Barbie Turns Fifty

"This March, Barbie Millicent Roberts will turn 50.

"We know her as the age-immune creature Barbie, 11 1/2 inches of plastic delivered by Mattel onto our cultural landscape in a zebra-striped bathing suit.

"She has been painted by Warhol, scrutinized by intellectuals, sabotaged by pranksters, pilloried by cultural critics and purchased more than a billion times.

"Margaux Lange figures she was about 4 or 5 when she got her first Barbie. “I remember very quickly becoming obsessed with collecting as many as I possibly could,” she says.

"Eventually she had around 50. 'I played with them, embarrassingly, until about seventh or eighth grade. In secret.'

"She’s 29 now and makes jewelry for a living; in her studio, along with her soldering torch and other standard tools of the trade, is a much larger Barbie collection.

"But these dolls are mostly in pieces, stored in stacked plastic boxes marked with phrases like “One Eye” or “Mouths With Teeth.”

Read more from today's New York Times Magazine.

Do You Know The Way To Titty Ho?

For those lucky few of you planning a vacation trip to England in the near future, this map contains some interesting desinations, photo ops and postmark opportunities.

"In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

"Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.

"These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

"As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.

“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”

Another Look At The Inaugural Speech

I'm not a regular viewer of "The Daily Show," so thanks to my friend Donna for sending this video, and snapping me back to reality (wait a second or two for it to load).

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose?

So I Guess Size Really Does Matter

The London Times reports that:

"Scientists have found that the pleasure women get from making love is directly linked to the size of their partner’s bank balance.

"The study is certain to prove controversial, suggesting that women are inherently programmed to be gold-diggers.

"However, it fits into a wider body of research known as evolutionary psychology which suggests that both men and women are genetically predisposed to ruthlessly exploit each other to achieve the best chances of survival for their genes.

"The female orgasm is the focus of much research because it appears to have no reproductive purpose. Women can become pregnant whatever their pleasure levels.

"Pollet, and Professor Daniel Nettle, his co-author, believed, however, that the female orgasm is an evolutionary adaptation that drives women to choose and retain high-quality partners."

I guess, in the case of Donald Trump, it's all about the meaning of "high quality."

And in the case of Pamela Anderson, well, whatever...

1/20/09

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

"Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations."

"Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake."

"And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

(Click here for the full text of the Inaugural Address)

Smaller Than Life


"We like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella ["Nixon and Frost"].

"So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down.

"Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat.

"He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby.

"He is smaller than life."
--Frank Rich

Big Love Season Three

I haven't watched "Big Love" as regularly as Mad Men" or "Weeds", but I've set the DVR to record new episodes of Season Three, which debuted on HBO last night.

This has as much to do with the end of the NFL Playoffs, and the awful hiatus before the baseball season starts, as it does with the show itself.

But what I've seen of "Big Love" has been interesting, in the way that science fiction is interesting as it deals with alternate universes -- a notion reinforced by the endless coverage of the Texas polygamy community last year.

I'll let you know whether I'm able to stick with the show when Spring finally arrives.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

When I was a kid, "Paint-By-Numbers" kits were all the rage, and I thought I was on my way to becoming an artist because I could fill in the colors between the lines.

Then in college I met my wife-to-be, discovered how a real artist works, and got busy finding more practical things to do with my life. But I've stayed interested in the creative process.

I don't know whether this is art, but it sure is fun to watch:



Speed painting by Nico Di Mattia

Virginity Auction Now At $3.8 Million

Click here for an update to the following post from September

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 22-year-old woman in the United States is publicly auctioning her virginity to pay for her college education, sparking a heated online debate about sex and morality.

The student from San Diego, California, who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for "safety reasons," said she had no moral dilemma with her decision and found it "empowering".

"I don't think auctioning my virginity will solve all my problems," she told celebrity television show The Insider on Wednesday. "But it will create some financial stability. I'm ready for the controversy, I know it will come along. I'm ready to do this. We live in a capitalist society. Why shouldn't I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?" she added.

The woman, who has earned a bachelor degree in women's studies and now wants to start a master's degree in marriage and family therapy, is hoping the bidding will hit $1 million. The online auction site eBay turned her down so the auction will take place at a Nevada brothel, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, where her sister is working to pay off her college debts. The date for the auction was not immediately available.

In a flurry of media interviews and appearances, she admitted that her mother, a fourth grade teacher, does not agree with her decision.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Team Of Vipers: Bob Woodward On W

Some pretty interesting stuff in the Washington Post, from our best political journalist.

Here's a sample:

"Presidents set the tone. Don't be passive or tolerate virulent divisions."

"In the fall of 2002, Bush personally witnessed a startling face-off between National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the White House Situation Room after Rumsfeld had briefed the National Security Council on the Iraq war plan.

"Rice wanted to hold onto a copy of the Pentagon briefing slides, code-named Polo Step.

"You won't be needing that," Rumsfeld said, reaching across the table and snatching the Top Secret packet away from Rice -- in front of the president.

"I'll let you two work it out," Bush said, then turned and walked out. Rice had to send an aide to the Pentagon to get a bootlegged copy from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Bush should never have put up with Rumsfeld's power play. Instead of a team of rivals, Bush wound up with a team of back-stabbers with long-running, poisonous disagreements about foreign policy fundamentals."