Wonder Why so Many People Feel Bad About Themselves?

Because print media uses Photoshop (in the past, airbrushes) to make people look more glamorous than they really are. Check out these before and after pictures. If you click the buttons quickly, you can see boobs grow, butts shrink, and facial lines disappear before your very eyes!

Personally, I think age lines and big butts are endearing signs of personality, but then i'm not trying to sell magazines either. What I find annoying is how many people spend incredible amounts of time, energy, and money trying to live up to impossible (because faked) ideals.

Media Objectivity

It's been a while since i've thought any media was objective, and putting the truth to the lie has been one of the greatest things about the internet. But the notion that objectivity is possible is still prevalent, unfortunately, leading to a lot of bad writing in the major media outlets. I like how the guy from hardballtalk.com spells out the problem:

I grow very tired of reading an article about politics in which 987 people believe X to be the case and 13 loons believe Y to be the case and the reporter — in the name of objectivity –says “there is disagreement, however.”  Fine. There’s disagreement. But put it in context and, even if your story is not on the op-ed page, feel free to call a loon a loon. Or if that’s too much, at least provide facts which put lie to what those 13 loons are saying. If you fail to do that you’ve distorted the matter even more. All in the name of objectivity! Blah.

Truth.

Blu-Ray madness

So I finally purchased a new DVD player the other day (it was long overdue) and, as detailed here, picked up a Blu-Ray player. (As an aside, do we really need the hyphen? Just go BluRay and be done with it.)
In short, I'm amazed. It was simple to hook up, thanks to the HDMI cable. The picture of my regular DVDs is incredible, even the older, grainy movies like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But what is most impressive is the Internet connection. I can listen to Pandora, watch YouTube, download NPR content (including full concerts!), and much more I haven't even explored yet. I easily wasted an hour last night pursuing all of the entertainment options and didn't even scratch the surface. It's impressive, and well worth my hard-earned dime. And to think that I was settling for that crappy DVD player this whole time!

The Perpetual Revulsion Machine

Spending an exciting Halloween at home taking care of a sick son, I found this hysterical Daily Show bit that explains - in an entirely entertaining and funny way - exactly how Fox News works. Enjoy.

From the Tell Me Something I Didn't Know Department

We tried hard to keep Hunter away from TV until he was two because that's what doctors reccomend. Still, the fact that Disney admits that Baby Einstein doesn't help babies is huge. As the Movie Mom sez:

The academic studies show that what infants learn from watching a family member once takes them four times as long to absorb in a DVD. And the very act of watching a DVD with the pulsing refresh rate of the screen can be at the same time soporific and stimulating, making it more difficult for them to get restful sleep. The only thing they learn from these DVDs is how to watch television.

Disney even has to offer a refund!