Thesis: The fall of Beyoncé.

I read somewhere recently that Michelle Obama took her two daughters to a Beyoncé concert and afterwards took them to meet her and told her that she was a role model for them. What was Michelle thinking?! I mean I still quite like Beyoncé's music, and she used to be quite the inspiring girl, but these days? I would not want any daughter of mine emulating her.

Back in the day, Destiny's Child were probably the first step I took to admitting to myself and the world that I enjoyed popular, and particularly "modern R&B", music. You could sing along (until they did their vocal acrobatic bits), you could dance to it, and it just sounded good.

Beyoncé was clearly the standout performer of the group, especially when they shed a couple of girls and became Beyoncé and the Other Two for the album Survivor. I loved that album, and I enjoyed the messages they sent in their songs that were all about being a powerful independent woman, able to take care of oneself and not relying on a man although enjoying their company quite a lot. I also found it quite sweet that they included an a capella gospel song bonus track dedicated to their singing teacher.

When Beyoncé's solo album came out, I wasn't as fond of some of the songs as I had been of the DC songs, but I still got the CD eventually. I grew to love most of the songs on that CD as well.
In particular the song Yes, about ditching a boy who tries to pressure her into sex, which I believe every teenage girl should listen to:

You said I moved too slow
I showed you to the door
You said you'd call me later
I said don't call no more
It is cool if you can't wait for me
I'm glad you let me know
Cause you showed me your true face baby the first time I said no

I said yes to your number and yes to you dating me
Yes we can be together but you gotta wait for me
The first time I said no
Its like I never said yes (like I never said yes)

There were other songs touching on such worthy topics as relying only on yourself rather than other people, ending toxic relationships and so on.

However, the shape of things to come was heralded with the clip for Baby Boy, a duet with Sean Paul, wherein she writhes around and gasps in the manner of a lady having an extremely private moment.

Fast forward to the present day.

Her current album doesn't seem to contain any "message" songs, unless the message is that only diamonds can secure affection (Single Ladies) and double entendres can be so obvious as to be almost single entendres (Ego). She's wealthy and successful, but she didn't do it by herself; her parents and particularly her manager father have masterminded every step.

Further, she is now married to a man whose musical record and personal history show very little respect for women. Jay-Z refers to women in his songs as bitches and hoes, and is known to have consorted with groupies throughout his career. Not only that but he proudly and publicly credits his current success as a rap mogul to his previous career as a drug dealer, particularly in the song Roc Boys:

I wanna thank my connect
The most important person
With all due respect
Thanks to the duffel bag
The brown paper bag
The Nike shoe box
For holding all his cash
Boys in blue who put greed
Before the badge
The 1st pusher whoever made the stash

What happened, Beyoncé?

Over to You: "It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?!"

I was going to write a mini-thesis on the differences between Americans and Australians based on viewings of each country's Projecct Runway, but I haven't time*, so I want you guys to tell me:

1. Which country you live in
2. The first great thing about that country that springs to mind
3. The first bad thing about that country that springs to mind

I've been feeling a little homesick and I think it might help.


*Although I may still write this someday soon.

I made something pretty! (updated)

So remember when I said I would create an award for G Henry's word verification game?

Well he announced the winner (international man of mystery Cooper Green) and posted my fishy little award for all to see!

UPDATE:
Not only that, but Cooper very kindly declared that he nominated me for my own Straight Pimpin' Award since it was through my pimping efforts that he found G Henry's blog, Goldfish Broth, in the first place.

I was stupidly confused at first and thought he meant he was nominating me for the award I had designed for G Henry.

It's a good thing I'm pretty.

UPDATE UPDATE:
Somehow in the confusion I managed to coerce poor Cooper into creating a delicious response to my Big Fish Award, both are now happily ensconced in my sidebar!

More Macro Goodness!

I cannot take credit for these ones! They are all the work of The Husband, who overcame an intense dislike of spiders to get close to this guy.

