Teen USA 2007, Miss South Carolina: The face of illiteracy

Please caption this! I challenge all my visitors to caption this! I beg you!

Completely Random Pop Culture Thoughts

   Ever hear those radio commercials that tell you that you can “rake in the money” by following some program they send you? Or maybe it’s visiting a website? Or calling an 800 number? You “sit back and count the money your computer” brings in. My personal favorite commercial is the one that says you get a FREE LAPTOP but then goes onto describe where buying things that you “need anyway” from that company is how you get your FREE laptop.  Hearing all of this simply reminds me that there are no lifeguards for this gene pool.

Speaking of radio ads…Did you hear the one where Donald Trump wants to send me a free CD to help me make more money? He wants ME to make more money! (not you!).  Anyway, I find it rather difficult to be inspired by such a powerful man who can’t seem to manage anything except a bad comb-over hairdo.  I am also not sure I understand the Ivana Trump thing either. Marla Maples, perhaps, but not Ivana. Although I have read an article where Marla was interviewed. Let’s just say that if she were to visit Oz, she should probably be the one wearing the scarecrow outfit. I just can’t believe she hasn’t managed to land some kind of advising role in the White House.

What’s the big deal with getting pictures of Britney Spear’s underwear as she’s getting in and out of vehicles? Isn’t the fascination with underwear the fodder of 5 year olds?  Should we point and giggle? Is it naptime yet?

Oh, the other day I caught the tail end of a show with Deborah Norville. It was some entertainment show….which is media talk for fluff media. Ms. Norville seemed to have a promising career a few years ago. Isn’t she the one who bumped Jane Pauley from her morning anchor position on a big show? Now, she’s announcing “news” segments that feature nothing except Carmen Electra stripping down to her bathing suit on a beach in Santa Monica. How might that be journalism? I suppose someone has to get to the bottom of that psychic pets who predict death in nursing home phenomenon.

5 traits I find incredibly attractive in a woman

1) A sense of humor – Stoicism is not hot, even if it’s wearing something skimpy. Sorry, life is way to short to take seriously. NEXT!

2) Curiosity – The ability and interest in thinking about why things happen. Letting life just happen to you gets really old quick.

3) Imagination – The ability to think creatively. This goes really well with #1.  Having a good imagination pretty much counts as a coping skill, which is good to have anyway.

4) The ability to emote – Knowing how to identify the feeling and knowing what to do with it. It may take time for labels to  happen, but being able to do this makes things even cooler.

5) Confidence – You don’t need to know exactly what you want, but having a good idea helps. Knowing what you like and what you don’t like is a great start. I think it comes from being comfortable in your own skin….your own world. Knowing how to emphasize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses is a skill that everyone should have. Challenging yourself to try new things also helps. Staying home to do nothing except watch tv gets old fast too.

Side note: My wife is 5/5 on this one, for those who are curious.

“Girls with long tongues”

This is the latest search term to bring people to Blather Rinse Repeat. The search engine page that listed my page also listed a link to the following page:

Girl_with_very_long_tongue

Determining my role in gender issues

Plot summary: In December 2006, I participated in a limited discussion with women about gender inequality, violence against women, etc. I was surfing and responded to a post titled “Why I Hate Men.” After reading a fairly scathing batch of comments which reduced all men as either being directly or indirectly involved in denegrating women on a variety of levels; I felt compelled to respond. Unfortunately, the exchange didn’t seem to go anywhere beyond me feeling baited.

Recently, a woman posting under the name of Michelle commented on that post (which appeared on MY COMMENTS of my WordPress control panel). I wanted to address the issues she raises, but saw no point in getting flamed again by posting there. I apologize for the long post, but this needed to be addressed.

************

Here is Michelle’s post (toned down a bit)

Screw you all. If you are all so friggin” great then DO something about the violence against women and children. Prove to us that you aren’t all psychotic (slang term for male genitalia) with entitlement issues. Prove that empathy, compassion, nurturing and respect can be acheived…the ENVIRONMENT anyone? Child pornography? Incest? Rape? Prostitution? Objectification? domestic assault? Stand up to the patriarchy…stand up to the knuckle-dragging neanderthals beside you. If you love women so much why aren’t you DOING anything about it? Knock out the guy who beats his wife…give more than 2 years to some guy who raped his children. Protest the sex-trade, pornography, female castration. Funny, I don’t see all you wonderful guys standing beside us when I am standing up for women and children.

I just don’t buy the bull#### anymore.

PROVE IT!

*****************

I thought about my response to this for some time. This type of response, of course, puts me at the defensive and potentially makes most answers appear antagonistic. Hurl expletives and throw labels around – in other words, reflect anger back at here – , I am part of the problem. Sound condescending, I am part of the problem. Say I am not an activist for feminism, and I am part of the problem.  Try to sound supportive, and I am coddling and still part of the problem. Anyway, here goes nothing.

1) You don’t have to be a bullhorn-wielding militant, professional lobbyist, or even a high-profile celebrity to make a difference. Besides, not everyone is cut out to be an activist, in the traditional sense. People dies of brain hemorrages daily but that doesn’t mean I should become a surgeon. The truth is that I do make a difference. My wife and I are actively raising children (both genders, btw) to be capable of evaluating as well as making decisions, using fair and equitable means.  Anyone who knows me personally (as opposed to those who like to make anonymous electronic assumptions) knows how I feel about these issues. However, in trying to explain it all here, to me, seems pointless. Michelle isn’t fact-finding here. She’s angry & she’s venting.

