Pandora Walks

zzzzz pandora zzzzz

Video Victuals

Fluffy Dollars sending out some hits to y'all! With shout-outs!

This one is goin' out to Jenny Rowe! Keep on keeping on!



This one is goin' out to Nick Hennies! We need to do a LT remix of this pronto!:

My Pandora

with music



and without


I love my dog. You probably knew that.

Annoying Boy of the Week: Jason from MTV's "The Hills"

The Hills centers on Lauren, one of the main cast members from past seasons of LB. The credited cast is limited to four women, and the swirl of LA lights and spangly dresses juxtaposed with the interiors of the teen vogue offices (where Lauren interns) and FIDM (where Lauren goes to school) in the show's intro give one the sense that The Hills is a sort of west coast, post MTM, post-SATC saga of four young women. Lauren, while spoiled, seems like a pretty nice person, and the three other women on the show are also pretty likeable. Despite her prissy upbringing, Lauren appears to be a very hard worker and seems genuinely motivated to get her life on track. She also seems like a pretty good friend. Too bad her boyfriend is a monster.

Jason Wahler (aka "Jay-Wall") never talks to Lauren. When he does, he says fucked up shit like "I want you to never talk" or "You keep making mistake after mistake" even though all Lauren ever does is forgive him and buy him expensive gifts like golf clubs and dog tags. His attitude towards her is hardly loving or affectionate or even -- dare I say it -- sexual; he literally treats her like property -- forbidding her to talk to other men, even if it's for her job. He pouts and scowls when Lauren tells him she was sad when he decided to spend his birthday doing lines and partying with high school skanks instead of cuddling with her. His reaction to her articulation of any feeling other than submission is either volatile or sulky. He threatens to break up with her on New Year's Eve because Lauren answered her phone (it was another guy calling), even thought the event happened days before new year's. On Lauren's birthday, he rents a room at the Standard, but then sulks when Lauren wants to hang out in the room instead of going out. I'm sorry, but why the hell would you get a hotel room if you didn't want to take bubble baths together or feed each other strawberries or, I don't know, have sex without your roommates being around. I can only guess that Jason wanted to go out because he needed some blow. Either that, or he doesn't really like Lauren. My hunch is that it is probably both.

I read on a message board somewhere that Jason is bipolar, so that could explain the moodiness. But moody or not -- he treats Lauren like shit and should be held accountable. I also read that he's been in and out of rehab for coke and alcohol, that he never finished high school, and that he used to hit ex-girlfriend Alex M (also from LB season 2). On LB we saw him treat ex-gf Jessica like dirt, then we saw him kiss Jessica in front of Lauren even though he had already started dating Lauren. He's a total ass, and I have no idea why Lauren even got back together with him. One of our friends has speculated that he must be, er, well endowed if you know what I mean. But he's so abusive and so volatile that I'm always half-expecting the crew to drop their cameras and stage some sort of intervention.

The Hills makes me wonder what the current climate of reality tv ethics is really like. When Ruthie, one of the cast members of Real World Hawaii, developed a drinking problem, she was asked to leave the show and get help. On this season of the Real World, there are three women. One of them has been raped, and another one of them physically abused. The one whose boyfriend used to hit her is also suffering from an eating disorder. On The Hills, we see Lauren subjected to Jason's manipulative and erratic behavior episode after episode. Though each conflict is later reflected on as a "silly fight" or Jason just "being a guy," it's hard not to imagine what the long term effects might be. It's sorta like watching someone cut down a tree with a kitchen knife.

This does not seem okay to me, but is it weird that I'm surprised? The irony of living in a such a highly litigious culture has had me thinking that -- despite all the potential for exploitation -- execs and producers of reality shows would not only be wary of endangering their subjects, but would be unable to stand by by idly should a dangerous interpersonal situation develop. But lately I've begun to suspect this notion of mine is incredibly naive. I mean, if producers are not going to step in when people are hitting and punching each other, they're not going to do jack shit about someone's misogynistic and emotionally abusive boyfriend.

So is this evidence that MTV's version of reality totally sucks? Or does it simply confirm that the whole genre of "reality tv" is just plain voyeuristic and unethical and sick? And what about those of us watching?

My sense is that Lauren and Jason's relationship is particularly bad, but I'm worried that the reactionary climate of gender relations depicted on this show (and so many others) is actually more typical that I could ever guess. I find the fact that this behavior is perceived to be normal by Lauren and her friends terribly troubling, and I worry that the show's main audience -- young women -- might also perceive it to be okay.

