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Wednesday, 02 December 2009

Currently
White Christmas
By Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye
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Christmas List

Having seen my family quite a bit over the past week I've been asked a few times what's on my christmas list. I'll admit that as I've gotten older my "wish list" has really become a list of things I want or need that I haven't gotten around to getting myself. As I took a few minutes to come up with a few things this year, I tried to decide which direction I wanted to go. Did I want practical things? Gift cards? A few small, but fun things? Finally, I had an idea.

I've been intrigued by e-readers for a few months now, but have been hesitant to spend that kind of money. I love reading and when I was younger it was tough to keep a book away from me. As I've gotten older, my time spent reading has definitely dwindled. It wouldn't be quite as nice as having an actual book, but I could see myself reading more with one. So I'm thinking of asking for gift cards from a particular retailer to help defray the cost of one. I've done research online, read reviews and blogs, but I'm not sure which reader I want (it doesn't help that Barnes & Noble's Nook isn't out yet so no one knows what the bugs might be).

Does anyone have a Kindle, Kindle 2, or one of the Sony readers or plan on getting a Nook next month?

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Currently
Numb3rs: Season Six
By Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz
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First Date

Back on topic!

First dates, they can be as intimidating as job interviews. Which makes sense when you think about it- you are interviewing each other!

I really do believe you should be honest on a first date - to an extent. Wet the bed until you were 10? Maybe you should save that little tidbit until the second date.

Things not to do or share on a first date:

Sharing that you didn't fit in and had no friends in high school. Yes, high school can be a tricky place and not everyone finds a group they fit in with. But, should you really share that you had no friends on a first date?

Refusing to make any decisions. I am by no means a traditional or conservative kind of girl, but I don't really like having to make every decision associated with a date. No matter your thoughts on gender roles, if you ask someone on a date you I'm not sure you should really expect them to make all the decisions regarding the date.

Talking about your dog's bladder issues during dinner. I love dogs and if they wouldn't add so much to my rent I'd have one or two, but I don't really want to hear about your dog peeing in her cage while you're at work when I'm trying to eat.

Sharing that your mom decorated your condo. Isn't there a saying that you can tell how a man will treat a woman based on how he treats his mom? I love that you're close with your mom, but you're 27. If a woman ever tries to change how it's decorated it's an immediate insult to his mom.

Talking about your friends the whole night. You have two best friends- fabulous. They're both married- good for them. You have no clue that you're the third wheel- ouch. I feel a little uncomfortable that you're planning triple dates with your friend's and their SO on our first date.

Extending the date before the date has really even begun. This one might best be explained if I just told the story. I'm out to dinner on a first date and before we've even ordered he asks if I have any plans for the evening. At this point I'm stuck. I don't want to come off as cold and say I made plans to do something after dinner, but I'm not sure if I like this guy or not. I ended up agreeing to go to a movie with a decision I was starting to regret halfway through dinner.

What are some mistakes you've encountered on dates?

Monday, 10 August 2009

Petland employee, Elizabeth Carlisle, drowns two rabbits

I'm going to veer a bit from the path I had recently set out for this blog, because I am so disgusted that I just can't keep it to myself.

When going through my email this morning I noticed one cornering a recent and somewhat local event. A manager at a PetLand about 2 and a half hours from me instructed an employee to drown two injured rabbits. They didn't stop there and the manager then took a picture of Carlisle holding the dead, sopping wet rabbits. This picture later showed up on Carlisle's facebook where she allegedly bragged about drowning these rabbits.

After reading the reports on the rabbits' condition I doubt few would diagree with the need to euthanise these two animmals and it's unfortunate that PetLand does not employee someone with the lisencing to allow them to properly do so. It's also unfortunate that PetLand is not responsible enough to house animals so that injuries that require an animal to be euthanised don't happen in the first place.

The peta blog even has a copy of the picture Carlisle posted on facebook. For those that find peta to be a little extreme I recommend googling this topic. It's made it to NBC4 and FoxNews as well.

If there's any justice in the world Elizabeth Carlisle will be run over by a car and then drowned ... or possibly eaten by rabbits.

If you're as moved by this as I am please consider writing a letter asking PetLand to stop selling rabbits.

There's also a petition asking that Elizabeth Carlisle be punished to the full extent of the law. One can only hope that at the very least she will be required to get psychological help.

Tuesday, 04 August 2009

Currently
Sister Act
By Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes
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New wave of dating?

A few months ago, I found myself in a bit of a dating slump. I probably wouldn't have even noticed it, if not for the fact that the majority of my close friends have a SO they've been with for a year or more. As I took a look around I started to realize a few things. I don't really do anything that enables me to meet guys I might want to enter into some kind of relationship with. I'm done with college, I work at a place with a predominately female staff, and I don't really go out to bars or clubs all that often. Not long after this realization I saw a commercial for a free weekend on one of the popular dating sites.

Their talk of personality profiles caught my attention. Everyone wants to learn more about themselves, right? I have to admit, the amount of questions you're asked to answer is a bit daunting. I easily spent an hour or two getting everything set up. After the weekend was up I decided to give it a try for a month. When they offered a discounted price, I extended my membership for a few more months.

So what have I discovered so far? Online dating is not for the weak of heart. Maybe it's just me, but I've found that there's a constant emotional up and down. It may not be a pint of ice cream or a bag of chocolate emotional pull, but it's still there. While the first stages all take place online you're still putting yourself out there. I haven't really told my friends what I'm to (they may mean well, but I don't want their smug, pitty the single girl pity!), but I think for now Xanga may be the perfect companion to listen to my dating trials and tribulations.

