Who are the Bond girls?

Who are the Bond girl


Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg),

Eva Green (Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale)

Halle Berry ( Jinx in Die Another Day)

Michelle Yeoh (Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies)Jane

Jane Seymour ( Solitaire in Live and Let Die).

Did you know that a Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest or sex object of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game?

They occasionally have names that are Double entendres,

such as "Pussy Galore", "

Mary Goodnight",

"Plenty O'Toole",

"May Day",

"Xenia Onatopp", and

"Holly Goodhead".

Did you know that Bond Girls are often victims rescued by Bond? Some are fellow agents or allies, villainies or members of an enemy organization, most typically the villain's accomplice, assistant or mistress. Some are mere eye candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission; other Bond Girls play a pivotal role in the success of the mission.

Other female characters such as Judi Dench's M, and

Miss Money Penny are not typically thought of as Bond Girls.














Nearly all of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and short stories include one, or sometimes more than one, female characters who qualify as Bond Girls, most of whom have been adapted for the screen. While having some individual traits, the Fleming Bond Girls, at least in their literary forms, also have a great many characteristics in common.[1] One of these is age: Did you know that the typical Bond Girl is in her early to mid-twenties, roughly ten years younger than Bond, who seems to be perennially in his mid-thirties?

[2] Examples include Solitaire (25),[3] Tatiana Romanova (24),[4] Vivienne "Viv" Michel (23),[5] and Kissy Suzuki (23).[6]

The youngest may be Gala Brand; she is named for the cruiser in which her father is serving at the time of her birth.[7] If this were the Arethusa-class Galatea launched in 1934, than Gala is possibly as young as 18 at the time she meets Bond and certainly no older than 20, though since she and Bond do not sleep together, going no further than a few kisses, the thirty-something Bond here narrowly avoids bedding a teenager. If on the other hand the Galatea in question is the cruiser sold for scrap in 1921, Gala is possibly the oldest of the Bond Girls, being in her mid- to late-30s and possibly as old as 40. The indications are, however, that she is young, so a 40-year-old Bond Girl is unlikely in this case.

All Bond girls are, almost by definition, beautiful, and they follow a fairly well-developed pattern of beauty as well. They possess splendid figures and tend to dress in a slightly masculine, assertive fashion, with few pieces of jewelry and that in a masculine cut, wide leather belts, and square-toed leather shoes. (There is some variation in dress, though, and Bond Girls have made their first appearances in evening wear, in bra and panties and, on occasion, naked.) They often sport light though noticeable sun-tans (although a few, such as Solitaire, Tatiana Romanova, and Pussy Galore, are not only tanless but remarkably pale[3][8][9]), and they generally use little or no makeup and no fingernail or toenail polish, also wearing their nails short.

(Early Bond commentator O. F. Snelling maintained that the fact that Goldfinger's Jill Masterton is painting her fingernails when Bond first encounters her is a tip-off that she will not be the novel's main Bond Girl,[10] and, indeed, Goldfinger has her killed after her brief liaison with Bond.) Their hair may be any color ranging from red (Natalya Simonova), to blond (Mary Goodnight)[11] to auburn (Gala Brand) to brown (Tatiana Romanova)[8] to blue-black (Solitaire)[12] to black (Vesper Lynd),[13], though they typically wear it in a natural or casual cut that falls heavily to their shoulders. Their features, especially their eyes and mouths, are often widely spaced (e.g. Vesper Lynd, Gala Brand, Tiffany Case, Tatiana Romanova, Honeychile Rider, Viv Michel, Mary Goodnight).[14] Their eyes are usually blue (e.g. Vesper Lynd, Solitaire, Gala Brand, Tatiana Romanova, Honeychile Rider, Viv Michel, Tracy Bond, Mary Goodnight),[15] and sometimes this is true to an unusual and striking degree: Tiffany Case's eyes are chatoyant, varying with the light from gray to gray-blue,[16] while Pussy Galore has deep violet eyes, the only truly violet eyes that Bond had ever seen.[9] The first description of a Bond Girl, Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd, is almost a template for the typical dress as well as the general appearance of later Bond Girls; she sports nearly all of the features discussed above.[13] In contrast, Dominetta "Domino" Vitali arguably departs to the greatest degree from the template, being relatively old (29), dressing in white leather doeskin sandals, having brown eyes and a tan arguably heavier than other Bond Girls, sporting a soft Brigitte Bardot haircut, and giving no indication of widely-spaced features.[17] (The departure may be due to the unusual circumstances behind the writing of the novel Thunderball, in which Domino appears.) Even Domino, however, wears rather masculine jewelry.

