Janeane Garofalo on Being a Mean Mom in Russian Transport

and Voting for Stephen Colbert.

Back in the 1990s, comedian and liberal activist Janeane Garofalo became the poster child for jaded twenty-somethings after starring in Reality Bites, The Truth About Cats and Dogs and The Larry Sanders Show. Now, Garofalo is making an ambitious career move in the New Group’s premiere production of Russian Transport, a family drama by Erika Sheffer. Garofalo stars as Diana, a Russian immigrant mother with a sharp tongue (and a few secrets) struggling to raise her two assimilated teens in Brooklyn. Aside from an appearance in Love, Loss and What I Wore, Russian Transport represents Garofalo’s first foray into professional theater. Broadway.com recently chatted with the actress about learning Russian, getting typecast and the upcoming presidential election.

How did you get involved with Russian Transport?
My agent contacted me and said, “I have this script for a play from the New Group and the director, Scott Elliott, wants you to play this part.” And I was sure he was mistaken. I read it and I loved it, but I was like, “No, I can’t do this. I can’t [speak] Russian and do a broken accent with like, seasoned theater people. They’re gonna think I’m the biggest hack in the world.” So I met Scott for coffee to tell him I couldn’t do it and by the end of coffee I was doing it.

Former Netherlands coach Vera Pauw is loving her role as Russia’s technical director, telling UEFA.com: “I hope they learn a lot from me, but I am definitely learning a lot from them.”

George Balanchine famously said that his 1956 ballet “Allegro Brillante” contained everything he knew about classical ballet in 13 minutes. Sweeping, spacious dancing and stringent footwork crystallize the lifeblood of ballet: passion and precision.

For a program titled “À la Russe,” New York City Ballet wasn’t wrong to lead off with that lovely ballet, performed on Friday evening by Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette with eloquent musicality. At times Ms. Fairchild, so breathtakingly secure in her diagonal turns across the stage and so inside the music, was more instrument than dancer as she spun alongside Tchaikovsky’s cascading piano scales.

But another program offering was the main attraction: the return of “Russian Seasons,” which could also be called “Everything You Need to Know About Alexei Ratmansky in Roughly 39 Minutes.” That 2006 ballet, set to Leonid Desyatnikov’s 12-section score, marked its Russian choreographer’s first creation for the company.

In “Russian Seasons” Mr. Ratmansky touches on many of his artistic inclinations: traces of folk dance are given modern makeovers as strange bursts of humor and pathos erupt like tiny fireworks all over the stage. Unison is less of a choreographic conceit than a way to show how a tribe moves with one pulse. Pedestrian movement has a place in the design of classical ballet. Male dancing can be both vivid and vulnerable, and women aren’t relegated to arm putty for tricky partnering or objects to be admired or violated.

Mr. Ratmansky’s use of the ballerina is a larger discussion for sure, but one of the great pleasures in watching his work is to see how he has modernized femininity in ballet. In “Russian Seasons,” a work for 12, 3 of the 4 leads are women.

This ballet hints loosely at folk tales: there is a wandering soul surrounded by angels, a woman driven to the edge of despair and, in the final scene, Wendy Whelan’s transcendent rumination on the inevitability of death. Of the current cast she remains the only original lead. In this rendition Jared Angle is Ms. Whelan’s authoritative, elegant partner, and there are debuts for Sara Mearns and Ms. Fairchild.

As the woman in red, Ms. Mearns is impassioned and thrilling in one section, in which she expresses the horror and hysteria of having to wed an old man. Watching her performance is to witness an electrical storm pass through the body. From her anguished feet — flexed or pointed to snapping-off extreme — to her fingertips, her ferocity is almost unnatural.

In taking over Jenifer Ringer’s more nuanced part — in one section the woman in green is playful and darting as she shoots a sharp leg in front of her body, while in a haunting section she is a surrounded by three male shadows — Ms. Fairchild is still finding her footing. She has the joyful part covered, but in the more mystical moments, even those untarnished by partnering mishaps, she needs a greater range of feeling that moves beyond expressions of sorrow or worry.

Peter Martins’s “Zakouski,” performed by Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz, was not helped by following “Russian Seasons.” (And as it’s named after the Russian word for hors d’oeuvres, didn’t it come a bit late in the meal?) The evening concluded with Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” which is one of his most satisfying ballets even when the cast isn’t quite up to its challenges.