^ a golden silk orbweaver. I like her fuzzy legwarmers, and her skull-like head. and the fact that her bite is not poisonous to humans. I do wish she'd eat more mosquitoes though.


^ a green anole lizard sunning himself on a tree branch. they are slightly bigger than the skinks I'm used to from home. I think they're dear little things. a common sight in our backyard on sunny days - luckily the dogs haven't caught any yet. I wish they'd catch more mosquitoes too.

Required reading

I think this article on playing the "race card", by Tim Wise, should be required reading for all Americans - if not, as I commented there, all humans (originally posted here, containing the reference material).

It's kind of long, especially for someone like me with a ridiculously short attention span, but he makes points that people simply need to hear.

You know, I wasn't going to shorthand it, but it's really long. I do desperately urge you to read the whole thing, but it does require a little time which you may not have right away. Basically it's a brilliant demolition of white America's attempts to write off any black American complaint of racism as "playing the race card". I was already aware in a general sense of how deeply race affects pretty much everything in America, but the statistics and situations he quotes are still pretty horrifying.

I know people do this, but I'm not sure why; perhaps it makes us uncomfortable to think we might have a hand in another person's suffering, but it's easier to dismiss or minimize their experiences rather than roll up our sleeves and work on stopping it.

When I was reading it I was reminded of a conversation I was involved in back in high school, where a (self-described) Australian-born Chinese girl asked our reasonably racially diverse (albeit all-girl) group to raise their hands if they had experienced racism directed towards them. Out of a group of about 20 or 30 girls*, every single non-Caucasian girl raised her hand.

Up until that moment, being a whitey myself and having been raised in a racially- but not politically-diverse environment, I had thought of racism as the province of history or the occasional old person. That moment stuck with me and was the beginning of my eyes being opened.

I will not apologize** for trying to open other people's eyes in the same way here on my blog, a space I consider my own. I can't force you to read the link, or to take away from it what I did, but it is my sincere hope that you do.


*I can't remember exact numbers. It was a long time ago, okay?!
**As sometimes bloggers feel they ought to when stating strong opinions. Why is that?

Over to You: The true life story of...

What movie genre do you think the story of your life would be best suited to (and why)?

A romantic tearjerker? A Michael Bay blockbuster? Drama, thriller, black comedy?

Would it even be a movie? What about a TV show, or some other form like a comic book, an opera, or a photo essay?

I think my life story would be eerily similar to I Love Lucy: the wacky, attention-addicted wife with no logical thought processes who always gets into scrapes but somehow manages to be lovable... and stylishly dressed.

I don't know what you heard about me...

I just invented an award, y'all!

May I present the Straight Pimpin' Award for Excellence in the Field of Showcasing Other People's Excellence.


I must stress that in this sense, pimping does not refer to touting the services of ladies of negotiable affection*, but rather to the blogosphere sense of the word, which is the promotion of another blog via your own.

Basically, this award is for bloggers who have alerted me to other awesome bloggers. Now this only works if you like the blogs they introduce you to, but I must say I have found some of my most favorite blogs this way.

This award is kind of memey, but only if you want it to be. What that means is, I will award it to people who I consider to be excellent blog-pimps, but:

1. you may nominate yourself or another blogger by commenting here with a link to a relevant pimptastic post.

2. If you are a winner, you may choose to pass on the award to other pimps. But please let me know (with a link) if you do.

The winners of the inaugural Straight Pimpin' Award for Excellence in the Field of Showcasing Other People's Excellence are:

the girl with the pink teacup for this post on BILFs, with the promise of more pimping to follow...

katrocket for this post which pimps some of my favorite bloggers - I'm pretty sure it's how I discovered the third winner...

and Eric the Bored NeoClassical Guy for this ultra-subtle pimpage which introduced me to the newest addition to my blogroll!



*Thank you, Terry Pratchett.