True Love Is A Nice Set of Tits

Advertisements are the bane of the Devil. After nearly three decades of being bombarded by marketers telling me exactly what it is I need to buy in order to be happy, I have developed the superhuman power to ignore them. I don't look at the ads in the paper, on the web, and I don't watch commercials on television. Nor do I hear them if I am listening to the radio.

But rarely, I find an advertisement that strikes me for some reason or another. While I was on the web today, I came across an advertisement that struck a chord when I saw it. The advertisement itself did not offend me; it was the inferred message that did.

Have a good look at the accompanying advertisement and consider what you see. Read the text and put it into context of the image. This advertisement says a lot more than what fifteen words can say.

We all know that "sex sells"; sex is primal, and we all think about it -- probably more often than we know or care to admit. The use of attractive models to sell a product or service has been the primary ammunition of the marketing arsenal since the sexual revolution (and probably much longer than that). This advertisement is no different.

What bothers me the most about this advertisement is that the caption that says: "Find True Love", while right above it is a pair of beautifully-crafted breasts. The ad does not show the model's face, nor does it say anything about her personality or her interests. The entire focus of the ad is on her "assets" -- and what this ad is telling me is that true love can be found within a nice pair of breasts.

The top caption of the ad covers the model's face -- not unlike placing a paper bag over her head. This just further supports the objectification and subjugation of women. In this case, her face is unimportant, as well as her personality or feelings. The only thing that is important in this ad, is that she has a nice rack, and it is wet. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that a wet body is symbolic of a female's readiness for copulation. Believe it or not, this ad infers these messages.

Look at the models' body language. Although you cannot see much of her, a lot can be said about the pose conveying a highly sexual message. The body is wet. You cannot see the model's face, but it appears to be turned in a upward direction, exposing the neck (another non-verbal message of vulnerability). The arms are lifted above the body to provide extra definition to the breasts. The arms also leave the sensual parts of the female body exposed, as an unwritten message to viewing males that she is leaving herself vulnerable to sexual exploitation. By this, her body language tells you she wants to be touched, invaded, even controlled.

I wish people weren't portrayed as objects in advertisements. Even male models are exploited with their washboard abs and huge pectorals. It just sends such an inaccurate message to our youth about what is considered desirable in our culture. Ads like this is exactly why there are so many teenage boys shooting up on steroids, and so many girls starving themselves to death.

We don't always notice them, but we are bombarded with these messages on such a regular basis, that they manifest themselves in our subconsciousness. There will be no end to the usage of sex in advertising. We will never win a direct battle against the corporate monolith of the advertisement; but we can educate ourselves and identify the messages that permeate our livelihood. We can make a difference; we can choose. We can choose to ignore the messages that exploit women, the human body, human sexuality, or other abominations of the human spirit.

I highly suggest you read Naomi Kleins' masterpiece, No Logo. There are copies available on Amazon.com for a couple of dollars. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and it has changed the way I think and feel about big-business antics with respect to marketing and low-cost mass-production. When you are done reading it, do yourself a favor and give the book to a teenaged relative. Even if it takes them years to read the book, they will thank you for it.

The Phoenix

The birth of this blog comes in the wake of an end to an old project of mine: My personal webpage on Yahoo! Geocities. It contained a tour journal of my experiences in a touring classic rock band, and a biography. It never achieved its' full potential, and I neglected it due to time constraints. Some time ago, I had the brilliant idea of redesigning the whole thing, however I never managed to go through all the trouble, and headaches of learning flash or JavaScript. Hence like the mythical bird, out of the ashes is the birth of a new personal page. My blog.

I believe that I let the old webpage disappear into the black hole called cyberspace due to many reasons. I began to feel that some of my statements in my tour journals could have been damaging to many people's reputations, including myself. I used real names, real places and real situations. Some people might think that changing names and dates and places would tarnish the authentic nature of the journal. But I have my (personal) reasons for letting the information go off-line. Don't worry. I have an archived copy of the webpage on my computer. I may republish the journal again, complete with photographs and minor revisions.

My ideas of a new personal website are still deeply manifested in my psyche. A drummer's resource, chock-full of exercises, lessons, and transcriptions could materialize. A professional resume could materialize. The biography of MC Fro could return, documenting my musical career from it's beginnings to my not-so distant past.

