@Scout:Is either version "real", when the model is playing to another person, male or female? (I don't have an answer. It's more of a question/thought.)...It just seems that having a camera aimed at you would produce an image that's not "real" in the sense of the subject's actual personality- no matter who's behind the camera. Now, I wonder if that's what you meant....
@dj_chick:Society still believes that if a boy makes something, it's inherently better than if that same thing originated from a female. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe that underlying idea is always there.
@Phyllis Nefler: I always thought this [what you said] might be the reality behind the scenes. I know I'm dating myself by saying it- but, Joan Jett is the only balls out, female rocker I can think of at the moment (that's been around a LONG time), and I think she would've been a bigger star, had she been a man. That's incredibly fucked up. The other legendary frontmen of rock are all, well, MEN (Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, David Lee Roth, Freddie Mercury),....
*ahem-diclaimer: Yes, everyone mentioned above is OLDER. I left it at these guys because while we have many current, younger frontmen- most of them will be forgotten in five minutes in order to make room for the next internet superstar. It's WAAAAY harder to hold people's attention for decades these days.
@AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope: They weren't shaved- they were covered with some sort of prosthetic makeup for photos.
@Vivelafat says Sweep the leg, Johnny.: Guy Fieri is the Sammy Hagar of Food Network (if you're too young to know who that is- carry on).
@nora charles: You make such a good point about the internet...There's also the reality that prior to the internet, the music industry had a million gatekeepers, or barriers to success. Your band might play how many nights, weeks, YEARS at local clubs while trying to luck out & get signed. Then, after you finally managed to get signed, the record company finagles press coverage for you through the few media outlets available at the time. It was a LOT harder to become famous prior to the nineties....Also, many younger bands seem to perform in a way that is utterly self- conscious these days. Most really young people I talk to don't understand the pure spectacle that live shows used to be. I remember seeing Rick James live when I was 8 yrs. old. He came on stage high as hell, smoking a joint, wearing some outfit that looked like it came off a Star Trek movie set. I was too young to see Van Halen when they came to my town in 1979, but I've seen the video since- bands don't do shit like that anymore. It seems that people (and the music they produce) is just so conscious of looking "cool", that they don't do anything that's really OUT THERE anymore. So much seems to be very "hipsterish, thought-out-cool"....It's a very Weezer, Kings of Leon thing that I can't put my finger on. I guess these bands just come off like, if your next door neighbor in Colorado Springs happens to be able to sing. I dunno, while I enjoy a lot of newer music, many people have the talent, but no "magic".
I had the good fortune to see M. Jackson live, twice in my lifetime- and that was the definition of spectacle. It was jaw- dropping, & I wasn't even a rabid fan. The only other live performer that I've seen who possessed this degree of unexplainable magic is Prince- and that's still a very different beast....Through his personal trials, I was very angry at him, bc I believed he was guilty. But, at the same time, I feel like the world has suffered a great loss. In a world where I can make myself famous by next week, if I'm willing to sell my soul & dignity, he is representative of a time when people had to pay a lot more dues to get into the spotlight. Also, approximately 770 million records sold? Jesus. I have nothing but respect for his memory, & I feel blessed to have witnessed his talent and life.
@Cole23: Oh yeah, my best friend sounds just like yours. We'd do anything for each other, but we don't have to be all over each other all the time to know that the other person can be depended upon.
@Cole23: Exactly. I hear so much judgment on here about women who don't have a gaggle of girlfriends for "support", or whatever. Well, I hope the people on here making those statements, take being busy into account. I have also had very few friends because I've always worked A LOT. I sometimes wonder where people are finding this hanging out time. I just don't have much of it to go around. If I have free time, I'm spending it on creative projects- not hanging around just talking with other people.
I think one reason that we keep seeing books like this getting published, is that it keeps fueling the flames under this "women hate each other" trope. I think if any author is out there writing from another point of view- that book won't get green lit, so to speak. In turn, this shit gets published, and all the people who think this way already, come out with their big "amens". I have seen the frenemy thing in action, however, I don't believe it's sex- specific. I just believe that every individual has very few TRUE friends. I have a number of people I like a lot, but there's only one friend that I'd risk my own life to save. Also, do a lot of people have someone they tell all their business to, like these characters in this book (Wendy)? I don't do this with relatives OR friends. Maybe there's less strife if you don't have diarrhea of the mouth. What people don't know, they can't get mad about.
@HarpMadness: I just wish it weren't the truth.
@HarpMadness: I'd like to call that the No Behavioral Standards For Men Rule. It seems that the bar of expectation is so low (or not there at all), that they get a damn parade just for doing what any decent person should do in any given situation.
@dangerface!: That sounds about right. Recently, I was in a MAC store, and every female employee looked like Jenna Jameson, circa 2002. Now, I'm in this store enough to have seen the other employees who weren't on schedule at the time. But, the two black girls that also work there look like what? Two brown Jenna Jameson's. I bet MAC didn't put this in writing, but apparently some managers are using a porn aesthetic to determine if you deserve a job.
For a second, I thought it was Tonya Harding. This woman looks like she could be a sister or first cousin.
@NefariousNewt: ...please excuse the punctuation & grammar. I'm one who needs a Preview button.
@NefariousNewt: I always think about this when I see the stories about children working in sweatshops. While everyone clutches their pearls and gets the vapors while they watch the footage, I don't think most people give a crap. Hell, it's not their kid working in those conditions, and I think the geographical distance (plus racial distance)really adds to the apathy....That same thought process probably applies when people go shopping. You're usually in a happy place when you're shopping. Even if most people are aware of A&F's policies, if they spy some crap they want through the window, they'll buy it. Another thing that factors into this: today, many individuals don't feel like they really can make a difference in the world. So, they figure A&F will be in the same place whether they, as an individual, shops there, or not.
I'd like to ask Joan Rivers why she's not afraid of going under anesthesia so often. I have a hard time with the idea of elective surgery due more to the small chance of death, than the surgery itself. I wonder how these people aren't terrified. It seems if you wake up the first time, you count your blessings, and skip off into the woods all happy & shit, never to return to the operating table.
Has it ever occurred to these people that the same woman can like both pretty men & rugged ones, AT THE SAME TIME?
@NefariousNewt: Many, many people can know something atrocious is going on behind the scenes, and still not care. When you sell something that people like, a very large number of those very same people will turn a blind, knowing eye to all of it, while handing over great wads of cash for their purchases. Is it right? No. But, I just don't think most people give a damn. Hopefully, I'm wrong- but, I don't believe I am.
@curiousgeorgiana: The email is insane. However, it just seems to me that they are the company that was somehow stupid enough to put their policy in writing. I wonder what the directives say for Lancome, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown,insert-every-other-dept.-store here, etc. I'd like to torch A. & Fitch's headquarters, but if you look at the people that sell various brands, you'll notice that there must be a "looks policy" in place, whether it's written or not- and I'm not speaking of wardrobe here. This is not just discrimination that impacts someone's self esteem, either. At least where I live, the women who are employed in cosmetics as well as certain boutiques (all where you have to have a "look"), are paid more money per hour than a general off-the-street-in-appearance salesperson. So, a person who's considered unattractive can have a side of poverty to go with their hurt feelings....I'd LOVE to see the rules at a lot of these places, actually.
@JoAnna Hussein Black: It may not be a big deal in the mind of the person who said it to you. In the deep South, people will call you ma'am when you're 14 yrs. old. I guess there just isn't another word that works as well for them(?).
