Archived entries for Popular culture

Mercury Retrogade makes us all insane

You may have heard people talking about it before, you may have heard people talking about it over the past few days, or it may just sound like some nonsense from Lord of the Rings to you. Either way, here’s a quick rundown about what Mercury Retrograde means:

Mercury Retrograde (or Mercury in Retrograde, it’s referred to in both ways) is basically when the planet Mercury slows down and appears to stop and move backwards, but it’s really an optical illusion.

This happens a few times a year and we’re in the middle of this process right now, which is set to continue till around 14th December 2011.

planet-mercury

All of that doesn’t bother me, in fact I find it pretty fascinating that a planet just appears to stop (I love geeky space stuff). However, the thing that gets to me about Mercury Retrograde is the way many seemingly normal people take it so seriously and start blaming things on the process and randomly attributing completely unrelated events to it, “ahh things aren’t going right for me, must be because Mercury is in Retrograde.”

Nowhere can I find hard data for this, but many believe that during Mercury Retrograde things go wrong, particularly communications, so phone lines, the internet, even our mail and the way we communicate (see, it gets less and less believable) all becomes generally quite messed up.

Other popular beliefs about Mercury Retrograde are that it’s a time for us to relax and look at ourselves, what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. Others recommend we’re super cautious and don’t go signing anything important or making big decisions round about now.

Now I’m very open minded about other people’s beliefs and this isn’t meant to be an attack on those who are really into astronomy. But, I’d hate to think people would put off making big decisions, not signing the contract on that lovely new house or messing up and not thinking any of it through just because it’s stuck in your head that it’s Mercury Retrograde.

I think that if someone’s aware that everything could well be going wrong about now they might subconsciously screw things up, feel a bit down and not get on with life properly just because they’ve bought into this idea, which (to someone on the outside anyway) seems like a sad waste.

So am I being too harsh on astrology, or should we all just see it as hocus pocus, look at the planets for what they are and nothing more?

The truth about H&M’s dirty laundry

Where would we be without cheap and cheerful clothing from the likes of Primark and H&M? Sure it’s not always made well, it’s probably a waste of money and everyone else has it too, but when you’re short on cash and need a quick pick-me-up outfit, these shops are often our first port of call.

h_and_mHowever, it’s no secret that as well as being a waste of money in the long run, brands like Primark have come under fire in the past for their unethical practices involving child labour. Of course, after the big Primark expose a few years back, the brand has admittedly made efforts to turn things around, but as a dress still costs less than a chocolate bar, things still don’t seem quite right.

But, I can handle not going into Primark anymore, what with its questionable morals, the long queues and the impending panic attack feeling you get when you walk into the shoe department. But now a report from Greenpeace has ruled that my high street favourite H&M isn’t the squeaky clean alternative I’d always assumed it was and I immediately care much much more than I did after the Primark expose.

In a way it’s a little sad, but it’s true. I know there are plenty of terrible things going on in the world that I should really care more about in order to make a difference, but often a cause doesn’t make me sit up and take notice until it’s banging on my front door. So I guess that’s why the recent news that the manufacturers responsible for making H&M’s products are pumping large amounts of extremely toxic waste into the water supply in parts of China, has made me suddenly feel very guilty about splurging out on a load of cheap dresses every few weeks.

The Greenpeace report is called Dirty Laundry and it contains the findings from a huge investigation into the way big textile brands discharge hazardous waste. And, it’s not just H&M that has come under fire from the latest report, but also Abercrombie & Fitch, Calvin Klein, Converse, Nike and a few others.

The report presents details about two main facilities which have been found to be pumping out these chemicals, which could already be seriously damaging the environment as well as the health of local people. Just to clarify, it’s not like one of these is the ‘H&M pollution factory’, but the facilities produce H&M products, so there’s a pretty strong and inexcusable link.

Now many of these top brands, including H&M, have commented on the situation and said that their clothes aren’t responsible for the waste that’s being pumped out, as they use a different process. However, as none of them have comprehensive chemical management policies anyway, it’s impossible to confirm their statements. There’s also the fact that these brands shouldn’t be associated with a manufacturer which is polluting the environment, regardless of whether their products are a direct cause or not and Greenpeace want brands to use their power to really make a change.

