Happy New Year!
I have said before that I do not make New Year's resolutions but I have decided there are a few things I am willing to try for 2006. I may not succeed but the following can serve as a general guide to improving my life (or others') in the coming year:
1) Try to be less grumpy--I tend to have the disposition of a grumpy old man--at least that is what people tell me. I feel happy this way but if it is raining on other people's parade, maybe I can try to put on a fake smile or laugh once in a while. Of course, then people get mad because I look like I am faking being happy. Maybe my resolution should be that I cannot please everyone.
2) Quit reading the Star and National Enquirer for all my entertainment needs--Hollywood Stars really do not deserve our hard earned money to keep themselves in the limelight. There is satellite radio, alternative artists and documentaries to keep me entertained at a higher level of intellectual engagement than the tabloids, although I love them dearly. To tell you the truth, I find the tabloids sometimes report news more accurately than the MSM or provide information that I normally would not see much of in the MSM. Case in point. I was reading The National Enquirer this week and found that Karla Homolka, a three time killer, is being released from prison in Quebec with no restrictions after serving only 12 years (she helped cops put away her husband for life, although he reports that one of the killings was done by Karla alone). I would not have seen this if it was not for The National Enquirer. Where are all the celebrities in an outrage over Karla getting out without supervision to roam the streets? Oh, well, another good reason to quit supporting tabloids that give press to celebrities and their pitiful causes.
3) Quit reading women's magazines. Okay, they are just plain depressing and downright dumb. I was treated to a copy of More magazine while getting my hair cut the other day and here are just a few tidbits I read before figuring out that staring at the salon ceiling and humming to myself presented a more tranquil and relaxing afternoon than thumbing through this trash. One of the articles contained the First Annual Media awards for women over 40 in the media. I know you will be shocked to hear that Cindy Sheehan made the list as "the woman we want on our team" and Maureen Dowd was chosen as "the needle of hope in the haystack of despair" award for her book, Are Men Necessary? If Maureen Dowd is your idea of hope for women in the media, I say, how low have we sunk?
Another enlightening article was on Mary Mapes starting over after she, Dan Rather, and CBS became the unfair targets of partisian bloggers! The only saving grace in this heroine-turned-victim saga is that her estranged father called a conservative radio talk show to claim she had always been a liberal and worse yet, a "radical feminist." Sometimes, father does know best.
4) Finally, read more blogs in 2006! There are so many blogs out there that I really enjoy. Just a few of my favorites are Ann Althouse, Asymmetrical Information, and David Bernstein and Dave Kopel at the Volokh Conspiracy. The blog I admired most in 2005 is Tas's blog who, despite being a liberal blogger, had the guts to stand up to the authoritarian lefty bloggers and tell it like it is.
So that is my list, I hope I can live up to it!
Update: Finally, someone likes me just the way I am!
1) Try to be less grumpy--I tend to have the disposition of a grumpy old man--at least that is what people tell me. I feel happy this way but if it is raining on other people's parade, maybe I can try to put on a fake smile or laugh once in a while. Of course, then people get mad because I look like I am faking being happy. Maybe my resolution should be that I cannot please everyone.
2) Quit reading the Star and National Enquirer for all my entertainment needs--Hollywood Stars really do not deserve our hard earned money to keep themselves in the limelight. There is satellite radio, alternative artists and documentaries to keep me entertained at a higher level of intellectual engagement than the tabloids, although I love them dearly. To tell you the truth, I find the tabloids sometimes report news more accurately than the MSM or provide information that I normally would not see much of in the MSM. Case in point. I was reading The National Enquirer this week and found that Karla Homolka, a three time killer, is being released from prison in Quebec with no restrictions after serving only 12 years (she helped cops put away her husband for life, although he reports that one of the killings was done by Karla alone). I would not have seen this if it was not for The National Enquirer. Where are all the celebrities in an outrage over Karla getting out without supervision to roam the streets? Oh, well, another good reason to quit supporting tabloids that give press to celebrities and their pitiful causes.
3) Quit reading women's magazines. Okay, they are just plain depressing and downright dumb. I was treated to a copy of More magazine while getting my hair cut the other day and here are just a few tidbits I read before figuring out that staring at the salon ceiling and humming to myself presented a more tranquil and relaxing afternoon than thumbing through this trash. One of the articles contained the First Annual Media awards for women over 40 in the media. I know you will be shocked to hear that Cindy Sheehan made the list as "the woman we want on our team" and Maureen Dowd was chosen as "the needle of hope in the haystack of despair" award for her book, Are Men Necessary? If Maureen Dowd is your idea of hope for women in the media, I say, how low have we sunk?
Another enlightening article was on Mary Mapes starting over after she, Dan Rather, and CBS became the unfair targets of partisian bloggers! The only saving grace in this heroine-turned-victim saga is that her estranged father called a conservative radio talk show to claim she had always been a liberal and worse yet, a "radical feminist." Sometimes, father does know best.
