Grasping Reality with Both Hands: New Republic Crashed-and-Burned Watch

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: New Republic Crashed-and-Burned Watch:

"You can describe what Jim Cramer does in many terms. But none of them are that he is 'trying to help... middle-class investors.'"

Am i'm missing something...

Maybe its the influence of and my proclivity for post feminism, but this doesn't bother me at all.

Appears that M.I.A. (???) was at the Grammy's in quite an outfit, because she's pregnant it caused a stir, I guess. Aside from the god-awful polka dots I don't see what the big deal is. But over at XX Factor there were words of disapproval:

I'm not a fashion connoisseur or a hip-hop etiquette expert, or even a mother, but I don't think this disqualifies me from being able to ask the following question: What the heck was the very-pregnant rap artist M.I.A thinking when she went on stage during the Grammy Awards show on Sunday wearing this utterly ridiculous outfit?

The imagery of a scantily-clad, or should I say scandalously-clad, pregnant young women dancing on stage with a bunch of male rappers whose rhymes sometimes debase women, was just too much for me. And don't even get me started on what this cringe-worthy antic might say to impressionable teenage girl fans.

First there is some weird subconscious fear of sex that seems to be popping up, whenever a cultural conservative is around.

Plus regarding the question of debasing lyrics towards women in rap songs isn't this exactly what we want to point out to young men? Yo, kids, its not all fun and games... you create babies this way!

Sex in our culture is all flipped topsy turvy... but this doesn't seem big to me.

Reality TV: Harmless Entertainment or Bloodsport?

What do Brett Michaels and Julius Caesar have in common?

the Bush years as 300

Eight years 300 spartans

The problem with picking a film to be a symbol of a political era is that it has to be many things to many people. George W. Bush might exit office with an abysmal approval rating, but it is worth remembering that he was a two-term president who sustained an astonishingly high approval rating for several years after the September 11th attacks. He was re-elected with more than 50% of the vote. So the key is to pick a single film that best encapsulates the myriad reactions that American have when they think about George W. Bush.

My nominee is Zack Snyder's 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, and starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, and enough CGI to choke George Lucas. The reason 300 works so well is its dual appeal. Both supporters and critics of the president can find aspects of the movie that epitomize the themes of the Bush administration.

For supporters, the meaning of 300 is clear. The movie tells the (highly stylized) story of three hundred Spartans who stood their ground at the Battle of Thermopylae against the might of the Persian Army. Although they lost, Persian losses were so great that the battle rallied the city-states of Greece into opposing Persia in full force. As the Wikipedia entry about the battle suggests, many writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an exemplar of the superior power of a patriotic army of freemen defending native soil.

Filmmakers too —which is why 300 plays so well with Bush's supporters. In the movie, King Leonidas exhorts his soldiers (in his best Scottish brogue): "A new age has begun. An age of freedom!!" Sharp contrasts are made between the martial virtues of Spartan warriors and the decadent, authoritarian methods of the Persian empire. Contrasts are also made between Sparta's warrior caste and its venal politicians. It is not that difficult to draw the parallels between this conflict of the ancients and a modern clash of civilizations. Kerill O'Neill, a classics professor at Colby College, told ABC News at the time of the film's release, "the rhetoric of the Spartans about defending freedom is comparable to that said by the administration and the treacherous politicians who seem to be selling out to the enemy could be seen as Democrats who are soft on terror."

The great thing about 300, however, is that because the film is so cartoonish, critics of Bush can have their fun as well. The film is based on a graphic novel, not actual history, so there are a few problems with the film as told. The notion of Sparta as a freedom-loving country, for example, clashes somewhat with its actual existence as a slave-based economy. For all the verbal claims of heterosexual lust made by the film's protagonists, it is impossible to look at the Spartans and not think that you are watching the most homoerotic mainstream cinema since the volleyball scene in Top Gun. In other words, all the special effects, all of the hoary speeches, all of the historical inaccuracies succeed in subverting the film's stated themes. Like the Bush administration, the best intentions of the movie are undercut by its execution.

