Monday morning, slight headache

[cleolinda]

Not much going on this morning, except that I have a crapload of things I should be doing.



66 die in India-Pakistan train attack.

Science finds new ways to regrow fingers.

Feeding your brain: new benefits found in chocolate. Well, now I feel a lot better about eating a bunch of Lindt this morning!

Tasmanian devils face extinction from mutant cancer.

Transsexual pioneer Renee Richards regrets fame.

Sex in fast lane halts traffic on road.

Man wins $25,000 lottery two days in row.

Britney goes bald in stunning makeover. I think I've figured out why this particular development is so shocking, compared to her previous exploits with baby-dropping and mimsy-flashing and car-barfing: publicly shaving her head directly affects her professional earning power. Maybe she was, as has been rumored on ohnotheydidnt, on meth at the time; maybe she wasn't thinking at all. But what she's done, whether she realizes it or not, is gone and changed her image and thus the path of her career. Now, she can go record some more songs in the vein of "Stronger" and go rock the baldness V for Vendetta style, or she can slap some wigs on and pretend it never happened. But the thing is... we know it happened. We'll never be able to look at her without thinking, "She's baaaaald under there." So now that she's done this, she has unwittingly set a change of professional image in motion that is going to require her to sack up and take control of her life and adopt the "sadder but wiser/stronger/tougher" persona, or... she's going to slip into hapless trashiness. Or even deeper into hapless trashiness, rather. And because the dehairification seems to have been completely thoughtless and unplanned on her part, I'm not sure she understands the crossroads she's at here.

The Hobbit in 2009? With Sam Raimi? I think I've just given up on this one, to the point where any new development is just One More Step Towards Inevitable Suck. It's a lot easier on my nerves that way.

New Simpsons movie trailer.

Lohan Parties After Being Released from Rehab; Ray Liotta arrested, charged with DUI.

Children of Men won for cinematography at the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards! Yay!

particle_person: "Via Dave Barry's blog: The Pirate Toaster. If ever an invention were perfect for you, Cleo, this is the one. I mean, breakfast and pirates!"

Comments

[dragonflyknight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know that feeling, I should be applying to more jobs, but I find myself reading watchmen and perusing your links. Thank you by the way! Sam Raimi makes me laugh, in a good way.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly, to everything about Britney shaving her head. I mean, I made a crack that it's not like she's got a dress code at some job to worry about, but that's kind of the point. Her fanbase is not the type to go for this sort of thing so she's either got to pony up and OWN it or ... well, it's down the rabbit hole for her. (Quite frankly, I'd rather she got her ass in the saddle again and kicked a little ass -- whatever my opinion of her, I hate Federline enough not to want him to think he has this kind of effect on anyone.)

Also, her skull's a wee bit bumpy. I was reminded watching TAR last night that when Joyce on The Amazing Race shaved her head for a challenge a few seasons ago she looked brilliant, like some sort of Egyptian goddess. Britney, alas, does not.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Yeah - you have to have a pretty head to pull that look off.

[yarha.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, we're all bald underneath our hair.

Yarha, Naked Beneath My Clothes

[sugarplanet.livejournal.com]

my friend was telling me about scientists growing parts of a chicken (i.e. breast, wing, leg, etc), the same way they do skin but a finger? a human finger!

I don't know why but growing body parts, whether it be human or animal just skeeves me out!

[mercat.livejournal.com]

Huh. I was kind of thinking the same thing on the Britney front, like "wow, shaved hair and a tattoo, that's interesting," but I'm kind of biased in that I hate her music and I kind of think she might just be going the poor-white-trash route. Not that she's poor, but yeah.

Although if she could pull out of her slump then there's a chance she could redeem herself, I can see it. (Even if I still hate her music, heh.)

Anyway, props to you on the V for Vendetta thing. =) It's a good point.

Also... poor Taz(es)!

Someone on my friendslist

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

made the point that maybe Britney's hair's so screwed up that she felt she needed to regrow it from scratch.

Re: Someone on my friendslist

[mollyblack.livejournal.com]

That's definitely a possibility. My first thought though was since she checked in and checked out of the rehab so fast was that she did it because it's the only way of keeping long-term track of drugs people do. It all gets stored in your hair. William Gibson did a brilliant bit about that in his third book in the Neuromancer series Mona Lisa Overdrive.

That's not why I go bald. I do it for things like photo shoots and because I've bleached it out too often and need to start from scratch. So it could have been that. But like I said, it being combined with the one day rehab thing just made me think of that.

Re: Someone on my friendslist

[promise19.livejournal.com]

Woah... that gives a totally new realm of possibilities considering that "alleged" Britney hair is now for sale on E-bay! Federline buys hair, has hair tested, tests show that she's doing drugs, uses it in custody battle. OHNOZ!!! The drama gets deeper!

Re: Someone on my friendslist

[mollyblack.livejournal.com]

Except if the hair was cut off in LA, how would somebody in PA be selling it? It sounds like insta-scam to me.

Re: Someone on my friendslist

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Actually, there's an article I'm posting in the next linkspam that talks about how her hair really was so bleach-damaged to the point that she was developing bald patches. However, when she grabbed the clippers, she also reportedly said, "I'm tired of people touching me." It's the tattoos afterwards that make me think she really was on a bender. And the meth rumor comes from someone who (in total disregard of HIPAA) reported that her uncle, a medical professional of some sort, saw Britney in the ER shortly after, having been brought in for amphetamine psychosis.

