tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61181699802834359282024-03-05T11:09:26.178-05:00elle | persephoneellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-71811341839387816752020-06-27T06:48:00.003-04:002021-05-13T10:39:53.840-04:00My Favourite Kardashian<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<br />
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">My favourite Kardashian is Kim</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Whose chooses to be more curvy than slim<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">She wiggles around<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Trades the law for her crown</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">To get people out of the cells that they are in</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">My favourite Kardashian is Kylie</span></div>
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Who earns her keep with lip kits so slimy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Forbes named her a Bill</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">than retracted that swill </span></div>
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Her life is a low-key telenovely</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Khloe is my favourite Kardashian</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">With an insta full of athleisure inspiration</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Obsessed with her man</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">She pretends she's a fan</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">But runs from committing her heart again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">My favourite Kardashian is Kris</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Who imagined this life with a wish.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Thanks to OJ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">And news 24 hours a day</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">She parlayed personal tragedy into this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">My favourite Kardashian is Kendall</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">A real life Barbie in hell, doll</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">She's tall and serene</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Except when giving her middle finger to be seen</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">and has yet to establish her kingdom.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">My favourite Kardashian is Kourtney</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">...no, it isn't.</span></div>
ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-9582941538357439022016-05-27T18:55:00.001-04:002021-05-13T10:48:20.510-04:00How to Write a Celebrity Profile for a Women's Magazine<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">The Blood Bather will be back next week, friends. I need to edit the second half of it. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">In the meantime, please enjoy the following post.</span></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITPhWdb5aokcoiBJZX6CL-QezJx9MLHOL_cBO-0nwlXjjs3TbUQ25hWlug3Ttx2J2hkZUyvTndokTQ6yRGftzFnFYr7uYeXCFNxu5gtWdRLOnGpi-18CRhFG4BtnePR_8ke64L9S_3dY/s1600/I+love+kids.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITPhWdb5aokcoiBJZX6CL-QezJx9MLHOL_cBO-0nwlXjjs3TbUQ25hWlug3Ttx2J2hkZUyvTndokTQ6yRGftzFnFYr7uYeXCFNxu5gtWdRLOnGpi-18CRhFG4BtnePR_8ke64L9S_3dY/s1600/I+love+kids.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">"I LOVE KIDS!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;"> When I was 30 years old, I had to
face the fact that Vogue magazine was no longer aiming towards my demographic.
The book that I had slavishly devoted my allowance and paycheque to month after
month year after year had abandoned me in favour of 14 year olds. Which was a shock
because when I was 14 the magazine was devoted to cool 30 year olds who filled
the pages with reminiscences of their fascinating lives well-lived to that
point. These articles, these pictures, their memories, these women literally
formed my overall world view of what women could be and achieve by drawing upon the
past and being open to the opportunity of the future. They were professionals
who had married into European royalty and women who were using their family’s money
to create a better world. They were arcane writers and actresses with actual
talent or a bonafide education or a resume that was longer than 6 months or a
combination of all three (the original triple threat). They were happy, they
were healthy, they were hippies and I'd like to know where the hell they went. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">Suddenly, because it felt sudden, the magazine began to feature women I had
never heard of, who themselves had barely heard of Vogue, who had only been
famous for fifteen minutes and who Vogue wanted me to believe were some sort of
acting savants, ready to redefine the medium. It's ironic that they all were
tall, blond and skinny. It's sad this went unmentioned but not surprising.
Vogue used to be the place that questioned whether Taylor Swift would be as
successful as she is, if she looked differently than she does. (Read: The
Pinkprint deserved a Grammy)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">I don't read Vogue anymore. My
first Rolling Stone featured Prince. I don't read Rolling Stone anymore after
they put a man I had never seen before on the cover. I later learned his name
was "Clay Aitkin". That wasn't helpful because I don't choose my
music using a game show. I don't read Cosmo anymore because I've already
mastered all the sex maneuvers I wanted to in this life. I don't read the
paper anymore because I don't have that kind of time and I have never purchased
a tabloid, so I'm not going to start now.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">But if you want to learn how to
write a female celebrity profile, here's a step by step guide featuring all you
need to know:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">1. Put objectivity aside and start
the article with a long boring paragraph detailing your various preconceived
misconceptions about the subject, while still outlining the ways in which you
are a true blue fan girl before the next paragraph where you actually meet the
person and they turn out to be "so down to earth". This keeps the
article seemingly relevant while not upsetting the people who purchased the
magazine in the first place.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">2. Ask a softball question about the
really tough, "preconceived misconceptions" the subject faces. This provides an
opportunity for the subject create an agenda for the interview without seeming
like they are hijacking the piece. For example, "a perceived misconception
about me is that I am angry at X when really we are the best of friends!"
The subject will "prove" this by showing a few key instagr.am
pictures to the author that will not be published in magazine, keeping your
reader hungry enough to buy more information about the subject. Excellent
tie-ins include referencing a favourite charity or foundation to combat just
this issue which will help to fatten this article about nothing. Please note,
the charity cannot be a regular non-profit like The Red Cross or Juvenile Diabetes,
it must be new and have no real paperwork or background. Bonus points for extra
obscurity if it helps children in a different country and uses the word 'gluten'.
Never never never mention prisons. Not even women's prisons. Not even if they
are in America.
While Pope Francis may have named 2016 The Year of Mercy, don't get it twisted.
