the british press.

I know it must be annoying to read these posts by this recovering anglophile fanzine editor who says words like ‘skint’ and ‘cor blimey’ and ‘faff about’ and stuff like that. I am sorry! I am trying to americanize myself again but I still like saying these words (especially faff) — I don’t do it to be annoying (and I have no faux-brit-accent like madonna ciccone or my old editor at modern painters). but one thing is for sure. I am addicted to british news sources and they do not fail to entertain me. here are a few highlights from the week…
1 this bbc article claims that humor comes from testosterone. ha ha ha! this 2006 article from the independent that says men do not fancy funny women is even scarier. I have to say that in many cases while out socially with men and women in the uk, the men tend to dominate the conversation and the women hardly get a word in. so perhaps they have fewer chances to be funny (or are less outspoken than americans?), but the women are just as funny, or funnier!
2 a bbc writer wonders what happened to feminism, as she tries to explain the concept of page 3 girls to her young daughters. I have noticed over the years while interviewing women that many are afraid of the term feminism. ‘page 3 girls’ are basically blow-up dolls in cheap, crappy newspapers who may make a career out of doing it but are not taken seriously.
3 the spice girls chanted ‘girl power’ but did anyone really think they were feminists in their silly platform shoes and bad hairstyles? here, an aging spice girls fan pontificates on whether they are better now or in 1997, proving that the typical spice girls fan is a dork! which we already figured. (olivia seemed a lot cooler in ’97 too). their tunes are fun in karaoke though.
4 another example of how bad things have got: some creepy guy compares uk and us women, of course he lumps all of ‘them’ in together and then lumps all of ‘us’ in together. god, I hate generalizations! first of all, doesn’t anyone remember the beauty myth, in which naomi wolf discusses the notion that keeping women fixated on their pouty mouths and thin thighs will keep them from ever thinking about anything important and actually doing anything to change the world? well, what this clown fails to acknowledge is that he advocates a women who is ‘groomed’, and basically what that means is ‘rich’ because the only women who have the time and money to devote their lives to facials, pedicures and chemical peels are rich women who have too much time on their hands. I never thought I would say this, but photoshop has done a real number on men’s expectations of women’s physical appearances. (that said, it’s hard to advocate a cheap floozy like ‘jordan’ but it is easy to admire a groomed, rich lady like dita von teese, who made herself insanely rich being groomed and a pinup girl and is taken seriously and has cred — hmm, this is complicated.)
5 lastly, what is xmas without a mention of the uk’s all time favorite holiday song, kirsty maccoll and the pogues’ “fairytale of new york”? my nephews, egan, 6, and jameson, 4, are huge shane macgowan fans who cannot believe he used to live practically next door to me in highgate. kirsty maccoll was on my list of lady singers to interview for chickfactor when she died in mexico in 2000. I love that the uk media was trying to decide, after so many years of this being the number one xmas track over there, whether to censor the lyrics of the song! unbelieveable. watch the video here. it’s a fine song, up there with vince guaraldi’s charlie brown music, the nutcracker suite and the phil spector xmas record for pure yuletide entertainment.