27
Jul 09

Yoshi and the Real Girl

larsandtherealgirl2d

In this weekend’s New York Times magazine, there was an article about two dimensional love in Japan.

Now I don’t mean teenaged girl love for that Corey Haim Tiger Beat poster, or even adolescent boy love for the Hustler centerfold. I mean thirty-something men “in love” with body pillows decaled with images of pre-pubescent, female anime characters.

There’s one 37-year old dude who carries around his “girlfriend” (his words) wherever he goes – restaurants, driving, the karaoke bar. There’s another guy who espouses the joys of non-monogramy with his variety of cushiony companions. Finally, there’s someone who is actually, um, intimate with his literal love objects.

I’m not sure what I find more disturbing: the fact that these are synthetic sweethearts, or that they are embossed with images of very young girls.

I think that second thing.

Are these men who get off on images of 10-year olds just a few steps away from moving onto the real thing?

Recently I had a conversation with a friend about whether just looking at child pornography was wrong. Well, of course it is, you’d think. Although maybe technically that person isn’t hurting anyone, they are still participating and supporting the hurting of whomever is in whatever they are looking at. But I think we also all assume that they are thisclose to actually going out and molesting a kid themselves.

On the other hand, what about people who are into other violent kinks? Are they necessarily going to go out there and enact that kink against someone unwilling?

And what if the image of the 10 to 12-year old is a cartoon? In that case, no one is really being exploited.

THEN AGAIN, that cartoon image is a representation, albeit incorrect, of real preteens, just like cartoon women with ginormous breasts and no body fat may exploit real women, at least to those who don’t know the different between a picture and reality, or racist cartoons exploit whomever they are targeting.

Hmm.

Either way, I feel kinda bad for that Nisan guy. He looks incredibly sad and pathetic in the picture accompanying the article. MB had another take: in Japan there’s not much therapy. It’s not like the US when people, myself included, go on and on about their problems. In Japanese culture you’re pretty much left alone to get through whatever troubles you might be having. So the body pillow is a way for this guy to get through his troubles (ie, a girlfriend recently dumping him), and people just let it go.

The guy does say of course most men into this 2D stuff would prefer real women, but that they feel like no women want them.  Or they’re too scared to find out.

Is this really so different from a teenager kissing her poster of John Taylor (not that I ever did that, cough), or a little kid who is inseparable from his favorite stuffed toy?  I guess the difference is the teenager and little kid grow out of it.


02
Feb 09

Lazy, productive, newsy, douchey

The weekend was both lazy and productive.

Both Friday and Saturday MB and I had plans to see Taken, that new Liam Neeson movie, but we were overcome with laziness and ended up staying in and watching stuff on Hulu. Easy to do when it’s freezing outside.

Saturday I managed to get up before 9 to do some homework and laundry, and then just spent the afternoon hanging out till we went out for a late lunch around 3 at Le French Diner. Risotto with vegetables and cheese, yum! Also very filling. I can never eat more than half.

Sunday I got up relatively early again. Last minute homework before class at 1. That day’s session was more informative than the others have been, but the professor still let us out way early.

Which I didn’t mind because it was gorgeous out! Like spring. During class MB had texted me that he was in Washington Square Park so I met up with him there. He had his ukelele. Of course people look as he’s playing, but not as much as you’d think. The park was full of musicians busking or just noodling. One old dude took a picture of MB – and by association, me – without even asking. I mean, I do too, but at least I try to hide it.

I couldn’t get enough of the news this weekend, for some reason. Maybe my Thursday class is making me hyper aware.

Those octuplets. People say the story started out “heart-warming” (and I guess “heart-warming” now means “woman who breeds like dog”). Of course you imagine some couple who has tried for years to have kids, and after fertility treatments, finally has eight little miracles!

But it turns out that the woman is only 33, and she ALREADY HAS SIX KIDS. What the – ? Also, she’s not married, and lives with her parents. What doctor thought it was okay to implant EIGHT embryos into a young, healthy single woman with six kids?

And when the father says he’s thinking about returning to his native Iraq, you know things have got to be bad.

Peanut recall. I had stuff in my cabinet on that list! The Crunchy Peanut Butter Clif Bars. Wah, in the garbage.

Michael Phelps caught smoking a giant bong. Not that I have anything against weed but Michael, you must have a nice house – do it in private! Jeez. Despite all his achievements, he seems like such a douchebag.

And on that note, what’s the female equivalent of a douchebag? I think we all know about that site, Hot Chicks with Douchebags, but the problem I have with that is that a lot of those “hot chicks” seem like skanks to me.

