06/25/04 03:43 - ID#22891
The Swan is evil...
And here's the abstract:
Fox's reality show "The Swan" comprises diverse perspectives of spectatorship which organize it into modes of surveillance and theatricality. The participants in this beauty pageant have several traits in common: most are young, married women; though few have positive male presences in their lives. Their main similarity is their exaggeratedly negative impression of their bodies; thus they submit to the drastic cosmetic surgery, psychological evaluation, and imposed isolation the contest requires. Because of their dysmorphic body views, they figuratively cannot "see" themselves. Upon entering the contest, they are not allowed to look at themselves in the mirror during the transformation. Literally, they cannot see themselves. The viewer however, has a panoptical view of the entire process, from graphic depictions of surgery, to close-focus intimate interviews and candid hand-held digital footage. These documentary views are highly contrasted with the heavily filtered, theatrical interludes with the specialists: the glamorous surgeons, dentist, personal trainer, and therapist who undertake the clinical and psychological overhaul of the contestant. In the end, she is "revealed" in a staged setting, seeing herself for the first time in a mirror that is dramatically concealed behind a red velvet curtain. The viewer's perspective is behind the two-way mirror. We see her seeing herself for the first time. Almost universally, her first observation is an expression of misrecognition, exclaiming "Is that really me", while looking at her observer. These modes of spectatorship highlight the disconnection between seen and seer, and the unreliability of observation in a society based on surface and spectacle.
Permalink: The_Swan_is_evil_.html
Words: 323
Location: Buffalo, NY
06/24/04 05:07 - ID#22890
I miss my hairy pits!
Permalink: I_miss_my_hairy_pits_.html
Words: 89
Location: Buffalo, NY
06/24/04 03:12 - ID#22889
Flying Giantess
Here is a picture of the painting that I recently finished. Still learning, still dreaming. I have some pictures of Niagara Falls taped up, next I'll be a Bathing Giantess!
Permalink: Flying_Giantess.html
Words: 32
Location: Buffalo, NY
06/23/04 10:48 - ID#22888
The Evens! and Protest Records
Permalink: The_Evens_and_Protest_Records.html
Words: 233
Location: Buffalo, NY
06/11/04 10:51 - ID#22886
A National Day of Mourning
Ray Charles
1930-2004
Permalink: A_National_Day_of_Mourning.html
Words: 4
Location: Buffalo, NY
06/06/04 08:34 - ID#22885
e /"strip"/
After a long hiatus I got back into the e-strip swing in a big way with my boob shirt. It is after all, all about da boobies, whether you're gay or straight. We got a lot of attention with our hand-made tee-shirts at the festival, so word out to any new homies who may be online. After we felt proud enough we came home and now we're gonna throw some shrimp on the barby. mmmmm.... summer...
Permalink: e_quot_strip_quot_.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY
05/04/04 12:34 - ID#22884
Abu Graib abuses
Detailed Report Seymour M. Hersh originally from the New Yorker, here on Muslim American Society page:
Report Summary MSNBC:
"The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous import, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation."
Stanley Milgram, Obedience and Individual Responsibility, 1974
Permalink: Abu_Graib_abuses.html
Words: 156
Location: Buffalo, NY
05/01/04 02:42 - ID#22883
Note to Self
The lost book series
Novelty Tee shirts
more obsolete words
Permalink: Note_to_Self.html
Words: 14
Location: Buffalo, NY
04/29/04 09:58 - ID#22882
I'm Baaa-aaaack!
Permalink: I_m_Baaa_aaaack_.html
Words: 107
Location: Buffalo, NY
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