Mercy does NOT sell stuff.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">3. If the subject is white, focus
on how they rejected their privileged upbringing to become a true artist in
their own right (see Lady Gaga, Lena Dunham). If the subject is non-white,
include an exhaustive genealogy to illustrate the exoticness of the subject's
beauty which by its very nature is too difficult for the average person to
comprehend or obtain (see Johnny Depp, Rashida Jones). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">4. Never ask about the mother but
the grandmother is fine. The subject will invariably describe her being
"cute, strong, a great role model, funny" regardless of whether she
is alive or dead. Include a black and white picture.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">5. Talk about food and the newest
diet craze. It is imperative that you include the subject saying "I love
to eat!" and follow up with a cute anecdote about what a disgusting pig
they are sometimes when they eat. This will make the subject more relatable to
other lady brains. Bonus points if the subject wants to be seen as a cooking
or baking "maven" and include some ridiculous recipe that sounds
stupid on paper but the subject "swears by" to increase their
beauty/lose weight (see Gwyneth Paltrow, goop).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">6. Talk about bullying. It is
imperative that you include the subject saying "If people like me that's
great, and if they don't that's okay too. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I
don't care what people think</b>".</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">7. Follow up this
really abrasive feminist manifesto with something fun like the subject's new
fashion line. It doesn't matter that the last fucking thing the world needs is
MORE cheap plastic clothes, the subject will - without question - "have
their own line"'. You actually don't even need to ask the subject the question,
just google it afterward because it's a given. Be sure to include that this
fashion line solves some problem that had not yet been addressed in human
history. Allude to the fact that the subject might be a design genius and
superior than the author (read: your readers) in every way. Don't forget to
include that some percentage of the profit's are directed toward the subject's
"charity", creating a very effective tax evasion scheme (gloss over
this using a words like "give back", "sustainable",
"global warming" and "social responsibility"). </span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">8. Briefly cover
the subject's personal relationship. Coy answers will be given and are
preferred. End the paragraph re-affirming that a man will never define the subject,
that she is an independent woman and how much her man loves that about her.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">9. The interview
should end with the author wishing it could have lasted longer, with a sad air
of longing and abandonment because they have become such fast friends with the
subject. The subject must rush off because they are so busy like Cinderella at
the stroke of midnight and the author is left imagining the bright future the
subject will enjoy. This will include political aspirations, a multitude of
awards and the perfect marriage. Feel free to editorialize.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">If you are
mistakenly assigned a male subject to interview, please rigorously adhere to the
following steps:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">1. Ask detailed
and well-researched questions about subject's current project.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">2. Ask detailed
and well-researched questions about the subject views on his industry as a
whole and what he forecasts for the future. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">3. Include an
exhaustive list of beautiful women he has slept with. Get him to confirm the
numbers, dates and positions then subtly indicate how this devil-may-care
attitude makes him very successful in business using anecdotal evidence.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Vogue stopped caring about me,
I switched to Playboy. It was way more informative. It still had all the sex maneuvers
and quizzes like Cosmo, it was streets ahead of the tabloids and the articles
were better than anybody. I literally read it for the articles. They didn't
deal in makeup like Vogue does but, then again, who cares when you've got so
many naked chicks?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt;">
<i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana;">Oh, wait...</span></i></div>
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ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-28828740306850297302013-10-18T13:36:00.000-04:002021-05-13T10:41:25.532-04:00Anémic-Cinéma (FILM Review)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsmHKn3WaXt5f9XoEls3AfDK-bqaCjAYvyvFI-uyED_N0TkD4JsFVA4rw6x0agGaFCv6eN5wudNxAjxQ1xVRT8-yfAOl8tG0jzuQw7vsHsfqrBUWCJPLkFs_rVu_XzgMeJwktzn91nJs/s1600/TheBrideStrippedBare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsmHKn3WaXt5f9XoEls3AfDK-bqaCjAYvyvFI-uyED_N0TkD4JsFVA4rw6x0agGaFCv6eN5wudNxAjxQ1xVRT8-yfAOl8tG0jzuQw7vsHsfqrBUWCJPLkFs_rVu_XzgMeJwktzn91nJs/s1600/TheBrideStrippedBare.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the art.</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGS8RW1jqDn0kFmZdLwDy1mXsKcudwV9Jd5Z0xexDc0w-2cJSzhbh2Tv6dYhUcWiODgqCdukNXDm9Po4kNxpiCXkO9Bqg_i_5gA4QDvXEcJ_j6Wsb1szZSR-rdIKzRwqkNKPLayzyrSfQ/s1600/Anemic-Cinema.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGS8RW1jqDn0kFmZdLwDy1mXsKcudwV9Jd5Z0xexDc0w-2cJSzhbh2Tv6dYhUcWiODgqCdukNXDm9Po4kNxpiCXkO9Bqg_i_5gA4QDvXEcJ_j6Wsb1szZSR-rdIKzRwqkNKPLayzyrSfQ/s1600/Anemic-Cinema.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the film.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I<i> am so proud of the seminar I gave this week in my Avante-Garde and Experimental Film class, that I need to post it. It may be helpful to actually watch the silent film here: </i></span></span><a href="http://vimeo.com/7733425">http://vimeo.com/7733425</a>. <i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">See the footnotes for more details.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My learned colleague has been so kind as to
give the pedigree of Marcel Duchamp and for purposes of brevity will agree that
she is correct. Instead, we differ on the issue of belonging. In which school
and style this film fits may be up for debate and it is this subject that
concerns my seminar today. Where my colleague argues that this is a Dadaist
film, I argue that it is a Surrealist film for the following reasons. First
that it sits squarely with in the Surrealist movement, and second, supported by
Marcel Duchamp’s other piece of art "The Large Glass", it deals with
Surrealist subject matter by provoking the viewers unconscious sexual desires through
words and movement and rhythm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anémic-Cinéma was created by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp
between 1924 and 1926, released in August 1926 at a private screening in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city>. This was the final
work of other versions made in 1920 and 1923. In total, it took six years to
create 7 minutes of film. Before and during this same time, beginning in 1913
to 1923 Marcel Duchamp had also been working on his sculpture "The Bride
Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" piece, known as The Great (or Large)
Glass. Let me take a moment to advise that I translate the title differently:
The word <i>meme</i> is better translated in
this context as “..., Themselves”, meaning The Bride is not helping them in
their endeavor, not engaged in the act, or even not present and they are doing
it [stripping her] in their heads. The Large Glass is<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> two panes of glass with materials such as lead foil, fuse wire, and
dust held together with two wood frames, one atop the other. In his notes from
1934 <i>The Green Box</i> (eight years later),
he describes this as a "hilarious picture" intended to depict the
erotic encounter between the "Bride," in the upper panel, and her
nine bachelors, known as "The Bachelor Machine" gathered timidly
below<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
The Bride in the act of being stripped is essentially a nude, or an
"anti-machine", and balanced below is her opposite: the bachelor
machine. This is a juxtaposition, a yin and yang effect, which remains balanced
as long as the two sides remain in their respective fields. Katrina Martin
writes in her essay <i>Marcel Duchamp's
Anemic-Cinema</i>, "He portrays sexuality rather as onanism for two, each
partner trying to satisfy his/her cravings..."<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In his own notes, Duchamp writes "The bachelor grinds his chocolate
himself", grinds (those of chocolate or coffee) being a metaphor for the
clitoris. The work is transparent glass and although the two fields remain
forever separate from one another, they are united by whatever landscape or
object is seen behind. </span>Duchamp thought of simultaneous reflection as a
representation of infinity and often used glass or mirrors in his work as
relevant to his idea<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. In this work then, he
manages to negotiate ecstasy and eternity. This is a similar design to the
specially treated screen of translucent glass with silver mirror backing he developed
for the first screening of Anémic-Cinéma<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both The Large Glass and Anémic-Cinéma were debuted in 1926,
at the height of the Surrealist movement, exhibiting an excess that we will not
see again in Marcel Duchamp’s career. If Dada was a reaction to the War Machine,
then the idea of The Great Glass and perhaps even Anémic-Cinéma was dreamed of
much earlier and found its release in the Surrealist period. Co-creator Man Ray
is quoted as saying: “In fact I was a surrealist before being a photographer”<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
Actually, this is not film at all but rather "precision optics".
