Please, Boston, be creative!

According to this article, Boston might be getting its own Walk of Fame, modeled after the original in Hollywood. Boston's Walk of Fame would honor artists (which includes actors, musicians, etc.) from the Boston area, and would be located in the Theater District. Supporters claim that this would attract more tourists, and would make the Theater District more "vibrant" and would bring more "pride" and "excitement." As for the design, some people have suggested that there be lobsters or codfish instead of the traditional star.

Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I think it might be kind of neat to add something new to the Theater District, such as more glitz and glamour. But then again, Boston is known for its historical image; why change that? Something like this might not fit in with the cobblestone streets. Also, I wish we could come up with something more original instead of something that has been copied many times. I don't want Boston to be just another city that hopped on the bandwagon - originality would be much more valuable. And while the lobster or codfish design might be quirky and unique to Boston, it's still a bit tacky. Overall, I don't think Boston should attempt to cash in on something that's been overdone and is bordering on cliche (I realize the "e" should be accented, but for some reason those characters won't work here). I'm all for bringing more pride and excitement to the Theater District, but perhaps if someone were to come up with something more creative, something that hasn't been done before, I would be more supportive.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep this blog short because I have a lot to do tonight. I already mailed two scholarship applications earlier today, so that's one thing I can cross off my to-do list. I've also decided to apply for the Honors Program at Simmons, and that application will take a bit of work. I'll have to write a 400-500 word essay and another shorter essay. The deadline for "priority consideration" is tomorrow, and they won't accept any applications after April 1. I really would rather have met the priority deadline, but I didn't decide to apply to the program until very recently. Ideally I would like to finish the application tonight so I can mail it tomorrow, but that probably won't happen unless I stay up late, which I'm going to try really hard not to do since I've been exhausted over the past two days from lack of sleep.

I also have to study for my History test tomorrow. I did study the amendments yesterday, but I still probably couldn't tell you half of them off the top of my head so I will have to do a lot more studying tonight. Plus, I haven't even read Chapter 2 yet, which is what half the test will be focused on. Yeah, I'm kind of behind. I'm always completely lost in that class. I'm awful at History.

Well, that's all for today. Nothing else is new. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog tomorrow. 'Til then.

My lack of sleep and the art of Alfonse Mucha

Today was my first day back to school after vacation last week. I decided to get it off to a great start by sleeping for only 4 1/2 hours last night for no good reason at all. I could've been in bed by midnight, 11:30 even, but for some reason I just didn't do it. When 12:30 rolled around, I decided instead of going to bed I would make my frozen pizza for today's lunch. Since that would take fifteen minutes in the toaster oven, and since I had already shut off the computer, I decided to sit down and watch the last half of the season finale of Celebrity Fit Club 3 (which, I admit, is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine). This was a bad decision. Fifteen minutes later my pizza was done, but of course I had to watch the end of the show. I made myself a bowl of cereal and, afterwards, two slices of cinnamon toast. I was in bed by 1:15.

I don't think I fell asleep until 1:30 or 1:45 though because, as I have for the past few nights, I was unable to fall asleep right away because I kept thinking about the upcoming track season. It's really making me nervous, mainly because I'm worried I won't be in good enough shape for the start of the season. No, I know I won't be in good enough shape. I keep telling myself that I should go out for a jog or something, but I know myself too well - I'm way too lazy to do that. Plus, it's way too cold out. Yeah, that's my excuse.

Anyway, the moral of the story is (or was, before I got way off track) that I'm exhausted right now and I can't wait to go to sleep. Unfortunately I have to study all 27 amendments because I have to know them for a test by Wednesday, and as of right now I only know, like, six. School hates me.

Well enough rambling on about my lack of sleep and such. The other day I discovered this blog, entitled "70s-child." Aside from the fact that he's one of the religious fanatic types that I can't stand (see how he bashes an innocently hilarious comic strip in his February 26th post), I really enjoyed browsing through all of his archived posts. He posts mainly 70's things (hence the blog title), and even though I wasn't around during that time (though I wish I could have been) I love looking at some of them. He's posted a few Alfonse Mucha posters, who is one of my favorite artists. His work is from the late 19th century, but it experienced a revival during the 60's and 70's. He did a lot of posters, including advertisements for products such as cigarettes, rum, and food. If you look at his posters, I think you can see why - they seem to fit in with that era somehow, even though they're from decades earlier. I've noticed how a lot of his art features elegant, almost goddess-like women with circular designs around their heads. I have a huge print of this one in my bedroom up in Maine:


My mom bought this for me I think at some type of flea market for only a few dollars. I plan on taking it with me to college this fall and putting it up on my dorm room wall. I would love to get some more prints, too, and possibly frame them. I would also love a print from this exhibit of rock posters at the MFA in Boston (I think they're pretty expensive though). It would be really cool to go see that exhibit, and I think my mom and I might be going some time soon. I don't usually enjoy going to art museums (well, depending on what the art is... some of it is interesting), but I have been dragged along with my mom so many times over the years because she's basically really big on art (she's an art teacher, she went to Mass College of Art, and she would paint frequently if she had the time).

