TresSugar

Tree Would Like a Word With You Crying Hippies

GiggleSugar — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:00:00 -0700

"If you guys don't get the hell outta my face in 3, 2, 1... there is no telling what I am capable of."

Astrology: Do You Believe in Saturn's Return?

TresSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0700

If you're anywhere between 27 and 30 and have ever had, oh, a problem, someone might tell you not to worry - or, actually do worry. It's all part of a perfect celestial storm known as Saturn's return. Taking about 29 years to orbit the Earth, Saturn returns to the place it was in at your birth every 29 years. This means one thing to astrologers - rebirth!

Birth is painful; rebirth isn't much better, especially considering Saturn is a sign of growth. Astrologers believe Saturn's return represents life changes: the first time it returns in your late 20s, you enter adulthood. The next time, around 60, you enter maturity, and the final time, at 90, you enter the wisdom of old age. None of it comes easy.

So what does Saturn's return mean for those approaching 30? It's out with the old and in with the new: self-examination, career changes, bad relationships ending, good relationships deepening, and, hey, maybe you'll have a baby! To which I say, these are all things that happen anyway.

Yet, Saturn's return is all over pop culture. No Doubt named its 2000 album Return of Saturn as Gwen Stefani approached her 29th birthday; there's a book - Surviving Saturn's Return - about it; and then there's this amazing blog that connects Saturn's return with events in celebrities lives. It's quite morbid, actually, blaming Annie Leibovitz's money troubles and the deaths of John Hughes, Heath Ledger, and Julia Child on the return of Saturn.

Sound about right to you, or should the idea return to outer space?

Source Flickr User LarsOh

If We Can Make Sperm, What Good Are Men?

TresSugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Have you ever dreamed of a world without men? Some scientists have hoped for years that someday, somehow, they'd create sperm without the mess and fuss of sex and men. Well, that day is near.

Or here, according to one professor at the Northeast England Stem Cell Institute, who says he's doctored up the world's first embryotic sperm. Other sperm specialists (their mothers must be proud) are not so convinced test-tube sperm are up for the swim. Azim Surani, a professor at Cambridge University, said they were "sperm-like cells" and "a long way from being authentic."

So we wait and ask questions, like "what's the point?" Ideally, it would be used to treat infertile men, but you can't clone cells in 2009 and not answer questions like "Are you trying to wipe men off the face of the Earth?" The Guardian has a pair of he-said/she-said pieces musing on such a world without men. He said? You'll be bored, less productive, and too clean. And she said? We'd be peaceful, clean, and . . . bored. Glad we can agree on something!

Photo by Flickr User blmurch

Adrageous: Comfort Wipe, the Toilet Paper on a Stick

TresSugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:30:00 -0700

It's the invention we've all been waiting for - Comfort Wipe, the "sanitary paper extension arm and holder." I can understand if there are people who cannot, uh, reach for whatever reason, but who on earth is so averse to "disgusting and archaic" toilet paper that they need an 18-inch pole to throw TP away for them! Like other bloggers who have watched this again and again - looking for an Onion logo or a sign that this is a joke on purpose - no go. This is for reals. My favorite line is something this copywriter must have gotten a medal for: "The first improvement to toilet paper as we know it since the 1880s.” Bwahahaha.

Smart B*tches, Trashy Books Unravel Romance Novels

TresSugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan have helped romance readers discern the good smut from the bad for years with their blog Smart B*tches, Trashy Books. And now with their book Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, they offer a guide through the heady world of the $5.99 novel and defend it with wit and intelligence.

So we asked these two smart readers about romance novels, and oh how they talked. So much, that we're breaking all their thoughtful answers into a five-part series. What's up first? Who reads these glossy books?

One out of five people read romance novels - who are these people?

Sarah: The truth is, behind the stereotypes, smart, savvy women read romance. It's a 60+-year-old industry of women operating independent businesses writing books consumed by an audience of women who spend $1.7 billion dollars a year. Two romance readers may have absolutely nothing in common except for the books they read, because romance readers are an incredibly diverse audience - no group of readers that supports a billion-dollar industry can be homogeneous. We're found across all ages, education levels, income levels, geographic locations and reading habits - and we all love romance novels.

Candy: The demographics for romance novel readers are all over the place, though there are strong trends. They overwhelmingly tend to be women, for example. They also tend to be voracious readers, period, and to be more highly-educated than the population at large. Other than that, it's hard to generalize.

You say, actually five out of five people read romance novels, what are some romances in disguise we've probably read? To see their answers, read more.

Sarah: Every fictional narrative contains a romance element. Where would Bond be without the sexual tension? What horror thriller in general doesn't contain the romantic suspense to support the plot? Romance is one of the oldest narrative traditions, so it's everywhere.

There are few readers more diverse in their tastes than the women and men who read my site, so I asked them. From the readers of Smart B*tches, here are romances you might not have recognized:

Lois McMaster Bujold's books, like the Miles Vorkosigan series, especially A Civil Campaign; Patricia Gaffney's Mad Dash; Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series; William Brinkley's The Last Ship; Jean Auel's Earth's Children series; many of Philippa Gregory's historical novels; Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series; and many of the novels you read in English class, including, and especially, Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice is one of the best romances ever written.

Candy: Sarah's right about romance being an element to a lot of fiction and storytelling, but the modern romance genre is its own beast with a long, tangled past. If you've read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, you've read books that would qualify as romances if published today. A lot of the sturm und drang (storm and stress) of certain romance subgenres owe a debt to books like Wuthering Heights, for example.