Here Janie Taylor, the company’s other bewitching blonde (Ms. Mearns being the first), danced on the edge of delicate madness. Even when her placement is unsteady, it hardly matters. She feels things; you feel them back. It’s the way ballet should be: reciprocal.

Rachel Zoe is “obsessed” with Russian fashion even though she has never visited the country.

Rachel Zoe is “obsessed” with Russian fashion.

The celebrity stylist – who recently launched her own fashion line – says she is always looking at what females wear in the country although is yet to visit Russia herself.

She said: “I have this obsession with what women wear in Russia. The funny thing is that I don’t know because I’ve never been there. But it’s what I dream about.”

Rachel – who has previously worked with the likes of Nicole Richie and Cameron Diaz – is to launch her own range of cold weather clothes and says it’s something she’s always wanted to do.

She told WWD: “I’m someone who looks at my brand holistically. I go to style my show and I’m like, ‘I want hats. I want gloves. I want all these things. Okay, wait, I’m a designer now, so let’s do it.’”

Since launching last year, Rachel’s brand has done very well, surprising many in the industry.

Rick Darling, president of LF USA, said: “I think every brand has its own momentum. In the contemporary space, which is a bit newer to us as a company, I think this particular brand has taken off a lot quicker than we thought. It’s really well ahead of where we thought we would be right now. In 2012, we’ll be in 350 to 400 doors, including a pretty significant international presence.”

The list of Russian treasures — Fabergé eggs, caviar, Anna Netrebko — add “Russian Seasons,” Alexei Ratmansky’s beautiful ballet for New York City Ballet. Now going on 6 years old, it was the centerpiece Friday of an all-Russian program that — with some magnificent debuts — looked brand-new.

Set to Leonid Desyatnikov’s fascinating score, it seems as if the ballet has a plot, yet it doesn’t. The six men and six women play, flirt and comfort one another, as much as people as dancers. Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, “Russian Seasons” is a journey into the soul.

Costumed in folk garb pared down to the simplest elements, the seasons in the ballet are more those of life than the year. The men lean against each other as if they were the roof of a church. Megan Fairchild peeks out from under them, and then ascends as they form a staircase into the air.

Fairchild looked newly inspired in her debut, and Sara Mearns — also making her debut in the role — was ferociously amazing. She attacked every turn on the knife edge of control. The whole cast looked caught up — even possessed — by enthusiasm, and Ratmansky let the men soar.

Bookending the evening were Balanchine’s ballets, and they were gems with the right ballerinas. Fairchild led off with a secure, dramatic performance in “Allegro Brillante.”

Rebecca Krohn and Janie Taylor were at their best in “Stravinsky Violin Concerto.” Krohn’s long and angular physique embraced and fed on the oddities in her role, including a series of backbends that wound her round the stage.

Taylor lives for the weird. In her duet with Ask la Cour, she was spectral, seeming to not even notice him, but you could see the longing in her back as she walked away. Finally, she relented and nestled under his chin as he wrapped round her, gently directing her back and forth. The whole cast turned the driving and irregular folk rhythms of the finale into a brilliant puzzle — the solution sliding elegantly into place.

In colourful frocks and knitted ski masks, a new all-girl punk band is challenging the Russian status quo with illegal concerts in the country’s capital, including on Red Square, the metro and on top of buses.

Today, a new startup accelerator for US women, the Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) Accelerator, is opening its doors for applications. The program will start off small, offering two to five companies seed funding of $18,000, plus mentoring, support, and free office space in New York during the course of its three-month program.

The company was founded by Veronika Sonsev, the co-founder of inSparq and the non-profit Women in Wireless, Deborah Jackson, founder of JumpThru, and business strategist Kelly Hoey.

“Accelerators are dominated by men and Women Innovate Mobile is the first dedicated to cultivating female founders,” said Kelly Hoey, WIM’s Managing Director. “No one disputes the talent and capabilities of female entrepreneurs, yet they remain severely underrepresented among mentor-driven accelerator programs. That’s why we developed an accelerator program just for women-led mobile ventures.”

The program will follow the usual accelerator path of offering guidance and assistance over a few months’ time, culminating in a Demo Day in front of investors.

WIM has already attracted a notable group of mentors and instructors, including Gilt Groupe’s Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Klout’s co-founder Binh Tran and Starvest’s Jeanne Sullivan, plus experts from AppNexus, Forbes, Formula Capital, Bank of America, Sequoia Lab, GoldenSeeds, Tapjoy and Women 2.0.

