And then Tiger Beatdown went and did a post on fashion the day after my fashion rant

"And so when I hear, tights are not pants, or you should wear pantyhose to court, or I wouldn’t wear X cut of a shirt because it doesn’t look good on me, I think, who made these rules? Why are we following them? Why do we passively subscribe to an aesthetic system that requires us to daily fulfill the twin obligations of being “respectful” by not doing anything out of the ordinary and looking as thin and “feminine” as we can muster? I want fashion to be less about making other people comfortable, and more about personal expression and art. There is too much hierarchy. It is too top-down, from a murky top with too many leaders with too many conflicting messages."

Read the article here

taking fashion photography back

About a month ago now there was a post on one of the fashion blogs in my reader that has been stuck in my craw ever since: Read the post here

Excerpt:

Without getting too much into it at the moment, it's an example of a movement that is taking place, right now behind closed doors, by photographers who believe that fashion photography has lost its origin, and has become too commercialized, and too amateures. And they want to take things back, and at the same time dig deeper into their ability to create non tainted work.

Ehh? I'm pretty cynical about the fashion industry since I consume a lot of its imagery and know a fair amount of its hierarchies and yada yada yada. I have a pretty official stance on fashion photography, and it's basically that I want to make it as democratic as possible. I know that some of my ideas vis a vis fashion photos make no sense in terms of business. Okay, fashion on the grand scale is for all people. Everybody wears clothes. How much you buy into certain aesthetics or the luxury aspect of it depends on how much money you have and whether you really give a shit. I mean yeah, there are people out there who wear their t-shirt from the company picnic and their holy cargo shorts and their crocs and pretty much don't care ever, period. I offer no judgment on that. What I'm saying is: because class exists, because there are wealthy people and poor people, there is going to be wealthy fashion and poor fashion. This will result in the really high end luxury fashions and goods being photographed by people who are paid a lot for images that are put in magazines that hawk expensive goods; magazines that are expensive to make. But even knowing all that, I don't buy it. I don't want fashion to be about the luxury goods--I mean, certain articles of clothing can be well made and cost more--but the whole super star designer ball game we've got going on, where designers sign their name to shoes that cost 50 dollars to make and then price them at 5000--this shit does not sit well with me, whether or not it's a fact of life.

Okay, I'm not really looking to take down the entire fashion industry in this post. Obviously I set the scale really high here.

The idea of a fashion movement that wants to take fashion photography "back" makes me nervous. First of all, how does one even take things back to the time before fashion photog was "too commercialized and "amateures"? When was that glorious time in fashion photography history? The 90s? The 80s? Helmut Lang? If you get rid of amateurs in fashion photography, what are we left with? The elitist hierarchy that shoves Lagerfeld and only Lagerfeld down our throats? The kind of photography that demands that women's bodies only look a certain way?

On the other hand, the commercialization of fashion photography (which I'm assuming just means photoshop): now there's something I would like to revolutionize. I want to see real bodies in real contexts wearing these clothes. I want the fantasy but I also want the fantasy to be democratic; i.e. let's stop pitting rich white women as the ultimate goal and let all kinds of bodies participate in the luxury of interesting clothes. And let's get rid of the computer programs that make their skin look like plastic. Let's get rid of that everlasting temptation to remove just a couple inches off the waist, digitally. Or physically, that too.

So I don't know. I hope that this revolution from this blog post, this group of people behind closed doors: I hope they know what they're doing. I hope they do something fantastic and interesting. I hope they use all kinds of models. I hope that their revolution also actually matters, because it would be nice to see something out of the confines of the Vogue monarchy.

But "taking back fashion photography" is entirely missing the point. By all means, change its course. Just don't romanticize the past and miss the forest for the trees.

On Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" Part 2

Some of my more faithful readers may recall this post about how I thought that Taylor Swift's video for "You Belong with Me" should be made with a gay boy as the main character. Well, in this wonderous world of Youtube and Jezebel commenters, my wish is...my command! Check it:

Love this! Love the ending! Gah this makes me happy.

AusNTM cycle 6 coming out this month.

If you read this blog you should know that I'm an avid consumer of the Top Model franchise. ANTM of course if the mother, but Australia's Next Top Model is totally the hip, more attractive younger sister. And as a result of AusNTM, I will forever be in love with Australians. So here is the promo for Cycle 6 (and how amazing is it when Alex Perry says "Expensive"????)

On Racism in the Corporate Lunchroom

I had one of those experiences a couple of days ago. One of those experiences that is the reason I usually hide in my cubicle during lunch: racism in the lunchroom. Oh, it all starts so innocently enough. You work at a majority white corporation that makes school materials that aren't exactly harmless, but on the spectrum from the manufacturing of kitten beds to weaponizing lethal diseases, you would definitely say this company is on the "kitten bed" end of the spectrum. And besides, you think to yourself, you're just a temp anyway. You aren't exactly culpable for any of the crap that goes on here.