Has anyone else tried dating sites like chemistry.com, eharmony, or match.com?

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Currently
Lip Gloss [LP Record]
By Lil Mama
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Move Blog 4 - Thirteen

I’m very interested in this idea of a “bedroom culture” that is, “centered around heterosexual romance and the consumption of mainstream cultural commodities” (Kearney 285). I’ve taken quite a few classes that have been centered on the development of sexuality in children and adolescents and it’s how I ended up with a minor in sexuality studies. Humans are sexual creatures. There’s no point in denying it and the way we engage in it very much makes us the species we are. Even as children we are sexual and to be honest I don’t see anything wrong with that. What’s key here is age appropriate sexual experiences. When children explore their sexuality it should be in, well, a very childlike way. There should be innocent curiosity and giggling and statements like, “I’m a girl I have a vagina, my mom is a girl because she has a vagina too.” In my very limited academic experience this can be a tough concept for parents. It can be awkward for a parent at times especially if they happen to see their child engage in some … exploration. One of my professors told a story of his daughter and some neighborhood friends being caught by the neighborhood babysitter (the older woman who let the kids play in house and backyard after school until their parents got home) peeing in some of her canning jars. The kids were like 8 or 9 and they wanted to see who could feel the most jars or something like that. The babysitter flipped out and my professor’s daughter went home and hid in her room. Obviously they shouldn’t have been peeing in the jars that she used to put canned preserves in, but genitals are genitals (they all look different, but we all have them). This is why I have an issue with the media constructed notion of Lolita as a seductress. Lolita is a victim because her ability to explore her sexuality in an age appropriate way is taken from her.

This model is also part of the reason the toddlers looked so awkward doing “sexy” poses on Toddlers & Tiaras. Children do have an awakened sexuality (as infants, boys get an average of like 10 erections a day and there’s a reason those toys that you sit on and bounce are so popular among little girls), but it’s not sexual the way we tend to view adult sexuality. When we turn sex, sexuality, and our bodies into something so taboo we get the things we see in Thirteen. “Rather than offering girls - and the rest of their audiences - thoughtful, open- minded, progressive, and ethical understandings about sexuality, our media and our culture have produced a gathering of “prostitots” - hypersexualized girls whose cultural presence has become a heated matter of public controversy” (Durham 27). Instead of opening up a discourse with girls all we’ve given them is sex. Want to feel good about your body? Have sex. Want to feel connected to someone? Have sex. Want to feel pleasure? Have sex. Want to be cool and fit in? Have sex. Evie and Tracy are little girls in a hurry to grow up. Part of the reason I think things spiral out of control is because they’re doing things they aren’t suppose to be doing. Not just in the, they might get an STI or under aged drinking is against the law sort of way, but in a more psychological respect.

Evie and Tracy are presenting us with somewhat ignored sections of girl culture. These aren’t new concepts, but they’re new to this age group. The much older Cosmo Girls are told, “to get into a position to sink a man, it is not necessary that a woman be beautiful, but she has to know hot to create an illusion of beauty” and that they should, “envision themselves as upwardly mobile sexual agents” (Ouelette 120). Now we have 13 year old Tracy who flirts with a few older boys and doesn’t have to pay for sodas. Perhaps some of their out of control-ness is due to their attempts to step out of the culture that is made for them. Perhaps the shop lifting and the drug and alcohol usage shouldn’t be looked at merely in terms of consumption. Perhaps this s Evie and Tracy’s way of revolting against the girl culture produced for them in teen magazines and producing their own.

In case you’re not familiar with Lil’ Mama I’d like to introduce you to what I think is one of her greatest songs. The song is titled “Lip Gloss” and it’s about … lip gloss. The song was released in 2007 so Lil’ Mama would have been in the 17-18 range. This particular clip isn’t the best quality, but I really like the intro this version has as it pertains to the consumer aspect of girl culture. Basically, Lil’ Mama is worried about fitting in. She gets this crazy cool lip gloss and she’s suddenly the shiznit (oh yes, I went there). Yes, the song does focus on girls’ consumption of a mainstream commodity:

The boys really like it, the girls don’t speak
They rollin’ they eyes, they lip gloss cheap
It ain’t my fault but I can upgrade you
Show you how to use nice things with nice flavors

Later in the song there’s an interaction between Lil’ Mama and an adult:

Sittin’ in 8th period, thought I was in trouble
Dean called me on the loud speaker on the double
I stepped in the office like, Yes Ms. McClarkson?
She’s like, “Girl ran out of my lip gloss an'

"Write down where you get yours from
‘Cause I must admit that Bubble Gum
It’s poppin’, it’s poppin’”
It’s poppin’, she ain’t frontin’

I think this can be viewed in one of two ways. Either this girl culture consumption notion can be carried over on to adult woman or Lil’s Mama has produced a cultural ideal of her own of how her and her peer’s lips should look. Personally, I’m going with the latter as it fit in with the topic better ;).

Durham, M. Gigi. The Lolita Effect. Woodstock: Overlook Hardcover, 2008.

Kearney, Mary Celeste. “Producing Girls: Rethinking the Study of Female Youth Culture.” Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth-Century American Girls’ Cultures. Ed. Sherrie A. Inness. New York: New York University Press, 1998. 285-310.

Ouellette, Laurie. "Inventing the Cosmo Girl: Class Identity and Girl-Style American Dreams." Gender, Race, and Class in Media A Text-Reader. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2002. 116-28. 1999.