NY Mag: “Encouraged to tell so many white lies and hearing so many others, children gradually get comfortable with being disingenuous. Insincerity becomes, literally, a daily occurrence. They learn that honesty only creates conflict, and dishonesty is an easy way to avoid conflict. And while they don’t confuse white-lie situations with lying to cover their misdeeds, they bring this emotional groundwork from one circumstance to the other.”
Important lessons: Honesty is for jerks.
I look forward to longer days all February. When the cats start shedding more, I actually enjoy it because it’s a sign that there’s going to be more light in my life. And when I read stories like this one, about a town that gets sunlight only from March to October, I thank my lucky stars I live somewhere that has at least a little natural light all year round.
A few days ago, Flynn showed me all these ultra-emo illustrations of drowning wolves that populate DeviantArt, and they seem to go so well with the Mountain Goats song “No Children,” but not perfectly. I mean, the lines “I am drowning, there is no sign of land, you are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand” would make a great painting. Way better than just a lonely drowning wolf. A drowning wolf just says “everything sucks.” On the other hand, a drowning person pulling the rescuers down with him — that adds action and irony.
If you wanted to be particularly clever you could start with a reference to a certain other hand-in-unlovable-hand moment.
I know people like Ed Champion thought “Juno” was precious and not in a good way. I enjoyed it. I was not overwhelmed with joy and I did not go out and buy a hamburger phone after seeing it.
I certainly did not feel any sort of need for a hamburger dress. (Thx to Murketing).
The Specials song “Friday Night, Saturday Morning” isn’t a great piece of art. But it’s pretty good. I think I like the Nouvelle Vague version better… here’s the original in video form:
Tim Gunn insulted Hillary Clinton’s fashion choices on “Conan” the other night, and as frivolous as that is – a catty comment from a fashion expert on a late-night comedy show is not much of a sting for a grownup – I’m increasingly irritated with it. Yes, I expect Tim Gunn to talk about fashion, and everybody talks about what Clinton wears – even she does, and quite critically at times. She’s not a clotheshorse. She dresses appropriately for her job. Whatever. Can we get on with it?
I’m increasingly irritated by a misogyny that I’ve never really seen before. People can’t or wont take women seriously at the top level of politics, but I see it in tech, and virulently in film and media. Wolcott is on the case, of course, but that’s not exactly going to help much. Oh no, some guy from Vanity Fair is calling out the prejudices of our time.
And this Rocketboom video of general ignorance isn’t exactly encouraging. I can only hope it’s some kind of hoax.
Here’s the Tim Gunn clip, in which he smears Clinton as “mannish,” which he surely knows is about as classy as just out-and-out calling her a man-hating dyke:
For awhile, it was a staple argument of the right that the New York Times was a liberal mouthpiece. My grandfather the Admiral used to say that, back in the sixties. But I guess forty years of being criticized for being too reality-based eventually drove the Times to start hiring some right-wing partisan hacks. And now, in addition to the disdain of the right, the NYT has earned the disdain of the left by publishing David Brooks. For the reaction of right-thinking, well-meaning, intelligent individuals, we have only to look to Brad Delong, who says:
Everybody like me has a big problem with Brooks…. Has he just not done his homework, and does he not know that his program doesn’t add up–is he just lazy? Or does he know very well that his proposals are b—s— and not care because he is not in the informing-the-public business but is instead playing some deep political game to try to get White House mess privileges for his friends? Or both?
And everybody like me has a big problem with an organization–like the New York Times–that gives a platform to Brooks. Don’t they have any ethics? Don’t they think they ought to be in the inform-the-public business? Yet there is not even a single phone call from an editor saying, “David, it’s your column, but this just doesn’t add up…”
My local Times subsidiary, the Boston Globe, is at least as much in thrall to right-wing idiocy and at least as deserving of scorn from those on both the right and left sides of the political spectrum. Why else would they publish Jeff Jacoby? This week he’s arguing, more or less, that Barack Obama is a communist dictator in waiting, and you can tell because one volunteer in Texas thinks Cuba’s flag looks pretty cool.
I assume the lone moderate at any party loves both the Times and the Globe; this would explain their circulation numbers.
Motorcyclists in Boston seem to be out in force up through October, and then all the Craigslist ads looking for winter storage space start to appear. But the scooterists seem to stay out all year round. I’ve seen people riding around all winter on scooters, sometimes even in the sleet and ice. Yesterday it was twenty-five degrees and I saw a kid on a Honda Metropolitan riding through Davis Square. With no gloves on.
This isn’t just the Boston Stranglers Scooter Club — it’s just random people on scooters. I’m telling you, scooter people are hardcore. It’s not just in Boston, either: check out this video about the Chicago hip-hop moped scene called “Throw A Kit…”
Item One: Ever copy someone else’s dating profile? I often google for phrases I think people might crib from me, but I’ve never found it.
Item Two: I’ve decided that my favorite “American Idol” contestant is Luke Menard. Not because of his talent, but because his name reminds me of the short story “Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote.”
Item Three: People I know keep being surprised that I am working as a television critic and pop-culture blogger. So, FYI: Since about June, I’ve been writing almost all of Glitterati Gossip and about half of TV With MeeVee.
Secretly Ironic 