So why not “skank” as the female equivalent of douchebag? Cuz I think that’s just a subset. There’s also that whole Sex and the City wannabe crowd, many of whom we saw at Penn Station one night when we came back from my parents. Girls in too high shoes, too short dresses, skinny jeans, four in a row, walking arm in arm. “Oh my God, we’re just like SATC!”

Douchettes maybe? I’ll have to think about that.


05
Nov 08

Amazing

Needless to say I could barely pay attention in class last night and spent the whole time checking the numbers on the NY Times’ trusty map. Well, “trusty” cuz the numbers changed like crazy. At one point Obama had 92% of the vote in Alamaba of all places, and the next minute, he was down to below 50%.

I didn’t want to get my hopes up about Obama’s early lead, only to have them dashed like in 2004 and 2000. At home MB was watching Democracy Now!’s live stream, and Obama’s numbers kept going up. Then we went to dinner and the restaurant had the TV on CNN, and Obama’s numbers kept going up.

Still, we were both pessimistic. MB kept saying, “I hate to say it, but I think McCain will win.” I mean, it happened with Al Gore, why not now? I didn’t like hearing that, but I also didn’t want to start celebrating too soon.

At home we took a break from the election and watched an old Burn Notice on Hulu. By the time that was over, I was totally sleepy. “I just want to check the news one more time,” I said, and we turned it on to find John McCain giving his concession speech.

Wha – ? Hunh??? “I guess we don’t have to leave the country after all,” MB said.

His speech was actually quite good. I especially loved it when he held up his hands with a STFU expression when people started booing Obama.

The live stream was driving us crazy because it kept stopping and starting. So we decided to head out – it was almost midnight at this point – and find a place with a TV. The bookstore near us was closed, but they let us come in and watch on their big screen that they use for movies.

There were a bunch of people there, I think mostly affiliated with the store. It was great to watch Obama’s speech with other people, but a lot of them were young hipsters who refused to let go of their cool attitude for even 20 minutes, let alone a whole night. They kept snickering and making wise ass comments. Oh yes, you’re so very cool and above it all.

As for me, I decided for one night I’d feel hopeful and optimistic (after Obama was actually elected of course). Today or tomorrow or the next day, I’ll be cynical and critical again. It’s bound to happen: Obama’s already flip flopped on several issues, and there’s a chance he’ll be just another politician.

But the fact is: American has voted a black man into the presidency. Just 50 years ago, Obama wouldn’t have been able to eat in the same restaurant as whites, and now he is running this country. All little kids can now say, “I want to be president someday,” and actually have a chance at it.

One of my favorite pictures from the campaign trail:

From photojournalist Callie Shell: “These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, ‘Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King’s words can be true for them.’ Jan. 21, 2008.”


04
Nov 08

Not good to watch at work

Cuz now I’m a total mess.

Five Good Campaign Cries

Definitely keep some tissues ready.


04
Nov 08

I totally voted

My wait: 30 minutes. Not bad considering the 6-hour waits elsewhere.

It seems so ridiculous. I mean, I guess they weren’t expecting such a high voter turnout, but the whole process could be so much more organized. Why do I have to go to a specific place? Why can’t I have some number assigned where I could go anywhere, punch it in, and then all my info would pop up? And why oh why isn’t Election Day a frigging holiday? I’m lucky in that it doesn’t matter if I’m a little late for work, or even if I need to take some time in the middle of the day, but other people just can’t.

So to see high voter turn out is even more awesome. It’s like, Fuck you, I’m still voting even if I have work that day, even if I have to wait six hours and camp out overnight.

I saw something on the news this morning about a case in Philadelphia, in which the chairwoman of the voting commission made ridiculous excuses about the long waits. Her quote:

Did you see people waiting for baseball tickets all night long outside? Did you see the line that they wanted a new iPod? They all waited overnight and waited in line. Do you go to the supermarket? You see people waiting in line? They complain, they grumble, some of them. Some of them just talk. So what is the difference?

Uh, yeah, cuz buying an iPhone is the same as my constitutional right as an American citizen.

Anyway, despite my short wait, the polling place seemed sort of chaotic. There was, for some reason, lots of yelling, and a lot of volunteers missing teeth. But I shouldn’t judge.

I had to do a paper ballot since I sent in my change of address card at the last minute, and as I was waiting to hand it in, this Chinese volunteer lady asked, “Did you sign it?” She was looking at the blank Spanish-language side. “Yes,” I said, but she still grabbed my envelope, and I had to literally wrestle it out of her hand to show her the other side with my signuature. Sheesh!

