Dichotomy of Perfection

Wrapping up watching 300, with air-brushed 6-packs and rippling pectorals on the brain, the thought occurred to me...do guys today feel the same pressure to be "perfect" like celebrities and the characters the portrayed in movies? I know women are definitely affected by society's definition of beauty, and, for better or worse, many manipulate their lifestyles to emulate those society dubs as beautiful. After all, through the majority of history it has been the woman's responsibility to look and act appealing to men. Yes, there was the occasional exception who were blessed with a higher purpose: Queen Elizabeth, Mother Mary...but you can't deny reality. This obligation still rings true today, while many of us are able to have careers and make our own way, the basic fact remains ya gotta be desirable in some way to some man to get a man...and if you don't want just any man, ya gotta put in a little extra effort...which can mean dabbing on some blush and lip gloss or spending thousands to reconstruct your face. I feel the pressure myself...which mainly encourages me to go to the gym (which I choose to ignore)...oh and I rarely leave the house without at least some mascara :-)

But back to the question...do guys feel the same pressure as we women do? To look "perfect"? I don't know the answer to that...but there is evidence to both sides of the argument. The world has its fair share of beer bellies and receding hair lines...as well as gyms over flowing with juice heads...and a fair number of tanning salons too...But probably while men feel pressure to look good, from what they see in movies and on TV, just like women, the pressure is probably more on their making money...cuz, well that's historically the role of the man right? Provide for and protect their family. And, all else equal, an ugly millionaire probably has as good of a chance (if not better) as some hott artiste with no money...Women may deny this, but it's the truth. Money means security for them and their children (the next requirement). If women have these both under control, then maybe the artiste's odds go up. :shrug: but who wants some leach...milking you for all you've worked for? An effort that was probably larger than that of a man of equal rank....buuuuuut I s'pose that's another blog for another time.

Cutest Nail Trends of Fall 2010

Here are my picks for the nail colors of Fall 2010. Oh! You must go to the OPI website, they have way too many colors AND you can "try them on" to see which shades work for you!

1. Militarize Me

Khaki shades, a new take on nudes will command an about-face from every passerby. Ladies, we all love a man in a uniform and these boot camp worthy colors will match perfectly with the uniformed gentleman of choice!

2. Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

 

It doesn't take artificial intelligence to know how shockingly hot metallic shades are. Pick a sparkling red for Christmas or glittering white for your own personal shout-out to a winter wonderland!

3. Peachy Keen

 

I know what you're thinking, Peach is a Spring color. Well, why not hang on to a bit of the warmth with this cheery hue? I mean...it's Spring somewhere...right? Also, the great thing about peaches is, just like us girls, they come in a plethora of shades! Choose from pale pink to deep coral!

4. Royaled Brat

For all of our spoiled princesses out there, purple is the color for you! A shade reserved for those sitting upon thrones, purple polish will let you display your obvious regality while waving to all your subjects at school, work and even the gym. And if any peasant starts to complain? Eh...let them eat cake!

5. Minty Fresh

Be super cool in these refreshing nail flavors. Mints are a chilled, snow bunny-esque way to wear those greens you crave (if neon and Harlequin are a bit much for you).

Top 10 Cartoons of Generation X

So, the latest Facebook fad is to change your profile pic to that of a favorite childhood cartoon. The reason? Something about fighting child abuse...not really sure how changing a picture to a beloved cartoon caaracter achieves this...but maybe all the positive love is growing into a giant invisible and omnipresent bubble that will burst over our universe with love and appreciation...and an instant set of handcuffs for those who abuse kiddies....or not.

SO, while hunting for my profile pic I found a plethora of childhood memories self-contained in each of the 1.7 million Google Images. Which, subsequently, inspired this blog...So, without further ado (and in no particular order) the TOP 10 Cartoons of (the tail end of) Generation X...Sorry 90's babies, you don't count.

1. David The Gnome 

Airing in the 80's, with only 2 seasons, David (a gnome), his wife (Lisa) and his best fox friend (Swift), warmed our hearts with Eskimo kisses, taught us to appreciate the environment and always steer clear of trolls.

2. Ren and Stimpy

Ah, Ren & Stimpy, the cat and chihuahua who puked, screamed and grossed us out as children. There were times when I honestly thought "I don't think I'm old enough to watch this" but it was on Nickelodeon, the channel for children that knows best (or knew, kids shows today suck).

3. Sailor Moon

I used to love this show! Sailor Moon and her gal pals were saving the planet long before the Power Rangers knew what a high kick was...p.s. I loved the Power Rangers too. This show revolved around 5 regular school girls who turn into heroines defending the Kingdom of the Moon. Complete with talking cats, cute outfits, magic weapons and kick butt action, this was one of my all time faves!