The best-known characteristic of Bond Girls except for their uniform beauty is their pattern of suggestive names (the most risqué and famous being Pussy Galore). Some of these, but not all, have explanations in the novels (Xenia Onatopp's name is never explained). While Solitaire's real name is Simone Latrelle, she is known as Solitaire because she excludes men from her life;[12] Gala Brand, as noted above, is named for her father's cruiser, HMS Galatea; and Tiffany Case received her name from her father, who was so angry that she was not a boy that he gave her mother a thousand dollars and a compact from Tiffany's and then walked out on her.[18] Conjecture is widespread that the naming convention began with the first Bond novel Casino Royale, in which the name "Vesper Lynd" is a pun on West Berlin, signifying Vesper's divided loyalties (she is a double agent under Soviet control). Several Bond Girls, however, have normal names (e.g. Tatiana Romanova, Mary Ann Russell, Judy Havelock, Viv Michel, Tracy Bond [née Teresa Draco, aka Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo]).

Most Bond Girls are apparently (and sometimes expressly) sexually experienced by the time they meet Bond (although there is evidence that Solitaire is a virgin). Not all of their experiences, however, are positive, and many (though by no means all) Bond girls have a history of sexual violence that often alienates them from men (until Bond comes along). This darker theme is notably absent from the early films. Tiffany Case was gang-raped as a teenager;[19] Honey Rider, too, was beaten and raped as a teenager by a drunken acquaintance.[20] Pussy Galore was subjected at age 12 to incest, and rape, by her uncle.[21] While there is no such clear-cut trauma in Solitaire's early life, there are suggestions that she, too, avoids men because of their unwanted advances in her past. Kissy Suzuki reports to Bond that during her brief career in Hollywood when she was 17 "They thought that because I am Japanese I am some sort of an animal and that my body is for everyone."[22] The inference is that these episodes often (though not always) turn the Bond Girls in question against men, though upon encountering Bond they overcome their earlier antipathy and sleep with him not only willingly but eagerly. The cliché reaches its most extreme (some would say absurd) level in Goldfinger. In this novel Pussy Galore is clearly a practicing lesbian when she first meets Bond, but at the end of the novel she sleeps with him. When, in bed, he says to her "They told me you only liked women," she replies "I never met a man before."[21]

Many Bond Girls have some sort of independent job or even career, and often it is not a particularly respectable one for 1950s women. Vesper Lynd, Gala Brand, Tatiana Romanova, Mary Ann Russell, and Mary Goodnight are in intelligence or law enforcement work. By contrast, Tiffany Case and Pussy Galore are very independent-minded criminals, the latter even running her own syndicate. Most other Bond Girls, even when they have more conventional or glamorous jobs, show an investment in their independent outlook on life. While the Bond Girls are clearly intended as sex objects, they nevertheless have a degree of independence that the Bond films tended to dispense with until nearly 1980. It was the films, therefore, that turned the Bond Girl into purely a sex object.
Most of the novels focus on one particular romance, as some of them do not occur for a while into the novel ("Casino Royale" is a good example). However, three exeptions have been made: In Goldfinger, the Masterton sisters are considered Bond girls (although Tilly is a lesbian), and after their deaths, Pussy Galore (also a lesbian) becomes the primary Bond girl. In Thunderball, Bond romances Patricia Fearing, followed by Domino Vitali. In You Only Live Twice, Bond has relationships with Kissy Suzuki, mainly, but also romances Maricho Ichiban, and a girl so insignificant that she is unnamed.
Several Bond girls have obvious signs of inner turmoil (Vesper Lynd or Vivienne Michel), and others have traumatic pasts. Most Bond girls that are allowed to develop are flawed, and several have unhappy sexual backgrounds (Honeychile Rider, Pussy Galore, Tiffany Case, Vivienne Michel, and Kissy Suzuki, among others). It is perhaps this vulnerability that draws them to Bond.

