She's Trying To Redeem Herself

Yes, Oprah "The Saint" Winfrey is speaking out on behalf of Holocaust Education.

Anyone speaking out about this topic is important...let's just hope that Holocaust Education doesn't become the next celebrity fad in "What To Endorse For My Own Purposes Weekly".

We all remember what happened after Live 8...African debt miraculously cleared! Right? I only expect that this happened because no more celebrity are touting debt relief. That must mean that they were successful.

Right?

Reasons Why I Dislike Oprah

1. The Interrupter: Has anyone noticed that when Oprah asks a question, she answers it? See her interview herself in the presence of movie stars...

2. Mama Oprah: Oprah as the Second Coming in Africa is another thing that ticks me off. I can appreciate her donating her millions (very responsible), however I somehow get a sleazy feeling when she uses her show as a platform to demonstrate her generosity. There is the argument that she is doing this to show off a cause, or model responsible billionaire behaviour, but I somehow feel as though her attempts are insulting to my intelligence. How is it that children in rural Angola know who Oprah is? Why is it they run towards her? And if they don't run towards her and cry in her arms, why do we feel as though they are being ungrateful? Something about her aid work leaves me feel as though she wants to be sainted...

3. The Homophobe: In an attempt to appeal to the demeanour of middle America and the ever important soccer mom contigent Oprah explains away homosexuality in a manner that makes everyone love her (except those with brains). So she can say it's nature for those who are know homosexuality is something you are born as, and that it's part CHOICE, for those who are homo-prejudice. Does she really subscribe to this? I have no idea, but the mere fact that she believes that homosexuality is a duality of nature and nuture leaves me to believe that her desire to be loved by all has completely consumed her.

4. Rachael Ray: Why? Why? Why does this woman now have her own show? Why couldn't Oprah leave well enough alone. Yes, she does have a few good ideas, but let's not go over board. Look for a future post about why I dislike her.

5. The Superior Friendship: I can appreciate that Oprah has a long last friendship with Gail King, that's great, fabulous, everyone needs a BFF. But I resent the implication that Oprah and Gail's friendship is superior to any other relationship. It's incredibly irritating when I have to hear about how no one can ever have as close a relationship as she and Gail...believe it or not there are other women who are close with their friends. I refuse to worship your ability to be a best friend.

6. The Hour Long Commercial: I know that a talk show is a medium for people to promote their projects to earn money. Sometimes these projects are themselves (which is the only reason there is to explain why the Hilton sisters were on her show). But I draw the line at the "Favourite Things" episodes she has. Not only does she have an entire show that is one big commerical for useless gadgets, the materialism is so palpable that every time she does one of these shows you can hear viewers at home salivate over chocolate covered cookies and cashmere slippers.

7. The Oprah Audience: I hate them. I blame her. I heard one audience member say that going to the Oprah show is a religious experience. I don't know how to react to that. As well, they seem to be on some sort of upper when they're in the audience. The jump, scream, turn around and act like complete morons. It's ridiculous, and whenever I see these audience members I have the distinct desire to slap them silly and tell them to calm down.

8. Dr. Phil: Thank you, Oprah for inflicting this bully on the rest of the world. It's nice to know that we can be humiliated by the good Doctor with only a small email to his show. I appreciate his mask of "therapy in your hometown" at the end of every segment. Those bills must be getting extreme, eh? I appreciate getting dieting advice from a man who doesn't exactly follow them himself, very motivating.

9. Nobel Prize Accessory: Has anyone else notice Oprah's constant appearance at the Nobel Prize Ceremony? WTF? Why is it that every winner is given the trophy, the money and a photo op with Oprah? That's crap. Her hanging-on is annoying, especially with those who do actual good work. Wangari Maathai looked like she wanted to club the woman.

10. Cover Girl: Guess whose on the cover of the O Magazine this month? Last month? Next month? Yeah, Oprah. We get it, you have a magazine. Fantastic, please let's move on.