Now I’m exhausted, but it felt really good to cast my ballot.


03
Nov 08

Vote However You Like

I am loving this video.

The choreography is off the hook!

And yeah, you should totally vote, no matter your choice.

~ ~ ~

MB has finals next week so he spent most of the weekend practicing, which was fine by me since I had a paper to do.

Friday I got out early – last half-day Friday for a while – and after an afternoon and evening of lazing around, reading, and wasting time on the internet, MB and I saw a midnight showing of My Name Is Bruce. It was funny in a dumb way, and really you’ll only like it if you’re a Bruce Campbell fan, which MB is. A pleasant surprise was that Bruce Campbell was there! He just sauntered in before the show started and answered some questions. He was hilarious, acting like we were all freaks for being there at midnight and calling out dumb questions.

Saturday I spent the afternoon at the library, researching my paper. MB practiced the whole day, only stopping to eat and watch a little TV.

Sunday I worked on my paper, which took FOREVER. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. More practicing for MB. We did take a walk that afternoon, and finally bought a bookcase to replace the one that MB broke months ago. Now we’ll have a place for our books currently on the floor and overflowing from the other bookcase. Yay!

This morning for work we had a global webcast, and it went swimmingly. My first high profile gig.


30
Oct 08

Getting ready for spring

I’ve registered for my spring semester classes. I need four more to finish the program, and since summer classes don’t seem as good as fall and spring, I’ve decided to take three next semester.

I’ll be taking Human-Information Behavior, which is more of a theoretical class; Management of Libraries/Information Centers; and Collection Development. I was tempted by classes like information architecture and digital archiving, but technology changes so quickly, I think I’ll be better off learning on the job, or taking a continuing ed class here and there, rather than “wasting” credits on them in this program.

After the three, I need just one more class. In June there’s a two week intensive 3 credit e-publishing class in London. I know I just finished saying technology changes quickly, but hey it’s London! And it’s only two weeks! And the other summer classes blow. At the end of the course, there’s an e-publishing conference where you can schmooze with other librarians and see vendors hawk their wares.

Hoepfully I’ll be able to handle the workload next semester. These past few have not been difficult, though of course at times I feel just plain lazy about it. In the spring, one class is at 3:30 on Wednesdays and my boss has said it’s okay for me to leave early one day a week, while another is on Sunday at 1, which is fine by me. I’m so tired at the end of the day, I’d rather have my evenings free. The third class is Mondays at the regular time, 6:30.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I am actually excited about voting next week. But despite all the polls and what the media is saying, I am still holding back somewhat. I won’t believe it till I see it.


02
Oct 08

10 good things about the economic crisis

I won’t say I understand too much about the economic crisis that’s going on in the US right now. All I know is seemingly monolithic investment banks are crumbling like dust, and monolithic regular banks are growing ever more monolithic, sorta like No Face from Spirited Away who kept eating and eating till he grew disgustingly huge and got normal only by ingesting a weird herb ball from the River God, and throwing everything up, and. . .well, I digress.

But I do understand enough to make a snarky top 10 list of all the good things about the depression that’s supposedly on its way.

10) As Gawker says, we renters are right by default. We meant to not save enough money to buy property! It was totally on purpose!

9) Now’s the best time to become a slum lord. Scoop up all that property that’s worth virtually nothing now, jack up the rent, and do no repairs. Then party like it’s 1979!

8) It will be easier to find an ATM. Now that most banks are ONE BIG BANK, ATMs for Your Bank, which is Everyone’s Bank, will be EVERYWHERE! With presumably no fees. Well, hopefully.

7) Severance packages! Oh wait. Never mind, unless you’re a CEO.

6) Since the government will be using my damned tax dollars to bail out these rich assholes who fucked up in pure arrogance and greed, maybe they will do what’s right and turn the former financial institutions into true government bodies, which means – socialized medicine for everyone! Yeah right. And maybe a black man will be president.

5) Now’s the best time to move to Paris, or Prague, or Amsterdam. That would be awesome.

4) Now’s the best time to go to music school or become a librarian. No one can say, “Hey, you should get a job that makes money,” because there will be none. And that’s totally a good thing. . .right?

3) Schadenfreude. Remember back in the early ’90s when everyone you knew – classmates, friends, the children of your parents’ friends – was going into finance? They were getting close-to-six-figure offers right out of college, mulling between multiple offers. Then they were getting their MBAs, buying BMWs, buying houses in the ‘burbs, making investments. And your parents kept asking you why don’t you want to do that too? Why are you making less than $20K in publishing, or trying to be a writer, or trying to make it in Hollywood?