Ursula Andress as 'Honey Ryder' in Dr. No (1962) is often considered the first and quintessential Bond Girl, although Eunice Gayson, as 'Sylvia Trench', and Zena Marshall as 'Miss Taro' are seen in that film before her and therefore preceded her as Bond Girls.

There have been many attempts to break down the numerous Bond Girls into a top 10 list for the entire series; characters who often appear in these lists include Anya Amasova, Teresa di Vicenzo and Honey Rider, who is often are at Number 1 on the list.[1][2]

Often Bond Girls who have trysts with James Bond are later discovered as villainesses, e.g. Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) in Never Say Never Again (1983),











Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) in The and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) in Die Another Day.World Is Not Enough and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) in Die Another Day.(1999)

and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) in Die Another Day.

To date, only two Bond Girls have actually captured James Bond's heart. The first, Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), married Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), though she is shot dead by Irma Bunt and Ernst Stavro Blofeld at story's end. Initially, her death was to have begun Diamonds Are Forever (1971); but that idea was dropped during filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service when George Lazenby renounced the James Bond role.

The second was Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale (2006). James Bond professes his love to her and resigns from MI6 so they can have a normal life together. Later, he learns that she was actually a double agent, working for his enemies. The enemy organization Quantum had kidnapped her former lover and was blackmailing her to secure her cooperation. Apparently, she did truly fall in love with Bond, but as Quantum closed in on her, she committed suicide by drowning herself in a canal in Venice.
With the exception of "doomed" Bond girls, there is no explanation offered as to why the love interest in gone by the next film and is never mentioned or alluded to again.

The role of a Bond Girl, as it has evolved in the films, is typically a high-profile part that sometimes can give a major boost to the career of unestablished actresses, although there have been a number of Bond girls that were well-established prior to gaining their role. For instance, Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman were both Bond Girls after becoming major stars for their roles in the television series, The Avengers. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002 - the award was presented to her while she was filming Die Another Day.

Teri Hatcher was a star as well, having starred in the televison series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and her photographs were an internet sensation before being cast in Tomorrow Never Dies. A few years after playing a Bond girl, she became one of the highest paid actresses on television by starring in Desperate Housewives.

Kim Basinger has perhaps had the most successful post-Bond career. After her breakout role in Never Say Never Again, Basinger went on to star in numerous box-office hits such as 9 1/2 Weeks, Batman, and won an Academy Award for her performance in L.A. Confidential.

Did you know who was meant to be Bond's regular girlfriend? Click here to know more.

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Who is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama?

Who is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, she is an American attorney and the wife of Barack Obama, President-elect of the United States[1] and former Senator from Illinois. She will be the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

She was born January 17, 1964 and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, and subsequently worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Michelle Obama is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. She met Barack Obama when he joined Sidley Austin. After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C..

Michelle Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois to Fraser Robinson III,[2] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Shields Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store.[3] Michelle can trace her roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South; her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina,[4][5] where some of her family still reside.[6][7] She grew up on Euclid Avenue in the South Shore community area of Chicago,[3][8][9] and was raised in a conventional two-parent home.[10] The family ate meals together and also entertained together as a family by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading.[11] She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).[12] She attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was on the honor roll four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer.[3] The round trip commute from her South Side home to the Near West Side took three hours out of her day.[13] She was a high school classmate of Santita Jackson, the daughter of Jesse Jackson and sister of Jesse Jackson, Jr.[11] She graduated from high school in 1981 as salutatorian,[13][14] and went on to major in sociology and minor in African American studies at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.[3][15]

