I Was Born Free

The individuals referenced in each respective clue in the "Jeopardy!" category "15 Minutes of Fame," from the May 20 episode

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:31:04 -0400

$200: JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater

$400: Wasilla, AK mayoral candidate Levi Johnston

$600: “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault

$800: Cuban refugee Elián González

$1000: “The Signal and the Noise” author Nate Silver

[via]

nickdouglas: I know these are old news, but I ran across one...

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:20:17 -0400

nickdouglas:

I know these are old news, but I ran across one today and honestly, I will pay $10 for proof that you permanently defaced one of these NYC subway ads.

They’re so fucking offensive they make it embarrassing to make eye contact with most families on the subway because there’s a giant bright ad saying “fuck you” to young, poor, or unmarried parents, like they all planned to be raising kids in the toughest situations, because they’re idiots who don’t understand life is hard and if only we recited some facts at them we could knowledge the babies away.

I’m shocked the person who greenlit these was never fired.

Also don’t like the subway ads telling me not to get drunk.

Ok am I the only one noticing Rosario Dawson going full tumblr and getting into reblog fights?

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:28:01 -0400

Ok am I the only one noticing Rosario Dawson going full tumblr and getting into reblog fights?

daisyrosario: clintonpickens: scrobby: aint-got-nothin-at-all:...

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:37:59 -0400

daisyrosario:

clintonpickens:

scrobby:

aint-got-nothin-at-all:

fatwasandfanboys:

What Should We Call Girl Pain?

The starlets who posed for the July 2003 Vanity Fair “It’s Totally Raining Teens!” cover, symbolized femininity, success, beauty, talent, youth and perfection. Average girls in the aughts didn’t have the accoutrements to be them, but they could watch them. Even better than watching them, average girls could read their books. The books based on their shows and movies heightened the fantasy. Average girls could be any of these starlets for $3.99 or $4.99. Average girls could be like them while they waited to grow up, not knowing they are already like them.

Five out of nine of the starlets featured on the July 2003 Vanity Fair cover have admitted to struggling with mental illness, making them more than Mary Sues. For Mary-Kate, her pain was called anorexia. For Mandy Moore and Evan Rachel Wood, depression. For Lindsay Lohan, addiction. For Amanda Bynes, “an eating disorder.”

Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes, in particular, labored in Hollywood, as young, vulnerable girls, at the cost of self-love and self-awareness. Money and success couldn’t save them, ultimately, from the reality of illness and suffering. They both represent hurt and injury, and are mocked for it. When people are not cheaply waxing political about them, they are fetishized by gay white men and straight white men alike, mocked in the new lowest form of white male humor: White Girl Jokes.

Men never ask what they should call women’s pain, so they call us crazy. They call us crazy and they laugh at us. The same men who say women aren’t funny obviously do find women funny. They find women funny at the most inappropriate time: when we’re hurting. There is no sympathy, no empathy, for young women under the influence, on the verge of, or currently breaking down. Girl pain is titillating and amusing disaster porn. In Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes’ case, their celebrity eclipses their humanity; they become the “willing victims” of the public abuse of men. Their inner turmoil, a spectacle, is a living punchline reaction gif, making us ask, “Where are their people?”

Lindsay and Amanda, we know, have no people. Amanda Bynes, in a recent tweet, stated, “I don’t speak to my parents anymore.” Lindsay has always been people-less. We learned this, when Lindsay released “Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter To Father).” Amy Poehler and Tina Fey tried to be Lindsay’s people, when they staged an intervention in 2005. Their efforts failed.

We watched Britney Spears struggle in the spotlight from 2006-2008, until her parents intervened, like good people should, rescuing their daughter from her very public nightmare, a nightmare exacerbated by men like Sam Lutfi and Perez Hilton. We watched Demi Lovato, during her tour with the Jonas Brothers, punch a back-up dancer. Like Britney, Demi’s support system— her people— intervened. Demi began her treatment at Timberline Knolls. It was there, at Timberline Knolls, that Demi learned what to call her hurt and injury and girl pain: bipolar disorder, bulimia, self-medication, cutting, etc. Her girl pain inspired her last album, Unbroken, the most Lohan-esque song from the album being “For the Love a Daughter.” Britney is older than the girls on the July 2003 Vanity Fair cover, Demi is younger, but their girl pain is the same.

The girls on the Vanity Fair cover all seem to express a vulnerability and winking stoicism. They seem aware of the fact that they were corseted and boxed in— as the clothes, the color and the cover suggest— but not weak. Amanda and Lindsay, both on the sides, are not holding onto any of the other girls. Instead, they grasp the white structure.

What should we call girl pain?

