Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Welcome MSNBC.com Readers

I've been struggling for a few days as to what I would post on the anniversary of 9/11, and while this isn't exactly the way I expected it to happen, it's kind of twistedly awesome that, a scant six years later, our main topic of conversation is a semi-lumpy woman in a sparkly bikini and how, exactly, we all feel about that.

You lose, Osama.

appreciation for women who somehow manage to build non-bikini-based careers does too, but that's beside the point at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great article! Donnie was my favorite as well. I've always had a thing for monkeys, wait...that came out wrong. OK, truth.. I LOVED me some Donnie, but you gotta admit that he does bear a leetle bit of a resemblance to our simian neighbors.

P.S. Hope your day is going better than mine. I think that I've almost scraped off all of the fecal matter that found it's way to the bottom of my shoe. The only problem is when you scrape it off, THEN you can REALLY smell it! P.U.

Anonymous said...

I preferred Jon -- he was quiet and shy, just like me. And if we'd ever met... we probably would have sat in silence trying to avoid direct eye contact.

Oh well, I still have my NKotB cassette tapes as well -- and I plan to torture my children with them someday.

Anonymous said...

Maybe unconsciously she wanted to destroy her career. Because only a self-destructive personality would explain that a girl would marry someone like Kevin Fedrline AND have 2 childs with him to prevent him from leaving her. Oh, and let's not forget about the head-shaving.

I didn't see the ceremony. I can't remember the last time I was thrilled to see the MTV awards; suppose it was way back in the day it was MUSIC channel.

PS: I seriously, seriously hope you have registered the phrase LIVE BY THE SPANDEX, DIE BY THE SPANDEX. It would be the greatest hit for a Teeshirt line.

Anonymous said...

Best MSNBC article yet. It's about so much more than Britney Spears.
As soon as I finished reading, I sent the link to a few girlfriends.

Keep 'em coming!

PS- I love the Osama comment.

Josh The Pilot said...

What MB hasn't shared is that I am the one who actually unearthed the New Kids videos. I simply took this as a "for better or worse" moment and asked her to quickly dispose of the offending motion pictures. That was the "for worse" part. The "for better" part is she found out she can get $15 for each video on eBay! I love you, my bride.

Anonymous said...

I read your comments "We expected Britney to maintain a sad ideal" on msnbc and I just wanted to say, brilliant. Seriously, you touched on a everything I've tried to put into words myself. I can't believe I've wasted so much time thinking about this girl and this situation but the whole thing just. . . fascinates me. Thanks for the great article. MCJ

The Bewildered Bride said...

Hey I remembered... I have a whole Sept. 11 post on my blog!
Although, I must admit, I do love your article.

The Bewildered Bride said...

I know, second comment, BUT, I thought you should know that your Britney post prompted me to buy your book today!

Anonymous said...

So I have to echo, brilliant! I have to say tho, I was watching her and the volume was down, I was still jealous. 2 kids and she looks great. Then I hit the volume and heard the commentator making statements like they and my brain immediately switched to auto pilot as it has been programmed to do with the advertisements and constant reminders that if I am not size 2- then I am nothing as a woman. Hello, you woke me up again and I realize we should all be looking and saying, wow, she looks great and she is going through hard times and yeah we should have some empathy or sympathy as the case may or may not be for her and her crazy life. I mean jeez, how much crazier are the rest of us who maybe yells at the mayo for splashing on the counter or wishes and wishes and wishes to wake up one morning and have the 'paunch' of brittany spears.

Anonymous said...

I didn't see the award show. I think maybe that's a good thing. In the stills I think she looks great, after 3 kids in 4 years I am jealous of her 2 kids in 2 years body. True dat.
I personally never thought she could sing, was never much impressed with her "artistic talent", but I still feel bad for "where she's at" which anyone can see is not a good place.
On the other hand she has far more money than I will ever dare to imagine having.
But really, isn't pity reserved for the pitiful? She is definitely that...
poor stupid kid.
But she looks good!!

Unknown said...

I just read the msnbc piece and I was really enjoying it. You said different things than most people are saying, and I really liked where it was going, and then it just stopped. Where's the rest of it?

Starnarcosis said...