At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.[16] As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."[17] "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs."[13] She obtained her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.[18] While at Harvard, she participated in political demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who are members of minorities.[19] She will be the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, following Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.[20] In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.[21]


She met Barack Obama when they were among very few African Americans at their law firm (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments[22]) and she was assigned to mentor him while he was a summer associate.[23] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.[24] The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.[25] The couple married in October 1992,[24] and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha) (born 2001).[26] Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she has made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children.[27]
The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows. The combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. He wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance".[28] However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.[29]
She once requested that Barack, who was then her fiancé, meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move.[10] Now, Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors.[30][31] Early in the presidential race, Michelle Obama was quoted as saying "My job is not a senior advisor."[32]
The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Lab School, a private school,[33], and now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington after also considering Georgetown Day School.[34][35] According to an Obama interview on the 2008 season premiere of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the couple does not intend to have any more children.[36] They have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalyn Carter and Hillary Clinton about raising children in the White House.[35] Marian Robinson will be moving into the White House to assist with child care.[37]
Her assigned Secret Service codename is "Renaissance".[38][39]


Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.[3] Subsequently, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.[14] She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood a dozen years after she left.[11]

In 1996, Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center.[40] In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May, 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.[41]
She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election;[42] she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job.[43]
She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[44] a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007.[45] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[46]
According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.[47]


Although Michelle Obama has campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for U.S. House of Representatives, her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied visiting so many living rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.[48]
In May 2007, three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by eighty percent to support his presidential campaign.[10] Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and traveled overnight only if their daughters could come along.[2] In early February 2008, she attended thirty-three events in eight days.[31] She has made at least two campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey.[49][50] Obama writes her own speeches and speaks without notes.[13]
In 2007, Michelle gave stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign at various locations in the United States. Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote about one speech of hers in Iowa, "Michelle was a firebrand, expressing a determined passion for her husband's campaign, talking straight from the heart with eloquence and intelligence."[51] She employs an all-female staff of aides for her political role.[31] She says that she negotiated an agreement in which her husband gave up smoking in exchange for her support of his decision to run.[52] About her role in her husband's presidential campaign she has said: "My job is not a senior adviser."[30][32][53] During the campaign, she has discussed race and education by using motherhood as a framework.[16]
This is her first election year on the national political scene and even before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two she was considered the least famous of the candidates' spouses.[32] Early in the campaign, she exhibited her ironic humor and told anecdotes about the Obama family life. However, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, which did not translate well in the print media, she toned it down.[52][47] A New York Times op-ed columnist, Maureen Dowd, wrote:
I wince a bit when Michelle Obama chides her husband as a mere mortal — comic routine that rests on the presumption that we see him as a god ... But it may not be smart politics to mock him in a way that turns him from the glam JFK into the mundane Gerald Ford, toasting his own English muffin. If all Senator Obama is peddling is the Camelot mystique, why debunk this mystique?[32][54]

Asked in February 2008 whether she could see herself "working to support" Hillary Clinton if she got the nomination, Michelle Obama said "I'd have to think about that. I'd have to think about policies, her approach, her tone." When questioned about this by the interviewer, however, she stated "You know, everyone in this party is going to work hard for whoever the nominee is."[55]

The Obamas, with Joe and Jill Biden at the August 23, 2008 Vice Presidential announcement in Springfield, Illinois.
Despite her criticisms of Clinton during the 2008 campaign, when asked in 2004 which political spouse she admired, Obama cited Hillary Clinton, stating, "She is smart and gracious and everything she appears to be in public — someone who's managed to raise what appears to be a solid, grounded child."[56]
On October 6, 2008 Larry King Live Obama was asked if the American electorate is past the Bradley effect. She stated that Barack's achievement of the nomination was a fairly strong indicator that it is.[57] The same night she also was interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show where she deflected criticism of her husband and his campaign.[58] Her first Daily Show appearance came after her husband had made three such appearances.[59]
During the following weekend, the Obamas held a high-priced fundraiser for the Presidential campaign and for the Democratic National Committee to raise money from women.[60] Obama has also been courting working women.[61]


