I thought this was absurdly offensive - especially for an official team picture placed inside an advertisement to be distributed via a nationwide newspaper. It baffles me, really.
I thought this was absurdly offensive - especially for an official team picture placed inside an advertisement to be distributed via a nationwide newspaper. It baffles me, really.
I've never read Cosmo much. It always read like nonsense whenever I'd try. To me it's like music interviews, when they interview bands and ask them, "What is rock 'n roll?"
And it's not ever anything you can just quantify in just words. You have to listen to it, feel it and understand it over time to really know the answer. And then if you try to describe it in words, it takes all the meaning out of it.
Quizzes and stuff that diagnose what you should do in one of only two or three situations that could ever occur in life just take all the fun out of life, and usually make you end up worse off. Ugh.
I think the more dialogue there is about it, the better. People need to sound off on why they're offended and the unintending offenders need to sound off on why they didn't mean any offense. In order to do that, complete, coherent thoughts need to be formed inside peoples' heads to make these arguments plausible. And then further discussion needs to result in order to come to some sort of agreement or even an agreement to disagree.
Misunderstandings happen when people don't communicate. Racist people are not interested in communicating because they'd rather be locked up in their own little insular environment where they think they're safe and comfortable - and you can easily tell the "wrong" people by how they look. They are of the "us vs. them" mentality. The place we're trying to get to is of the "we" mentality.
I have tons of stories from growing up as one of four Asians in a Wisconsin high school of 1400 students mostly of German and Polish descent. And that's not even counting grade school or middle school. But instead, I will tell a story about a really poignant moment that happened at the Hollywood Bowl.
My friends and I (who are Asian; they're my school friends from UCLA) got to our seats and other friends were already there. We were there with the food. We happened to bring curry. My friends who were already seated shouted while we were a few feet away, "What food did you bring?"
I answered, "Curry. Cuz we're Asian. And all we eat is rice."
These black ladies heard us and started cracking up really, really hard. We looked at them and smiled. They smiled back, and held up pieces of fried chicken.
When people stop taking themselves so seriously because we're thinking about the other person (not just ourselves) and want understanding - this is when the true dialogue happens.
As for the lady who took offense about being dark being a bad thing - well I can "see" why she would take offense and I would try and sympathize with that but I would remain confident that I meant no harm. I wouldn't necessarily "fault" her for feeling that way, I guess. It's one of those unfortunate situations. Like Tyme said, I go out of my way to NOT apply everything to myself. That would be taking myself way too seriously.
And as for blacks being incapable of being racist, that's an out-and-out lie. What a crock! Racism is about assumptions, and everyone has their own crap they have to put up with as far as things people assume about them. The most common one I still get is the assumption that I could not have possibly been born in the States.
Making a 3 on the first try can't HURT a presidential candidate, I'm thinking...
Well, you know... points are points. :D (Thanks RightOn!)
@scrivs: Then I'm taking you at your word that they are two different points since (newsflash) I'm not a guy.
I completely believe #6 though I don't believe it's the *only* way a guy can cheat. It's along the lines of being self-defeating and setting the morale of the relationship. If there's no incentive to be faithful because you're going to be down on him and not trusting him either way - then you're not making even faithfulness appealing for him.
Good one. I thought it interesting that you made two different points out of "hot" girls and "cute and nice" girls...but were the same points. It's hard to tell us apart, I know. Hah.
About proximity infatuation - I have to think about that. I definitely think it depends more on the guy for me.
@RightOn: Yeah I would agree - definitely off-limits for a 6 year old. I would be hesitant with even 10 year olds! (Based on my limited knowledge and experience with kids that is. :P ) Clowns have seriously been the scariest thing for me my entire life. I don't know how children ever got entertained by clowns. Just the make-up and the fake happiness and joy is freaky. And so with Joker and his face make-up ... that's just a recipe for disaster.
I don't know so much about the "active" marketing to 6 year olds (I guess I've yet to observe an example). I think the only reason it got its PG-13 was because it wasn't bloody, per se, but definitely violent! Also was a bit of a psychological thriller in that way, more than all-out gore.
I think my next stop in a few weeks would be IMAX.
@TJenkins: That's so interesting you noticed the beginning was rushed. I would agree - but also with the movie itself being 2.5 hrs already I guess it's just a real challenge to fit all that material in. At the same time, when it ended, to me it did not seem like it was a 2.5 hr movie. Or actually, my friend told me he was checking his watch and thinking, "Oh good, I still have __ min of this movie."
