Letters to the Editor
Herself
Published Letters: 182 Editor's Choice: 17
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Eyes on the Prize
[Read the article: The power of O]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oprah has millions of women and shut-ins and kids watching her daily. At least those women, who are homemakers and retirees, do a lot of the shopping for the family. If Oprah tells them, "Buy a flourescent light bulb to save energy and money", they'll do it. Suppose 10,000 women pick up a couple of those bulbs on their next grocery expedition.
If Oprah tells them to use mass transit or get their kids on bikes or to walk or carpool and a thousand of those millions of viewers do it, that is a net gain.People trust her and love her. They probably will vote for candidates she sess as pro-environment.
Its easy to snark on her and on Gore for their affluent lifestyles, but charismatic people attract money as well as eyes. Money buys stuff. Its a weird paradox. But if Oprah or Gore can get a million people to change their habits, even a little, they more than mitgate their own consumption. I sincerely doubt that people like Julia "Butterfly" Hill, who sofa surfs and sits in trees is going to have the impact that telegenic and ubiquitous people like Oprah has.
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Help me!
[Read the article: Small-brained female seeks alpha male]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm feeling really stupid and run down right now. Can my doctor prescribe extensive exposure to George Clooney?
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Big Money Means No Risks
[Read the article: To Pixar: We love it. But next time, could you add a girl?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, there has been some progress with Pixar. The first bunch of movies were a veritable sausage fest. Even the iconic flexy lamps in their first or second short were desribed as a father and son. They moved into strange Female territory with some later movies. In "Finding Nemo", the sidekick is played by Ellen Degeneres. In "Monsters, Inc." the main human character is a feisty little girl named "Boo". In "Toy Story 2", Joan Cusak plays a spunky cowgirl. Of all of the movies, "The Incredibles" is the most balanced, with the stretchy wife ,the emo daughter, and the peculiar costume designer almost balancing out the brick shithouse dad, the speedy kid, "Frozone", and the petulant villain. (However, the peculiar costume designer, Edna Mode, is still voiced by Brad Bird. Sigh. Why not Kathleen Turner?) Nut then, they've stepped backwards into the land of the Little Boys again.
The underlying problem is this: The men still have the money. The men still write the scripts. There is so much money at stake, that they are afreid to take chances and try something new. They firmly believe that it is the males who make the decisions about who goes to the movies. "Asses in seats" is the term I have heard.
I wish that not only Pixar, but all movie makers would grow up and take a page from the books of the independent filmmakers and come up with interesting female characters. But with 100 million dollars at stake, they're too chicken to try it.
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Passive Aggressive in the Pissoir
[Read the article: Bank robbers, firefighters and more]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So, its Pride weekend. The town is swarming with happy GLBTs. One of them has to pee. She goes into a women's room and someone sees her, doesn't grok her gender, and rushes out to the bouncer, snivelling that there's (EEK) a *man* in the *Ladies Room*.
First of all, Miss Complainypants has to be from out of town. Anyone over drinking age in New York has been to McSorley's. Sharing a bathroom with a guy is not scary. Every club in town winds up with some weird gender skew as the night goes on, because people need someplace for a quick bang in the stall with their honey. Deep breaths, honey. Even if you haven't gone to a club or to McSorley's all the women's rooms have stalls. We don't pee in public. Very modest. No man or assumed man is going to see your hoo-hoo. If you see a male face under the door, that's what those New York FM Stilettos are for. Give him a dimple.
But to make an assumption and rush out to complain to the bouncer? That's ludicrous and passive aggressive. If it bothers you to see a masculine looking person in the crapper, just say, "Hi, how's it goin'?" If she's from the U.S. or Canada, she's going to say, "Fine. How are you?" The timbre of her voice will show she's female. If its a male, get the mace out.
Honestly, I think some people need a permit to go to New York.
As for the bouncer, he should be bounced or the restaurant should be blogged out of existence. I'd think if someone was cooperative enough to show ID, she should at least get a comped drink for her trouble.