Obama was involved in two of a trio of references to Barack Obama by Fox News that were controversial.[62][63] On June 11, 2008 during an interview with conservative columnist Michelle Malkin about whether Michelle Obama had been the target of unfair criticism, the network flashed a chyron that showed the message "Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama’s baby mama," which implied that Michelle Obama was not married to the father of her children.[62] Because Barack and Michelle Obama are lawfully married to each other, the network recognized the poor judgment of its own producer in an official statement made to The Politico.[64][65] Earlier on E. D. Hill's Fox News show America's Pulse, Hill referred to the affectionate fist bump shared by the Obamas on the night that he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as a "terrorist fist jab."[62] In June 2008, Hill was removed from her duties on the specific show, which was then canceled.[66][67] She was reassigned to a capacity to be determined,[68][69] which had not been announced by August 1, 2008.[70][71]
Throughout the campaign, the media have often labeled Obama as an "angry black woman,"[72][73][74] and some websites have attempted to propagate this perception,[75] causing her to respond:

Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way. When you’re out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory."[76]
By the time of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, media outlets observed Obama's presence on the campaign trail had grown softer than at the start of the race, focusing on soliciting concerns and empathizing with audience rather than throwing down challenges to them, and giving interviews to shows like The View and publications like Ladies' Home Journal rather than appearing on news programs. The change was even reflected in her fashion choices, with Obama wearing more and more sundresses in place of her previous designer pieces.[48] The View appearance was partly intended to help soften the perception of her,[72] and it was widely-covered in the press.[77]

On February 18, 2008, Obama commented in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." Later that evening she reworded her stump speech in Madison, Wisconsin, saying "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."[78] Several commentators criticized her remarks,[79] and the campaign issued a statement that "anyone who heard her remarks ... would understand that she was commenting on our politics."[80] In June 2008 Laura Bush indicated she thought Michelle Obama's words had been misrepresented in the media "I think she probably meant I'm 'more proud,' you know, is what she really meant," adding, "I mean, I know that, and that's one of the things you learn and that's one of the really difficult parts both of running for president and for being the spouse of the president, and that is, everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued."[81]

Michelle Obama was regarded as a charismatic public speaker from the very beginning of the campaign.[82] She delivered the keynote address on the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25, during which she sought to portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream.[83] Other speakers that night included Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Edward Kennedy,[84] who some expected to steal the limelight.[85] She described Barack as a family man and herself as no different from many women; she also spoke about the backgrounds that she and her husband came from. Obama said both she and her husband believed "that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."[86] She also emphasized her love of country, in response to criticism for her previous statements about feeling proud of her country for the first time.[87] Her daughters joined her on the stage after the speech and greeted their father, who appeared on the overhead video screen.[86][87][83][88]
August 25, 2008 speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

SpeakObama's speech was largely well received and drew mostly positive reviews.[89] A Rasmussen Reports poll found that her favorablity among Americans reached 55%.[90] Political commentator Andrew Sullivan described the speech as "one of the best, most moving, intimate, rousing, humble, and beautiful speeches I've heard from a convention platform."[91] Ezra Klein of The American Prospect, described it as a "beautifully delivered, and smartly crafted, speech"[92] and described Obama as "coming off as wholesome and, frankly, familiar."[92] One U.S.News & World Report commentator described her speech as one that embraced the crowd and that put Obama in her element.[93] Meanwhile, another noted that the speech presented a formidable case for the Obamas as an All-American first family.[94] Arianna Huffington and Howard Wolfson both lauded the speech.[95][96] The speech made Juan Williams tear up over the thought of the significance of her presentation as a representative of Black America.[97] Slate's Dahlia Lithwick described the speech as fearless for bringing family issues to the forefront.[98] Chris Cillizza wrote at The Fix, a political blog from The Washington Post, that the speech helped America relate to the Obamas.[99]