Long Telegram, NAFTA

The Long Telegram:




and this:

Ten Pounds To The Sound
presents

The NAFTA (TLC) Tratado de Libre Comercio
Farewell Concert
w/

NAFTA
Chris Cogburn . percussion . USA
Juan Garcia . double bass . Mexico
Kurt Newman . acoustic guitar . Canada


Friday, July 21st, 2006
Okay Mountain Gallery
1312 E. Cesar Chavez, Ste. B
(at Navasota - behind the Pinata store)
www.okaymountain.com

Gallery opens at 7pm
Music begins at 8pm
admission is FREE
refreshments provided - byob encouraged

In celebration of the deterioration of Late Stage Capitalism and the transition to the rising Western Hemisphere Socialism, Ten Pounds To The Sound is proud to present a farewell concert for two of Texas' most beloved improvising musicians - Juan Garcia (originally from Monterrey, Mexico) and Kurt Newman (from Toronto, Canada). Both are leaving the tender state of Texas later this summer for the sunny optimisms of Arizona and California, respectively.

Juan and Kurt have both given a remarkable amount of time, energy and creativity to those lucky enough to have performed, worked and studied with them. Their contributions to the creative communities of Austin and Houston are invaluable, and will be dearly missed - though often reflected upon and "inspired by"...

Best Quote Ever!

"If Vincent Van Gogh had my personality, he may not have had to cut off his ear."

-- Santino Rice, on the casting special for Project Runway Season 3

Annoying Boy of the Week: Tyler from Real World Key West

I hate Tyler. It almost seems pointless to even write about him because I find it difficult to believe that anyone actually watches this show. I mean, it's really really boring. While I'll admit that the "content-less-ness" of LB and The Hills is freaking brilliant (the fantasy is constructed by a meticulous collaging of scenery and expressions; I swear, each show has six words or less, and most of those are in the voice overs), whatever is or isn't happening on the real world is so generic and so predictable and so without any sort of style that I think you'd have a hard time getting a pair of shoes or box of tissues to watch this show, let alone any sentient being. But I digress...Tyler.

Tyler is the biggest prick I've seen on TV in awhile. He could give those entourage boys a run for their money, and he isn't even playing a character -- he's just playing himself. He's bitchy, manipulative, and mean as nails. He tortures he roommates for fun, and he especially loves to torture Svetlana (who, btw, is the only cast member who is even remotely interesting and is only 19. Tyler is a prissy 23 y.o. graduate of Tufts.). In the last episode I saw, Tyler compared Svetlana to a puppy who "needs to be punished...so that's what I did...I punished her." Yuck. He keeps a log of all the "stupid things" that Svetlana has said (I would counter that Svetlana says totally awesome stuff like "is the Everglades a mall?" and "my cat can say 'hello, Svetlana'"). When Svetlana finds the book, it make her cry, and prompts her to call her mom. At this point, Tyler has done enough grisly stuff to Svetlana to make any mama mad. So of course S's mom tries to comfort Svet by telling her to ignore the behavior of these "low lifes." Tyler, who of course cannot resist eavesdropping, overhears S's mama say this, and cannot resist jumping in. Next thing you know, he's yelling over S.'s shoulder into the phone. Yup, he's yelling at HER MOTHER. WHAT. THE. FUCK???? He then writes S a nasty note -- in which he calls her a "low-life" bitch -- and tapes it to her door. What a nasty freak.

Anyway, you get the idea. I can't really write anymore because I'm starting to feel sick. I'll just note that it's sad that Tyler seems so eager to play into the stereotype of the "mean gay guy." Get a life already.


also, the mtv website is really annoying.

View Blinders

So the whole debacle surrounding Star Jones's departure from The View has been interesting to me for several reasons, but mostly because the conflict and the way it has been reported/represented illustrates the way in which "the catfight" phenom is totally dependent on the surrounding context -- that is, a climate in which women's bodies (Star), sexuality (Rosie), and power (Walters) are constantly subjected to scrutiny. I'm not saying that in an alternate universe these women would be best friends, and I'm not saying that I'd ever want to be stuck in an elevator with one of them or seated next to one of them on a long plane ride, and I'm not saying that they haven't behaved in a way that is unsavory. But I do think that the contours of the the conflict and the way it is being talked about have a lot in common with the way "mean girls" and " the hidden culture of aggression in girls" were being discussed in the media several years ago. It seems people are all to eager to believe that women/girls are inherently "mean" and "bitchy" and that this behaviour has nothing to do with big picture gender-dynamics. Nevermind that all the late night talk shows are hosted by men, that (until very recently) all the evening news anchors were men, and that women are typically expected to be thin and pretty and agreeable and straight if they're going to make it on the big or little screen.

I've been trying to think of comparable conflicts between male media folks/co-hosts. With men, conflicts are often depicted as a "letterman vs. CBS" capitalist/ceo fight or an uber-masculine "Jay-Z vs. _____" heroic-boast Beowulf throw-back fight. Obviously, aggression between men is much more acceptable, especially when it's validated by a quest for the almighty dollar.

