susan boyle susan boyle susan boyle susan boyle
April 22, 2009
Filed under in the news, music
Tags: britain's got talent, cowell, simon, susan boyle
i am starting to get sick of hearing about her. and frankly, the worldwide hype about her, in the manner that it has taken place, is starting to seriously piss me off.
am i out of line? i love hearing her sing, and of course i think it’s remarkable and wonderful that she has rocketed to the top of the world on pluck and guts and awesome talent. is she a beautifully talented singer with a remarkable voice? yes, of course. is she worthy of all the attention she’s getting? of course. should she be on the worldwide stage, melting every heart on this planet? yes!!
but look how we gave it to her. correct me if i’m wrong but the whole POINT of all the hype around her is that this mature, portly woman who would not inspire most adolescent men’s dicks got up on stage, and people expected her to suck, knowing nothing more about her than those surface, appearance-based things. and then BOOM she opens her mouth and the world melts, flowers bloom, angels cry, etc. it’s like everybody’s shocked that she has something to offer. what the f?
the two goons at the side of the stage being like, “betcha didn’t see that comin’ did you!” – why did they say that? what do we know about her that would cause us to not see that coming? and now what is all this fuss over whether she’s been kissed? how did that even come up?
says Amanda Holden, one of the britain’s got talent judges about why she’s not getting a makeover:
“She needs to stay exactly as she is because that’s the reason we love her. She just looks like anybody who could live on your street.
“The minute we turn her into a glamour-puss is when it’s spoilt. That can perhaps come later when she’s signed the album deal and conquered America.
“For now we’ll keep her exactly as she is because that’s why we’ve all fallen in love with her. I think it’s the underdog thing. It’s somebody who’s looked after her mother all her life.”
1. why are we talking about whether she needs a makeover in the first place?
2. it’s spoilt when you acknowledge that the reason you love her is ‘cos she looks like someone you wouldn’t expect to bust out mad singing chops? last i checked, vocal cords have very little to do with a person’s outer shell.
i feel like the very nature of all this hype about her is a slap in the face of people who don’t look like christina freaking aguilera or [what] britney [used to look like]. many mediocre-to-good looking people get up on shows like that and sing as well as she did, but we’re not SHOCKED when they do well. many ok-looking, young-ish people get up and perform arguably as well as susan’s performance, but simon rips each of them a new one. i can understand if part of the obsession is because she managed to get so old with such a talent without being ‘discovered,’ lending to some of the low expectations (“if nobody noticed her til now, why should we”). but there again, it’s such a bizarre, unreasonably low expectation. MILLIONS of artists of all shape, size, age, beauty and talent go undiscovered every day. i don’t think age makes the shock that she can do this less insulting. i can’t get over feeling like we’re all saying “oh, susan, we love you even though you’re old and look like you’ve been punched with a sack of fish. now men who would have been repulsed by you before want to kiss you.” i mean i guess ultimately it worked out fine for susan, but geez.
can we love her without obsessing about physical appearance?
oh and don’t get me started on that website made for tossing around names of the porn she’d be in if she were in one…
opposite marriage
April 20, 2009
Filed under celeb trash, feminism, in the news
Tags: gay marriage, hilton, miss california, miss south carolina, pageant, perez, the iraq
1. YAY PEREZ HILTON!!
2. what the f is opposite marriage?
3. what would mr. california say?
so here’s another pageant barbie that delivered on inanity and incoherence… i could be pissed about what she said, but i’m really more just happy that people are pissed off. what are these girls supposed to be, like, the pinnacle of society? well-rounded, accomplished, well-educated lady-types? “i’m better than you and i look good in the types of clothing that men objectify women in”? i’m kind of stoked that when one of those gets up and says, “i don’t believe gays should marry,” enough people are like WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?! that it creates a media stir. she’s evidence that whatever the other 46 states have to say about gays marrying, the definition of PC has been changing.
also, i’m pretty sure conservative answers from barbies shouldn’t and don’t surprise me … who’s dolling up their women and parading them around like commodities? oh yeah, people who think feminism is silly.
