Monday, February 23, 2004
Nope, sorry, I'm only think of the health and fitness of your fingers. Suck it up--copy and paste, soldier!
From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4339407/%20
"
Editor on the Attack
A top woman journalist strafes her colleagues
By Peg Tyre
Newsweek
March 1 issue - Sometime between editing features on Jell-O molds, tummy taming and "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" longtime Ladies' Home Journal editor Myrna Blyth learned how to lob hand grenades. Two years after retiring, Blyth, 64, has written a book—"Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America"—that has some of the biggest names in television and publishing in an uproar. Equal parts political rant and industry tell-all, the book offers an acid portrait of what Blyth calls a liberal female media cabal. In Blyth's world, Katie, Diane, Barbara and a dozen or so women's-magazine editors are conspiring to rob millions of otherwise intelligent women of their self-confidence and good sense.
"
I never thought this could happen to me, but it has--I'm addicted to women's magazines. I have been robbed of my good sense. For me, the draw to women's magazines has been that each month they promise to fix the two things in my life which I feel are constantly broken--my appearance and my love life. They are so ingeniously set up to reel you in, too. Often, they start with an "assessment," a little quiz like the "Do I Need Therapy" link I have on this site. These quizzes always sell me because they make me feel like I'm doing something constructive for myself when I am in reality doing nothing. They sell you on the idea that just by taking this quiz, you are taking a step toward self-betterment. It's an easy way to get out of the real work of living in the present moment and feeling good about what you can accomplish and feeling bad when you don't accomplish something that you should have been able to.
But what's really crazy is how popular this whole culture of self-help is. It points out the reality of self-hatred in this country. A lot of people really hate what they are and are really really scared to face up to that. So they look to "experts" to do this work for them. That's what I want. Just one of these months, I want Cosmo to just give me the goddamn answer or "key" to losing weight already. and of course, I know what the answer is--it's to stop eating like a fucking hog.
Anyway, in the end, Blyth is retarded. Her book blames the editors of women's magazines. All the editors are doing is tapping into a deep self-loathing and mistrust of self that is alive and well in their readers. I don't think that these magazines breed low self-esteem in women. I think this self-doubt and self-hatred comes from women who are fundamentally unhappy and who twistedly choose to validate their unhappiness and feelings of inadequacy by reading magazines whose editors know that women will choose to validate their feelings of inadequacy rather than try to get over them.
So, when Blyth admits she's "partly to blame for creating the negative messages of victimization and unhappiness that bombard women today," she's pretty riding the wave of the huge ego trip that her book must be.
Comments-[ .]
From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4339407/%20
"
Editor on the Attack
A top woman journalist strafes her colleagues
By Peg Tyre
Newsweek
March 1 issue - Sometime between editing features on Jell-O molds, tummy taming and "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" longtime Ladies' Home Journal editor Myrna Blyth learned how to lob hand grenades. Two years after retiring, Blyth, 64, has written a book—"Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America"—that has some of the biggest names in television and publishing in an uproar. Equal parts political rant and industry tell-all, the book offers an acid portrait of what Blyth calls a liberal female media cabal. In Blyth's world, Katie, Diane, Barbara and a dozen or so women's-magazine editors are conspiring to rob millions of otherwise intelligent women of their self-confidence and good sense.
"
I never thought this could happen to me, but it has--I'm addicted to women's magazines. I have been robbed of my good sense. For me, the draw to women's magazines has been that each month they promise to fix the two things in my life which I feel are constantly broken--my appearance and my love life. They are so ingeniously set up to reel you in, too. Often, they start with an "assessment," a little quiz like the "Do I Need Therapy" link I have on this site. These quizzes always sell me because they make me feel like I'm doing something constructive for myself when I am in reality doing nothing. They sell you on the idea that just by taking this quiz, you are taking a step toward self-betterment. It's an easy way to get out of the real work of living in the present moment and feeling good about what you can accomplish and feeling bad when you don't accomplish something that you should have been able to.
But what's really crazy is how popular this whole culture of self-help is. It points out the reality of self-hatred in this country. A lot of people really hate what they are and are really really scared to face up to that. So they look to "experts" to do this work for them. That's what I want. Just one of these months, I want Cosmo to just give me the goddamn answer or "key" to losing weight already. and of course, I know what the answer is--it's to stop eating like a fucking hog.
