Heading out to case the promise land

Links to things what I have been reading, in no particular order: this story about actors who have, OMG, put on some weight is incredibly rage-inducing, on about 8 different levels. Most obviously, the fact that the article blurb goes something like, "Leading men are getting larger, and not necessarily in the good way." Uh huh. Way to announce your stereotyping at the very start. But what could have been an article on how Hollywood, in general, promotes an incredibly unhealthy idea of beauty and weight, is pretty much just a list of men. There's one tiny reference to women being unable to do the same, but nothing further about how there aren't many older women on screen at all, or how unbalanced it is that the men can put on weight, and still play opposite women who have to be no more than, I dunno, a size 2. Journalism at its finest.

Here, as a counterpoint to the stupid--possibly an overly-optimistic one, but I am in the market for that, right now--have this article on the current state of gay marriage in the US, which is pretty awesome. I do like Frank Rich an awful lot.

And apparently, those who engage in music piracy, are ten times more likely to also buy music. I'm sure the record industries will say this is clearly false, and maybe it even is, but in my purely anecdotal experience, it doesn't seem implausible.

And finally, I haven't seen the last few eps of Dollhouse, but this does a much better job than I could do of explaining why the creepy premise works for me--well, for the most part, anyway.

In general, I adore this blogger. She makes me laugh, while being smart, and that is pretty much my recipe for perfect. Plus, she links to this really very weird article by Caitlin Flanagan--a recognisably crazy woman if if ever there were one--inspired, far as anyone can tell, by reading Alec Baldwin's book, although CF opts for creepily discussing father-daughter romance, instead of whatever great wisdom the book contained. I wouldn't actually recommend reading it (the article, not the book. I haven't read the book, and nor am I likely to, but I do imagine it might provide some unintentional hilarity of the variety only Alec Baldwin can bring, at least when he is not just being a complete dick), for any number of reasons, but most importantly: 1, because creepy, and 2, because it is lavishly sprinkled with stereotypes about a girl's need for romance. But I don't think you need to read it to believe in the fact that Alec Baldwin's crazy makes crazy people crazier. Trufax. I can't say I'm surprised. (Whenever I remember that he once wanted to be president, I am very nearly grateful for Bush. Only very nearly, however.)

And here ends the most ridiculous tangent ever. All the more random since I don't think I've ever mentioned on this journal how endlessly amused I am by Alec Baldwin and his remarkably deluded perception of himself. Um, consider that this post.