2009 in 5...4...3...2...1....

Currently loving: Elf, Christmas Story, Pumpkin Pie, Wassail, Hockey, Canada.

With the madness of Finals and Christmas over, I'm blogging to acknowledge the end of 2008. A very eventful year. I will leave you with this video and the wish that maybe this year will be better than the last.

"PLEASE DON'T BOMB NOBODY THIS HOLIDAY" - By The Dan Band - watch more funny videos

Have you heard the news? Bettie Page died.

Yesterday, December 11, Pop Icon Betti Page died at the age of 85 in Los Angeles.

I hope offbeat people every where can recognize pop culture's great loss.

Thank you for your pioneering style. We will always remember the attire, the hair, the controversy, the pin-ups.

Rest in peace.

4/22/1923 - 12/11/08

In honor of Bettie, I shall style my hair for the new year and my wedding in honor of her memory.

Are you Effing kidding me?!

Dolls Gone Wild
By Ruth Twentey

In case you haven't heard, or have been laying off the Barbie Web sites recently (uh-huh, suuure), there's controversy in the air—specifically, a blonde bird sporting black boots and gloves, fishnet stockings, and a shiny motorcycle jacket.
"S&M Barbie lashed by public" shouted a headline in the UK newspaper The Sun back in July, referring to Black Canary Barbie (or BCB as I've come to call her, for simplicity but also for the cheeky allusion to fashion giant BCBG). BCB is Mattel's newest incarnation in the long-standing (and posing and smiling) and ever-morphing Barbie franchise.

Chat rooms and blogs catching wind of the doll's product launch, in late October at Toys "R" Us and other retail outlets, lit up with indignant outrage. How dare Mattel market such a "tarty" Barbie to impressionable pre-adolescent girls? Most seemed to miss the doll's intended pop-culture connection, or at least missed the fine print on her page on BarbieCollector.com, which reads somewhat scandalously, "For the adult collector."

Never mind that there are adult collectors of Barbies. (Our apologies if you are one; and by the way, have you checked out the very real Showgirl Barbie and Tout de Suite Barbie?) In actuality, BCB is based on a DC Comics heroine with a somber back story and belt notches not for kinky liaisons, but for knocking off bad guys with the best of the Justice League. Her secret weapon is her "canary cry," with which she can stun humans and "bust" glass at will.

BCB does indeed look like she's headed for the roadhouse bar—perhaps for a pole dancing contest—or an audition for backup on Britney Spears' next tour. But is she really a grave threat to the moral welfare of young people?

Frankly, I wish she would swoop down and rescue our daughters (and sons for that matter) from the far more insidious and dead-serious challengers to the Barbie throne: the Bratz, whose heavy-handed makeup application rivals that of the late Tammy Faye Baker.

For of course no discussion of the depravity of modern youth due to plastic playthings can avoid a head-on collision with the Bratz, the self-proclaimed "only girls with a passion for fashion." With heavy-lidded expressions of disdain seemingly directed even toward their owners, Bratz are a symbol of everything gone awry in the world for some—and an astounding sales sensation for their manufacturer.
While parent company MGA Entertainment does not release sales figures for the Bratz dolls, some experts say that their success is readily reflected in Barbie's declining domestic sales—as well as in the Bratz's undeniable conquest of every marketing outlet available, from members-only chat rooms to full-length animated films.

Perhaps most tellingly, Barbie herself appears to have capitulated to the peer pressure to "prostitot" herself to a level she's never reached before. The Mattel offshoot Web site, barbiegirls.com, provides all the pouty-lipped, mall-based action marketed so effectively by Bratz. Underage-looking and with heads inflated to bobble size, these animated pint-sized Barbies have higher skirts and bare-r midriffs than their classical counterparts. They cultivate another exclusive world where cool, popular girls can eagerly display their catch phrases and skimpy clothing.
True, a chill wind blows across Planet Bratz: New developments from the real world could potentially deal a fatal blow to the entire Barbie-Bratz competition. After a nearly four-year trial in a California federal court, a jury found in early December that Bratz creator Carter Bryant breached a contract with Mattel and that MGA consequently infringed on Mattel copyright, from its first sale of dolls in 2001. In addition to hefty damages awarded (a reported $10 million for the infringement and up to $90 million for the breach), the U.S. District judge has banned the sale of every one of the 40 dolls in the Bratz line, effective "after the holidays."
But the verdict speaks only to which manufacturer owns the riches gained from Bratz sales. It reflects nothing about the nature of the demand for the dolls.

