Hey Ladies...

Recycle or Mend, Now and Again (for green's sake)

Thanks to those level-headed Brits (recovering from a she-bling hangover of yesteryear's excess spending), here's something easy, a small step, we should all consider.
Are sewing circles out again by the way? Meanwhile, the Message:

For gawd's sake, don't make it another H&M day... Do you really need more disposable clothing?

As one with homeless "accoutrement overabundant," trust me: just sew, hem, shred, donate. Worst case, fit to those teeny pets you still must feed now that they aren't so tiny... at least you can hide them in your Burkas. Aren't you glad now you spent rent money on those?

World Copyright Day

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, today marked World Copyright Day by condemning the widespread use of unfair contracts by media employers that deprive journalists of their authors' rights.

"This situation seriously undermines our profession by grabbing journalists' means of earning a living and ignoring their right to be recognised as authors. It also undermines media quality by allowing media companies to recycle and reuse the work of journalists across different platforms" says Aidan White, EFJ General secretary.

Together with its affiliates, the EFJ denounces in particular recent pressures in media companies such as Sanoma in Finland and the 'Jahreszeiten-Verlag' in Germany that force journalists and press photographers to assign all their authors' rights.

"At a time where the world copyright debate focuses on the widespread use of creative works on the internet by consumers, it is time to examine what type of contracts creators are forced to sign and who really benefits from copyright protection," said White.

The EFJ and its unions recently issued letters of protest against the Finnish government's proposal to introduce a work-for-hire rule in its legal system that would legalise complete assignment of authors' rights.

"We must resist a trend to weaken well-established authors' rights legislations in continental Europe that are protective of creators and recognize economic and moral rights for all. A move towards a copyright legal regime that would consider creative works as a commercial commodity would be catastrophic for the profession and the quality of information," said White.

Here's to... old school disco

baptist dancers of the world unite and take over!!

Slick - Space Bass

berriesncream

shiny, happy new year!

Here's to good... Rhapsody

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue acoustic version circa 1924.
It's 84 years old, and it still pushes my buttons.
Thanks Georgy Porgy.
Love,
Bess

p.s.
Recorded orchestra version via YouTube and an even better one here.

EX-pectations and the EX

Cool Gadgets

Here's to... Magic at Christmas

GrowMagic Kerstboom

Here's to Good... Gloss

Oooh My Lips So Luscious,
The Way I Spice It Up With the MAC MAC Brushes...

POPPIN'

(it's a girly girl thang, SSSSSMACK!)

Leaving Lust Vegas

to paul:

(i linked headline below to church's page, wtf? ministry challenge called: "leaving lust vegas")

... sex in suburbia? uhohah! and no, that isn't what you think - rather it's the sound of my jaw being picked up off the ground about yet another dfw televangelisticathingy. what's up with the holy roller primordial soup in dallas? i never could reconcile the endless jesus baton relay handoffs - relay baton handoffs for jesus - whatever - going on in the greater metropolitan area. it never ceases to amaze... they just keep a-comin (pun intended).
oh for the love of god,
amen.
[and sorry bro for the mixed metaphors.]
love, sis

Seven Consecutive Days of Sex? Surely, God's Ambivalent

December 1, 2008 by Dr. Marty Klein

Sexless marriages and intimate relationships in which sex has declined in frequency and quality are big business these days. A discouraged couple has an unlimited choice of seminars, pills, books, retreats, addictionologists, Bible study, chiropractic, yoga, and therapy. As a bonus, every week or two there's advice from Oprah. She gags on the word vagina, but she's still the country's most powerful sex educator.

The latest non-expert to give sex advice is Reverend Ed Young of the evangelical Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. He recently called for a week of "congregational copulation" among married couples—sex with one's spouse seven days in a row.

Excuse me, but didn't even God rest after six days?

"Today we're beginning this sexperiment, seven days of sex," he announced to his enormous flock, "How to move from whining about the economy to whoopee!"

When the person giving you advice refers to sex as "whoopee," neither science nor good sense are likely to follow. The Rev is no exception.

Young emphasizes that it's time to put God back in the bedroom. Apparently he hasn't heard that millions of men and women are already enslaved by their belief that God is in bed with them, judging, disapproving, hating.

"For some reason the church has not talked about it, but we need to," he said. "There is no shame in marital sex. God thought it up." If Young includes spanking, anal sex, vibrators, porn, oral sex, and some playful exhibitionism in God's sexual catalog, I might be willing to listen another minute or two. But Young thinks God's a prude. For most people, then, forget about relaxed, self-affirming "whoopee."

Sex for seven consecutive days may be a college sophomore's dream, but it's hardly a reality for grownups—Christian or not, healthy or not, happy or not. In fact, the idea that sex when you're 40 should be or can be like it was when we were 20 is a big part of most couples' sexual problems. Lubricants? Who needs 'em? Back pain? Deal with it! Preferring the closeness of talking or hiking to the alienation of mechanical sex? That's pervert talk!

Sex every day for a week? What about fatigue, not being in the mood, not being quite finished feeling hurt about a hostile exchange that very morning? "If you've said, 'I do,' do it," says the sensitive, empathic pastor. His wife is a tiny bit more realistic but no less rigid: For parishioners grappling with infidelities and other wounds, sex seven days in a row can create "some pain."

Young fails to appreciate that for many married couples, sex, although blessed by the church, is NOT Godly. Physical pain, psychological pressure, emotional distance, contraceptive risk-taking, and a lack of communication prevent sex from being the blessing that Young's God supposedly intends. The answer isn't more God, it's more education, communication, contraception, and tolerance of human sexual diversity.

And pastor, what about the tens of millions of UNMARRIED adults who want to enjoy God's erotic bounty? What about the blessings of sex for the several thousand single people in your own congregation?

"I don't know," says Reverend Young, "try eating chocolate cake."

Thanks dude. Great advice. Is your personally lucrative Biblical interpretation OK with me sinfully licking chocolate cake dessert off my lover's fanny? (as long as we don't actually have entry as a main course, of course.)

Here's to Good... Liverpool

Echo & The Bunnymen, 30th Anniversary Special.... 30????

Here's to Good... +Plenty Oddball Lists

The 10 Most Insane, Child-Warping Moments of '80s Cartoons

Do U Heart the *(new) I Heart NY logo? *($17m)

or how I learned to Heart NY because $aachi&$aachi says so...

*WHERE ARE THE COCKROACHES?

My first inclination is: Never (re)touch a classic!

I get it - seasons, culture, arts, cuisine, squirrels… Come see and love all that is NY.

Given the ubiquitous charm of the IHeartNY logo, and the pride it instills in even the most nomadic native son and daughter worldwide (myself included), it is understandable city PR and marketing execs were wary of too much change.

But merely tepidly tweaking such a classic logo not only fails to take advantage of über agency Saatchi & Saatchi’s strengths - it also sorely fails to justify the multimillion-dollar price tag. (Note: This commentary focuses exclusively on logo change/$17 million is the cited overall campaign cost, including logo.)

S&S is best at its most dynamic, and clients should be sure they’re ready for a significant trajectory change before commissioning at this level. More interesting would be a review of the rejected ideas before what seems, to me, like cold feet set it (by S&S or NY?). The city could have saved much of its allocated rebranding budget by using an in-house intern. The resulting logo looks as if it did, anyway.

To quote an old SNL skit: “Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?”

Having fun with a classic image is fine, truly. And the IHeartNY variations presented are, indeed, fun, almost clever... or should be if it were not for the obvious free clip-art sources (which is another topic indeed, especially since the cockroach and rodent population of NY lacks representation! What's up with the pitchfork anyway? Heritage? Looks more like the preferred method of burying mafia hit targets. And where's a mountain? water? a boat to signify a major harbor/port? The vaguely imaged lolly pop is a historical marker symbol on a pole - seems like a three-column building with a-line roof - for instance, such as on maps - would have been more identifiable.

**Cute, if limited, as the many incarnations of NY represented here are, let's not pretend these logos are anything more than banner-ad quality. This is not anything I'd associate with a top international ad agency, nor is it a worthy face-lift for such a NY grand dame.**

"I Heart a NY Classic!"
(says this New Yorker in Old Amsterdam)

(shoutout to underconsideration.com's brand new for initial head's up and track to bnet.com article et al)

Will Texas Turn into a Blue State?

Deep Ellum Dallas

a little tribute to where i grew up... musically

007 Meets His Match

bondbadgirl

Here's to good... Gorey

I ran across this photo of Edward Gorey napping with his many cats in what I assume is his library (though my whole houseboat is bookified and catified so no assumptions here). What a lovely photo found here! I especially like the section title of the newspaper the forefront cat is sacked out on - At Home. Great title for this photo, actually. If you don't know Gorey, you probably do and don't realize it. He scurried into my consciousness via a poster of his illustrated alphabet, the Gashlycrumb Tinies. It hung in a classroom at the Baylor journalism dept., and distracted me to no end for its sheer, well, Goreyness. Working after hours in that same classroom writing articles, as well as teaching years later as a graduate lecturer (the poster hung in the exact same place and probably still does), I wanted terribly to give into constant thieving impulses. I easily rationalized plucking the tacks from the wall, rolling the poster into a cylinder and securing it with a rubber-band snap for the walk home since it was unlikely too many others enjoyed those creepy, malevolent, alphabetic children and their freakish demises more than myself. If it hadn't been Dr. Sara Stone's poster, I wouldn't have hesitated. But it was, and I did. Even now there's probably an odd cast in my eyes as I write this and know that my desire to liberate the illustrations from their unflattering push-pin servitude as ornamentation to florescently lighted acadamia would not have been an altogether immoral action. Check out his museum.