Beyonce thoughts

I missed the VMAs last night because my new and bare-bones (yet still shockingly expensive) Comcast package has almost no channels, including basics like MTV and VH1, but I see that Beyonce announced her pregnancy, which made me think two things:

1.) how fucking calculated. I like Beyonce (though I maintain her name is the most ridiculous name I've ever heard - we've just gotten used to it so we forget how dumb it is), but this is some industry-calculated shit. You can just hear her people going, "this will be great for the Beyonce(TM) brand! We'll make the big announcement at the VMAs!" and somehow it will get tied into some endorsement or promotion. I'm sure it was or will be.

2.) there is a 13-year age difference between Beyonce and Jay Z. There is a 15 year age difference between Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. How come you NEVER hear about the former? Why it is simply not an issue? Because it's a given that he's (Jay Z) valuable even at his "advanced" age of 42, because he's a man, whereas there are constant murmurs about why Ashton hasn't left Demi yet, even though she's still gorgeous (far more attractive than Jay Z ever was or will be - sorry). People assume it's a given that he will eventually leave her for someone younger, when she "expires". But no such assumption is made when the sexes are reversed. I cannot tell you how much that infuriates me. It should infuriate you too, because it's awful. Especially if you're a woman, because what it says is that all women "expire" and lose their value and their sexiness and their desirability somewhere around 40 (or earlier) whereas men do not. What a shame.

the HungryBear Saga Continues

Now I know why the HungryBear vids just weren't sitting right with me. All these women that he has come to "intern" with him. I think he's not luring them there and doing anything untoward, per se, but I do think he likes the idea that something might happen, and I think it sometimes does, though, Jesus, have you looked at this guy? He literally has the body of SpongeBob SquarePants. I would not want to see that shit uncovered. But he's always focusing in on their bodies with admiring commentary, always just on the edge of creepy but not coming out and being so, and couching everything in new-agey script. Again, I do not think he's a predator, and I think my radar's pretty good on this stuff. But I do think he takes advantage of his position and (romantic) location. So these young women come and stay with him and they don't think they'll be anything but interns and maybe just admired and probably they often just are. But he's always wanting more, always keeping that possibility open, and as most men, assuming that they want him.

So here comes this young woman, all of 20, who has a history of depression, has been hospitalized more than once, more than one suicide attempt, has apparently no relationship with her parents and very few friends, and she somehow gets the cash together to go to CA for this "groundbreaking YouTube experiment" where two people who like to make YouTube videos will come together...and make YouTube videos. There's no structure or plan beyond that, so though Bear thinks himself an artist and a visionary, he's not. He calls her his "intern" and they plan to do this "experiment". She arrives and there are videos of them swimming in idyllic places and looking at mountain vistas, talking and getting eggs from the chickens, shopping for basil and picking berries. But he's also posting about missing his "soul mate", a woman who has apparently left not too long before because he couldn't be faithful to her. Hey, I appreciate that. He's telling her he can't be monogamous. That's WAY better than telling her he will be, and then cheating. So props to him for that. But now he wants some female "companionship" and here's this pretty 20 year old living in his house (which I think is a trailer in a very remote area) in various states of undress...she must want him, right? Or she could be convinced?

But she's said in a comment on a video that she has no interest in him. She's also said she isn't interested in bodies. She is detached. There's obviously a lot going on with her emotionally. She probably shouldn't be there. At least not there with him. So he posts a video yesterday where he confesses, while she swims behind him (in an utterly gorgeous place, by the way) that he wants her but is trying to be respectful. He makes her pose in sexy positions. The next video has almost none of her and he says he's "not feeling it". Has she turned down an advance from him in the interim?

Now he posts that she's left without notice, that she's accused him of "pedophilia" though he never touched her, and that she had left a video of herself masturbating on HIS computer. Obviously, a complex situation. He's posting all of this online in various places, and she's disappeared online, and from his place. That's more than concerning.

Yeah, I guess you're an "adult" when you're 20, but this girl just needs guidance, and balance, and some stability. She's obviously smart, but making questionable decisions. Where the fuck are her parents? I wish I could talk to her. I would have told her not to go to begin with. That this guy, while maybe not a predator, is kinda bad news, and not the kind of situation for someone who is is such a fragile state to enter into. I get the feeling this guy has been in similar situations before, and maybe she has as well. I think they're both prone to drama. I wish them both well.

video obsessions

Here are my current video obsessions. Oh wait, first my TV obsessions:

- Louie - good LORD this show is brilliant. My cousin described it as "brave", and it truly is. He's going places no other show is, and exposing his own psyche in very raw ways
- Breaking Bad - keeps bringing it
- The Glee Project - "Glee" itself is a pile of crap, but this is cool. The kids are super-talented

video obsessions:

With a huge fanbase and this video alone has gotten over 22 MILLION hits, she's a bonafide internet sensation, but I love Jenna Marbles. She's an absolute dichotomy. The hot, exotic-dancing party girl who's screamingly funny, with a Masters degree in some kind of counseling. I really hope she gets some kind of writing or production or TV deal. She lives here in Cambridge or something and if I ever see her I WILL be all fangirl-y. I will. She does new videos every Weds, and other informal videos sporadically.



HungryBear

You know, the "double rainbow" guy (watch that one if you haven't seen it). He lives on a farm in Yosemite in the mountains and has various women "interns" come and stay with him. It's semi-creepy but now that I've seen several videos, I think he's on the up and up, but that he obviously wants them there because he wants to ogle them, in large part. That's part of the deal. He videotapes almost everything and considers himself a YouTube star. He's not particularly bright but I find him incredibly compelling. Right now he's got a young woman staying with him who he also met through YouTube. She came from the midwest to stay for some indeterminate time, and they videotape their escapades. Farming, talking, swimming. I can't stop watching.