even miss south carolina, (poor shmuck…).. if any sense is to be made of that psychobabble, it’s that even though 1/5 of ‘US-Americans’ don’t have maps, we’re still somehow in a position for our education to help the Iraq. it’s like, when in doubt, go with an answer about the supreme awesomeness of America doing something to save the third world.
anyhow, point is, i refuse to condemn a beauty queen for a silly answer when we’re not parading around our men in speedos and tuxes and holding them accountable for adequately answering equally hard-hitting questions. what would a fine, upstanding, accomplished, well-groomed, well-educated man say about gays marrying, and why don’t we care enough to pluck one from each of the states and compare them to each other and rank ‘em? would we piss ourselves if he said “two men shouldn’t marry but if two women would like to share the carnal pleasures, that is hot”? or would we just be like *shrug* oh, that’s just boys… they like what they like… what’re ya gonna do…
worse, we could be like, “well it’s about time someone spoke their mind!” as if this idea is somehow shocking and new.
what would definitely perplex and upset me about this situation is if conservatives/homophobes start talking louder about how she’s so brave for speaking her mind (“even though she was asked the question by a gay man”) and how those who are against gay marriage are condemned and she’s so great for standing up to the gay marriage crowd. yada yada. yeah, ‘cos homophobes have been SO oppressed in this country!! i see comments like “it’s about time someone spoke her opinion! people support gay marriage but condemn those who are against it. such hypocrisy!” and i’m just like are you absolutely freaking serious?! did i fall asleep and wake up in an age when gays are treated as equals in my country? can they marry in all 50 states?? what are these “people” of which you speak? the majority of my country??
oh. no. only it’s only 4 states who legalized it to the soundtrack of bible-tappers wailing about how the sole purpose of marriage is breeding. ”it’s about time” indeed.
poor homophobes.
f’n GROW A PAIR. KWITCHERBITCHIN. and LET GAYS BE GAY.
so there.
can anybody read chinese?
August 11, 2008
Filed under feminism, in the news
Tags: beijing, girl effect, weather forecasting
do you read chinese? can you tell me what this says?
also, this looks amazing.
rat rides toad
omg 
National Geographic: Mouse Rides Frog in India Monsoon. yay
btw, are we sure this isn’t a rat riding a toad? i mean, it sounds a little less cute, but let’s call it like it is, y’know?
idols, pirates
June 19, 2008
Filed under feminism, in the news, music
Tags: american idol, amsterdam, asian moms, eliot spitzer, human rights, human trafficking, sex trafficking, shanghai, super girl, sweden, the US thinks itself flawless
the world’s biggest karaoke competition finally made it to china. ironically.
watching these clips makes me miss being in China (or Taiwan)… there’s something about hearing Mandarin as the primary language of a place (even if it’s a box on my screen) that i didn’t realize i missed.
what cracks me up is, if you find some videos of horrible contestants and watch the judge’s comments, you realize that all along, Simon has been talking like every asian mom. asians are AMAZING at criticism. AMAZING. asian-americans who fit my blanket stereotype regularly hear worse things from their moms for getting B’s instead of A’s than cowellman could ever dish for singing poorly. the only difference is, Simon gives praise too once in a while.
i’m definitely thankful for mom’s vigilance and discipline.. it made failure and a life of ruin nearly impossible, at least while i was under her watch.. and, if i should ever try out for american idol, my face will not crumple on national television when simon pees on my dreams.
so, human trafficking. still an issue that makes me mad.
an economist article about it – an updated report by the state dept just went out, detailing the current horrors of trafficking around the world. as usual, it lists the guilty countries by tiers, with 3 being the worst. and, as the economist duly points out, the US is not on this list. ‘cos we’re … above judgment, somehow.
NYTimes compilation of human trafficking articles – yeah, so, trafficking happens in the US too.
the Kristof article about how we should follow the Swedish model of combating sex trafficking is interesting. basically, targeting supply isn’t working, legalizing prostitution doesn’t work because it makes the place where it’s legalized some kinda sex industry mecca, not necessarily any safer than if it were all underground in the first place. (see: Amsterdam). Swedes were criminalizing the customers instead, which seems to sort of work.
yeah. i mean, think about why this is a problem in the first place, why it even exists. because horny men want exotic, young pussy. and they are willing to pay. as long as there is demand -somewhere-, it’s still going to exist.