And now what? Mwuah-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!

2) The financial worker douchebags who come down from Murray Hill to get stupid drunk in my neighborhood won’t be able to afford their $20 martinis anymore.

And last not but not least. . .

1) My parents will stop bugging me about buying a condo. WHOOPEE!!! Hooray for the corruption!

Now let’s go shopping.


15
Sep 08

Life goes on

I was at the Brooklyn Book Festival for just a couple of hours yesterday, so I didn’t hear if David Foster Wallace was mentioned.

According to his obit in the NY Times, Wallace had been severely depressed for months, and had been dealing with depression since his 20s. He never seeemed to write or talk about it, though in his writing there’s an undercurrent of sadness, even in his funny observations, which made his essays even more appearling to me. There wasn’t that arrogance or snarkiness that’s found in a lot of other modern humor writing.

The festival was just okay. That morning I had run the Race for the Cure, just 5K but I was pooped from it. It wasn’t too hot but the sun was strong and it was extremely muggy. Before the race started I wandered around looking for a bathroom (no port-a-potties!) and when I got back, I was already soaked with sweat.

As usual the whole thing took too long to get started with five billion speeches, including Cynthia Nixon (a breast cancer survivor) and, randomly, Stephen Colbert, who was pretty funny. “Who else will be carrying their six year old for the entire race?” Once I got past all the walkers – as per every year, what are you doing in the 9 minute mile portion??? – I had fun running in the Park. My time wasn’t bad, about 30 minutes.

The heat worsened throughout the day. At the book festival as I walked around checking out the tents, I was positively roasting, and when I sat in the shade to listen to a reading – and to get away from the heat – my hair was literally dripping with sweat. In the middle of the next reading, my throat started killing me. I thought it was just because I was thirsty, but it just got worse and now I feel sorta crummy. Hopefully it won’t blow into a full blown cold.

In other news, as you know the press has been all over Sarah Palin lately. What I find interesting is how many people are afraid of her, or use that term, ie, “She scares me,” including yours truly.
Just how many people are scared of the Alaskan wolf?

This guy, whom I LOVE by the way. Supposedly Palin tried to ban his book, Pastor I am Gay. “She scares me,” the author says. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”

Ed Koch, former mayor of New York and possible gay. The Bush supporter now endorses Obama – who knew! Of Palin, he says, “She scares the hell out of me.”

Pink! She told PopCrunch that she thinks Palin “hates women” and “is not a feminist,”that she “is not the woman that’s going to come behind Hillary Clinton and do anything that Hillary Clinton would’ve been capable of … She’s not of this time.” Concluding, “The woman terrifies me.”

Ben Stein.: “I don’t know if she scares Obama, but she scares me.” You’re not alone, Ben.

Matt Damon, saying that her story is “like a really bad Disney movie — the hockey mom…from Alaska, and she’s the president, and it’s like she’s facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink,” and “there was a good chance John McCain would die in his first term in office and the thought of a President Palin is ‘terrifying.'” Not as terrifying as the thought that that movie premise sounds pretty good. (Just kidding. . . or am I?)

Sharon Osbourne. When finding out Palin hunts animals for sport, she said, “I’m scared of that woman with the glasses and gun!”

Palin’s own former campaign manager. “I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.” My favorite word of the day is officially “bejeebers.”

And lots of bloggers, including one who also loves her hair.

Although Palin frightens me as well, it seems saying so in the press is yet another no-brainer, like the whole pit bull/pig and lipstick thing. And what is it exactly about her that’s so frightening? Cheney and his cohorts are terrifying as well, but I guess they LOOK like it so it’s not as much of an issue. Palin is pretty and feminine, so somehow her extremism and alleged ruthlessness seem extra skerry, like a Stepford wife or little girl ghost.

Anyway, now I’ve been blogging for far too long.


13
Sep 08

Aw jeez

David Foster Wallace died. They say it was a suicide. (I really didn’t want that to rhyme.)

So bummed right now. He was one of my favorite authors. The first time I read his stuff was in Harper’s, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” an essay about a cruise he takes, and “Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All,” about a midwest state fair. Of course I bought his book of essays, titled after the cruise essay.

I never attempted his novel Infinite Jest but waited on bated breath for every essay he wrote. There was one a couple of years ago in the Times about Roger Federer and tennis, and another book of essays, Consider the Lobster.

He was a really really funny author, and man did he love footnotes.

Tomorrow is the Brooklyn Book Festival. I wonder how that will be.