11. Presidential Candidate: If Oprah ever actually runs for president and wins, I will go insane. What's with the belief that she is the freakin' next best thing to JFK? COME ON. She knows how to get people to like her. That's her major talent. That's all, no political science, no economics...she'd be taking Kim Jong Il to the day spa for treatments while negotiating Middle East peace by her latest book club selection ("Edward Said is a god!!"). Meanwhile she'd send every household in America brand new towels because they: "Make you feel like a brand new woman!".

12. Angel Street: A few months ago I caught the tail end of an episode of Oprah when she built a street in Houston for Katrina Hurricane survivors. Now I can appreciate that she's helping out folks who have lost everything because of a few dumbasses in their nations' capital, but again, I got a creepy feeling from watching the show. Again the subtext of: Oprah is a saint, rather than these people are resiliant and strong was the message I was getting. Sigh.

Alright, maybe some of my reasons to dislike this woman are ridiculous, but these are my reasons. But the bottom line is, Oprah has a ton of cash and she didn't make it being a beautiful soul. The reason we watched her in the eighties and early nineties was because she was the queen of daytime sleeze. Now, with her newfound inner peace at a very calculated time, I dry heave.

A Game That I Hate

So I just started working on the anti-stigma campaign at MindYourMind (see previous post).

I'm working with a team of 7 others, mostly teenagers with a few young twenty year olds, like myself.

Most of them are in high school and they're playing that game...you know, the one where you find out the other person goes to another high school and to prove your popularity you start naming off people you know who go to their high school.

Example:

Teen 1: Where do you go to school?
Teen2: So-and-So High School.
Teen 1: Do you know John Smith?
Teen 2: No.
Teen 1: Do you know Kate Baker?
Teen 2: No.
Teen 1: Do you know Emily Jones?
Teen 2: Yeah.

The conversation never really goes anywhere. It's just an attempt to prove the other person's popularity.

Sigh. Five more days of this...hopefully I'll survive.

It's Alive!

So last Spring when I was at WAYS we developed a killer youth brochure...but since the funding ran out, there's no more programming at WAYS for kids in the sex trade.

However, now that Heather (the coordinator for the RISE for Youth program) is at www.mindyourmind.ca as a the Street Team coordinator, our youth brochure has been transformed!

Check out the link below to see our ANIMATED brochure! And take the quiz!

Yea!!!

http://www.mindyourmind.ca/mind-games/scan-stuff/sfs.htm

http://www.mindyourmind.ca/mind-games/play-stuff/sfs-quiz.htm

Book De-Tour

Has anyone heard of this book, "The Alphabet of Manliness"?

Well, it's number one on the New York Times Bestseller's List.

Can anyone guess what it's about? If you guessed how to be a real man, your right on the money. And in this case how to be a real man includes bottling up your feelings, only playing "man" sports and being a big "man" and using words like chairman instead of chairperson.

Because really, where do women get off thinking they can be in charge?

This is friggin' fantastic.

One small step for closeted homophobes every, one giant step back for civilization.

"Do not fall prey to the belief that mastery and domination are synonymous with manliness."

~Kent Nerburn

Book Tour

Guess who we got to come to Canada for a book tour?

Yes, Janis Karpinski.

Former commander of Abu Ghraib and author of "One Woman's Army".

For those of you who don't remember, she's the one who got screwed by Rummy.

Woot!

Wolverine Is My Hero

Ever watch all three X-Men movie in one weekend?

It's intense.

I heart Patrick Stewart.

"Let it be so."

~Capt. Jean Luc Picard

Build A Freakin' Bear

Sigh.

Has anyone heard of "Build A Bear"? This bizarre store where people pick their bear (unstuffed), stuff it (see left), dress it, name it, etc., etc.

Annie, Krista and I did this for Ashley's birthday.

It took almost 1 1/4 of an hour.

It was ridiculous.

Besides that, it is located in the mall.

At least Ashley liked it. I'm never going back.

Brigden Fair

Yes, we got to the fair again this year!

Sunday the family made the trek to Bridgen for the fair! Very exciting!

We went with Ashley and she had a great time. We had fabulous weather, sunny and warm. Although I remember why I liked the crappy weather better for the Brigden fair, less people around. But it was fun to see all the people carrying around the useless four feet stuffed animals that collect dust.

We saw the giant pumpkins, prize winning muffins, had a pickle on a stick.