4. Gargoyles

Stone statues during the day, living breathing, fighting creatures during the night! The main group of gargoyles lived in Scotland and their life's calling? To protect their castle. Darker than most cartoons, Gargoyles consistently gave us quality melodrama and action! And something I just found out, multiple characters were voiced by actors who have been a part of one of my all-time favorite franchises: Star Trek!...Crazy!

5. Looney Toons

A classic from the early 1900's, if you don't know who they are you've been living under a rock (or were born in 1990 or beyond heh!) Past racist cartoons aside, ya gotta love this franchise! Beep! Beep!

5. Doug

Doug was your average Joe, nice guy, who we all loved. Doug was just living his normalish life, coping with teenage troubles with imagination and  his journal (a journal is a paper & pen blog kiddies).

 

6. Aaahh! Real Monsters

I've still not gotten over ol' dudes harry armpits...blegh! Another "gross" you out show you had to love as a kid. This show taught us monsters weren't the evil creatures fairy tales had brainwashed us with. Instead, seriously misunderstood creatures who have to go to school and make a living like the rest of us, it just happens to involve humans being scared stupid.

7. Rocko's Modern Life

Another character who just wants to live his normalish life in peace and quiet. Rocko, a wallaby, is joined by his friends Heffer (a cow raised by wolves) and Filburt (a hypochondriac). This show probably had a lot of messages that went over my head, it was a quirky and funny show that had social commentary sprinkled through out it.

8. Rugrats

I just found the Rugrats on Netflix...yessss! Basically it was a show about a group of toddler friends who find ways to get in trouble, fulfil dreams (like eating dog food, to turn into a dog) and escape the constant bullying by a slightly older gal Angelica. Cute and funny.

 9. Captain Planet

Another all time fave show, Captain planet rocked! Protecting the planet from pollution and teaching us chillins to treat the world with respect! Also before the time of the Power Rangers, the Planeteers were saving the world from villains. Armed with elemental rings for Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and an extra gem: Heart, the planeteers call Captain Planet to help kick polluters booties! And hey, thanks Captain Planet show for being so diverse, a rarity now and especially back then. Heck, Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, and voiced by Whoopie, was a sista...now that's progress! Shout out to Kwame, voiced by Levar Burton (another Trekkie!)

10. Babar

Thanks to this show we will always know the king of the jungle is not the lion, but the elephants. And they have kids, the prince (and protagonist) Babar, is just a lil kid trying to have fun and avoid trouble. My question is how did the single chick in the intro not realize she was the only human among a bunch of talking animals that wore clothes....I'm just saying, that would probably be at least the 2nd thing I realized!

Other good ones that didn't make the cut!

1. Johnny Bravo
2. Bobby's World
3. The Simpsons
4. The Powerpuff Girls
5. South Park
6. Duck Tales
7. Cow and Chicken
8. Daria
9. Pinky and the Brain
10. Dexter's Laboratory
11. Tiny Toons
12. Anamaniacs 
13. Hey Arnold!

Ginger-Mania

I was there for the whole South Park Ginger episode (funny), but I must have missed all the subsequent YouTube events (funnier). For those of you who are also behind the curve, here's a crash course...along with some commentary from me! And according to my mother, to black people I'd be considered a ginger....sooooo any would-be guilt is minimal....

First we have the speech that started it all. It's episode 11 from season 9 entitled "Gingervitus". You can find the whole episode on the South Park website (or Netflix).

Ginger Kids
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

So, perusing Facebook's newsfeed, I found a video posted (that I won't post just yet) which led me on this video-binge. The next video is from an angry ginger, maybe he needs a hug.

I think my favorite part is the turkey gobble around 0:45. I'm cool with him standing up for gingers all over the world, but really this video makes him look like an idiot. And I kinda see why he was teased. Next up? Someone made a song! I love singing....

Not quite up to par with The Gregory Brothers, but it's kinda catchy....Now...South Park got wind of Mr. CopperCab (who's actually found a little YouTube fame) and presented us with this video below.

Don't people know saying anything...at all...just adds fuel to the South Park fire?? Something interesting I read on one of the video comment list: "ginger" is an anagram for another not-so-nice word...know what it is? And does that say anything about South Park? or is it just a coincidence? And have silly little kids taken this ginger thing too far?

and this one...

I think kids are a little hyper-sensitive these days and choose drastic measures for escaping being taunted. But is being called a ginger that big of a deal or are there bigger problems kids are dealing with around the world...like starvation...or leukemia....And can we blame South Park or is it the parents and teachers of the kids doing the kicking who should be scolded and sued?

