Bless you, Unreasonable Standard of Beauty

Every once is a while virulent marketing campaigns accidentally do something useful or good. (By virulent, I mean having the same redeeming social qualities as AIDS only harder to get rid of.) For example, balancing unreasonable standards of beauty against one another, so they balance out. Let's take a look at Mauritania, an Islamic republic on the western edge of the Sahara. The standard of beauty for the nomadic people who make a living in the middle of this giant desert has been on the heavy end of the scale. It stands to reason that in a place with limited resources, signs of overindulgence would seem a desirable trait in a mate. This leads to the force feeding of female children, from about the ages of 12 to 15. Some die during the process. Most have serious health problems as a result.

It's what happens next that makes me giggle. It's East meets West in a truly wonderful way.

Western standards of beauty, by which I mean the American and European "I've been up all week doing heroin backstage and coke off the guitar player's dick" super thin and raggedy looks, are making headway in Mauritania. The result? People are starting to no longer force feed their children like ducks for fois gras. Obese women are starting to work out and get healthy. The standard of living for women is increasing. Because of western standards of beauty. The same one that results in "pro-ana" websites and ten year old girls with fatal eating disorders. Jesus Christ.

But as LaVare Burton says, "you don't have to take my word for it!" Check it out here.

Seasonale

Newsflash: There may, after all, be a god.

I just saw the coolest product ever on TV. It's someone responding for once to what consumers want from a product and how they actually use it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Seasonale. Link.

It's birth control. It's the pill. Now, I can't take the pill, the estrogen level's too high and I don't have a regular enough schedule. I'm on the patch, which is cool, but a pink colored patch on my black ass looks stupid. I'm wandering. Back to the topic.

What's special about this pill is that it comes with a three month supply. That's three months on the pill, one week off. That means four periods a year. A year!


Like I said, coolest product ever.

Bill Gates: Man of Mystery

So a CNet interview with Bill Gates popped up on Google News today.
Here's the link.

To be wretchedly honest, I'm not qualified to talk about the tech stuff. I don't know, and I'm really not interested enough to do the homework. I walked away from Microsoft products a while ago, and Google pays my rent. I'm biased and apathetic about Bill's latest product.

What caught my eye is how Gates talks about his company's branding. Okay, so they're the evil empire. They're not the only American MNC to exploit their customer base and provide shitty service, or leverage US law in their favor overseas and at home. Not special. Or surprising.

Do I expect Google to one day follow in Microsoft's evil footsteps? I dunno. So far they're following their "Don't Be Evil" mantra. Yahoo may not be, but Google seems to be playing nice. Their other slogan, the "organizing the world's information" bit? I think it's cool. I mean, think about that. All the world's information? At my fingertips? Jesus! Bring on that term paper, and Viva La Revalution!

So let's look at what Gates had to say about that.

"...they have this slogan that they are going to organize the world's information. Our slogan is that we are going to give people tools to let them organize the world's information. It's a slightly different approach, based on the platformization of all of our capabilities and not thinking of ourselves as the organizer.

CNET:So that would be the philosophical difference between Microsoft and what Google is up to at this point?
Gates: Well, we don't know everything they are up to, but we do know their slogan and we disagree with that."

Right. Google, the fascist state, is interfering with the basic rights of man. Like that damn dictator, Melvil Dewey and his damned dirty decimal system.

Ach.

Oh, and btw, as I'm sure you're aware, CNet is kinda pissed at Google right now. Here's a story about why. Basically, a reporter used Google and a half hour to find personal info about Google CEO Eric Schmidt, which they then, I think, published the info in a story about invasion of privacy or some such. Valid point, questionable execution. Schmidt got pissed, CNet was banned for a year from Google. Someone then informed CNet of this policy change, rather than just not return their calls. Not smart. Anyway, I think it's fair to say CNet has "views" about Google.

Hurts My (Screaming) Brain

The sci-fi channel, during a comercial break for a very lovely movie written, directed by and starring Bruce Cambell called, I think, "The Man with the Screaming Brain," showed back to back a "Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief" commercial and a "Come Visit Daytona Beach" commercial.

This tells me two things. 1. I need to find something better to do with my time on a Saturday night. 2. Someone still has a sense of humor. Go sci-fi channel!

The oh, the movie has Ted Raimi too, playing a lab assistant/mechanic/DJ. Yeah, good movie. Oh, I nearly forgot! Ted Raimi's a Bulgarian lab assistant/mechanic/DJ. Cause the movie's set in Bulgaria.


Gee, I haven't heard from Alex in a while.

testing

does this work?


please?

yay! choclate cake!

Tampons!

Lately, "feminine hygine" products have become more and more aggressive in their marketing. Really aggressive with the period jokes and everything. I mean, wow.

My favorites? Definitly Ditties. They have this guerilla maarketing thing right now that I find fairly interesting. I wonder if anyone's talked to them about sponsering the Vagina Monolouges.

Oh, and what makes Ditties so special? Well, they've got the whole playtex pearl applicator thing going on, but it's the wrapper that I love.

"If these boots are made for walkin, then this booty's made for shakin!"
"Think outside the Tiffany's box"
"If this isn't bleeding for a good cause, what is?"

Pics as soon as I can get Blogger to co-operate.

Back From Con

ahh...and we're back. And I've apperantly left my cell phone charger in the hotel room. It could be in the Luggage of Doom, wedged between my corset, platform boots and hoop skirt, but I haven't found it.

I spent a lot of time in the Atlanta airport Monday. We had to take Marta there, so we left to catch the train at 3:45ish for a 7:10 flight. The trip which took a little over an hour the first time took jsut about 25 minutes back. So we had a lot of time to kill.

We went to eat.

We had been surviving on squished sandwiches, carrot sticks, diet coke and booze for a few days, and I was looking forward to a sit down, hot meal. Silly me.

Why can I not find hot food at the airport? Chili's had a mini restaurant there, a place to sit and chill, but the place was cramped and the menu was ridiculously abbreviated. The waitress was swamped, the food was cold. What's the point is slapping a chain brand sit down restaurant in the middle of a terminal if you're going to serve the same lukewarm crap you're going to get at the stand? If I have time to make the descision to wait in line to sit down and eat, I have the time to sit and wait for a plate of warm pasta. I'm making the descision to not have a turkey sandwich or a mediocre burger. I can get those elsewhere, cheaper and faster. Ach! Don't water down your brand! If i'm being loyal to you, don't dissapoint me!