The speech had its detractors. Katherine Marsh of The New Republic, however, said she missed "the old Michelle... not the Stepford wife fist-bumping Elisabeth Hasselbeck, but the sassy better half who reminded us that while Barack was the answer, he was also stinky in the morning and forgot to put the butter away. She both affirmed his promise and humanized him."[100] Jason Zengerle, also of The New Republic, said Obama should have emphasized her professional and educational achievements as well as her mother, daughter and sister qualities; Zengerle wrote, "It almost makes you long for the days when politicians' wives were seen but not heard. After all, if they're not permitted to really say anything, what's the point of having them speak."[101] National Review also had a host of articles that pointed out negative aspects of the speech while noting praiseworthy points. One derided "Isn't She Lovely", the musical selection used following the speech as she walked of stage with her daughters, even though it praised her speech and wardrobe.[102] Another by Amy Holmes led with the fact that Karl Rove felt the speech was impersonal, although it compared favoraly to speeches by Karenna Gore and Theresa Heinz at previous DNCs.[103] A pair of articles, including one by Byron York, noted that although the speech presented America as the land of opportunity, it conflicted her campaign trail speeches that described dark aspects of the country.[104][105] Depsite all these articles, National Review editor Rich Lowry summarized why he felt the speech was a success.[106]


Oprah Winfrey joins the Obamas on the campaign trail, December 10, 2007.
With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, she has become a part of pop culture. In May 2006, Essence magazine listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women."[107] In July 2007, Vanity Fair magazine listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." She was a honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as an "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' which helped pave the way for African American Women. In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of "The Harvard 100," a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth.[108] In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the Vanity Fair international best dressed list.[109] She also appeared on the 2008 People list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.[110]

Obama is anticipated to be well-suited for the role of First Lady.[111] As a high-profile darker-complected woman in a stable marriage, it is anticipated that she will be a positive role model who will influence the view the world has of African Americans.[112]
She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sleek but not overdone style,[109][113] and also to Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum.[114][115] Some consider personal style comparisons meaningless despite their respect for the styles of Obama and some of her peers.[116][20] While Kennedy's style had been seen as unattainable, Obama's style is described as populist.[20] Her fashion sense generally out-polled those of Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign.[113][117] She often wears clothes by designers Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Ricco and Maria Pinto,[118] and has become a fashion trendsetter[119][120] despite the country's economic woes.[121] Despite attempts by designers to outfit her, Obama wears her own clothes at some photo shoots, even when being photographed by renown photographers like Matthew Rolston.[122]
Obama has stated that she would like to focus attention as First Lady on issues of concern to military families and working families.[123][124][112] In December 2008, she worked with the USO in procuring care packages for soldiers.[125]
Obama is expected to perform as First Lady with both style and substance,[116] and the hope is that the media will focus more on her serious contributions than her fashion sense.[20][126] However, U.S.News & World Report blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erbe has pointed out that Obama's own publicists seem to be feeding the emphasis on style over substance.[127] Erbe has noted on several occasions that Obama is miscasting herself by overemphasizing style.[37][128] The trend of three consecutive educated professional First Ladies has sparked debate about whether the role of First Lady should be a paid position to compensate for the lost earnings surrendered to fulfill the role.[129] more

Who is Rosario Dawson

Who is Rosario Dawson? She is an actress and singer of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films 25th Hour,Sin City, Rent, Death Proof and more recently Seven Pounds.