An "Even Better" Face

Like (almost) every female today, I am in a constant tug-of-war with my skin. If you have been living under a rock, or some gorilla utopia in the middle of a jungle somewhere south of the Bermuda Triangle.....females have an innate ability to find many imperfections in ourselves, skin is definitely at the top of the list for many, it is for me anyways. And while I am very fluent in the art of self-imperfection locating, I don't typically share this with anyone who doesn't go by the name of Mom. But, for the sake of this blog, what the heck!

Clinique, we've had an on-again, off-again relationship for many years, mostly because well, Clinique is too dang expensive!! But after a recent accosting by my own skin this summer/early fall, probably due to my own ignorance of effective care, I have decided I need to just bite the financial bullet and buy the stuff, because let's be honest people, it works. Just a side note for equally ignorant people as myself, don't use face wash with micro-beads if you have acne, it will NOT scrub them away...lol...smh...it actually makes it worse, like a lot worse AND (the reason for this blog) causes scarring.

So, back to Clinique, their 3-step skin care system kicks butt, especially the acne version! Seriously, I've noticed dramatic results. And seeing the blemishes gradually disappearing is only shadowed by the revealing of the scars left behind. It was like a light-bulb just clicked on...on my face! My "problem areas" aren't really problem areas, but instead problem areas that used to be problem areas...understand? Areas, that once were blemishy, but not really anymore, but have been permanently damaged from it...ugh!

So, I've seen commercials about Clinique's Even Better Dark Spot Corrector, supposedly it will lighten spots on your face (from various causes) in 12 weeks equal to that of a prescription version (with visual results in 4 weeks). I thought about buying it, but the $50 price tag convinced me otherwise! But, after a call with my mom, who didn't know I was mulling it over, suggested a similar product for the same reason and I was like: Confirmation!

Today, after ensuring the serum won't erase my freckles, I bought a bottle (and some of their sunscreen, which they claim is a vital step! Hmf, we'll see.) Hopefully, the next blog concerning skin will begin with "Hi my name is Veronica, and I've been clean for 12 months!)

Hello Blog World...Again

Having lost count of the number of blogs I've created and subsequently abandoned, I've dubbed this blog Neo aka "The One". I feel like I might actually stick with this one, well at least I've put in a bit more effort than previous versions. But as some inventor or smart person said once, "...I've failed 8 gazillion times, but all it took was one success...", or something like that. I'm hoping this one will be that 'once', and if not, there's always the next one. So, you can tag along for the brief or maybe not so brief journey of "This One".

Oh, topics which you may find within? Enlightening jibber-jabber, as well as the occasional rant and soapbox appearance. Also, things I think are super cool and movies (I love movies)...lots and lots of movies!

Alright, that's all...

Fantasy Foozeball...one more reason to keep the TV off on Sundays

If you don't own a TV or computer, or know any guys...or masculine chicks...it's football season. Let the yawning and blank stares commence. As if real-life teams didn't provide ample opportunity to argue with random drunkards in bars and possibly lose substantial monetary assets, someone thought it would be super nifty to create fake teams a.k.a. Fantasy Teams and argue and bet on them. Sweet.

So what is Fantasy Football exactly, besides of course an excuse for every channel on (basic) cable to show a football game and men to commandeer the remote to flip through 6 different games in an 8 hour period (and "sometimes the U.S. Open, when Oklahoma became a shut out and all other games were on commercial")? Well it's just like real-life football, but this time you're the manager and design a "dream team" by picking any players you want from any team in the NFL. Each week players are assigned scores according to their stats from that week and your team competes against other teams in your "League".

All sports jibber jabber aside, I find myself strangely interested in this conundrum of testosterone and spandex pants (I think cuz I tend to be slightly competitive sometimes..and well...I just wanna win!). Unfortunately, I know diddly about the NFL..here's what I do know: I know some teams! Although, one of my hands provides more than enough fingers to list which teams I know of (no, I'm not a victim of a radioactive spill). I understand the actual game of football. And I also know people spend way too much money to advertise during the Super Bowl...money which could very well end world hunger...I'm just sayin'. However, my (very limited) knowledge, while not a complete loss, doesn't provide a good foundation for picking individual players ('specially since most players have been grouped into name categories like: Hot, Fluffy and What The Heck Did They Feed Him As A Child?).

All cynicism aside, the whole fantasy league thingy piques my interest and someone told me there's one for basketball...I might have to try that out...ya know, for research purposes. Any tips for creating the best team and winning every League thingy from here to Timbuktu...or am I just having a Fantasy?