1. you can’t trust anyone – not the police (frequently complicit in trafficking, in certain countries), govt officials, even the biggest proponents of harsher sex industry laws (eliot spitzer?!?!). some of the loudest male feminists (on any scale) have the weirdest most messed up views of women (or worse, are lying poser feminists).
2. the girls can be trafficked wherever. cost is not really an issue, you just make them pay you back with the money of the customers themselves. how is this any different from, say, amazon.com. as long as there is a customer somewhere who wants something, the response of the increasingly globalized world is, “if you have money, you can have it.”
so basically… for a problem that by definition is indifferent to national borders, ANY localized response is going to be insufficient. legalization in one country makes it a flourishing hot spot. criminalization of demand in another country only makes people look for it elsewhere.
and the US sucks for not putting itself on the list.
let’s not ever forget this:
June 16, 2008
Filed under feminism, in the news
Tags: angry women, bette midler, campaign, clinton, feminism, mccain, media, the blues
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno.”
- John McCain at a Republican dinner, June 1998
Do Angry Clinton Women Love John McCain? – don’t be fooled by his shameless pandering to feminists. look at his track record. i have no idea why his campaign is assuming that we’ll be so pissed by the sexism that we’ll vote McCain. “grr, the black man got it instead of the white woman, let’s vote for the anti-abortion white male republican.”
Media Charged with Sexism in Clinton Coverage – this made me upset. you sort of don’t expect people to be like “yeah maybe the media is a little sexist” and then see that someone on MSNBC had said that Clinton “had gotten as far as she had only because her husband had messed around.” a little sexist?! YOU THINK?!?! Keith Olbermann of MSNBC says there’s “individual” sexism but no “overall” sexism. ok, that makes sense. dude the media is made up of its individuals. individual sexism IS SEXISM. condoning individual sexism IS SEXISM, KEITH.
sexism doesn’t just appear in isolated bubbles in the form of this anchor’s statement or that host’s offhand joke. there has to be an audience for it first. you don’t just holler “so how do we beat this bitch” into a vacuum. sexist comments exist because the general, OVERALL sentiment is that it’s ok. your bros will back you up. what’re women ever gonna do about it. (apparently, vote for mccain).
i am sad.
“y’know sometimes, people say to me, rose, what’s the first time you ever heard the blues and y’know what i tell them – i tell them, the day i was born. you know why?
because i was born a womaaaaan….”
- Rose / Bette Midler.
“oh, being a woman is so interesting, dontcha find it. what are we ladies, what are we. we are waitresses at the banquet of life. get in that kitchen and rattle them pots and pans. and you better look pretty damn good doin it too or you’re gonna lose your good thing.”
this just in: bribing children gets them to do things
June 14, 2008
Filed under in the news
Tags: capitalism, incentive, money, paying children, school
schools experiment with paying kids – and find out that you can pay for performance.
… no shit. my teachers were doing that when -I- was in middle school (which i finally get to say, really really was forever ago). in geography, mrs. “i’m not old so i’m going to wear miniskirts and colorful tights like a young thing” (“mrs. red spindly legs” for short) printed out fake money to hand out if we behaved well and did well in class. then we could trade them in for candy and other random things.
problem was, she kept forgetting to print more. so, if you had her late in the day, she was always out of her fake monies, and the classes before you were always fanning themselves with their wads of it. i got a 111% in that class, but for what? all i wanted was a handful of tootsie rolls.
my piano teacher did it too, only it was points that she kept track of on a big white board with all her students’ names on it. i don’t remember how we got them, i just knew we could trade them in for random stuff she got at Sam’s Club. i still have a pair of scissors that i got from her ‘cos the cool stuff was already claimed. it’s still my “good pair” that i use today. see, kids? it’s good to practice!
so basically, we’re so married to capitalism that we can’t even convince our children that learning for learning’s sake is worth the trouble without some material gain to sweeten the deal. anti-communism people who have been harping the “but without incentive people won’t lift a finger” argument should be patting themselves on the back. or is the fact that schools have been operating at all, all these years, without bribing our children a sign that maybe young minds are pure enough to genuinely want to learn stuff and work.
