She's not that innocent

The Matel doll, Barbie, is causing scandal yet again. In college, I took one of those fruity Gallatin classes whose name gave really no indication as to what the class was about, but it turned out to be one of my top five favorite courses and we spent many a class hour discussing the idea and figure of Barbie. Then, it was all about body issues and the idea that Barbie's body is the female beauty paradigm when, in fact, if her proportions were to be increased so that she were a life-size person, she would be far too top heavy for her tiny little waist to support. Someone brought in several of their own Barbie dolls from childhood and there was something about the feel of them in my hand that made me suddenly very angry about all the importance we were putting into these dolls. Maybe I'm anti-feminist, but I love Barbie and the only thing I hate about her body is that her clothes never really fit it very well. I can't remember a time in my childhood when I idealized Barbie, and while I might not be able to be objective enough to say this as an absolute fact, I'd like to think that I learned my lessons about femininity from the postive female role models that were actual presences in my every day life. Women who talked to me, who brushed my hair, who dressed me and who reasoned with me.

Still, the fact that they are making a Barbie who is actually meant to be drinking real alcohol, not just some unmarked or unnamed beverage, disturbs me a little bit. Maybe it's because she's actively participating in an activity not suitable for children, or maybe it's because I just don't feel like there should be any sort of illegally debaucherous behavior in the fantasy minds of kids. I'll admit I totally made my Barbies do the deed but that's when I was much older (10 or so) and probably shouldn't have been playing with dolls in the first place. But seriously, summers in Orangeburg, South Carolina with my grandparents weren't the most socially stimulating months of my life and I needed ways to pass the time.

Triple Nipple Inbred Trailer Trash

Jerry Springer: The Opera is one serious laughing matter. I know because I was lucky enough to have seen it last night when it showed for the first of only two nights at Carnegie Hall and I can't remember a time when I've been a member of an audience that seemed to have so much fun. Much as one would expect it was full of vulgarity and what we've come to understand as societal "trash," and was therefore undoubtedly hilarious. It was, however, also a perspective-giver in that it forced the viewer to recognize the humanity of these people and, I think, expanded the mainstream idea of the human condition to include those in marginalized socio-economic groups. Their problems are just different manifestations of the problems that plague us all -- the desire to find unconditional love, to be accepted for who we are, to fulfill our life dreams, etc. -- and I'm happy that this show gives a more three-dimensional feel to the culture of trashy talk shows. The New York Times has more intelligent things to say and reports that some crazy Christian types are unsurprisingly humorless.

Superficials

You may have noticed that Radiocain got a little face lift over the weekend, and if you haven't, then that's even better because it means you're seeing this blog for the first time since it was tricked out by the design genius over at Black Tee Shirt. I hope that the new aesthetic makes you all as happy as it makes me.

Another blog-worthy event from this past weekend is Obama's definitive win over Clinton in Saturday's South Carolina primary. While I -- and many in the political sphere -- sort of anticipated this win, the polls taken in the days before the vote were misleadingly tight and had me slightly worried that the Clintons (yes, both of them) had mud-slinged their way to the top. This, however, didn't prove to be the case and I'm hopeful that this victory will boost the energy of the Obama camp heading into Soup-er Tuesday next week. It can only get more exciting and tense from here and I for one can't wait to see how it all plays out. Barack and roll, indeed.

Oh! And don't forget to tune into Bush's State of the Union address tonight.

Political Times

This morning, the editorial board of the NY Times endorsed Hillary Clinton as its Democratic nominee for the 2008 presidential election. As a New York-centric paper, I can't say that I'm fully surprised that they chose to support Clinton, given her senatorial ties to this state (and city), and their justification for the decision makes a perfect amount of sense, I just can't say that I'm not a little disappointed, either. All the things that they praise Obama for are all the reasons that I want to vote for him. He is an inspiring man with a lot of passion who seems wholly compassionate. Ultimately, the Times is backing Clinton because she is more qualified, and it's true that through this entire primary race, Obama has been criticized for his lack of Washington experience, but for that I say: good! The last thing this country -- a country that is so determined to change the course of our politics and policies -- needs is another politician who is so fully immersed in Capitol Hill politics and corruption. I think Obama's absence from that gives him a perspective for change that no other candidates have. Yes, perhaps this perspective could be naive, but it's also exciting and a huge breath of fresh air in this political race.

