So, Glam or Geek?

MySpace Tries to Glam Up | Newsweek Tech and Business | Newsweek.com.

Definitely, Geek.

10 Questions for Rafael Nadal

10 Questions for Rafael Nadal. I saw this while perusing the Mr Bean Q & A.

Iraq Study Group Report

The report can be downloaded from here for free. I heard it was already no. 18 on Amazon (source: Sales soar for Iraq study).

I saw little bit of the news conference when James Baker et al announced the findings. I was tuning into The View at the time (of course!), and the networks cut into the broadcast.

I'm looking forward to reading this. A lot.

Troops on streets in Fiji's "coup by strangulation"

It's weird to read about warfare and strife in Fiji since I've always pictured it as an exotic tourist destination with serene, beyond gorgeous coastline in the South Pacific, which in itself conjures up images of lazy Sundays lying on the hammock. Something along the lines of this promotional website.

I thought of it as a quiet island whose abundance of gorgeous scenery was the perfect tourist attraction.

Link

Steve Irwin, RIP

You will be missed.

I'm shocked and sad by this news. He was only 44 years old. He died doing what he loved, and I guess that;s his legacy.

(I'm not going to mock his death by mentioning the irony of dying from a stingray like I've seen and read other bloggers and writers do. I've seen too many instances of this kind of behavior happen when a well-known figure dies, or just about anybody dies. I attribute to the American way of dealing with death: We mock then mourn. Sometimes it's unnecessary, and this is coming from a cynic.)

Roger Federer as Religious Experience - Tennis - New York Times

Roger Federer as Religious Experience - Tennis - New York Times. More love for Federer, which is totally deserving. Excellent article. Makes me excited for the US Open although this year will be Agassi's swansong.

The Quiet Farang [NYT]

The Quiet Farang - by John Burdett, author of Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo. This news may be great for JonBennet's parents and those who have followed her death in the States, but for Thailand, this is a public relations nightmare. Thailand's image has suffered, but at the same time, its image as a sex haven have not diminished, but heightened. Once again, Thailand is known as the land of prostitutes and free flowing sex. I hate for that to be the image that many people who only have a fleeting knowledge of Thailand.

Mavs Win Game 7!!!

F*cking Awesome!!!!

Still catching my breath. Full of emotions. It was so damn close. Must. Breath. There were moments there I thought it was over for the Mavs, but they never GAVE UP. I'm so god damn proud to be a Mavs fan. I wish they showed more of the celebration. I couldn't watch the last quarter without screaming or shouting or closing my eyes.

I DVRed just in case they won, and I'm glad I did. I'm going to watch the whole game again. This time I won't be full of tension and anxiety anymore.

MFFL, y'all!

Mavs: Game 6

I'm soooo pissed. They were up 3-2 and playing at home and couldn't finish it out. Dammit. I call momentum to the Spurs in Game 7, especially since they have won two in a row to beat elimination and they have home court advantage. Mavs can still win, and they have won in San Antonio before. So that's encouraging.

The Mavs started out so strong and on a roll, and they fizzled out at the end. God, they have to win the next one, or else they CHOKED. I hated typing that, but it has to be said. Maybe the return of JET will inspire them. I bet it will.

Come on, Mavs. On to the finals!

Osama's Niece Poses in Racy Photo Shoot

"I want to be accepted here, but I feel that everybody's judging me and rejecting me," said the California-born Dufour, a law graduate who lives in New York. "Come on, where's the American spirit? Accept me. I want to be embraced, because my values are like yours. And I'm here. I'm not hiding."

Yup, she definitely had an American upbringing. It shows in the American logic of posing in a 'racy' photo shoot to dispel some myth about you. In this case, that she's not her like her uncle, Osama bin Laden, at all. That's the way to do it. Now people will totally believe you.

[Link]

Bush says he does not live in a bubble

This headline makes me laugh. He "does not live in a bubble?" It's like he's arguing with a kid in the playground, and that kid accuses young Bush of not having a clue, of living in a bubble, but he says "Nah Arggg. I don't live in a bubble. I live in the freaken real world, dude." The headline makes it seem like some 12 year-old girl wrote it. What's the next headline? "The President has popped the bubble he was once living in?" Or "The President is no longer blowing bubbles?" Not eloquent enough, I suppose. The media amuses me. And I in turn amuse myself.

ETA: Baby Bush Toys. A perfect companion for the headline above that makes our President sound really dumb.

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Yawn Contagion

Thank you, NYT. You bought to light something that I’d always thought was true: yawning is an unconscious act. I'd like to forward this to my 8/9th grade business teacher who would rebuke his students for yawning in class. Can you imagine how much fun I had in that class? I think it was the 1st class of the day too, which made it so much worse. And yawning is contagious. I can’t help but yawn. I always get water in my eyes, though, which isn’t a good thing because people think I’m always crying. Nope, I’m not emotionally unstable, I’m just really, really sleepy.

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San Francisco Suspends Officer Over Video #2

After reading a few more articles and reading a few more quotes from him, I feel bad for the guy. I still think the video is stupid, crass, and "sophomoric" as one article puts it. I'm sure he's getting bombarded with hate mail and public distain.

There's a lesson to be learnt in this: Never post anything on the Internet that you're not absolutely sure about because it will come back to bite ya.

[Link]

San Francisco Suspends Officer Over Video

No way. Now this incident and the 49ers incident over the summer. San Fran shouldn't try to become Hollywood. Leave it to the LAers.

Here are my problems with the story:

Cohen said the videos were created as an artistic spoof about life on the force.

"We did this absolutely for morale purposes," he told ABC. "We did it for a Christmas party that was coming up, sort of to roast my former captain. We did it because there are some very fun and interesting characters at the station and we thought it would be fun to showcase and laugh at their idiosyncrasies and personalities."