So you go down to lunch to eat with all the other white temps in your white washed building except for the Bilingual department where are the Spanish speakers dwell (I kid you the fuck not) and everyone is talking about innocent things. Stuff white people like. The Royal Tenenbaums comes up in conversation. Then the next thing the girl next to you who works in Science is talking about how hilarious it is that when she worked at Chuck E. Cheeze, all of the "gangstas" used to come in wearing hot pink jumpsuits and putting on their chapstick. "You're not scary," she says defiantly, following her speech with, "Don't you guys remember when they were all wearing pink? It was so funny, I wish they still were." Then this other girl, a girl you don't like very much anyway because she made you miss the train once, she decides that she needs to mention that she loves it when "they" "swagger." She then describes a man's swagger that she saw the other day on the street. (And this girl once asked me what it was like to go to a liberal school because her parents are so conservative).

The point of this story is: post-racial society my ass, the only words missing from this conversation are "Black people" and/or "Negroes." This conversation hit me viscerally in many ways because these people do not know who I am. The only thing they know is my name, the fact that I'm also a temp for this corporation, and that I'm white. Without knowing a shred about my personal life or my politics, they assume that they are in safe company .

There is this blogger, Harriet Jacobs. Maybe I've mentioned her before. She runs a pretty kickass blog called Fugitivus (click here to get to it) where she has taken on these issues before. I would feel remiss in addressing any of my experience here without quoting her and her wondrous blog capabilities because often she can say what I cannot. I thought of this excerpt when I was in this situation:

"This is what comes of being the “right” race in a racist society. You are an assumed depository for vile, racist conversations and opinions, and your assumed compatriots operate under the belief that this is not damaging, enraging, difficult, isolating, or painful to hear. I do not feel like an overtly radical person. On the spectrum of anti-racism, I consider myself a tick to the left of moderate. But even that perception is radical, because to get there, I’ve had to move my liberal white friends a whole football field to the right of moderate, into “I’m not racist racist, but I am better, smarter, and more rational than the hypothetical dark masses that exist in my brain” territory." (taken from this post)

What I find so noteworthy about my experience in the lunchroom is that I am complicit in racist statements because I cannot argue with them. It's my job and I make it a point not to talk about my politics, social or otherwise. The best I could do was judge them furiously in my brain; these judgments have been sticking around for several days. Ultimately, what bothers me is that these assumptions are so monolithic: all black people do this and all white people are just waiting to have their moment behind black people's backs. (The "isn't it fun to talk like this" moment). I am not interested in participating in these kinds of discussions with strangers. I don't care what color my skin is: my perceived whiteness should not be an excuse to say racist bullshit around me. Not only do I not want to hear what hateful things are dwelling in other white people's brains, I don't want to be part of that whole post-racial, color-blind system that uses vaguer pronouns to say the same things that white people said 50 years ago.

So yeah, I'm pissed about this still. I know that being a white person who is angry that a bunch of other white people assumed stuff about her because she was white really is a drop in the ocean of systematic racism and that my complaints seem meager. But I can't let this experience slide completely unopposed, even if all I managed was a measly blog post.

Excerpt from Shapely Prose

"And then I started thinking about what it was really like before I’d actually made peace with my body. And what it was really like was this: The Fantasy of Being Thin absolutely dominated my life — even after I’d gotten thin once, found myself just as depressive and scattered and frustrated as always, and then gained all the weight back because, you know, diets don’t work. The reality of being thin didn’t even sink in after all that, because The Fantasy of Being Thin was still far more familiar to me, still what I knew best. I’d spent years and years nurturing that fantasy, and only a couple years as an actual thin person. Reality didn’t have a chance."

Read the rest here

Hey Arnold: nostalgia and nicktoons

Recently my roommate and I discovered that Netflix Instant Watch has a lot of old nicktoons available. I started off obsessively watching Hey Arnold, my favorite of old Nickelodeon cartoons to this day. Then I realized: I know what is wrong with this country. I know what is wrong with the oversexualization of little girls! I know why the celebrity industrial complex is so damn irritating! I even know why Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant! It's because Nickelodeon dropped nicktoons like "Hey Arnold," "Angry Beaver," and "Aaah! Real Monsters." Spongebob remains, but even the Rugrats ended up as tweens.

Hopefully I'll be back to post about other nicktoons that I've watched, but today I'll deal with Hey Arnold exclusively. It's a show that's beautiful in its simplicity: it's about a bunch of kids who attend a public school in New York. They live in Brooklyn and they represent a wide range of socioeconomic statuses, ethnic backgrounds, attitudes, and dress styles. (For the longest time I thought Arnold was wearing a kilt, although now I realize it's a plaid shirt under a sweater). The main character, Arnold, is an orphan living in a boarding house with his grandparents. He is incredibly even-tempered, he understands human motivation, he is kind and big-hearted, and yet he is still a kid who likes popsicles and baseball.

What is so great about the show is its diversity. The characters in the show are not carbon copied young adults who go about their gossipy lives; they include serious character motivations (Mr. Hyunh, one of the boarders, came to New York to look for his daughter, who he gave up for adoption during the Vietnam war). The main female character, Helga, may have a crush on Arnold, but she is no wilting flower. For every moment she spends pining after her Beloved, the next she spends punching that guy who is always wheezing in the nose.