While I cannot take full credit for my next argument as to why I'm supporting Obama (thanks, Brandon), I still think it's one that has really impacted my opinion about this race, and that's the dynasty argument. If Clinton wins we will be living in a country that will live under the politics of two families for over 30 years (G. H. W. Bush from 1989-1992 -- and he was V.P before that! -- Bill Clinton from 1992-2000, G. W. Bush from 2000-2008 and Hillary Clinton from 2008-2012, at least). That is nearly my entire lifetime, and for a great number of people it will be their entire lifetime. What is this country turning into? Why does it feel like this is turning the political clock back about 200 years? Why is no one in the media talking about this. As far as I can see, this dynastic trend does nothing to uphold the integrity or principle of democracy and it actually really sort of freaks me out. I feel like we will be guillotining people before too long.

That said, I can't say that I would be entirely outraged if Clinton wins. Much like my response to the Times' endorsement, I think I'd be mostly disappointed but also hopeful that Clinton can pull through and reshape this country. She's certainly capable, just not my first choice.

Oh, and in case you're at all interested, the Times also endorsed John McCain as their Republican nominee. No real surprise there.

Best Week Ever's Best Week for Videos

I'm a huge, huge fan of the Best Week Ever blog. They've got it all: awesome clips from daytime shows that make you wish you were unemployed; music recommendations that are pretty on par; pop culture commentary that makes me laugh out loud more than should be allowed at work; and Celebrity Math. Sometimes, as with everything, they take a misstep and I'm either disappointed or confused by their humor, but on the whole I just can't get enough.

This week, they've posted two of the most awesomely bad (read: hilarious) videos I've ever seen:



Honestly, I don't get this whole High School Musical thing, but I've immersed myself enough in celebrity culture to know that most people think Zac Efron is totally gay, that his former girlfriend was involved in some nude photo scandal and that he wears more eyeliner than I do. If nothing else, the above video proves that a) he's definitely gay b) Vanessa's photos were about as close as Zac's ever going to get to seeing naked breasts and c) having laser beams shot out of your eyes is an awesome side effect of wearing too much eyeliner.



Is this a real video for a real made-for-TV movie? If so, I've got to give it up to the people at Oxygen because this is some true advertising genius. The thought bubbles that pop up to explain relationships and internal thoughts are brilliant and I can't even believe that the fact that he was in Menudo is meant to make his character ridiculously attractive. Other highlights include: the dancing clown, the drawn-on devil horns, and the "Ouch!" bubble. The only way this video could be more awesome is if Ricky Martin were to somehow make a guest appearance.

Scrabulous

Every time I think of the Scrabble Facebook application, Scrabulous, my initial reaction is to immediately start singing the chorus to Fergie's song, "Glamorous," being sure to replace every repetition of the word glamorous with Scrabulous. This, however, does not mean that I don't have other, more complex thoughts about the application and its relationship to my obsession with the best word game ever invented. Not so long ago, I really started to step up my Scrabble game -- instead of being a passive player, I became much more strategic and vicious in my aggression on the board -- so much so that there are a certain number of people who actually refuse to play with me. When Facebook first started adding all those ridiculous applications (yes, I fully judge anyone with a vampire or werewolf application and I hate looking at people's pages when they're covered with Seventeen-esque quiz results), I was very anti and vowed to maintain the integrity of my profile. That idea, however, was abandoned as soon as a friend invited me to add the Scrabulous application. I thought my life would be revolutionized. I'd be able to play Scrabble all day, every day if I wanted to, and I would have the opportunity to play people I'd never get to play in the real world. I could play in different languages. (This, by the way, turned out the be the worst idea ever, and my game in French with my good friend Amy was insufferable). Ultimately, I ended up being less active than I thought with the Scrabulous application for a number of reasons:

