The Rage Diaries

I no longer see the allure of the glossies

I was caught without reading material one night last week, so I picked up a copy of Allure and read it on the ferry and later into the night. It was the first time since Blueprint went under that I've picked up a magazine specifically aimed at the ladies, so I think my system was kind of unprepared for the shock*.

After a few minutes of leafing through, all I could think was, I just paid four bucks for a publication that does nothing but tell me how ugly I am. Good lord, I used to subscribe to these things! And I did. I used to justify it with arguments like, "It's mind candy." Swear to God -- every semester at finals time, I'd load up on Cosmo, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Vogue and Self and binge on the glossies between study sessions. All summer, the other lifeguards and I would bring in fresh issues and flip through them on breaks.

Have these things gotten more negative? Have the standards for women's appearances been stealthily climbing up for the last ten years? Or has my tolerance for this crap dropped because I'm no longer exposing myself to it on a regular basis? I don't know. Evidently, the spring issue of Ms. tackles this question, determines that chick media can lead to women's low political efficacy, and according to Jezebel, concludes:

"My research with college age women indicates that the less women consume media, the less they self-objectify, particularly if they avoid fashion magazines. [Emphasis ours.] By shutting out media, girls and women can create mental and emotional space for true self-exploration."

I haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but I'd like to explore this thesis more in-depth. It seems sort of weird that any article blaming the media for making women less engaged in the world around them would also advocate dropping media consumption. How are women supposed to get involved in the world when they don't know anything about it? Something's missing -- either in the article summary or the article itself.

My most consistent media exposures at this point are NPR, Comedy Central and the WSJ. Given my recent reaction to Allure, I'm clearly out of touch with whatever pervasive media is sending negative messages about women's appearance. But I am wondering: anyone else notice their reactions to ads changing after upping or lowering their chick-media consumption?

I've got a burning case of spring fever

It is a gorgeous, gorgeous day and I am having a great deal of difficulty trying to work like a responsible adult. Let me infect you with my spring fever:

Go find the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop where you'll be picking up your free cone tomorrow.

Did you know Pavarotti loves elephants? He does. And loudly.

All this futzing around on the World Wide Web is because I'm just grappling with a cognitive surplus. Clay Shirky says so.

Now go forth and blow your afternoon. Just stay away from the Chain Factor, whatever you do.

Want to send me your links?

Two commenters have noted that writing a comment with a lot of URLs in it is one fast way to get a comment tagged as spam and sent to the digital cornfield. That sucks for youall who are only trying to share your must-reads with the rest of us.

So here's the thing ... email me your daily reads and feeds and I'll re-post your choices in another entry. My email address is really pretty simple -- it's my [email protected], where you obviously sub in my first name (lisa) and my last (which is right in the address for this weblog).

Also, I wanted to share a few more regular reads with you:

• Get Off the Internet -- Reporting on the occasional insanity that grips messageboards and online watering holes.
• This Next -- Real people review the products they think everyone else ought to buy.
• Instructables -- Real people tell you how to do a wide variety of DIY projects.
• Minus -- This beautiful, painted comic strip is weird and whimsical and I'm only sorry I had to go back through my bookmarks file to find the URL.
• Magnum Photos -- Regular shots and interviews with photographers

So anyway, a few more regular reads. Now you can post small lists or just send me your recs and I'll pull them together in another post. And then our RSS readers can throw up a little white flag and surrender.

What do you read regularly online?

I ask because I want to shake up my routine surfing/RSS reading a bit.

Also, I want to read you. I know many of you blog regularly, but I don't know if I know all of your sites. So tell me what you write and what you like to read. I am always up for adding more must-reads to my feeds.

My current blogs-on-RSS list after the jump ...

Fiscal fitness -- some post-tax suggestions for refunding yourself

Today's "R.O.I." column in the WSJ, "The Do It Yourself Tax Cut," notes:

This week will come "tax freedom day," the notional point in the year when the average citizen starts working for themselves. Many people are eagerly awaiting their rebates and their $600 stimulus checks. (Note: Thanks to the deficit, these aren't really rebates. They're just loans from your kids. Something to think about before you blow the money on a flat-screen TV.) And the presidential campaign may very well hinge on taxes and how to balance the budget.

So here's a radical idea: A do-it-yourself tax cut.

Don't wait for the politicians to pass a law or some bureaucrat to mail you a check. Don't wait for Uncle Sam to put more money in your pocket. Here are 14 ways to do it that you do tomorrow on your own.

And offers 14 fairly low-effort ways to put a little more money in your pocket. I've listed them for you after the jump. My editorial comments are in italics.

Fiscal fitness -- a detour through your stomach

I want to call attention to an exchange in the comments related to the "My cashless society" entry. Rebecca wrote:

If I hadn't looked around at what I had, I would have forgotten about the bun and it would have gone stale and then I would have eventually thrown it out. And because it's a small can of milk, I'm using less of it in my coffee (and generally drinking less coffee in order to conserve it).

and Molly replied:

I think too often many people are not aware of the amount of food that gets wasted. I didn't participate in the week without spending because we buy our food daily. While this isn't always a great idea for some, we live in walking distance to the supermarkets. It has greatly reduced the amount of food that we waste, which saves us money in the long run.

I don't know about y'all, but I was raised by two parents who regarded wasting food as a tremendous sin, and the value judgment stuck. It's also bad financial management.

