Review bombings. That’s when a group of everyday people write satirical reviews for a product, often on Amazon.com. The fake reviews catch on, and pretty soon, some products have thousands of satirical reviews.
In the age of social media, this is a new form of intercepting the public space. These days, some of us are occupying Wall Street. Others of us are occupying Amazon.com.
Interpersonal relations on Facebook fascinate me. We’ve had to develop a whole new set of rules and etiquette for relating to one another. Here’s one Facebook etiquette question that I don’t know how best to handle.
As an agnostic, what do I do when a Facebook friend asks me to pray for them?
Granted, the friend in question is not specifically asking for my prayers. This is usually part of a Facebook status, such as, “Please pray for my xxx. He’s in the hospital with xxx.” Usually, the prayers are being asked for something truly upsetting—someone’s hurt, someone’s dying, someone’s getting divorced, someone lost a job.
I am torn. My seven-year-old, Gwendolyn, is crazy about Monster High dolls and the Monster High website. On the first night of Hanukkah, you should have heard the screech of joy out of her when she received a Draculaura doll.
So what is Monster High? It’s a line of dolls, a cartoon, and related products (books, movies, makeup, clothes, you name it). The dolls are like Barbie dolls that can be dressed up. Only these dolls are monsters—zombies, vampires, and so forth—so they’re sort of a cross between Barbie and fantasy characters.
There’s an awful lot a feminist could say about Monster High (for more, check out this Monster High analysis by the fabulous Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter). The most simple reason these characters are disturbing is that their story line revolves largely around clothing and appearance. While the story does include positive messages about being a good friend and being yourself, they’re ultimately dress-up dolls, just like Barbie. I tell my daughter over and over again that “it’s what’s on the inside that counts,” but am I contradicting myself when I let her dress up these dolls?
Once upon a time, citizens were willing to listen for hours to debates and other lengthy political discourse. Unfortunately, today’s American attention span is better equipped for the likes of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
To get modern Americans more engaged in politics, maybe it’s time we changed things up from C-SPAN to America’s favorite television format — reality TV! Here are ten ideas for how to use reality TV to rejuvenate the political process.
1. The Bench-ler
There’s just not enough drama behind the process of choosing a Supreme Court nominee. Why not make the process like The Bachelor? Every week, the House and Senate can go on “dates” with the nominees to exciting locations like the Harvard Law School Library. And instead of a rose ceremony, they could hand out… “Clarence, will you accept this robe?”
2. The Vice Apprentice
Similarly, choosing a Vice Presidential candidate would be so much more dramatic if the nominee did it Apprentice style. Every week, the potential VPs would be assigned to degrading tasks with lots of product placement involved, and whoever screws up the worst gets fired. This may actually happen if (God forbid) Donald Trump ever gets the nomination.
This Monday, The Bachelor is back! And I can’t wait. Since 2002, I’ve been a viewer of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and even the miserably sleazy Bachelor Pad.
And why do I watch this stuff? Because I’m addicted to romance? Because I have great faith that two strangers will fall in love on an eight-week long reality show and live happily ever after?
No and hell no. I watch these shows for one reason — because they are just about the funniest shows I’ve ever seen on television.
Dan and I spent New Year’s Eve watching Les Miserables. I saw it on Broadway 23 years ago, in the cheap seats during my sophomore year of college.
As an insecure 19-year-old, what resonated most for me at the time was the story of Eponine. Perchance you haven’t seen Les Mis, it goes like this: Eponine loves Marius, but he just thinks of her as a friend. Then he catches a glimpse of Cosette, the heroine who represents all that is good and pure in this truly dark narrative. He instantly falls in love. Eponine joins the rebel group and dies saving Marius’ life. He is grateful for a brief moment. Then a bunch of other stuff happens and he marries Cosette.
Despite liberal doses of feminism at an early age, my greatest fear in the world — to be painfully blunt — was that I would never find a life partner. My 19-year-old world seemed full of Cosettes who were far more beautiful and thin and fabulous than me, and they all seemed to have boyfriends who would never even notice a lowly Eponine like myself. I wanted nothing more than to be Cosette.
Then, twenty-three years later, I watched the movie version with my husband. And I noticed something very quickly.
Cosette is lame.
Adventures in absurdity
Discovering North America and the world one adventure at a time
Discussions about Communication, Pop Culture, Education, and Politics by Dr. E. Michele Ramsey
Visual Journals and My Recovery from Brain Surgery
there's going to be some baby meese at the mooseparty
Looking at a Saturday crossword puzzle world with a Monday crossword puzzle mind
Ex-pat Fashion Blog: Life should be an adventure. So should fashion. Follow me on mine.
"[A] too-seldom updated, excruciatingly well-crafted blog."
Tasting the fare of yesteryear, the disastrous and the delicious
Naomusings 