CollegeCandy » nashville

Fashion Goes Country and Looked Great

CC Staff — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:29:58 +0000

Fashion reared its fabulous head last night where you would least expect it. The CMA Awards in Nashville, TN had some of the hottest women and men in the entertainment biz, not to mention some of the best dressed.

Remember years ago, as a hip and trendy youngster, you wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to country music? It made your ears bleed, not to mention it was hick-like. Well, country music has changed its tune and is no longer a place for ugly plaid button up shirts, clunky belt buckles, or square dancing. Country music now produces extremely popular and beautiful people who are sweeping the music scene, the big screen, and the fashion business.

This is a mini recap of some of the popular folks who walked down the red carpet (yes, there was a red carpet) at the CMA awards last night. All the people chosen were chosen because of their terrific fashion sense and for their ability to capitalize on the changing face of country music.

Taylor Swift has been in the news this week, a lot. Unfortunately, it was because of her recent breakup with one of the Jonas Brothers, bummer. Taylor’s music album, Fearless, has been a huge hit and she has turned into quite the business woman. She has partnered with L.e.i. Brand (you know, the jeans) to be the new face of their product. She rocked an amazing Kaufman Franco gown last night. She looked great.

Carrie Underwood fell into our lives on the fourth season of American Idol and everyone immediately loved her. Since then, she has had quite the career winning Grammys and many CMT and CMA awards. She has been twice named “World’s Sexiest Vegetarian” by PETA and is an avid supporter of the Humane Society of the United States. We are glad to see she is putting her popularity and fame to good use! She rocked this yellow Escada dress last night at the CMA awards! Considering she was the host she had to look extra amazing.

We can’t say Billy Ray Cyrus has ended world hunger or gives his life tirelessly to charity, but we can say he sure knows how to market his “image.” He fell off the face of the planet after his huge hit Achy Breaky Heart but has now returned offering his family on a silver platter for all television viewers to enjoy. He has turned his daughter into a huge Disney sensation and has since himself risen into the limelight again. Way to go Billy Ray! Both Billy Ray and his daughter Miley looked fashionable on the red carpet.

Country music has turned super cool, even among the Hollywood elite. Reese Witherspoon, a native of Tennessee, left the Hollywood spotlight for the night and was one of the presenters at the CMA awards last night. Perhaps she is so comfortable around these country stars because of her popular country-themed movies, Sweet Home Alabama and Walk the Line. As College Candy said before, off the shoulder dresses are so in and Reese rocked the look in her Marchesa black lace dress.

Another Hollywood starlet made an appearance in Tennessee last night in support of her husband. The big screen actress, Nicole Kidman, probably would have never showed her face at such an event if she weren’t married to the famous country singer Keith Urban. At least she got him to wear something other than a cowboy hat and spurs.

The Second Presidential Showdown: Kinda Boring, My Friends

John - UConn — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:40:26 +0000

Last night, in Nashville, Tennessee, the candidates in what could be one of the most important presidential elections ever clashed for the second time. And there was passion, there were bold, firm statements of position, there were explosive accusations, and at one point McCain and Obama got into a light-saber fight.

Man. I wish. Actually, the second presidential debate was pretty boring, especially compared to the mud-fight we got when Palin and Biden duked it out. So what happened last night? The candidates mostly stuck to the same guns they’ve been waving all election: McCain pounding home his foreign policy experience (and his opponent’s lack thereof) and Obama preferring to stick to what many see as a more “in-touch” attitude on domestic concerns. Lots of stump speech sound bites were recycled, and, as usual, there wasn’t that much actual debate.

McCain started the night in a rougher place than before, as the flailing economy and sliding poll numbers gave the Republican senator plenty of ground to catch up on.

It wasn’t a problem for him overall, though; he managed to fight Obama to a standstill on most issues, (including the economy, and it’s hard going being a Republican on the economy today), and nobody blew themselves out of the water with embarrassing gaffes. Nothing last night is going to change the dynamic of the race, though, and that’s not terribly good news for McCain.

Some particularly good (or bad) moments for each candidate:

THUMBS UP:

- Obama connecting with the people. During the audience questions, Obama fielded one on the bailout from “Oliver” pretty handily: “Well, Oliver, first, let me tell you what’s in the rescue package for you. Right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means … is that small businesses and some large businesses just can’t get loans. If they can’t get a loan, that means that they can’t make payroll. If they can’t make payroll, then they may end up having to shut their doors and lay people off. And if you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country.” Simple — perhaps too simple — but an effective way to turn an abstract issue into a real chummy sort of thing, and a nice response to silence critiques that Obama is too “professorial”.