The episode that really convinced me of Hey Arnold's greatness, however, does not heavily feature Arnold. Instead it is an episode about Helga, in which she is not invited to a girls-only sleepover for the girls in her class. Everybody spends most of the episode making fun of Helga for not being girly enough, until she gives in, gets a Fifteen magazine, and gives herself a hilarious makeover.

(Those boobs are totally made of tissue paper, btw). At the end of the episode, she goes to the slumber party, tries to fake her way through girliness, and then loses it when she sees the girls with green mud masks on. Mid-rant, she pulls her hair back into her signature pigtails and wipes off all of her makeup while asking "who wants to do this? Why do we even have to do this?" The girls say "but this is what girls do, Helga" and she says "Bully. Just because this is what girls do doesn't mean they have to do it." At this moment the girls discover that the boys are spying on them and they capture Harold, an oafish dude, and put makeup on him. It's a moment of pure cartoon perfection. The point of the episode is that you can be whoever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do, regardless of gender, but it's not overstated. Helga may give a speech but it's a speech in line with her bitchy, bossy character. This cartoon is remarkably subtle for a kid's show and that is one of the most important parts of its genius.

Two points for the last part of this post: the characters wear really iconic cartoon clothing that I discovered has been transformed into outfits via Polyvore, below:

Harold!! for Polka My Dot ina mid-life crisis

Helga!!!! for Polka My Dot ina mid-life crisis

Dressing like Helga is my new aspiration in life.

Secondly, Hey Arnold uses so many tropes that it can easily be turned into a drinking game (one in which my roommate and I have indulged multiple times). I thought I would provide a list of them here for you intrepid Nicktoon fans.

Hey Arnold Drinking Game

Drink when...

1) The cats/dogs/pigs run in or out of the boarding house.

2) Helga calls Arnold a football head

3) Helga goes on a loveydovey rant about Arnold/Punches Weezy in the face (since these usually are paired, you can decide whether to drink twice)

4) Arnold's grandmother acts crazy

5) Phoebe says something nerdy

6) They make a joke about Harold's eating habits/size

7) Arnold and Gerald do their special thumbshake

8) Grandpa talks about going to the toilet or is seen going to and coming from the toilet.

9) Someone says Hey Arnold!

10) The polish man is fighting with his wife or is inconsiderate (there is a whole episode about this so you have to watch out on this one).

I'm open to any additions to the Hey Arnold drinking game in the comments.

Best of the 2010 World Cup Commercials

My parents were in town last weekend and they gave me World Cup Fever. When we weren't sitting at bars watching the games in High-Def, we were sitting around, watching youtube videos of old miraculous goals and World Cup commercials. Of the commercials they showed me, I decided to compile the ones I thought were best.

World Cup 2010 Bitchin' advertising campaigns:

Best overall advertisement: PUMA: Journey of Football. This commercial has heart; you'll laugh, you'll cry. Also, points for the best song and imagery pairing, like, ever.

Best joking use of historical rivalries: MTN: Two World Wars and One World Cup.

Nothing like reducing all of the world's history to a soccer joke. Did you guys get the memo? England won the world...twice!!! Sarcasm aside, this is pretty clever.

Best obligatory advertisement with famous sponsored players in a match together: Pepsi

Points lost for the fact that Kaka looks like a huge doofus in this commercial with his Dumb and Dumber hair. However, he's a total hottie in real life*

Best comedic advertisement: Nike: Write the Future

Things I have to say about this commercial: Rooney's beard when he's in the trailer park is hysterical; they routinely cut out the Gabriel Garcia Bernal part in the shortened version but it always gets me; Ronal*d'oh* is a pure stroke of genius; who the heck does Nike's ad campaigns? They really must be raking it in.

I also feel I should put an epilepsy warning on this one.

Best tearjerker commercial: Bravia
The first time I watched this commercial I burst into tears the minute the kids walked into the stadium.

* This is what Kaka REALLY looks like:

Jezebel reactions to release of Alejandro

Click to enlarge!

One hundredth post!!!

We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of S and K (June 18) and what better way to prepare than to celebrate my ONE HUNDREDTH POST!!

Obviously it seems a bit arbitrary to celebrate 100 posts since some of my posts are just links to music videos or what have you, but I am proud to say that I made it through this year intact, and as a slightly more happy person than when I first wrote the introduction to the blog (which you can view here). I'm happy to see that S and K managed to make it through its first year of existence. I also will say that I know I can never compare to FourFour, but one day I hope to be celebrating 5 years of this blog (read Rich's five year celebration post here).

Since this is only the 100th post, which isn't necessarily that many posts in the long run, I will celebrate by posting a top-five of sorts. Basically, the posts I'm listing are ones of which I am particularly proud.

The girl with the most cake: my favorite photoshop phun

Because you can never educate people enough on geography.

My definitive post on Lady Gaga, which still seems to be holding up over time.

Jokey post in which I dismantle "Sexy Bitch."

Public Transportation and Ableism.

A lot has changed in my life since I started the blog. I moved from North Carolina to Chicago. I stopped laying around in a depressed state on my parent's couch and started living my life again. I've worked a bunch of temp jobs and met some new people. I can't wait to be celebrating the 200th post soon.