It was so awesome. The parallels they drew in that movie... The action scenes were much more developed and integral to the plot than Batman Begins (and I own that DVD). And the way they saved Batman from being a flat character was done really well.
Dunno so much about Maggie Gyllenhaal so much but she was much better than Katie Holmes (not that that bar is raised very high).
Seeing Heath's performance made me sad but just so in awe of his talent - you can really see how much he lost himself in that role. It was pure genius. He really did give me chills.
Tonight!! I can't wait!!
For fear of driving myself absolutely crazy, I've been totally abstaining from updating myself on the progress of this media-spurred drama between the Packers, Favre's agent and Favre himself. It pains me and it makes me so mad, actually probably more sad, that this episode had to come along and spoil what's been set, dig up what's already been buried.
I feel like I owe it to Favre to be sympathetic, to care about the fact that he feels like he wants to still play, because he's done such a service to my team. And they to him. So as for all the spoils that are following right now, my heart just cannot take this. I want Favre to be happy and not so much a sacrificial lamb (he's good while he was good now get him out of there), but this is football.
Everything with the way he went out somewhat on top, with the last season going out all the way to the NFC championship, everything just seemed to fit into place as far as indicating that he wanted to go out on top.
C'mon, having drafted Rodgers a few seasons ago, we knew this was coming. We were preparing for this. This is football.
...Which team will be to Brett Favre what the Chiefs were to Montana?
I think this is actually consistent with the humor or satire The New Yorker has come up with in the past, at least in political cartoons. I mean, if we can practically burn Bush at the stake for what he's done with the Iraq war in a political cartoon that comes out every day, then I don't think this is a big deal. If we can't, then the "fever" that people believe Obama supporters have, treating his nomination as second coming of Christ, or the Messiah or whatever, is true.
Of course, this is where I come clean that I'm an Obama supporter. I think that the cartoon does what it meant to do - spark a debate. Whether it's incendiary is hugely reliant on the political climate today. It's our first black major political party nominee; and everything that's depicted in that cartoon is all stuff that's flown off the cuff by his opponents. It's all stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the issues, but his background, paranoid interpretations and other stuff taken out of context, etc.
I'm with Cooper as far as the fear amongst liberals, but what I would go so far as to say is, Obama shouldn't be treated with kid gloves either. It's an unfortunate thing but this stuff that just ends up exposing the criticism that has more to do with fear than with the issues needs to be outed rather than floated beneath the surface. It's the only way the bigotry has any way of being exposed and it separates the legitimate concerns about Obama from the petty ones coming from closet-racists. If we accuse The New Yorker, a liberal magazine, for working for the Republicans then we have clearly missed it. As far as execution, it's always going to be arguable how they could've been more "tasteful" about it. But you know, elitists think they have enough taste to go around.
How interesting. I'd be stoked if it got on the ballot. I don't see weed as something that's worse than alcohol, that's for sure. When was the last time you heard about an "angry pothead" vs. an "angry drunk" (all the time)?
As far as access to it ... I have friends who have a Rx card and in all honesty it's not that hard to get one. All you need is $150 and an excuse. One of my friends brought evidence from her doctor of a sciatic nerve (in the back) and the doctor didn't even look at it. As far as the Feds (DEA) going in and raiding the dispensaries because stupid people don't follow the state rules and sell them out of the back, that's a whole other matter. As long as people follow the rules, at least in Metro LA, I don't see consumption going up that much... It's already so prevalent here.
...I guess the exception would be the "underage," though. I can see that changing a bunch.
That's interesting, Ozone. I can see how the results of that story came about. (For clarification's sake, I was born into a very politically conservative family as the youngest one - last child - yet I myself am way to the left of they politically.)
The key words to me were "psychological buffer" that conservatives have, generally, I think. There's less of a burden carried by the right psychologically because they figure there is a reason why, and they've earned or not earned their spot. As for the term meritocracy, I guess I would have qualms with that because how can you produce value that competes when you start with nothing (and others start with everything)? There's a differing, beginning situation that everyone has.
What you described in Texas seems the opposite - definitely could be explained by our opposing landscapes! The head family of my company is Republican...and so are the others who make the most money. They care about taxes. Me - I am not independently wealthy and neither are my friends (we do what we can to barely get by in a metro area like Los Angeles) but we are all Democratic party supporters. More "paycheck-to-paycheck" if you will, like you said. :)
Yeah. Watch out now. Feel our wrath. Rawr.
@Tyme - Yeah that whole Britney nomination thing boggles my mind. Good indication that something's severly wrong with the nomination process.