And we coaxed Ashley into the barns to see the minature horses, cows, rabbits, and baby pigs!

A successful trip, to say the least.

Lots of Pies

With the past celebration of Thanksgiving (Andrea's favourite holiday) I decided to roll up my sleeves and contribute to the dessert portion of our annual day of gluttony.

I decided to bake pies (part of my domesticating).

I really didn't give this enough thought, I was in the kitchen all day long. Literally all day, from 10am to 8pm.

And I only made three pies.

But they were delicious.

"Promises and pie crusts are made to be broken."

~Jonathan Swift

Crazy Little Animals

Yes, it might surprise you all, but last week I was attacked by a squirrel. Those rat like creatures are becoming more and more familiar with people, and I DON'T like it.

Last week I was taking garbage out to the garbage "hut" at the office (Gen. R. Dallaire Genocide Instiute). We opened the door and saw a squirrel getting out of the hut. I throw my bag of garbage in the hut and the squirrel FLIES out at my head. I narrowly escaped a nasty scrap with a squirrel. Dammit.

It sounds innocent, but I was terrified!! Imagine one of those things coming out, pardon me, FLYING out at your head. Not cool.

Then to top it off I find out that there's a group of crazy Londoners who are trying to make the black squirrel our OFFICIAL MASCOT.

Because of a traumatizing event when I was a toddler, I have had a grudge with the chipmunk (a chipmunk mistook my toddler toe for a peanut). But it seems now that it has to expand to include squirrels. I know that Helen, my squirrel loving pal will hate me for a short time, but you'll all have to live with this.

Because of this, I can never take the garbage out again.

"We call this a fine mess of squirrels."

~Kathy Ulher

It's Been A While...

Ok, it's been a while...so get ready for my updates!

More to come...

The Devil's Going Down To Georgia

Yea!

Annie and Falon are coming to Columbus, Georgia!

Woohoo!

We're going to have the best time in Georgia!

Bringing down the man!

Yea!

Let the bonding begin!

"Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life."

~Charles M. Schulz

Countdown Is On!!!!

It's time to sign up and get your cash in!!!!!!!!

We have less than two months until another trip to Georgia!!!!

You know who you are!!!

Yippee!!!

"How do you teach democracy through the barrel of a gun?"

~Fr. Roy Bourgeois

I Took It, Did You?

Thursday night was the annual "Take Back the Night" festivities at Peace Park here in London, Ontario.

There was a great turn out and a great speaker this year (as opposed to last year's speaker who was severely unmotivating) from the Sexual Assualt Centre.

The march went on successfully this year, many people watching were supportive and respectful (except for the couple of cars who tried to run us over).

As we passed the corner of Wellington St. and Dundas St. we were greeted by a group of men (as they aren't permitted to walk) with a sign that read "Men Against Violence Against Women", very heartwarming to see.

This year's festivities only highlighted by the fact that I didn't get burned by my vigil candle...namely because I didn't get one.

All in all, a successful evening!!

"Any woman whose I.Q. hovers above her body temperature must be a feminist."

~R.M. Brown

And Another Cycle Begins...

I swear, my next post won't be about reality television...but I feel the need to mention the beginning of "America's Next Top Model: Cycle 7"!

Yes, it's time for another 14 young women to move into the ANTM house and compete for the "fabulous prizes" that are bestowed upon the winner.

Yes, the show is hokey and Tyra Banks' feeble attempt to be the next Oprah is mildly irritating, but you can't deny how this show gets under your skin...and before you know it, you're as addicted like a supermodel to blow.

This season appears to be interesting...especially with the fact that it seems that almost every girl participating has a sob story (could that have been a requirement to audition?). We have the girl who beat cervical cancer, the girl who was in a plane crash, the girl who grew up in foster care then moved on to become *sniff* homecoming queen and the creepy twins.

Yes, there are twins on this cycle...very interesting...beyond that we have the regular stuff. Fighting, diva attitudes and tears already.

One the first episode we had the weeding out of the 60 girls down to 20...then the twenty girls went on to do their first shoot- a tasteful nude shoot...

