Throwback Thursday: Charo!

Todays 'Throwback Thursday' post is dedicated to a legend. Extremely beautiful, musically gifted and a master at being the butt of a joke, Charo has proven for decades that she has what it takes to succeed in Hollywood. For over 40 years, Charo's pizzazz, character and strong Spanish accent have tickled and entertained audiences around the globe. Fluent in Spanish, English and Japanese, Charo continues to show the world whats she's made of. Her "cuchi cuchi" trademark not only made her a millionaire, but an icon in the hearts of those who love her. A powerful woman living life on her own terms, WTS salutes, CHARO!! We love you!

CHARO

Charo was born María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza in (born January 15, 1951), in Murcia, Region of Murcia, Spain. She is a Spanish-American actress, comedienne, and flamenco guitarist, best known for her flamboyant stage presence, her provocative outfits, and her trademark phrase ("cuchi-cuchi"). Charo's father was a lawyer who reportedly fled to Casablanca during Francisco Franco's dictatorship while her homemaker mother stayed behind in Murcia, raising their children.  

Charo’s age has always been a question. Official documents in Spain say she was born in 1931. The US said she was born in 1941 but Charo has always insisted she was born in 1951, and that her age was falsified so that she could marry the 66 year old Xavier Cugat who discovered her. Even further in the rumor mill, was that Cugat, already married 4 times, married Charo so that he could legally bring her to the United States. Their marriage was reportedly a contract and in October 1977, she became an American citizen, found love, bought Cugat a Rolls-Royce and divorced him.

She studied classical and flamenco guitar while residing in Murcia, and can claim Andrés Segovia as her guitar teacher. He once spoke of his pupil in an interview and remembered giving her career advice. "Stop saying 'cuchi-cuchi' so much, Charo! Be serious!" he took guitar lessons from him and other teachers from the age of nine. She has been named "Best Flamenco Guitarist" in Guitar Player Magazine's readers' poll twice.

She moved to West 257th Street in the New York City borough of The Bronx with her mother and aunt, and was regularly featured in shows with Cugat's orchestra in New York and Las Vegas, as well as in overseas engagements in Latin America and Europe. 

Charo's first US TV appearance was on The Today Show in the mid-1960s. She later appeared on Laugh-In in 1968. Her almost complete lack of fluency in the English language was played as a comic focus and she would have audiences laughing at her mangled English. This is also the time that the "cuchi cuchi" line passed into the public arena.

Charo on The Carol Burnett Show

She was headlining Vegas shows by 1971 and reportedly being paid as much as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles or Dean Martin. In 1977, she became a citizen of the United States. That same year she married her second husband, Kjell Rasten, a producer, in California. Rasten became his wife's manager and the couple has one child, a son, Shel Rasten, who was born in 1982.

Throughout the 1970s, she was a highly visible personality, 

appearing eight times on The Love Boat, as well as on almost every talk show being made at that time. Charo was hot-to-trot. Beautiful, funny, and foreign. She took America by storm. She was even on the very short lived, Brady Bunch spinoff.

For much of the late 1980s and 1990s, after being a bit too much in the public eye, she scaled back her appearances and had limited visibility. She moved to Hawaii and opened her own dinner theater that she performed at. She and her husband concentrated on raising their son. Because of the large number of Japanese immigrants to the island state, Charo learned to speak Japanese. In the 2000s, she returned to television in commercials for Sprint wireless phone service and GEICO insurance, as well as guest appearances on Hollywood Squares, a season-three stint on the celebreality series The Surreal Life.  On May 11, 2008, she made a guest appearance on the Latin-themed VH1 reality show Viva Hollywood.

She now has a regular touring show in addition to appearances in Branson, Missouri, and Las Vegas. 

In 2008, Charo returned to the dance music scene with the single "España Cañi". The single was released through Universal Wave Records.

Currently, she performs select dates around the globe, and is an icon and sweetheart.

This skit she did on the Carol Burnett show is hilarious. It demonstrates the humor, sex appeal and charm that made Charo a star. (Carol Burnett is also hilarious in this!!)

Charo's Music Video for "Dance A Little Bit Closer"

Charo poppin' it on The Love Boat..

Finally, what she's most famous for. Playing award winning Flamenco guitar, beautifully..

Cuchi Cuchi, we LOVE Charo! Ole.

Rashida Jones calls out Miley and Nicki: Pornification of Women

Rashida Calls Out Miley & 'Pornification' Of Women

By JACKIE WILLIS


December 06, 2013


You won't see Rashida Jones riding a wrecking ball in her underwear anytime soon. In an editorial piece for Glamour magazine, the Parks and Recreation star calls out both Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj for their highly sexual behavior and slams the entertainment industry for their "pornification of everything."

This article, titled Why Is Everyone Getting Naked?, is a follow-up to some tweets Jones posted where she asked women to "stop acting like whores." She explains that after those tweets, she was accused of "sl*t shaming."

