I really need to do another archaic word of the day. It's been far too long since the last, yes?

So, as I imparted to Kari yesterday, it kinda pisses me off that there is a such a limited, narrow, and slanted view of what is attractive in terms of how women look (because, if we're being brutally honest, I'm far closer to straight than I am to being gay and so can speak more authoritatively on that end of the spectrum).

Granted, I still find physical attractiveness to be a sorry form of evaluation for people, pointless, and a cruelly unfair system that aids to many of the debilitating aspects of our society that erodes self-confidence and certainty in self-image (hyperbolic? I'd hardly say so).

That being said – I'm not going to convince many (if any) other people to my line of thinking. And, if that's the case (as I said above), it really pisses me off that there's such a limited view of what is considered attractive when it comes to women.

It may just be me, but there is a complete wealth of diversity and multitude of differing body types when it comes to girls (like I said, I'm a poorer judge when it comes to guys, so it's mostly ignorance talking there) that it absolutely amazes me that our society tries so harshly to smash it into some ridiculous notion of a singular mold. I mean...why would you want to limit yourself?

However, as I said above, there's a limited view of what is considered attractive. Obviously, attractive doesn't mean only physically attractive (and by physically attractive I mean traits that can only be derived through genes). There are many personal and cultural choices that a person can make that can make them attractive or not attractive to a person (such as choice of clothes or whether they wear glasses or not).

So, that being said, understand that the rest of this discussion in this post covers on some things which are just a matter of opinion and others of it are just inexcusable pickiness and stupidity. Also understand that while I'll focus on my out-of-what-is-usually-considered-the-norm attractions, I generally fall within the mainstream as well. Which is all fine and dandy. I get why we might flock to certain ideas of attractiveness and generally will agree. It's our seeming inability to venture away from these or even admit that the ones I'm going to list are perfectly applicable candidates as well that bothers me.

The first that drives me insane is our society's complete inability to recognize curves. I wanna scream every time some idiot mislabels someone as being "too fat" just because her body actually has a shape which differs from a stalk of celery. Obesity and curves are not the same thing. The latter, you dumbnut, happens to be the natural shape a woman's body takes. Not all, obviously, but please stop telling all to achieve that of a pole.

That being said – fat isn't a bad thing. Being chubby can be equally attractive. Criticize the muffin top, if you will, but chubby girls tend to be more cuddly and are tons more fun to hug.

Also, what's with the Only Huge Boobs Please thing? They get big enough and they start to no longer look human. Alright, alright, I'm being facetious by now; but, seriously, small breasts aren't a bad thing. They are quite the opposite often enough. Diversity, people!

Now, this next pet peeve of mine, admittedly, is mostly a preference thing. I can't honestly chastise people here in good conscience. Obviously some may just honestly disagree with me. But I've never been able to understand the makeup thing. If I wanted to be cocky and snide, I might say it's because I'm a fan of natural beauty and don't understand wanting to cover it up, but that would most clearly be just me being a smartass, and I could easily disassemble such an argument. That said – I still don't understand makeup. In 99.9% of the cases I've seen (and I'm mostly meaning towards the beautifying stuff, anyway (like lipstick, etc.); not movie makeup, for example), the individual looks utterly better just without makeup. But, then again, I've always had what my mother has called pathetically simplistic and boring tastes. A girl with no makeup, hair done up in a simple ponytail (with no other "trimmings"), and wearing jeans and a hoodie is a thousand times more attractive to me than one "dressed up" (say, a dress). Then again, I'm also a fan of adrogynous girls and what others might call "plain looking", for two other vaguely related examples.

I was slightly horrified, admittedly, yesterday when Vikki and Bailey started freaking out over Alys having a figure and going to go shopping with her; I've always found her to be attractive, unrevealing dressing style and all. Yeah, I said it; granted, it partially doesn't matter because this will likely never make it back to Alys and so she won't be able to glare at me like she tends to. But still. Regardless of where the majority lies, those are my tastes. I'm sure there are others out there that agree.

Also, arms with hair on them. Are they really so bad? At first I was kinda indifferent. Now a days, I lean a little more in favor of. It seems like whenever hair and female get put in the same sentence people recoil (I can mentally see my parents doing so right now) – but I don't get it. It can be just as cute or pretty as hair on one's head can be, I think.