The release of 300 also reveals two other themes that fits with the Bush administration. The first is the law of unanticipated consequences. As hokey as the movie was, it provoked outrage in Iran, because of its negative portrayal of Persians. Rumors swirled in Tehran that the Bush administration bankrolled the film to whip Americans into a frenzy about attacking Iran. The final theme is the ephemeral nature of the Bush era. Two years after its release, 300 is remembered, if at all, as an amusing action flick. With luck, memories of the outgoing administration will fade just as quickly.

why diets don't work....

For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful

scientists recently have come to understand that the brain exerts astonishing control over body composition and how much individuals eat. “There are physiological mechanisms that keep us from losing weight,” said Dr. Matthew W. Gilman, the director of the obesity prevention program at Harvard Medical School/Pilgrim Health Care.

Scientists now believe that each individual has a genetically determined weight range spanning perhaps 30 pounds. Those who force their weight below nature’s preassigned levels become hungrier and eat more; several studies also show that their metabolisms slow in a variety of ways as the body tries to conserve energy and regain weight. People trying to exceed their weight range face the opposite situation: eating becomes unappealing, and their metabolisms shift into high gear.

The body’s determination to maintain its composition is why a person can skip a meal, or even fast for short periods, without losing weight. It’s also why burning an extra 100 calories a day will not alter the verdict on the bathroom scales. Struggling against the brain’s innate calorie counters, even strong-willed dieters make up for calories lost on one day with a few extra bites on the next. And they never realize it. “The system operates with 99.6 percent precision,” Dr. Friedman said.

The temptations of our environment — the sedentary living, the ready supply of rich food — may not be entirely to blame for rising obesity rates. In fact, new research suggests that the environment that most strongly influences body composition may be the very first one anybody experiences: the womb.

According to several animal studies, conditions during pregnancy, including the mother’s diet, may determine how fat the offspring are as adults. Human studies have shown that women who eat little in pregnancy, surprisingly, more often have children who grow into fat adults. More than a dozen studies have found that children are more likely to be fat if their mothers smoke during pregnancy.

The research is just beginning, true, but already it has upended some hoary myths about dieting. The body establishes its optimal weight early on, perhaps even before birth, and defends it vigorously through adulthood. As a result, weight control is difficult for most of us. And obesity, the terrible new epidemic of the developed world, is almost impossible to cure.

Whats hardcore? and the Dandy...

Having fallen out of the [music]"scene" a few years ago I miss out on a lot of the cutting edge stuff. Thanks to NPR and the New York Times I can play catch up with the rest of the world.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society

Addicted to Peter Lorre (That Voice, Those Eyes)

As leader of the World/Inferno Friendship Society, a Brooklyn band that mixes Weimar-style cabaret and roisterous ska-punk, he is the driving force behind “Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre’s 20th Century,” a self-described punk songspiel

K'Naan

Somali Rapper K'Naan Schools American MCs

News from Somalia usually involves violent warlords, or pirates hijacking ships off the coast. Other than that, average Somalis don't have much of a voice. But a rapper from Somalia named K'Naan is trying to change that, and in the world of hip-hop, he's become an artist to watch.

K'Naan grew up in Mogadishu, on what he calls "the meanest streets in the universe." In one song on his new album, he calls his hometown the "risky zone," full of pistols and Russian revolvers.

What two leftists were doing watching West Wing in their LA loft in 2000 I dunno...

But this scene always struck those narrative chords in me. Biological. Plus the dire straits song with the long walk was just the magic touch.


The amazing thing--if you skip the sappyness factor--is how powerful constructs are. Our literature, our myths, our political "theories", our "just so" storys on everything--from right and wrong, the "good fight", good vs. evil, and who we are; they are full of these types of structures. We want to beleive, need to beleive, meaning.

This scene and the song are locked in my head--I heard a clip of the song in a movie and thought of this scene so I had to pull it up.

Strange.