| Parents who worry about the message some toys send can face a doll dilemma
Moms are hunting through toy aisles for more wholesome-looking dolls, concerned that the scantily clad Bratz dolls with their Party Palaces and Magic Make-up Studios are sending their daughters the wrong message about how they should dress and act.
With their heavily made-up faces, short shorts and halter tops, Bratz are the No. 2 best-selling dolls in the country, just behind Barbie, but creeping up on her with their own lines of clothing, school supplies, video games and, most recently, a live-action movie playing in theaters.
And some moms are not happy about it. "I don't want my daughter viewing herself that way," says Gloria Baca of Tempe, Ariz., who has steered her daughter, now 10, away from Barbie and Bratz in favor of an American Girl doll by Mattel named Josefina.
Dolls gone wild: Unhappy moms want wholesome alternatives
Moms are hunting through toy aisles for more wholesome-looking dolls, concerned that the scantily clad Bratz dolls with their Party Palaces and Magic Make-up Studios are sending their daughters the wrong message about how they should dress and act. With their heavily made-up faces, short shorts and halter tops, Bratz are the No. 2 best-selling dolls in the country, just behind Barbie, but creeping up on her with their own lines of clothing, school supplies, video games and, most recently, a live-action movie playing in theaters. And some Moms are not happy about it. "I don't want my daughter viewing herself that way," says Gloria Baca of Tempe, Ariz., who has steered her daughter, now 10, away from Barbie and Bratz in favor of an American Girl doll by Mattel named Josefina.
Holiday shoppers storm local stores seeking deals on nation's busiest retail day
Bundled up in coats and giggling, Mary Ann Schewe and her sister Louise Harris tried their best Friday mornng to squeeze a luggage set and two buggies full of holiday presents into the back of her Mercury Grand Marquis. "I can't buy anything else," Harris said, standing in the Target parking lot. "My son was supposed to meet us in his truck." Like thousands of other shoppers across Middle Georgia, the sisters left their homes in Jones County before dawn to take advantage of Black Friday sales. Schewe said they started at Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. and had marked items off their lists at Goody's and Old Navy in hopes that the line outside Target would get shorter as the morning wore on. She said the line of shoppers waiting to get into Target stretched all the way to Dick's Sporting Goods on the other end of Eisenhower Crossing when they first arrived.
Have yourself a sarcastic Christmas
The people at Yellow Tape Construction Company — which is a theater collective, not an actual construction company — really do take the spirit of the holidays seriously. Yeah, believing in the spirit of belief is a warm and lovely thing. Really. "We just wanted to have a little fun with it," says Yellow Tape co-founder Jonathan Morgan. .
Black Caps gear up for tough match
New Zealand coach John Bracewell believes his team can take heart from the way they pushed South Africa until the last over in the Pro20 match last Friday and the first MTN one-day international (ODI) in Durban on Sunday. South Africa won the Pro20 with a ball to spare and the ODI off the last ball of the match. "The recognition is that South Africa are a very good side, particularly at home, and any win is a tough win. We've got to take some confidence out of the fact that we pushed them to the last over in two games," Bracewell said on Wednesday. "We are starting to put together some batting performances the bowlers can attempt to defend. It's more about fighting every game, and seeing where we are after three games and not so much looking at the fact that we're one-nil down. "We've got to move together as a unit.
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