Carousel: Week Ending 5th March 2010
[ 5 March 2010 ]
Hello Friday! In the words of Bruce Forsyth, nice to see ya, to see ya nice! What do you have planned for this weekend? If I had to guess, I’d say a large number of you are going to go & see Alice In Wonderland. I’m undecided as to whether I’ll go this weekend! Might be too wild & cray-zee for me… !
If you’re skipping the crowds comme moi, here are a bunch of tasty internet morsels!
You may recall last week’s Things I Love Thursday had a picture of a model wearing amazing makeup! Very clever nonpareil Skye did her own interpretation… I love it!
Olympians’ daily food choices are important as their rigorous training! (Shocking, I know!)
5 foods to eat for healthy, glowing skin! If you’re too lazy to go through the slideshow, here’s the summary: tomatoes, green tea, berries, fish & seafood & brown rice! (The Dish drinks green tea like it is going out of style, is 9 years older than me & I SWEAR does not have A SINGLE WRINKLE. That’s a good enough case study for me.)
Looking at curvy women ‘gives men the same high as alcohol or drugs’ from the Daily Mail.
According to research, figures such as Beyonce’s also light up the male brain in the same way as illegal drugs. Acknowledging that the findings were not groundbreaking, Dr Steven Platek reckoned: ‘Hugh Hefner could have told us that by showing us how many zeroes are in his bank account.’ ... The study is one of several recently to offer hope to Miss Average. In December scientists announced that men don’t hanker after women whose legs go forever. And last month they said having a big bottom is good for health.
Chocolate slavery... No joke! Read up!
Rainymood = perfect sleep, instantly. Thanks, Neil!
What I Learned From Anna Wintour via The Huffington Post. Thanks for the link, Danielle! I find Anna Wintour extremely fascinating. “On to the next”, indeed!
Become an Unforgettable Woman. ...Your thoughts?
I like this & apparently George Carlin did not write it! OOH SCANDAL! Thanks for the link Mary!
My friend Zoetica is a) clever & b) beautiful. She received a package of Sugarpill Cosmetics just like I did, & you can see what she did with them here! Bravo!
I totally love F*ck Yeah Chubby Girls. Seeing all these girls who LOVE their bodies, who feel confident & look sexy in just their underwear & look like they are having SO MUCH FUN gives me tingles.
I discovered EFT Magic the other day. Awesome!
David Barton Talks: Fashionable Legs. For gym bunnies, or aspiring gym bunnies!
Men have feelings too… who knew? (Just kidding…) Read about the Men’s Warrior Weekend, & thanks to the now well-known self-wedded nonpareil, Crosby, for the link!
How to: focus in batches & some happy relationship maths (& proof every woman needs a plumber) by Sarah Wilson.
Doozers and losers: my favourite business mistakes from Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth. Essential reading for any savvy girl.
OkCupid, Kill Me makes me glad I’m not dating. But hey, don’t give up hope! I met Dishy on OkCupid!
Witch tower is a nice Tumblr. I feel like witchy stuff is “in” right now. Maybe it is a function of the cold weather?
Kate from Lovelorn Unicorn wrote about this amazing stationery shop. HELLO, LOVER! Sometimes in my most distant daydreams, I fantasize about having the time to write letters again. One day!
Characteristics of a Self-Actualizing Person... This is great, rank yourself!
Listed below are a series of 16 characteristics of a self-actualizing individual as described by Abraham Maslow. Self-actualizing here is defined as a person who is in the process of fulfilling their potential. After slowly and thoroughly reading each characteristic, rate yourself on the scale listed below that characteristic from 1 to 10.
Astro-Query: What Would You Tell Your (Slightly) Younger Self? Good question! The comments are great.
Australians! Get involved with The Road Trip! It’s a road trip that will be happening around Australia in May with MakePovertyHistory, & it’s a way for young people to raise awareness about poverty. Thanks to Patsy for letting me know!
In May 2010 you can be part of the 1000 young people who will again embark on a nationwide road trip to help end extreme poverty. We will be leaving from every major city in the country, from the 8th – 15th May, in order to spread the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY message and raise awareness of global poverty. Through flash mobs, meetings with MPs and businesses, speeches at schools, music events and more, we will generate the groundswell of support necessary to achieve real change.