1. I much preferred the beauty of making time with friendly competitors to sit around a coffee table or on the Bryant Park lawn to engage in a game that was both fun and afforded us the opportunity to gossip and to get really animated when we felt particularly excited or angry about a move. Generally, these occasions were coupled by a dinner party, or seeing the HBO summer film series and so my associations with Scrabble have always been these great social events and I had a hard time getting past that when I would be sitting at a computer, not even able to physically touch a square tile. Aesthetics are important to me.

2. People cheat. People cheat a lot. I can't say that I'm above this, but that's only because I feel like I'm putting myself at a significant disadvantage if I don't. The dictionary look-up is the most ridiculous aspect of Scrabulous (you should definitely not be able to look up a word or consult the list of 2-letter words before making a play) and makes the ability to challenge a competitor's questionable word play, one of the most game-breaking aspects of Scrabble, null and void. I call shenanigans.

3. Games can be stretched out for weeks, and, quite honestly, at that point I couldn't care less about who wins or loses; I just want it to be over. Never should anyone want a game of Scrabble to just "be over."

In spite of all this, I will say that the good thing about Scrabulous is that it's pushed the game back into the forefront of people's minds. I only have a handful of friends who actually own a Scrabble board, and I know for a fact that they play virtually more than they do in the real world. I'm sure this is true for a lot of people. Without Scrabulous far, far fewer people would be playing Scrabble and none of them would be playing it as often as they currently do; and for this I say kudos to you Scrabulous inventors and quit your whining to the people at Hasbro and Mattel who should be content enough with all the money they make from Barbies and Ouija boards. Let America's youth exercise its brain in lieu of e-stalking ex-significant others and high school bullies; we'll all be better off for it.

Testing one, two.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a particular affinity for and to gossip, so much so that my high school writing teacher, George Singleton, nicknamed me Radiocain. Broken down, this nickname is a play on my last name (O'Cain) and my eager willingness to broadcast any and all news to my classmates, administrators and teachers not unlike your favorite host on the local radio station. Even though I've learned a great deal about the value of censorship and privacy over the last several years, I still feel as though I've got a lot I want and should say, hence the creation of this blog. While the specifics of the potential content are still being fleshed out and better organized, I'm anxious to have this outlet at the ready, so here goes...

Today seems as good a day as any start a blog, and the best day to be interested in new technology. As I'm sure most people who own a computer are aware, Steve Jobs revealed the newest in Apple genius this morning: The MacBookAir. No matter what anyone says, size always matters -- especially for space-deprived New Yorkers -- and this latptop's sleek, almost anorexic-looking design makes it the smallest and most portable computer to date. I think my favorite thing about the MacBookAir is the addition of the multi-touch feature which was first used on the iPhone and then on the iTouch, and is ridiculously fun. Maybe if I owned an iPhone or iTouch, the novelty of this would have worn off by now, but as it stands the idea gets me pretty giddy. It puts the fun in function.

The one thing about this computer that really turns me off is the fact that its design makes it impossible for there to be an internal CD/DVD drive. The wireless opportunities are exciting and all , but I hate how much it serves to further Apple's vertical integration of the entire media world. The easiest way to upload music is to purchase it from iTunes, and I can see this being really, really harmful for the record industry at some point in the near future. Similarly, you can now rent DVDs from the iTunes music store. While I still believe that most people who rent/watch movies will be most likely to watch them on a television, I also believe that people are inherently lazy and if they can do everything with a few simple clicks of a button they will take the path of least resistance, and I can therefore see the potential for this new feature to really take off. Still, if I had $1800 just hanging out in my bank account waiting to be spent, you can bet your sweet ass that I'd be at the Apple Store tomorrow buying a computer that I could take home in an interoffice envelope.