Greenpeace hasn’t called for protests and boycotts, instead it wants the public to put pressure on these brands so they’ll then put pressure on the manufacturing firms causing all of the problems. Greenpeace wants them to become ‘champions for a toxic-free future’ and has set up set up sites to enable anyone to make a difference. Having absolutely no inside knowledge about the ins and outs of H&M’s manufacturing process, I don’t know whether putting pressure on these facilities would cause the company serious issues or not, but surely the PR implications of being a ‘champion for a toxic-free future’ would be pretty invaluable?

This is a good idea and (at the moment anyway) certainly seems more worthwhile than calling for a boycott. However, these most recent events have seriously got me thinking about changing my attitude towards clothing. In an ideal world I’d be buying only the most ethically sound, organic clothing as well as waltzing around markets picking up amazing vintage finds – oh and I’d also be exercising for a few hours a day, eating organic food and doing loads of charity work – but in reality, due to time and money constraints, that’s not going to happen.

However, I think rather than beating ourselves up about the fact that we have to nip into H&M once in a while (because we actually need a cardigan and we’re about to hit our overdraft limit), we should instead make small changes here and there. Why not save up a little for a more ethically conscious piece of clothing once in a while and dedicate this Sunday afternoon to having a quick browse of charity shops? Because let’s be realistic, you can’t completely overhaul your wardrobe, but small changes here and there will make a difference and leave you feeling a little better for it.

Image via ReservasdeCoches’ Flickr.

The Cabin in the Woods to FINALLY be released?

Joss Wheadon, the guy behind Buffy, Angel and the massively under-rated Firefly teamed up with Drew Goddard, who also helped to write Buffy, Angel, Lost and Cloverfield to make a movie called The Cabin in the Woods.

The basic premise of the horror flick is:

“A twisted and unusual take on the familiar “cabin in the woods” formula.”

It’s written by two very brilliant and talented minds and it sounds sufficiently disturbing and weird. So why doesn’t The Cabin in the Woods have a release date yet?

The film was actually made three years ago at MGM and when the company went bust The Cabin in the Woods just sat there gathering dust.

Following a Facebook campaign for the movie to be picked up by someone else, it looks as if Lionsgate is finally set to do something with it. However, there’s still no official date for release…

Luckily there are a posters and a still from the movie circulating online, so let’s look at them for now and keep our fingers crossed that it’s going to be coming to a “theater near us” sometime soon.

cabin-in-the-woods

Image via HeyUGuys.

Should pro-anorexia sites be banned?

self-esteemIf you’re suffering from any kind of medical condition, from headaches or mild depression, infertility problems to cancer, you don’t just have to deal with physical pain and discomfort, but you can spend a lot of your time feeling unbelievably scared and alone. Although medical professionals are there to help, you can’t call them whenever you please and their approach is often far too clinical. In the same vein, although friends and family offer love and support, how can they really empathise with what you’re going through?

This is why the Internet has always been (and is increasingly becoming) an amazing place for those living with the same problems to connect regardless of where they are or even who they are in their ‘real’ offline lives. From answering questions, sharing experiences or just offering support there are huge amounts of people who rely on online communities to help deal with their illnesses, problems or conditions in some way or another.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that there are many communities for people living with eating disorders, whether they’re run by medical professionals, charities or just a group of individuals or who aren’t connected to a wider organisation in any way at all.

In recent years the communities for those with eating disorders that have attracted the most mainstream attention are those deemed to be pro-anorexia (pro-ana) or pro-bulimia (pro-mia). These terms may have been coined by the media, but they’ve since been adopted by many members of the so-called pro-ana community. By its very definition, a community is a group of people and although they may hold the same views in many respects, it’d be impossible to say exactly how the global pro-ana community defines itself because it many ways it’s very guarded and secretive. However, it’s generally believed by some members past and present as well as online sources that pro-ana is about supporting others with anorexia, talking about the illness and sometimes (but importantly not always) seeing it as a positive lifestyle choice as opposed to something that needs to be addressed and dealt with.

