Victoria's Dirty Little Secret.....

No, I didn't watch the so-called fashion show on CBS on Wednesday night. I was watching the E! True Hollywood Story on the Bond Girls.

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a guy, and guys are lookers. We love to look at women, especially if they match the cultural definition of "beautiful" -- thin, tall, and scantily clad. That alone is reason enough to explain the success of magazines like Maxim and Playboy over the years. Not to mention the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, the E! entertainment channel, and places like Hooters.

Naturally, there's bound to be some protests. I believe there were hundreds of protest calls to CBS about the Victoria's Secret fashion show. And I know that NOW has lodged their voice of complaint as well.

I can understand their opposition: this stuff can reduce women to nothing but sex objects -- a bunch of body parts strictly for viewing -- and not as whole human beings. Sometimes we hear about their love lives. We never hear about their IQs, their families, or the humanitarian and philanthropic things they've done over the years. Why not? Because guys like to look, many of them don't think intelligence is sexy, and Sex Sells (the old Madison Avenue mantra). (Yeah, I know -- it's a stereotype.)

Of course, there's lots of violence on TV as well, but we rarely hear about it. Kill a person on the tube and no one bats an eye. Flash a breast and the switchboard lights up like a Christmas tree. If I was in Europe, it would probably be the other way around. Ah well. Yet another reminder that this country was founded by a group of Puritans.

I have my own gripe: the models they are just too pouty and skinny for my tastes. It reinforces the distorted Hollywood-based stereotype that a woman has to be rail-thin and anorexic to be considered beautiful. Were there any plus-sized models strutting down the runway? I think not. I want zaftig. I want voluptuous. I want to see some curves! I don't want to be seeing (and hugging) nothing but skin and bones!

Oh yeah.... Victoria's Secret carries a very small selection of lingerie for any BBW (Big Beautiful Women) out there. (I know because my wife tried to buy something from them last year, and we walked out empty-handed because nothing they had in stock would fit her.) They have to go to Frederick's of Hollywood to get their sexy underthings. Or elsewhere.

Ooh.....have I uncovered a gap in their market? This sounds like something that could be filled rather easily, with the right designers, and a fair amount of starting capital. I'm sure there's quite a demand out there.

And because I'm a guy, and a looker, I should also make up a button that says, "Pardon my leer; I'm just admiring the Goddess' handiwork."

Idiots of the Week:
Michael Jackson for dangling his 6-month old son over the balcony, when he was up on the 4th floor of some hotel. He later apologized, saying he was "caught up in the moment". What the hell were you thinking, Michael?

James Kopp, for saying that he only intended to wound Dr. Barnett Slepian so that he wouldn't perform abortions anymore. Instead, the shot from Kopp's gun killed him. I agree with gleepy on this one: "Kopp's act was not a Christian act by no means...".

Coming up next: The Big Game and why I don't really care who wins.

The Big Game......

This is it.......the mother of all college football rivalries. Ohio State vs. Michigan. They meet for the 99th time today at "the Shoe" -- the horseshoe-shaped Ohio State University Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

There's been lots of talk and buzz about this game for the past week. (And if you live in Columbus, they've been talking about this game for the past few months!) I've heard talk that tickets are going for hundreds of dollars -- more if you buy 'em from a scalper.

In Columbus, college football is not just a game. It's a passion, a religion, a way of life! The whole town shuts down when OSU plays a home game. It's gridlock for miles around the stadium. (So stay off the 315 today if you can.) And woe to the coach who wins every game and loses this one. Ask John Cooper.

Even though I live and work in Ohio, I don't bleed scarlet and gray, like some people I know. But then again, I didn't go to OSU as an undergrad. Nor did I go to Michigan. I went to SUNY/Buffalo, which was, at the time, a division III sports school. Only in the last several years have hey gone to Division I sports. For ous, our "big game" was playing either cross-town rival Buffalo State (aka SUNY College at Buffalo), or Canisius
(the private, Jesuit-run school in town).

So how did this rivalry start? The legend I know is that Bo Schembechler worked as an assistant coach to Woody Hayes before quitting and taking the head coach job at Michigan. I've also heard that the rivalry predates that.

It was entertaining to watch the antics of some of the folks I used to work with a few years ago. One of the department managers went to U of M for one of his degrees. A few of his employees went to OSU. One year they hung the manager's trash can (colored maize and blue) in his office....with a noose.

Will I watch the game on TV? Maybe. Do I care who wins? Not really. If OSU wins (Go Bucks!), great. If Michigan wins (Go Blue!), no big deal for me. Life goes on. The OSU band will still be TBDBITL, and continue to do the famous "Script Ohio" formation, although there may be no joy in Columbus tonight if OSU loses.

I suspect that maedbh7 is going to sequester herself at home today, and not venture out for any reason.