Beauty Is Learned

I once met a group of very attractive Somalian women who commented that Iman is considered by many in their country as somewhat ugly.
Were they talking about the young Iman - or the "New And Improved" Iman?
Blogger aka-alter discusses the issue of the "Ideal African woman" at her spot;
http://aka-alter.blogspot.com/2009/08/koko-mansion-exclusively-on-hitv-with.html
It would seem that the same woman could be considered as attractive or not - depending on the area in which they live, the standards of the culture doing the judging or just from personal preference.
A read a blogger asking why it was that Cicely Tyson was never considered to be a Sex-Symbol.
The answer could be that she was more concerned with being a serious actor and the Sex-Symbol title would have diminished her credibility.
But my vote from that generation (age: 60+) of actors has to go to Leslie Uggams.
I met Ms Uggams a few times back in Cali..
She was nice to all and I was amazed at how pretty she was.
IMO -Leslie Uggams' beauty was under-rated.
At 66, she still looks good.

And even at 70 - Sophia Loren still looks as juicy as she did as a young starlet.

But what is it that we find attractive in others?

I like Stacy London from TLC's What Not To Wear.

I like her hair's grey streak,

her 5'7" frame is at the low end of my personal height standard,

and she went to Vassar.

She just seems nice and interesting.

Being half Jewish and half Sicilian, she has that Mediterranean hotness.

But it's odd - the Asian women that I think are attractive are thought to be very unattractive by my Asian friends.

Do they have a different standard of beauty?

And then I read Black women complaining that men don't like "Natural" women.

What is Natural?

Is it nappy hair, thick lips, a broad nose and dark skin?

Pam Grier had no problems getting men while wearing an afro.

Maybe it's not the hair style that men care about.

Maybe these women are just ugly and they're blaming their Black skin for their lack of choices in men.

Then I read where several of their commentators say that a Black man doesn't want a "Real Black woman".

Really?

How does one expect to attract a Barack when they are not on the level of a Michelle?

How do they expect Shanenee' to get Skip?

Because I have a certain standard of beauty that I find attractive (really, it's a combination of enough of my desired traits), I am called mean and arrogant.

My preferences were determined by my past experiences - good and bad.

My personal standards of beauty were learned.

But this standard can change.

Most "Ethnic" men love a nice ass and a tight body.

And Coco has proven this to be true - regardless of melanin.

No, You Just Effed Up

WTF is a "Teachable Moment",
or "Momentary Racism"?

I Never Liked Degrassi

I never liked Degrassi Jr. High.
IMO -The kids were kind of plain and ugly.
But Saved By The Bell is another story.
All the girls on SBTB were hot.
They even bothered to have a pretty Black girl (Lisa Turtle) instead of the stereotypical hood rat.
Lisa Turtle looked good as Bill Bellemy's girl in How To Be A Player.
Kelly looked good (also with Bill Bellemy) in the short-lived Fox series Fast Lane.
And Jessie played a stripper who had trouble pronouncing Versace.

Degrassi may have spawned Drake - but SBTB spawned three hot women.

Cui Bono ?

It amazes me that many people fear other people who they will never meet in their lifetime.
And even if the person being feared does somehow come into contact with that individual - the encounter will probably be benign.
But many news papers, television shows and blogs create a short term micro-panic by their reporting of rare events as common.

In reality - most Blacks have no need to fear the Klan.
Most people in the Klan fear Black people more than they hate them.
A good diet, proper hygiene and a minimal amount of exercise will prevent most illnesses.
But recent news reports would have us all run from birds, cows and pigs.
"Others" are often given the blame for all our problems - but news sources would have us run and hide from Blacks, whites, Arabs, gays and Sarah Palin.
In reality, few of these things will have any impact on our day-to-day lives.

Cui Bono?
The ruling class - or really, those who assume themselves to be the ruling class.
Many of our society's problems are created by this class as a tool to keep the lesser classes in line.
Kind of a "Social Munchhausen by Proxy"

George Bush tried to use this principle to entice the American people into backing the Iran War.
At first, it worked.
Many Americans saw Osama Bin Laden as a threat to their ability to peaceably go about living their dull and uninspired lives.
The threat of Osama was exaggerated to the point of causing many Americans to fear any person of Middle-Eastern descent.

The United States government created the problem,
created the (ill conceived) solution,
and then moved to act as the savior in order to more firmly establish it's control over it's citizenry.
How many rights did we willingly give up with The Patriot Act?


Another blogger aptly calls this a "Helgian Headfake"
I guess we have Antonio Gramsci to thank for the modern rebirth of this concept.
What would happen if racism, sexism and any other "Ism" disappeared tonight?
Would we all get along?
Nope.
We would fall into chaos.
We don't really know how to treat people as individuals.

We are conditioned to believe that those who seem to be "other" are somehow a threat to our survival.
This "other" is determined by the ruling class.
For a while the Irish, Italians, Russians, Germans, Polish, etc. have taken their turn at being this "other".
But as social separations became more difficult to detect, "racial" separations became more common.

Jews are still somewhere in the middle.

As with some Blacks - much of this separation is self imposed.

If we continue to focus on how "The Man" is keeping us down - we miss the opportunities presented by our natural abilities and talents.
We determine our own failure.
And this determination only benefits those in the ruling class.
This is why we are taught to fear someone or something that we should have complete control over.
This is why we are not the ones to truly benefit from government programs.
This is why many are dependent on these programs.

My point?
Stop getting your ankles broken by the crossover and focus only on that which really matters.
"What really matters" is determined by the individual - and since we all desire different things, there is no need to suffer from the negative effects from resource competition.
In reality - It ain't that bad.
(Unless one happens to notice all of the things that really are that bad.)