Mishka is an incredible makeup artist from Adelaide! I love her blog so much! There’s a lot of really informative stuff about makeup & extremely delicious photographs to keep you looking! Check out this Jessica Rabbit look, her fab Miu Miu sunglasses & this great concoction! It’s so rare to find a blog that makes you want to go back & read all the entries… This one definitely fits the bill.
Jealousy, Envy, the Green-Eyed Monster from dramatis personae.
Dita Von Teese EXCLUSIVE: Ok.co.uk gets up close and personal with the burlesque goddess:
The most important thing to remember is that there can be no real definition of beauty… that old saying that beauty is “in the eye of the beholder” is the truth. Being true to yourself and using what you’ve got it the best way, I’m really just a girl who is enhancing what she’s got, and that’s it!
It’s Springtime: 4 Timeless Thoughts on the Most Optimistic of Seasons from Positivity Blog. I love this!
I rediscovered Belle de Jour’s blog yesterday & am loving it more than ever. For those of you who don’t know, Belle de Jour wrote Belle de Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl which later became Secret Diary of a Call Girl (one of my favourite shows). Here are some of my picks from her recent posts…
Stereotype 2: “Women are never satisfied with anything I do!”
She knows you feel it, but she wants reassurance too. Your feelings are important, but they don’t keep her warm and safe at night. There is no way for her to be reassured she’s still in an equal partnership unless you find a way to show her – especially when it’s difficult, because the little things mean more then. She doesn’t care what you feel. She cares what you do.
Your cut-and-keep guide to what people say vs. what people really mean.
When someone says: “I wouldn’t pay £300 for that.” What they mean is: “I think a woman’s value, sexual or otherwise, is entirely based on her looks.”
Let me tell you about the best gift I ever received.
I had a narrow escape from being just another boring blonde – not to mention an early release from the cycle of self-hatred and frantic desperation that plagues many women as they age. Accepting my outward flaws helped me stop seeing them to the exclusion of everything else, and hey presto, most other people did too. Corollary 1a: The larger part of how people perceive you is how you present yourself.
A conversation between Alexander McQueen & David Bowie. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“I don’t know if you heard, but we did this show, it was on water and we did this kind of cocoon for this girl made of steel rods and it was in the form of a three dimensional star and it was covered in this glass fabric so you could see through it and this girl was inside it, but we had all these butterflies flying around her inside it. So she was picking them out of the air and they were landing on her hand. It was just about the girl’s own environment. So I was thinking about the new millennium, how in the future thinking you would carry around your home like a snail would. She was walking along in the water with a massive star covered in glass and the butterflies and death-faced moths were flying around her and landing on her hand and she was looking at them…”
5 Ways To Travel More With Less from Zen Habits. Compulsory reading for international playgirls, jetsetters & nomads.
Time Out New York interviews Tim Burton, who, not surprisingly, has a soft spot for his goth fan base.
Fashion & The Shining made me laugh. “Uh oh. Husband going a little sir crazy? Good thing you’re wearing your watch. Now you’ll know the exact time when he tries to kill you! But at least you look comfortable. Heeeeeeerrrree’s cotton!” I like Does anybody date anymore? too. “You are going to kiss me at the end of this date, motherf*cker. It is going to be so f*cking pure and awesome that I should be able to hear Sixpence None The Richer playing in my head while it’s happening.”
Paris AW ‘10: The beehive is back! So ‘60s and so Mad Men, man. I love me a good beehive!
40 Songs I Will Always Love, Cool or Not from Raptitude.
Love & love & love,
Tags: carousel Follow me on Twitter! Listen to my latest podcast! Love & Sequins 9: Manifesting & magic-making!
Currently reading through Become an Unforgettable Woman and some points I completely agree with (respect yourself, sense of humour, be happy by yourself…) but others raise the question of, “Why should I change myself in that way for a man?”
Good article though.