[divabat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why so many people think Britney being bald is necessarily a bad thing. It almost conforms to some standard that women cannot be bald onoz!! but really, does it matter?

Australia's gonna have Shave For A Cure soon, where people shave or colour their hair for cancer research, and I'd rather this effort doesn't get looked at badly just because someone famous decided to shave their head.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I actually think it looks kind of awesome, and if she decided to rock it Vendetta-style I would actually like it a lot more. What struck me, though, was how that's still a definite change in her professional/media image--one that I think would actually benefit her--but one that I think she made unknowingly, and in fact she probably won't capitalize on a positive new look and will try to cover it up in pathetic ways. In fact... (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=437118&in_page_id=1773&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=picbox&ct=5)

[divabat.livejournal.com]

It does look awesome on her! I suppose with everyone hounding her for it, though, she felt the need to wig up. Aww.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

This is actually symptomatic of what I feel may be the problem with Britney's entire life: she won't (or can't) step up and own what she does. She was pushed and overworked as a young teen, she's spoiled now, and nothing she does is ever her fault (according to the excuses she lays out every time she's caught doing something stupid). I guess I see a lot of people I've known in the Britney we're seeing now--she needs to sack up and own what she does. For example, ideally she would have walked into a salon in her right mind, said "I'm sick of my damaged hair and my ratty extensions," or even "I'm sick of having to look a certain way for the public," and whacked all her hair off. I mean, it's ironic that we actually have Natalie Portman as a precedent for shaved/bald looking good; its far more "acceptable," style-wise for Britney to do this now than it would have been two years ago. But instead, Britney just kind of flails from hijink to hijink. And the thing is, there's power in saying, "[Whatever] is my fault and my responsibility." Because yes, you're saying you're the only one to blame, but you're also saying that you're the one responsible for your own actions--not drugs, not your family, not your upbringing, not your "handlers," not the public--and you'll do what you damn please. It's a two-edged thing, and so many people don't want the burden of the first part that they miss out on the strength and the freedom of the second.

[artemis-archer.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's so much that her being bald is so bad, as it is that it was probably done when she wasn't in her right state of mind. If she had just randomly done it, it would still be a surprise but because she did it and seemed really out of it at the time and then was crying... it just seems like she was on drugs or something when it happened and if her mind had been clear she would have never done it so that changes the way people see it.

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

The Simpsons trailer looks spectacular :D I must say the last few seasons didn't live up to the older ones, but this is promising.

And hooray for Children of Men awards, sooo deserved for that camera work!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I agree that this is either a Sinead O'Conner move for Britney or one more step down the slippery slope of heading for a tragic place on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams show. Reese Witherspoon really needs to give the girl some pointers on taking a break up gracefully.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

Britney needs pointers on grace, period.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Renee Richards threw a tennis racket at me once. I was working as a ball girl at the Virginia Slims.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

... Wow.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

And now I'm wondering how Bruce Campbell is going to fit into The Hobbit.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

My first thought was, "Wow, Ted's going to look really weird as a hobbit/dwarf/goblin/insert cameo."

LOL>... Renee Richards Regrets fame...

[mzmartipants.livejournal.com]

That's why she's written two books, because, gosh darn it, she hates fame. As I said on my transadvocate.com blog, if you don't want the fame, STFU. Your 15 minutes were up years ago.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

You know what might cheer Britney up? PILLLLOWFIIIIIIIIGHT! (http://www.newmindspace.com/pillowfightnyc.php)
(Reply to this)

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

When I first saw the stuff about Britney shaving her head, I thought she might have done it as a some sort of Lent-time repentence or something, to mark a turning point in her life and lifestyle. Sadly, that does not seem to be the case, though I hope everything turns out for the best for her.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

So now that she's done this, she has unwittingly set a change of professional image in motion that is going to require her to sack up and take control of her life and adopt the "sadder but wiser/stronger/tougher" persona, or... she's going to slip into hapless trashiness. Or even deeper into hapless trashiness, rather.

She's gone beyond any sort of redemption, and is now filling the "airhead classless sloppy bimbo" space recently voided by Anna Nicole Smith. Do you think any of her old "friends" (Madonna springs to mind) will touch her with a ten-foot pole now? Once you start hanging with Paris Hilton, the only trajectory is downward. I just wish the paparazzi would stop taking her picture -- she's really unsavory now.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Hey,

I'm very worried about the plight of our beloved Tasmanian Devil. Scientists and Zoos here are tyring to build up breeding populations of uninfected Joeys on the mainland for release later... I hope they won't be needed...

[trash-addict.livejournal.com]

Lindt owns my soul.

[maeritrae.livejournal.com]

Please tell me someone already linked you to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-me8KUtXIWo).

[raven-feathers.livejournal.com]

LMAO that is so incredibly awesome!

[chaosvizier.livejournal.com]

Ok, now there's really nothing funny about a bomb attack killing people on trains... up until Railway Minister Laloo Prasad states that "This is an attempt to derail the improving relationship between India and Pakistan."

Did he absolutely have to use the word "DERAIL"? BWAAAAAHAHAHAHA.

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

My mom says (we were having this conversation over lunch at Pizza Hut) is that Britney's problem is that she has no one to take a firm hand with her. I mean, she's surrounded by people who praise her every move, and make money over the controversy she causes. But the fact that people keep referring to it as her "VfV hairdo" bugs me. I mean, that movie does not deserve to be brought down to the likes of Britney Spears.