I remember last Winter Break my mom asked me if I had seen any girls at college yet that I find attractive. Normally I either ignore her or say something along the lines of, "Why? It's only an illusion anyway." This time, however, I decide I'll humor her. So, I respond, "No, not really. I've kinda been into more masculine women lately." My parents reactions? They gawk and go, "What???" Now, granted, I probably meant more physically feminine women with a masculine gender, but (as I've said here many times now) butch women are pretty fantastic as well. My main point here is that there are, in the mainstream, a lack of women with a more masculine demeanor (either in only their gender or physically or some combination of both). I mean, if we're being totally technical, playing video games is still generally considered a masculine trait (as in it's considered socially acceptable when done by males and often not considered acceptable when done by females), which instantly makes gamer girls technically more masculine than most of their fellow female peers. But clearly most of us wouldn't instinctually label video games as being all that masculine (leastwise, I don't). I mean in areas that are more universally thought of as masculine, there is a lack of females which possess that. The only category (again, I'm talking mainstream, so (for example) the butch/femme lesbian culture doesn't really count, not to mention (to the best of my ignorant knowledge) I believe that culture is slowly fading away) for such a phenomenon is the old tomboy stereotype – and that's pretty limited. How about a girl that wears a lot of "guy" clothes (such as suits, etc.) but isn't all that athletic? However, if we could break stereotypes so easily in people's minds, I'd be a much happier person and quite busy in the world.

And I'm sure there are a million others I could think of. I didn't mentioned, for example, braces or glasses in part because our society is moving closer to finding them acceptable on a really mainstream level, even finding them cute. Anyone see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? It says something that the fact that the main character's love interest is a nerd, equipped with glasses, can go over our heads because we've become so used to the idea and also – well, she's a nerd! And it's a children movie that did well at the theatres. Think of how this may affect future generations of kids who saw the movie? Granted, I'm not going to assume that all such taunts and aversions to glasses will end because of this movie (my father once told me he would never have dated anyone else with glasses because he was so self-conscience about his own as a kid); but it's progress.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, love your "imperfections" and "blemishes".

You never know who could be admiring them.

Oh, and also rail against the stupidity of society. But I guess that's kinda the undercurrent of this entire Xanga, now isn't it?

Why must be looking for scholarships be so difficult?

In unrelated news, I actually watched The House Bunny today. I wouldn't've been so disappointed (or disappointed at all - I had the stupid thing pegged before I watched it) if it hadn't somehow convinced me it had some merit to it at at the beginning of the film.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, I'll give a quick rundown. We're informed by the main star in a quick 5 minutes at the beginning of the movie that she was pretty much an outcast and loner when she was younger. Then she got older and was seen to be pretty. Not very smart to begin with, she opts to use her looks to her advantage. So, she does as any other girl would naturally do in this situation - she joins Playboy to live in the Playboy mansion.

The beginning seemed like fantastical satire, even during the entirety of the Playboy mansion scenes. As the girls danced around in what seems to be some sort of fantasy for some people (hey, if girls in "rabbit suits" smacking each other's behinds is what gets you off - and you find a consenting adult to participate - I'm not one to protest), you couldn't help but feel the movie was highlighting something. As the main character put it when she expresses she one day wants to be a centerfold (paraphrased), "The centerfold is one of the most prestige awards a person can get. It's like saying, 'I'm naked and featured in a magazine.'" Hard to argue with that.

As part of a cruel plan from another house member, she receives a fake letter that says she must leave the Playboy mansion.

Somehow, she happens upon a college and wants to become a sorority mother; and happens to choose the most unpopular one she can come across (for a rather shortened version and sum up).

Now, I admit, while not stellar, I enjoyed the humor thus far. After all, I wasn't exactly expecting hard-hitting, groundbreaking material from this movie to begin with.

And the sorority members gave a really distinct and utterly fun new set of characters. There was the leader, the geek of the group (it was rather fantastic to watch her go on about Battlestar Galactica and to have her list ideas for the sorority such as B.Y.O.M - Bring Your Own Mouse...much to others confusion). There was a girl who had to wear, basically, a full body brace all the time. Another girl who had an incredibly deep voice and walked around all the time hunched over. One of my favorites, one with a ton of facial piercings and a totally feminist view point (a great line was when she hoses a guy in the face who was drooling over some girls and remarks, "Just washing the testosterone away"). And the other memorable one that comes to mind is a girl who never talks, and mostly hides most of the movie. During the big scene where she does, one of them remarks, "Wait....you're British??"

As you might expect for the plot, the "House Bunny" changes all of them and, at the end, they figure out they've lost their personalities and who they were.

Except one thing...they all still seem to dress rather nicely, the feminist one going as far as to not to bother to put back all the piercings in her face and, even, keep her hair dyed and wear a bit of makeup.

Now, now - before we go any further: I have no issue with maybe the character fitting this new mold instead of the previous one. In trying to break societal expectations, we don't necessarily need to defy society's idea of normal. In fact, any time you choose to define yourself by defying something else, you defeat the purpose and/or have no further purpose (with a few concrete and specific exceptions, of course).

