Garland,Tx---
Still at home. I sat down with my bubble-gum chewing, iPhone using, Cheerleading sister and watched Britney: For the Record, the MTV documentary on the resurrection of the career of one Miss Britney Spears. When I saw the promo for this a week ago the first thought in my mind was "Ok, here's another 20/20 special for a celebrity to try and humanize themselves...I'll watch it."
I was surprised with its honesty. The documentary followed Miss Spears for two months as she filmed videos for her new album and dealt with the constant hoard of paparazzi that follows her on a daily basis. Miss Spears is presented as a human caught in a world of flashing bulbs and screaming crowds, Alice in a heavy metal Wonderland.
While it is most likely to serve as a ploy to get people to buy her record, as someone who has never given her more than a cursory or stranded listen at a party, I found it oddly eye opening. She didn't plead to be left alone or even try that hard to avoid the cameras. Instead we find someone who has, begrudgingly, excepted that the cameras and screaming are simply apart of her life. I find this a sad commentary on the state of culture in this country.
I know we are supposed to view celebrities as these spoiled sub-humans who are oblivious to pain and suffering. We are told that whenever a celebrity whines or cracks under the strain of their fame that they should just shut up and barrel through it. Well, Miss Spears doesn't take any time to complain, nor does she seek the viewer's sympathy at any part of the doc, since it mostly deals with her spending time working and resurrecting her career.
Here is a woman, not a celebrity, but a person who was nearly destroyed by her own fame, by the zombies with cameras that made it their mission to destroy her life.
Celebrity culture is one of more disgusting things about Contemporary America. Our obsessions and projections upon the famous, turning them into these idols to be worshiped, feared, loathed and destroyed, is simply a cop out so that we don't have to deal with our own problems, instead placing them upon the shoulders of the famous. The sooner we begin to treat celebrities like normal people, the sooner we can move beyond our own petty insecurities and inabilities to handle this post (post) modern world.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Reason #145 that Americans are incapable of appreciating good television or the Triumph of the Idiot Box.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Link Week In Review: Happy Thanksgiving!
- New York Can't Afford To NOT Have School Choice
- Nations Competing With Tax Cuts, Not Increases
- Bankruptcy Is Best Option For GM
- The Other Side Of The Big 3 Bailout: Honda
- No Excuses For Liberals
- After Taxes, World Series Of Poker Winner Finishes Second
- Halloween: An Opportunity To Test Voter Preferences
Thursday, November 20, 2008
It's "eighth," you idiot.
What is it with Our Fair University and hoax posters? I will give them credit, though, for a funny idea. Beats the hell out of just pulling the fire alarm at four o'clock in the morning. (I'm looking at you, Ivory fifth floor.) The furniture suggestion was also ace.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Godspell at GW
[Forbidden Planet Productions] is proud to present Stephen Schwartz's classic musical Godspell. Directed by sophomore Amanda Pettengill, Godspell tells the story of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. Although it follows Christ's life, Godspell is truly a show about community and is relevant no matter your religion.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Disneyland or Communist Russia?
"Tourists pay 120 LTL ($US 220) each to step back into 1984 as a temporary USSR citizen for 2.5 hours. On entry, all belongings, including money, cameras and phones, are handed over and under the watchful eye of guards and alsatians, tourists change into threadbare Soviet coats and are herded through the bunker.
Experiences include watching TV programs from 1984, wearing gas masks, learning the Soviet anthem under duress, eating typical Soviet food (with genuine Soviet tableware) and even undergoing a concentration-camp-style interrogation and medical check.
The Soviet Bunker is not a theme park for the faint-hearted; all of the actors involved in the project were originally in the Soviet army and some were authentic interrogators, however there are performances tailored specifically for school groups so they know when to cool it, too.
Before heading back into the real world, participants are treated to a shot of vodka. They leave with a better understanding of life under Soviet occupation and, no doubt, a new respect for their elders past."
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Pardon me while I nerd out for a moment.
Anyone interested in the man's life should check the link above. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a nice summary of his work. Or you could, uh, just read his books. I promise it's not that hard. Unlike most philosophers, Nozick was actually a capable writer who could entertain his audience.
Nozick was famous for his Gedankenexperiments--so well-known, in fact, that there's probably not a member of our generation that isn't familiar with at least one of them. That experiment, a critique of utilitarianism featured in his work Anarchy, State, and Utopia, was the "experience machine," but you might know it as "The Matrix."
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
S.A. Meeting Round-up
The only real item on the agenda tonight was (what we all thought would be) an uncontroversial, non-binding resolution honoring GW's veterans. The feces flew when Senator Mohammed Ali (SMHS-G) objected to some of the language--particularly, sections of the bill referencing the fall of the Berlin Wall. The bill included references to several different conflicts and events, past and present, turning the resolution into what can be fairly described as a "comprehensive political statement."
Ultimately, the challenge was hopeless. The resolution--chiefly sponsored by Senator Rob Lockwood--could have said almost anything, and the Senate would have passed it to avoid the awkwardness of voting down a statement honoring veterans on Veterans' Day. It passed with only a minor rearrangement of paragraphs. Ali registered an objection. So it goes.
In other news, Senator Bindelglass announced that the S.A. has spent about 40% of the co-sponsorship fund--an amount in excess of $114,000. President Aswani mentioned Princeton University's Own What You Think campaign--presumably as a potential way of discouraging JuicyCampus at GW. A good idea? What do you think?
And that's all she wrote.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Own Your Internet Mistakes
The internet is a cold, merciless mistress who never forgets, and never forgives.
I learned this the hard way today, as I noticed (for the first time) that my hometown newspaper (The Free Lance-Star) had published a letter to the editor written by yours truly back in early 2006. I remember writing the letter, but don't remember it being published. The text of this letter is worth quoting at length:
As a Fredericksburg native and a student in George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, I was surprised to learn that Dean William Frawley will be assuming the presidency of the University of Mary Washington ["Frawley eager to settle in," Feb. 6].
Congratulations, Dean Frawley.
UMW has definitely made a fine choice to fill departing President Anderson's shoes.
Criticisms can be (and often are vociferously) made about George Washington University--its bureaucracy and its pricey status as one of the nation's most expensive institutions of higher learning are often targeted--and these are very important concerns.However, Dean Frawley runs a remarkable college within the university, and I have never heard criticism of his individual work.
He sits at the helm of a responsible, engaging, and academically challenging institution, and I believe that he deserves much of the credit for its success within the university, in the greater community of the District of Columbia, and in the world of academics.Here's to hoping that William Frawley brings his talent in full force to Mary Washington and the Fredericksburg community, and here's to hoping for an
able replacement for him here at George Washington.
It's not so big of a deal until you remember what Frawley did less than a year after taking over the Presidency of the University of Mary Washington. And then what they did to him. And then what he did again. I' m now on "internet record" lavishing praise on a man who pushes cough syrup and then drives on medians.
Remember, kids: the internet gives you no mulligans.