Duchamp wrote that he would be disappointed if these discs were taken as
"anything but optics"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>;
placing it by the filmmakers own words with in an optical cinema or abstraction
cinema. This is a new way of "seeing" art, rather than relying on <i>cinéma pur</i> to do it for us. Unlike <i>Return to Reason (1923)</i>, it is not
abstract visually but abstract in the fact that that it refuses a coherent
diogesis or story space. The film is elegant in its simplicity. As we already
know, it is a series of rotoreliefs rhythmically paced and interplayed with
lines of poetry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How shall we define the words? Are they ready-mades with a
camera turned on them? In my research I discovered that the words <span style="background: white;">had been pasted, letter by letter, in a spiral pattern
on round black discs that were then glued to phonograph records; slowly
revolving<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.</span>
Even a phonograph record, an otherwise finished product of art was
"pressed" into service to create still more art. This is the definition
of the ready-made. <span style="background: white;">Ready-mades are finished
products, a bicycle wheel or ceramic urinal for example, that are taken out of
their conventional context and placed in a new one. They are treated by the
artist as a raw material for their art, and while they are seemingly easy to
procure, they are manifested at the end of a long intellectual process. Dalia
Judovitz writes in her essay from the reader, <i>Anemic Vision in Duchamp: Cinema as Readymade</i>, "This
decontextualization of the object's functional place draws attention to the
creation of this artistic meaning by the choice of the setting and position
ascribed to the object<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
</span>Further Judovitz writes on the subject of ready-mades, "esthetic
representation is less about objects proper... then about conceptual operations
in visual and discursive contexts"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.<span style="background: white;"> In short, they represent a deeply intellectual art,
rather than a beautiful or “retinal” art that is pleasing to the eye. A retinal
retention, if you will. Duchamp is quoted: "...our whole century is
completely retinal, except for the Surrealists, who tried to go outside it
somewhat..."<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Are the words themselves arranged as simple nonsense, acting
as <i>objets</i></span><i><span lang="FR-CA" style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA;"> trouvés</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> and
thrown up in front of us? Marcel Duchamp was fascinated by language and "his
conception of words as entities separate from meaning"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
He explored the use of alliteration (where the front part of a word
phonetically rhymes), consonnance (where the back end does) and visual puns in
his art. The title Anémic-Cinéma is itself an imperfect mirror of the word <i>cinéma</i>; one word used twice. The poetry
is similar to automatic writing, that of writing in an altered or uncontrolled
state revealing your deepest unconscious desires. P. Adams Sitney quotes Jean
Epstein in <i>The Instant of Love</i> from
our reader: The filmmakers experience is tied to an unmasking of the self<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or are the words Intertitles? According to our text book <i>Visionary Film</i>, intertitles are
acknowledged in the silent era as a conscious aesthetic problem<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
At the time it was "standard procedure to introduce each film episode with
a title - almost a chapter heading - which would provide whatever information
the director thought important in establishing the context, time, place and
emphasis of the scene to follow". Let's keep this in mind as we reflect on
the nine lines of poetry written by Robert Desnos, as it may become important
later. Desnos himself saw the title as an integral part of the art of cinema.
"Everything that can be projected on the screen belongs in cinema, letters
as well as faces... it is in the mind that the quest for purity must
occur"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. Quoted later, he says
“There was no thought of creating a work of art or a new aesthetic but only of <i>obeying profound, original impulses</i>,
consequently necessitating a new form”<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Emphasis mine)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All at once then, these spare lines of poetry are imbued with
layers of meaning, "an endless train of associations"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
Katrina Martin's essay on Anémic-Cinéma is the foremost authority on what the
words mean but it requires a fluency in French, both formal and slang that
exceeds the limits and purposes of this class and so I will simply recommend
that it is read and I have a brief synopsis of their themes, but I warn you the
following is obscene:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. "Baths of vulgar tea for beauty marks, without too
much Ben Gay". A discourse on elegance and vulgarity (i.e. tea and shit),
allusion to foreplay without consummation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. "The child who nurses is a sucker of hot flesh and
does not like the cauliflower of the hot glass house." This can be reduced
to: The one who gives head does not like prostitutes, or rather a rejection of
vaginal sex. Allusion to homosexuality; frustration, oral sex is not
consummation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. "If I give you a penny, will you give me a pair of
scissors?" Banal and obvious: money for sex with a female/castration
anxiety where scissors are a woman's legs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. "They are asking for some domesticated mosquitoes for
the nitrogen cure on the French Riviera". Banal again: a want ad style
imbued with new meaning; juxtaposition. Having herpes and allowing the air to
cure it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. "The only problem with incest is there is too much
sex."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. "Lets us disdain the perversions of Eskimos who have
seductive sophistication." Wife-sharing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. "Have you ever put the marrow of the sword into the
stove of the loved one?" Incest. There is also the self-reflexive allusion
to the viewer of Anémic-Cinéma as a voyeur or spy, asking this embarrassing
question to us directly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Want Ad style again: "Among our articles of lazy
hardware, we recommend the faucet stops running when no one is listening to it."
This is the frustrated banality of the sexual impulse that can not be
controlled by societal restrictions or even free will. This idea is truest in
the signature of the author at the end of the film: Rrose Selavy or "Eros,
c'est la vie!" translated as Sexual love, that's life! This takes the Freudian
view, espoused by the surrealist that one is ultimately a slave to his animal
desires.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. The aspiring one (or candidate) lives in Javel and me; I
had my penis in the spiral. There is some understanding that the candidate is
drowning, or trying to breath, underneath javelin water (bleach) and that the
vortex of the mouth is the spiral. So, to wind up, after our assumed confession
to point seven regarding whether we have committed the act of incest or not,
Duchamp feels now is a good time for a confession of his own auto-erotic
pleasures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All sources agree on the strong sexual emphasis but <i>Visionary Film</i> argues that it is
ultimately an erotic timidity, or anemia, coupled with its rejection of space
and human action that results in a frustration rather than release. Katrina
Martin agrees that frustration is apparent in The Large Glass. She writes
"In The Large Glass, intercourse was never achieved. The Bride was left
hanging"<a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. The pulsing eroticism of
the spirals has deformed language until it is virtually nonsensical. So, even
the purpose of language as signifier is frustrated. Filmically the words are
-quite literally! - tightly wound, boxed into a confined space in close up. Compared
to these lines, the interlude of rotorelief spirals are relaxing, non-taxing.
