…is gone. Civil rights activist, philanthropist, devoted husband (50 years!), father of six, gifted actor, and of course, world-class hottie.
As read today in Yahoo News:
“Sometimes God makes perfect people,” fellow “Absence of Malice” star Sally Field said, “and Paul Newman was one of them.”
RIP.
[tags]Paul Newman, activism, humanitarians, philanthropy[/tags]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1y9s73Nos[/youtube]
Hat tip to Jo for the head’s up!
[tags]Sarah Palin, Michael Palin, political asshattery[/tags]
I had a whole post written in my head about what a sad state of affairs it is when the Presidency has become such a puppet position that they don’t even care who they have as Vice President because if McCain does become President and dies (probably of cancer, which he’s had four times and at 72 years of age, is not unlikely to have again) it won’t matter one gold-plated tie tack that the Vice is, astonishingly, even more unqualified for the presidency than George W. Bush so they just pick whomever they think is most likely to win the Asshat Vote which they apparently believe belongs to women.
Then I saw this campaign button for McCain’s Flying Circus. Please god, let it be true.
[tags]Monty Python, John McCain, Sarah Palin, asshats[/tags]
I went to the post office today down here in the International District where I work, and like always, I passed a great big poster in a bookstore that looks a lot like this, only with less T and more A…
…and I thought to myself that anime is yet another pop culture phenom that infantalizes as well as hypersexualizes women, and being the unhip old person that I am, I then pondered that perhaps it is mainly a young guy thing and that perhaps it’s effect on young women is similar to that of traditional straight porn, which is to say, in a word: Eeeyuck.
Alas, as I found out today, it appears that on the contrary, the effect/word is Squeeeeeee!
Apparently there are, in fact, so many young women who want to live up to this high standard that they willingly sacrifice their adulthood comfort for genuine artificial “anime eyes.”
It’s hard to find actual manufacturer’s web content on these (perhaps you have to search in Japanese), but the various news articles on them all pretty much say this:
Anyone who’s seen Japanese comics, cartoon videos or anime art is instantly struck by the common look of the girls – big eyes that, by making the rest of the face look small, add the cuteness and sex appeal prized by many Japanese men. Since no amount of cosmetic surgery will make actual human eyes larger, some girls are trying another way to up their cute quotient: extra-wide contact lenses!
Personally, I think “anime eyes” are like a gateway drug. It’s just the big wide baby eyes now, but it’s only a matter of time before they’re badgering the dentist to give them “that cute ‘n sexy toothless grin.”
[tags]anime, anime eyes contact lenses[/tags]
I finally saw The Dark Knight this weekend. My mind was a teeny bit foggy due to a sinus infection and various pharmaceuticals, but lucky for me, it’s not really the kind of film you have to strain your brain to enjoy.
Besides, with a cast like this, what’s not to love?
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman infuse style and personality into what could easily be caricature sidekick roles; Gary Oldman lends acting gravitas to Commissioner Gordon; Madame Gyllenhaal gives class and intelligence to “the Girl” part, and of course the drool-worthy Christian Bale makes this Batman the first one truly worth watching.
And then there is Heath Ledger.
Yes, his performance is inspired, hypnotically so. Which is why I walked out of that movie sad, as sad as I was when River Phoenix, another “best of his generation” actor, died with a gut full of drugs.
I know acting is just an art, and actors are not agents of world peace. Still, if you appreciate that kind of art, it’s always a tragedy when one of its most gifted goes too soon into the dark night.
[tags]films, Batman, Heath Ledger[/tags]
In case you couldn’t tell from the banner I had on my blog that counted down the days to the final Harry Potter book release…I’m a HP geek.
I can’t believe we have to wait until November.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBGbKCm_pQQ[/youtube]
Hat tip to Bayou for being on the ball.
From Trendhunter Magazine:
Supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel, Karolina Kurkova has been blasted for an appearance at the Cia Maritima show in Sao Paulo Fashion Week. The Brazilian media is criticizing Kurkova for modeling a tiny bikini while having “back fat, love handles and cellulite.”
God forbid she look even remotely like the average thin woman. See for yourself…
Dear poseur,
Your installation is not about art.
It’s about pretension, desperation, and narcissism.
And you’re not even creative enough to hide it, regurgitating the oldest cocktail bar pseudo-intellectual line in the book to the Washington Post:
“My mission as an artist is to raise dialogue and conversation about substantive things,” he says, staring through arty glasses that did not have any lenses.
Nice try. Your “mission” is to get attention in the highly competitive New York art world, and judging by the press you’re getting, everybody knows it.
I hope “pathetic laughing stock” is substantive enough for you.
Uppity
[tags]bullshit, Barack Obama, art[/tags]
Subtitle: Happy Earth Day!
One of the best memories from my otherwise mostly-terrible twenties is a weekend in May of 1990 spent at the Whole Earth Festival in Davis, California.
For three days, I hung out with friends on the UC-Davis campus celebrating the anniversary of Earth Day. I wore the same tie-dyed tank top and short red skirt every day. I skipped barefoot in the sun1 and got as brown as a free-range chicken. I did the hippie spin to live music. I ate my weight in organic food.
