THEBOY has announced that he is now more interested in the Beatles than the Who. He's going to sleep at night listening to Beatles songs. It's a bit of a surprise, but shoot, who am I to complain?
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It's been an okay day I suppose, though I spent the first chunk of it just exhausted for some reason. Bless Mail Order Bride for allowing me to crash long and hard this afternoon. Ever take one of those naps where you wake up and your sense of time is all screwed up? That's what this was.
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Current music: "When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God?" by Van Morrison.
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So I've had some discussions recently with my buddy Christy about, oh, Hooters, the male libido, objectification in our society... you know, just some standard BB smalltalk.
If you've stopped by here for any length of time you know how I feel about having my libido marketed to. It's come up here and there.
I think she's about half surprised, and now she's half convinced I'm gay because Hooters makes my skin crawl.
If you take a bottle blonde with a boob job, heels, slutty tattoo, cloud of perfume and a tendency to touch the guy whose order she's taking, I see someone who has allowed herself to become the sex object, the stereotype.
I'm NOT dismissing or deriding a woman's enjoyment of being attractive. I'm dismissing this Barbie ideal that's clearly gotten into so many of both genders' heads. It's sad and scary. Pamela Anderson is a dreadfully frightening looking woman to me, but she's an archetype. Isn't there something terribly wrong about that?
So what I'm asking is for opinions on this from anyone who'd care to speak up. Now, I'd be thrilled if some of my like-minded guy friends might offer a few words. I know I'd get good insight from folks like Geoff, Toland, Henley, Prowse, Whit...
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Current music: "Meet Me on the Ledge" by Varnaline
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Been watching some of the Live AID DVDs this evening... The Who were pretty good, though they got lost during "Won't Get Fooled Again." And when Pete fell on his ass during a kick, it was mighty nice of Roger to take a sympathy tumble right there next to him.
Among the "bonus" footage is some BB King footage. It's three songs from some European jazz fest full of unfunky white fans who can't dance. The audio's not great, but the performance is pretty damn good. That was almost 18 months before I saw him for the first time in person, at the Arena Theater in December of '86.
And the '86 show was, what, seven or eight years before I was fortunate enough to do some ACL work with him? Jeez, the man is over 80 years old now...
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Current music: "I Live" by Jason Falkner
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Better boogie.
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5 comments:
I also think Pamerla Anderson is unattractive. No way do I consider her the ideal. How could any sane person aspire to have fake-looking boobs, scary dark eyebrows with peroxide blonde hair, and artificially inflated lips? Eddie likes natural-looking women, minimal makeup.
I know beautiful women of all shapes, sizes, and colors. And none of them look like Pamela Anderson. Most of my friends don't wish to look like her. They try to do the best with what they were born with.... take care of themselves, wear cute clothes, keep their weight at a reasonable level.... Also, a brain and a sense of humor go a long way.
The sad thing is that almost all waitreses sell sex. Talk to a professional waitress they'll tell you how their tips went down as they passed 30 and then 40, they'll tell you they know that if they smile the right way or laugh the right way or touch your arm they'll make a few more dollars. If the girl is good enough I'll find myself doubling the tip and having no idea why until hours later. Hooters is just more open about it and maybe we should give them points for that, at least they're honest about what their doing... Its all prostitution...
When I choose a line at Target I always choose the line with cutest checkout girl. I know she'll laugh and smile and I know I'm married now and suppossed to be above it, but the attention is nice. Of course its attention I'm buying, but I never had much luck with women and I guess I take what I can get.
I'm glad my wife doesn't read this.
As for Hooters I'm almost never attracted to their waitresses. But I claim no moral high ground, I just have different tastes. If they got some waitreses I was liked and dressed them nicely (Somehow the combination of orange short shorts and support hose make me think about my mom doing aerobics) I'd probably fall into the trap...
Am an asshole? Yeah, but I never said I wasn't, at least I'm honest.
Well, Midwest guy checking in here, under pressure to be interesting. First off, we don't get alot of forearm touching in the Midwest from waitresses, perhaps a regional difference. And I have approachable forearms.
Anyway, Pam Anderson and the like (Jessica Simpson, Anna Nicole, Britney Spears, et al), they do nothing for me. I think, for the sake of this exercise, that there are two kinds of guys: (1)those who are unimpressed by theatrics (hair, surgery, makeup, maintenance); and (2) those who feel theatrics are a sign of effort, interest, etc.
It's not an age-thing either, you pick which team you are on when you are 16, 18, 20. I didn't love the girl in the Whitesnake video 15 years ago, I loved Natalie Merchant. (I would have let Whitesnake girl borrow some change for the cigarette machine however. I can't help being a giver.)
Jeff with J
You know, I've never actually been to Hooters. So I can't really speak to that.
But from what others have told me, it's always seemed to me to be kind of dishonest. I mean, if you go to a strip club, both you and the dancer know what you're there for. The sex is all that's being sold. At Hooters, the flirting (i.e. the implicit, if false, promise of sex - and, yes, I know not all flirting means that) is being used to get you to buy more beer and appetizers. It's the inherent dishonesty that really bothers me.
Of course, that's advertising and marketing in general: using something perceived as sexy or hip or cool (whatever that is, from a blonde in a bikini to a 20-something in a vintage suit to some anonymous rock musician holding a Gibson SG) to sell a product that most often has nothing to do with the image being presented. It's as if the only way to sell a product is to insult the intelligence of the public.
And this isn't even touching on the more unsavory aspects...like Britney Spears deliberately marketing herself to dirty old men. Speaking only for myself, the shuck and jive of the pose, which denoted a contempt for the audience for which she was going, was enormously offensive, beyond the suggestion that it was OK to lust after jailbait. Even if I was inclined in that direction, I'd've been too insulted to succumb.
As far as the beauty ideal...I've come to believe that the American male no longer genuinely reacts to the Barbie/Playboy/Maxim image being presented to him. I think he thinks he should react to it, as all his buddies think it's sexy (or so he thinks). Thus he claims he finds whoever's on the cover of Maxim to be sexy, even though he's probably so desensitized to the image of a white woman's cleavage his erectile tissue doesn't so much as flinch at the sight. Sex, as presented by the advertising/marketing industry (and that includes Hollywood), has become as generic as sugared breakfast cereal.
I don't know any guys who find people like Pamela Anderson and the various supermodels (whoever they are) sexy. Admittedly, I don't travel in particularly mainstream circles, but I know far too many guys who reject this supposed ideal to think that it's really what men want. I think they think they're supposed to want that because the media/marketing machine tells them so.
Hmm...that was probably a more cynical rant than you were looking for.
Michael
Damn it! You people! I have spent years chasing this ideal. And now, NOW you are saying it isn't really ideal? Why don't ya'll put this up on a billboard or something? Take an add out somewhere. Dang.
I am going to eat something now. I hate men.
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