DJ granny Ruth Flowers takes Paris nightclubs by storm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainm…
LOVE the photos, they are beautiful. Can’t believe that curvy drugs similarity! At least Beyonce is legal.
iliketweet.blogspot
x
So men enjoy looking at women who look like Beyonce or one of Hefner’s girls? Hardly news. And its hardly offering hope to “Miss Average”. I don’t know how they can even suggest that Beyonce has an ‘average’ figure, I bet most women would kill to look like that!
“Currently reading through Become an Unforgettable Woman and some points I completely agree with (respect yourself, sense of humour, be happy by yourself…) but others raise the question of, “Why should I change myself in that way for a man?”
Good article though.”
Yes! Thank you, Amy! That is an insanely misogynistic article. I’d love to become an Unforgettable Woman, but I’d love to do it for myself, not to snare a man. I assume this is something you picked up on, based on the query ‘Your thoughts?’, and not an endorsement.
Some of the point are valid, but the overall tone of ‘all women want to find a man’, and the not-so-subtle pushing of Christian faith make me feel nauseous.
Amy & Jeskah brought up the same thought I had! I think all the tips in becoming an Unforgettable Woman were really lovely. But I don’t see why we should do them for a man in our lives— why not do them because they make US feel good, not just our partner (for a more pc acknowledgment of relations).
Like Clare, I was surprised to find that curvy women light up the same receptors as drugs & booze. It certainly explains the relationship Beau & I have ;)
This was a really great roundup of links— I’m excited to read some of the more in-depth ones (McQueen, Dita, & Burton, oh my!), and thank you for including my own link, bijoux!
That “Become an Unforgettable Woman” article makes me ill. “Men are like God”? It also seems to be implying that women should listen to all of men’s problems, but keep their own to themselves. Despicable.
If being myself involves being rough and tough like a sailor, then that is what I’ll be. To suggest that all women must be prim and proper to be unforgettable is sad.
May I make a suggestion?
It would be really nice if your links opened in another window. Sometimes, they are so excellent I just get carried away and when I find myself wanting to go back to the list, it is far, far way in my history.
Also, that “Unforgettable Woman” article: some of the points are excellent. Most are terribly chauvinistic. The entire list is incredibly contradictory. “Be quiet and regal.” THEN “Be unique and an individual.” ? I’m sorry, I thought you wanted me to act like a meek housewife, now you want me to be my wild and crazy self?
I understand not.
Sam — It drives me nuts when sites force things to open in another window! But I always just ctrl-click & open things in a new tab. That way I can load my browser up with a bunch of things & read them at my own pace!
& everyone, yes, I know, that article was nutty right?! Like it had been written by two different people. Or written by one person & edited by someone who didn’t even look at it…
Hi Gala! Have you seen this website? You can create your own shoes! I just found it and thought you might find it fun. http://www.eidialush.com/
P.S. This isn’t spam. Just a girl who thought of you first when I discovered the Eidia Lush website.
Brilliant and lovely, as always!
Though I think George Carlin didn’t write that bit – I vaguely recall him addressing it on his site, and indicating that while he was flattered, he couldn’t take credit as it wasn’t his.
The coolest thing I’ve seen this week, by far:
http://www.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253DzeIXfdogJbA%2526feature&h=25f6473588c1cdc3ff655506515e1c42&ref=nf
It’s the first adaptation of Alice and Wonderland, from 1903! It’s a beautiful silent film that was just restored by the BFI National Archive.
Oops!
Correct link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeIXfd…
True dat, Jeskah and Sam!! I was seriously appalled while reading that article… it totally sent the wrong message as far as “radical self love” goes. Even the more positive suggestions didn’t seem sincere when wrapped between all the other BS in there. Radical self lovers, unite! That guy is an idiot.
HAHA! I snurgled out loud when Ms. Victoria Beckham said: “If you’re getting your legs out, put the top half away. Leave something to the imagination.” Sound advice!
Dita Von Teese Fangirrrl Alert! The Goddess of Burlesque recently appeared as a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Must-see TV:
www.logotv.com/video/episode
Great links. However, George Carlin didn’t write that piece. In fact he wrote a rather scathing response and referred to it as a “sappy piece of sh!t” here: www.georgecarlin.com/home/dont…
Gala do you remember Lano and Woodley? They did a Men’s Warrior Weekend in one episode of their (very early 90s) show. It’s awesome.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK7CRZ…
Oh gosh I love them.
