Leporiphobia

As a person who openly admits to suffering from cynophobia, I can understand the plight of people who suffer from leporiphobia, the psychological term for fear of rabbits.  I know it's not a rational fear, but the fear is nonetheless arresting and all consuming.  Sure people may mock people who suffer from leporiphobia for fearing something soft and cute, but those are the kind of people who lack compassion for their fellow human beings.  Also, those people suck.  I stand by my brothers who also have illogical animal fears ad vow to never post anything on my blog that might set off someone's bunny based phobia.


Oops.

Now You Tell Me

Many of us have been in the situation where we've spent the entire weekend working on a paper in a library. You've spent a great deal of time researching, tracking down essays and articles, sifting through mountains of scholarly journals, wading through a seemingly endless supply of dust covered textbooks, thoroughly digging and digging and digging around for sources to prove your point.  Then, finally, you find the four or five good reliable sources that you were looking so hard for.  You write your paper, turn it in, and feel this overwhelming sense of accomplishment.  Then a couple of months or weeks or even days go by, and you happen upon an article that does more to prove your point than the sources in your paper do combined.  In that moment you, exasperated at what you just found, cry out, "WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU!!!"

I wonder if Miranda Barbour would say that after seeing the graphic posted above.

Today Is A Great Day

Today is a great day because...

De La Soul is running what they're calling a Valentine's Day Promo.  Today, and only today, all of De La Soul's music is available legitimately for free.  Just click this link, follow the instructions, and enjoy!

Here Are A Series Of Posed Photographs

There are certain assumptions that you can make when you see a photograph of someone.  Increasingly one of those assumptions you can make is that the photograph is not an accurate representation of reality.  Between photoshopping, airbrushing, and other artistic techniques, fiddling with photos, both before and after the photo is taken, has become as integral of a part of the photography process as film used to be.  One of these techniques of staging.

We've all seen photos where the entire family gathers around one or more older members of the family and flashes their biggest and brightest smiles while all looking in the same general direction.  Do any of us think that this happens naturally?  No!  Photos like this are entirely staged so that they look their best.  We all know this, but some people insist on reading more into these photos that that.  Perhaps it is the cynic in me, but I am not one of them.  Perhaps it is the cynic in me, but I always think photographs are staged in one way or another.

So why do I have such a big problem with this?  Yes these pictures are contrived, I knew that when I clicked on the story.  These series of pictures are entirely staged, the colour is entirely taken away, and even the clothing choices, or lack of clothing choices, are suspect.  So who do I have such a big problem with this?  I believe it is the setting.  To me, the bedroom is a place where I can escape to when I want to reach absolute solitude.  To me, the bedroom is not just a place where I can rest, it is a place where I can be alone, and for someone to invade that offends me.  I know not everyone feels this way, but this is an extension of how I approach the world.  If I feel that doing something is really messed up, it would be fucked up for me to do that same thing.  If I don't want someone to invade my personal private space, then I need to treat other people's personal private spaces the same way.  So, even though it is entirely staged and contrived, I don't feel right seeing pictures of celebrities in their bedrooms.

Also, who the fuck wears a leather jacket to bed?