Jezebel

Do you read Jezebel? If you do, pat yourself on the back. If you don't, why not?

I don't really know how I found Jezebel, but it's a blog about fashion, celebrity, and media. If you liked Sassy (and Jane before Jane lost its soul), you'll like Jezebel.

Jezebel did a post recently about re-touched magazine covers. They apparently paid $10K for an untouched photo of Faith Hill that morphed into a retouched cover photo. The point wasn't to make fun of how Faith Hill looks before being re-touched. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They wanted to prove that Faith Hill was beautiful with all of the imperfections that make us human.

Jezebel made the news this morning (well...the Today Show anyway) when they talked about what the site had done and what the implications were.

I'm not particularly interested in talking about how wrong I think it is that cover photos get photoshopped. Don't get me wrong, I hate it. I think it's heinous that women get left with this skewed sense of what's possible in their lives because publishers want to sell a lifestyle. But it is what it is and as long as women continue to give money to magazines that have airbrushed and photoshopped pictures on their covers, we're not really in a place to complain about it.

Mostly, my point is how fantastic Jezebel is. They're snarky and smart. And though they do get it on poking some fun at celebs, they also expose the stupidity of mainstream media and the dumb things it does.

Anyway, go to Jezebel's site and check it out.

Lip Gloss by Lil Mama

Every summer there are those catchy "summer singles." You know, the ones that radio plays over and over and that a year or two or ten later you remember those songs as the soundtrack of a particular summer.

That song by Lil Mama, Lip Gloss, will probably be one of them.

And, frankly, I can't turn it off when it comes on my radio. This is nonsense, given that I have satellite radio and there are a billion channels with music more "my taste."

It's silly and frivolous in a way that LFO's Summer Girls was. Though, one could argue if one were so inclined, that LFO's song better encapsulated that summer experience.

Anyway, if you're so inclined, check it out and prove me wrong about how catchy it is. Try to turn it off.

When I grow up...

I write this blog because I want to make a difference. I want you to fill your minds and your hearts with some of the really great art and music and movies that are being made.

I am not a taste-maker. I'm just some girl sitting at her keyboard.

There's a blog I read--Hollywood Farm Girl.

Now that's someone blogging to make a difference.

I don't know how I found her--Pink is the new Blog, maybe? Yeah, I think that was it.

Hollywood Farm Girl is famous, but that isn't why I read her. I read her because her poetic musings both break my heart and help my spirit soar. She is fantastically courageous when speaks truth to power. And she is fun to read when she's living the life less ordinary.

I encourage you to go read her stuff. It's a hollywoodfarmgirl.blogspot.com. Maybe I should have asked her permission to blog about her, but I figure that as sisters-in-blog that maybe she doesn't mind so much.

When I grow up, maybe I'll learn to speak truth to power. But I figure that's not what you've come to expect from me.

Back from hiatus

Apparently I am embracing the very European tradition of month-long vacation...

Yesterday was the Live Earth show and I didn't move very much from my couch from about 3 until about 10:30.

There's a lot I want to say about the Live Earth performances, but I want to re-watch the sets before I do. My brief analyses, though?

1. Hip hop seems to have a harder time translating from album to live shows. Akon's set left a lot to be desired, as did Ludacris' set. I started wondering if maybe it had something to do with a lack of crowd response (both went on early in the day in NYC). Kanye West ripped the roof off the joint, though. He owned the stage and the audience.

2. The Smashing Pumpkins aren't giving me a lot to hope for. They're set was so lackluster and I hated the new arrangements of Today and Bullet with Butterfly Wings.

3. The most amazing performances came from some of the most unlikely performers. Who'd have thought that the Pussycat Dolls would rock Live Earth? Not me.

Most important of all of these is:

4. AFI is the new Depeche Mode. And I love them. They were so passionate about the cause and the rocked the house despite having a terrible crowd to work with. They had so much life and energy and their music was rich, deep, and thoughtful. I ran upstairs and looked them up on iTunes, immediately buying their newest album. They are fantastic, and I genuinely hope that Live Earth gets them more of the mainstream recognition they deserve.

You can view any or all of the Live Earth performances at liveearth.msn.com

Some things I hope to blog about soon:
The Transformers movie
Seeing Steve Poltz perform in Chicago
Mandy Moore's new album
The Golden Compass (the book, not the movie)

I promise to get back to a normal blogging schedule.