2) My overall impression of this post later hit me. It’s a cop-out. It’s pretty much a “here, you take care of the problem” approach. The thing is, though, it’s everyone’s job.  By passing the issue to me, she doesn’t need to do anything except watch me fail at saving the world and then maybe do some more finger-pointing.  Even if I were to develop the ability to fly along with an aversion to Krytonite, I still wouldn’t be able to save the world with this or any issue, for that matter. I do what I can. It just may not be on the 6 O’Clock news. Sorry.

For all of the Michelles out there, if you are trying to change the behaviors and actions out there to get women issues recognized; I am not sure that this kind of approach is going to help. When the approach fails, it doesn’t also mean that change can’t happen; it might simply mean that it needs a different approach.

Seeking the opinion of women about dolls

My three year old daughter received several Barbie Dolls for Christmas. She even requested a “Mermaid Man” (shown above), although Barbie does spend quite a bit of quality time with G.I. Joe. As you can see from the picture above, it seems that ALL doll of hers seem to be prone to nudity. For the record, we are an emotionally healthy household and DO have boundaries. No one walks around our house in their underwear…not even Daddy (me).

My question is this:

What’s the deal with the nudity thing? When you were little, did your doll play match this?

Seeing a couple of naked dolls in a car strikes me as dangerously prophetic. Does my daughter have THAT accurate view of dating? Should I only start worrying when it’s Mermaid Man one day, and G.I. Joe the next?

Will Miss Andry please pick up the green courtesy phone?!

RadFem Row website

    Having recently visited some websites dealing with gender issues, I have recently added this site to my list of ones I am watching.

     I will leave it up to the blog visitor to form their own opinions about the site. It does have some strong things to say about males, but I would suggest visiting it with an open mind.  It does present some thought-provoking thoughts within some of its aggressive commentary. 

    If you are only interested in visiting the site to ’stir the pot,’ please do everyone a favor and find something else to do. Post pictures of your dog wearing a homemade sweater or something. Just don’t be an a##.

Appreciating natural beauty

http://sportsbybrooks.com/events.html

     Being a fan of www.fark.com , I have checked out the the SportsbyBrook website link on their site.  I know it’s gonna seem like a stretch here, but men have been occasionally known to look at pictures of Internet. It’s the reason they invented the Internet, right?

    Anyway, the SportsByBrook website, along with forums discussing something called ’sports’ (I don’t really follow them myself); they have pictures of women. Mostly on the curvy side with lots of make-up; they pose in exotic places like Hawaii, Ireland, and Cincinnati, Ohio (ok, not always so exotic). There are all sorts of women from various backgrounds.  While some of these women may be societal eye candy, most of these pictures seem really fake.

    For the ladies reading this, please don’t take this site as any regular standard to achieve with your own appearance. There are men out there who can appreciate natural beauty. Make-up, when used in moderation, can enhance your appearance. Like clothing, it shouldn’t be used like a costume to distract those around you. Use it to emphasize your good features and deemphasize the not-as-good stuff. Remember: These women may lead confortable airbrushed lives as jpegs; however, the truth is that they sweat, emit aromas, and suffer from bedhead just like the rest of us in real life. Placing all your efforts into maintaining physical appearance will only lead you down an ugly, Joan-Rivers-like path where you will eventually become a shell of your former self. Plastic surgery upon plastic surgery will eventually make you look like a latex bag crammed with coathangers. Go for the normal look, please. I beg you.

     Guys, when it comes to women like this; think of the level of maintenance. If a woman keeps all her beauty in the bottle next to her nightstand, imagine what you could wake up next to the following morning. Let’s say you want to take a quick morning trip to the supermarket. What? Your woman has to “play with her face” for an hour to get things right, just so you can get a gallon of milk and the paper? Dude, you could have been there and back by now.

     Now, the big thought comes. What happens 40 years from now when your spending time with her now? What do you think gravity and time do with everyone’s body? (including yours!)  Hopefully, you both have some stake in the relationship besides appearance or you’re gonna have lots of time to kill for shuffleboard and feeding the birds in the park.

 Just tryin’ to keep it real.

-sj

Are you going to wear that?: A guide to silly questions that women ask

         There is a fundamental difference between men and women when it comes to interacting. When communicating, women use a combination of code phrases, verbal inflection, body language, and meaning tempered by situational circumstances.  Men use something called the DIRECT APPROACH when sharing words to convey thoughts.

     Here is a good example. You come downstairs after spending some time getting ready to go to a party. In example #1, a female makes a comment. In example #2, a male makes a comment.

Example #1: Are you wearing that? (meaning – please change your clothes because I don’t want to be embarrassed when other women check you out and then see I am with you.)

Example #2: Dude, you look like a dork. Let’s go. (meaning – you look like a dork. Now get in the car.)

   Which, of course, leads us to more differences which rear their head in a social gatherings. Let’s say a roomful of men and women see a new couple enter the room. The men, as a whole, will check out the woman. The women in the room will check out the woman.

   Girls will notice what the guy is wearing, what the girl he came with is wearing, and whether or not each outfit matches and is accessorized well. The guys don’t care what other guys are wearing. Guys will notice what a girl is wearing, but not in a “wow, where did you get that blouse? It’s fabulous!” way.  The only extent guys will think about clothing is what the girls clothing would look like crumpled at her feet.

   So, in closing, think carefully before responding to the Are you going to wear that? line.

   Take your pick of the responses below:

-”My clothing is on my body, so the answer is yes.”

-”Would you like to dress me to be absolutely sure?”

-(point to her outfit and say) “Well, I certainly can’t wear THAT!”

-”It was either this or the other thing at the bottom of my dirty clothes hamper.”

-”Is this a multiple choice quiz?”

-”What do I get if I guess right?”

Here’s a job that could be scary and exciting….at the same time.

I don’t really like heights, but I guess I wouldn’t necessarily be looking down then, I suppose, either.