Dawson was born May 9, 1979 in New York City, the daughter of Isabel,[1] a plumber of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, and Greg Dawson, a construction worker of Native American and Irish descent.[2][3][4] Isabel was 17 when she had Rosario, and 18 when she married. When Isabel was 21, she broke into an abandoned building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where she and her husband installed plumbing and electrical wiring, in order to turn the building into a squat in which Rosario would grow up. Dawson cites this when explaining how she learned "if you wanted something better, you had to do it yourself." She grew up surrounded by friends and family members who were HIV-positive.[5][6] Her parents are now divorced.[6]


Although showing no interest in acting as a child, save a brief appearance on Sesame Street, Rosario was discovered on her front porch step by photographer Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, where Harmony lauded her with praise as being perfect for a part he had written in his screenplay that would become the controversial 1995 film Kids. Since then Dawson's films have varied; ranging from independent films, to highly successful big budget blockbusters, and large scale box office bombs. Among her successes are Rent, He Got Game and Men in Black II. Among her failures are The Adventures of Pluto Nash (which was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards[7]) and the live-action film adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats.[8]
In 1999, Dawson teamed up with Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit "1999".[9] The new remixed version featured the actress in an introductory voice over, offering commentary on the state of the world in the year before the Millennium.[10] The same year she appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album Surrender.[11] She is also featured on the track "She Lives In My Lap" from the second disc of the OutKast album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, during which she speaks the intro and a brief interlude towards the end.
In 2004, Dawson appeared in Oliver Stone's Alexander as the bride of Alexander the Great, which also featured her in a fully nude/sex scene. In August-September 2005, Dawson appeared on stage as Julia in the Public Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona.[12]

She starred in the film adaptation of the popular musical Rent, where she played the exotic dancer Mimi Marquez, replacing the original Mimi, Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was pregnant at the time of filming and wasn't able to play the part. She also appeared in the adaptation of the graphic novel Sin City, where she played the prostitute-dominatrix, Gail.
In 2005, Dawson appeared in a graphically violent scene in the Rob Zombie film The Devil's Rejects. Though the scene was cut from the final film, it is available in the deleted scenes on the DVD release. In 2006's Clerks II, Dawson starred as Becky, the crush-turned-wife of Dante Hicks. As she mentioned in the making of documentary, Back to the Well, the donkey show sequence was what made her decide to appear in the movie. In May of the same year, Dawson, an avid comic book fan, co-created the comic book miniseries Occult Crimes Taskforce.[13] She was at the 2007 Comic-Con to promote her new comic book miniseries.
In 2007, Dawson co-starred with former Rent alum Tracie Thoms in the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's throwback movie Grind House.
In 2007, Dawson teamed up with friend Talia Lugacy, whom she met at the Lee Strasberg Academy, to produce and star in Descent.[14] On July 7, 2007, Dawson presented at the American leg of Live Earth.

On June 26, 2008, it was announced that Dawson will play Artemis in the upcoming animated Wonder Woman film.[15]
Starting on August 18, 2008, Dawson starred in Gemini Division, an online-based TV series.
In 2008, Dawson starred with Will Smith in Seven Pounds. She played the dying Emily Posa who's heart was failing. The movie got poor reviews from most critics, but IMDB rated it a 7.5 out of 10 with 10,501 votes as of January 4th, 2009.
She will be hosting Saturday Night Live on January 17, 2009. [1]

Dawson dated former Sex and the City star Jason Lewis for two years. They lived together in Los Angeles until they separated in November 2006.[16] She has also been rumored to have dated Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson.[17] In December 2008, Dawson confirmed on the Tonight Show that she had been dating an international DJ that she met at a French cafe.
Dawson is involved with the Lower East Side Girls Club[18][19] and supports other charities such as environmental group Global Cool, the ONE Campaign, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Stay Close.org (a poster and public service ad campaign for PFLAG where she is featured with her uncle Frank Jump),[20] International Rescue Committee, Voto Latino,[21][21][22] and she participated in the Vagina Monologues. She attended both the Democratic National Convention as well as the Republican National Convention in 2008. In October 2008, Dawson became a spokesperson for TripAdvisor.com’s philanthropy program, More Than Footprints,[23][24] involving Conservation International, Doctors Without Borders, National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, and Save The Children. Also in October 2008, she lent her voice to the RESPECT! Campaign,[25] a movement aimed at preventing domestic violence. She recorded a voice message for the Giverespect.org Web site stressing the importance of respect in helping stop domestic violence.

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