"After the video was seen, now they're pulling race cards," Cohen added. "It was just made for us, so shame on her," referring to Wong.

His attorney, Daniel Horowitz, said Cohen wasn't informed he was suspended, and paperwork showed he had been moved to a file room. He also defended the videos as art, saying they contained self-analytical material that reflected how the community saw police.

"Andrew Cohen is an artist," Horowitz told ABC. "If you look at the videos you realize that there is social commentary mixed in with what he calls humor."

I think it's crass and shows bad judgment. I have a problem with the term "art" and "artistic". They are both overuse terms, and I'm a little protective of it. I think it only becomes art after he was busted for it. You can't claim "artistic license" after you've been caught. It's the lowest form of art. Bad judgment + bad humor = bad art.

Horowitz's "social commentary” schick makes me laugh. And it comes from a lawyer, no less. You know what's good biting social commentary? Take Animal Farm, for instance. That was great. This is just poor judgment. It shows a lack of imagination. Why does social commentary have to resort to the lowest of lows? Plus, he is a police officer, not apt to biting social commentary to begin with. Leave it to the social commentators to do that. Way to unite people by diving them, badly, I may add. Tearing down stereotypes to build new ones. Well, he fell into a stereotype himself when he made that video with such an obvious satire. Are there no other ways for satire than to resort to humorless jokes to poke fun at the officer’s "idiosyncrasies and personalities?" Does Cohen work with a bunch of humorless and tasteless human beings? The idea is so crass and stupid, and because of this, I can't deem it biting social commentary.

It seems to me more like when guy get together, in my opinion, they either turn into jerks or idiots. Or both. I think that's the case here, and he has to back step and claim artistic license, which is ludicrous. Take responsibility for what you have done, acknowledge that you may have offended some people, and it might be in bad taste, but do not claim that the content on the video amounts to art, in any form what so ever. It's not his intent, but his excuse (or that of his lawyer).

Jeez, why can't Cohen aim for something higher on the intelligence scale? How about a video that depicts him doing community service as part of an outreach program working to unite people in the neighborhood? Show that video at the Christmas party. It's freaken Christmas for crying out loud. Christmas spirit, anyone? What happened to compassion and the spirit of giving?

I hope I get my thoughts across clear enough. All I have to go by on is this article and his words. I have not seen the video, nor do I know any of these people. I just don't agree with his statements, or that of his lawyer. I don't believe these statements to the media really reflect his original intentions. It's all so that he doesn't look like a bigger ass than he already does because he was BUSTED! And it was just plain STUPID.

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--"I too have a choice!"--"Really?"

Came across Bitch Magazine from somewhere and found the idea, concept interesting. The main article right now is, "Freedom of Choice: Parsing the word that defined a generation," by Summer Wood, and I really liked it.
I'll do my best to summarize the article and offer my views on it.

It's about choice and how that word has come/evolved to define women's liberty/movement. The word is often mistakening to define women's live...to mean freedom for women, and that by making a choice it is somehow liberating, when there are other reasons for making that "choice" but it is portrayed as women liberated, taking controll of their lives, displaying independence and will power.

The author, traces the history of the word in terms of women's history, and examines the word in each context. One situation is abortion rights or the right to choose. That word came about as a substitute for right because it was less abrasive. A choice instead of a right to abortion. Other context are platic surgery, commsuerism.

Some things to think about:

While paying lip service to “choice” in its narrowest definition—i.e., preserving Roe—politicians donning the pro-choice mantle continue to neglect the full significance of choice in women’s lives, and the underlying social and economic conditions that constrain or empower us to do much more than choose whether to bake a cake, eat it, or both.

This article struck me because I'm always saying, "I need to make a choice" maybe not in the feminsit view, but just about everyday deicisions. I'm so indecisive that any mention of choice exicites me and scares me at the same time.


Disclaimer: I'm not a die hard feminist, and I don't really think such a thing really exisits anyways. However, I love coming across articles that challenge my views and offers a different perspective than my own. I want a 3-D view on things. Plus, I don't really think it matters if I agree with this article or any other article.

Tom Cruise procreated!

Crazy. That's all I'm gonna say.

I'm sure Nicole Kidman was glad she got out of that marriage when she still could. And proof! She came away from that and became a compelling actress. And she debut pretty high on my girl crush list too. Definite top 10, maybe 5.

Man I missed the crazy couch 'sode Cruise had on Oprah. What's everybody talking about? Is that on the 'net. Can I d/l it? My excuse was that I was half way around the world, and Tom Cruise really didn't factor in to my life then.

[Link]

White Smoke

10:54am: Is it white? It sure looks white. It looks more white and white as time passes.
11:05am: There goes the bells. The Bells. It's ringing!!!

Pope John Paul II: 1920 - 2005

This is so so so so sad.

did i ever tell you about my Backstreet Boys crushin' days?

no, really? Well, that's good.

Nick Carter Busted for DUI

Rejoice, ugly people!

So if ugly is a birthright, then fugly is a choice -- one that more and more people seem to be making. [Salon]

Wow. So it's come to this now. It's not enough to be just damn ugly anymore, there's a higher level—you can be extra ugly now. I suppose all the ugly people can breath a sigh of relief. Ha Ha. They can say. At least I'm not fugly. I'm just plain ugly.

And how appropriate is it that they choose Britney Spear's picture as an example of fugly. She's been in spunk lately.

P.S. I really liked that article. Great read for no other reason than I have nothing better to do than read about celebrities and their fugliness. Plus, for those who hate Uggs, good news: it's considered (gasp) fugly!