While the wild subject matter is deeply offensive to moral sensibilities,
Duchamp is merely playing at porn; optical precision porn to displace our
retinal retention. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an intellectual cinema this is not a film, or even porn,
for the masses. Instead, one must be in on the joke. "In", first
physically, by being part of the private screening as a subset of this artist's
circle and figuratively "in" that one must be willing to be affronted
by what their subconscious or <i>in</i>terior
may pose. Despite its shock value, none of these sexual unions can produce a
viable heir; incest leads to compromised genetics, self-satisfaction and
homosexuality can bear no fruit on its own. Ultimately Anémic-Cinéma is a study
of all the ways one can find oneself frustrated by sexual impulse. Only the
spirals pulse with erotic truth. Instead of rotoreliefs, they should be called
"erotic-reliefs".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br clear="all" />
</span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Stripped_Bare_by_Her_Bachelors,_Even">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Stripped_Bare_by_Her_Bachelors,_Even</a><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Katrina Martin, "Marcel Duchamp's
Anemic-Cinema", <i>Studio International</i>
189/973 [Jan-Feb. 1975]: 53-60.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Katrina Martin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Dalia Judovitz, "Anemic Vision in Duchamp:
Cinema as Readymade", Dada and Surrealist Film. Kuenzil, Rudon E., ed. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>: Willis Locker
& Owens, 1987. pg 46 - 57.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> P. Hammond, ed. Man Ray
“Cinemage”. <u>The Shadow and its shadow: Surrealist Writings on Cinema</u>. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="background: white; color: #444444;">London</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="background: white; color: #444444;">: BFI, 1978.</span> pg. 85</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Katrina Martin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="http://www.ubu.com/film/duchamp_anemic.html">http://www.ubu.com/film/_anemic.html</a><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Dalia Judovitz.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Dalia Judovitz.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div id="edn10">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Dalia Judovitz.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Dalia Judovitz.<span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">P. Adams Sitney, quoting Jean Epstein.
"The Instant of Love: Image and Title in Surrealist Cinema", <u>Modernist
Montage</u>. <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Columbia</st1:city></st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">U.</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press, 1990. pg. 17-37.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> P. Adams Sitney, <u>Visionary
Film: The Avant-Garde</u> [VF]. Revised edition. <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>:
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oxford</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press, 2002. pg 372-373. <span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">P. Adams Sitney.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref15" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> P. Hammond, ed. Robert
Desnos “Avant-Garde Cinema”. <u>The Shadow and its shadow: Surrealist Writings
on Cinema</u>. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="background: white; color: #444444;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; color: #444444;">: BFI, 1978.</span> pg. 36-38.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref16" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="EN-CA">Dalia Judovitz.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///F:/SRM%20Documents%20(Thumb)/CIN310Y/Anemic%20Cinema.doc#_ednref17" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> </span><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Katrina Martin.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-11046915734621184852013-09-06T10:33:00.000-04:002021-05-13T10:41:20.679-04:00All Cheerleaders Die (FILM review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXDd6Gb-bEqs2h8Cbl6SDfcNqFBpasVM68uvR_gWriMz966CmfNCH8ErB2CaLYRKkeDDqMeYrKFGMJ4Fo94emBZBBbBwM-gl3gk1w1l3-ILEP5PjZIBoxZ1Vdh1gJ62x01eFpm6BqCOzo/s1600/Silver+dress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXDd6Gb-bEqs2h8Cbl6SDfcNqFBpasVM68uvR_gWriMz966CmfNCH8ErB2CaLYRKkeDDqMeYrKFGMJ4Fo94emBZBBbBwM-gl3gk1w1l3-ILEP5PjZIBoxZ1Vdh1gJ62x01eFpm6BqCOzo/s320/Silver+dress.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Ok, so this started 30 minutes late and I was standing outside for close to an hour which irritates me. </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">(Big shout-out to my new friend-in-line, Leif!) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The cheerleaders doing stunts outside were a great gimmick. While it has some clever dia</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">logue, in the absence of a serious plot, they just turned the volume to 10 and hoped for the best. After 90 minutes of waiting, I raced to the abandoned bathroom only to hear the sound of the movie increase as I approached the ladies room door. I thought I was going crazy when suddenly a stunningly beautiful woman, ultra slim, elegantly tanned (every square inch) in a silver floor-length slip-dress burst from the bathroom dragging her fur chubby with a handsome pompadoured man in hot pursuit. Given the perfectly large diamond ring on her delicate left hand, I assumed he was her fiance. She was full tilt screaming and crying. He had to practically hold her up, such was her complete desolation. Her beautiful face was like a scrunched up nose. I suppose they had been in there to gather her composure, but it didn't work. He hugged her while she wailed something about contracts, film shoots and whether or not she "signed anything".</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">And so begins TIFF... (Ask me about the time Sean Penn almost walked into me)</span>ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-82444402802277978002013-08-23T16:43:00.000-04:002021-05-13T10:41:22.470-04:0027-inch waist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD62KyRWfPqg7ADnfYozNeia8rVZy_6BQczb3dMJVxRBsdghtRtapAIVBza3Bsknq9Pt0A6JKX8KW5FvzTBupUPsexH-vPzrzpSQUAgObR66vvOZT1sezuAaAJkofLH7wVnCA_Lyr3r-M/s1600/Desire+Value.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD62KyRWfPqg7ADnfYozNeia8rVZy_6BQczb3dMJVxRBsdghtRtapAIVBza3Bsknq9Pt0A6JKX8KW5FvzTBupUPsexH-vPzrzpSQUAgObR66vvOZT1sezuAaAJkofLH7wVnCA_Lyr3r-M/s320/Desire+Value.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once upon a time, deep in the suburbs, a
handsome young man who was gay laughingly described his first sexual
experience: </span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">We were watching TV and the next thing I knew she was riding me</span></b>”. </span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am reminded of that statement when I tell the following story:</span></i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>There is a woman in my office with a 27-inch
waist</b>. It is not easy. It takes all of her time and concentration to keep it
that way. She spent a year whittling it down. Eating less, taking energy
powders, extreme gym memberships and most of all, eating less. She started
dieting after she was fired from her last job. Generously, they gave her a year
of severance. She dieted until her breasts disappeared. She dieted until her
skin became dry, her forehead creased and her hair started to thin. She kept
dieting until it fell out. When her mother began to complain, she just cut into
a short bob so it’s harder to tell how thin it is. She talks about weight loss
and new clothes all the time. By the time she arrived at our office, she was
wearing 14 inch skirts and 3 inch heels. It’s quite a sight and she had trouble
in the beginning getting people to take her seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>How she got to this place </b>is how a lot of
women find themselves on the cusp of thirty. If single and stuck in their
career, they overcompensate by becoming very controlling of their environment.