4) Finally, read more blogs in 2006! There are so many blogs out there that I really enjoy. Just a few of my favorites are Ann Althouse, Asymmetrical Information, and David Bernstein and Dave Kopel at the Volokh Conspiracy. The blog I admired most in 2005 is Tas's blog who, despite being a liberal blogger, had the guts to stand up to the authoritarian lefty bloggers and tell it like it is.
So that is my list, I hope I can live up to it!
Update: Finally, someone likes me just the way I am!
posted by Helen at 8:12 AM
9 Comments:
If you want the entertainment of celebrity gossip without having to purchase the magazines, I recommend the gossip blogs Gawker and Defamer. All the fun with, well, less of a conscience twinge. (I won't say it's gone entirely.)
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Helen! I've never been a follower of celeb gossip, but I agree with Anjali above: Defamer and Gawker can give you much of the fun of the paper rags and contribute to your "read more blogs" goal at the same time. Gawker will keep you feeling great about moving out of NYC, as well. I skim them once a week or so, scream "who are these people and why does anyone care!?!", and then go back to blogs about real people and important issues.
anjali and eden,
Thanks for the recommendations--I will check them out. Happy New Year to you also.
LOL - I loved the comments on More magazine. Sadly, they don't stick to fashion but are also tremendously liberally political. I can't stand it at all - I'd much rather pull out my fingernails than read it.
I do peruse People, Us, or Entertainment Weekly when I'm at the salon getting my hair done. I don't look at them for info, just to marvel at how self centered Hollywood is. It's like watching a train wreck - I can't quite take my eyes off of it.
Anyhow, have a wonderful New Year! (and you don't have to fake happy on my account *grin*)
Happy New Year Helen, and if you want to break your first resolution quickly you should look into the Karla Holmolka story in more detail. One of the three girls she helped kill was her own 14 -15-year-old sister. She drugged her so that her then boyfriend (and future husband/fellow serial murderer) could rape her. The sister died as a result of the drugging. It was Karla's idea of a Christmas present. A few years later, they raped and killed two other teenage girls. She is a prime example of how buying into the myth that women aren’t capable of violence has allowed some women to literally get away with murder. She batted her baby blues at the police, they bought the whole, “I was a victim of his violence” bull, and they let her off.
I’d say from the perspective of a Forensic Psychologist, you would find the case fascinating. I’d also love to hear you take on it if you ever find the time.
Karla is one sick and twisted lady. There's been a LOT on her in the Canadian press. The case is close to me as I used to date her neighbor and spent a lot of time within a stone's throw of that house.
Speculation is that Karla killed one of the two girls, plus she drugged her sister which resulted in her sister dying. Most people who know them both and several criminal experts & cops agree with the speculation. Bernardo, her husband, is a sick and twisted rapist: Karla is a sick and tweisted murderer.
What gets me is how Karla appears to be a sweet kid. Read some of her published letters, they read like something written by a twelve year old.
BACK to New Years.
Being less grumpy is a good idea and a bad idea. There are times when grumpy is a good thing: One of those times is when commenting on idiotic facets of society.
Being less grumpy towards the nutbars in the grocery store, on the other hand, is a good idea. Why get all worked up? They're nuts, you're not. End of story.
Why read women's magazines or The Star/Enquirer? Do I care about what some rich and pampered person is doing? Why would I care?
My brother, who spent years printing the Star, can read it and not remember a thing he read. Letting most of the nonsense printed in such thigns flow over one like water over a rock is the best way to handle such.
After reading about Karla, and watching TV stories on CBC, I wonder if the Canadian system of justice is going thw European way. I.E, like the Euros, if they have become so liberal, that they and their system has become unable to see evil, and become unable to punish evil-doers. Again, there is the pending case of the pig-farmer weirdo in Vancouver, British Columbia, who over time kidnapped 60 plus women, and killed and dismembered them and buried them on his pig farm. Heck, he even kidnapped a few women from the sidewalk in front of the Vancouver Police Dept HQs!!!!
Since most of the missing womn were drug-addicts, or hookers, the police just blew off the complaints of the relatives of the missing!!!! The system there allowed the serial killer to operate with impunity for years!!!!
ronin1516,
I do think the Canadian system is turning a blind eye towards violence. I remember seeing something about the Green River killer --I believe--who operated in the US and was captured in Canada. The Canadians would not send him back here because they did not like the death penalty. The day he was to be released, the US said, fine keep the guy, you can set him free in Canada. The killer was extradited that day.
Happy New Year, Helen! I suggest picking up a copy of Weekly World News instead of Star and Enquirer. It has all the insanity and lies of those other rags, but they admit it. I think I read somewhere that the people who write it like to spend the evening at a bar getting drunk and making up the wildest stories they can to put in their magazine. This is the magazine that chronicles the continuing adventures of BatBoy. Some stories of theirs from off the top of my head.... "Saddam Hussein's Secret! (accompanied by pictures of the madman in floral sundresses)" "Half of All U.S. Hookers are Space Aliens!" There was also a story about one of those Shakespeare typing monkeys writing a perfect version of Romeo and Juliet and starting a blog about it. Some of the best humor writing out there.
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