By Deputy Editor Thea Lim
Reader Carleandria sent us this link to an article from the Times Online, discussing a controversy that is gaining ground in France after the release of a biopic on French writer Alexandre “The Three Musketeers” Dumas starring Gérard Depardieu:
A fuss over race has soured the release of the latest film in which [...]

By Guest Contributor Toban Black, originally published at Contexts.org
The 2010 Olympics logo is an altered version of traditional Arctic Inuit sculptures. This quasi-indigenous logo has been displayed in a barrage of Olympics branding. You can see two examples of this marketing in photos — from the summer of 2009 – shown below.
With this Olympics logo, [...]

by Guest Contributor Tiara the Merch Girl
Depending on who you ask, burlesque can either be a tool to poke fun at the Establishment by bringing them down to the “low-brow”, or a way to bask in vintage 1940s and 1950s glamour. It’s a growing art form with plenty of enthusiasts jumping in for a chance [...]

By Guest Contributor Mimi, originally published at Threadbared
Whether deemed a “must have,” as some contestants on The Fashion Show insisted, or a hideous mistake, the so-called harem pant is back in a big, billowy way. But the resurgence of the harem pant in the long shadow of war in the Middle East –specifically, those conflicts [...]

by Guest Contributor (and regular commenter) Atlasien
David Carradine was found dead yesterday in a hotel room in Bangkok. The circumstances of his death are outrageously sensationalistic. I won’t go into any detail other than to remark that these circumstances have helped ensure a steady barrage of media coverage. Just now, tuning into [...]

by Guest Contributor Neesha Meminger
The other day, I came across a blog post by Editorial Anonymous, “The CSK is Dead (Long Live the CSK).” The Coretta Scott King Award was established in 1969 and is given to outstanding African-American authors and illustrators of children’s books.
Editorial Anonymous writes,
“If the CSK were in charge, male [...]

by Guest Contributor Nezua, originally published at The Unapologetic Mexican

“It’s not like I’m just jumping on some cool rebel cause for the sake of exploiting it for profit.” —Shepard Fairey
Question of Appropriation and Tokenism are areas one must approach carefully. Human beings are involved and there is nuance, to be sure. Good can be done [...]

by Guest Contributor (and regular commenter) Atlasien
Geisha cultists seriously disturb me.
Surprisingly enough, many of them are women. They love the geisha mystique, the tinge of nostalgia for a bygone era, the careful artifice, the idea of humans as living artwork.
I’ve enraged a few of them simply by dropping the “geishas [...]

by Latoya Peterson
Today, I got three text messages in rapid succession from my friend Hae.
“Check out the new MV from 2ne1 called Fire!”
“Song is addicting!”
“Street version is better than space version!”
I knew YouTube wouldn’t let me down, so I headed over there to see if someone posted an English translation:

2NE1 is just one group in [...]

by Guest Contributor Lisa, originally published at Sociological Images
This post is dedicated to Frankie Manning. Frankie died this morning of complications related to pnemonia. He was one month shy of his 95th birthday. I will really miss him.
Frankie is a lindy hop legend. He choreographed the first clip below and [...]

by Special Correspondent Wendi Muse
So even though fashion designers have a tendency to appropriate and re-design fashion they witness during their world travels (or, cough, imperialist imaginations), the magazine writers and journalists just can’t seem to find the right words to characterize the collections. Instead of talking about geometric prints, the use of found objects [...]

by Special Correspondent Fatemeh Fakhraie
I know, I know. If you’re looking for socially conscious rap or hip hop, you don’t go to Busta Rhymes. But this still surprises me:
Maytha from KABOBfest has highlighted Rhyme’s song “Arab Money,” which has some disgustingly racist lyrics. Maytha brings up some great points about this video, namely, that it [...]

by Latoya Peterson
While I was sick, I received a few interesting emails. While in the context of a larger Racialicious team discussion about Halloween, Andrea linked to a Sepia Mutiny post about Heidi Klum’s choice of Halloween costume.
Here’s the costume:

Fatemeh commented:
Though I have to admit, it was a bitchin’ costume, I don’t [...]

by Guest Contributor Jessica Yee
Last year, a friend of mine told me that actress Juliette Lewis started up a band and that their sound was seriously a rockin’.
I was like “Really? Cool!” since I’d always appreciated the versatility Lewis demonstrated in her acting craft with movies like “The Other Sister,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” [...]

by Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said

Discussions about American Apparel’s new Afrika line of clothing on this blog, Feministing and Racialicious sparked some confusion among people who wondered “What’s so wrong with being inspired by another culture?” Nothing, really. But “inspiration” drawn from a historically oppressed culture comes with a tangle of [...]