22 Jan Dan Abrams’ Websites Today

From Mediaite: Yesterday was the Presidential Inauguration, and Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term. He gave a rather progressive inaugural speech, becoming the first President to mention gay rights in that speech. Today, Morning Joe took on what he said: writes Mediaite, “On Tuesday, the Morning Joe crew naturally took to dissecting President Obama‘s second inaugural address — which, most have agreed thus far, was directly progressive in its message. The roundtable agreed with that sentiment, with Joe Scarborough tying in how the Republican Party’s current situation factored in. Al Hunt agreed that the speech laid out his liberal vision of where he wants the country to be going, but that we shouldn’t be surprised by it.” Read more here.

From Gossip Cop: Beyonce was another star of yesterday’s ceremony, but reports are surfacing that perhaps her performance wasn’t live. Gossip Cop reports, “Beyonce’s powerful performance of the National Anthem at Monday’s Inauguration Ceremony was reportedly lip-synched. A rep for the United States Marine Band says the star decided at the last minute to sing to a pre-recorded track rather than perform live. The band’s spokesperson Kristin DuBoissays in a statement, ‘All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.’ The report is surprising, especially given the fact that Beyonce emotionally ripped out her earpiece at one point during the performance.” Read more and see video here.

From Geekosystem: Ireland has made an interesting new revision to their law. Geekosystem reports, “The local council for Kerry County in south-west Ireland has approved a measure that would allow police to issue permits to people living in rural areas that would allow them to drive drunk legally. The new rule was proposed by council member Danny Healy-Rae, who we hope to God was drunk when he came up with this idea, if only because the other option is him being stupid all the time. Healy-Rae’s unprecedented argument for more drunk driving stems from the fact that some of his older constituents ”are being isolated now at home, and a lot of them falling intodepression,” apparently because they can’t drive home a little sauced from the pub, which is known to be one of the leading causes of depression nowhere, ever.” Read more about it here.

From Styleite: Michelle Obama looked beautiful at the Inauguration Ball last night, especially in her red Jason Wu gown. Today, the designer speaks out on her choice: writes Styleite, “Michelle Obama has worn Jason Wu to both of her fancy inauguration parties now, and as Wu tells it, the second time feels just as good as the first. Wu spoke with WWD shortly after seeing the First Lady in his design: ‘Mrs. Obama likes to keep her secrets. She surprised me again. She’s really good at it. I was so nervous. You’d think I wouldn’t be since I’d experienced it before but I really was. I was just elated. It’s hard to describe.’ What’s not hard to describe is how utterly stunning Michelle looked in a red chiffon and velvet gown with a keyhole neckline, matching heels, glitzy jewelry, and a sassy flipped out ‘do.” Read the full story and see pictures here.

From SportsGrid: Phil Mickelson is really, really rich. So rich he said he wants to stop making money. SportsGrid explains, “Yesterday, Mickelson said he might consider ‘drastic changes,’  because he ‘[happened] to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state.’ Lefty estimated his total tax rate –after state, federal, income, Social Security, and disability taxes– to be at ’62, 63 percent.’ Which is, admittedly, a lot. Mickelson’s mistake, however, was grumbling about said tax rate in public, since, you know, he makes so much goddamn money, ridiculous tax rate notwithstanding. Alluding to retirement, or a possible self-imposed decrease in tournaments per year –which is what Mickelson did when he mentioned those ‘drastic changes’– wasn’t the most nimble of public maneuverings. But, having seemingly realized that most Americans don’t make $22.39 million before taxes, much less after them, Mickelson pulled back today.” Read on here.

From The Mary Sue: Well, this sounds awesome: NASA is apparently building a bouncy house in space. The Mary Sue reports, “NASA awarded a $17.8 million contract on January 16th to Las Vegas based Bigelow Aerospace to manufacture and test an inflatable International Space Station (ISS) module. This isn’t the first bouncy party gig for the unfortunately named Bigelow Aerospace as they have already produced experimental inflatable stations Genesis I and Genesis II launched in 2006 and 2007, which we hope have nothing to do with Rob Schneider or possible space-borne gigolo services). ‘This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably,’ said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver.” Read the whole piece here.

From The Jane Dough: The Presidential Inauguration happened yesterday, but all anyone can talk about regarding it seems to be Michelle Obama: her bangs, her coat, her dress, and her eye roll. The Jane Dough’s Collete McIntyre has some thoughts on that last one: “The 57th Inaugural Ceremonies featured Richard Blanco, who is the first Hispanic, the first openly gay man, and the first immigrant to recite an inaugural poem; the first-ever inaugural mention of gay rights; and this doozy of a fashion statement by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and yet the Internet can’t stop talking about Michelle Obama’s eye roll…  The responses have ranged from political theories… to outright disgust…  to declarations of admiration… to appropriations of RuPaul’s Drag Race slang. Our reaction to the Internet’s reactions? Everybody should f*(&!%@ relax about Michelle Obama’s rolling eyes.” Read more here.

From The Braiser: Tonight brings an important premiere in food TV. The Braiser reports, “Can ABC put a primetime cooking competition show not involving Gordon Ramsay on the ratings map? We find out tonight, when The Taste premieres at 8:00pm EST. On the bright side, we’ve got Anthony Bourdain on network TV, Nigella Lawson on American TV in general, their sure-to-be spectacular interaction, Brian Malarkey’s hilarious makeover, and Ludo Lefebvre’s commercial introduction to the American public. On the less-than-bright side, we have the introduction of the term ‘kitchenistas.’ Surely, we’ll all be watching, if nothing else, to watch the ship go down. But we couldn’t be more excited about it.” Read all about it here.