About the writers' guild strike, I guess it's easy to get pissed that the seasons got screwed up. All the same, if you look at the cut the writers have gotten over time, their share has shrunk over time despite their part in the creativity process as the driving force behind scripted, non-reality shows. It's a natural, known cycle that the writers' guild strikes every 20 years because otherwise they can barely make a living. They can barely make a living as it is. I have friends who make in the hundreds per episode that airs that they co-wrote - whilst actors get easily in the thousands if not tens of thousands. It really is unfair IMHO. Writers themselves suffered a LOT as a result of the strike; I've done my fair share of taking up the tab when out with writer friends - but it was something they really had to do in order to invest and negotiate for their future in the industry.
You could go the other route and say this is her being a snob to her writers and telling them to give her better material because she feels she is worthy of such material. But let's assume that isn't the case and in this instance she is acting quite noble. Of course if she gets nominated again this act of nobility will probably help her and some people will assume she won because of this act.
Noble or not, in the entertainment world this is potentially career suicide because she risked (intentionally or not) the perception that she is basically not a team-player and is actually selling out the Grey's writers. Who really knows what's going on inside her head but it is a pretty risky move. Add to this that entertainment work in L.A. is very guild (union) -oriented and even centered. It doesn't necessarily mesh well when you break solidarity - it better be for good reason.
Found it extremely interesting just how these companies chose to "update" characters I knew in my own childhood. If I ever thought at age 8 that the Strawberry Shortcake of the future would be more interested in chatting on her cell phone than petting Custard (her cat), I would've imploded. :)
Moderator Scrivs says: estarla couldn't pick one so she gets to pick none.
Disappointed I won't be able to join in!
Miss Anderson was the best teacher. I had her 2 years for 2nd and 3rd grade and though I thought the second year I'd get tired of her, I thoroughly enjoyed her (again). She was likeable, yet didn't put up with our incessant chatting. She encouraged learning in the most motivating of ways. My brother, who's 9 years older, actually had her and he also had rave reviews of her. I like that the longevity showed she liked her job, because it showed.
Mrs. Kocmoud terrified me. The tiniest things got her bent out of shape - I think she stayed longer than she really wanted to; unfortunately I was one of the last classes she had.
Name-calling just means you have nothing to back your ish up.
@Kami:
That sounds so painful. I think I would hate snowboarding if that happened to me.
Social networks aren't evil. People are evil. Okay, not all people, but you get the gist. (What Mike said.)
Yeah. Definitely cheating. :( But it was still fun to come up with the list.
It's cheating that I live in L.A.; you're essentially bound to run into at least a reality TV "star" if you're here for a week. But I thought I'd indulge myself. :P
Recently:
BJ Novak, who's Ryan/a writer for U.S. edition of The Office (Coffee Bean, driving on the street)
Jason Bateman (Hollywood and Highland Center)
Drew Barrymore with Justin Long on my birthday this year (Culver City)
Amy Smart (West LA) 2 weeks ago, whom I actually stopped and talked to because I was bursting that my best guy friend in the world had just wrapped shooting in Hong Kong opposite her as her newlywed husband
Santino Rice, a Project Runway contestant (LACMA)
Bijou Phillips (Pre-party for an LA Film Festival premiere)
Eva ? , winner of an old America's Next Top Model (Grand Lux Cafe at the Beverly Center)
Not so recently:
Adrien Grenier (LA Fashion Week)
Jack Black (LA Fashion Week)
Bruce Willis (Koi on La Cienega), who at the time told me that I "looked like I owned the place?"
Adrien Brody (Koi)
James Caan (Koi)
Ryan Seacrest (Beverly Hills Four Seasons)
Tara Reid (Beverly Hills Four Seasons)
Paris Hilton (Hollywood Palladium) w/Nicky Hilton (Farmer's Market at The Grove)
Ivana Trump (Hollywood Palladium)
Lindsay Lohan (Hollywood Palladium)
Nicole Riche (Hollywood Palladium)
Heather Locklear (Hollywood Palladium)
David Spade (Hollywood Palladium)
Christina Aguilera (Hollywood Palladium)
Jeremy Piven (a brunch place called Toast)
Selma Blair (also at Toast)
Jesse Metcalf (also at Toast)
Giovanni Ribisi (Mani's on Fairfax)
Cameron Diaz (Urth Cafe, Melrose)
Cheryl Hines (Johnny Rocket's)
Sarah Jessica Parker (outside my work, Beverly Hills)
Sarah Silverman (Coffee Bean) and her dog
Bai Ling (LA Fashion Week)
Trishelle-that-skanky-girl-from-Real-World-Las-Vegas (The Griddle on Sunset)
Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Abbey in WeHo)
Haha...Bobby Trendy (also The Abbey)
Lorne Michels (Paramount Pictures studio lot)
David Boreanaz (Paramount Pictures lot)
Tom Cruise (Paramount Pictures)
Kiefer Sutherland (Mammoth Mountain)
Kobe Bryant (Santa Monica)
Kerri Strug (UCLA)
Michelle Kwan (UCLA)
Coach potato perspective: American football for sure. I find it a lot more enjoyable than basketball or baseball, and yes, even international football (what we call soccer).
