Olympics Fashion Observation
(Just for this post, RL will mean something different. For the usual RL, see this post at my other journal.)
What does it mean that of all the countries in the Parade of Nations, the US was the only country whose athletes were branded? (No, seriously, the polo horses on the lapels of their Ralph Lauren suit jackets were huge.) I get that RL is an All-American Designer, but do we have to put state-sanctioned ads on our "emissaries" at a heavily politicized international athletic event? Does being American mean wearing a brand?
On a related note, what was with all the suits on Parade? Tracksuits and native costumes are out, Fashion is in? I liked the double-breasted white suits, though. Also the business skirts, even if they did make the female athletes look like airline stewardesses. Also, I liked the panama hats -- I wish RL had dressed the American team in panama hats, and not those stupid Scottish hats that made them look about 15 years old, like adolescent boarding school students. (In general I don't like to see black men dressed like boys because some white man said so. Call me old-fashioned!)
Making too much of this? Probably XD. But I gotta call it like I see it.
Quick Linkblog:
Computer beats Pro at US Go Congress
The person running the Go mailing list I'm on (don't ask) said: "A happy day for computer go, and considering that it took 800 4.4Ghz processors, a pretty good day for human go too."
The "Amazing" Girls
Gonna go out on a limb and suggest that there are drawbacks as well as advantages to caring so much about how you are perceived by others. It's the kind of thing where you (general you -- if I were British I'd use "one" here) want the results without the baggage; life doesn't work that way. On the other hand, I *DO* like this business of exposing muse types in classic literature as the shallow -- yet compelling -- people they are.
Lebateleur on Stephanie Meyers, with Spoilers
There's been lots of hilarious commentary on Breaking Dawn XD, but I liked this post the best.
NYT article on Internet trolls
Trolllllllls! I got this link from faxumbra, who comments that it "exposes the underlying sociopathy of internet trolling." But I disagree. I think the issue with trolls is less a lack of empathy, more a tendency to put every human being by default into a "bad persons" category, with only personal acquaintances of proven loyalty being moved into a "good persons" category. (However once you are there, you're there for life -- which is why trolls can be such good friends, when they ARE your friends.) In order to have empathy for strangers you have to be able to believe that people you've never met before are good people, which is something you learn when you're young (unless you learn the opposite).
What does it mean that of all the countries in the Parade of Nations, the US was the only country whose athletes were branded? (No, seriously, the polo horses on the lapels of their Ralph Lauren suit jackets were huge.) I get that RL is an All-American Designer, but do we have to put state-sanctioned ads on our "emissaries" at a heavily politicized international athletic event? Does being American mean wearing a brand?
On a related note, what was with all the suits on Parade? Tracksuits and native costumes are out, Fashion is in? I liked the double-breasted white suits, though. Also the business skirts, even if they did make the female athletes look like airline stewardesses. Also, I liked the panama hats -- I wish RL had dressed the American team in panama hats, and not those stupid Scottish hats that made them look about 15 years old, like adolescent boarding school students. (In general I don't like to see black men dressed like boys because some white man said so. Call me old-fashioned!)
Making too much of this? Probably XD. But I gotta call it like I see it.
Quick Linkblog:
Computer beats Pro at US Go Congress
The person running the Go mailing list I'm on (don't ask) said: "A happy day for computer go, and considering that it took 800 4.4Ghz processors, a pretty good day for human go too."
The "Amazing" Girls
Gonna go out on a limb and suggest that there are drawbacks as well as advantages to caring so much about how you are perceived by others. It's the kind of thing where you (general you -- if I were British I'd use "one" here) want the results without the baggage; life doesn't work that way. On the other hand, I *DO* like this business of exposing muse types in classic literature as the shallow -- yet compelling -- people they are.
Lebateleur on Stephanie Meyers, with Spoilers
There's been lots of hilarious commentary on Breaking Dawn XD, but I liked this post the best.
NYT article on Internet trolls
Trolllllllls! I got this link from faxumbra, who comments that it "exposes the underlying sociopathy of internet trolling." But I disagree. I think the issue with trolls is less a lack of empathy, more a tendency to put every human being by default into a "bad persons" category, with only personal acquaintances of proven loyalty being moved into a "good persons" category. (However once you are there, you're there for life -- which is why trolls can be such good friends, when they ARE your friends.) In order to have empathy for strangers you have to be able to believe that people you've never met before are good people, which is something you learn when you're young (unless you learn the opposite).