I love that Whitney Port

Wears ridiculous things.

Let's Talk Shit

Recently, I've been in a few conversations (and I suppose as a girl am perpetually in them) where a person is talking about another person and I can tell they are either sugar coating what they think and want to say, or if they just can't control themselves start making excuses for their rant. They'll say something like, "I'm not talking shit, but...I don't want to gossip, it's just that...I really like so-and-so, don't get me wrong..." to those of you, myself included, who are guilty of this practice, shut the fuck up. Seriously.

This "gossip" phobia is nothing more than an archaic leftover of our puritanical beginnings. I have similar feelings about jealousy and how we're made to feel guilty over it. We either hide it away or are forced to uncomfortably treat is as a joke. Jealousy happens, arguments happen, feelings get hurt, your opinion of people you care for goes up and down. And guess what? With these fluctuations comes the need to express those feelings. So, we've created a wonderful euphamism for gossiping; you're not gossiping if you're "venting" instead.

Is it really wrong to express a negative opinion about someone you know, to another person, provided it's true? A.) they'll either never know about it, or B.) if your confessor tells that person, so what. Which leads me to another point. Not a single one of us is liked by everyone we interact with, we put out more annoying/bad vibes than we can imagine. Because of our own irrational fears of being disliked, we've decided it's wrong to express a dislike for another person. Trust me, you are disliked (and strongly) by someone, probably more than one someone. There can be only one universally liked person, and I think the Buddha and Jesus are the front runners.

I suppose my point is to say, 'admit that you think it's unfair that your best friend owned a maserati at 23 and you were still driving your mom's minivan. You're not "talking shit" you're being honest about your feelings. It's okay that you're jealous -- say so, seriously. It's okay that you think you've worked harder and he's gotten all the breaks. Say it to his face, or tell your girl/guy and if it gets back to him, so what, it's the truth. Let it out, and then, let it go. If he can't understand how he might feel the same way in a similar situation, probably not a great friend to begin with.'

In conclusion...this thing we have about "talking shit" and "gossiping" and even jealousy is ridiculous. It forces people to lie and fake their way through relationships and life. Don't do it.

And PS -- if we lived in a culture where it was normal practice to talk honestly about how we feel, we would probably feel the need to "vent" a lot less often. Being more comfortable with ourselves, what other people say and do wouldn't affect us so dramatically.

David Beckham looks sort of like a boy for a change. That's funny.

Charlize Theron

is hands down one of the most beautiful women, in terms of public figures, the world is aware of.

But is not immune to saying absurd things like this on set of a vogue photo shoot: "There is a part of me, as an actor, that comes alive when you throw me in a place." She continues contemplatively, "And I think Mario likes to shoot me that way."

Did I forget how to speak English or does that sentence literally not make any sense? Or maybe there is some sort of divine truth that Charlize is aware of that we are not. For example, most people, NOT as actors simply shrivel up and die when they are "thrown" in a place. Charlize has somehow learned how to side step this inconvenience. Or, Mario Testino likes to shoot her in this special state of livelihood, whereas he prefers to shoot others in a state of not being alive in a place they've been thrown into. Maybe, I'm still trying to figure it out.

I laughed out loud

One of my favorite blogs is http://www.gofugyourself.com/. The writer is hilarious, although slightly verbose, incredibly entertaining and just seems like an all around good gal.

I just read this post about Rick Springfield and had to laugh out loud. I hope it at least gives you the giggles.

PS -- I didn't know who Rick Springfield was until after the eighties were over, but let me tell you that when I saw "Jesse's Girl" for the first time I sure as hell wished I'd been born early enough to be in some sort of eighties Rick Springfield cult -- or at least to have watched him in General Hospital. That man defined sexy "cute", which is why I truly empathize with the message of the post below.

http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/go_fug_yourself/2009/08/i_wanna_tell_her_that_i_fug_he.html

What, me worry?

Every week I dutifully listen to Bill Maher's show via free podcast on my itunes, not having HBO on the tube at home. I love Bill Maher, I think he's hilarious. I look forward to that hour each week.

But I just heard something that disturbed me. Bill said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that he didn't know what the Federal Reserve was, and didn't know what they did. He said he wasn't sure if the people who are supposed to be experts understand our financial crisis on the basis that he does not understand it.

It's clear that Bill is a comedian and he says things for his audience and to kind of represent the people during his panel discussions...but I was really surprised to hear him say that. And even more surprised that one of his panel members after expositing a lot of finance facts also admitted that he didn't know what the Fed does, as if to dismiss it altogether, and when his ignorance was pointed out he excused it by saying, "well, I didn't go to Harvard."

What bothers me about this is that it is exactly the kind of attitude that allows people to remain uniformed and allows those big bad corporate guys to bully the "little guys" around. Liberals love to throw themselves a pity party and make themselves would-be martyrs against the guys with the money, but to use a well known quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Not having the courage to try to understand something that seems overwhelming is giving up before you hit the starting line.

This is episode 162 of the show, btw, and what I'm talking about happens around the thirty minute mark. Also, if one wants to know what the federal reserve does, he/she has only to google it. That's like a savings of about 80 grand on Harvard tuition. And you don't have to have attended to know that.

This might be one of the best headlines ever

"Billy Mays' family: Never saw signs of cocaine use"

Really? So...they've never seen one of his infomercials? That's difficult to believe.