So from what I can gather from this article:
- Mental disorders are ‘girl pain’ so presumably only emasculated men are able to experience them.
- All men hate and wholly misunderstand women.
- Only men mock and ignore people with mental disorders.
- No women find the ‘white girl problems’ things funny.

This article, while touching on an incredibly pertinent issue in our society, is over-generalising and ignoring a very key concept that ‘patriarchy’ does not equate to ‘all men’.

It is also implying that no men at all suffer from mental disorders. This is something which is so common and stupidly harmful; the idea that men ought to be strong and out-of-touch with their mental state, and if they suffer from depression, anxiety, etc, they are weak. Suicide rates are higher in men and diagnosed instances of depression are higher in women because the former are not expected to require or seek help.

This had the potential to be an interesting article, looking at why society as a whole has such a crap attitude to dealing with mental disorders. Instead it became one of those which gives feminism a bad name.

Well put Scrobby.

Or not well put at all.

The article does not in any way label mental illness as an exclusively female problem. What the article does say is that unless these girls have support systems around them, which unfortunately many do not, their legitimate mental illnesses go untreated and ultimately mocked. They are looked upon as young starlets just being crazy instead of people suffering from very real issues such as depression and bipolar disorder. But when they do have support systems, that can be avoided because these are real issues that can be treated.

Saying that both heterosexual and homosexual men mock these women doesn’t mean that all men do it, it means that this mocking is not the exclusive domain of straight white men. This is a point worth making because gay men and women are so often considered allies.

And not pointing out that some women do take part in this mockery isn’t the same as saying, or even implying, that they do not.

So the article didn’t take the time to go, “Hey, we know not all men are like this,” but so what? Most articles aren’t written that way.

Favorite song.

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:54:33 -0400

Favorite song.

"Tumblr’s employees will also do well. The company’s first 10 employees will receive an average of..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:40:54 -0400

“Tumblr’s employees will also do well. The company’s first 10 employees will receive an average of $6.2 million in cash; the first 30 will receive an average of $3.3 million in cash, and the rest of the 178 employees will each receive $371,000.”

- Oh. (via christinefriar)

YEAH

(via perzadook)

Can someone just tell me if topherchris is a millionnaire?

Nauseous.

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:02:51 -0400

Nauseous.

The new Flickr is pretty nice and I used to go places and take pictures of them if you want to have a looksee.

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:28:38 -0400

The new Flickr is pretty nice and I used to go places and take pictures of them if you want to have a looksee.

Would you look at this thing.

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:56:51 -0400

Would you look at this thing.

Hey guys.

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:52:29 -0400

Hey guys.

the idea of huffily taking my shitty blog elsewhere makes me lol though

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:14:43 -0400

the idea of huffily taking my shitty blog elsewhere makes me lol though

I just hope the acquisition doesn’t affect David Karp’s modeling career.

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:42:21 -0400

I just hope the acquisition doesn’t affect David Karp’s modeling career.

Ha.

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:50:58 -0400

I agree, you being a creepy prick is hilarious.

Burn down GoogaMooga

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:01:23 -0400

Burn down GoogaMooga

Haha on flickr now you have to pay to see your own photos.

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:48:03 -0400

Haha on flickr now you have to pay to see your own photos.

matthewkeys: shortformblog: soupsoup: tiffany: Tumblr meetup...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:40:26 -0400

matthewkeys:

shortformblog:

soupsoup:

tiffany:

Tumblr meetup at Fat Cat.

I remember meeting a lot of the people I came to know on Tumblr, in person, this night, I think March 13 in 2008. This was long before Tumblr was much of a thing outside of New York. I spent a lot more time on Tumblr back in those days.

It seems pretty likely that Tumblr, this weekend, is at a turning point.

Tumblr as a product simply stopped attempting to evolve over the last couple of years, perhaps by design. Despite that, growth has continued, it’s a massive success in terms of size and scale. It even managed to generate a few million dollars, but not likely enough to sustain itself as a business and I suspect there’s not much runway left to try.

Whatever happens, this place was something special for me, and continues to be for many others. I really enjoyed the time I spent here.

The “undisputed king of Tumblr,” as the NYT once called him, weighs in.

Except for that one time when it wasn’t fun.

You’re such a prick.

"Employees were recently told not to be concerned, though, because the company is expecting to be..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:07:45 -0400

“Employees were recently told not to be concerned, though, because the company is expecting to be bought.”

- Funniest sentence I’ve read in a while.

Does Yahoo realize they're buying this?

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:42:24 -0400

Does Yahoo realize they're buying this?

azspot: Tom Tomorrow: Thomas Friedman, private eye

Sat, 18 May 2013 04:05:17 -0400

azspot:

Tom Tomorrow: Thomas Friedman, private eye

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:39:52 -0400