09.30.07
Is this what’s best?
Every couple of days or so I make it down to the local post office to check my mail and to scrounge through the freebies pile. In the pile is a wide range of shopping catalog’s, old ESPN magazines and a variety of others. Recently I scored a copy of Best Life magazine. The magazine’s tag line is “What Matters To Men”. Honestly though, its cut from the same cloth as any women’s advertisement driven fashion magazine (no surprise as it’s from the creator’s of Men’s Health) but it holds under the guise of upper class male reading material. The saving factor of this rag however is the quality of some of its articles.
Articles such as “Multitasking at Mach 2″ which follows the physical training of an F-22 Raptor fighter pilot and the massive stresses they choose/have to endure. Or “Sounding Out Prostate Cancer” which explores a new method of treating prostate cancer that appears to be safer, more effective, greatly reduces rates of impotence and surprise surprise isn’t approved by the FDA. Each article is well written but won’t win any awards anytime soon. Interestingly enough in order to justify the title of “Best Life” the magazine attempts to show how these articles relate to the reader by creating how-to’s on the same page such as; how to eat for reducing cancer and how to work out like a fighter pilot.
While the articles are relatively good the magazine stinks (literally as it contains cologne samples) of disconnected rich upper class values or perceived values. Values where environmentalism is no more than a fashion (a section entitled The Green Zone containing more advertisement than substance) and movie stars are celebrated as heroes (an article entitled “The Wild Promise of Eddie Burns).
The photography reflects this as well. Shot in variety of black and white, color and sometimes silently out of focus the subjects are often seen in industrial locations and aggressive stances that seem to say “I’m better than you and I know it”. Ironically this stance of “I’m Better” is used to sell clothing that the subjects wear, in the hope’s of subjugating the reader with envy and want.
So I say if you every want to know the worth of a periodical, you can’t judge a book by its cover but you can judge a magazine by its smell.
09.24.07
Nancy Dis’Grace
So lately I’ve taken to flipping through the tv channels when I manage to squeeze time between classes, my social life and real life obligations. During my surfing sessions I’ve found wonderfully entertaining programs like; Ninja Warrior, Hogan Knows Best and most of the Discovery Channel line up (i.e. Survivor Man and Dirty Jobs).
However during my flipping I occasionally stop at one of the two CNN news broadcast offered here. One is normally up to date news and the other is complete crap. For example I point to Nancy Grace.
This woman (of which I have plenty of other choice words to describe her as) is no more than a self important middle age fascist. If you don’t agree with her then your wrong.
Case in point, today there was a young black man attempting to discuss and explain his position on the Free the Jena 6 issue. Well, during his calm and obviously thought out argument he let slip the term “hard-on”. As in, ‘the court system has no more than a “hard-on” to convict some of the accused members with elevated sentences.’ While this may be an innocent slip of what I perceive as non-offensive terminology, Ms. Grace does not.
Grace upon hearing such deemed offensive language proceeded to interrupt and berate the young man saying, “Excuse me! But “hard-on” is not recognized legal terminology!”
As if she was the guys mother scorning him for saying a dirty word. Oh! And we know she’s utterly legally correct in her language all the time.
The young man obviously confused at the fact that this “news anchor” was worried about his “dirty mouth” instead of the actual news they where supposed to be discussing, apologized and said that he would try to keep his colloquialisms in check. To which Ms. Grace rudely said “yeah!” and rolled her eyes.
This is but a surface skim of the terribly poor and offensive interviewing practices I’ve seen on her show. However the saddest thing is that the majority of the preceding and following “news”-like programs on CNN follow her statute of being really loud, using flashy gimmicks and conveying very little useful information that will effect the common man’s life(i.e. celebrities and buzz topics).
In addition I can only hope she doesn’t find her long lost twin brother Bill O’Reilly, consummate and birth the apocalypses.
09.23.07
Dusty but Still Kickin’
Mars Rovers Survive Severe Dust Storms, Ready For Next Objectives
I still find it amazing that the two Mars Rovers, Spirit (landed January 4, 2004) and Opportunity (landed January 25, 2004) are still up and running and sending valuable after 13 times their primary mission length (90 days sol).
How this story is being treated as same old same old confounds me. Yes it’s a bit soft but surely this feat of engineering deserves more notice than the recent OJ debacle. Ah but maybe the latest GQ article The Brain Dead Mega Phone (which strangely I couldn’t find on the GQ website, however I’m not surprised, a lot of magazine have yet to catch up with the web) is right. The article plays with analogies to illustrate the lack of depth in todays news and the reasons why this has come about. I find his analysis a bit pessimistic but then again maybe I’m just wishful that people can’t and won’t sustain themselves on nothing but junk food information indefinitely.
09.17.07
Role Playing and Role Models
Children log onto corporate websites for socializing and gaming.
While this activity may sound harmless and presumably safe, it’s in fact something I believe every parent should be concerned about. I mean sure it’s a big corporation, and kids are assumed to be safe from sexual predators, but what about the capitalist predator controlling the children’s playing environment?
Is no one concerned about what messages are being conveyed? Is the Pokemon slogan “Gotta catch(i.e buy) ‘em all” going unnoticed and accepted or even dare I say embraced as a modern value? The social network websites purported in this story appear to be really no more than a grounds to encourage materialism.
“Broadly speaking, sites like Club Penguin allow kids to pick out an avatar that they guide through activities. As far as I could tell, this consists mostly of shopping and decorating.”
What is this? The 1980’s with a modern tech twist? Are we going to see Madonna and Prince try and make a comeback?
…….. oh I see, well lets bust out our Flock of Seagulls and Breakfast Club albums we’ve all been hiding and call it a day.
09.15.07
Wow
A politicians son actually goes to war? The move is obviously symbolic and I’m sure Governor Palin is sure to capitalize upon it, but with good justification, who here wouldn’t? However once you get past the political and symbolic reasons, it still makes you say wow.
Also, interesting that a counterintelligence agent would be found dead and very little information is available since the discovery. The earliest post I could find was from the 6th of September and no new information has been released yet.
Finally, stories of the excavation of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley and searching for a lost fleet of whaling ships in the same week? Kind of makes you want to become an underwater archaeologist aye?
