The internet outrage was deafening, or it would have been if web chatter were measurable on the audio spectrum. When people saw this:
It’s like 2013 Tori Amos on the left and 1994 Tori Amos on the right.
That’s the plucky heroine, Merida, from Disney Pixar’s Brave on both the right and the left. As part of her induction into the gang of Disney Princesses they prettied her up.
Cue internet rage:
“Egads! What hath they done to our Merida,” cried out the angry populace of Huffington Postville! I mean, it’s right there in the title of the post: Merida gets unnecessary makeover! Opinionized for you, just in case you were incapable of forming one yourself. And lo a great petition was made to combat what some called, “an unnecessary makeover!” Others, “Another sad, vapid girl concerned with a narrow waist and perfectly shaped eyebrows. Shame.”
The thing is the petitioners aren’t wrong exactly. The redesign is kind of hideous looking but since when do we hold the Disney Princess brand up to some high standard of excellence? It’s a vapid, fancy dress cotillion of airs and faces put on that white washes the bunch of them.
Started a new web series out of my music room called My Corner of the World. It’s about reaching that point in life when you give up geek real estate in your home, in order to make way for the all consuming young life you brought into this world. In my case, my daughter Maya Ariel. It’s about sifting through the mountain of new releases and old classics and picking and choosing carefully what stays and what goes. It’s also an awesome way to have fun with my daughter and wife.
First Episode is below. New episodes premiere at Nerd-Base.com twice monthly on Thursdays at 6PM.
It’s fun to look back and remember how adorably chubby Maya was as a baby. My nieces, were right on the cusp of teendom too. That scene of them running into the setting sun was heaven-sent.
I’m glad there’s a reasonable man in the White House and sad that there are unreasonable people, well, everywhere else. The thing that baffles me most about all of this is that gay marriage hurts no one and changes nothing. It’s just love. It’s just a nice thing. Why can’t we have nice things in this country?!?
In other news, Tom Gabel of rock band, Against Me, says he’s been a woman all along. Correction, she‘s been a woman all along. I think that deserves a: You go, girl!
Tom or Laura Grace Jane, as she’s soon to be known, has a wife and a two year old daughter. Will this make his wife a lesbian? Will the daughter grow up resenting her “father?”
Those questions don’t mean anything.
They’re just a way for people to look down on someone who is transgendered. If good people love and care for one another, they’ll get by. Better a father who is happy with who she is, than a father who hides it and breeds resentment and self hatred. Love is just love and love is everything. It needs no other labels.
I’m sick of the debate. We’re all headed for the grave, let’s make the most of the time in between and end these pointless crusades.
Your life isn’t complete… but it could be. My childhood friend, Derek Mayhew, has that thing you need. You may not have known that you need it but trust me you do. Wood solves and heals all. Derek’s always been artistically inclined but I never saw much of his work outside of some carpentry work he did building a bar and a dragon he painted when we were teens. That all changed today when he sent me the link to his new website for his Turned Wood Sculpture.
I am awestruck.
That is way better than a dragon. If you know of anyone carrying around heavy money bags that they’d like to lighten, these beauts are a steal at hundreds of dollars. Seriously, tell the people whose feet you are the stool of, like I’m doing.
My show interviews: with people is turning one year old just as I am turning thirty-four. I’m enormously proud of what me and my crew have accomplished in the margins of Cablevision’s more studious body of work. Interviews: with people is to Neighborhood Journal and Meet the Leaders as doodles are to a high schoolers copy of Sense and Sensibility.
In celebration of our longevity, I was given the go ahead to do a thirty minute special which is sort of a “best of plus alpha.” I’ll be posting the times and channels here when I learn more but expect it to air within September.
I have big news regarding the show but I have to wait until the powers that be get their ducks in order. Suffice to say, we about to blow up. Think of this as the calm before the storm and your chance to say, “I knew him when…
We look at ourselves in the mirror every day and we’re none the wiser come bedtime. If anything staring at yourself only leads you to doubt and/or cherish everything about your life. It’s too much. It’s too broad and it avoids confrontation. The problem with reflection is that the process can only show us what we bring to it. When I’m feeling vain, I see my face aging. When I’m feeling slighted at work, I will see the reflection of a victim.
That’s not helpful and it leads to “venting” and “self pity.”
Our goal should be to see ourselves for who we are in that moment, and in that context. From both the best seats in the house and from the cheap seats in the nosebleeds.
No sooner had I declared Maya an unfeeling automatot than she exploded in glee at the very idea of soap bubbles. I have documented this startling development along with her first real laughter for all to see and hear.
Let’s all pretend Eddie Vedder is singing “Why deny all the bubbles when combined…” that is, if you can understand him at all.
I have been derelict in my duties to tell you how awesome being a fucking dad is. Well, now I have. Here are some pictures of our happy fucking family. This is pretty much the best year of my entire life. I got the bump up to Producer/Director at work (finally getting paid for what I’ve been doing all along,) and I got my Maya. Happiness abounds.
And here’s us sleeping in bed with her. I elbow dropped her this morning accidentally but I’m calling it homage to the recently deceased Macho Man Randy Savage.. so it’s OK.
We have a lot of catching up to do, you and I, oh anonymous utau-inu reader.
Anyone who has known me in the better part of the last 10 years, knows I have a snakeskin wallet. Or had a snakeskin wallet. It was a gift from my wife that she bought from Tokkyuu Hands while we were in Japan. It was also a concession which followed my brief infatuation with snakeskin pants. Hey, I was chasing the rock star dream. I still think they’re cool! Anyway that brief affair obviously ended with me agreeing to forgo the pants in lieu of the wallet.
And so it was for 8 years that me and my snakeskin wallet took great pride in giving all the girls in the service industry something to admire/make fun of. With “Snakey,” a nickname I never ever actually called my wallet, I always felt like I was carrying a little piece of that rock star dream with me. Alas, as the years wore on the scales began to peel off the leather underneath until poor Snakey began going bald.
One day I had to look into those sad eyes and make the grown up decision to replace him.
I searched far and wide. And I would have replaced the words “far” and “wide” with links to pictures of one wallet that looked like it was for a Desperado with skulls and roses and another that looked like the Necronomicon if not for the fact that both of them sold out. I wavered for a moment but taste won out in the end.
Or did it?
This wallet I found on etsy.com. The place to go if you want something someone else’s kid made for you in art class. I kid. I need things made for me. If I could I’d have all my clothing tailored to fit. This is a good start. The words were custom printed for me. Don’t look at me like that! Octopus like crabs. It’s one of their favorite foods! You don’t want to know what they’ll do to get them!
