British Humor

In lieu of writing a long post, I'm just going to post a Youtube Video to educate you in the finer points of British Humor:

Vicky Pollard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s1C_8qg-e0

What a chav.

Chea. Look that word up. Vicky's picture will probably come up. Along with Burberry coats.

Andy Warhol was obsessed with celebrity culture and the world's attempt for their 15 minutes of fame. Little did he know where this obsession would actually go.

To the sky, along with your 6 year old apparently.

The BBC recently put out an article about the reality TV parents (they had a lot of experience in it) who "sent up" their little boy in a balloon, (but not really) just for the media attention.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8323936.stm

The desperation seems pathetic and awkward, but the self in the eyes of the other is stronger than ever. Facebook. Twitter. Linked in. All of these networking sights are tickling our self obsessions by "Making us famous to 15 people," according to David Weinberger, American Technologist and professional speaker. Mr. Weinberger, I have 1,196 friends on Facebook. I think your statement is false.

Talk about self-obsession.

Regardless, I am not as interested in the self-obsession as I am the media coverage itself, why people convene around things like STAR or PEOPLE, or even Entertainment Tonight or Inside Edition. Self-obsession is only fueled by the fact that people are willing to indulge that person (or couple). Most people say, "Well those people who watch those shows have no lives or nothing special about themselves." I disagree. The people who watch these shows watch them, in my opinion not just to be "In the loop" of "current events" but also because they find something analogous to those absurdities in their own lives. The fear of having a child carried away by a hot air balloon makes the housewife look nervously for her toddler as he is actually eating glue (while mommy figures out who Brad Pitt is fucking). The reality TV shows like Big Brother makes the college roommates reflect on their own drama, after they have just walked in on their boyfriend with another suitemate.

These shows about stars or novelties just remind us of ourselves. We see that people can get famous for the most absurd of reasons, perhaps because we can see ourselves in them.... and maybe the hope remains... we too can be on TV.

PoliSci: WHY? or rather, Why not?

Last night, I conversed with Misha (the Physics/Russian Lit wonder in my life) about why the hell I bother studying Political Science-- I myself sometimes question and doubt the value of my discipline. What am I creating? What can I TRULY know if I am outside of the process/work? How am I an asset to humanity by versing myself in this discipline? I'm certainly not inventing, creating or researching a cure for cancer. ..... Naturally I sound cynical and this is a cynical take. But one has to stop and question these things in order to get maximum efficiency and happiness out of a field.

So, the New York Times prints this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/books/20poli.html?_r=1&em

Basically, a journalist (who probably graduated in Political science) questioning what the hell Political science is and why it is useful to humanity. Rather, the Journalist was following a certain Senator Coburn, who has recently attacked the National Science Foundation for giving $91.3 million to Poli sci field projects and research--money that could have been used in Biology, Physics, or Pharmacology.

Yet, the article quotes:

"Senator Coburn has maintained that commentators on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other news media outlets 'provide a myriad of viewpoints to answer the same questions.'"

If this is where Senators get their Political Science Advice, then I'm a little worried for America.

Political Science does have a duty to inform, but the right people in the right places need to do it. Let's not be frivolous with our money now. Science needs politics just as much as politics (government) needs science. If science wants to see its work deployed on a large scale, its needs politics to help survey that field and that strategy.

Maybe I'll be a Sociology Major.

Holstee: Wholesome Clothing

I love entrepreneurs. I love their passions. In fact, I think I'm Passionate about Passion.

So this weekend, I had dinner with Mike and Fabian (Sandbox). Mike, a Q-pac Grad and brainfather of "Holstee Clothing" and Fabian--the Swiss wonderman of entrepreneurship.

http://www.holstee.com/index/

Holstee is a clothing line, technically, but is more of a lifestyle.

Check out their manifesto:

This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit. If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love. Stop over-analyzing; life is simple. All emotions are beautiful. When you eat, appreciate every last bite. Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself. Some opportunities only come once: seize them. Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people. We are united in our differences. Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them. Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating. Life is short. Live your dream, and wear your passion.

Basically, I want to wear their holster pocket shirts (wholesome and "holsters"!) and pocket this idea.

So make a business with your passions. Our economy will love you for it.

And go buy a shirt.

Business Practices That LIVE

Run a healthy, environmentally friendly business. CSR (Corporate Social/Sales Responsibility) can mean serious cash and serious humor.

You may not see how these things connect, but after my Arabic test tomorrow, oh will I tell you.

This just made my night.

Going loopy with work,

Danielle

Dear Enron,

cc: Mr. Skilling

bcc: Douglas Rae

From Today's New York Times, on an Appeal by former Enron Chief:

In his brief asking the Supreme Court to hear his case, Mr. Skilling said that his conduct “even if wrongful in some way, was not the crime of honest-services fraud, because the government conceded that his acts were not intended to advance his own interests instead of Enron’s.”

Intent? INTENT? Can we honestly just look at the facts of who ran away with countless millions before the fall of Enron? Um, hmmm from an HBS case on Enron, the stat is that Skilling took $78 MILLION dollars from 2000 to 2001.