Well since I keep getting way off track and because I've been writing this blog for literally three hours (I keep getting distracted) I think it's time for me to just stop typing before I become entirely unintelligible.

But I do have one quick thing to say: I have to clarify my last post, because it seems I got off track and lost the main point. Basically the whole reason why the Kansas law is so absurd is because it states that any sexual activity between minors (those under sixteen) is considered abuse, even if it is consensual. It is ridiculous to consider consensual sex abuse, no matter the age of the participants, which was my main point that seemed to be lost on a few people.

Well, that's all for today. Adios.

Sorry, Kansas teens, but I feel awful for you.

A few days ago, during my daily browsing of boston.com, I came across this op-ed article. In short, it's about a law in Kansas that states that sex involving minors (even if it is consensual between two minors) is illegal and is considered abuse. The main proponent of this law is Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (pictured above). To get a good mental picture of what Kline stands for, picture me... and then the exact opposite of me. And there you have it. He's a Republican, an adamant pro-lifer, and so on and so forth. As you can imagine, this article did not make me very happy. The article states:

"The Kline Theory goes something like this: If sexual activity between teens is illegal, there's no such thing as consensual sex, and thus every act is harmful. These acts, by the way, include 'any lewd fondling or touching of the person . . . with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires.' In short, healthcare workers have to rat on 15-year-old sexual criminals who are lustily and mutually 'abusing' each other in the back seat of a Toyota."

This is actually kind of amusing. I wonder if he realizes how many teenagers are made guilty by this law? Kline is one of the many politicians that have an overly idealistic view of the world, and, in this case, the lives of teenagers. It is completely unrealistic to expect teenagers to God-fearing, law-abiding citizens with no desire of sexual activity. The only theory I can come up with to explain his wacky notions is that he has forgotten what it's like to be a teenager... or, perhaps more likely, he simply couldn't get any as a teenager and is now extremely bitter. I imagine him saying, "if I couldn't get any, no one else will!" Haha. Okay, I'm kidding. Sort of.

Anyway, to continue dissecting Kline's baffling beliefs, I quote the article again:

"The healthcare workers sued, and the recent trial produced some pretty odd exchanges. When lawyer Bonnie Scott Jones of the Center for Reproductive Rights put Kline on the stand, she asked if anything beyond kissing was acceptable. Is oral sex performed by a boy a reportable crime? Yes, said Kline. Oral sex performed by a girl? 'I'm not certain,' he said."

In order to avoid being completely infuriated by his response, I am simply going to laugh. Hysterically. Basically Kline claims that oral sex performed on a girl is definitely a crime, while a blowjob is not. I don't even know where to begin. What is this, Africa? Where, in some regions, it's considered unacceptable for women to experience sexual pleasure but perfectly acceptable for men? This is sexism in an awful way, and it's leading to the radical belief that (as I discussed a few blogs ago) women are here to please men. It's completely outrageous.

Moving on from Kline, here is radical feminism at its worst:

"There was also the testimony of Dr. Elizabeth Shadigian, best known as a stalwart of the abortion-gives-you-breast-cancer misinformation campaign. She said that teenage girls are always the victims of sexual activity because 'there's always a power differential between a boy and a girl.' When girls have sex, they aren't doing, she said, 'they have been done to.'"

This, folks, explains why I identify myself as only a slight feminist in my blogger profile. Shadigian's above statement is absolutely ridiculous and complete hogwash. I can't believe there are people out there - women, even - that believe this. How can anyone possibly claim that girls never have sex for pleasure, because they want to, but because they are forced to? I know girls whose libidos (and consensual sexual experiences) greatly surpass those of many boys that I know. Plus, teenage boys should be given more credit than that. I think it's safe to say that the majority of teenage boys would not take advantage of a girl for sex, which is what Shadigian implies that she believes in her above statement. She is another example of someone who completely misunderstands the teenage psyche.

