I'm a Bad, Bad Ninja

Ok, so I didn't go to the Ground-Breaking- who ever heard of a ground-breaking being held in-doors anyhow?

So, there was more news in the CityBeat Headlines today about the new City Link coming to Cincinnati. They are considering doing a land-swap to move it from the original location on Bank street in the residential zone, into the industrial zone. I personally think that would be nice..

Not much in the writing mood, and as far as fashion in Cincinnati is concerned,
please, do me a favor and shoot me in the head now because the fashion trends have gone entirely stagnant.
When I leave the house and I'm the only person drawing confused stares, I know it's stagnant. Sad really...

Ninja Update.
I am the Pink Ninja and now there is a Purple and a Blue Ninja also, while talks of the Black and Red Ninjas are in the works.
Dig it.

RECON-CINCINNATI-04/08/08

Friday, April 11th-
200 Block of McMicken Avenue,
Cincinnati OH, 45214

Support the local brewery district by attending the open house tours for the new condominiums scheduled to be built this summer on McMicken Avenue.
Free local beer by Cincinnati brewers and food food from the grill-

[I think it starts at noon.]

Question:
The Brighton District, West End community and the Brewery District residents all claim to support the historical preservation of these communities' architecture,
Do you think throwing a ground-breaking party for the new condos is in support of this claim?
Why and why nots, etc...

[I will answer this question myself in two days... then again after I go to the ground-breaking.]

In the News

Citylink, Cincinnati

Battle over; Citylink will be built
BY SHARON COOLIDGE | SCOOLIDGE@ENQUIRER.COM


A two-year battle between the city of Cincinnati and several social services agencies over the development of a social services mall in the West End is over.

The Ohio Supreme Court declined today to hear the city’s arguments against Citylink.

That paves the way for renovation to begin on the vacant Bank Street slaughterhouse.

Citylink officials said improvements – an infusion of between $10 million and $15 million into the property – could begin by the end of the year. Renovations are expected to take two years.

“We’re excited to make a difference in the poverty problem that exists in Cincinnati,” Citylink Board Chairman Tim Senff said.

Citylink, which is being developed by group of churches and social service agencies, will create a central location for poor people and families to get services like job training, drug treatment, health care and other services.

It’s unique in that several services will be offered in one place, a help to the poor who often don’t have transportation, Senff said. The project is modeled on successful integrated service centers in cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Antonio.

Jim Strayhorn, pastor of Bright Star Baptist Church in the West End, said in Citylink’s press release that he is pleased Citylink had chosen to invest in the West End.

“(I am) very proud that healing for thousands of Cincinnatians will begin here with the support of my church and many other churches in our neighborhood,” he said.
Not everyone is pleased.

West End Community Council President Shirley Colbert was disappointed with the court’s decision. “I was hoping Citylink would go away,” she said.

Colbert said West End residents don’t want the social services mall, believing the neighborhood already has enough charities and that Citylink never talked with the neighborhood about its plans.

“We’re not a dumping ground and never want to be one,” Colbert said.

Councilman Jeff Berding said he’s setting up a mediation session between neighborhood residents and Citylink officials. "I want to move past the point of, ‘We don’t want you in our neighborhood,’ ” he said.

Mayor Mark Mallory said he has never had a problem with Citylink.

Senff called it a new day. “We are going to work together with community leaders from the West End and city leaders to make Citylink a blessing to everyone.”

Senff said Citylink is needed now more than ever, pointing out that Cincinnati nearly topped the list of the country’s poorest cities with 28 percent of Cincinnatians living below the poverty line, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

The controversial project dates back to 2006, when Citylink bought the vacant building for $1.7 million.

The Cincinnati Zoning Board approved the idea, but when the city appealed, the Cincinnati Zoning Board of Appeals overturned that decision, determining the new project was a “community service facility.”

Community service facilities are not a permitted use for the Bank Street property, which is designated a general manufacturing district.

That decision prompted Citylink to take its case to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, where it argued each of agencies that will be located in the social services mall would be permitted to locate on Bank Street if they were acting alone.

