tliving’s blog



Premiering Sunday, April 17 at 8 p.m. the new reality show, Mob Wives, will air on VH1. Cameras will follow the lives of four Staten Island women who are “allegedly” associated with members of the mob.

Dressing in furs, high heels, dresses but living as a single mother life trying to make it on their own becomes difficult the ladies say. The women are long time friends who live in New York City’s, Staten Island.

The cast consist of four women; Renee Graziano, Karen Gravano, Drita D’avanzo and Carla Facciolo. The four women will have to pull everything together for themselves and family after their husbands or fathers were sentenced to prison for mob- related crimes.

To these women, “loyalty and family is everything.”

Renee Graziano is known as the drama queen of the group. She is the daughter of Anthony “The Little Guy” Graiano, the consigliore of the Bonanno crime family. He is serving 11-years in jail for tax evasion, racketeering, and conspiracy. She is divorced from Hector Pagan Jr., who was arrested last year for convicted of running a marijuana distribution. Together they have a son, AJ, who does not want to become involved with the mob.

She says, “Family is everything, without your family you’re alone. You’re right if you’re loyal, you’re wrong if you’re not loyal. Loyalty is everything.”

Karen Gravano is the daughter of mob turncoat Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, which is currently serving 19-years in prison for murders. She is returning home to the Staten Island after she was moved away for 10-years by the federal government’s witness protection program to Arizona. While she was in Arizona, she served years on probation after she was implicated in drug ring her father confessed to running.

“Family to me is extremely important. I feel like the people you need to be loyal to in life is the family,” says Gravano.

Drita D’avanzo comes from an Albanian household who was disowned when she married New Springville Boys gang member, Lee D’avanzo, who dated Karen Gravano before getting married. The couple has been married for 12-years but shortly after the marriage, Lee was sentenced to prison. He went to prison for bank robbery when Drita was pregnant with their first daughter, Aleeya. He was released three years ago, got a job and the couple had another daughter, Gizelle. But he was arrested again for a bank robbery, and is now serving a two to five year sentence. Drita is currently working as freelance make-up artist to support her family.

“Everything I do, everything I think to do, revolves around my family. Without my family I would have nothing,” says Drita.

Carla Facciolo grew up around the mob in Brooklyn, when her dad was sent to prison at the age of 7. She later married Joseph Ferragamo, a stock broker.  He is currently serving an 88-month sentence for stock fraud. Going through the process of divorce, Ferragamo in jail; Facciolo raises their twins by herself.

Facciolo says, “Family is everything. Without my mother, all the time I was alone, I would have been lost.”

The reality show revolves around Karen Gravano, daughter of Sammy “Bull” Gravano. Her father was the mob turncoat who testified against John Gotti and the Gambino crime family then later. She was moved to Arizona with her father and family as part of the federal government’s witness protection program.

She’s moving back to Staten Island after 10-years, where the daughter of the mob’s most famous “rat” is not welcome.

She said: “One of the reasons why I chose to go back is because I want to write a book about being the child of a gangster, I chose to write this book to close that chapter of my life so I can move on.”

“Mob Wives” will air for ten episodes of set in Staten Island, N.Y., credited Jennifer Graziano as the creator and executive producer of reality television series.

BGSU students react to rap music violence

Rap music has become a part of society’s genres of music. It can range from hardcore rappers such as Tupac, Lil Wayne, or Young Jezzy to soft rappers such as Kayne West, Kid Cuddi, or Drake. It is listened to by different ethnic groups and cultures groups.

When it comes to rap music, Bowling Green students are voicing their thoughts on violence and if the music provokes violent acts by the listeners.

Many studies have been conducted on subjects who were given a violent lyrical passage were more inclined to rate it as dangerous or offensive if they believed it came from a rap song than if they were told that it originated from a country music song.

In recent years, one issue which has received an increased amount of attention involving violence.

“With the violent lyrics rappers include in their song makes it seem like killing is a good thing. They are basically bragging about violence,” said Camille Smith, 20, of Saginaw, Mich. whose major is undeclared.

Rap music originated in the 1970s, but the genre did not receive nationwide attention until the early 1980s.

Music is common in adolescents’ lives. Students spend hours a day listening to music and music videos.

Rap music is a form of art that is a reflection of life.

The violent lyrics in a rap song comes across as a reflection that may take place in household, community or something that may just occur.

“Rap lyrics give me the stereotype that all black people want to kill one other and relate everything to guns violence,” says Allyson Rice, 19, an early education major from Cleveland, Ohio.

A lot of the lyrics in rap songs are associated with life in the ghetto, gang life, guns, drug use and degrading women.

Taylor Bell, 19, a nursing major from Twinsburg, Ohio, said that she feels music is music, it depends on the person perspective, I do not see the lyrics as making it okay to commit violence acts.

Rapper Waka Flocka Flame illustrates violent lyrics in a song called “Gun Sound”. He tells his audience that he loves the sound of a gun sound and loves using his gun.

“From the eagle to the chopper, love that gun sound”.

When given a short test with violent and non-violence rap music, students who listen to the violent music scored higher on the aggression form more so than the student who listened to the non-violent music.

“When I’m upset, I listen to rap. Something I think man oh man if I could do what they rap about in their lyrics I would feel so much better,” said Rita Smith, 19, an education major from Akron, Ohio.