I suppose all we really can do is laugh at the complete absurdity of these people. That, and be thankful that we don't live in Kansas (and be sorry for those that do).

P.S. I fully endorse this blog.

Indie films: yay or nay?

Yesterday, as I was browsing through my lovely new issue of JANE magazine, I came across the movie review section and found a movie that I would really like to see. It's titled "Stoned," and the synopsis reads:

"Biopic of debauched 1960s rock icon, Brian Jones, the charismatic guitarist who founded the Rolling Stones but was fired in 1969 and found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool a few weeks later."

As a Stones fan myself, I am quite ashamed to admit that I didn't even know this man existed (in my defense, I'm sure there are many other people that didn't know either). Anyway, I watched the trailer and it seems very intriguing. Not only is it about an era that I wish I could have experienced, but I'm sure it will feature some awesome music, too. Unfortunately, since it's a foreign indie-type film, it will have a limited release here in the US, so I'll be lucky if I ever get to see it in theaters. I'm sure it will play in some small movie theater in Boston somewhere, but the chances of me going to Boston just to see this movie are slim to none.

While we're on the topic of indie-type films, I can't decide whether or not I like them. I have seen some that I have liked, and some that I have not liked at all. For example, I really enjoyed The Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Mama Tambien. Those were both really good, although I admit I am fairly biased with these films seeing as how I like almost all Spanish films, especially if they feature Gael Garcia Bernal (my favorite actor, pictured directly above) which both of these do. But Spanish films always seem to offer something different that American films just don't have; some kind of substance that I can't exactly define. I think they're more meaningful and real; they don't attempt to hide or mask the truth, and they're completely frank and open (especially Y Tu Mama Tambien and Maria Full of Grace). I also love listening to Spanish, so that helps too.

On the other hand, an indie film that I really did not enjoy was Me and You and Everyone We Know. This movie was completely lost on me. I didn't understand the plot, the characters, or basically the entire movie. It was really odd and disturbing, and it just didn't make any sense to me at all. One of the many storylines focused on two teenage girls, I believe they were fifteen, that were so unlike any teenage girls I know or probably will ever know. Basically what happens with them is that they meet a man who writes dirty things to the girls on a sheet of paper that he tapes to his window, which they see when they walk by his house every day. One day he writes something about a blowjob, so in order to find out which of the two girls are better at it, they find a boy from school and offer to perform oral sex on him if he tells them afterwards who was better. After determining that they were both equally skilled in that area of expertise, they decide to go to the older man's house to have sex with him (keep in mind that this is a gross, perverted thirty-something guy that they hardly know and that has been saying completely inappropriate things to them). When they ring his doorbell, he hides and pretends he isn't home, and after waiting a few seconds the girls run away, laughing and smiling. What the hell? How is this realistic at all? I won't even go into the part where a little boy, probably about six years of age, has numerous dirty conversations with a grown woman online. Yep. I really did not understand this movie. If someone could explain it to me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyhow, later today I'll be going out with my dad - the first time in a very long time, longer than I can remember. I think he's taking the opportunity to do so because my mom is away in Florida. I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing, though I think he said something about going to the Ninety Nine and possibly a movie afterwards. He's trying to get my brother, Eric, to go, but Eric is being really reluctant. All he's done this week is sit at home and play video games, and I think he's only showered twice. It's really gross. I don't see how you could spend an entire week doing that.

Well I'm running out of things to say for today's blog, so I suppose I'll leave it here for now. Ciao.

Meet Patricia's feminist side

Today I watched North Country. I don't think I have ever cried so much while watching a movie. It was really heartbreaking. The things that Charlize Theron's character, Josey, (and the other women that worked in the mines) had to put up with were sickening and disgusting. The women were regularly called names like "bitch," "cunt," and "whore," among others; there were incidents where these words were written on the walls of the women's locker room in human feces (and the women themselves were forced to clean it up); there was one incident where several men tipped over a Porta Potty with a woman inside; and not to mention the daily ass-grabbings and crude, suggestive comments. There was one scene in particular that moved me to tears, in which Josey attended a union meeting where the members were allowed to speak in front of everyone on the microphone if they so desired. Josey attempted to talk about what she and the other women in the mines had to go through daily, but the men hardly allowed her to speak. Instead, they harassed and heckled her, telling her to "get the fuck out of here." The few women that sat in the back remained silent, not making a single attempt to help her for fear that they, too, would have to put up with that same harassment.

