Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD London Fashion Week usually brings forth a shock or two from cutting-edge designers, but a September creation by Rachel Freire might have raised the bar: a floor-length dress made from 3,000 cow nipples (designed to resemble roses). Initial disgust for the garment centered on implied animal abuse, but Freire deflected that issue by pointing out that the nipples had been discarded by a tannery and that her use amounted to "recycling." The 32-year-old Freire, who has worked with mainstream WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) You have a quiet power this week, which you'll use to forward your agenda to do good in the world. Your ideas will be adopted, but not because you stand up and lead the way. Instead, you align with others and reinforce with your actions that you are one of them. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You need some- thing more from your social circle. As soon as you put your fi nger on it, ask for what you want — if not out loud, then at least in your prayers and/or your diary. Your circle will expand to meet your new request. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Henry David Thoreau said, "Things do not change, we change." Clearly, he didn't live in the computer age, when both things and people are changing together more quickly than ever. You'll enjoy doing what it takes to stay current. Chuck Sheppard entertainers such as Christina Aguilera, was kept so busy with the animal-abuse angle that she was largely spared having to explain another issue — why anyone would want to wear a dress made with cow nipples. [Ecouterre.com. 26-2011] The Entrepreneurial Spirit! Death is big business in Japan, with 1.2 million people a year passing away and overtaxing the country's cemeteries and crematoriums. With the average wait for disposal at least several days, and space running short in funeral homes, "corpse hotels" have opened in many cities, with climate- controlled "guest rooms" renting for the equivalent of about $155 a night, with viewing rooms where relatives can visit the bodies daily until cremation is available. [National Post (Toronto)- Reuters, 9-13-2011] The world's real economy may be flagging, but not necessarily the make- believe economy of online multiplayer games, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal (July) and the website Singularity Hub (August). For example, entrepreneur Ailin Graef's Anshe Chung Studios is worth "millions" of real U.S. dollars, earned mostly by managing rentals of make- believe real estate and brokering make- believe money transactions in the game Second Life. Graef also commands top (real) dollar for her designs of make- believe fashions for players' game characters (avatars). [Singularity Hub, 8-23-2011] Two other companies are suing each other in federal court in San Francisco over the copyright to their lucrative business models of creating make-believe animals (horses, rabbits) that sell very well to players who take them on as game pets for their characters or breed them to make other make-believe animals. [Wall Street Journal, 7-30-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM CANCER (June 22-July 22) You may feel a little out of sync at the start of the week for reasons you can't quite discern. The more observant you are the quicker you'll get back in step with those around you. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Sometimes you wonder why everything has to be so compartmental- ized when it comes to emotions. You'll invest great passion into many areas of life, including work. So don't be surprised if your feelings are stronger than is "acceptable." VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Your dreams are fi lled with images that seem to tell a wild, barely comprehensible and incomplete story. As fragmented as those pictures may be, there is real wisdom hidden inside them. Dare to delve into and analyze them on a deeper level. A book or guide could help you decipher the golden information. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Your self-imposed limitations serve a noble purpose. They keep your life manageable and orderly. Still, you have the sneaking suspicion that it's time to expand, even if that means things get out of hand. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Some people come into your life to teach, help and mold you over the years. Others infl uence you mo- mentarily. Both kinds of relationships are im- portant to your development. You'll welcome whatever connection comes up this week. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You will realize that you have two goals that oppose each other. Moving forward depends on this. "We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." — Calvin Coolidge. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) It may sur- prise you that there are people who wake up in the morning thinking: How can I have the most fun today? A quest for enjoyment will increase your productivity and enhance your creativity, too. The happier you are the more you turn out compelling, essential work. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Usually, "vi- sion" comes before "venture," but you are open to an alternative sequence. Your impulses may defy explanation or logic. You may be inspired to make a move before you have a picture in your mind of what will happen next. Honor the instinct, and things work out well for you. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You are an accomplished expert in one area and a total newbie in another. Experiencing the difference fi rst-hand makes your intellectual prowess seem fragile. Smarts aren't everything. Your great emotional intelligence will carry you through awkward learning stages, and you'll be up to speed in no time. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS Flee Circus I have a good relationship with my boyfriend of a year except for how he ignores me when he's stressed. The fi rst time this happened, he disappeared for a week and didn't respond to texts or voicemails. He later explained he'd been swamped with work and apologized repeatedly. Last weekend, he again disappeared for a week. After I texted and left voicemails, he fi nally texted, "Work is big right now." He has told me he likes me because I don't complain or try to get his attention when he's busy. Actually, I'm a wreck when he disappears. My ex would also ignore me for weeks and then text like nothing had happened. Stupid me for staying around for two years, as it Amy Alkon ultimately ended when he texted me that he couldn't talk to me anymore because he'd gotten married. — Scared Of History Repeating Itself If a man cares about you, he will somehow manage to overcome his teensy- weensy feelings of discomfort to stay in touch with you, even through tough times in his life. Sure, now that messages are no longer delivered by the Pony Express, letting you know that he still cares can sometimes take some effort — perhaps even tapping his fi nger eight times on a tiny wireless gadget and hitting "send." And yes, I did see your boyfriend's excuse above: "Work is big right now." Right. Besides being your "boyfriend," is he also known as "Barack Obama" and "The Leader of the Free World"? History is repeating itself because you're repeating yourself. Like one of those robothings in The Terminator, no matter what indignity a guy blasts you with, you drag what's left of you upright and go back for more: "Hey, just call me when you have some free time — maybe between marriages." You probably even take it as a compliment when your boyfriend admires how you're all "I am victim, hear me roll over" when he ignores you. Beverly Engel, in her terrifi c book The Nice Girl Syndrome, cautions that the motive for being "nice" in the face of cruel treatment is often guilt, shame, fear of confrontation, fear of rejection, and an intense fear of being alone. To be treated with respect, you need to be the disappearing one; disappear from the dating scene until you develop the self-respect to express your needs like you have a right to have them. You'll be ready to date when you require only one person in your life to feel whole — and it isn't some guy who does with your dignity what other people do with Quilted Northern. Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. NOVEMBER 2-8, 2011 UCW 27