Rappers such as Tupac, 50 cent, and Waka Flocka Flame have been publicly criticized from their lyrics but music video are played on television were young children can hear the lyrics the violent lyrics they rap about.

However, students do have clear thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of rap music.

Now what do you think about the violence lyric in rap? Does this music demonstrate the excuse to act violent? What would you do to change the lyrics in this genre of music?

Khloé Kardashian, a regular member of  “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” reality show; Lamar Odom the American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers, married just after dating for only a month?

Although their family and friends have been saying how happy they are for Lamar and Kholé Odom, there is still some speculation about the marriage. With the Kardashian reality-show camera crew at the ceremony and varying reports about the state of a prenuptial agreement between the pair, questions are being asking by some people whether the two are actually married. Odom wants the world to know that the marriage between the two is “real” and “legal.”

In case you haven’t heard, just as Kourtney & Kim Take New York comes to the end of  the season, Khloe and Lamar Odom will star in their own reality show, Khloé & Lamar. The show is set to air Sunday nights in April.  How exciting is this?!

Not long after the marriage the official decision for the couple to star in their own reality show  on E! News  will begin  filming after Odom’s season with the Lakers. The couple will invite camera into their home and will give an inside of their life together, their marriage, career, and their plans on having children,. The show will also feature Robert Kardashian and will play a major role in the show since he became a semi-permanent house guest.

The reality show will focus on Kholé’s life after marriage and how she will manages with Odom’s kids from his previous wife. It will illustrate Kholé s as a step-mom to 12 year old Destiny and eight-year-old Lamar Junior.

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held this past Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  A legend in soul music even referred to as the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, an 18 time winner of the Grammy Award received the 2011 Tribute Award. In honor of her and all of her accomplishments over the years, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Yolanda Adams and Florence Welch participated in the tribute. Grammy sponsors are describing it as a “valentine” and a “get-well card” to Ms. Franklin. She was hospitalized in Detroit late last year, underwent surgery for an undisclosed ailment and canceled several months’ worth of scheduled performances.

The 53 Grammy Awards opened with the talented ladies performing a classic “Natural Woman” and they each sung a had a solo part s of another Franklin song then the tribute ended with the singers performing “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves.”

During their performance  all the women wore black  designer dresses with the exception of Florence who wore a cream colored gown as well as designer jewelry.

The Queen of Soul who was allegedly diagnosed with cancer last December was unable to attend the ceremony but appeared in a pre-recorded video from her home in Detroit where she thanked the ladies for doing the tribute for her as well as all of her fans that supported her all throughout her career.

On January 30, 2011 launched the 17th Annual Screen Actor Guild (SAG); honoring the outstanding film and television performances. The encore presentation was held on TNT delivering the results of the nominees, releasing the nominations mid-December, 2010. The beautiful night was filled with glitz and glamor.

The history of the SAG Awards was first established in 1993, it is the nation’s largest labor union recognizing all the honoring actors in the art they are performing. The SAG Awards are honoring the outstanding performances among individual as well as cast members of both drama and comedy films over the past year, 2010. SAG is proudly affiliate with the AFL-CIO. The categories for awards ranged from a variety of performances. “Outstanding performance by a cast, outstanding performance by a male/female in a leading role, outstanding performance by a male/female in supporting role, outstanding performance by a male/female in comedy series,” etc.

Many of our adored actors and actresses accepted their awards with memorable speeches thanking all of their fans and the individuals that were apart of the production. As the sophisticated speeches were given I could not take my eyes off of how beautiful and elegant each star appeared. They wore beautiful designer dresses and tuxedos such as Versace, Oscar de la Renta, Chanel and many other well known designers. This years event will be another award ceremony that will not be forgotten. Award winners included the cast of “The King’s Speech,” “Modern Family,” individual awards were handed to Colin Firth, Steve Buscemi, Julianna Margulies, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Claire Danes, Betty White, and Natalie Portman, including many more.

California? Miami? and now The Big Apple: NYC! New York welcomes Kourtney and Kim Kardashian with open arms with the season premier for their new reality show, Kourtney and Kim take New York, on Sunday, January 23, at 10 PM Eastern, on E! News. Kourtney and Kim will be looking for DASH’s new location in NYC.

The girls are slowly but surely making their name across the world building up their high-end clothing store, “DASH”. The first location of DASH is located in Calabasas, California but the big move was when Kourtney and Khole moved to Miami opening up their second DASH clothing store. Kourtney and Khole took over Miami for two whole seasons on E! News. DASH Miami attracted an outstanding amount of media and began to make a outstanding name for the store, so why settle? The girls quickly took the outstanding business amount from Miami and came up with the brilliant idea to expand. Kourtney and Kim will soon be taking over The Big Apple in search of the third location for DASH. Opening up DASH in NYC the girls will continue the sister created high-end clothing store, possibly expanding across the United States.

This season is going to be filled with excitement, drama, romance, and work. Stay tuned! Watch Kourtney and Kim take New York this Sunday at 10, Eastern time. Followed by the season premiere of Holly Madison show “Holly’s World”. (Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriend) at 10:30.

This post is defined as timeless and prominence. Timeliness because it is recent in time as the beginging of the opening season for Kourtney and Kim take New York. Prominence because the show is based on the celebrity lifestyle of Kourtney and Kim Kardashian.

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