It really infuriates me that things like this have happened and are still happening in our world today. How can people be so cruel and ignorant? Everyone should see this movie. Although it's about the sexual harassment of women, it's really a lot more than that - it represents all types of harassment, whether it be for gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, and so on. Incidents much like the ones portrayed in this movie occur every day, under the radar, usually going unnoticed. It's awful and inhumane. How can people treat others this way and genuinely believe that they are doing nothing wrong?

Another thing that this movie made me think of is how women are objectified in the media. I'm sure you hear this all of the time and are probably rolling your eyes because you're sick of it, but it's really true. Women are portrayed like slabs of meat, designed to cater to men's sexual needs, and it's disgusting. Think of the majority of rap music videos. Most of the visuals are nearly-naked and fully-oiled women in thongs and tiny bikini tops, shaking and gyrating to the music. Come on. This is teaching boys that it's okay to portray women in this manner and to think of them as merely sexual objects. It's completely unacceptable, and I can't believe women allow themselves to submit to this image. Some of them call it "female empowerment." Oh really, female empowerment means stripping down to nothing and shaking your ass in front of men so they can get off? Yeah, something is definitely wrong with that picture.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not conservative in any way. It's not like I'm against showing your ankles, wrists, or thighs and midriffs for that matter in public. Please. My cleavage has seen the light of day many, many times, so it would be pretty hypocritical of me to preach about how wrong it is. In short, until butt cheeks are involved I probably won't have a problem. Sexuality certainly isn't a bad thing, it's just when women are portrayed in a bad light the feminist side of me comes out and, well, I get pretty angry... as you can see.

While we're on the subject of sex (sort of), I bought a magazine, JANE, during my little excursion with Siobhan yesterday. While reading it after I got home, I was shocked (not in a bad way, mind you) to find several articles on sex (and not the whole "10 Ways to Please Your Man" garbage. Please. Can you really see me reading that crap?). Now, you have to understand that I have been reading girly teen magazines for years. I'm talking YM, CosmoGirl!, and Teen People girly teen magazines. I really don't see how I survived reading that crap for as long as I did. It is extremely taboo to discuss sex in those types of magazines (otherwise they will receive a slew of angry letters from the mothers of pre-teen readers), so usually as far as they go is your typical STD/STI info and answering questions like "omg what is this icky stuff in my undies?!" So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon an article in JANE entitled "How to build a sex library." Finally, I have entered the world of mature magazines for women that discuss sex honestly and frankly. Thank god. (Granted, it's really for twenty-somethings, but I only have two and one-half years to go until I reach that age, which is close enough... right?) I am so subscribing to this magazine.

On a side note, I heard "Bom Bom Bom" by the Living Things again today on WAAF. Yeah, this is good, but can't they play any other good songs?

Check out this slice of genius.

Anyway, that's all for today. Ciao.

The general theme for today seems to be music

Today was somewhat eventful. I went to the movies with my friend Siobhan, and we did a little bit of shopping afterwards. Because there really aren't any good movies out at the moment (i.e. Date Movie and Big Momma's House... what garbage), it took us a while to decide which movie we wanted to see. We narrowed it down to Firewall and Freedomland, and after flipping a coin for the final decision we found ourselves watching Freedomland. It was a decent movie; interesting, but somewhat confusing because of the many plot lines. Overall, I would probably only recommend it as a rental.

After the movie we went to Newbury Comics. I really wanted to spend a while in there, since it's one of my favorite stores and all, but I felt bad because I knew Siobhan didn't like the store much. Actually, she made it blatantly obvious before we even went inside by stating that the store scared her because it was "weird". So, we were in there for probably about five minutes, and I left with two new CDs: The Subways and The Von Bondies. I have listened to each album once so far and although I wasn't completely blown away, I was pretty impressed. Lately I have been listening to The Strokes' "First Impressions of Earth" a lot, so they do have a lot to live up to. That's a really good album. I really like "Electricityscape," surprisingly because it's heavier than the other songs, and "Vision of Division," because I can't resist drumming on my desk whenever I hear it. "You Only Live Once" is really good, too.

