Where Have All the Smart Girls Gone?

I am hoping for a cultural shift.  For some time now I have found myself extremely discontent with the way our society, particularly our pop culture and the figures we lionize.  Now I don't mean to get all hippy-dippy here, but hear me out.

I miss the 90s.  I miss the empowered female singers like Fiona Apple, Jewel, Liz Phair, and the like.  It used to be so cool for chicks to have a fuck you attitude towards both the men in their lives as well as the culture that reveres them.  I miss the fact that it used to be cool for chicks to be smart.  I miss Daria, and Tabitha Soren.

The City Cancelled?

Today on Fashionista.com, Lauren reported that there is a rumour floating around that MTV's The City will not be returning next season.  Normally, I would not address any rumours or news about reality TV, as I think most often it is a contributing fact to the decline of high-culture, but I kind of like The City, so this rumour is a disappointing one.

Unlike the first season of The City, this season has been a lot more focused on the budding careers of the four protagonists, Whitney Port, Roxy Olin, Erin Kaplan, and Olivia Palermo.  And while most of the careers are rather unbelievable (I would say all of them are reality TV based except Kaplan's), it was nice to have a show focused around women in the workplace as opposed to women in romance and friendships.

I know that The Hills had some focus on Lauren Conrad's career, but let's be perfectly honest, that show was about relationships, friendships, and drama.  And while The City isn't without any of those factors, it stood above the rest as being a show that could have a potential positive effect on the younger generations watching it.

But such is the world of MTV.  I think it's time for me to face reality...MTV has went from being a place of subversive alternative culture and programming to one of declasse consumerist filth.  The City (although still ridiculously consumerist and superficial) gave me some hope amongst a sea of My Super Sweet 16 and The Hills. 

The 5 Most Annoying Things About Concerts

I like to think of myself as a live music connoisseur.  I am constantly pouring over the pages of The Bowery Presents to see what new acts are coming to town.  All my spending money goes towards concert tickets, and I'm never one to shy to going to a show solo.  Throughout these concert going experiences, there are five obnoxious things I have noticed that are consistent at each show:

5) The people who are in the very front won't be very enthused.  They will get there the minute the doors open, and they will maintain their position like they are preparing for battle, but the minute the show begins, you will barely get a head nod from these folks.

4) The overly-enthusiastic obnoxious douschebag.  There is always that one guy (I've strangely noticed he's usually blond) who makes an ass out of himself to the point that everyone around him notices, and usually gets annoyed.

3) No matter how expensive the tickets are, there will always be some group of people who think their own conversation is far more important.  And these people always seem to flock to me.  I had never experience worse then at February's Wakey Wakey concert, but overly chatty people seem to be a pretty consistent theme.

2) The opening band will always have shitty sound quality.  Regardless of the venue I am in, I always notice that the opening band has awful sound quality.  Now, I wish I could blame it on the band just sucking, but when I can't even hear the words, I feel like it's not their fault.  Maybe it's a clever ploy so we will think that the second band sounds much better then they do.

1) The tallest guy in the room will inevitably stand in front of me.  This happens without fail, as anyone who has ever attended a concert with me can attest to.  I remember one night at Sugar Nightclub in Victoria, I was there for a concert super early, got my spot (1st step up, middle of the floor) and a guy who was 6'4" came and stood directly in front of me while the place was still empty.  There was bad blood between us that night....

So there you have it.  The five most annoying things you will find at a concert, at least if you're me.  It could be worse, I have yet to experience the puking guy or ridiculous bathroom lines....

Lindsay Lohan Fornarina Commercial

Okay, I pretend to be this really cool indie chick. And sometimes I am, but sometimes I have absolute pathetic tastes that I'm ashamed of. One is my desperate hope that one day, maybe just some day, Lindsay Lohan can revitalize her career.

I know, she's tacky. She's annoying, she's a fame whore, but all in all, she is an ok actress and there is something about her that I want to see thrive. I read all the gossip articles about her, I enjoy reading interviews with her, and I hope that some day she can get it together.

Well, today is not that day. I just watched her Fornarina commercial, which I refuse to provide a link to because the last thing I want to do is actually show anyone this atrocity.

Let me just describe it for you. A stick-thin, platinum blond Lindsay Lohan, looking very Barbie-esque as 80s neon graphics swirl behind and around her to tacky pop music. Remember Jem from the 80s? It's like Barbie, meets Jem, meets Butter's (from South Park) "Stick it in my Butt" video. Lindsay's job in this whole fiasco? To say words like smack, wink, etc., while getting cheeky with the camera.

After this, I can only feel as though the true reason I am waiting for Lindsay to once again reign supreme is so I can watch it all come crashing down again. It was fun the first time, and I have a feeling that it hasn't lost it's appeal.

The Death of My Candidate

Today, John Edwards backed out of the race for Democratic presidential candidate. Can we all just take a moment of silence to mourn the loss of this leader? Okay, thanks. The loss of John Edwards does not come as a shock to most Democrats, who have sternly divided themselves into either the Hilary or Obama camp. With Edwards out of the picture, I too will stop rooting for any Democratic nominees.

I understand the excitement behind these two camps. America is far behind the rest of the world when it comes to choosing leaders of diversity. I mean, if places like India (which we still offensively consider "Third World"), and Israel can have female leaders, then it should come as no challenge for the United States to do the same. The same excitement can be felt with the prospects of having a "minority" leader as well. However, will so much controversy around the sex and race of the candidates I think we are truly forgetting what is really important in a presidential campaign. Simply put, who would make the best candidate?

This is why my money was on Edwards. Yes, he was more of the same in the sex and race departments, but there was something that took him apart from the rest of the candidates. Edwards did not accept corporate sponsorship. Edwards campaign focused on the ending of "two Americas," one for the common man and the other for the elite powerful. This has not been widely reported on because (surprise, surprise) corporate money funds everything in this country, which was something Edwards was desperate to stop. Barack and Hilary have both accepted generous donations from corporate America.

Let me just say, I'm not saying that all of corporate America is inherently evil. I just believe that regardless of which party wins, as long as corporate interests are kept in mind by the candidates, corporate interests will continue to have a hand in the decision of new laws and legislature.

Keeping that in mind, there is another reason that I believe keeping Hilary or Obama in the race is a mistake. I simply have no faith in the American public. While I would absolutely LOVE to see a female or a minority leader (and regardless of who wins I will probably cast my absentee ballot for the Democratic party), I just do not believe that this can happen with the present make-up of the American people. I believe that electing either of these leaders will bring Republican's out in droves in order to not vote for their party, but rather to vote against the Democratic party.

I do not want to live in a country where we are so disappointed by all our leaders that we vote only to prevent other leaders from getting in power. I'm an idealist in every sense of the word, and I hope I'm wrong. But come on America, this is NOT the time to be playing games with our candidates, this is not the time to be idealist, this is a time to be realistic. This is a time to change the face of the nation, and I don't mean the physical face. There's more to a leader then what they look like, there's the message they send. And I have a hard time believing that the messages of Obama or Hilary are any different from the messages of any other Democratic candidates.

So enjoy your future leader America, I'll be working on getting my visa for anywhere outside of North America.