Carousel has become one of my favorite features on this site!
I can’t wait to dance my way to destiny tonight at my friend’s mad tea party after going to the theatre. Eating berries to be beauty-full and making magic. Witchy stuff is “in”? That both bothers and exites me! As a real witchy, I hate that dumb people will just get into it as a trend without understanding that YES, YOU REALLY DO HAVE THE INFINITE POWER TO HARNESS YOUR LIFE AND TURN IT INTO A DREAM!!!
essveem thank you. Yes, in fact George Carlin did NOT write that article, and I agree that the article is a sappy piece of shit. However, the rest of the links are enjoyable. =)
www.snopes.com/politics/soapbo…
LOVE that you used the photos!
My current style crush is Alice…. (she’s replaced Lady Gaga).
I’m all over the little girl party dresses and headbands with bows….
Not gonna lie… the how to be a remarkable woman seemed like an ad for a 50’s housewife! A woman who holds her tongue isn’t wise… she’s not gutsy!
I am absolutely going to see Alice!! Been waiting SO LONG for this!!
Yeah, that wasn’t George Carlin. It’s kind of a blend of one of his monologues and a speech by the Dalai Lama (the 14th, I believe).
Carlin was a staunch atheist, that whole “pray” line was a red flag.
www.georgecarlin.com/home/dont…
Case in point, from the man himself.
Almie at Apocalypstick is one of the most inspiring/amazing people I know! Everyone should add her to your reader.
THANK GOD that I was not the only one to be horrified with the article about becoming an unforgettable woman. I was reading through it and thinking back to a 50’s article we had read in my Women’s Studies class and I couldn’t believe Gala would lead us to that article. Now that I think of it, it’s a nice reminder of how in today’s world, we can read this article and scoff at it. Imagine those past women who read it and actually believed it.
It’s International Women’s Day on Monday!
Great links. The Mischka one isn’t working though? Or perhaps the site is down.
I love the Bowie & McQueen interview! I think that’s because I LOVE Bowie!
Re: Unforgettable Woman. For starters, I don’t think anyone ‘incredible,’ either considered as such by others or feeling as such on her own, seriously worries about how the opposite sex values her. Incredible women are self-assured.
Otherwise, the advice is spot on, I think, for living a happy life that embodies radical self love. It’s about being capable on all fronts of life and how to respect others and yourself, and as such I think this advices goes for women as well as men. So I suppose I don’t agree with the gendered slant of the article. But aiming in life to serve and lift up others – that is, shower them with your love, and realizing/being a shining star that CAN shower others with love – is a noble thing that I don’t think is valued much today or really understood.
I take issue with number 37, the old “don’t give away the milk for free if you want him to buy the cow” spiel. Tsk, that’s wrong on so many levels.
Persimmon — When I try it says there’s an error establishing a database connection, that usually happens when the server gets overloaded. So ummm… sorry Mishka! Hee! Hopefully it will be back soon. Obviously too many nonpareils hammering it, haha!
The Olympians do eat very, very healthy food. And so they should, in order to give their best preformance, yet they do ads for their main sponsor, McDonalds, chowing down on McNuggets and fries. So odd. I wonder how often they really eat that greasy stuff!
A great roundup! I adore the pictures you used… so fabulous! I’m heading out to see Alice in Wonderland today (and wrote about it on my own site, www.positivelypresent.com, if you want to check it out). Can’t wait to hear what you think of the film once you see it!
ooo!!! that nestle commertial is all maxfield parrish!! cool and slightly creepy, hes a wonderful inspiration for all things dreamy ethereal. too bad nestle made a crappy commercial with his work…boooo.
images.google.com/images?q=max…
Thanks for the feature ^^
Awesome pictures. I was actually looking at them the other day.
Amazing.
x Skye
Aaah, so many bookmarked pages. You’ve got the good goods! x
I love the OKcupid one! I too met my boyfriend off there. I inspired my friend to sign up and her results have been less than savory, she wrote a hilarious blog about it called “No Cupid, that’s not OK” thehatingexpert.wordpress.com/...