What amazed me about Britney Spears is how long it took the mothers of fourth graders to realize that we were allowing - even encouraging - pre-teen girls to emulate and revere someone whose entire attitude and body language said "Hi, I'm Britney, fly me."
And the critics are wondering why we have films like "Nothing is Private" at the Toronto Film Festival.

Anonymous said...

I was too old to "appreciate" New Kids but I was deeply, deeply in love with Rick Springfield. Went to 4 concerts and saw him perform at MGM Grand in Las Vegas...TWICE! He even touched my hand and dropped a guitar pick down my shirt (I thnk it was accidental)! Hey, he still looks pretty darn good for someone who's nearing 60!

Sara N

Anonymous said...

Criticize Britney if you want, but your very blog touts your blonde hair, which is more female preening. I think its inherent in female nature to put looks before brains, style before substance. And to moderate comments because of that.

LiteraryAlchemist said...

Pavarotti passes and his true talent becomes a closed book. His memorial is immediately overshadowed by a no-talent hack. Good on us, America.

*sigh*

It is truly a sad statement that someone so untalented as Sara Silverman was given such credit for her shameful commentary as well.

Anonymous said...

Tracey,
Thanks for reading the article and for your kind comments.

As to the ending, I believe you are experiencing an adverse reaction to what is lovingly known in creative nonfiction as "the screeching stop." It's a concluding device, a purposely abrupt ending that creates a sort of cliffhanger for a reader, trusting him to form for himself the connection the author is attempting to convey. In this instance, I was using Britney Spears' hair as a symbol for the article's main point, which is that she brought this criticism upon herself-- there's been a lot of dissing on her weave, but she'd never have needed a weave to begin with if she didn't go apecrap and shave herself bald.

Aren't you glad you asked? I am. It allowed me to use "Britney Spears' hair" and "metaphor" in the same sentence, which is something I never, ever thought I would get to do.

Anonymous said...

Days of Broken Arrows, thank you for your comment, but perhaps you should acquaint yourself with the policies of this site before you criticize certain aspects of it. As you can see by the very appearance of your comment, I've enabled moderation to avoid trolls and splog, not to filter out honest disagreement.

Also, my regular readers are well aware that the title of my site isn't so much about "female preening" but is a self-deprecating play on blonde jokes-- exactly the opposite of what you're accusing me of, I'm afraid.

Starnarcosis said...

Darn. I was going to run out and rename my blog "Cover-the-Gray Champagne" so I could preen.

Anonymous said...

Geesh,
All these non-regulars.
It's like cheers got invaded by the crew from...well, any other sitcom frankly.
I may not show my name here often, but I often show my face. Er. Fingers?
Regardless, msnbc did bring me here initially many months ago. *sigh*
So I can't feel too misplaced.
You're just too good MB for people not to comment.
*woooOOOOAAAAooh-hangin tough*

Anonymous said...

I was deeply, deeply in love with Rick Springfield. Went to 4 concerts and saw him perform at MGM Grand in Las Vegas...TWICE! He even touched my hand and dropped a guitar pick down my shirt (I thnk it was accidental)! Hey, he still looks pretty darn good for someone who's nearing 60!

My former supervisor also loves Rick Springfield...a lot.

Great article, MB. I loved the line about head-shaving.

OSA said...

Well said MB

Anonymous said...

MB-
This was wonderfully written. I have snarked on Ms. Spears often, but I feel like her "people" should have taken better care of her. Shoot, other divas have canceled appearances for MUCH less. I think that we built her up, are tearing her down, and she is handing us the hatchets. I pray for her.

And I was a huge Jordan Knight fan, and actually in college (but a freshman) during my love for NKOTB. I see your 3 video collections, MB, and raise you 3 concert trips between summer 1989 and summer 1990.

Sigh.

Anonymous said...

If anyone still cares almost a week later... I heard yesterday that Britney Spears is a product of marketing. When the "pros" marketed Britney, they started out by marketing her to 6-8 year old girls and soccer moms. Then, about 2 years later, they did an about turn and started selling the "bad-girl" image because suddenly these little girls were on the verge of pre-teen-hood. So now all the moms are suddenly banning their pre-teens from Britney. And what is a hormone-crazy pre-teen to do? Exactly that which the mom bans. Thus... the brilliant marketing plan of Britney Spears. I have no idea what the plan is now. I guess since the pre-teens are now teens and college students, and way beyond Britney, she's crashing and burning, and her image may as well reflect that.

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