She controls everything she does. She even controls what other people do. I
once ate a salad with her and she complained that I hadn’t mixed it enough. She
complained so many times, that I let her mix it for me. Right there in public
she attacked my $15 salad with a fork and all of her stick-thin arm muscles for
a whole minute, cracking and stabbing and stirring with all her might. She is
fairly high strung.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>There are women out there who</b>, upon mention
of The Rules, exclaim “Oh yeah, I know ALL The Rules”. Ms. 27-inch waist is one
of them. Then again there are close to 40 rules… There are only 10 commandments
and I have yet to meet a person who can name all of them on the first try.
Because she succeeded in losing so much weight and getting a new job, she felt
she knew everything. She had a lingering residue of superiority that greased
everything she touched. And so here’s what happened…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>One of the Rules is that if you like a man,
stop communicating that to everyone, most of all him</b>. Especially of he works in
your office. This means, do not talk about him to your colleagues, do not flirt
with him, do not send him cute emails and do not approach his desk for any
reason. And keep it to a minimum if your job absolutely requires it. Well,
that’s not what she did. Ms. 27-inch waist wiggled her way around the office
and leaned against his cubicle partition with her arms dangling engaging him in
conversation every afternoon at 3pm. She liked him because he worked out. She
invited him to her gym. She arranged lunch dates. She asked him over to her
apartment and she initiated sex. She encouraged him to get a better car and
move out of his parent’s basement. She treated him like my salad: a
work-in-progress that she needed to improve upon with her good ideas. In
exchange, she started attending church with him on Sundays. She thought this
was fair.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">There was only one problem. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>He hadn’t broken
up with his girlfriend (GF) yet</b>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He thought that was fair.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Well, that’s not true. He had mentally
decided he was no longer going to be her boyfriend, but he had not stopped
sleeping with her. And GF had not stopped attending church with his family, or
going to Sunday dinner afterwards. And neither one had stopped calling the
other whenever they needed something. That’s because he had done this before
and GF knew that if she sat tight she would eventually be that last one
standing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>For him, the frenzy of the new relationship
lasted for 30 days.</b> They did not date. He came over and they had sex. That was
the extent of the relationship. For Ms. 27-inch waist, during the same 30 days
she started talking about marriage to anyone who would listen. She said things
like “Last year was all about my health, this year is all about marriage”, the
common theme being herself. She also explained how she met the old girlfriend
and forgave her beau for not advising GF that he had moved on with Ms. 27-inch
waist. She was very polite. She said she took the high road. (Interesting I have just finished a book written by a PhD called "Fierce Conversations", in it she describes the phrase "taking the high road" as <b><i>permission to have an inauthentic conversation</i></b>.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>As the sexual thrill wore off</b>, he began to
pull back to catch his breath. The Rules are prepared for this. They advise
that you acknowledge what is happening and follow his example, get busy with
other things (like the life you abandoned to fit this dude in) and the endeavor to take a breath before you do something you may regret. This is a prime
opportunity to determine with a clear head if this guy is really a part of your
future. If he is, he will seek you out so that you have no doubts. This is the
wisdom of the Rules.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Unfortunately, Ms. 27-inch waist did not
take this in stride</b>. She began to call him asking where he was, what he was
doing and when he would come over. To appease her, they planned a road trip to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:state> for a week to
visit his bartender friend (see above: he didn’t have a road-worthy car). She
had hang ups about alcohol, afraid it would interfere with her weight. Boozing
all day on the beach was not her idea of fun. But when they fought, he called
her high-strung and she agreed with him, blaming herself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Upon their return, he stopped taking her
calls.</b> He told her that he was ultimately looking for someone with less sexual
experience than she had. He threw her sexual availability back in her face. She
tried to talk him out of his position, but he held firm knowing that he had his
GF waiting in the wings. She was devastated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>None of this would have happened if she had
done the Rules.</b> Like many people, she chose her partner based on his looks, and
it went poorly. She wanted a boyfriend who worked out and this dude fit the
bill. <b><span style="color: red;"><i>She did absolutely nothing to determine <u>what kind of person</u> he was</i></span></b>. She
didn’t ask anyone’s opinion. She did not even allow him to take her out on a
date, deciding instead to lead with her vagina. She ignored obvious red flags
when he clearly had another GF and didn’t take her alcohol concerns into
account. She just barreled in, believing that she could control this situation.
Here’s the crazy thing: while the woman is a royal pain in the ass, I think
they might have had a chance if she had relaxed her grip and let him come to
her without the promise of easy sex.
This woman failed because she tried to hogtie a man who is
obviously destined for someone else (and I do not necessarily mean GF), rather
than look around for the one who might be looking for her. I know that life is
only worth living if it is lived authentically and trying to talk a guy into
your idea of marriage is a recipe for disaster.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>But not one to surrender, Ms. 27-inch waist
has continued to stoke the fire</b> and the relationship has limped along as all
useless endeavors do. She invites him to the odd work function (read: free food
and drink) and sometimes he shows up. When he doesn’t I have heard that she
mopes about leaving comments in her wake like “my personal life is in ruins”.