It’s not hard to see why so many people have been up in arms about these kinds of communities for years now, following various reports that certain websites have been found to be worryingly reinforcing the idea that having an eating disorder shouldn’t be seen as a problem, with tips about how to not eat, so-called ‘thinspiration’ photographs and forms of bullying.

But the question is, should these communities be banned?

franca-sozzaniVarious charities, organisations and even individuals have campaigned to have pro-ana and pro-mia communities banned or at least more closely moderated over the past few years. They understandably see some the behaviour on these sites as not only damaging to those with eating disorders but also to those that don’t already.

Recently there’s been increased call for these sites to be banned from Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani (pictured left), who launched a campaign back in March to put an end to the most active and damaging online communities.

I understand why the communities could well be both emotionally and physically harmful and I know many of those looking to change things have everyone’s best interests at heart, but I can’t help but think that an outright ban might not be the best solution to what is a rather deep-set, complicated and personal illness.

Many of these communities have been established for years, which has led countless users to make strong connections with others, ingraining this online community into their offline lives. In this way, engaging in these communities is not just about mutual support or a bad habit that needs to be broken, it’s become an integral part of their daily lives.

Those looking to put an end to pro-ana communities think this dependency is one of the main problems, assuming that many of those suffering with eating disorders will turn to help online as opposed to confiding in friends, family and medical professionals. However, simply erasing these communities will leave a lot of people very scared and alone and it could certainly be argued that instead of pushing individuals to get help, banning their access could push them even further away.

Unfortunately there’s no sure-fire answer to any these problems and although the communities are in many ways very damaging both physically and emotional, you can’t escape the fact that for many they’re highly important support networks that will take time to step away from.

Image via S’s Flickr and Kekkoz’s Flickr.

A pill to erase painful memories

eternal-sunshine

**Film spoiler alert**

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my all time favourite films. Aside from the fact that it was refreshing to see Jim Carrey in a role that didn’t involve him playing a bumbling idiot, there’s something beautiful yet poetically tragic about the idea that you can go through the heartache of erasing someone from your life for fate to just bring them back into it so easily again and again.

So if you were going through a partcularly dark time in your life, given the choice do you think you’d want to erase the memory that caused you so much pain?

There are those who unfortunately go through extremely trying times, whether it’s a tough break up like Joel and Clementine, or something arguably more ‘extreme’, such as war or prolonged abuse. Although we all react to things in extremely contrasting ways, I don’t doubt there would be those that might jump at the chance to make everything go away, particularly people dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After all, what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right? Right? 

This is clearly an issue we could throw back and forth all day, maybe going through things makes us stronger, maybe the painful memories are what makes us who we are today, maybe we should screw memories and just make ourselves happy right here, right now? Who knows.

According to The Body Odd Marie France Marin, the leader of a study at The Center for Studies on Human Stress at the University of Montreal could have identified a way to erase, or at least lessen, the effects of the painful memories that go on to cause people so much emotional and physical stress later in life.

The study took 33 students and showed them a video of a little girl who had been in a serious accident. Although the girl was revealed to be fine later, some pretty graphic imagery of her bloodied and mangled hand was shown to the audience. After the video, Marie and her team collected saliva samples from the students in order to measure the amounts of the horomone cortisol, believed to somehow be linked to the way we preserve memories.

She then invited the group back and gave some of them a placebo and others a drug which ‘dampens’ the effects of cortisol. She found the ones that had taken the drug were less likely to recall what had happened during the video of the little girl. In fact, even the higher the dose of this particular drug, the harder it was for the students to even remember the basic details. Remarkably, even days after taking the drug it seemed to have the same affect.

The research is still, quite obviously, in the very early stages. Yet, it’s pretty groundbreaking in that it shows memories aren’t as permanent as they may sometimes seem. It could also be a huge step forward in the treatment of those with PTSD, in the hope that erasing the initial memory (coupled with long term work with a psychiatrist as well of course) could help them to live normal lives again in the future.

Image via IMDB.

Is Barbie really to blame?