While we're on the subject of music, I have really been in love with Wolfmother lately. They're the kind of rock & roll that supposedly died years ago. It's really relieving to know that it is actually still possible to recreate the best music from the best era without completely screwing it up and making a mockery out of it (which is the fate of most of the recent bands that have attempted this). Wolfmother, I think, is flawless, and not only have they succeeded at recreating the best aspects of rock & roll, but they have added their own delicious spin on it as well (also, I absolutely love how they make a reference to Jimi Hendrix in "Dimension"). I have been stalking their MySpace profile for a while now, hoping maybe they'll decide to come to Boston (unlikely - I'm sure they would only do that if they were doing a national tour) but so far their only tour dates are a bunch in the UK and some at SXSW in Texas in March (which a whole lot of the bands I like are going to, especially The Rinse) as well as a couple on the west coast. They do seem to be growing in popularity quite quickly, though, especially after being featured in Filter Magazine (which is how I heard of them) so I'm hoping that a national US tour might not be too far off in the future. I would really love to buy their CD, but it costs about $27 because it's an import, and I'm really not willing to spend that much money on a CD, even if it is Wolfmother. I'm hoping it will be released in the US at a lower price soon. Until then, I'll have to deal with my low-quality mp3 files.

Speaking of tours, The Strokes are currently touring the US... and most of their shows have been sold out. According to their website they are coming to Boston on April 25th, but the tickets haven't gone on sale yet (the date is TBA). Whenever that may be, I'm sure I'll be speed-dialing Ticketmaster and refreshing the website simultaneously the very second the tickets go on sale.

On a side note, I caught the end of "Bom Bom Bom" by Living Things on WAAF today. Maybe there is hope for American radio after all.

Well, I think I've blabbed enough about music for one night. Adios.

My not-so-fabulous return

So I guess this is my return to the blogging world. I can't say exactly what has sparked it... though I'm sure it has a lot to do with my latest obsession with Pink is the new Blog (though I won't be blogging about celebrity gossip). I've lost track of how many times I've created new blogs, only to abandon them again... and I'm sure that this blog won't be an exception. It's just a matter of time until I grow bored of blogging and decide to leave this blog floating along aimlessly through cyberspace until it's deleted by The Powers That Be. I do have to laugh at the absurdity of this new blog, especially the name. Pineapple? Come on. What was I thinking? Clearly this blog is destined to fail. I'll give it a month, tops.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll be blogging about here. I suppose whatever crosses my mind while I'm bored and in a blogging mood. I can ensure you (wait... who exactly is "you," anyway? It's not like anyone will be reading this, at least on a regular basis) that each post will be utterly and completely random.

Last night I rediscovered the radio. I also remembered why I stopped listening to the radio in the first place: my taste in music is so wide yet so picky that I can never find a single radio station that I like, plus half of the music that I enjoy isn't even played on the radio. Anyhow, last night I remembered that I have a stereo in my room (even though I see it several times a day each day of my life). I turned it on and I was amazed by the beauteous noise it emitted, since the surround sound of the stereo is much more attractive than the boring concentrated sound from my computer (which I have been using for who knows how long, ever since I abandoned my stereo). I browsed through all of the radio stations and set nine that sounded somewhat appealing to my presets. After an hour or so of switching back and forth between all nine of my presets, I remembered why I stopped listening to the radio in the first place. It's really frustrating to go through all of your presets, listen to half of a good song, scroll through them again once it's done, listen to the last ten seconds of a good song, and so on and so forth. This is my radio experience. I did hear a few Led Zeppelin songs, which was fun, and I admit to dancing around my room to a few other good songs, but that's about it. The problem with the radio is that they don't play any good indie music, which is what I've been really into lately. The only kind of rock music they have is classic rock (which is good but annoying after a while) and hard rock (which is never good). I seldom hear a good song that is in neither one of those categories... for example, I heard The Strokes' "Last Night" and a few good Weezer songs. That was nice. But overall, the radio sucks, mainly because it is ruled by corporate America; namely rich CEOs that only care about making money off of brainless teens and tweens with awful taste in "music".

Anyway, to avoid launching into a rant that will get me nowhere, I should change subjects now. Simmons is cute. They called me today. Well, it was a sophomore asking if I had any questions. Since I only had 2.5 seconds (the longest time one can say "umm" without sounding like a complete airhead) to think up a decent question, I asked her about the freshman dorms... which is actually something I've been wondering about for a while. Of course, after I hung up I thought of a bunch more questions I could ask... i.e. the quality of the cafeteria food, popular classes, etc. Most importantly, I should have asked about the honors program. I have thought about applying, but I'm not sure if I'd want to do it. I think tomorrow I'm going to call and ask to speak to a student about it.

By the way, I am completely obsessed with my Simmons sweatshirt. I have worn it every single day since Saturday, and I plan on keeping it un-washed for as long as I possibly can... as gross as that sounds.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. I will probably blog again tomorrow (because I usually blog a whole lot the first week of having a new blog, and then after that I gradually forget about it). So, yes, see you (who?) then.