Citylink has prevailed twice, with Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler overturning the Zoning Board of Appeals decision and the 1st District Court of Appeals upholding Winkler’s decision.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case puts an end to the court fight. No further appeals can be made.

Enquirer reporter Jane Prendergast contributed to this report.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080326/NEWS01/303260035/1056/COL02

To Do in Cincinnati?

Fashion Shows
Rock the Runway

Hair and makeup fashion show. Drink specials.

Where:
cue
1142 Main St.
Cincinnati, OH 45210
513-923-6397

Who:
BAM Productions

How much:
$5

When:
Friday, April 04, 2008

And a New Place to SHOP!!!

FRCH Design Worldwide
311 Elm St., Ste. 600
Cincinnati, OH 45202
United States of America
800-434-3724
513-241-5015 fax
www.frch.com

and as soon as I visit it, I will let you know what I thought of it...
And here's some Brighton District News...

It's the end of the month, which means it's Final Friday on Main Street, at the Pendleton and in the Brighton district. Be among the first to catch a look at artist ALICE PIXLEY YOUNG's newest exhibition at SEMANTICS GALLERY (1107 Harrison Ave. Brighton), where she opens Inside Out, an exhibition of large-scale paper constructions. Inspired by a variety of sources, including fairytales, language, women's experiences and her personal history, Young creates constructions of hand-dyed paper and vintage fabrics interwoven with rock salt and lit with LED lights. In particular, she creates her work from interesting words and phrases that stick with her, which she then interweaves repeatedly into her constructions for a striking final product.

And a Final Thought....

Mark Twain allegedly quipped, ’When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always 20 years behind the times.”

I think we managed to close the gap down to only being 10 years behind the times since then. Thank Goodness Huh?

Another Ninja Out

Gwen Stefani, The Harajuku Girls Backup Dancers and Some Angry Female Asian Celebrity Critiques

The Harajuku Girls are four young girls, Maya Chino [Love], Jennifer Kita [Angel], Rino Nakasone [Music] and Mayuko Kitayama [Baby]. Hired by artist Stefani in 2004 as backup dancers for her albumn, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Since then, the girls continue on with Gwen Stefani as her friends and her backup dancers, preforming in such music videos as "What You Waiting For?", "RIch Girl", "Hollaback Girl", "Luxurious", "Crash", and so far my favorite, "Wind It Up."
They also were in the "Now That You Got It", and "The Sweet Escape."

Recently, Stefani's Harajuku girls faced some critisisms from stand-up comedian, Margret Cho in her blog titled, "Harajuku Girls", Oct. 2005.
In her blog she confesses that she did try to like the Harajuku girls as fellow asians, but they were only re-inforcing racial stereotypes associated with the asian population. She says that these stereotypes are "cute sometimes" but she wanted to point out the "minstrel show."
She says that she'll take these girls flaunting themselves on stage in Japanese school girl uniforms over the usual trend in enertainmnet of nothing at all from the asian race in the media.

Even more critisism came from author MiHi Ahn in a story called "Gwenihana" from
in 2005/2007, published on Salon.com.
She calls Gwen's first solo albumn a "riotous jumble of everything from 80's bubblegum pop to hip-hop to "Fiddler on the Roof" gone mad on a pirate ship."
This would be how I describe my personal style, Bravo!
This article accredits the word "Harajuku" with Stefani's interpretation of Tokyo street-fashion in the Harajuku District.
I would call this a fabulous interpretation then, because when I google "harajuku" I see some awesome and innovative trends emerging in fashion today.
The author continues her critisisms by saying that the girls "shadow [Stefani] wherever she goes... they silently vogue in the background of interviews like living props;" Going on and on to say, that the girls are everywhere, in Stefani's videos, her photo-ops and all the while maintaining their "we're not worthy, we're not worthy" pose."
Here is the meat of it, this is what she actually thinks is true about the Harajuku girls; "She's [Stefani] taken Tokyo hipsters, sucked them dry of their street cred, and turned them into China dolls." I haven't been on the trail of these girls very long, only a matter of hours really, but even I can tell that these girls are gangsters. Their happy and they are powerful. They've got it made.