In a 2007 report, the American Psychological Association concluded that "the proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development." This is no surprise to most parents. And yet sales of these dolls-gone-wild are skyrocketing. It seems the collective parenting purse is succumbing to a doll-marketing bonanza that has also gone wild.

As the parent of daughter who has received four Barbies and three Bratz dolls as well-meant gifts in the span of her four years, I've had that creepy "know-it-when-I see-it" feeling about these presents plenty of times. After the novelty of each toy wore off, my daughter went back to her stuffed animals and forgot about the Bratz and Barbies, after which they seem to have mysteriously "disappeared" from her toy chest.

Perhaps someday she'll find their message appealing, but I'm thankful it hasn't happened yet. Even with all the "girl power" and parent-power propaganda on both the Mattel and MGA sites, I'm just not buying it.

Ruth Twentey works and lives in Seattle with her husband and young daughter.

Now, I'm a total geek and I love comics, but even I know this is WAAAY too much for the Barbie crowd, because Black Canary is not as recognizable to mainstream pop culture the way Supergirl or Wonder Woman - both whom are also in Barbie form - are. Don't get me wrong, I love Barbie & Comic culture, so I totally want one.

What was that about Ikea having a Swedish Santa?!

I was driving to Jo-ann's & Michael's for some holiday gift-craft buying when I heard an Ikea commercial on the radio. Nothing special, until they got to the part about getting a picture with their Swedish Santa. That has become my #1 thing to do this Christmas. I shall have to talk Micah into going this weekend. After I finish my last research paper. Stupid school. And we can make it our Xmas card next year. Our "First Official Christmas" as "husband and wife." You know, because the last four Christmases don't count...

It shall be a very crafty Christmas:
1 - Kitschmas tree (just need to locate olive-color fun fur)
2 - Colorado color-schemed beanies
1 - matching scarf
1 - grey scarf
1 - book safe
2 - "bohemian" necklaces
1 - dozen chocolate cookies
2 - "bohemian" scarves

Spent a lot of Sunday with Heather cutting out my dress & finding a pattern for her's. We also did some of her Xmas shopping. (Yarn for two Jayne hats. What could be better?)

Will need to put "Viking Knitting" materials on my Xmas list.

Happy Christmas...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Did you vote Yes on Prop 8? Then sign this petition!!!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Prop 8: The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Full cast credits for "Prop. 8: The Musical"

By Greg Hernandez on December 3, 2008 3:40 PM

(c/o http://www.insidesocal.com/)

The Funny or Die site states that the brilliant "Prop. 8: The Musical," which premiered online with a bang today, was "conceived and written (six weeks later than he shoulda) by-Marc Shaiman, directed and staged by: Adam Shankman. They also produced along with Mike Farah.

The cast (in order of appearance):

California Gays and The People That Love Them: Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker

Proposition 8'ers and The People That Follow Them: Prop 8 Leader- John C. Reilly, Prop 8 Leader's #1 Wife- Allison Janney, Prop 8 Leader's #2 Wife- Kathy Najimy Riffing, Prop 8'er-Jenifer Lewis, A Preacher- Craig Robinson, Scary Catholic School Girls From Hell-Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke

The Frightened Villagers: Katharine "Kooks" Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise "Esi!" Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, Tate Taylor

Jesus Christ: Jack Black

A Very Smart Fellow: Neil Patrick Harris