Watch List:Scandal

It's official, I'm addicted to ABC's new show Scandal starring Kerry Washington and written by Shonda Rhimes who also wrote Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. Gorgeous and classy Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope, head of a crisis management firm. She and her team of gladiators specialise in fixing every scandalous case that walks through their office doors. Olivia's a complicated, dynamic woman, having previously worked for the White House and had a passionate affair with the president of the United States and they're still in love with each other. The show moves at a ridiculously quick pace and the characters are complex and constantly evolving, nobody is exactly who you think they are which makes for juicy writing and great tv.

There are lots of pros with this show. A powerful black woman in a lead role penned by another black woman. Chocolate fine Columbus Short in a suit being totally badass (he's goddamn beautiful and needs more screen time please.) Kerry Washington's character having a passionate, tricky relationship with a hot president, the slightly unhinged Cyrus Beene as the President's right hand man, I'm loving his deceptively crazy character more and more, who knows how far he'll go to protect his interests. There's also good chemistry between the cast. I think this role was made for Kerry Washington, she'll finally get some of the profile she deserves. I hope it lasts for many seasons, it's already very good and has the potential to brilliant. I'm definitely along for the ride.

Inked

Hat tip to Coloured Girls With Ink.

Slice

Tolula Adeyemi, model and muse of Vivienne Westwood as well as gal pal of Shingai Shoniwa.

Ill Still

City Of God.

Crushed:Ibrahim Baaith

Gorgeous artist and model Ibrahim Baaith. Stunning and talented, certified husband/baby daddy material. For more drool worthy pics of him and his art, check out my XY Chromosome Sundae post on him.

Fashion Spotlight:Gwen Stefani

I absolutely adore this Stella McCartney outfit Gwen wore to Paul McCartney's My Valentine video premiere. It's edgy and stylish. I know Gwen's prone to giving her children odd, random names but she knows how to make an entrance, 42 years old and making it rain. She trains very hard for that body and it's paid off. She has a great, fashion forward sense of style.

Album Cover's Corner:Santigold Master Of My Make-Believe

The awesome Santigold is back with a new album Master Of My Make-Believe. As ever, it's a genre hopping, atmospheric, kooky album. It's a little more stripped back than the first album but just as visceral and addictive. I have a copy and can't stop listening to it. Cool album cover too.

Ode To:Santigold

Santigold is one of my favourite artists around. She's innovative and unique. I love the way she blends musical genres and is almost chameleon like despite her distinctive vocals. I absolutely loved her first album but it was interesting watching her impact on the scene. Despite the album receiving critical acclaim, it was annoying to watch the media's reaction to her. They didn't know what box to put her in. It seems the media tend to struggle with quirky black female artists while embracing the likes of Gaga. Coincidence? I think not. I don't think Santigold gets enough recognition, she's also a brilliant writer and producer, having produced RES's first album How I Do. Im so glad she's back with a new album, she's a great artist.

January Watch:Wholefoods Jaunt

So Mad Men beauty January Jones was snapped shopping at Wholefoods and I gotta say, I'm loving her outfit. I love it when she rocks her cool, casual looks topped off with a boss trilby hat, it really suits her. I don't know why January garners such dislike from a lot of women, her character in Mad Men is fictional lol. I know she tends to look sullen when she's photographed but I kind of like that she doesn't flash a fake smile when she doesn't feel like it. Plus the burden of shouldering one of the greatest Hollywood baby daddy mysteries of all time must takeit's toll occassionally. Anyway I like her, she appears to be that intriguing combination of ice queen and fire cracker and doesn't seem to be afraid of looking imperfect despite having it all on paper.

Phosphorous Reinvention:Kal Penn

I've always thought Indian American sensation Kal Penn was a real cutie. I mean he's got everything, good looks, brains, humour. Is there anything he sets his mind to that he can't do? I love smart, geeky funny men. He and John Cho are great together in the Harold and Kumar movies. Ok so try to keep up. Kal had a role in tv series House, as well as the Harold and Kumar movies, he starred in critically acclaimed films too. He's taught in universities as a visiting lecturer in programmes including Cinema Studies and Asian American studies. He's politically active and campaingned for Barack Obama.

In 2009 he joined the Obama administration as an Associate Director in the white house. He had to be written out of House for it. He then resigned as a Director at the white house to film the third installment of the Harold and Kumar series. He returned to the white house again, left it again for a role in How I met Your Mother. Then... He went back to his political studies. He's working on a graduate certificate in International Security from Stanford University. He plays the baritone saxophone. Are you out of breath? I am a little. Is Kal confused? Does he lack direction? Or is he one of those ridiculously talented, multi faceted people that can turn their hand to many things? I'm going for the latter. Either way, he rocks. I love the way he just does whatever he wants to do. Next up, Kal Penn will be flying to space, ok not true but I'm expecting to hear it at some point in the future.

Unusual Travel Musts:Zanzibar

Zanzibar,close to Tanzania in Africa conjures up images of exotic beaches, arabian style nights and cast away escapades. With it's infusion of African, Arab and Indian influences it sounds like a great corner of the earth to explore, plus it's in Africa, bonus!

Weird Et Al Humdinger:Elephant Trampolining

There goes the elephant flying lol, made me smile.

Tilda Swinton

I've been meaning to do a post on the amazing Tilda Swinton for a while and I don't know what's taken me so long. Totally girl crushing on her for ages, just bad ass in every way. She's an astonishing actress, superb performance after performance. She's very eccentric with a great body of work. What I love about Tilda is she fully embraces her uniquness, her androgynous style, she's fearless and unafraid to be herself in Hollywood, she stands out from the crowd in the best way. She won an oscar for her role in Michael Clayton and has appeared in both arthouse and mainstream films including The Beach, The Deep End, Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many many others.

I recently saw We Need To Talk About Kevin and her performance blew me away, it was so layered, subtle and authentic. She really captured the pain of the character and the different degrees of it. The movie essentially explores the issue of having a son who grows up to be a murderer and whether or not the fault lies with the mother who never felt any real connection to him. As he grows up, their strange, abrasive relationship becomes increasingly frayed and explosive. Ezra Miller is great as her teenage son, he's an odd, beautiful egg so not surprised he was cast in the role. It's a hypnotic film, visually poetic, with a spare, tightly written script. The kind of film you could watch several times to see all the things you missed. Tilda will be starring in independent film maker Jim Jarmusch's Vampire flick which has begun shooting. Jim is a weird and dynamic film maker. His films are an aquired taste but Im a fan. Tilda in another Jim Jarmusch film? Awesomeness.