Now she is entering the drama-infused portion of the non-relationship. The
Rules are prepared for this as well; they call it a Fantasy Relationship. This
is a relationship that exists entirely in your own head. It never stops being
attractive because it’s entirely safe and controllable. You will recognize it
because it will be entirely one-sided. The Rules recommend that when you find
yourself in a Fantasy Relationship, to immediately get a grip and stop lying to
yourself. The result is that this woman has become talked about in the office,
so now her bad choices are affecting her career. This is a slippery slope. I
would love to reach out to her, but she’s not one to take anyone’s advice. We all know women like that.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">UPDATE: The man transferred to another office a few months ago and they apparently broke up. Ms. 27-inch waist has been spotted draped attractively (</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px;">in very tight pants)</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;"> over the desk of another eligible bachelor.</span></div>
ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-45307849473256704782013-08-16T16:43:00.002-04:002021-05-13T10:41:17.869-04:00The Canyons (FILM Review)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ACc8bMve7-cW8Qsryb7p2NDXPNo-628ucsCZr15EkH5_TtUIf_BwyJz51hpYcIKhro68-wTHsMVeS0zFpCBrQCWq2ld1GHcn6bP21hAoV8cmyiCm65OtBZDh8v-4KZNS4nChzHGwyAY/s1600/LLTheCanyons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ACc8bMve7-cW8Qsryb7p2NDXPNo-628ucsCZr15EkH5_TtUIf_BwyJz51hpYcIKhro68-wTHsMVeS0zFpCBrQCWq2ld1GHcn6bP21hAoV8cmyiCm65OtBZDh8v-4KZNS4nChzHGwyAY/s1600/LLTheCanyons.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's her spirit leaving her body.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Dear {insert name},</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">You missed a doozy. It’s
immediately going to become a cult classic. I actually was experiencing all the
feelings so I’m not even sure my distillation will be satisfactory.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Cons:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1.The extreme over-acting
by all the males in the film. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2. Lilo is puffy-faced and
still drug-addicted, so her little head fidgets and she wipes her nose during
takes involuntarily.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">3. To counteract this, she
got botox which seriously undermines her facial movements and she insisted on
that heavy black Cleopatra makeup which was distracting and poorly done. Result
= She has the largest double-chin in celluloid
history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">4. The lighting was
amateurish and the camera kept swaying in the breeze for no apparent
reason.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Pros:
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The sex. Tons of male
full-frontal. The rumours are true: James Deen is
well-hung.<o:p></o:p></span></span>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The gloriously seedy
underbelly of ultra rich young <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:city></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></span>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Lilo’s still got her acting
chops. Still. There. Underneath. It. All.<o:p></o:p></span></span> </li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">So think back: Remember
American Psycho? This is American Psycho: LA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Christian is in LA, still
hating his father, still abusing women and still using his trust fund for drugs
and sex. He lives in a magnificent home in the Hollywood Hills (I imagine?) with his
girlfriend of about a year, <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> (Lilo). The
entire movie is EXPOSITION. The actors are telling us a story, quite literally,
and badly. We are filled in on timelines running from 1 month ago eventually
stretching back to 3 years ago when all the real action happened. (They is why
the writer BEE sucks. He is under the impression that such vapid characters
would retain wounds that are really ancient history. It’s a fiction that all his
stupid novels are based on. Today’s twenty-somethings can’t remember their own
phone numbers much less what they were feeling 3 years
ago.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Anyway, in an effort to
impress his father Christian becomes involved with a production company and a
small-budget film looking for a male lead. As a lark, between “shopping and
fucking”, <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> gets involved and helps choose the
lead – Ryan - and then disappears back to doing nothing at Christan’s house. The
production assistant misses her and invites her to lunch to talk. <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> is nervous but happy and sings Christian’s praises.
We learn that this was set up by Christian and all Tara’s words are being
recorded for Christian in his fast Audi blazing down the sun-drenched highway to
his mistress, his “yoga instructor”. Christian is also stealing <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place>’s phone and having her
followed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Turns out – through
unbelievable holes in the plot – that the male lead and <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> shared a happy history living together 3 years ago
when they were broke and in love. But neither of them hit it big and she sold
her soul to be some rich man’s muse and abandoned Ryan to his life of
bartending/ auditions and when times really get tough – male prostitution. Now that they’ve re-connected he won’t leave her alone and they have a month long
affair; which she tearfully – she’s always wet in this movie – can’t live with
and can’t live without.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">To separate her from
Christian, Ryan has the yoga mistress tell <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place>
that Christian is dangerous, roofied her, ran a train on her and she ended up in
the hospital. <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> with typically bravado
laughs in the girls face and then spits this info back at
Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Should I spoil the plot?
Here goes…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Harlow Solid Italic; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">YOU’VE
BEEN WARNED<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Christian retaliates by
killing yoga mistress and weakly framing Ryan. This killing *<b>may</b>* have been precipitated by the previous
nights se>< adventure wherein Christian brought another couple to bed and
a 4-way ensues (nothing to report, lots of blurred images and red light) EXCEPT
Tara engineers Christian to engage in homo se>< which he really enjoys.
Tara appears to know Christian better than he knows himself and the plot flirts with
the idea that perhaps <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> has been in control
all along. This unmans him and he awakes by knocking <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> against a wall. When he returns from his
killing, <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> has bags packed and begs for her
release. Christian gives it in exchange for a steel trap alibi as to his
whereabouts for the previous few hours and finally: That she never see Ryan
again or Christian will kill him and will get away with
it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">So we are abruptly thrown
forward in time one year (?) and the closing scene opens as the movie opened,
with two couples finishing up dinner in LA. Tara has just returned from
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dubai</st1:place></st1:city> with her
current man who spent the time in “meetings”. The other female begins to quiz
<st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> on the events of her and Christian’s
relationship ending with the death of yoga mistress …etc. <st1:place w:st="on">Tara</st1:place> is nervous and fidgety, sticks to the story. The
female gets up and goes to the washroom and calls a man – presumably Christian –
to report all that she said. But it’s not Christian …it’s Ryan she is speaking
to. The virus of obsession has transferred and infected the onetime golden