One part of my old webpage that never materialized is the "manuscripts" section. I have been an avid writer, poet and philosopher for many years. I wanted to use the page as a collection of my best work for viewing and perhaps, publication one day. Most of the poetry was written in a dark period of my life, and the writings were the outlet in which I channeled my anger, depression, angst, and loneliness. Some of it is very good. Some of it is rather juvenile and unprintable. I hope that some of these works can be shared with the rest of the world and appreciated for what they are. One of my crowning achievements: A Tale of Two Coffees was never completed. It was a long work not unlike the works of Robert Service. The Cremation of Sam McGee is an excellent example of the form I used for the Coffees poem. It is a tale about adolescence, friends, relationships, and the loss of innocence. The urge to complete it has been rekindled due to the fact that an empty lot is all that remains of the coffee shop I once frequented, and I feel like I have lost a part of my youth. I have high hopes that the poem would have a universal appeal that it would be immortalized in paper -- even though it is still a work in progress.

I have placed some preliminary links on this webpage for your viewing enjoyment. The first I will mention is Killfrog.com. It's a cartoon / animation / humor site. I think it's the funniest cartoon page I have stumbled across. I must warn you, the page is not for the faint of heart. But if you can handle some cartoon violence, fake blood, and childish humor, you'd get a kick out of this page. I highly recommend the Ultimate Survivor series. It's a parody of the famous Survivor reality television series. [ed. note: To fully appreciate the Ultimate Survivor Series, you may have to watch other Killfrog series: namely the Bad Clues episodes, and the Little Suzie Experiments, as the Survivor episodes feature characters developed in the related series.]

I, not being a fan of Survivor, found this to be incredibly amusing. Killfrog creator Kevin Swearingen created three seasons: The original Ultimate Survivor on a Tropical Island; season 2 was situated in the Outback of Australia, and Season 3 was situated in Afghanistan. As the series wore on, it became apparent that current events became an underlying theme of the Ultimate Survivor episodes. For example, the characters in Ultimate Survivor in Afghanistan wage war on the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. It is a shame the Killfrog creator Kev Swearingen has not updated the webpage in many months.

The second webpage I would like to introduce is Matthew Good's website. For those who don't know, Matthew Good is a singer/songwriter from Vancouver, Canada. I have been a fan of Matthew Good since 1998, and have only had the pleasure of seeing him in concert once. I discovered his music at a time of my life when I was going through a difficult period in my life. It is coincidental that I discovered his music at the same time I began consulting a professional about my problems, and I know that his music was not my "drug" per se, but I still feel that his album Underdogs changed me. His 2003 album Avalanche, had the same impact on me, many years later. It is undoubtedly his best effort yet, however, his next album, will be released next month.

It appears that Matthew Good underwent a metamorphosis of sorts after the demise of the Matthew Good Band. His songwriting and musical style changed dramatically, and for the better, I believe. Avalanche is an entire concept album, shrouded in political turmoil. The blog on his webpage is full of news stories, political commentary, and links to political action committees. It seems to me that he has something important to say to his fans, in his blog and in his music, and being an artist is an excellent way to preach ideology.

All this being said, and I never thought myself much of a political activist. Funny how things change after 9/11. Mind you, I am a person who believes the world could be a better place, but I am not one to go out there and try to change it.

My final link on this page I feel is relevant to us all. It is Naomi Klein's webpage: No Logo. I discovered her book of the same name a few years ago, and loved it. Her book centers around the injustices of sweatshop labor, big-box realtors, high profits, minimal wages, and horrendous working conditions, all in the name of the mega-brand. I can't get into too much detail regarding specifics, as her book is very long, but I must say that even though it is a depressing read, it is also enlightening. I believe it is time that we all should understand what kind of human rights violations are responsible for the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the software you use, the cars you drive etc. It is time that us, the consumers have the power to choose what we buy returned to us. Believe me, we have few choices left when it comes to commodities.

I began writing a book about ten years ago. It was a work of fiction, the underlying theme centered around the fall of Capitalism. The novel would have been classified as a distopia, not unlike Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984. It centered around a number of characters, who should have had the ability to change the world, but were unable (or incapable) of changing it. I only managed to finish writing the first part of the book; it was a long work of fiction. Even though I used multiple outlines, and the whole book had been written, I felt like I had written myself into a corner while writing the first full-size manuscript. Years later, I discovered Klein's book, and found that others felt a similar way about Capitalism and Corporate America as I did. I often feel that Klein had done a much better job at communicating my ideas and thoughts, and she used non-fiction as a better vehicle to deliver her mandate.

I often think about my novel that was never finished. It often returns to me when a major event happens in this world -- just as I had predicted it in my mind. Each time I correctly predict a major event, it is further justification that Capitalism will fall -- and it may not be very far away.