All This Twerking's Got Me Smirking

In case you were wondering, that's former 'tween' star Miley Cyrus in the picture to the left. A few years ago, you and your kids knew her as the star of the "Hannah Montana" franchise from Disney Channel.

Those days are apparently long gone, at least as far as Miley herself is concerned. Last week in a performance on the MTV Video Music Awards that could perhaps be described as a sad attempt at being raunchy, she decided to come out of her pop queen shell and start twerking in public.

What the heck is "twerking", you might be asking? Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary Online, 'twerking' is "to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."

First introduced in the early-90's, the word is of dubious origin, but likely a contraction of the words 'twist' and 'jerk', and was used in that decade in the lyrics of some hip-hop songs.

While I could never be accused of having been a prude to this point in my life, and can certainly appreciate a beautiful, fit, young woman exploring her sexuality and trying to bring a former kiddie image to a more mature one, something just struck me as being very wrong with that Miley Cyrus performance.

1981: A New Beginning

All this year at my Facebook page, I have been taking a daily trip back in time to the 1980's. Each month I am highlighting a different year chronologically.

This month have been featuring the music, tv, movies, and important events of 1981. You can also follow this little mini-series of articles on each year of the "1980's'" by clicking on to that 'label' below this article.

As we all know, a new decade does not actually technically begin in a year that ends in a zero, it begins with the year ending in (1) one. So while 1981 might be the 2nd year of the 1980's, it's the first year of a new decade and marked a beginning in a couple of different chapters of my own life.

In late September of 1980, my little young family had moved into an apartment in South Philly. 1981 would be the first and only full calendar year that we would live there. It was an interesting year at what became simply known as 'the apartment' in our little circle of friends. We had many a Friday night party at the place in the early months of the year, but as the summer drew on things got a bit more crowded.

In another development of those early months, the news came to us that a new addition was expected in the Veasey clan. Having given birth to Chrissy the previous February, we learned that Anne was pregnant again. Given that she was due at the end of July 1981, it appeared that this was a post-World Series baby conceived in the immediate aftermath of the Phils' first-ever championship at the end of October.

So leaping forward, on July 30th, 1981, Kelly Anne Veasey came into the world. We had planned all along to actually name her 'Kerry' rather than 'Kelly'. But another young couple who lived on Anne's parents block in Prospect Park, PA, were due at the same time. They gave birth just before us, and named their new daughter 'Kerry'. That killed it, we weren't going to be seen as copy-cats. So 'Kelly' it was. A fine Irish name.

ARod: What More Could He Want?

Reports have surfaced in recent weeks of a marital split and pending divorce between New York Yankees superstar 3rd baseman Alex 'ARod' Rodriguez and his wife Cynthia.

Now big stars getting divorced has, unfortunately, become common place in today's American culture. But this one is proving to be a doozy.

For years, ARod publicly tried to cultivate a family-man image, and even his personal trainer recently commented on Good Morning America as to that former mind-set for the baseball star.

However, in the divorce papers being filed, Cynthia alleges numerous affairs by ARod over the years, and now claims that one most recent affair was "the last straw." That suspected affair was with none other than pop music mega-star Madonna, who at age 49 is sixteen years the senior of ARod (he turns 33 at the end of this month.)

Cynthia claims to have found what is being described as "love notes" to the Material Girl from ARod, and there are also allegations that Madonna may have lured him with her faith in Kabbalah, the mystical branch of Judaism.

Pop Tarts

Paris Hilton went to jail yesterday. For her, life changes for the next three weeks. She lives most of her life locked into a small cell with just her books, and her thoughts, for company.

No cell phone, no cable television, no Hummers or Beemers, no drinks, no sex, no drugs, no rock and roll.

Ms. Hilton drove drunk, and like so many other repeat offenders she is paying a price. Thankfully, no one was killed. This time.

Hilton’s case is just the latest in a disturbing trend that I have chosen to dub the Pop Tarts: young Hollywood glam gals who have allowed their fame and money to devolve them into drunken, drug-laden, sex-obsessed, lost little girls. Singers, actresses, models have all succumbed to highly-publicized law-breaking and morals reduction.

Let’s first examine a few specific cases.