boy, sitting cold and alone in an empty room.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRWsFC0pkrUjIMDhccFljeP_Ne24xijY1JngyGzR-u7FJx4XsqepjrsVvtTiviZLUDuLUfFMWI64YAE4e3ZT3aD-hjgCZlgpybnw4-mfeE3Si5fKwgEzWUX0n0FJISprKjjvkLvHYhQO8/s1600/TheCanyons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRWsFC0pkrUjIMDhccFljeP_Ne24xijY1JngyGzR-u7FJx4XsqepjrsVvtTiviZLUDuLUfFMWI64YAE4e3ZT3aD-hjgCZlgpybnw4-mfeE3Si5fKwgEzWUX0n0FJISprKjjvkLvHYhQO8/s1600/TheCanyons.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the spirit being re-inserted.</td></tr>
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ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-7185404321921271612012-05-25T14:41:00.000-04:002021-05-13T10:41:14.326-04:00The Character Arc of a Louis Vuitton Purse<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9w8oiXHMBQTLmwSAYfSOOGa0FpwEpgd2liH1YzpOY6Fxt-CYGTxLaji6zKwjuLSSML2d26OAkExcU2lbyoka17WRLOqBugQI58O240k4Bhmb1lto8T8bJO8U6BtiZlXMJxafltr0ctU/s1600/LVpic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9w8oiXHMBQTLmwSAYfSOOGa0FpwEpgd2liH1YzpOY6Fxt-CYGTxLaji6zKwjuLSSML2d26OAkExcU2lbyoka17WRLOqBugQI58O240k4Bhmb1lto8T8bJO8U6BtiZlXMJxafltr0ctU/s1600/LVpic.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my Louis Vuitton Purse. There are many like it, but this one is mine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong>I have always wanted to be older.</strong> I even won an award at sleep-away camp for Most Likely to Act Older than My Age. It was a red stiletto made out of construction paper with my name on it. I think it was meant to be a cautionary award, but I was shockingly excited to have won it and I kept it for years. It meant my plan was working; all those camp fires with my Roots hoodie unzipped to show my bathing suit top were not in vain. All those times I pulled my bathing suit high up on my hips above the waistband of my shorts to show that half inch of untanned flesh was not going unnoticed.<br />
<br />
<strong>I truly hated myself for wanting a Louis Vuitton purse</strong>, but since I make all my important decision in the following way, “<em>What would Monica Vitti do in L’Avventura?”</em> it was clear that a Louis Vuitton was somehow in my future. I felt like it would make me look older, more relaxed, more secure, successful and of course more beautiful in an ugly way. I say “ugly” because by wearing a symbol of conspicuous consumption, you automatically put your peer group on edge, followed in short order by women who are actually older, more relaxed, more secure, more successful and more beautiful- but still do not have a Louis Vuitton purse. I had not immediately realized that this would be the case.<br />
<br />
<strong>While it was still in the contemplation stage</strong>, the first reaction was, “Well, why would you do that?” Followed by “My mother had one and the handle turned ugly brown…yours will too in about a year”. <br />
<br />
<strong>The trip to the store was not that friendly</strong>. You are dealing with sales assistants that don’t make enough to afford one either, causing one bizarre conversation after another. <br />
<br />
“Can I help you?” <br />
<br />
<strong>“Yes, I would like to look at that purse”</strong> you say and point at one of the wooden cubbies artfully backlit while an unceasing torrent of Asian tourists jostle you trying to get the sales girl attention. She will bring it down and then stare at you while you gently touch the purse, pretending to look at it as though you have not already spent months on the website looking at it from every angle.<br />
<br />
The sales girl will become bored with you and move on to an elderly man who is whispering hoarsely in Mandarin, holding three belts in one hand and some key chains in the other. When she returns, you ask “Is it made of leather?” <br />
<br />
“Yes”, she sighs clearly irritated.<br />
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<em>Reader’s note: No. It is <u>not</u> made of leather. The most popular Louis Vuitton bags are made of canvas sealed in plastic. Not joking. The only leather part is the untreated leather handle which turns a deep tan from the oils on your skin and sunlight and pollution. You can use a leather moisturizer to clean it, but this accelerates the browning process.</em><br />
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You ask “Is it suede on the inside?” <br />
<br />
“Yes” she answers a little distractedly while looking at her nails. You can tell no one has asked this before.<br />
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<em>Reader’s Note: No. It is <u>not</u> made of suede. It is made of brushed cotton which is lovely and soft, but not suede.</em><br />
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<strong>She leaves you again to help someone else</strong> and you realize that she does not take you seriously. You gaze around the room trying to ask yourself, “Is this really the one, worth a small mortgage payment?” and when she returns you whisper “Yes, I would like to buy it”. She pushes the shop-worn bag (with a half-brown handle) toward you and you realize that she is saving the newer ones for someone else. <br />
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<strong>“No” you say with more confidence than you feel “I would like a new one”.</strong> You are beginning to get how to play this game. She shrugs, which in hipster means: <em>I admit defeat, worthy opponent</em> and slowly ambles to the back room. She returns and presents you with a new one which you inspect carefully, then buy. Your throat is dry and your face is red. Is this really who I am now?<br />
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<strong>The first question is always, “Is it real?”</strong> This is after the cursory scan of your eyes and then the purse and then your body. The second is a statement “Wow, those cost a lot!” At which point, I smile demurely and look down. This is how I imagine pretty girls with fathers receive compliments. Very rarely – from girls I would never imagine even know what Louis Vuitton is - “How much was it?” To this I say with a big sigh “It was a lot.” Followed by dead silence.<br />
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<strong>I was thrilled to have it</strong>, but I was hopelessly embarrassed by the purse. I threw it on the floor of restaurants and airports to show the world how little I cared about it; as if to say, “See, nothing has changed! I am still the big loser you love to hate!” The purse cast in sharp relief how ill-prepared I was to be successful and confident and enjoy the fruits of my labours. The purse made me even more insecure.<br />
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<strong>Ultimately a grown woman - </strong>hugely successful and on television to give her business opinion on the stock markets - walked up to my desk one day shortly after Christmas. She had a brand new purse under her arm. <em>It was exactly the same as mine</em>. <br />
"My husband bought me this", she stated. <br />
I said it was beautiful. <br />
“He also bought me the wallet", she stated in a dull, flat tone showing it to me. <br />
I said how nice it was, how it could double as a clutch given its large size. <br />
She quickly cut to the point “I see you have the same purse; do you have the wallet as well?” <br />
No, I said. <br />
She pursed her lips and seemed satisfied. <br />
Finally: “Did you buy it on your own <strong>or is someone taking care of you?"</strong> <br />
Once the shock wore off from being demeaned to that extent, I realized a second truth. I worked in the same office as this woman she did not believe I had enough money to buy a purse like hers.<br />
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I have had the purse for a year and, as predicted, the handle has gone horribly brown. The canvas is no longer stiff and the purse slouches unattractively when left to its own devices, although I make an effort to never put it on the floor ever again. I want to be friends with my purse and I worry that I gave it low self esteem. These are just some of the thoughts that go through my head when I look at it.<br />
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<strong>I believe it was Naomi Wolf who first said,</strong> we women must be careful that we do not become our purses. I.e. an accessory; a vessel to put things in. A vessel for a man to put things in. Somewhat useless, since men use pockets. A purse’s value is how it looks, not how useful it is. A purse’s value increases depending on the name stamp in gold upon it. Stamping implies ownership, a large brass plate is what we put on buildings to advise the address, but only if the address is worthy. There are no large embossed brass plates in the slums. If a woman is a purse, what name is stamped on her? What name is stamped on me?<br />