Look what we did - we Americans had to screw the names of sports up so much that we have to clarify exactly what kind of football we mean when we converse about favorite sports in Chawlk notes. ;)
From the personal enjoyment perspective: Snowboarding, hands down! When I don't get injured, anyway.
It's weird because I think looks have played a more important part for me lately. When I first started dating I think I "fooled" myself into thinking looks didn't matter and it should primarily (only?) be about personality. Well, that was a big mistake. Now that I look back I realize that my second boyfriend was a really ugly guy. And then I realize that that was because my first boyfriend was a vain MF and for some reason I had a need to prove to myself that I was nothing like him.
So yeah. Now I'm at that happy medium where looks and personality hold reasonably equal weight. You just need that chemistry to be there - why settle for anything less? I think the more elements it takes for there to be chemistry is telling of the maturity of someone's personality. Complete package, if you will.
Awesome impression!!
Well, I think this picture is largely inaccurate, because Nazi Germany actually did host. (Kami, maybe that's what you meant by "irony.")
I don't agree with making the Olympics a political statement but at the same time that's what it inherently is, with international athletes coming to compete. Like you can't have your cake but eat it too. The terrorists of the Munich games of course capitalized on the fact that it is.
Also, I'm biased since my family are native Taiwanese and are for Taiwan independence - so we as a whole have huge distrust for any sort of Chinese government, Nationalist and/or Communist. Also, we're of the mindset that when entire governments commit these sorts of things we'll turn a blind eye to that if we have huge economic interests there while we'll carry on, for instance, the embargo on Cuba.
Anyhoo, I don't agree with say, taking the games away from China just to relocate them as a sort of punishment. But I also think that their egregious human rights' violences were apparent for quite some time now that they should've never been approved to host in the first place. So this sort of stuff just doesn't really surprise me. I completely see the side of the protesters in San Francisco. Nazi Germany used the games as a vehicle of propaganda and didn't allow Jews to compete for their country, while we just stood by and recognized them as a whole country by competing there.
I agree with Ozone, though, that they have been in isolation for so long that to deny them this "experience" in order to punish is not fruitful. To give their people a taste of what it is really like to be international politically, not just financially, will in the end do them good.
Ugh. Their tattoos are so corny.
Yeah seriously. Did I also hear that she married him without a prenup? Or is that just fodder?
I love hats! I also have a pretty big head - I mean, my graduation cap was size Large and those things are unisex!
I have a couple cute hats that I love, but I think "my thing" is probably the hoodie. A lot of my clothes, even the sleeveless tops, have hoodies. I rarely use them but I dunno - for some reason my style of dressing really screams for hoodies! :)
Wow, all your prices make me feel envious. Today, just before getting home from work I paid $4.02 per gallon of 91 octane (premium here but east coast probably has 92 or even 93 as premium). My total bill was $51.31 and my Mini's tank is only 13 gallons.
I filled up at the BP station down the street that actually has a name, Helios House. They actually have really good prices in comparison to the rest of the area, uh, which I guess is Beverly Hills. It's the only LEED-certified gas station in the country. Absurd, isn't it? (My blog write-up on it.)
I'm thinking that we, however, still have no reason to complain compared to Europeans?
All this is why I live 2 blocks from work and always have for the past 5 years. With LA being notorious for traffic, I basically cut out a majority of the downfall of the city. Then, I leave after rush hour if I need to get out. But I also really enjoy my area and don't need to drive far to have a huge variety of stuff to do, eat, enjoy, watch, etc. One tank of gas typically lasts me at least 2 weeks. :)
» Music Trivia Streamcast today at 5pm EST ... Last Reply: 1 month ago by Scrivs.
Oh drat, I'm at work on Pacific time. Things like this make me wanna quit my job.