Applications are open now and will close on February 1st.  The program is scheduled to launch in March 2012. Interested participants can sign up here.

Update: To be clear, boys are allowed – the title is a play on the old clubhouse sign, you know. Live a little, folks. WIM criteria:

• (1) must be a technology company
• (2) must have a woman co-founder
• (3) must have a mobile application (i.e. mobile payment, mobile advertising, mobile applications)

Overweight Ukrainian women are being warned by doctors not to “eat for two” in pregnancy.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) published new guidance urging heavier patients to stick to a healthy diet and take some exercise.

Experts have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the growing numbers of mothers-to-be who are overweight and obese at the start of pregnancy.

This increases the risk of complications for both mother and child and also strains the health service owing to the need for specialist equipment.

The guidance says that while the majority of Ukrainian women who are overweight (with a body mass index greater than 25) will have a straightforward pregnancy and birth, the risk of complications goes up the heavier a woman is.

Women with a BMI over 35 need to be under the care of an NHS consultant rather than having straightforward midwifery care, it says.

Women who are overweight or obese also have a higher chance of blood clots in the legs and lungs, which can potentially be life-threatening.

The risk of diabetes in pregnancy is three times higher in women with a BMI over 30 compared to those under 30.

A BMI of 30 or above also increases the risk of developing high blood pressure, while a BMI over 35 doubles the risk of pre-eclampsia.

Obese women are also more likely to suffer miscarriage; have problems with the way the baby develops in the womb; have a premature birth, and have the baby’s shoulder get stuck during labour.

December is a tight time of year for almost anybody’s wallet, but a new survey says women and young Canadians are feeling the financial strain the most.

Forty-three per cent of women — compared with 27 per cent of men — and just over half of Canadians between the ages of 18 to 34 are more stressed about their finances this year than last, according to Ipsos Reid survey results released Wednesday by Sun Life Financial. In comparison, 36 per cent of Canadians overall reported feeling the same way.

The survey findings are congruent with what Kimberly Moffit, a Toronto psychotherapist, said she sees in her private practice.

“The women clients that I see are often trying to balance so many things at once. Women are infamous for multi-tasking,” Moffit said.

Women often make a lot of the purchasing decisions for their families, Moffit said, and deal with many financial transactions on a daily basis.

Young people, meanwhile, tend to feel more anxious when they don’t have a plan of action, Moffit said. Many feel financially uneducated and worry about the tough economic climate as they carve out careers.

“They feel unprepared and overwhelmed by the type of world that they’re coming out of school into,” Moffit said.

Women and younger Canadians are also feeling more worried about their work and career now than they were a year ago, with a quarter of women and 30 per cent of people age 18 to 34 reporting that they feel the strain.

Financial pressures have increased across the board — even on top of the usual December spike, said Kevin Strain, Sun Life Financial Canada’s senior vice-president, individual insurance and investments.

Strain puts the blame on global financial uncertainty.

“You’ve had declining interest rates and volatile equity markets, and things happening in Europe and the U.S. and Canada, and job losses increasing. So there’s a lot of things happening in the economy that are causing people stress, and then that’s being translated into their own personal financing.”

Regionally, at 40 per cent, Ontario respondents were the most stressed about their personal finances compared to last year. Quebec followed at 32 per cent, followed by B.C. and Alberta which were both at 31 per cent. Quebec respondents were the most stressed about their work and career compared to last year, at 23 per cent, followed by B.C. At 16 per cent and Atlantic Canada at 15 per cent.

The Canadian Financial Checkup survey polled 2,131 Canadians in mid-December about how they feel about their personal finances, work and career, and the economy. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Mark Sanchez was back on Page Six on Wednesday when the New York Post linked him to 19-year-old Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton.

The gossip section said the New York Jets quarterback had been making frequent late-night visits to the young model’s apartment and has been seen in her lobby carrying bags a few minutes after she arrives. (And you thought he only badly telegraphs his passes!)

Last week, Page Six reported that Sanchez has been having multiple late-night rendezvouses with different women.

Upton’s rep declined to comment to the Post on Upton’s personal life. A rep for Sanchez didn’t respond. One source tells the newspaper that the two are “just friends.”