Anyway, in the end, Blyth is retarded. Her book blames the editors of women's magazines. All the editors are doing is tapping into a deep self-loathing and mistrust of self that is alive and well in their readers. I don't think that these magazines breed low self-esteem in women. I think this self-doubt and self-hatred comes from women who are fundamentally unhappy and who twistedly choose to validate their unhappiness and feelings of inadequacy by reading magazines whose editors know that women will choose to validate their feelings of inadequacy rather than try to get over them.
So, when Blyth admits she's "partly to blame for creating the negative messages of victimization and unhappiness that bombard women today," she's pretty riding the wave of the huge ego trip that her book must be.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
The lady's doctor
A couple of days ago I had my woman's doctor appointment (or as my boyfriend affectionately calls it, my "pussy doctor" appointment.) You know who thought up this exam? Those two old guys from the X-Files, you know the smoker guy and the other one.
In any case, I'm sure we don't need to have this exam annually. I would never go except you can't get insurance to cover the pill without the exam.
I always make them give me a woman doctor, not because i'm afraid of a man sticking his fingers up my privates (they do this in the exam! besides rubbing your breasts and sticking the metal thing in you, they stick their own, actual (albeit gloved) fingers in! even to nuns!), but because i want to have an examiner who herself has been an examinee.
The exam is so humiliating for both parties. I always wonder whether these clinicians have ever had something really embarrassing happen to them during an exam. because, i mean, they really stick their heads like...right there. has anyone ever farted on them by mistake? has anyone ever smelled particularly bad? it is a really awkward situation.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
BLOGGER
Man, I really can't stand it when people say that they feel they need to own the books they read rather than checking them out from the library. I just heard this from someone today. she's trying to talk her husband into building her some bookshelves because she just has sooooo many books, they no longer fit on the shelves that she does have.
Why do you need to own every book that you've ever read? So that when people come over your house you can prove to them how well-read you are? So that you can look no further than your bookshelves when you need a citation for that big thesis that you're writing? HELLO, you're not in school anymore. You work a dead end job! If you do indeed read, (a rather dubious fact to begin with) then go to the library for your books. save your money for cigarettes and booze.
it's not that i don't ever buy books. I just hate this equation between reading and owning. you haven't read your book better, or more thoroughly if you own it. people who like owning books seem to be insinuating (or outright stating) that they get more out of books they own than they do out of books they borrow. it really burns me.
Comments-[ .]
Man, I really can't stand it when people say that they feel they need to own the books they read rather than checking them out from the library. I just heard this from someone today. she's trying to talk her husband into building her some bookshelves because she just has sooooo many books, they no longer fit on the shelves that she does have.
Why do you need to own every book that you've ever read? So that when people come over your house you can prove to them how well-read you are? So that you can look no further than your bookshelves when you need a citation for that big thesis that you're writing? HELLO, you're not in school anymore. You work a dead end job! If you do indeed read, (a rather dubious fact to begin with) then go to the library for your books. save your money for cigarettes and booze.
it's not that i don't ever buy books. I just hate this equation between reading and owning. you haven't read your book better, or more thoroughly if you own it. people who like owning books seem to be insinuating (or outright stating) that they get more out of books they own than they do out of books they borrow. it really burns me.
' Mary Carole McCauley of the Baltimore Sun recently wrote that "no other instrument is targeted more frequently than the viola." The reason? "Type in the term 'viola jokes' on the Google search engine and you will get 19,700 hits." (Who hasn't heard a good viola joke lately?) '
--Taken from "Lies, Damned Lies and Google," by Lionel Beehner, an article about journalists' over-citation of google hits on today's mediabistro.com
Comments-[ .]