Ahh Barbie, I’m sure many of you will remember our little playmate from your childhood days, endlessly brushing her hair, dressing her up, washing her in the bath, taking her to school, the list of things you and her got up to were endless.

However, the innocent little doll from our schooldays is also synonymous with looking fake, promoting plastic surgery in our adult years and giving us a negative view of our bodies and appearance.

So, is Barbie to blame for our insecurities later in life? Or is this a massive over-reaction and she’s actually nothing more than, well, a toy?

Every so often the media likes to regurgitate the story that Barbie dolls have unattainable proportions, which is hardly surprising considering they’re not real. Of course Barbie’s proportions aren’t attainable unless you’re willing to have a LOT of questionable surgery. But the main issue is that impressionable young people may see her day-in-and-day-out and think that’s the way they’re meant to look: long flowing blonde hair, massive eyes, lots of make-up (when did they start plastering quite so much make-up on her?!), super thin legs that lack any muscle tone and HUGE tits.

I can understand this argument. I have a younger sister who’s five years old and I’ve always found it incredible that she’s picked up on so many different things from such an early age – ever since she was bought an Ariel doll she’s wanted red hair. But, I’m sure we all played with a LOT of other toys that we’re not trying desperately to look like now. For instance, I had a cabbage patch doll and I’m certainly not going to any extreme lengths to look like one of them.

I started thinking about Barbie, her body and whether her crazy proportions have affected me in the slightest when I read about Galia Slayen. Slayen is a girl from the US who’s battled with anorexia for many years. She’s been all over US TV recently because she’s created a “life-size” Barbie doll out of some old materials in her friend’s garage. She’s admitted that all the measurements aren’t 100% accurate, but Barbie’s 37″ bust, 13″ waist and 33″ hips are pretty similar to the proportions of the miniature version. Slayen admits that her eating problems stemmed from a number of factors, but does suggest that growing up around Barbie dolls can’t have helped the way she views her body. Slayen now takes the Barbie to events that aim to raise awareness about eating disorders and uses her to show young girls just how crazy Barbie’s figure is. Her visualisation is very useful and if it’s changed some people’s perceptions about what it means to have a supposed “perfect” figure, then that’s great news.

Slayen’s certainly not the first person to suggest Barbie plays a role in making women feel insecure about their bodies, just have a quick Google around and you’ll see countless articles, opinion pieces, studies and research papers about this exact subject.

Although I’m still not convinced, I think as soon as we begin discussing issues about what affects our view of ourselves and whether we’re influenced by different things we move into a dodgy and murky territory. When I began writing this article I’d firmly decided that the Barbie dolls from my childhood had absolutely no bearing on the way I view myself today. But, how do I know? The way we think fascinates me and although I’m no psychologist, I know that there are lots of theories about how our subconcious minds work. So, as adamant as we may be that we’re not affected by something, it could be changing us more than we could even imagine under the surface… Or, you know, not at all.

On a side note, it’d be fascinating to find out if men feel inadequate in comparison to the Action Men characters they grew up with.

Image of Galia Slayen via MSNBC. Image of Barbie via Tracheotomy Bob’s Flickr.

Interesting links [April]

I’ll try to do this weekly again soon, but for now a random collection of interesting links from the past month:


Bits and pieces from the week

Exceeding your own expectations (Nanna Freeman at Persephone Magazine):

I have always been risk-averse. I was born a careful person and have never been attracted to things like bungee jumping. I like to know what’s going to happen, and I like to be in control (sometimes too much so, perhaps). Yes, I’ve done things some people might consider “risky.” I’ve travelled alone. I’ve lived abroad, in Australia and the United States, for extended periods of time, by myself. I went back to school after I figured out the undergraduate degree I’d completed wouldn’t lead me to the life I want to live. However, these things have never felt especially risky to me; they just appeared so to others.

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Jane McGonigal, game designer and author, talks about productivity. Her aim is to challenge assumptions about games to “pass” or “waste” time and says they actually help us to become more productive:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/16227360 w=400&h=300]

Jane McGonigal – On Productivity from The School of Life on Vimeo.