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I will never buy a Louis Vuitton purse again.ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118169980283435928.post-62087271912671517162012-05-04T16:58:00.003-04:002021-05-13T10:41:10.150-04:00Magical Sex Ninjas<br />
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New Canadian slang (<em>ma-GIK-hal secks nin-JAHS</em>) <br />
<br />
Def. <br />
<em>1. an imaginary creature that haunts the nightmares of women concerning the fidelity of their boyfriends or husbands </em><br />
<em>2. The false belief that certain women can control a man’s behaviour using a variety of increasingly creative sex acts. </em><br />
<em>3. The false belief that sex is enough to support a healthy marriage at the exclusion other important factors.</em><br />
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<strong>When I was growing up</strong>, I did not develop early; I had a very skinny body and I liked reading. I did not have a popular sibling nor did not have a lot of money or an exciting hobby. As a result, I was not popular or well-liked by large groups of people; and I am old enough now to be grateful for that. More importantly, I was not taught at an early age that I was only valuable for the pleasure I brought a man. If he liked me, it was probably because I had a nice smile; I had braces. Twice. And five teeth removed. And head gear. When it was all over I had pretty straight teeth. People still comment on it, as in, mothers point at my teeth in the grocery store and say loudly to their children “See? She had braces and look at how straight her teeth are!” The children just glare. I can not imagine my parents trying to convince me to get braces. If they paid for it, then it was happening even if I had to be chained to orthodontist chair to do it. (That only happened once). The lesson I learned there was, kids are mean.<br />
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<strong>But by the time I was ready to enter high school</strong> I did have something that people seemed to be interested in. Remember that skinny body and ultra straight teeth? Well, it may come as a shock to you but modeling agencies have an interest in children who possess those features and I was in commercials and used as a movie extra before I turned 13. I had an ACTRA card and everything. This world was very strange. First, the adults were all men and incredibly pissed off; they encouraged you NOT to eat despite the tables groaning with food, not to play with the dog despite how cute he looked and they all smoked. It was just adults in total power and children fending for themselves. No one told us what to do unless you were in trouble, otherwise you just guessed. You had to stay jolly despite being cold and it raining for hours, or else your part was given to someone who was “happier”. The lesson I learned there was, people are mean but an outgoing personality is everything. I stopped accepting offers because the person who was supposed to drive me suddenly disappeared out of my life and no one wanted to take their place. In retrospect I find it strange that everyone was so willing to give up what was - in fact - my first paying job. But everyone acted like it never happened and so I bid a fond farwell to the “acting world” and went to high school…<br />
<br />
<strong>Finding a man you would actually want to have sex with is fun</strong>. Finding out he would like to have sex with you is exciting. Not just mentally stimulating, but it makes your heart beat fast and your legs tingle if you think about it long enough. It’s a serious high and being high makes people want to talk. The only problem is, if fucking isn’t your full time job then there is sometimes a desire to seem more skilled than necessary when you finally do start having sex with a man. And the way to convince people you are an expert is to talk about it. (Right?) Welcome to High School. At every high school there are those girls. The girls who had guys who wanted to fuck them. The girls who proclaimed loudly (at my Catholic high school) that they were taking birth control to prepare for the Sex Olympics. <br />
<br />
<em>Yes, that’s right; at my high school sex was an Olympic sport</em>. <br />
<br />
<strong>They sat in a perfumed coven</strong> at the back of the classroom and made endless sex jokes at 8:30am in first period history and high-fived each other. Every. Single. Time. And from their conversation, they had clearly invented the act. They redefined it. They swung from the chandelier while oiled up with party hats on their tits and their kilts up to their waists. Ok, I made the last part up but that is what they would have you believe. They were my first introduction to magical sex ninjas.<br />
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<strong>With fake nails and brilliant blue contact lenses</strong>, artfully bleached hair and dark golden tans, these girls frightened me. They were full grown women; as completely sure of their place in society as wives and mothers; so exquisitely jaded. While it is common now to see these women on reality shows today, at the time (read: in 1997 the year cell phones hit the Canadian market) they were quite literally aliens. I felt like they should attend different classes than me because nothing I was learning would ever be applicable to their strange world. They were on a first name basis with their mothers. They had prescriptions for valium for “stress”. They laughed about buying fur coats “by mistake”. They went “clubbing” on the weekend (I term I had never heard before). They already knew complex games of sexual politics; who to sleep with to make another jealous, or to make another want them back and how to improve their position through choice of sexual partner. I had so little in common with them, it was laughable. Furthermore, I wanted nothing to do with them because I didn’t take them seriously. I couldn’t see how in the world anyone could. It was my first introduction to men and their desire to see something extraordinary, rather than authentic. It was a valuable lesson.<br />
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<strong>Magical Sex Ninjas believe that</strong> ~ like the courtesans of Renaissance Europe or the harems of the Aga Khan ~ they are skilled in the ways of seduction. That they possess secret skills that not only arouse men, but make him vulnerable to her every whim. The important thing for us regular girls to know is that these skills are secret. They can’t tell us about them, can’t tell us where they learned them, it’s just really really important that we believe they exist and that someone else (not us) has mastered them, and that we never, ever will. The irony is that the younger the magical sex ninja, the more magical in sex the ninja will believe herself to be. In the same way there seems to be an inverse relationship between how attractive a man is, and how dirty his porn is. An ugly man will want a perfect 10 model to kiss him on the lips; a handsome man will want the ugly man to go down on him. <em>Go figure</em>.<br />
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<strong>For all the accomplishments in our civilized society</strong>, we do not have an even playing field between youth and beauty and everyone else. This imbalance is more pronounced if you add sex to the scale. As a result, young girls wield an enormous amount of power when it comes to negotiating sexual terrain, and yet they remain the most exploited. The ones that do not believe they are worthy of love. Strange, yes? But let me be clear, there is no such thing as a magical sex ninja. There are just girls who allow themselves to be victimized. You are behaving like it is the only worthwhile part of you. You are giving it away to the lowest bidder. Men don’t have a chance to undermine you; you have already beaten them to it. I think you believe that the word “tits” is the magic word, instead of please and thank you. Please believe me when I say: I’m so tired of hearing you say it that I inwardly groan. No one takes you seriously.ellepersephonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04720419822218697737noreply@blogger.com4