"But I will look at women with influence -- millionaire women who use their 'sexiness' to make money -- and ask some questions. There is a difference, a key one, between 'shaming' and 'holding someone accountable,'" the 37-year-old actress writes. "The poles, the pasties, the gyrating: This isn't showing female sexuality; this is showing what it looks like when women sell sex. ...And so much of it feels staged for men, not for our own pleasure."

Jones even goes as far as to call out some women in Hollywood. "Even if adult Miley [Cyrus] and Nicki [Minaj] have ownership of their bodies, do the girls imitating them have the same agency? Where do we draw the line between teaching them freedom of sexual expression and pride in who they are on the inside? Are we even allowed to draw a line?"

She adds that she's not buying the excuses, writing: "Please stop saying you don't want to be rolemodels. Because, guess what: You are."

The article continues, "Go ahead and make videos in which your ass cheeks slap water around in slow motion; go ahead and tweet pictures of your undercarriage. But perhaps every eleventh song or video, do something with some more clothes on?"

Jones hopes 2014 will be "more original" and "slightly more clothed," writing: "Maybe even a song that empowers women to feel good about some other great quality we have? Like, I don't know ...our empathy, or childbearing skills, or ability to forgive one another for mean tweets?"

Do you agree?

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Meet Your First Black Girlfriend..

Meet Akilah. She's your first Black girlfriend.

You can touch her hair, but your friends cant..

Akilah's Channel

You Oughtta Know..

Lorde of the Why's??

Not a fan. Nice voice but it's hard to believe she's 16. Her boyfriend is 24 and everyone seems to be ok with that. 

*rolls eyes really fucking hard*

I suppose statutory rape is a-ok if you're famous. I saw this performance and made the stink face. I understand needing to "get into" your songs, but she looks like she's having a seizure.

Oh the madness that is music today..

*el sigh*

Kim K.: Social Climber, not Stair Climber

Well well well. What did we expect from Lil Miss under-the-knife?

Kim K., on interviews-n-such, bragging about how exercise and diet is how she's been losing her baby weight, has apparently been lying through her plastic surgeried teeth. Allegedly she's been secretly using not a plastic surgeon, not treadmill.

*Yawn* Can't say that's a surprise. My question is, why lie though? LMAO.. look who I'm talking about. I cannot stand this woman..

Kim K. Slimmed Down with $80K Worth of Surgery

Weight-loss cheater! That’s what Kim Kardashian has been branded in the latest report to question how the E! reality star dropped as much as 70 lbs since giving birth to North West five months ago.

“The truth is, she took the easy way out,” declares Life & Style, claiming that Kardashian, 32, has been secretly visiting a Beverly Hills cosmetic plastic surgeon to get work done, including fillers, stretch-mark treatments and a fat-reducing ultrasound procedure on her stomach that costs up to $5,000 a session.

In all, the regiment has totaled $80,000, it’s alleged.

According to the magazine’s insider, the mother-of-one gets the Coolaser treatment, which chills the skin and then uses light pulses to vaporize skin cells — removing wrinkles, scars, saggy skin and stretch marks.

“Kim is desperate to be sexy again. She wants to go back to the way things were before North was born,” the source said.

“She loves her daughter, but she loves herself and her image a lot, too.”

While the reality star’s rep denied to the publication that she’s being treated by Dr. Ourian, insiders told the mag that she’s going to great lengths to keep her visits clandestine.

During one trip to a laser hair-removal clinic, she allegedly pretended to be visiting the Pilates studio next door!

“She even wore workout clothes to throw off the photographers and begged them to make it look like she was going inside to work out, not to get laser treatments,” a source claimed.

Another reason behind Kardashian’s extreme measures to slim down: her upcoming wedding to fiancé West.

Dished another source: “She wants to be the most beautiful bride, especially since all eyes will be on her. All she talks about is losing the baby weight and wanting to wear those skintight outfits again.”

Veteran's Day Secret: Sexual Assault in the Military

Yes, I'm insanely late, but here's my contribution to honor of Veteran's Day.

Allow me to make the disclaimer, that I don't give a fuck if any one's offended. Instead of standing in front of a flag, hand over heart, blind patriotism in the mind, proud and grateful for the military "fight for freedom.."

I choose to acknowledge a less glorious aspect of military life. One that affects women especially.

Yes, military personnel are supposed to "protect," but whom are they protecting exactly? If you're a woman in the military, you're 4 times more likely to get raped than if you're not.

And it doesn't begin and end with women. Men also file claims of sexual assault at the hands of their bullet armed brethren.

Unwanted sexual advances, rape, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual assault occur daily in our armed forces. Given the way these facts are under-reported and routinely swept under the rug..

Maybe they should start calling themselves masked forces?

The perpetrators often are living in the same barracks, not some enemy camp.

WTS salutes veterans, and especially female veterans who fight for their safety on the battle field, and off. The military deems you a hero should you go to battle, but apparently, chooses to ignore you and your trauma should you survive it.

SMH. WTS.

New data show unfair treatment at the VA for survivors of sexual assault in the military.