 

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***A big rant about a Daily Fail article was here but I’ve removed it as I don’t want to be “that” person :) ***

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This rant leads nicely onto a link sent to me by the lovely @SianySianySiany called quite simply Tea and Kittens. It has pictures of, you guessed it, tea and kittens and is lovely to smile at when you’re angry at a colleague / shitty tabloid / arrogant journo. I’ve also just found out that you can set up “Kitten Block” so everytime you try to click on a Daily Mail article you get to Tea and Kittens. Genius. Utter genius.

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Flip has launched a new Facebook campaign which lets you replace your Facebook profile picture with a video – nice idea but will be very annoying if everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

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I came across The SketchBook Project which is apparently “like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks.”

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Skinny Pepsi can launch is heavy with controversy (Natalie Zmuda at Ad Age)

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Faking being happy makes you miserable (Anne Marie Gardner at GOOD)

In a study published this month in the Academy of Management Journal, scientists tracked a group of bus drivers for two weeks, focusing on them because their jobs require frequent, and generally courteous, interactions with many people.

The scientists examined what happened when the drivers engaged in fake smiling. After following the drivers closely, the researchers found that on days when the smiles were forced, the subjects’ moods deteriorated and they tended to withdraw from work. Trying to suppress negative thoughts, it turns out, may have made those thoughts even more persistent.

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Black Swan tutus immortalised (Jezebel)

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The next two “points” are less great stories from the week and more just lovely blogs I’ve come across:

Firstly, nineteeneighty.org is a tumblr blog which curates some of the most beautiful photos of “lovely ladies of classic cinema and vintage fashion”. Bardot <3 :

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Secondly, Letters of Note is an eclectic mix of little stories and letters. I particularly love this note that Marlon Brand allegedly penned to an air hostess while on a flight from New York to London in 1966:

Thanks @lauratosney for tweeting about this.

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Haunting photos curated on Goodmorning and Goodnight. Basheer calls them “Deserted City”. A little creepy but they’d look incredible on a HUGE canvas on a plain white wall:

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Another incredible set of photographs from Goodmorning and Goodnight, this time work by editorial and commercial photographer Khuong Nguyen:

Images via Letters of Note, Tea and Kittens, Behance, Goodmorning and Goodnight

Danny Boyle directs Frankenstein for National Theatre Live

Everyone’s favourite director, Danny Boyle, is venturing back to the stage where he began his career with a production of Frankenstein for the National Theatre on London’s Southbank.

It will be broadcast to cinemas as part of National Theatre Live on 17th March, 2011.

How amazing does the trailer look?!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FEakgJj-uA]

Weekly round-up

My week consisted of:

A trip to London for meetings and cupcakes. If I could live off just icing, I would.

Some bad news. Which made me very sad, but overall means I appreciate everything 65,234,854 times more than I did last week.

A lot of Gossip Girl. I’ve started watching it from the beginning again and I love it even more than I did the first time. I need a box set in my life at all times.

Death From Above 1979 tickets. Ecstatic.

Building a new project. I’m excited and it’s been good to brush up on my HTML and CSS skillz. Will ramble on about it more soon.

Stories of the week:

I’ve stopped collecting stories that are just big, newsy and expected. These are just things that caught my eyes and made me want to share…

I know that editing photos to make them look older and blurrier than they were before will be the death of me, particularly with Rollip which gives an ‘Instagram-look’ to any photo.

love these Hubba Bubba print ads. So colourful and (as buzz-wordy as it sounds) very “on-brand”.

I want this white watch please:

The X-Men First Class trailer was released on YouTube this week. It looks good. I like the trailer, but then again I’m a sucker for trailers. But, the Cuban missile crisis? Interesting… I think.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrbHykKUfTM]

Moving post on GOOD about some of the photos from the Facebook page behind Egypt’s revolution and protests.

Incredible and haunting photos by Amber Isabel over on TrendLand.

WordPress.com users can now have a bit more choice, as the blogging platform revealed this week that they can buy premium themes.

This has been doing the rounds for a few weeks now, but I haven’t include this Little White Lies video yet, so thought it was about time. It documents the making of the limited Black Swan edition.