Here's the thing: the plot set-up and conflict dictates the genre the book's most likely to be slapped with. Speculation involving science and technology? Sci-fi. Mystery or conundrum that needs to be solved? Mystery. Mystical other worlds involving magic? Fantasy., etc. And there's considerable bleed-through among the different genres: it's perfectly possible for a book to be both a science-fiction novel and a murder mystery. But what drives the emotional conflict? If it's romantic love, odds are high you're reading a romance novel. Sharon Shinn and Catherine Asaro have written plenty of novels in which the central driving emotional conflict was a romantic entanglement, even though the plot setting was science fiction.

Stay tuned tomorrow to read about what romance novels tell us about women, relationships, society.

Uh-Oh: Michelle Obama Sports $540 Shoes

TresSugar — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:04:49 -0700

The Obamas are down to earth from their heads down to their toes. Oh wait, scratch that. Earlier this week, Michelle was spotted wearing these Lanvin sneakers, which go for $540. Oops.

The first lady's camp has responded to questions about the pricey fashion statement by saying, "They're shoes."

Michelle and Barack have largely avoided looking like they're out of touch with many struggling Americans. During the campaign, Obama's camp made sure to reiterate that John McCain owned seven homes. And I definitely remember stories about John McCain's $520 Ferragamos, while we were treated to the worn-down soles of Obama's shoes in photographs.

Should Michelle be able to wear what she wants if she can afford it, or should the first lady coordinate her footwear with the tough economic times?

Source

The Green Monster: 8 Acts of Eco Extremism

CitizenSugar — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:30:47 -0700

Yesterday the crying-hippies video resurfaced on the ever-recycling Internet. (Well worth a watch!) Sobbing at the base of a North Carolinian forest, members of radical environmental group Earth First! cried for rocks and trees and pesky weeds that (they insist) are as alive as your typing fingertips. A young man cried until he wanted to scream. So he did.

But that's child's play! Environmentalists - extreme environmentalists - have more than tears and tree houses to show demanding Mother Earth. What does it take to go from eco friendly to eco terror? Check out my eight environmental no-nos, or do-dos (depending on your goal).

Arson. Particularly setting new housing developments, car lots, and SUVs ablaze. Another? Horse slaughterhouses. Neigh!
Not breeding because, obviously, Earth is better off without people.
Harassing, sabotaging, and sinking whaling ships is as old as my first recycling bin.
Poisoning bottles of POM Wonderful juice to protest animal testing. Guess it won't make you immortal after all!

To see four other acts of eco insanity, read more.

Raiding zoos and aquariums to kidnap animals.
Endangering loggers and spiking trees to discourage logging.
Forcing entry, harassing, and attacking university professors involved in animal research. Masks are optional but preferred.
And bombs - a tried and true method of dissent. Even the worst bomb will get attention!

Source

Briefing Book! Obama and Spider-Man Appear in Marvel Comic

LibertySugar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:30:43 -0800

New Sidekick: Barack Obama collected Spider-Man comics as a child, so Marvel Comics wanted to give him a "shout-out back" by featuring him. - Huffington Post
Sweet Ride: Check out the features of Obama's limo, as designed by a grown man's 10-year-old self. - 23/6
Fancy Eats: George Bush is close to becoming the first sitting president since FDR to skip out on New York's famed 21 restaurant. - New York Post
Murder: Statistics show more and more people in the US are getting away with murder. - Forecast Earth
Cows, Not Bombs?: The US military has begun giving cows to the widows of Iraqis. - Good
Road to the Doghouse: Who will be the Obama Administration's grand pup? CNN's Anderson Cooper hosts the Puppedential Debates. - GiggleSugar

Is Space Travel Still Relevant?

Molly — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:30:21 -0800

In the late '50s the space race with Russia was headline news. In 1969, all eyes were glued on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they became the first men on the moon. Half a century later, space travel has lost some of its clout, but not its intrigue.

Last week India landed its first probe on the moon and earlier this year China made headlines with its first spacewalk. Every time NASA launches a shuttle it's news - which on occasion has led to horrible tragedies - but today much of what the organization does with government money is satellite research on the Earth's environmental status, work on the International Space Station, and aeronautics research and development. Doubtless, there are still lots of kids who want to grow up to be astronauts, but tell us - do you think space travel is still relevant or a waste of the country's money?

Source

First of Brad Pitt's Make It Right Houses Done in New Orleans

CitizenSugar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:00:33 -0700

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, the first homes built in by Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project are complete. Touring the building site in the Lower 9th Ward with Angelina and kids in tow this week, one ecstatic grandmother gave Brad a huge hug. She said of her new electric yellow house, "Honey, this is like heaven on earth." She'll be moving into the house with five of her 22 grandkids later this month.

In all, 150 homes will be built on the site destroyed by the broken levees. Six of the homes are near completed and the happy grandma says, "I thank God for Brad Pitt. I gave him a big hug, and I told him how much I appreciate all that he's done for me and my family." The houses cost about $150,000, are built on property still owned by residents, and their monthly payments are based on income and subsidized by Make It Right.

View 5 Photos ›

To see more about the project, read more.

Brad's Make It Right project was sparked by his dismay that there was no clear plan to address the situation in the Katrina devastated Lower 9th Ward. Consumed by doubt that the area would ever be rebuilt, the residents of the Lower 9th met with Brad and discussed while the terrible crisis had exposed their vulnerability, it created an opportunity: to build something better than what had existed before. The Make It Right Project seeks to do just that.

Source