Monday, May 22, 2006

Notes from the Land of Hurt Feelings

1. Not really, but that is a new poem title of mine. I feel like my life has been buttered with more than the usual amount of misunderstandings these days. It's a weakness and a pet peeve: I hate being misunderstood. Who doesn't, right? But I really really really hate it. It makes me want to throw a discus or spin plates or take up archery or attempt pole vaulting.

2. Soon, really soon, I will need a job.

3. Apparently, K-Fed doesn't write his own songs (!)

4. I'm thinking of getting a digital camera. Any suggestions?

5. I'm brainstorming for a gender & food post. In texas there is this crazy burger king commercial for "man burgers," and mzn was just writing about jamba juice's "femme boost." Some of this "gendering" seems to happen due to the idea that men and women need different nutrients (Luna Bars, the new Tab Energy) -- in other words, the food as medicine trend. Other gendering seems to happen based on the more mainstream notions/constructions of masculinity and femininity ("man burgers"). I'm interested in how these two trends are related, and if one strategy is more effective with either men or women than the other.

6. I'm finally doing that Flickr thing. And for cute click here.

7 comments:

mzn said...

Funny you should ask about digital cameras. I clicked "place my order" on a new one last evening, a Canon PowerShot A620 (my old one has been broken for a long time). I'm pretty excited to play with my new toy. I recommend megapixel and photographyblog as resources and I find the customer reviews on Amazon to be really useful. I think it's possible to get a decent point-and-shoot camera very cheaply now, certainly for under $200.

Re gender and food, I think about this all the time. When I was in a Bloodbath and Beyond store a couple of weeks ago I saw new barbecue gear in big shiny metal toolkits (father's day gifts, and no thank you) to reassure the man who cooks that grilling is his thing...because it's like doing work around the house in that it requires special tools? My casual opinion is that women are sold many more products that contain supposedly healthful added ingredients (tea, vitamin water, cereal) and that the male equivalent of this is the sports/energy drink, which is more about helping the body perform than about maintaining good health (not that these things are mutually exclusive). I look forward to hearing what you have to say about this gender/food stuff.

porkmuffin said...

indeed, there are plenty of great digital cameras for $150-$225. i'd avoid spending more than that, since they all break after about 3 years of use. try to get 4 or more megapixels. i have also had good experience with Canon cameras. good image quality and easy to use. sadly, most of the cheaper digital cameras are crap at night shots--either too much flash from tiny little onboard flashes, or not enough light to capture an image. you might want to consider a camera that has a "low light" setting. they will end up being blurry at times, but will look more like an old school photo. most Canons have a fairly cool automatic setting that combines longer exposure and a minimal flash, so you get "tracers" on night shots, but it's still obvious what's going on in the picture. also keep in mind that cameras that use regular batteries tend to eat em up quick, but cameras with batteries that require chargers means you have to take the charger with you on vacation. (and they are useless in Europe--personal experience) if you get one with a battery that requires a charger do yourself a favor and buy two batteries! three, even! you can buy most rechargable camera batteries for around $10 on eBay.

mzn said...

Re batteries: even if the camera takes AAs it pays to buy rechargable batteries. They last much longer and save you money. Also, AA rechargables are cheaper than the smaller batteries that the very small cameras use.

zoe p. said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
zoe p. said...

i love the loch ness shih-tzu. and i love that picture of mom, how she's touching her breast while she poses with her shih-tzu.

there's a reason there are no picture of me on flickr.

Elyce said...

I fear we may part ways over whether shih tzu's are cute or not. I find them hideous monsters of miniaturized doom. Visit my site where I put up a kittenball that I would pit against your shih tzu anyday. /wink/

chris said...

hey, i want you to know how much i appreciate your uniquely vibrant, and critically incisive perspectives-- thank you! please keep on!

best wishes,

chris murray