- McCain’s snappy response on whether he’d wait for the approval of the UN Security Council before aiding Israel in the event of a military crisis. This debate featured lots of qualifiers to stances and lots of question-dodging. Like it or not, McCain’s definitive answer — “let me say that we obviously would not wait for the United Nations Security Council” — was a welcome moment of clarity, especially when contrasted to Obama’s milquetoast response involving “using all the tools at our disposal.” The “Straight Talk Express” shtick carried McCain through the primary, and more moments like this would have helped his performance.

- McCain’s cute jokes. Obama’s got the style game all sewn up, but McCain does have a certain gravelly charisma when he loosens up a bit. “Hey, I’ll answer the question,” he quipped after a particularly long-winded Obama response, and while it’s pretty obvious that nobody really answers questions straight-on in a presidential debate anyway, McCain managed to sound a lot more appealing when his smiles came easily.

-Obama sets his priorities. Stealing a little bit of the Straight Talk thunder, Obama was up-front about his priorities: environment first, health care second, education third. McCain dodged the same question, responding, as if in a fairy tale, that “we can do them all at once”.

THUMBS DOWN

-Obama makes faces. Obama spent a lot of time fuming after particularly pointed McCain barbs — the issue of tax reform in particular had him clearly riled up. Righteous rage is appealing sometimes, but it often looked as if McCain had a better handle on his own body language between questions.

-McCain’s less-cute jokes. “Did we hear the size of the fine?” interjected McCain, after Obama discussed his tax plan. We get it, Obama never stated it explicitly, but shoving a joke in at the end of the opposing side’s rebuttal just felt petty. Similarly, the crack about how nice it was to finally see Obama in a town-hall setting felt petulant and bitter.

THUMBS EH?

-Obama defers to Michelle. “What don’t you know and how will you learn it?” went the last question. Obama’s response? “My wife, Michelle, is there and she could give you a much longer list than I do. And most of the time, I learn it by asking her.” Am I the only person that thought Obama was referring to his prowess in the sack? I am? Okay. Fine.

-McCain has many heroes. Invoking the GOP greats is a fine strategy, but both President Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt were “my hero” at different points in the night, according to McCain. I’m surprised he didn’t go further: remember, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Or how about pioneer of laissez-faire economics Adam Smith? Or why not me? I’m great. Sheesh.

We Want The Truth! CC’s Questions for Tonight’s Presidential Debate

CC Staff — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:40:21 +0000

Tonight is the 2nd Presidential Debate, which is sure to be awesome (even if it’s not nearly as hyped as Palin vs. Biden’s Teeth).

The event is going to be moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw, but instead of Tommy asking the questions, the debate will have a town hall format.

Which means the people get to ask the questions.

So, people of Nashville who will be sitting pretty in the town hall-y debate, if you are reading this, we have a few questions we’d like to ask the candidates. Real questions that require real answers instead of that fluff Gwen Ifill came up with (and Sarah Palin dodged) during the VP “debate.”

1. Honestly, do you think President Bush was qualified to run this country? If not, how does that make you feel now? How badly would you hate yourself if you lost?

2. Inquiring minds want to know: Peanut Butter Crunch or Crunch Berries?

3. If you could only change one thing during your term as President (and money was not an issue), what would it be?

4. When SNL makes fun of you, does it hurt?

5. Barack, do you really eat 4-6 eggs a day, or are you a p*ssy who only eats the whites?

6. Tell us, McCain, what have you learned from living through the Civil War, WW1, WW2, Vietnam and the current Iraq sitch?

7. Would you rather have George Bush walk in on you having sex, or walk in on he and Laura doin’ the naughty dance?

8. What would you do to Osama Bin Laden if you had him in your office right now (and no one was watching)?

9. Would you eat PB slices?

10. Do you really like holding babies/shaking people’s hands/hugging creepy strangers, or is it all an act?

11. You both claim to want to fix the current Global Warming problem, yet you both tool around this country on airplanes/in giant buses. How can you justify that?

12. Is there any money left in either of your budgets to help Amy Winehouse?