arghhh. i fucking HATE Adobe Photoshop. it is perhaps the worst designed program EVER, and to think that it’s “industry standard” … *shudder*. ugh. why don’t you tell me how the fuck to make a TRANSPARENT IMAGE, eh! jeez. i’m downloading Paint Shop Pro as i write this.
ok, i just installed PSP and it took me about 1 minute to do what i’d been trying to figure out for an hour in Photoshop. Adobe, blow me.
hey Mary: regarding the assessment of Kylie Minogue, you know that you’re totally ripping me off, right? i said the exact same thing three months ago! you are the Days of the New to my Alice in Chains, baby.
also, i find your rebuttal about objectification of women very unconvincing. i quote:
While a woman may want to objectify herself, that still does not take away from the fundamental issue that turning women into sexual objects is a desirable action.
now i assume you mean undesirable action, so i’ll go with that. you are assuming in the above comment that a person’s responsibility for their actions goes beyond that of the personal to the group they are representing. so let me ask you: do male strippers objectify men? when some dude gets up in a thong and gyrates his lap snake all over the stage, should i be offended because he looks like a tool (pun intended)? i’m not offended, and i doubt very many men are.
allow me to elucidate this point. consider the following example:
Member A = woman who engages in objectifying behavior [the chick in the Warrant video]
Member B = woman who has a problem with the effect of A’s behavior on the group to which she and A belong [you, or the feminist chick on MTV]
Group Z = the group to which A and B belong, i.e. women, or young women, or women in the United States … whatever group you consider to be reflected upon in the behavior of A
in reality, the issue of objectification arises only when Member B of Group Z finds the behavior of group Member A objectionable, believes the behavior negatively affects B, and seeks to avoid this negative effect by guilt-tripping A. did A ever assume responsibility for Group Z? not likely. if A finds the objectionable behavior to provide her with happiness that outweighs the negative impact on Group Z, what is to prevent her from engaging in that behavior?
ultimately, those who give Member A the opportunity to “objectify herself” (what a clunky phrase) — in this case, the band, which pays the woman to be in the music video — are not culpable for any negative impact on Group Z. they are not members of Group Z, and thus cannot be held responsible for the projection by B of A’s behavior onto Z. they deal specifically with A. whether A considers the effect of her actions on Z is not of their concern.
hmm, that got rather technical. i also used “member” an inordinate number of times after giving the example of a male stripper, which is funny.
after that boring argument about broads, i think it’s especially appropriate to share a gorgeous little selection from Maxim. i own exactly own issue of Maxim, from December 1999, and it lives in my bathroom. i still find it hilarious, despite the fact that it’s almost three years old. the Maxim 2000 Girlfriend Remote, pictured at right, is just one of the many excellent ideas from the article “What if Santa Took Bribes?“
miscellany
ya might’ve noticed a new feature i added to the top-right hand corner of the site. it’s a javascript-driven breadcrumb trail that extracts the hierarchical link structure from the URL. i modified it for the specific structure of underscorebleach.net, but you can find the original script at JavascriptKit.com. credit to Kevin Lynn Brown.
mm, there’s something really comforting about having Fox News on in the background, although i guess i could do something crazy and be the only kid on the block tuned into Donahue.
i love Varsity Blues. it was on FX last night, and it spoke to me, as it always does. yes, a part of Tom Sherman wishes his life was like Mox’s. so i was thinking today… what if the CM crowd were magically transformed into the characters of Varsity Blues?
- Tom Sherman as Mox (of course i get to be the star — it’s my damn fantasy), the conflicted, introspective quarterback
- Russ Riggins as Lance, the Adonis-like quarterback whose football career catastrophically ends when he sustains a knee injury
- Mary Jones as Jules, girlfriend of Mox, who sneers at the football-crazed attitude of the town
- Adele as Tweeder (ok, this might be a stretch), the bacchanalian wide receiver and life-of-the-party
- Anne House as Darcy, the whipped cream-adorned cheerleader looking for a fast ride out of the country life
- Mark Roberts as Billy Bob, the insecure and sensitive offensive lineman who feels terrible about allowing Lance to get injured
- Tony Natale as Wendell, the talented running back who hates Coach Kilmer but lacks the cojones to stand up to him without the support of Mox
- Nick Disabato as Coach Kilmer, the conniving and self-centered coach who cares for nothing but his next district championship
oh yes, it works on many levels.
yuck. tossed and turned and had an awful night of sleep. i normally sleep quite soundly, but that was awful. i got up about 9 feeling sick as a dog. i took a bath, and that helped a bit — for some reason, i have the urge to take a bath when i’m sick. now wait, why am i telling you this?
lists are most certainly the most blog-friendly and entertaining type of entry in existence, as i have previously mentioned. Mary’s list was cute. so yeah, i was buttering my toast today and thought of a good topic for a list…
Top Ten Things You Could Call Me That Might Actually Offend Me
- naive
- white (ok, that was a joke)
- weak
- a groupie
- unfair
- unprincipled
- liberal
- disloyal
- unpatriotic
- a liar
hey all you whiners who worship at the feet of Nader: how’s about you take a look at this here op-ed. lemme know if you get lost with the whole “economically sensible” argument; i know you kids had trouble with Macro.
whoops! these guys seem to have chosen a rather unfortunate acronym for their group. oh well.
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