A message from me: If you are going onto ANTM...you'd better be comfy taking off your clothes and doing a nude shoot. Nude shoots are inevitable on ANTM...get over it. Although we do get to get rid of the boring people (this was the point that the Republican women are kicked off).

From here we picked the 14...and move into the house, where the real drama happens. People fighting over beds, getting extremely messy and complaining about bossy people. Do they not get that they are put in a house together with no television, no Internet, no cell phones and cameras everywhere? Drama is helped along the way in this house.

At the first photo shoot was fairly interesting, although we did get to see some diva behaviour (interesting since the photoshoot was about model stereotypes...like diva behaviour).

At the first eliminations we again had lots of drama and tears. No test this week, I'm assuming because of the sheer number of them.

The sneak peak for next week was interesting. It seems that next week they will be having the ever important makeover show, where each girl gets a new look. This always includes haircutting which always leads to tears. And it looks like we won't be disappointed next Wednesday.

Very exciting.

"I can do anything you want me to do, so long as I don't have to speak."

~Linda Evangelista, supermodel

The Race is On

Alright, if you are afraid of reality TV (I'm not, by the way) you're sure to enjoy "The Amazing Race".

It started it's 10th race this past Sunday night and it is being praised as it's most diverse ever. Muslims, Indo-Americans, Mexican, people with different abilities and beauty queens. What more could you ask for?

And when you compare this diverse cast at "The Amazing Race" with the segregation going on at "Survivor: Cook Island" (where tribes are divided by race this season...ew) "The Amazing Race" looks better and better.

Sunday they travelled to The Forbidden City in China (trivia: This is the first time the first pit stop on "The Amazing Race" has been Asia...!).

Next week's episode looks good...

"Do Muslims worship Buddha?"

~Cheerleader team on "The Amazing Race"

An Answer...Finally

The age old question...finally a concrete answer.

Sculls and Cross-BONES

Yes, last night was another episode of "Bones". If you remember there was a sneak peek last week that eluded to the fact that this week's episode would be particularly sappy, refering to Dr. Brennan's troubled childhood and stint in foster care.

So I was particularly happy to see that last night did not include tears from any of the characters.

If you missed the actual case that was examined wasn't that exciting, definitely not one for the books. But the activity that happened surrounding the case...very interesting!

One particular event of note is that the feud between Cam and Brennan seems to have subsided. I can say I was a bit worried that we were going to be seeing the stereotypical, catty relationship between the two women (because two bright, intelligent women could never work together without incident!!). Happily, they came to middle ground.

But that wasn't even the most exciting part of last night's episode...!

The most intriguing part of last night's broadcast had to be the budding romance between Jack (pictured above) and Angela. For those of you unfamiliar, Jack is the resident bug/slime/goo expert at the Jeffersonian as well as the Jeffersonian's biggest and wealthiest donor, however this is a secret he wishes to keep from most of his co-workers. And Angela is the reconstruction artist, very wild, very excentric, and fun. Very exciting development. As long as Booth and Brennan don't try to fornicate, I will watch this program.

Sigh.

"I hate psychology."

~Dr. Temperance Brennan, Bones

Under An African Sky

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S COMING BACK TO LONDON!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!

Yes, yes, it's true, Stephen Lewis (UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa) is coming to speak at the John Labatt Centre on December 9th, one day before the International Day for Human rights. Very exciting.

My folks have gotten my mom and I tickets to see the amazing Mr. Lewis on the 9th, and you can bet I'll be first in line to get into the JLC.

All proceeds are going to the Stephen Lewis Foundation (check out the link on the right hand side of the page) and are specifically going to help those living with AIDS in Swaziland. Currently the AIDS stats reveal that 43% of people in Swaziland are living with AIDS.

And don't worry, there are tickets still available for the evening!

"Unless there is recognition that women are most vulnerable...and you do something about social and cultural equality for women, you're never going to beat this pandemic."

~S. Lewis

Petrol-cide?

I just thought this was an interesting graphic.

Enjoy.

Times like these I tell myself I don't have a car because I don't want to contribute to the warming of the Earth.

But I think the real reason is because I have no money. Because let's face it, London Transit definitely leaves something to be desired.

Modern technology, owes ecology, an apology.

~Alan M. Eddison