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We were remiss in pointing out this interview with Mark-Kate and Ashley Olsen in Times on Friday, but here is one part that caught our eye: "Although it is nearly impossible to imagine Paris Hilton citing Dickens, what most distinguishes the Olsens from their peers in the tabloids is a resistance to certain kinds of recklessness on the one hand and a decidedly less egomaniacal approach to branding on the other. Ms. Hilton commodifies the image of a sexually untamed heiress — herself. But the Olsens sell a wide variety of products that have nothing to do with their lifestyle, a concept they have purposefully left vague." Thoughts? [NY Times] More »
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"I think I was put on this earth to instill self-esteem in young girls," Tyra Banks tells Lynn Hirschberg, who wrote this Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story on the model turned mogul. And that's what she's been telling the rest of us for the past five years since ANTM debuted. Throughout the lengthy article, Tyra — who named her company Bankable Productions — seems to be justifying her crossover success and subsequent mega-wealth. ("Banks makes an estimated $18 million a year, and her net worth is around $75 million.") She'd have you believe that, ultimately, she's in this media game to help out 18 - 34-year-old women. How fitting then, that that happens to be the exact demographic coveted by advertisers! It's not so weird that we question whether someone is only interested in"instilling self-esteem in young women" when that someone built her empire on a competition-based reality show about modeling. What is weird is that Tyra feels the need to couch her seemingly endless career goals in humanitarianism, as though her ambition needs to have a heart as big as her weave. The answer is that she knows if she doesn't say that shit, she'll look like a money-grubbing asshole. The question, however, is: Why aren't women allowed to be as shamelessly mercenary as men? More »
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