And pretty much by osmosis, I learned about the concept of living respectfully with this planet. Educators and vendors taught me some of it, but most I learned by observing socially-conscious people around me who walked their talk.
It was awesome.
Eighteen years later, people are saying my rose-colored memory is just…well, a memory. That Earth Day has become another “Buy More Stuff!!” Day:
“People are being deceived,” [Glen MacIntosh, of the Toronto Climate Campaign] says. “They attend the Earth Day events thinking they are doing a good thing, but really they are being entertained, sold to.”
Well, it may be true that Earth Day events are becoming commercial, joining the ranks of other “causes” selling stuff, like the breast cancer awareness folks and their pink ribbon products2 and Gap’s RED campaign.
But I doubt people don’t realize “they are being entertained, sold to.” Of course they know. We live in a consumer culture where it’s virtually unheard of not to be entertained and sold to.
And judging by the numbers of people who are buying clear consciences, we may be losing a sense of value in charity. It seems we feel that when we give, we must always get something in return, even for our gestures of goodwill.
But the coffer doesn’t have to be seen as half empty.
Product campaigns raise awareness of issues in a much more far-reaching way than non-consumer campaigns can. And even though intended audiences may take home only superficial knowledge of the issues, there’s a good chance they will retain it.
Due to Bono’s involvement in the Gap campaign, a millions of kids know about the epidemic of children and women with AIDs in Africa. Because it’s associated in their minds with a pop icon, they’ll probably remember it when they’re adults. You can’t get that from a mention in a textbook or on NPR.
How many of us can remember the name of the lead singer of our favorite band during our senior year in high school? Lots. What were the primary global human rights issues that year? Right.
When I went to the Whole Earth Festival eighteen years ago, I was as green to going-green as a girl raised in the Excessive 80′s could be. I didn’t go to honor the planet or learn anything; I went to party. My education was a happy side-effect.
Lots of things were marketed at me that weekend (who knew you could do so many things with hemp?), but I also experienced a new lifestyle that influences me to this day. I never forgot what I learned because I was having a blast at the time.
I don’t know if there are a lot more mass-produced “Earth Day products” being marketed nowadays; probably. But even so, as long they dole out the information along with it, and they don’t leave a bigger footprint than they are trying to erase, it’s really not the end of the world.
And a final word to aspiring product marketers: If you have to capitalize on holidays, pick really important ones, like National Jelly Bean Day.
[tags]Earth Day, Whole Earth Festival[/tags]
Ah, the blogosphere. It has made obsolete the reliance on word-of-mouth, and the even archaically slow print media, for important information like celebrity gossip. It allows us to read, practically in real time, about the most intimate experiences of rich famous people we don’t know.
And I, for one, am thrilled. Ten years ago, it would have taken me days, if not weeks, to hear that Margaret Cho got a “G-shot.” And even longer, probably, to figure out what the hell a “G-shot” is.
Thanks to the internet, I did not have find out the humiliating (and decidedly less hygenic) way by asking for it at the nearest trendy bar.
“G-shot” is a trademark name for “G-spot Amplification.” Which is a gentrified way of saying: getting a shot of collagen in a particular part of the vagina that very possibly does not exist.
Making your inner vajayjay look like Angelina’s lips supposed to enhance your sexual pleasure. Well, I’m all for enhancing sexual pleasure…except when it involves sticking needles into my hoohahical region in order to inject synthetic material into it. That just seems, well, counter-intuitive.
According to the G-shot inventor’s website, the list of complications associated with the procedure includes “a sensation of always being sexually aroused.”
That’s a complication?
Alas, the inventors admit, the risks also include, but aren’t limited to (I just copied the best ones) the slightly less arousing side effects listed below.
I notice the primary effect experienced by Ms. Cho did not make this list. Shame on those chicken-shitted physicians!
“We admit that this procedure can result in infection, vesico-vaginal fistula, and embolism… but, dammit, not donut pussy!”
Risks and Complications of the “G-spot amplification”:
Infections
Urinary retentions
Allergic reactions
Hematoma (collection of blood)
Collagen site ulceration
Urethral injury (tube you urinate through)
Hematuria (blood in urine)
UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)
Urinary Urgency (feel like you always have to urinate)
Urethral vaginal fistula (hole between urethra and vagina)
Vesico-vaginal fistula (hole between bladder and vagina)
Dyspareunia (Painful intersourse)
Need for subsequent surgery
Scar formation (vaginal)
Urethral stricture (abnormal narrowing of the urethra)
Local tissue infarction and necrosis
Overactive Bladder (OAB)
Exposed Material
Pelvic Pains
Collagen injected into the bladder or urethra
Erosion
Damage to nearby organs including bladder, urethra and ureters
Intractable pain
Alteration of the female sexual response cycle
Psychological alterations
Relationship problems
Decreased sexual function
Possible hospitalization for treatment of complications
Lidocaine toxicity
Embolism
Nerve damage
Permanent numbness
Sexual dysfunction
Collagen migration
By the way, ladies, did you know you have a fornix? I didn’t until I found the anatomy drawing posted above. Learn something every day.
[tags]g-spot, g-shot[/tags]