Over Rated - Top Five

Okay, there are more than five - but the short list has to include Smores.
Every kid is told of the delightful taste of this concoction and has tried to make a perfect example without the burned marshmallow.
But the reality is;
The marshmallow is always burnt,
the chocolate isn't melted,
and the graham cracker is dry.
Somehow, the reality doesn't live up to the expectation.

Sex on the Beach is a fantasy of every adolescent male.
While the drink is a bit too sweet (and over rated itself) - the sexual act is a bit too salty (or sandy, to be more precise.).
The movies portray sex on a beach as romantic - but in reality;
the water is often too cold,
sand gets stuck in places that one wouldn't want it,
and the sand often has fleas.

When did everybody begin to need a Jacuzzi bath tub?
This is the biggest waste of space in a house.
I've used mine twice.
The tubs:
take too long to fill,
don't stay hot,
and sex in a Jacuzzi ruins condoms and dries sensitive areas.

I like women and I like basketball - but the WNBA sucks.

And women with fake basketballs on their chests are even worse.

Sure, big boobs look nice - but they feel like balloons that are about to pop.

Big boobs remind every man of their infancy - when boobs represented everything that was good.

Big boobs provided food when hungry, comfort when afraid, warmth when cold, and a nice place to take a nap.

But Fake Big Boobs are probably one of the most overrated inventions - second only to...

The Big Twelve.

I live in Texas,

where football is almost a religion.

From late August until mid January,

(When the Cowboys and Texans realize that any chance for Super Bowl rings will have to wait another year.)

- football dominates every weekend from Thursday afternoon junior high school games until Monday Night Football broadcasts.

People always ask me what it was that I did in Cali. if I wasn't attending a high school football game on a Friday night.

People here don't seem to understand that football is a big deal in California (Concord De La Salle and Long Beach Poly are in the hunt for a national title every year.)

It's just that there is more to do in Cali. than to attend a high school football game.

Texas All-Stars stopped playing the California All-Stars because they were tired of being embarrassed every year.

Texas All-stars now settle for playing the All-Stars from Louisiana.

Yes, Vince Young did lead the Longhorns to a victory over the favoured USC Trojans -but, Texans like to remember the past as though it happened yesterday ("Remember the Alamo", "The South will rise again", "We were once our own country",...).

'98 - Tennessee

'99 - Florida State

'00 - Oklahoma

'01 - Miami

'02 - Ohio State

'03 - USC/LSU

'04 - USC

'05 - Texas

'06 - Florida

'07 - LSU

'08 - Florida

The Pac Ten doesn't pride itself as a "Football Conference" - but USC alone has as many national titles (2 apiece, since the BCS was started in 1998) as does the whole Big Twelve.

And Stanford consistently wins the title for most all-around national championships in all sports in the USA Today's yearly rating system.

A "Football Conference" should at least be tied with the SEC (with five national titles).

I'm sure there are more things, people or places that are over-rated - but IMO, the most over-rated is the Big Twelve.

Casting Call - Beyonce

It's interesting that action figures have taken on a look more similar to Beyonce than they are to Barbie.

Did Wonder Woman have gams like this?

Even though I don't like Beyonce's singing or acting - who else could fill out the Black Widow patent leather suit?

Whoever it is - that will be a movie that I will have to see.

(HT - Media Assassin via UBM)

Trust Me

Rumours, lies and gossip.
Is this what our news agencies are reduced to?
A couple of bloggers may have the scoop on the most recent speculation regarding Sarah Palin.
http://alaskareport.com/news39/x71283_divorce_palins.htm
I don't know, but with the recent scoops by rags such as the National Enquirer and TMZ - maybe this is a case of "Where there is smoke...".
If proven to be true, it would appear to be another black eye for the "Family Values" candidate.
A daughter who is a babymama and rumoured affairs?
Hmm... maybe she really is just like the rest of us.

But articles in the New York Daily News (Owned by conservative commentator Mortimer Zuckerman) and the Christian Science Monitor, in addition to comments on her official FaceBook page, vehemently deny such allegations.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=111060718434&ref=mf

One Month

1) Florida Gators

2) Texas Longhorns

3) Oklahoma Sooners

4) USC Trojans

5) a tie between Mississippi and,

V Tech.

It's only a little over a month before the beginning of college football season (September 3).

While the CCR composite rankings list USC as the pre-season number four team - they always seem to belong in either of the top two slots.

Really... who wants to watch another Bob Stoops team get their butts whipped in a big game?

And if a team can't win it's conference, does it deserve to play for the national title (Texas fans)?

So - maybe this year, we will be able to see USC show Tim Tebow and his criminals how real football is played.

Maybe this year USC will reclaim their rightful place as National Champions.

Leviticus 18:23

Leviticus 18:23 - "...Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto; it is confusion..."

Somehow, I doubt that the above painting was sanctioned by the Vatican - but even Michelangelo painted scenes of Bestiality.
The recent case of Rodell Vereen really doesn't need a Bible verse to persuade anyone of it's lunacy.
Sometimes - wrong is just wrong.

But apparently, some men have had fantasies of the equine variety for centuries.

This Asian wood-cutting of The Fisherman's Wife would suggest that the problem wasn't limited to men.

Apparently, sometimes it's the horse that is doing the screwing. (Not to be confused with the "Donkey Show" down in Tijuana.)

But sometimes these images are taught to us from our earliest childhood stories.

Little Red Riding Hood seems pensive... but she's not entirely dismissive of the wolf's advancements?

Beauty and the Beast is another possible example of bestiality.

And the same could be said of The Little Mermaid.

Video games have taken the issue to a similar scale as that of Greek mythologies.

These characters from Final Fantasy could sit next to The Minotaur or Pan in human mythologies.

For more background;

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Beastiality
Who knew there was so much out there on the topic?