Look of love: Shakira looked heartbroken as her Barcelona footballer boyfriend Gerard Pique headed to the stands to see her after his defeat against Real Madrid last night
Fit of Pique: Gerard rushes straight to Shakira's arms after his team lost the game in a 1-0 defeat
Comfort: It was some consolation for Pique to have his girlfriend on hand
Loser: Pique in action against Madrid's Sami Khedira in the game that Real won in extra time
Calvin Coolidge, of all people, once astutely noted that Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.
It is that state of mind in all its many shadings - joyous, blue, reverent, sassy, loving, somber, playful, warm and thankful - that successful holiday music strives to express in art.
This year brings a somewhat smaller bundle of new Christmas discs, but there's still a diverse selection of albums from artists of varying sensibilities and generations.
Here are some of the most notable new entries to the Christmas music catalog.
"Midwinter Graces" by Tori Amos (Universal Republic)
Amos is part feminist, part pagan pixie and part creative loon. She's also the slightly wayward daughter of a Methodist minister. On "Midwinter Graces," Amos strives to reconcile that bumptious mix in a coherent blend.
The album honors the ancient pagan traditions that celebrate the natural cycle of death and renewal, winter and spring. Indeed, Amos divides the album into the four elements of air, earth, fire and water. She gives voice to her mystic heart on original songs such as "Winter's Carol" and "Snow Angel." Yet she also respectfully updates traditional carols honoring the Christ child, including "What Child Is This," "Coventry Carol"
This was something I wanted to do last week at the halfway mark of the season but never got around to it. I thought it would be interesting to take the temperature of fan sentiment regarding head coach Sean Payton and try to get a quantifiable answer as to how fans feel he is doing in his job as head coach this season.
Personally, Payton gets an "A" from me. Pretty hard to find fault with the coach of a 9-0 football team. In fact, my initial hesitation with writing this post was that I thought his excellent work this season was too obvious and evident and that it would just be a waste of time.
But just for funsies, let's do it anyway! Cast your vote below and grade Payton's performance so far. Of course, your greater take on the subject can be expressed below in the comment section.
Embattled nightclub executive Rachel Uchitel left her home in New York City' Meatpacking District (which strangely and I kid-you-not was the home of Alex, the character played by Glen Close in Fatal Attraction) at 5:45 AM only to be greeted by media representing TMZ.com and the New York Daily News. They peppered her with questions from "So you're seeing Gloria Allred", to "How do you feel about Tiger Wood's wife", and also "You know, you're pretty."
But who is Gloria Allred?
Allred's is a founding partner of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, and a self-described "Feminist Lawyer" who built her career by taking up legal cases for seemingly defenseless women against male-dominated organizations. The legal battle that made her name was a lawsuit agaist the then-all-male Friars Club in Beverly Hills, where she became its first female member. Later she represented Paula Jones in the sexual harassment case she lost to Bill Clinton.
Allred is known as a very outspoken, combative, liberal counselor, who's a much sought-after media pundit, appearing regularly on shows like Larry King Live. In short, Allred's someone you hire when you feel you're rights as a woman or minority have been violated at a high-profile level.
By hiring Allred, Rachel Uchitel is sending a powerful message that she means business in defending her name in the Tiger Woods scandal. I can't help but think her ultimate target is The National Enquirer, but given that publications love for big spotlight battles to protect its stories, this could be a heck of a war.