Many of the messages in Gwen Stefani's lyrics are focused on the empowerment of woman EVERYWHERE. She's singing, and she's obviously not from Harajuku, Tokyo. She created a term to describe the origional, up-beat shocking progressive way to communicate one's individualism to the world by their choices in fashion, accessories and a lot of fun make-up, and gave this once undescribable entity surfacing within the contemporary world and freakin' gave it a name! Success! At Last!!!
I like the name.
I think we should keep the name. It's snazzy.
Point being is that previously, I never knew what to call my style, everyone usually has one word they can associate with their style to describe it to someone in a coversation; "hip", "goth," "Punk," or something.
It has always taken me like fifteen minutes to tell someone HOW I look the way I do. What possessed me to dress the way that I do. "Who on God's green Earth" would wear leg-warmers in July?!?!? I would, that's who. And so do the Harajuku girls. More power, sisters.

As for the Critisisms, their jealous.
Any girl that doesn't like who they are would be.

Gwen's stage performance.
Mixed-Media Visual Performace Art.
It's a fashion show, a dance performace, singing and rallying for women's empowerment.
Very well rounded, there.
Harajuku Girls as backup dancers to the very blonde, and almost blindingly fair Gwen Stefani,
Contrasts are enhanced and elaborated upon through the over-exagerated differences between the two races, highlighting the exact same beautiful and negative aspects, I think of both races elequently meshing together to form a vision of unity for every woman of the world to embrace.
I wish there were more harajuku girls, meaning BFF's for life and that I had a 'crew' to be self-indulgent with at the mall and sit on the ground in the middle of a busy time square with my steamer case and my hair clips and make-up and create ART, in real-time, 3D and completely interactive, customizable- Variations on fashion art is left to the designer, which is everyone uniquely and individually at heart.

As a newbie, I second the motion of this here council to vote the term "Harajuku" into the English Dictionary as meaning "progressive and innovative street-fashion inspired by Tokyo street-fashion and made known by the Artist Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Girls."

How do you like that?

And I don't even think I like her new albumn. I had to watch half the videos on mute to focus my attention on how beautiful the art in the video was presented.
So no, I'm not bias and though I just found myself creating a blog semi-dedicated to her cause in the fashion struggle here on the US homefront, I cannot say I could have ever seen this occuring in my future had I tried, I was never a real big fan. Wait. Scratch that, I was like 10 and her first album as front woman of NoDoubt freaggin' rawked socks, people. I liked that. But her solo attempt has not gotten a full playback from me yet, so I haven't yet developed an opinion for that.

But argue me not that she's brought us a name for something that fun, cool and economically stimulating for girlfriends to do together and forget icky shit like sex and having babies when your twelve. I commend that woman, she's made quite a fashionable accomplishment.

My vote- 6 Socks

For more on the mentioned stories, check Links and other helpful Google features for this site, or simply google the authors names for their whole stories, instantly.

The Cincy Harajuku Girl is out.
"Shadow Hide You." -Oblivion [Freaking Rawks!!!]

Harajuku Ninjas?

Harajuku is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, Japan; Harajuku is the name used to describe any of the unique fashion trends that are found in this area. Harajuku is a trend made up of many other kinds of trends, but all are extreme and attract a lot of attention and most are usually regarded as being very 'unusual'.

The Harajuku culture in Japan is known for it's street fashion and there are many subcultures within and part of the Harajuku culture. Each have their own style adding to the Harajuku style description. These include Gothic Lolita, Ganguro, Gyaru, Kogal, manga (coseplay) and Decora.

The Cincy Harajuku Ninjas are dedicated to just this, locating emerging fashion trends on the fringe of innovation and reporting them out for your comments.

Send us leads, we want to know where the emerging fashion trends in Cincinnati are coming from and where we can get them or how to re-create them.