--Taken from "Lies, Damned Lies and Google," by Lionel Beehner, an article about journalists' over-citation of google hits on today's mediabistro.com
OutKast and 50 First Dates
OutKast apologized for their performance at the Grammys last Friday because they "swirled around a teepee" and wore some green costumes that included "feathers, paint, and fringe." (http://entertainment.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=149867)
I think it's cool that they apologized for offending anyone. That's fine with me. What I don't get is why Hawaii natives weren't at all offended by the movie "50 first dates," which i saw last night. In the movie, Rob Schneider plays a native Hawaiian named Ula. He, his wife and his kids are SUCH stereotypes, it's hard to understand how some of these completely unfunny jokes made it in to the movie. First of all, Deuce looks like shit throughout the entire movie. He's fat and disgusting and his buttcrack hangs out a lot. He smokes too much weed. His wife, whom we see at the end, is absolutely hideous. His kids don't go to school, they just follow their dad around all day and do front flips off the docks and into the ocean and watch their dad smoke up and stuff. Last and most important I think, is that Schneider is not an indigenous Hawaiian. People get so annoyed when actors like Greg Kinnear or Paul Rudd "play gay." You'd hear a huge uproar if a non-Native American played Native American in a movie. Where are the native Hawaiians at?
I mean, it's no skin off my nose. I'm not native American nor am I an indigenous Hawaiian. The secret's out! i'm white. Nonetheless, I don't understand how OutKast's performance can be considered insensitive and Schneider's can not be. OutKast's performance was stylized. They were wearing flourescent green for fuck's sake. Obviously they were not trying to directly imitate the songs, dances, or rituals of any Native American nation.
Meanwhile, 50 first dates was unapologetically portraying a stereotyped view of indigenous Hawaiians. Schneider's character was a caricature of course, but it was at least as sinful as OutKast's performance.
Comments-[ .]
OutKast apologized for their performance at the Grammys last Friday because they "swirled around a teepee" and wore some green costumes that included "feathers, paint, and fringe." (http://entertainment.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=149867)
I think it's cool that they apologized for offending anyone. That's fine with me. What I don't get is why Hawaii natives weren't at all offended by the movie "50 first dates," which i saw last night. In the movie, Rob Schneider plays a native Hawaiian named Ula. He, his wife and his kids are SUCH stereotypes, it's hard to understand how some of these completely unfunny jokes made it in to the movie. First of all, Deuce looks like shit throughout the entire movie. He's fat and disgusting and his buttcrack hangs out a lot. He smokes too much weed. His wife, whom we see at the end, is absolutely hideous. His kids don't go to school, they just follow their dad around all day and do front flips off the docks and into the ocean and watch their dad smoke up and stuff. Last and most important I think, is that Schneider is not an indigenous Hawaiian. People get so annoyed when actors like Greg Kinnear or Paul Rudd "play gay." You'd hear a huge uproar if a non-Native American played Native American in a movie. Where are the native Hawaiians at?
I mean, it's no skin off my nose. I'm not native American nor am I an indigenous Hawaiian. The secret's out! i'm white. Nonetheless, I don't understand how OutKast's performance can be considered insensitive and Schneider's can not be. OutKast's performance was stylized. They were wearing flourescent green for fuck's sake. Obviously they were not trying to directly imitate the songs, dances, or rituals of any Native American nation.
Meanwhile, 50 first dates was unapologetically portraying a stereotyped view of indigenous Hawaiians. Schneider's character was a caricature of course, but it was at least as sinful as OutKast's performance.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
'puters
one cool thing about my job is that we have i-macs. they're fucking tight as hell, all high-tech looking.
i-Tunes is great and the man even allows us to download as many $.99 songs as we want. either that, or he hasn't yet noticed the loophole.
Comments-[ .]
one cool thing about my job is that we have i-macs. they're fucking tight as hell, all high-tech looking.
i-Tunes is great and the man even allows us to download as many $.99 songs as we want. either that, or he hasn't yet noticed the loophole.
sometimes i like to remind myself of the biographies of really famous people who worked shitty jobs. it makes me feel a lot better.
here's one i like a lot (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/):
"Rousseau, Henri, known as Le Douanier Rousseau (1844-1910). French painter, the most celebrated of naïve artists.
"His nickname refers to the job he held with the Paris Customs Office (1871-93), although he never actually rose to the rank of `Douanier' (Customs Officer). Before this he had served in the army, and he later claimed to have seen service in Mexico, but this story seems to be a product of his imagination. He took up painting as a hobby and accepted early retirement in 1893 so he could devote himself to art."
