MInTheGap

Worse than the Grinch and Darth Vader?

You know that these two have to think that it cannot get much worse when children think that you’re further down the naughty list than fictional characters that are known to be the bad guys:

A poll of American children released on Wednesday found that the two high-profile celebrities should top Santa’s naughty list.

– snip –

The two women beat out Swiper the Fox from the television show Dora the Explorer, the Grinch from the book “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and Darth Vader from Star Wars among children 2-12.

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Churches Use Celebrities to Draw Attention

I have real pity for this girl. At one point in time a group of people believed that they could make a few dollars off her looks and personality, and that they did. But as happens to many children that are not fully grounded in real life and then are thrust into stardom, when reality came around she did not know how to cope.

I was in a job that took me into restaurant one day many years ago where I was talking with a district manager whose daughter got some kind of karaoke machine for her birthday. She turned to me and said, “She may not be able to sing that well, but you have to think she’s pretty, right?”

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Send Jack Bauer to Gitmo

Yahoo news reports that Keifer Sutherland (AKA Jack Bauer on the hit television show 24) has been sentenced to serve 48 days in prison for a DUI arrest.

Personally, I think that there should be a deal struck where Keifer could serve fewer days, but has to serve them at Guantanamo Bay– where we’re storing our captured Al Queda terrorists. I also think, as part of this, that they should be playing 24 episodes around the clock so that when he shows up the terrorists would recognize him and automatically confess.

Of course, if this were the show, the question would more likely be how long until the President comes in to pardon Jack for all his crimes. I don’t think Keifer will be as lucky.

Before They’re Even an Adult

How old should a young lady be before she’s able to be the cover model for a fashion show?

Take a look at the young lady at the right and meet Maddison Gabriel. She was picked as the official ambassador of Gold Coast Fashion Week in Australia. She’s modeled a number of revealing outfits for the Queensland event.

Now, we’ve all talked before about how our society glorifies girls as sex-symbols rather than people, how it objectifies them. But, to some degree, people have to be free to choose to do right or wrong. But at what age?

What if I told you that the model on the right is 12 years old?

Fashion Week spokesman Kelly Wieler said Maddison was not too young.

“Maddy got in because she was the best contestant - the judges saw that she was fit to do the job.”

She added that the schoolgirl would not be modelling swimwear or lingerie.

Well, not this year, anyway…

Do You Believe Her?

I don’t usually like to go into a situation where I doubt what they are saying is true.  Said slightly differently, I want to believe what you say.  So, I’m finding it rather difficult to believe Jessica Biel when she says:

I definitely worry about how my family would react. You can’t help thinking about your dad or brother seeing something. I don’t have to be fully naked for the movie. I haven’t decided exactly about the nudity. It’s a tough one. I’m considering it but it’s a very scary thing to do. It definitely feels vulnerable to be naked in front of anybody, let alone a film crew.

Why am I having this problem?  As Alexandra Foley reports at Modestly Yours in an article entitled Biel: Stop Me From Posing Nude Again!:

But consider the contract she signed that, according to the article, “details the bare minimum fans will see – including shots of her breasts (nipples from the front and side) and her butt (side view only).”

So, here’s a woman who claims she’s conflicted.  She doesn’t want to be exploited (pictures of her body all over the Internet) but she wants to do the movie.  I believe that this is a case of actions speaking louder than words.

To me, if you didn’t want to do the nudity in the movie, you don’t do it.  There’s a principle here.  If you say “Oh, I don’t want to do this”, but then you do it anyway at worst you’re tempted and gave in and at worst you’re a liar/hypocrite.

Why is Miss New Jersey Upset?

Amy Polumbo is Miss New Jersey 2007.  She’s looking forward to the Miss America pageant.  One thing is standing in her way.  Pictures taken at parties showing Miss Polumbo is less than role model poses.

To her credit, she went on the Today show and made the pictures public.  It’s her comments that I find interesting:

“I feel sick to my stomach. I really do,” Amy Polumbo told host Matt Lauer. “You know, they’re not that bad, but they were meant to be private. And it is making me feel very vulnerable that the entire country has to see them now because of this situation.”

Compared to pictures that have come out at different times, these are far from the worst.  She is clothed in all of them, but the content is suggestive.

What I find interesting is this concept of privacy.  It’s been coming up a lot recently.  Google got in trouble for showing some compromising situations via Google Maps.  Why?  Because people have an expectation of privacy, even if they aren’t granted one by law.

For instance, if you’re in a public place (a beach, on the street, at a game), you have no expectation of privacy.  And to some degree that makes sense– since it would be difficult for a photographer to get credit from random people that showed up in a shot, and if you’re on the street the odds are that you at least prepared to be there.

The problem comes into play when the camera catches something that you didn’t want to be photographed: hair that is windblown, a habit you didn’t want revealed, or (in the case of Amy Polumbo) some silly activity at a party.

You see, it’s one thing to expect a photo to be taken, it’s another thing to have one taken when you don’t expect it.  And then there’s the audience– which can go from a few friends that you thought you knew to all over the Internet.

In this Internet age, can we expect privacy?  But another question is this, in what circumstances do we expect privacy.  I would posit that we expect privacy when we have something to hide or something we don’t want seen.

It is rare to find someone that doesn’t have some secrets from someone.  However, in the world that we find ourselves in it is getting more difficult to keep that secret hidden.  Whether it’s phone longs, credit card statements, Internet logs, people taking pictures– if there’s something that you’re doing that you shouldn’t or something you want hidden the odds are that it can be found out.

Which reminds me of the passage in the Bible that says we will give an account for what we have done  You see, there’s no expectation of privacy from God.  He sees and knows all. 

So, Miss New Jersey is upset– not because of what she’s done but because it’s documented.  Because she will give an account of what she’s done now.

How about us?  What are we doing that we shouldn’t and would be embarrassed if we were caught on film?

Jessica Biel Thinks of the Children

© David Gabber/PR Photos

Jessica Biel is the latest star to take a stand on modest apparel, and she did so for a unique reason.  Her reason was the impact that she would have on her children.

You see, Miss Biel thinks a lot about how her future generations will see her.  She understands that beauty is just a passing fancy, and even though she was most recently given an award from a men’s magazine for her appearance, it appears that it hasn’t corrupted her into thinking that her looks are everything:

“You know, although I’m flattered to be chosen the Sexiest Woman Alive I know that next year I might not be.  I mean, we all age, and I’m not getting any younger.

“The point is, when I’m old and a grandma do I really want my kids to look at me and think of me for my looks– that Granny was the Sexiest Woman Alive– or do I want them to know me for what I’ve done?

Ladies, who you are inside is much more important than who you are on the outside.”

Or, that’s what she should have said.  Instead, Miss Biel was reveling in the fact that her future offspring wouldn’t believe that she was that attractive, and used the fact that her beauty was fading to have photos taken of herself in less than her underwear so that she could show future generations how “hot” she used to be.  Here’s the real quote:

“At first I felt really embarrassed about it. You know, it’s a weird thing to talk about. Like, ‘Hey, guys. Guess what?’ You don’t just go telling everybody that. But after I got over that, I just started to embrace it. I started thinking, If I ever do have kids, and if they have kids, I can tell them: ‘You know what? Your grandma in 2000-and-whatever was the Sexiest Woman Alive. How about that, kids?’ That’s what I started to think about. I’ll always have that picture to say, ‘That’s what Granny used to look like.’ ”