However...is it so impossible to finally have a character which destroys what we expect from a person and not force him/her back into this preconceived mold by society?

In all honesty, while The Breakfast Club didn't really seem to be all that special or different from most teen movies of similar material, I can never really forgive it for it's treatment of Allison.

Labeled the "freak" in the movie, she's by far the most out there of the characters. By the end of the movie, we get this:

Some may disagree with me, but they robbed the character of the person.

Again, don't get me wrong - my issue is not that they've now made her exactly what society expects of her. It's that there is rarely a strong, wholesome character displayed in media who is normalized while not trivializing (nor getting rid of entirely) their interests and who they are.

In the end, just be who you are. If you happen to be a blond who happens to be in cheerleading and only dates football players and you do that because that's just what feels most normal to you - then do it. But do not suddenly stunt your intelligence and mistreat others because that's what's accepted of you. Be who you want to be, regardless of what society tells you to be (notable exceptions to the rule (obvious stuff) are being purposely stupid, being immoral, etc.).

My favorite scene from The Breakfast Club, admittedly, is a scene during the detention, where all the students are bored. And, so, Allison decides to shake dandruff from her hair onto the table in front of her. Once she finished making it snow for a little bit, she looks down in complete joyful wonder at the site, with an almost childlike entertainment; completely unaware of anyone else's gaze or judging.

While, ultimately, The House Bunny seemed like it might offer some substance of interest, the saddest part of the movie was simply that it offered so many decent (if stunted) good moments and, to an extent, message while not bothering to check or care if they mashed completely with its formulaic plot and message.

The part I can't seem to get from my head is when, emotionally moved, the main character says something along the lines of, "That just makes my heart fall out of my head." The feminist retorts, "Do you realize how utterly stupid you sound when you say that?"

And, while not really marked (as I remember it) as a special or epiphany-like moment, she simply states, "I know that my heart doesn't reside in my head; but I do know that when you're following a logical plan, it won't work still unless you put your heart into it." Again, paraphrased - and more effective when done by the actress. But it really just gets it across that just because a person isn't articulate or smart in the most traditional of senses, that doesn't mean they aren't smart, aware, and just as deserving of respect. And maybe it wasn't the best way to demonstrate that point and they should've applied that sentiment to the character for a larger portion of the movie.

But maybe it's so striking because that level of maturity and insight from this type of movie is so utterly unexpected.

Well, only one class today; I thankfully woke up on time for it. Did laundry, which I forgot to do yesterday.

Have found some hilarious videos, as well. There's one as a preview for if the game Minesweeper was ever made a movie. Which of course made me want to play minesweeper again. I love having that on the calculator. Anyway, if you've ever played or been a fan of the game, you'll absolutely love it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs.

Also on the note of parodies, I happened to find one to Miley Cyrus's I Can't Wait to See You Again. I don't know if any of you have heard that song; I hope not, because my respect for you would drop steadily and it would mean you waste what little free time you have surfing the internet. Oh, yeah, Generation Y (remember your audience, Jon, remember your audience...). In any case, in a video that borders on stalkerish and creepy, yet still sounds great musically, Dave Days parodies the song. It's pretty funny; most of his videos are, actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6D4TQ3KQW0.

On that note, to more fully numb (and deteriate) my mind, I watched the video for 7 Things, largely because Dave made a parody of that too and I got bored pretty quickly; I don't think I watched the full thing of that one. In any case, I watched the original, to which I laughed and reaffirmed the reason why I dispise pop music (I mean, other than the fact it's generally talentless garbage - honestly, it's not that hard to write your own lyrics).

So, for those who are smart enough to avoid headaches from the current media of our day and age by living under a rock - the song basically is talking to a past boyfriend, listing the 7 things Miley dislikes about him.

The song itself wasn't too bad, at first. Throughout the video, a whole slew of other girls either dance, hold past teddy bears or other objects that remind them of their significant asshole, or lip-sync Miley's words.

Of course, the girls look like their about to cry throughout the whole thing (because that's what girls do during a fucked up relationship, right? For every single one. Just tons and tons of girls - they all have the same exact identical reactions to the same situation).

But then the best part was after tearing our hearts out by their frustrsation over this deucebag and crying, then they decide to list the reasons why they like this guy. And of course during so, their eyes can't face the camera and gotta bite the lower lip. And then they note how their still in love with the guy; aw. Abusive relationship, much?

And while the many (many) displayed girls are quite heterogeneous (one of them striking me as quite butch), I have to note that they're all average to skinny in stature and all fairly pretty. Of course. Overweight girls don't have unsatisfactory relationships? Haha, in the long run, actually, that's probably true.