He used to paint on the weekends. Now his stuff is in the MoMA.
On the down side, he didn't quit his day job until he was FIFTY (if we can trust my math skills). i don't know if i can wait that long.
Comments-[ .]
here's one i like a lot (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/):
"Rousseau, Henri, known as Le Douanier Rousseau (1844-1910). French painter, the most celebrated of naïve artists.
"His nickname refers to the job he held with the Paris Customs Office (1871-93), although he never actually rose to the rank of `Douanier' (Customs Officer). Before this he had served in the army, and he later claimed to have seen service in Mexico, but this story seems to be a product of his imagination. He took up painting as a hobby and accepted early retirement in 1893 so he could devote himself to art."
He used to paint on the weekends. Now his stuff is in the MoMA.
On the down side, he didn't quit his day job until he was FIFTY (if we can trust my math skills). i don't know if i can wait that long.
excuses, excuses
last night i felt pretty depressed because i feel like my life is going nowhere. i'm getting old (OLD!) and working as a functionary.
and i do nothing with my free time except read, watch t.v., write, and go to the gym. i don't like that i can count all of my activities on one hand. the things i like to do don't fulfill me in the way they used to anymore. isn't that some sort of sign of clinical depression? don't i need zoloft? don't i want to be as precious as those little pill-shaped blobs who push zoloft on tv?
after a lot of sighing and staring into space, i finally admitted my malaise to my partner. he said that i should try to research and write a couple of feature news articles, since that is what i like to do. even if i don't get them published, it'll be good practice and i can show them to prospective employers or even to journalism master's programs decider-people.
thanks, PARTNER. now i have no excuse for sitting around and moping about how my life is passing before my eyes and i am not participating. you mean, i could just WRITE some stuff. even publish it on the internet? goddammit. but what about my date with the "littlest groom?" and who will they eliminate next on American Idol? I hope not the ex-football player guy.
Comments-[ .]
last night i felt pretty depressed because i feel like my life is going nowhere. i'm getting old (OLD!) and working as a functionary.
and i do nothing with my free time except read, watch t.v., write, and go to the gym. i don't like that i can count all of my activities on one hand. the things i like to do don't fulfill me in the way they used to anymore. isn't that some sort of sign of clinical depression? don't i need zoloft? don't i want to be as precious as those little pill-shaped blobs who push zoloft on tv?
after a lot of sighing and staring into space, i finally admitted my malaise to my partner. he said that i should try to research and write a couple of feature news articles, since that is what i like to do. even if i don't get them published, it'll be good practice and i can show them to prospective employers or even to journalism master's programs decider-people.
thanks, PARTNER. now i have no excuse for sitting around and moping about how my life is passing before my eyes and i am not participating. you mean, i could just WRITE some stuff. even publish it on the internet? goddammit. but what about my date with the "littlest groom?" and who will they eliminate next on American Idol? I hope not the ex-football player guy.
Friday, February 13, 2004
GODSMACK
Apparently if you live in the South, a lot of your volunteer opportunities require a demonstrated love for the Lord.
Comments-[ .]
Apparently if you live in the South, a lot of your volunteer opportunities require a demonstrated love for the Lord.
COMMUNITIES
Today I'm thinking that I'm way too disconnected from the community I live in. I've lived here for 6 months and i don't feel like I know the place at all.
On the other hand, I feel very enveloped in a "web community," pathetic as that makes me. I read certain blogs every day, I feel like I've gotten to know certain writers. I know what sites to go to depending on what information I'm seeking. The web, not my city, is what makes me feel connected to other people. I'm not a troll or anything, nor a recluse. But I don't have any close friends in this city since I moved here relatively recently. I go out a lot and deposit my money at the bars and restaurants and whatnot. I talk to my co-workers. But i feel really disconnected from this place and I can't help but get the feeling that a lot of other residents do too. Especially when i look out my car window on my way home from work at the other people, in their other cars. Everyone looks so drawn and contemplative.
Anyway, to remedy the situation, I'm looking for volunteer opportunities. By searching the Internet, of course. volunteermatch.org seems like a good bet.
Comments-[ .]
