’re sensitive about associating with such a rag; but since we’re discussing TEENAGERS dressing as HITLER, a certain sense of proportion might be in order here.

However, if you really don’t want to go there, this gist is this. The Sacred Heart school in Chiang Mai has a tradition  of holding an elaborate fancy dress parade on sports day. This year the procession was led by a female Hitler; some students were dressed as SS guards (wielding toy guns) while others waved Nazi flags.  Many offered up an enthusiastic “sieg heil” or two. Some of the expats in attendance voiced their reservations but many of the teachers, let alone the students, simply didn’t understand why anyone might take offence.

And this is the issue. The notion of Hitler as the epitome of evil, a sort of über-bogeyman, just doesn’t resonate in most of Asia, especially with the young. Sure, they know he was one of the baddies – but just one of them. It’s not as if he’s Voldemort.

Still, at least Hitler’s Café in Mumbai has changed its name now.

PS: And some even more startling images from prachatai.com: