dorothy or...

At the coffeeshop I work at there is a little girl living next door who often comes by with her father. She is to either be addressed by her name, Elona, or when dressed in a blue checked dress, Dorothy. I find it amazing how this 3 year old identifies herself as a different person when wearing different attire. She is, of course, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a movie she has been watching nonstop for the last few weeks. What made her parents buy her the costume? Is it alright to encourage dressing up? Why should such a fantastical play idea only have its rights on Halloween, anyway?

Our Accumulations

Dear Diary,

I have too much stuff. Just today I tried to get rid of things...spring cleaning, you know? But as I went through all of the objects in my world, I found myself getting stuck in moment after moment of memories that each item of clothing or knick-knack brought forth. Csikszentmihalyi writes that, "...things stabilize our sense of who we are; they give a permanent shape to our views of ourselves that otherwise would quickly dissolve in the flux of consciousness."

Why is it that we all become buried in our stuff? Does it happen more easily to women than men? I got talking about this the other night with my boyfriend's mother and her sister. All of the us seemed to agree that a women is more likely to have sentimental attachment to objects than men; making for a more difficult departure with their 'stuff.' This was all based on first hand experience. My boyfriend's mother explained the situation in which she recently donated the remnants of their garage (they just moved) to a neighborhood church. Before it was to be collected, her husband began to go through the items asking if she was sure she wanted to get rid of them. At first she did the same thing that I found myself doing, reminiscing about the memories tied to the object and said, "I wanted to keep everything and tell the church picker-uppers to turn around and go back." While a fair share of the men we know, are able to keep their belongings minimal. Like my dad, he would own just one pair of pants and one tshirt if it weren't for my mom buying him new things all the time and managing his clothing.

There is something of beauty that can be found in every object; the slightly smooth texture that soothes your thumb when you rub it, or the way the orange bit glints in the sunshine. When is the moment that you are ready to get rid of something? What makes me so horrible at this while others can successfully keep their lives minimized with stuff.

There's that saying that one person's trash is another person's treasure. What if the one person is never able to give up their trash?

photo retouching

It is almost impossible to see an image in today's society that has not been retouched. We all know about the 'airbrushed' supermodels in magazines but how about your friends on facebook airbrushing themselves in iphoto before posting their photos online? Its obvious when a photo has been made to look vintage through various filters easily accessible on the iphone, but how about using photoshop to blur out blemishes and the clone tool to remove moles and to give a more defined jawline? Embarrasingly enough these are edits that I recently made to a picture of myself and as my finger hovered over the mouse about to click to post, I stopped myself. I decided that I didn't want to share a false impression. But for so long I have been editing photos of myself for the public world that I now feel that all 'real' photos of myself are too ugly. This makes me sick. What's next? People retouching their own children?

When I lived in Seoul, S Korea for a year I had a passport photo taken for an ID. When it was returned to me, the zit on my cheek was not there! A Korean coworker told me that it's very normal for them to retouch your photo before printing it. I kind of liked it but at the same time it's a bit strange to retouch a photo that is solely for identification purposes.

Bud Light Platinum on the Subway

Every hour should be happy. For the other 9 to 5. The night is always young. Every night has potential.

Covering the entire length of the subway car in all capital letters are these words which one reads over and over in a matter of seconds with nonchalance.

How is it that our government can support these advertisement campaigns on mass transit in NYC. Why does alcohol even need to be advertised? It seems to be one of the main subway advertisements that I see, whether its for beer, whiskey or rum.

Taking a closer look at the BUD LIGHT PLATINUM ads...the only image used is of the bottle from the neck down on the banner ads. The bottle is glistening with dew drops. The background is a subdued halo effect of blue surrounding the bottle and fading into blackness. The shiny bottle with its glowing reflective smooth surface draws the eye simply to the text and back to the image in a circular way. There is additional text provided so that you can even tag it in your twitter posts with the hash tag that is provided. The very idea that beer is responsible for having a happy life. Coming from a family where alcoholism is a factor, these ads are a slap in the face. "Every night has potential" the ad pushes in your face the bottle of Bud Light. Every night could be great and make you happy if you simply had a beer. To equate happiness with alcohol is a total disaster. Especially saying that every hour should be a happy hour. Is that to mean we should always be drinking Bud Light Platinum to attain happiness? Alcohol as a drug is a depressant...it cannot make you happy.

The beer was introduced in advertising during the Super Bowl of 2012. The advertsing is targeted for social networking sites and is meant to be spread about via Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag "MAKE IT PLATINUM" Apparently this advertising is working as you can see how many people, "Like" it.

WANTED

Kept looking at this on the subway today. A little bit confused with the smallness of the type notifying you that "wanted" is available on iTunes. Which led me to believe that Sasha Gradiva must be a musical artist with some new hit single called, "Wanted."

This is the first police wanted poster of British history dating back to 1881.

Sasha Gradiva...trying to make a name for herself with the boldened typeface and catchy and seductive colors of red, white and black. Her face is central to the ad making it the focal point. Yet her face is in quite the disguise with all of the makeup she is wearing. "HELP TRAP A SPY!". I'm really not sure who this ad is targeting. Most likely teenagers that would be entranced by the costume appeal and by the game of the ad.

pink plastic flamingos

"F***in' white people and their f***in' flamingos!" was yelled out into the air from the rooftop across the way while I smoked a cigarette on the fire escape. I glanced down at my feet and at the pink flamingo which lay there. I think the man himself is Mike Tyson. It's been rumored that he has a flock of racing pigeons atop his rooftop in Bed-Stuy. He connected his hatred for white people to flamingos in one fell swoop. I felt ashamed. I felt sorry for moving into this neighborhood amidst its gentrification. I am a part of that gentrification. But to what extent should I feel sorry for being who I am and for living in one of the few places which I could afford? Anyway, back to the flamingo. I was interested in this visual culture of a flamingo. Why exactly do people have pink plastic flamingos in their yard and why has it become a symbol of 'whiteness' as I hear?



From Wikipedia: The plastic pink flamingo was designed in 1957 by Don Featherstone while working for Union Products, and has become an icon of pop culture,[1] and won him the Ig Nobel Prize for Art in 1996. It has even spawned a lawn greeting industry where flocks of pink flamingos are installed on a victim's lawn in the dark of night. After the release of John Waters's 1972 movie Pink Flamingos, [2] plastic flamingos came to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch.[1]

Trim Pregnancy

This image appeared as an ad on my Facebook page today. I was in shock...is this real? Yes...it's real. A 'trim' pregnancy. I have always thought that pregnancy was more-so an issue of nurturance and selflessness. Making sure you eat properly and avoid any harmful substances to your system. It's not a surprise that pregnancy entails weight gain as you have a new life growing inside of you. Then there's this ad. It's an entire website, www.trimpregnancy.com. The tag line is, "The best kept secret by celebrity mothers revealed"

Why is this ad showing up for me? I suppose I am a female and in the appropriate age range for being pregnant...but this ad is just such an insult.

Taking a look at the ad and picking it apart visually...much to be done. The colors evoke a definite relation to other scammy diet and pill ads that I have seen on the internet. I am reminded also of all of the informercials I used to see when I had a telelvision. Countless ads would play back to back with the latest gimmick for how to lose weight - now!!!! The measuring tape strapped across the stomach almost seems like a choking device for the baby. This ad is also "all-American" with its red, white and blue colors. It has branded pregnancy....TRIM PREGNANCY. No longer just the state of being pregnant.


Once you go to the website, there is a WARNING: "Read this before you let your pregnant and overweight body rob you of your beauty and self confidence...Take action with methods that are PROVEN TO WORK and be a sexy mama!


So...along the lines of what they are saying here is that it is not attractive to be pregnant and that you should naturally lose your self confidence and be robbed of your beauty. What ever happened to the positives about pregnancy?

It gives expecting mothers the idea that they are somehow not going to be able to have a 'normal' body during or after pregnancy. Pregnancy and giving birth - is normal and the expansion of ones tummy is all a part of it!

Fried chicken on the B44

Nothing makes me feel more disgusted then when a fellow New Yorker aboards the bus or subway car with a magical box stuffed with smelly food shit and proceeds to open it and.....eat. I have a friend who claims they feel definitively fatter when a stranger eats in front of them. Like the intake of food is somehow contagious. God, it feels like it really could be to me sometimes too. The worst is fried chicken which often stinks up the bus on my ride home through Brooklyn at night.