Anyway, I've never been a fan of the view. There are times when I've felt it had its merits, though I can't remember what I ever thought those merits might have been. I have this feeling that they've all "sold out;" the show reeks of bush-era complacency/lethargy, and that's disappointing. They're in an industry that they cannot challenge without imperiling their own success. This is true for most people in showbiz, but seems especially true for women. I am curious to see how Rosie will be integrated into the show. The fact that she's out and writes this crazy pseudo-poetry blog make her seem mildly interesting. But I'm not holding my breath.

*btw, if you do an image search for "the view" on google, you mostly get pics of star jones.

I love Dominique!

If it were not for Aundrea and D. Woods, I wouldn't even watch this season of MTB. Thank MTV I found Dominque's website and her myspace.

my new blog

I haven't had much to say here. I still love the feminism and pop culture, but lately all I want to do is make picturepoems or do weird experiments with type or write rambly prose poems about wood grain and glitter and magnets. So I have a new blog for these experiments called OVARIES and SEQUINS. I'll still be posting here, of course. But if you miss me...

Music Makes You Lose Control

Some pretty weird things afoot in the world of music and politics these days...

My brother kindly alerted to me to Pope Benedict's call for an end to secularoid music during Mass and perhaps in general. Out with the guitars, in with the Gregorian chant and simple polyphony. My reaction? Well, I am not a Catholic, so I don't really have a dog in this race, but I kind of like this pronouncement. Why? Well, of course, not because of the motivation behind the ban: which (I assume) is a rollback of the liberal innovations of the Second Vatican Council, to appease the Scalias and other rightwing ultras/Opus Dei reactionaries, etc. Obviously, we cannot take the loony right's guns away... but perhaps the Pope's statement will encourage voluntary divestiture of guitars.

After watching "God's Next Army," a terrifying documentary on Patrick Henry University in Virginia on the Discovery Times network (thank goodness this channel finally realized that nobody wants to watch endless footage of nerdy Stephen Glass-type journos investigating "wacky Americana" like "gay rodeos"), which featured tomorrow's Grover Norquists and Ralph Reeds strumming guitars while singing about the glory of Christ and the abomination of Congress sunsetting the Estate Tax repeal, I thought: "Good for you, Pope!" We have to keep guitars out of the hands of these conservatives. Now I know that Patrick Henry students are fundamentalist Protestants, not Catholics, but from what I have read, there is a fair bit of common ground between super-right Catholics and Protestants: rejection of evolution, anti-feminism, anti-choice, anti-gay marriage, and support for Bush-style authoritarianism and the War on Terror. Like I said, it is better if these people don't have guitars.




The first time I learned to link the ugliness of state power and the repression of music was, of course, that classic Eighties trifecta: Footloose, Styx's Kilroy Was Here, and Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock" video. A little bit later, in a discussion of the tritone interval that kicks off Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," a helpful Guitar For The Practicing Musician scribe mentioned the Council of Trent's medieval ban on this satanic diminished diad, which led to a lifelong interest in the ways in which the history of music has been shaped by the Church and the State and other ideological and repressive state apparatusussses setting the rules of acceptable and verboten pitch combinations, rhythms, and timbres. The Pope's ruling is directly in line with this tradition, which, since Plato, has worried mostly about the subversive effects of musical sounds not subordinate to textual meaning. Perhaps some young Catholic kid out there is going to go to Church one weekend, and notice the guitar accompaniment they like is no longer there, because the Pope said so. I have a feeling that kid is going to start thinking differently about power and authority and art's disruptive potentials.

Not only did the Pope weigh in on matters musical this week, but also George W. Bush managed to sneak in a wonderful music reference yesterday. According to Democracy Now, Bush was showing Japanese President Junichiro Koizumi around Graceland when the Supreme Court's 5-3 ruling on the illegality of military tribunals for WOT detainees was handed down. At the press conference shortly thereafter, he joked to the assembled journalists-- who were about to ask about the status of his administration's policy of locking up foreign subjects without charges for over 5 years, with no idication that their sentences were not interminable, often subjecting them to extreme forms of torture, and denying them even the right to suicide-- that, like Elvis's sweetheart in his famous song, he hoped they would heed his request: "Don't Be Cruel." Here is a lesser-known Elvis lyric with which they might have countered: "Go Fuck Yourself, Douchebag."

Monday Literary Quiz Time!

You scored as White Rabbit. You're constantly worrying about everything, and always in a rush. If you were diagnosed with any psychological ailment, it'd probably be anxiety disorder. White Rabbit 94% Alice 88% The Mad Hatter 63% Caterpillar 56% Tweedle Dee & Dum 50% Cheshire Cat 38% Queen of Hearts 31% Which Alice in Wonderland Character are YOU? created with QuizFarm.com

Cutie Crack feat. Afro Ken

(un)holy HEX

Finally. A new show: HEX.



I'll let you know what I think.