Another excellent Carousal!
Unforgettable Woman: horrible! Especially: “Nobody wants to have your stress and burdens added to their lives.” My husband gladly supports me through hard times as do I with him, because we love each other! I don’t think you should be with someone who doesn’t want to have your stress and burdens added to their lives!
As for that “how to be an unforgettable woman” article. You’ll be happy to know I wrote the author a very long letter about how disgusting it was. Here was my email:
“What is WRONG with you? First of all, YOU should not be writing an
article about how women should “be” or “act” or cook! RIDICULOUS.
How about allowing women to BE THEMSELVES. BE STRONG AND
SPEAK UP! Don’t ever tell a woman she should “speak quietly” or
“act elegantly” You do know this is 2010 right?! EFF OFF. How about
having MEN start acting responsible? How about getting men to
act elegantly, instead of raping women, getting them pregnant and
leaving them as single mothers, beating them. How about THAT!?
Yeah. I suggest you THINK before you SPEAK about women.
We’re effing strong. And when we get together, you better watch
the eff out.
Re: the Unforgettable Woman article: His “unforgettable woman” is obviously just what he wants in a woman.
Luckily not all men want that woman, right!?
I said earlier about the ‘Unforgettable’ article: But aiming in life to serve and lift up others – that is, shower them with your love, and realizing/being a shining star that CAN shower others with love – is a noble thing that I don’t think is valued much today or really understood.
It’s been sticking in my mind, in light of other people’s very negative reactions to the article: am I perhaps giving the author too much benefit of the doubt, or being too lenient by ignoring all but the most blatant of the sexist overtones? I really think I see something of value in there, but is it too much to ignore the sexism and rework it in my own interpretation to be applying to everyone?
Thanks for anyone willing to give me some perspective!
Persimmon,
The point is that men see women a certain way. The point is that women are EQUAL to men. We shouldn’t be talked to any differently. We shouldn’t have to be quiet and cook and.. it’s just not the 50s anymore. Even when it WAS the 50’s it wasn’t okay. I think if he’s going to write an article about something like this – he needs to REALIZE that women can have personalities and still find men. I have never ONCE met an amazing woman full of personality who did not have a partner or who had trouble finding a partner. It’s the people who take the advice of a man like this guy who doubt themselves and think the purpose of a relationship is to make their partner happy. What about THEMSELVES?
Ohhhh man, I can’t tell you how glad I am to read everyone’s reactions to the “Unforgettable Woman” article. I just had issues with a boy who wanted me to be less “wild and unruly,” and this article terrified me until I read all your comments. So thanks! Be as wild and unruly as ever :).
The “Unforgettable Woman” appears to be the wishlist of a conservative/religious type with some very old-fashioned ideas about women and family. Even the “good” points are trite. I hope nobody thinks this is a typical male perspective.
I suspect this article was written for like-minded men to funnel them to the author’s website so they can buy his books.
These E-zine articles almost always written for marketing and SEO purposes, not to inform or enlighten. Probably not worth anyone’s time to write angry letters.
Rainymood, now that one’s awesome!
Gala: Why did you post the Nestle ad on the same list as an article noting that Nestle uses child / slave labor?
this is a goodie.
PLEASE Gala, Teach us how to date! And meet people. This world is crazy. Boys just want it INSTANT & with no hard work…mad.
x
hey, we all know that the obsession with the ‘waif’ body wasn’t right. but this new obsession with the ‘curvy’ body just isnt either, it’s just a transference of hate.
i’m naturally skinny (and also naturally flat) and that article about how men are supposedly genetically predisposed to only appreciate the hourglass figure – which by the way most average and nonwaif girls dont even possess – was a] bullshit and b] seriously depressing.
isn’t it time for us to start appreciating all different body types? to start seeing that we’re ALL beautiful, instead of making us aspire to look like one impossible body or another?
otherwise, a great bunch of links as usual.
xx
Thanks for the link Gala! By the way I am SO loving Radical Self Love, especially the last weeks worth of amazing articles. Keep up the good work!
