They just don't get the Western mindset...

China View has an opinion on why Sunday night's Oscars show was the least-watched ever. You can read it at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/26/content_7673967.htm.

Somehow, though, in all those implied criticisms of American taste and snobbery, they didn't notice the fact that the WGA writer's strike, which lasted slightly over 3 months and ended only 12 days before, had continually threatened the Oscars telecast. We watched the Golden Globes go down in flames as both writers and A-list actors picketed during the run-up. We watched as show after favorite show went dark, their previously entertaining hours doomed to rerun hell or filled with half-baked B-list pilots that had been previously rejected by the studios for primetime line-up.

Many of us turned off our TVs long before the Oscars. Funny thing about drying out from a drug like that--you find other, sometimes better, addictions to take its place.

Eco-Cheek

According to MSN Fashion and Lucky Magazine, vegan clothing is becoming the new must-have closet-space waster. The new trend, started by designer Stella McCartney, is called "eco-chic." According to the MSN article, to be designated "vegan fashion," the clothing or accessory cannot be made with any animal products, including animal-based glues and dyes.

But what does that leave? If you look at the websites cited, you'll find a lot of naturally-tinted organic cotton. And you'll also vinyl and other "faux croc" and "faux leather" products--in other words, petroleum-based synthetic materials.

So, if you have to choose, which is more eco-friendly? Wearing the hide of the cow you ate steak from last night and, thus, closing the circle? Or eschewing the cow altogether while wearing vinyl created from the same fossil fuel production that eats up most of our planet's natural resources?

Buy organic cotton, buy hemp, buy natural fibers with as few intermediate steps from plant to pants as possible. That's cool. But vinyl? Plether? PVC? These are not acceptable substitutes if you want to be conscientious in your idealism.

I'll take the cow any day. At least it's a renewable resource--just add bull.

Photog Exhibit @ Satellite, Thursday

David Plowden will be critiquing 4 local photographers at the Satellite Ballroom on the Corner from 2-6 pm this Thursday, March 22. I remember seeing a show of Plowden's work in Muskegon back in the day I was working for Stannards Music up in Grand Rapids, MI and it was pretty dramatic stuff. If I recall correctly from my years in the biz, he was regularly featured in Modern Photography and Shutterbug, and that was over a decade and a half ago. I'm sure he's an even bigger name now, so getting his attention can be a deal.

Bill Emory is one of the four photographers being reviewed by Plowden. The show is free and open to the public. If you've got the time, swing by Satellite to view it and support our local artists.

Gingered

The news that true red heads may become extinct by the end of this century is pretty old, but selective breeding may cure the problem. It's just a matter of compounding the recessives.

Being of mostly Celtic extraction, I've been highly amused at how popular bottle red has become in the past decade. It seems every woman I know under 40 has gone auburn, strawberry, or copper at some point. In my family, it's been a while since we produced a true carrot top, although most of us come by our highlights naturally, the stereotypical white skin prevails, and freckles can be found all over the family tree on both sides.

What I find most interesting about the phenomenon is how, well before science pinpointed and published the (lack-of) genetic trend, popular culture seemed to sense it--going red was (and still is) the haircolor version of getting couture swag. Much like bustles and corsets were popularized to make skinny girls look Mae West voluptuous around the turn of the last century, and the heroin-waif look is popular today precisely because we have, as a nation, finally grown into the Mae West figure. These trends in looks point up what is rare, instead of what is normal, as being more desirable. No wonder we're called a culture of death--we always idolize what few can reasonably achieve, whatever end of the pendulum it is.

It's simply too bad we can't harness all that obsession into idolizing a new model of society and community. It seems wasted on looks. Can you imagine the world if we truly valued rarity instead of imitating it? Here are some fashion-forward soundbytes I'd like to hear on the street:

"Buying clothes made from organically grown fibers is all the rage because, dang, are they expensive and hard to get!!"

"Scrap the Nikes--Eccos are sooo much hotter!"

"I'll be gingered, is that real flax?"

and my fave,

"Hemp--it's not just for smoking anymore."

Brand Name Goodness

Charlottesville's new logo is causing a bit of a stir among area blogs. My favorite para in the article is the second one:

“This brand is our personality, our values,” said Mark Shore, director of
the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau, which
spearheaded the new branding initiative. “A community’s values are the same by
which a brand’s values must convey.”

Yes, Charlottesville, we have a Brand Name and it conveys "creativity, history, and elegance." I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling about as elegant as Roseanne Barr on a night out at McDonald's. However, considering that both Roseanne and McDs are brands in themselves, perhaps I shouldn't diss our decision to Go Commerical.

This is exactly the kind of idiocy that cries out for a culture jam. (Seriously. 22 months to come up with that logo? Seriously.) Ironically, though, since we're also going to be marketed for our "creativity" any jamming or busting will probably just get played up as part of our innate, elusive, laid-back counterculture mystique and make us that much more wildly hip. IOW, the only way not to play into the Charlottesville label is to be so uptight or far-right that Donna Reed wouldn't want to live here. And that would suck.

Can She Get the Daily Double?

From Wonkette's Yeas and Nays: "Education Sec. Margaret Spellings was on 'Celebrity' Jeopardy, set to air today. It will settle definitively and objectively whether she’s purposefully mendacious or just dumb."

I tried to find a way to say it better, but failed. Air time: NBC-29 @ 7:30 pm. This may be the one night to tune into a game show. Bring popcorn.

Punching the One-Way Ticket

Another little-seen article, this time from the Daily Progress:

Businesses and insurance companies are starting to eye the potential savings of outsourcing health care from the world's richest country to the developing world.
. . . .
With an estimated 45 million uninsured Americans, some 500,000 trekked overseas last year for medical treatment, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. Asian hospitals in Thailand, India and Singapore have long been swarmed by medical tourists looking for tummy tucks and face lifts, but many glitzy, marble-floored facilities are now gaining reputations for big-ticket procedures including heart surgery, knee and back operations.

More article at Businesses May Move Health Care Overseas

Are there any other Boston Legal fans out here who recognize this plot? Oh, that's right. It's for real. So, raise your hand if you want to be packed off to the Pakistani border for your open heart surgery. If you do, you might want to rethink buying the round-trip ticket.