Veterans whose post-traumatic stress disorder is caused by military sexual trauma are much more likely to be denied disability compensation than other veterans diagnosed with PTSD.

This Veterans Day, veterans struggling with the devastating mental health effects of military sexual violence who turn to the Department of Veterans Affairs for help will instead find discrimination. Their claims for disability compensation will turn out differently depending on their gender and where they live. And the VA will expect survivors to submit documentation that often does not exist—like official reports of rape or the results of pregnancy or STD tests—while taking veterans who claim benefits for many other forms of trauma at their word.

The accounts of veterans like Navy veteran Ruth Moore have shown the impact of the VA’s hostility to disability benefit claims related to rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment. It can be devastating. Moore was raped twice by her Navy supervisor, but the VA repeatedly denied her claims for disability compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder, requiring extra evidence because her claim was linked to military sexual trauma. The VA’s discriminatory demand left Moore without compensation, homeless, and suicidal; it took her more than two decades to finally get the benefits she deserved. 

Now, after years of litigation, the VA has released data on military sexual trauma claims that show a pattern. Veterans whose PTSD is caused by military sexual trauma are much more likely to be denied disability compensation than other veterans diagnosed with PTSD. 

Our report “Battle for Benefits: VA Discrimination Against Survivors of Military Sexual Trauma” shows that each year from 2008 to 2012, the VA rate for granting claims base d on sexual trauma-related PTSD lagged behind other PTSD claims by between 16 and 30 percentage points. This disparity is particularly disturbing because sexual assault is more strongly correlated with PTSD in veterans than any other trauma, including combat trauma. The numbers make clear that many military sexual trauma survivors who suffer from debilitating mental health conditions are not getting the disability benefits they need and deserve.

Female veterans suffer most frequently from the VA’s discrimination, because their PTSD claims are more often related to military sexual trauma than are the claims of male veterans. But male veterans suffer a form of sex discrimination too: When they make claims for PTSD caused by military sexual trauma, they have a particularly hard time getting their claims approved. In 2011, for example, the VA granted nearly 49 percent of PTSD claims from female survivors, but only 37 percent of claims from male survivors. This is particularly disheartening since, according to the Pentagon, men made up over half of the military’s sexual assault survivors in 2012.

Finally, and perhaps most alarmingly, in a country that should treat all its veterans equally, our report reveals that veterans’ access to disability compensation depends on where they happen to live. Veterans submit disability claims to one of 58 VA regional offices. The data show huge disparities among the rates at which claims of PTSD based on sexual trauma are granted at different offices. For example, in 2012 the VA granted 57 percent of all of these PSTD claims nationwide. The regional office in St. Paul, Minn., however, granted only 26 percent of these claims, while the Los Angeles office granted nearly 88 percent.

Clearly, the system is flawed. To fix it, the VA must start by changing its regulations so that it no longer holds survivors of military sexual trauma to higher standards than other veterans with PTSD. The VA has repeatedly denied the need for this commonsense change, but the data make clear that it is necessary. The VA must also continue to improve its training efforts surrounding military sexual trauma, targeting claims processors and management in regional offices that have discriminated most egregiously. 

Despite years of pressure from veterans’ advocates and survivors themselves, the VA has been unwilling to make these urgently needed changes on its own. It’s time for Congress to step in. Survivors of military sexual trauma have waited long enough.

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Wonder Woman Goddamit

Somebody really wants this effing movie made..

With superheroes dominating the box office and pop culture landscape, it's simply astonishing that there hasn't been a female-lead film added the mix yet. While Marvel has a dearth of male superheroes at their fingertips, DC's most famous heroes are arguably Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Yet, only Wonder Woman doesn't have her own series or film franchise to call home.

The latest rumors hint at Wonder Woman being a part of the Man of Steel sequel, Batman vs. Superman, and this is the closest she's been the silver screen in years. It's truly sad that she'd be playing third string to the big boys, and possibly only functioning as a love interest at that.

For some reason, Hollywood just can't get the Amazonian princess to the screen because she's "tricky." They can get countless super-men to work, including a gun-toting, talking Raccoon, but for some reason she is the "trickiest" one of them all.

We're at the point where fans are so demanding for a Wonder Woman feature, that Rainfall Productions has created a short film of their own highlighting her strength, beauty, and more. Without words, this short film has done more for Wonder Woman on screen than Big Hollywood has in the last thirty years.

Watch the fan made Wonder Woman short below:

 

While it's just a short, it does at least one major thing that Hollywood hasn't been able to properly handle - her costume. Her updated superhero costume is both sexy and strong and fitting with the modern era. Gone is the swimsuit style one-piece of Lynda Carter's TV show and instead of going with the modern and modest leggings/pantsuit it has a very Xena: Warrior Princess look.

With Natalie Portman clamoring for a female super-hero film, Stan Lee's acceptance of its inevitability and a potential Agent Carter TV show in the works -- the superhero cinematic landscape is just aching for a female superhero movie, regardless if it's DC or Marvel.

Hopefully we won't have to wait another thirty years.

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