i’d like to think that i behaved well in elementary school for reasons other than so mom didn’t smack my ass with a clotheshanger when i brought home report cards. i know i was competing with Alexis to see who could read the most books, not because i’d get something at the end, but just so i could say i read more than her. i really was excited about learning stuff. doesn’t anybody remember the days in 2nd or 3rd grade when Teacher would ask a question and everybody would fling their hands up in the air. “Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh callonme callonme ooh ooh ooh ooh…”
i guess the problem still is, you’ll still have that kid who doesn’t do anything unless he -is- beaten with something. but hasn’t it been easier to come up with ways to get that kid excited about something than to figure out how to PAY children? usually, that kid mopes his way through math and history but then lights up in music or art class, or plays the hell outta dodgeball.
tornados give you salmon?
June 12, 2008
Filed under in the news, life things, music, web stuff
Tags: bush, def leppard, dieting, fat, john cusack, mccain, moveon.org, nine lives, salmonella, surgery, tomatoes, weight loss
it was a sad moment when i called mom to tell her about the tomatoes and realized i’d forgotten how to say “tomato” in chinese.
“tornados? i think there was a tornado watch in longmont but we’re ok here…”
“no, no! tomatoes! tomatoes!! .. … um. .. they’re red and round and you eat them …”
but anyway here’s a link that says what tomatoes are cool and which ones are pulpy little salmonella-grenades. basically, grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are ok (as are, um, grapes and cherries), as well as the ones still on the vine. roma and round tomatoes are not ok.
i knew it. a specimen that could not decide if it was fruit or vegetable should not be trusted.
i really like this blog entry about weight loss and carnie wilson.
also, dude, watch this moveon.org video with john cusack. it rocks. let’s not contribute to another four years of “bush.”
finally, this video below made me super happy. nothing like fancy dancing set to def leppard. it made my brain hurt a little bit. cuban motion + a feathery tail + joe elliot’s husky vocals confused my senses. but i won’t say it didn’t please me immensely 
gas is pricey and wealth gap is widening
June 7, 2008
Filed under in the news
Tags: economy, gas, offshore accounts, oil, prices, tax evasion, true majority, ubs
Job Losses and Surge in Oil Spread Gloom on Economy – recession imminent? jobs disappearing, oil prices spiking, bush is like “looks like the economic stimulus is working!”
Wealthy Americans Under Scrutiny in UBS Case – rich folks are hiding their income offshore and have evaded up to about $300 million in federal taxes.
“Since 2006, [UBS] has opened plush offices in New York and six other United States cities, among them Boston, Chicago and Houston, to cater to people who are worth at least $10 million.”
i didn’t know there were THAT many people worth $10+ million. enough to open 7 plush UBS offices for “high net worth individuals”?
a banker with damning testimony offered it up in exchange for immunity but was charged anyway.
well, at least they’re doing something about it. that just makes me sad though. honest americans are losing jobs RIGHT NOW and losing options for how far they can travel RIGHT NOW because gas prices are so ridiculous. while rich freaking people worth $10 million are evading federal taxes. and it’s under investigation. and UBS might cough up the names. but they might not..
btw, how do we feel about form letters to senators and congressmen? are they unpersuasive and ineffective because it’s obvious when you receive a shit-pile of the exact same letter that the senders were not the author? does this speak to how much they do or don’t believe in the words written? does this make a congressperson less likely to read the letter? (much less respond or do as the letter suggests)
or are they effective because the recipients know that their constituencies are busy, working/studying people who might not have time to sit down and write a whole letter from scratch (and do all the research and etc necessary to [1] find out about the issue and [2] craft a persuasive argument). do they know that having been made aware of something, these people agree with __[however many]__ others on this or that particular issue. also, how many congresspeople are taking the time to read every single letter they receive? if they’re the same, at least the point gets across as a united collective voice.
in any case, most letters let you change stuff to your personal liking.
i’m in the latter camp. in case you are too, here’s a letter about renewable energy / gas prices / tax breaks.
