Enthusiasm - a distemper of youth, curable by small doses of repentance in connection with outward applications of experience. Arthur Schopenhauer

Gabe Nevins, Women & Nathaniel Brown by Nick Haymes

Some of you might wonder why I put up so many pictures of boys. Especially really young looking ones. I must admit it has made me feel a little creepy at times, but then I remember Im actually a 23 year old girl . I guess thats my alibi for now.

So what does these images have to do with feminism? For me, these males represents a heterosexual young girls idea of male beauty. Everywhere we see images of women falling for older men, not only in popular media, but also in literature. This also reflects the general population. We can of course discuss weather its because its men running these industries or because its women who wants someone like her daddy, but Im not going to continue that never -ending discussion right now. What interests me is the paradox of glorification of youth in our society - but only female youth. The saying about men getting more attractive with age, while women loose their allure is simply not true. Its completely natural for both sexes to fade with age, that is the circle of life. Gay artists have embraced the juvenile, boyish charm for centuries. This shows how much our sexual preferences are influenced by the Images and portrays we are exposed to. Maybe the stigma for the boyish look comes from - the fear of being lesbian or gay. Who knows. Personally I find it natural for everyone to be attracted to young things. For aesthetic, recreational and nostalgic reasons.


Todays Youth is tomorrows nostalgia.
xx Mary

Eye Candy - James Franco Vs James Dean

After a long day of work, just looking at words and numbers, its nice to finally rest my eyes on something pretty.

Brothers

With a film starring actors such as Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, it was obvious that Brothers would be a great movie experience. The story is about an American soldier (Maguire) who gets to experience how far he is actually willing to go to save himself and see his family again. I had to hide my face at several occations, not because of blod splattering scenes, but because of the awkward situations and emotions the actors so brilliantly were able to create. That goes not only to the big names, but also to the two children played by Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare. I seriously went out of the cinema with chills.

As a side note; I must say it does not hurt that I got yet another excuse to post pictures of one of my favorite actresses Natalie Portman. Im not sure who took these V magazine pictures (maybe Sølve Sundsbø?) but the last black/white is Hedi Slimane. Gyllenhaal looks handsome, even with his hairy chest (not my preference) It was more difficult finding cool shots of Maguire for some reason. He looks good on these , tho the black tshirt is a little too meat- head - tight for my taste :D

When I was writing pretty poor poetry, this girl with midnight black hair told me to go on - Carl Sandburg

Taking some snapshots of my little amazing Hannah...

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his - Oscar Wilde

Talent : Carey Mulligan

Since her star-making performance in director Lone Scherfig’s An Education last fall, Carey Mulligan’s meteoric rise has itself become a cinematic affair. The 24-year-old Mulligan’s portrayal of a precocious but naïve schoolgirl whose hunger for experience leads her to become romantically involved with an older man (played brilliantly by Peter Sarsgaard) earned her an Oscar nomination.

But Mulligan’s impressive work in An Education isn’t the only reason why many are finding great solace in her emergence as one of the most important young actresses working today. It’s what her success represents: the triumph of talent, a celebration of difference, and a small victory for a young woman who sounds believable when she says she’s in it for the roles and not the acclaim. “Carey stood out immediately,” Scherfig says. “Not because she reminded me of anyone—more perhaps because she didn’t.” “She has this great indefinable quality,” says Jim Sheridan, who directed Mulligan in his most recent film, Brothers (starring Natalie Portman). “Yet you feel like you immediately know who she is.”

read the entire story in interview magazine

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The consumer criticism has been fueling academia for the last 40 years and has only achieved making people buy more for less which means more pollution and bad payments for those who produce. The irony of this turn in consuming behavior is largely a result of guilt for spending too much money on one single item. Its seen as irrational, hedonistic, wast full and immoral.

Max Weber says that this guilt derives from the Protestant puritan ethics that has been dominating vestern societies. He defines spirit of capitalism as the ideas that favour the rational pursuit of economic gain. That is why we feel so satisfied and smart when we get something on sale " I saved soooo much buying these three items for the price of two!".

This cultural baggage is a big problem when it comes to climate issues such as waste. Cheap stuff are usually of bad quality, which means you have to throw it away next season. The quantity demand requires more exploitation of the earth. Which basically makes it quite unethical to buy these kind of cheap, low quality, mass produced goods.

So Academia continues to to focus on the hedonistic unreflected human being who in large part is what mass media reflects, expecially when it comes to female consumer behavior turning this thing to a self forfilling prophecy.
“Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.”( Lewis Carroll quote)