One of the ways we reduce any potential waste is by planning a week's worth of meals at a time and buying our perishables based on that menu. Our menu-planning process is not terribly formal -- it's a discussion we have while walking to the farmer's market -- but it does help us stick to a strict shopping list. Another way we cut down on waste? We are big doggie-bag people at restaurants. Hey, we paid for that food -- we might as well eat it sometime.

How do you handle food waste? Are you a planner? Do you still hear your mom pointing out that starving children in [insert country here] would be grateful for that food?

ETA: Immediately after posting this, I found not one but two articles that talk about the relationship between pocketbook and menu, although not in a wasting-food capacity. Still, read Salon's Apr 18, 08, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession" for one writer's retreat into bargain food shopping, then read Slate's Apr 16, 08,  "Why the Food Press Rarely Talks about Dollars and Cents," which dances around the question "Can you eat well on cheap ingredients?"

The Eisner noms are out!

If you're like, "Stories with pictures? This art form intrigues me ... yet I know not where to start," then you could do worse than use the industry's annual Eisner award nominations as an entry to the comics medium. I only raised an eyebrow at a few of the selections. Others -- like the Best Writer field -- are pretty much a can't-lose proposition.

And if tights-and-flights are never, never going to be your thing, that's your right. The best graphic novel I read in the past year was Nick Abadzis's Laika. I read it in the store, standing next to the bookcase, and for a good ten minutes after I turned the last page, I had to remain turned into the shelves because I didn't want anyone else in the store to see how hard I was crying. (Hell, I'm tearing up now just recounting this.) Laika is beautifully, economically told, and the blank spaces between the lines give each reader's monkey mind the space to ponder the costs of human progress, and at what point the progress overtakes the humanity. Read an excerpt here. (And if you have a dog, give him or her a pat from me, okay?)

It's an interesting coincidence how Laika gets the nod right after the little tempest over the stunt Guillermo Habacuc Vargas pulled, where he argued that his exhibition of an emaciated street mutt -- and a sign made of dog biscuits right above it -- was really an indictment of the people who a) let the dog get to this condition in the streets and b) didn't bother to deface the art and feed the dog. (Read a summary of this furor here.)

Both Vargas and Abadzis make their points about how our treatment of animals essentially boils down to using them as we see fit and ignoring their sovereignty as living creatures unto themselves. But for my money, Abadzis makes this point far more poignantly and less piously -- and that gives it greater affect. But what do I know? I'm a dumb funnybook reader.

Friday fish tales

So a little over a week ago, there was a PVP comic about The Deadliest Catch, and then yesterday on the Bryant Park Project, Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand swung by to chat about why they love the ocean but hate the water. Watch the interview for sure, but I'd also encourage you to check out the slideshow by Corey Arnold, a commercial fisherman who also fit in an art school stint between catches.

The photos perfectly illustrate the distinction the Hillstrand brothers made. They also inspire awe and amazement -- awe at ocean waves that look like brilliant blue frosted glass, at the ice-encrusted bow of a fishing boat, at the voluptuous curves of Norwegian cod, at the people who skim the surface of this watery world.

After listening to the interview and the audio slide show, I felt like I had been given a glimpse into a whole other planet. How mind-boggling to realize it's this one!

(P.S. You can check out more of Corey Arnold's work here. I cannot wait until he's selling prints via his website.)

Fiscal fitness -- my cashless society

My browser's bookmark file contains a folder called "Things I Want to Buy." I have it there as a place for big-ticket items like furniture, a file of gift ideas for friends and family and as a holding tank to prevent impulse buys. I prefer to impose a 48-hour waiting period before authorizing myself to purchase anything.

So this week with the no-spending thing, I have been adding a few new items to the "Things I Want to Buy" folder, just as a "well, if you still feel very strongly in a week, then go ahead and get that pillow for the bedroom. And maybe those pots too. Or maybe some floor cushions for the living room." It feels a little like cheating, to have these things hoarded against the day I can give myself permission to shop again. I'm also wondering if I should maybe figure out some sort of commerce re-entry program.

However, another insight I've gleaned from the "Things I Want to Buy" folder. There's a sweater in there, and when I checked the URL today, I saw that it's been marked down 40%. It's in my size and in the color I want, and I very nearly bought it on the rationale that "If I don't jump on it now, the opportunity to get it later might not be there."

That would be cheating, so I didn't buy it. Instead I figured I could meditate on money and opportunity cost, and how one finds the balance between taking advantage of offers in the present and maintaining the discipline to let opportunities go because there's something you want more in the future. If any of y'all have mastered the trick, could you let me know in the comments below?

It's at times like this ...

... I wish we still had a good 13-14 people running for president. Why? Because after reading "Studying the Intersection of Politics and Pantry" (NYT, Apr 16, 08), and its attendant sidebars "You Might Be a Clinton Supporter If ... ," "You Might Be a McCain Supporter If ... ," and "You Might Be an Obama Supporter If ... ," I am totally curious to find out what fills the stomachs of the Romneylans, Kuchinichistas and Edwardsians.

As to how my palate votes? I have one in the Clinton column (I buy butter -- a lot of butter) and four in the Obama column (I shop at a farmer's market, my favorite fast-food place is Panera and my grocery cart includes both olive oil and Kettle chips). However, I have a tortured relationship with two of the items in the McCain camp: the only reason I don't shop at Safeway is because the Schmichaels household has a boycott in place (long story ...) and holy cats, do I love me some Hardee's breakfasts. Damn you, cruel CKE overlords for keeping Hardee's east of Alameda! And you all with your alleged "Frisco" burger too -- can't you see the irony? BRING ME MAH CHICKEN BISCUIT!

Anyway, that's me. Who will your tummy vote for?