Jan
08
Strictly Fab Finds of the Week: January 28, 2008
Happy Monday!
Let’s start something new, shall we? I thought that you all might like to know about some strictly fab ways you can spend your time this week. So, every Monday, I will have My StrictlyFab Finds of the Week for you to enjoy. So, enjoy!
SEE: 27 Dresses
Imagine the baby of “The Wedding Planner” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and out pops “27 Dresses.” From the screenwriter of “The Devil Wears Prada,” this romantic comedy doesn’t deliver the quick wit and sharp tongue of “Prada,” but it can be surprisingly amusing at moments. Katherine Heigl plays a hopeless “yes” girl who forgoes her needs to fulfill the needs of others (sound familiar, ladies?) while endlessly looking for her own happy ending…..with some twists and turns that will tickle you in unexpected moments of delight.
WATCH: Millionaire Matchmaker (Bravo TV, Tuesdays 10pm EST)
The fam and I watched the repeat of the premiere this weekend and it was hee-larious! This reality TV show had me rolling—between millionaire matchmaker Patti Stanger’s relationships with her clients to the interesting and diverse clients to the women who “auditioned” to be dates—pure comedy. Patti did have some great dating advice and tips, so it is well worth the watch for those of you all still looking.
LISTEN: Colbie Caillet (‘rhymes with ballet’), “Coco”
Let me first tell you all that I absolutely love the song “Bubbly.” It’s soft, airy, happy, joyful, i.e. a happy-happy song! In the midst of all that is me, I love music that permits me to unwind without further depressing me. I have heard enough ‘my man has done me wrong’ songs and ‘the world is a horrible sad place’ songs. Coco is full of pleasant, yet thoughtful, tracks that will evoke the sunshine memories that you need during those rainy moments and generally a feel good feeling. You gotta love it….
READ: The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
If you didn’t realize it by now, we are a global economy. Get ready, if you aren’t currently in this predicament, to compete internationally for employment and business opportunities. I started this book last year (and I am quickly on the way to finishing it!) and it completely opened my eyes to what was happening to the world around me economically on a global scale. I know that all of us had, at least once, called a customer service department about a product that we purchased from local, domestic US store, and had a CS rep who were attempting to resolve our problem from across an international time zone on the other side of the world. If you want to see where your economy (and money) is heading, definitely take a good long read of this book.
Here’s to starting a great week…and keep it strictly stylish!
Afrodite
Comment by January 28, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
My friend and I went to go see “27 Dresses” on a fluke and I looooooved it. I love Katherine Heigl.
Anonymous
Comment by February 8, 2008 @ 5:03 am
Two books to read, which offer a counterperspective to Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”
The Harvard Professor, Pankaj Ghemawat’s latest book, “Redefining Global Strategy,” is more academically inclined. I read an article of his published in the journal, “Foreign Policy”, where he argues that the world is, at best, only semi-globalized. His argument being that Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic aspects of a nation come in the way of total globalization from taking place and cites examples of the same.
The other small, but interesting book, is by Aronica and Ramdoo, “The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller.” It is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn’t a single table or data footnote in Friedman’s entire book. “Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz. Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization.
You may want to see http://www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch http://www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman’s
“The World is Flat”.
Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! http://www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html
There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
http://www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html