Today I'm thinking that I'm way too disconnected from the community I live in. I've lived here for 6 months and i don't feel like I know the place at all.
On the other hand, I feel very enveloped in a "web community," pathetic as that makes me. I read certain blogs every day, I feel like I've gotten to know certain writers. I know what sites to go to depending on what information I'm seeking. The web, not my city, is what makes me feel connected to other people. I'm not a troll or anything, nor a recluse. But I don't have any close friends in this city since I moved here relatively recently. I go out a lot and deposit my money at the bars and restaurants and whatnot. I talk to my co-workers. But i feel really disconnected from this place and I can't help but get the feeling that a lot of other residents do too. Especially when i look out my car window on my way home from work at the other people, in their other cars. Everyone looks so drawn and contemplative.
Anyway, to remedy the situation, I'm looking for volunteer opportunities. By searching the Internet, of course. volunteermatch.org seems like a good bet.
One of the things I'm not too fond of with this blogging business is that everyone seems to have the same voice, more or less--the nerdy Daria-type smirking in the corner.
i like a few very very much (pretty much all of the ones listed on guardian.co.uk are keepers), but the tone doesn't change much. Well, you have your angst-ridden teens and your politicos, but they're sort of variations on the same theme.
I wonder if there are any blogs that make for good reading and come at the process with a different tone?
Everyone in blogland whom I've encountered so far just sounds like they're imitating their favorite t.v. personality. and there's nothing wrong with that.
Comments-[ .]
i like a few very very much (pretty much all of the ones listed on guardian.co.uk are keepers), but the tone doesn't change much. Well, you have your angst-ridden teens and your politicos, but they're sort of variations on the same theme.
I wonder if there are any blogs that make for good reading and come at the process with a different tone?
Everyone in blogland whom I've encountered so far just sounds like they're imitating their favorite t.v. personality. and there's nothing wrong with that.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
hey, i caught myself saying that when i was a kid, things were done such and such a way. i think that's the first time i've ever used those words. i'm pledging never to do it again. it just makes me sound pretentious now, and in a few years, it's going to make me sound old.
the apprentice is on tonight. I LOVE this show (i love every show, lately, since i just got a tv after 6 years of not having one), despite the fact that the women are stupid hotties, and the men are stupid and also not hot. i say, use sex to sell yourself, women!! http://slate.msn.com//id/2095117
all the donald is doing is staring at your tits and asses anyway! it's not like he's listening to anything you have to say. so, hooray for you for realizing it and using it to land a high-paying job. hmm, time for my coffee break.
Comments-[ .]
the apprentice is on tonight. I LOVE this show (i love every show, lately, since i just got a tv after 6 years of not having one), despite the fact that the women are stupid hotties, and the men are stupid and also not hot. i say, use sex to sell yourself, women!! http://slate.msn.com//id/2095117
all the donald is doing is staring at your tits and asses anyway! it's not like he's listening to anything you have to say. so, hooray for you for realizing it and using it to land a high-paying job. hmm, time for my coffee break.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
I'm trying to learn Spanish. It's not going that badly.
Comments-[ .]
Harvard is going to be publishing a porno. FINALLY!
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357342
This actually sounds pretty gross. Do we really want to see naked girls packing the freshman 15, marble white from the 8 months their entire bodies were covered in fleece and patagonia? College makes girls ugly. They stop wearing make-up and start wearing their pajamas to school. There's no room in their cramped dorms for them to keep any extraneous hair or skin care products. Uck, no wonder the administration ok'ed this one. No one is going to be able to bear to look at the magazine anyway.
Comments-[ .]
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357342
This actually sounds pretty gross. Do we really want to see naked girls packing the freshman 15, marble white from the 8 months their entire bodies were covered in fleece and patagonia? College makes girls ugly. They stop wearing make-up and start wearing their pajamas to school. There's no room in their cramped dorms for them to keep any extraneous hair or skin care products. Uck, no wonder the administration ok'ed this one. No one is going to be able to bear to look at the magazine anyway.
Well, I decided to start a blog because my friend is writing a really excellent one, and also because it seemed like a nice diversion from work and t.v., which are my only two other activities at the moment.
