Category: mainstream media

The media: still hating Sydney Sweeney’s good jeans

A certain kind of media person is still stewing in bile over Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle “good jeans” ad. Such media types are eager to see Sweeney suffer perdition for her perceived thoughtcrimes. As a result, she gets virtually no press coverage that doesn’t overflow with snark and sarcasm.

Case in point: a recent article on Yahoo entitled, “Sydney Sweeney’s great jeans couldn’t save ‘Christy’ from bombing at the box office”. The title tells you all you really need to know.

Indeed, it does seem that Sweeney’s biopic of Christy Martin, a 57-year-old boxer whose heyday was in the 1990s, failed to pack the theaters. But so did last month’s Bruce Springsteen biopic. And many people actually know who Bruce Springsteen is. (My apologies to diehard fans of women’s boxing.)

I previewed Christy, and it seems like a worthwhile film. But probably one that I can wait for on cable.

From what I can see of Sweeney’s performance, she did a virtuoso job of transforming herself into an unglamorous female boxer from West Virginia. (Sweeney gained 30 lbs for the role.)

Regular readers will know that I rarely compliment anyone in the under-30 crowd for anything. But Sydney Sweeney is not just another pretty face and overflowing bosom. She’s a damn good actress. And in recent exchanges, she’s proven that she’s a lot more intelligent than the typical mainstream media journalist.

-ET

Joan Baez and Nicolle Wallace

No one really expected that Joan Baez, an octogenarian symbol of the 1960s counterculture, would be a fan of Donald Trump. In a recent interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, Baez expounded on her Trump loathing for about 40 minutes. 

Baez, to her credit, seems remarkably alert for 84 years of age. Baez makes me feel my own 57 years less, when I consider that she released her ninth studio album the year I was born. Continue reading “Joan Baez and Nicolle Wallace”

Suzy Favor Hamilton: Gen X ‘Fast Girl’

Suzy Favor Hamilton and I have two things in common: we were both born in August 1968, and we were both drawn to running at a young age.

That is where the similarities end. Hamilton made it to the Olympics in 1992, 1996, and 2000. I made it only to the Ohio State Cross Country Championships in 1985—where I placed about midway through the pack.

After her running career ended, Hamilton also worked as a high-price escort in Las Vegas for a while. As in running, her competitive instincts took over. She explains in an interview (above) how she became fixated on achieving a top ranking on The Erotic Review, a website where clients review escorts.

By this time she was also a wife and a mother. Hamilton’s husband was aware of her activities. Whether this was some kind of a kink for him, or merely something he tolerated, is unclear. But he knew what she was doing.

One thing is clear: she got careless. By 2012, Hamilton was in her 40s, and her Olympic career was in the past. She was never a household name or a major celebrity, in the way that Bruce Jenner, Michael Phelps, or Kristi Yamaguchi were. Nevertheless, she was a public figure of some renown, and she was asking for trouble when she revealed her identity to several clients. Continue reading “Suzy Favor Hamilton: Gen X ‘Fast Girl’”

Our “hot girls” crime fixation

If you’ve been on social media much (always a big mistake), you’re aware of the story of Laken Snelling, the 21-year-old member of the University of Kentucky’s stunt team, whose dead newborn infant was found in her dorm room closet last week.

The media has been filled with photos of Ms. Snelling, who is blonde and fit. There have also been photos of her boyfriend, a youth named Connor who does not appear to be overly bright. Some stories report that the current boyfriend is not the father of the deceased newborn. The plot thickens.

I have been avoiding making a post about this story, hoping that it would go away. And this story would have gone away—if it would even have been a story at all—had it taken place in the inner city, or in some poor white sector of Appalachia. Continue reading “Our “hot girls” crime fixation”