And I love paper

Find your own pose!

It's Trick to Rock Around

Yo, some good shows coming up in the ATX.

1. ) Midori Umi, a radtacular band with porkmuffin (aka paula j smith) @ the 710 on Thursday.

2.) Finally Punk and Kiosk @ the Parlour on Friday.

Also,

a.) I am really into gin. And pinot grigio. I love summer!

b.) for those of you into the p to the o to the erty: FOURSQUARE is the bestest publication I've ever seen. Feel the love.

Fluffy Fluffy Fluffkins (you know you want it)

Wishy Washy Watching

You know how much I love TV, that pretty magic box with the pictures and twinkling people. But these days, well, I can't seem to find *my show.* That said, here are the shows I'm watching.

*Kathy Griffin's My Life of the D List. I think KG is really funny, and at times pretty darn radical. This week the episode is about the time she spent in IRAQ, and that promises to be pretty compelling. I'm curious to see how a show that is basically about Hollywood will depict the war.

*The Hills. Okay, I watch this show. Partly because LC is like this little trembling deer, and partly because Heidi seems to be the first graduate from the Kristen Cavallari School of Acting. These girls are not really interesting, and all the boys on the show are hardly distinguishable from orangutans, but still I will watch. Although I hear Jason is coming back this week and I think he is really really boring, so...

*Making the Band. This first episode of this season was really weak. I just can't get into Shannon. She seems like a nice enough girl, but she lacks charisma. Aundrea is my favorite. The focus of the first episode was on the girls' trip to NOLA for Mardi Gras, and to be honest, it seemed really strange. And sad. Dawn is from NOLA, and the cameras followed the girls into her neighborhood that is basically a huddle of moldy debris. And then she went to her high school, and the girls made a donation of 5k. I have no idea what sort of money the Making the Band girls have, but it is for sure a helluva lot less than Diddy, who owns single pieces of jewelry that could probably fund that school for a year. But that isn't even the point. The point is that Mardi Gras, and the whole push to revive NOLA through tourism seems really fucked up. And the Making the Band girls couldn't really hide their bewilderment and confusion. Dawn especially, who has since relocated to Baltimore, seemed troubled. I mean, she basically went to her old neighborhood and her mom's old business -- both of which were in tatters -- and then got on a float and danced for a handful of white tourists. It just seemed odd. And confused. And sad.

*At some point, I'd like to write more extensively about VH1's Can't Get a Date and National Geographic's The Dog Whisperer, which both seem to be a new kind of self-help show. I like both of these shows very much.

That's all for now. What are you watching?

BRITNEY and the notion of the "BAD MOTHER" or What's Up with Matt Lauer? A few preliminary questions

I've been wanting to post about this for a long time, but I haven't really known how to just jump into a feminist analysis of the "Britney is a bad mom" narrative that's been swelling and breaking over the past months. I'm not a child safety expert, and I'm not a parent, so I come to this without a personal arsenal of expertise. And I'm not really interested in defending Britney even though I've always been tempted to see her as a victim.

Anyhow, I came across this video via ONTD, and it seems like a very strange sort of cultural document, or rather, it seems like a document from a very strange culture.





Here are some initial thoughts/questions:

- Is Matt Lauer the new Barbara Walters? He can really push. Someone has to make a conceptual art piece using footage from this interview spliced with footage from the Tom Cruise interview.

- What role do gender constructions -- specifically constructions of motherhood, girlhood, femininity, and sexuality -- play in the way we talk about Britney. How much has Britney deviated/undermined and complied with/promoted these constructions? How has the "idea" of "Britney Spears" become the site for contradictions and questions about youth, gender, sexuality, celebrity, and class... And to what degree are the dynamics of these questions shaped by fluctuating depictions of Britney as either passive or active -- especially in comparison to other controversial performer/celeb moms (ie Madonna).

- Britney subtly alludes to the role classism has played in her scrutiny (she has often been referred to as "white trash" and the "new Anna Nicole Smith"). I've always sensed a sort of hostility towards Britney because she's a country girl who made a ton of dough.

- Is the criticism of Britney at all influenced by constructions of race? What is the relationship between constructions of race and motherhood? Is there a connection/relationship b/w this and the blatant racism embedded in right-wingers' critiques of welfare?

- How does the media's treatment of Britney relate to other cultural attitudes re: motherhood?

- Is there a precedent for this sort of scrutiny? I'm reaching here, but I can't help thinking about the wives of Henry VIII who were cast off because they did not produce an heir. Or is this scrutiny not really so unusual, and perhaps only seems extraordinary because Britney is so famous?

- How has first-world capitalism influenced notions of parenting? And when, exactly, did the contemporary notion of parenting emerge? What is the history of parenting literature? The history of books like What to Expect when you're Expecting?

Your opinions, ideas, and arguments are much appreciated.