Come now. Everyone had vested interest in Enron's interests because Enron WAS them. Oh Skilling. If you can't be honest that you didn't want that $78 million for your own interests, then you are doing a dis-service to humanity right there. Crime of honest-services? Really? Are you STILL lying?

Check out some pop culture fun: Drop the S off of Skilling, a rap song about corporate america inspired by David Tonsall, a former Employee who was screwed by the scandal.

http://www.thirdcoastrap.com/nrun/play21830102.html

Yours Truly,

Danielle

p.s. Why am I so obsessed???

History Girls: Alan Bennett Hear My Prayer!

Finally, no more Enron love letters.

Anyways, word up to all the Feminists out there. I wanted to put "The History Boys" on at Yale with a cast of all women.

But, as in High School (at The Ellis School For Girls and Young Women), I ran into licensing and legal issues when Samuel L. French required that men be played by men. Women played by women.

Something tells me that Alan Bennett would not have cared too much and might have found my exploration of nostalgia, memory, sexuality, hierarchy and "the cult of masculinity" interesting from a feminine perspective. Granted, I don't like messing with scripts too much in such an Avant Garde way, but there is something to be said about investigating "a Man's World" through a female lens--is breaking through History, making women the makers, seekers, and lenses of history. I mean, even Mrs. Lintott says, "History is just women trailing behind with the bucket." (or something like that). Let's change that. Theater is a good medium to do so.

While I don't want to deal with the fines and legal issues of breaking contract, I do want to bring this issue to the public eye with my play (or rather the program). I want to let people know about these restrictions in the theater world, which is apparently so free and accepting and open to the eyes of idealists out there. Baby, this is a business.

But even if we are a business, business is all about innovation and growth. We are a creative century. Why can't we get past these gender issues already? Break into new territory with theater? Go beyond licensing restrictions and move to something better?

Dear Enron: Why am I writing to you about Cancer wards?

Dear Enron,

Your paper is due in one hour and seven minutes.

Yet I sit here after three hours of procedures for removing yet another cyst in an actual American hospital... and I still have no proofread you.

So about this American hospital. In July, I wrote about the excellent care in the "women's health center" at the American Hospital in Istanbul. Now I write to you about "Breast Cancer Center" at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Funny how I go from "Women's Health" to "Breast Cancer" Centers for treatment. Don't you think they could have been a little more optimistic here in New Haven about that care? (That dragged on quite some time....) Well, I guess I was the only under 50 year old woman in that ward.

Alas, though I'm okay, I'm tired and too high strung to settle into writing about you Enron, because quite frankly, "Breast cancer" is not the same as "women's health."

Why am I writing about this?

Sincerely,

Danielle

Dear Enron: Are we screwed?

Dear Enron--

I visit your tomb today to ask, how many more are like you out there? How many more clever systems are writing off debts that the public cannot see? How many more of you are hiding information and thus creating an unfair market? How many more are keeping our failing economy running on a lie?

If the system is defunct, then we are screwed. Ultimately, you failed because prices caught up to you. Even if you perfect your lies, are we safe from another major market failure? Lies in subprime markets.... lies in Enron.... Where are there more lies that will catch up when there is another change in global markets?

My question is, Enron, should I pack up and go live on a kibbutz? Should I go live on a self sustaining farm in Syria while learning Arabic--as is my dream?

Though dead, Enron, you teach me some scary things. You teach me that this is not unusual and that it is perfectly possible to cover up lies for a long time. If capitalism is suddenly based off of these lies, thus becoming a "failed capitalism," then are we screwed?

I don't like apocalyptic narratives, but this is starting to sound like one. Who needs the class on "Apocalyptic Narratives in American Culture" that American Studies puts out? This is the big daddy of Apocalypse.

Oh how I remember the days when I thought capitalism was so light and fluffy and fair, when we worshipped it at Christmas with the success of marketing triumphs at Brookstone and Toys R' Us. Communism sucks. Facism sucks. Socialism sucks. Mercantilism died. They are all imperfect eventually. What are we going to do?

God I should get some sleep. Oh Enron. I am making no sense because your class is sucking my brains out of meeeeeeeeeeee.

asldkfj ;lawueoir

Yours,

Danielle

Dear Enron

Dear Enron

cc: Activists who hate capitalism, mass media

bcc: Douglas Rae

How do you think Off-Balance sheet partnerships are in any way ethical? Just because they are legal does not make it ethical. Is not one of the first rules to successful capitalism (according to Adam Smith) transparency and freedom of information? Oh, when the days of business were noble and honorable! (At least in my nostalgia for days I've not seen).

But even more so, thank you for making capitalism look more evil than a vengeful demon mask in Japanese No drama. Thanks to you, mass media can make big business (and therefore, most business) look evil to the eyes of the world. Not only does your complexity make you unethical, your complexity makes mass media simplify you to make business seem evil. Oh if only we could reform!

Thanks to instances like this, America has no clue what's going on and they protest things they do not understand. No wonder there. But just the sound of "off-balance" sheet partnerships makes me nauseous too. Yet I am not prone to protest.

Yes, I understand you collapsed in 2001 and this story seems like old news, but why do I feel like you are still haunting me? Perhaps because I have to write a paper on you due Monday.

Sincerely,

Danielle