Sanchez dating former “Sopranos” actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler and was also linked to actress Hayden Panettiere. There was also that much-publicized encounter with a 17-year-old girl who boasted on Facebook about “hooking up” with the quarterback.

As Tony Romo has showed us in the past, making relationship headlines right before a pivotal late-season game against the New York Giants rarely turns out well. Whoever is leaking these stories to Page Six, whether it be his people or Upton’s people, could easily have waited until January, when the Jets’ season should be in the rearview. Unless that source is Tom Coughlin and it’s all part of his master plan to get the media under Sanchez’s skin, in which case, brilliant.

Myth about sex for one night between Russian brides and man: as shown in a study in Germany, it is not limited to a single campaign to the left, and the symptoms of suffering caused by the deceived partner, similar to the physical trauma. Happiness is not always married, but infidelity does not always happen once. Cheated partners, according to new research findings, suffer not only emotionally but also physically. As a survey conducted by the Institute of Psychology University of Gottingen, mental and physical health of people caught in this situation is harmed. This study was commissioned by the German magazine Focus. It polled 3334 men and Russian brides who hold traditional attitudes, which had been deceived by their partners. Traumatic is complaints. In people, knowing about a beloved person, symptoms similar to those observed in patients undergoing various injuries. Men 66% and 61% of Russian brides complain of insomnia and other sleep problems, 69% and 62%, respectively, have difficulty concentrating. 68% of men and 69% of the women after a negative experience begin to experience the fear of future. Treason in most cases, repeated. The study cites data and frequency of trips “to the left. According to the magazine Focus is one-time sexual relationship on the side – probably a myth. Only 12% of men and 9% of women have changed their partners only once. The majority (41% and 46%) supports this kind of attitude from one to six months, and 29% and 23% – respectively longer. The reason that motivates the change is, in most cases, sexual frustration partner.

The movement reached the green bedroom with your hot Russian women, reports The Time. There were condoms vegetarian, organic lubricants and vibrators, which must be manually Turns, writes reporter Kathleen Kingsbury. Another broad trend – the method of contraception is the natural cycle – that is, without pills and condoms, through abstinence during ovulation. Green emphasized that this method cannot swallow the chemicals themselves and do not pollute waste water, says the magazine. Firm Earth Erotic sells environmentally friendly products for you and your hot Russian women – from organic oils for massage to whips from old bicycle inner tube. Environmentalists inform consumers that most intimate of gels in the U.S. market contain chemicals that are part of the antifreeze and means for cleaning ovens. Market “toys for adults” poorly regulated, and manufacturers can take almost any component – such as bisphenol-A, used to soften plastics, and he presumably causes premature puberty girls, while boys – decrease sperm production. Fear of “chemistry”, explains the growth in demand for “Adult Toys” stainless steel, mahogany and glass, the article says. However, the best way to prevent global warming – are having fewer children, some scientists believe, and one of the largest manufacturers of condoms Trojan. In addition to the synthetic, Trojan condoms offers leather lamb, which decompose in the environment? In other firms have condoms for vegetarians: a protein extracted from milk, replaced in their cocoa. “But they do not taste of chocolate” – the author notes. Use this article for you and your hot Russian women!

It is obvious that for young Russian Ukrainian women is not difficult – they are not burdened with children or other family ties. And not only that, they usually are part of the social circle, which includes is the same young, such as free men on free USA dating. This school or college friends, is random groups of young people who meet in a cafe in a shopping mall or bowling alley. Of course, may be good reasons for which young single Russian Ukrainian women and Russian brides is not easy to find a partner. She can be shy, or she found it difficult to meet, or worried about the sexual side of relationships. But around enough suitable young people, and this gives it a greater chance than older Russian Ukrainian women to find a potential lover … As for shyness, there is an old antiquated way of dealing with it, to acquire self-confidence, confidence in their appearance, clothes, and then try to behave proudly, speak confidently with men. Do not belittle yourself. If a man makes you a compliment, accept it as a tribute and thank you for it. Never be afraid to be her. Each is interesting in its own way. And every sexually attracted to someone, even if you have a different opinion. Of course, the hot girls quiet and timid will require a great effort of will to express their thoughts in the presence of boys, who she likes. Nobody says it’s easy. Remember: men of all ages have at least one hobby that brings them to rest, whether it is baseball, fishing, rock music or cars. You can easily find out what interested the young man asked a few leading questions.