Blech

My room is really messy right now. It is this horrible combination of living in two places at once, not being/not wanting to be completely unpacked from school, not having enough time at home to every really clean it up, and having to re-pack to go back to camp every weekend. Ugh. I really don't like it right now. I keep feeling like I'm going to loose something important or forget something in my back-and-forth travels, and it is just very unsettling. Plus, right now it is hot as the dickens in here. Yep, as the dickens. I said it. Next weekend, I hope to clean this place up a little bit, but, honestly, I'm not holding out that much hope...

Damn It

My 12-year-old goldfish died yesterday, and so did some other things in my life.

And I have jury duty for the next 8-ish days.

I really hate everything right now.

Women and the Media

Sorry for the second rant in two days, I guess I'm just in a rant-y mood....lo siento!

A blog called "Stiletto Revolt--Women and Cultural Warfare: A Multimedia Expose" has a list of The World's Worst Magazine Ads (specifically modern ads that portray/play off of negative, manipulative, unhealthy, or warped ideals for women), and it is pretty shocking. Here are a couple of the ads:

AD CAMPAIGN: Fit Yogurt (Brazil)

LITERAL TEXT: “Forget about it. Men’s preferences will never change.” 

(So eat this yogurt so that you can!)

(Just buy her jewelry and she'll open her legs!)

AD CAMPAIGN: Wonderbra"

("There are only two ways to get a man. If you can't cook, you better be sexy.")

(For participation in the organ donation program!)

(Please check out the analysis with the link at the top if you want to see/know more.)

Amazon FAIL

Amazon messed up in a big way today when it began pulling sales ranking numbers from several gay- and lesbian-themes books that it deemed too "adult" to be displayed on all searches and lists. The blogosphere caught wind and immediately went up in arms. FMI (where I got my info) check out Jezebel

Books that have been stripped of Amazon Sales Rankings (among others):

Ellen DeGeneres: A Biography

Sexing The Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality

Full Frontal Feminism

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Queer Theory: An Introduction

Social Services for Gay and Lesbian Couples

The Lesbian Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families and Raising Children

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (which I had to read for a Biology class last semester!)

Books that have kept their rankings (among others):

A Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders (which I also read for that same Bio class. A great book, I might add!)

Ron Jeremy: The Hardest Working Man in Showbiz

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amazing Sex

A Parents Guide to Preventing Homosexuality

Confessions of a Video Vixen

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity

How to be a Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide

A Strippers Tail: Confessions of a Vegas Stripper

Exercising the Penis: How to make your prized organ bigger, harder, and healthier

So, this doesn't make sense on so many levels. For one, why has a book designed to help men come out of the closet lost its ranking while one for lesbians has retained its ranking? Why is Ellen DeGegeneres' biography off while Ron Jeremy's is still on? Explain?

Furthermore, Queer Theory books, books on feminism, and books about coming out have lost their rankings, but books such as "A Parents Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" have kept theirs!

In fact, right now when you search "homosexuality" on Amazon, that is the first book that shows up, followed by "You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling with Homosexuality or for Those Who Know Someone Who Is," "Can Homosexuality be Healed?" and "When Homosexuality Hits Home: What to do When a Loved One Says They're Gay" WTF, AMAZON???

After a quasi-explosion on the web over this, Amazon is now saying that this was a "glitch" which will soon be fixed. Bull. Shit.