I live in Adelaide and Mishka is just as totally sweet and awesome and helpful in person as you could hope for. When I first started venturing into the world of makeup she sat me down and showed me all the basics about how to use fluidline and had a really nice chat – I came out MAC feeling so good! She works at the city MAC DJs counter as well as doing freelance stuff if anyone was curious. :)
Hmm interesting lineup as always
EFT is awesome i learnt it a while back excellent for shifting negative energy and limiting beliefs The wonderful Erika Awakening has a free indepth 7 day course heres the link www.erikaawakening.com/course/
Unforgettable Women: If we forget about the article being orientated towards being subserviant to men and instead look at SOME of the points as tenets to work towards by both guys and girls wouldn’t that be the makings of an awesome team?
Does anyone date anymore= Charming:p
SMOOSH!
Oh! That “Fashion and the Shining” article is a hoot…“What’s your husband done now? He’s signed on as caretaker of a creepy hotel in the middle of nowhere during a long, cold, snowy winter? That guy!”
Ha ha! Thanks as always, for sharing your terrific finds.
Great carousel as always!
Have a LOVELY WEEKEND filled with lots of SELF-LOVE everyone! :)
Lohla, I agree 100%. I’m glad I am not the only one not entirely thrilled to hear yet again that men only like women with large breasts, tiny waists and Beyonce-type bums.
Big, curvy, thin, athletic, tall, short…I know women of all different shapes and sizes who have no problem finding men who find them drop-dead gorgeous. That is the kind of thing I want to hear, not “stop striving to look like this…strive to look like this instead”. That is not comforting to me.
Women definitely need to stop gauging the value of their bodies in terms of what they think others find sexy.
It’s interesting that I just read an article with the double olympic winner and bronze medalist of speed skating Martina Sáblíková (she’s Czech, I’m Czech too) and her doctor said that he let’s her eat absolutely whatever she wants. He says that it¨s because if he would get her to eat ‘healthy’, she would stress beacause she wouldn’t be able to eat her favorite kinds of food and stuff. And being stressed would influence her much more than eating ‘unhealthy’ food.
By the way there’s also no speed skating ring in her (my) country and she’s trained on the lake or on a palstic platform.
Also, and pardon my English, but f*** that article for implying that women’s curves are responsible for sexual harrasment, pornography addictions, and infidelity. Bad journalism. Though I can’t remember the last time a Daily Mail article had any creedence…
wow Gala, what a wonderful collection of links. your Carousel articles usually are, but this one was especially so! the sound of rain coming out from my speakers?
YES.
That Unforgettable Woman business is distasteful. Some parts of the article are harmless, but
#24. Don’t stress and burden him with your problems…
That in itself is a problem. Openness and communication are very important in a relationship. Anyway, you don’t need to be with a man to be an “Unforgettable Woman”. My two cents.
You look really cute in Yumna’s video :)
Become an Unforgettable Woman. ...Your thoughts? – Terrible advice from a man on how to be a great woman. Try zombie. If that is unforgettable I’d rather be forgotten. The author should figure out how to be a great man and let women figure out their womanhood for ourselves.
I always hear about articles that go on about how guys like girls with big bums and boobs dont matter. What about girls like me that have insecurities? I have legs that go on forever, a small bum and big boobs and apparently thats unattractive. I’m sick of seeing articles about how guys prefer big bums to big boobs and they dont give a shit about long legs and if you have a bit of weight on your stomach you’re unattractive and unfit (even if you do work out!!!). They have all these articles to make girls who have big bums and short legs feel better about themselves but never articles for girls like me, and this has been going on for YEARS, I though we were supposed to support all body types? I’m sorry I was born with this body, sorry this world is so effed up you either have to be anorexic or curvy in the right places to fit in.
The article about being an unforgettable woman is just bonkers- it seems as though it’s from the Womens Weekly in the 50’s. Subservience has no place in a loving and respectful relationship between any two beings, at all.
I think it is marvy-pants that we enlightened women recognise and engage in discussion about the inherent, ever present sexism that sadly still exists in our world, and these comments show that as long as we recognise it for what it is, we have to power to excorsize it forever!
well done everyone!
Gala, thank you for the lovely shout-out! I’m chuffed.