New Girl in the Club

Important notice!!!
GBC has the great pleasure of presenting its newest member, Beatrice. Besides blogging fervently from now on, she also designs great logos. You can see a link to her own company on our sidebar.
Let's all welcome her and wish her a pleasant stay at GBC!

Simply Unacceptable!

We all worry about a little unwanted comment-spam, we complain about blog stalkers that criticize everything we read, write or do. That kind of comes with blogging and can be ignored and handled quite successfully. But what happens when there is no limit? When you are treated like a mere object and you receive death threats as comments or emails? A post on Dio's Quasi Fictional brought this problem to my attention.

A female blogger, very successful one might I add, is experiencing all these. Go to her blog for more details on how such a situation affects the victim. Because in this case she actually is a victim, nothing less. It is not just some text, it is still a threat and should be treated exactly as an old school letter.

I feel rage, disgust, but helplessness is the dominant sensation. I would like to help, and there is now way for me to do that. Therefore, I can only show my support. I can actually say I understand how it feels, but only to some extent. I've had a knife held to my neck, but only for a few minutes. I have no idea how I'd handle such a prolonged experience. I think she is doing great in this situation.

Boring Stuff for Boys

Brain dead tv. The television programmes you can turn off your brain and just watch, no thinking required.

My favourite type of brain dead tv is the music channels. I'm not so bad now, but in my student days I could watch these for hours.

Although, if I'm honest, working life isn't the only reason I watch these channels less now.

The truth is, I find a lot of music videos unbearable to watch. They've gone from having pretty girls dancing, to having pretty girls looking and acting like porn stars. Fly girls are now "video ho's". Inventivness has been lost to the desire to make every single promo video look like soft porn, with the boundaries being pushed back further and further.

A graphic example is the plethora of "knicker shots", where the model is wearing tiny knickers and showing as much flesh as possible. Or they'll just set the video in a lap dancing club.

I find these videos not just offensive and demeaning to women, but boring. These videos are a wave of erstaz sexuality aimed at the "lad" demographic. Why should I watch them, when they so blatantly aren't made for me or other any women.

Music videos used to be (and sometimes still are, check out the works of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze or Sophie Muller) an inventive marriage of sound and vision. One of my earliest childhood memories is watching Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video, seeing the paving stones light up and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

I want that sort of imaginative visual back, rather then this continued slide into sleaze.

Something like this:

Fun for the Girls

A woman is incomplete until she is married. Then she is finished.

As my friend Ryan noted, the same theory may prove true for men as well.

Different perspectives

Have you noticed that when saying something really naughty, almost dirty, a boy and a girl are looked at differently? If a few girls are walking and making comments (not always innocent) on boys they see, they are always regarded as evil doers, unlike boys doing the very same.

Why is that? We can all have such playful, hunter feelings. No one imagines women are blind, deaf and always obsessing on one man alone. As long as they don't say it, it is all very appropriate. Thinking it does not matter, just keep it to yourself. That is so wrong though.

As far as I can tell, being in love, in a relationship, and committed to your feelings and your relationship does not mean you will never have opinions on the opposite sex. It does not mean anyone else is purely non-attractive to you. It only means you are genuinely not interested. You make a choice (you commit to a person) and stick with that choice.

And if you are not in a relationship, not seeing someone and definitely looking, well than you have the same opinions on the opposite sex. A man would seem attractive or not in both circumstances, only that you may choose to take an interest. Or not. For your own reasons.

If when seeing someone you smile and you have that "I am definitely into you" look and also dare to say something about it to your friends and you also happen to be in a public place, you'd better not be a woman! Cause people will definitely look down on you! If you only think it, that's just ok!

If you feel like going a little over the line when talking to your friends, then again, make sure you are behind closed doors or that you are a man. Otherwise, you can have results ranging from people in complete shock, not being able to continue whatever they were previously doing, to serious accidents. And the look, the "You are so going to burn in hell look", well, I just love that!

So here is how I see it: there should not be any difference in judging what people (as in men and women alike) are thinking and saying. It is just the same. Keeping it to yourself or to close friends will not make you better. The difference is between thinking of something and doing it. That's all!

Death by Starvation

The EVZ daily paper has published a story on anorexia today. It presents a few facts about the victims the disease has made in Romania, the reasons to get sick, psychological aspects and a few statistics.

Romania has been kept safe from this disease up to know, but in the past few years, the cases of anorexia have become more and more common. Experts say refusing to eat will become a public health problem in the next 5 or 6 years.

Anorexia is frequent among women aged 13 to 20, and it is encountered in men also, very rarely. Relationships of mothers with their children, school mates and promoted standards (mostly by the fashion industry) are a few of the reasons this frightening disease exists. Other than teenage girls, people depending on their image for a living (models, ballerinas, actresses etc) and old people who have lost their will to live can also be affected by it.

Similar to the case of bulimia, medical treatment is almost impossible for those suffering from anorexia. An entire board of doctors (including a psychologist and a psychiatrist) is needed to treat such a patient. The disease can only be treated within hospitals, as people suffering from anorexia also become suicidal.

There are no relevant statistics regarding this disease in Romania, nor for bulimia. The reason? They have recently started to be considered an issue requiring such attention.

Story in Romanian and a summary in English.

The part of this story that made me really angry was the interview with the owner of the largest modeling company in Romania, also published by EVZ. He denies the fact that models and the fashion industry have any impact on or responsibility towards those suffering from anorexia.

He states normal models, not skinny and fitting some impossible standards, would make fat people contempt with themselves. Yes, in some cases, being fat is a problem; it can lead to severe illnesses. Other than that, not being perfectly slim is really nooo problem.

And besides, if anyone wants to loose weight, they should go exercise, eat healthy and generally lead a healthy life. Starving yourself to death will bring you just that: death. No beauty in turning into dust, is there?

How’s the situation in other countries? Do you have any relevant data to share?

What is a photo?

I am rediscovering the power of photos these days. Nothing attracts better your visitors' attention than a photo. I have to admit I have published photos quite often. They help making a story more expressive and yes, they do tend to catch the readers' eyes.

Personal photos, portraits especially, have an even greater power. I have posted a few photos of myself on my own blog several days ago. Well, it's been the third day in a row when they have been most popular links. I would like new visitors to be attracted by my blog's content, but it seems my photos do a better job.

George said once that posting a girl photo on my profile had a lot to do with new visitors. He was right, after that, I had a lot more profile views.

For the new photos, if I exclude friends who commented as they had not seen me in my new look, I am still left with way too many clicks directed to those photos.

Why is that? Why do new posts remain without comments although they bring quite interesting or important news or talk about a movie or a book or other experiences, while those photos are still commented on? Are we all so tributary to physical appearance? Does it feel the same for male photos? From George's comments, I understood it doesn't.

Anyway, this was a good exercise. My decision, not to post any other photos soon.