Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Coincidence?

As you probably know, Annie Leibovitz's pix of Miley Cyrus' have created a bit of a stir.

I think it's more bimbo fatigue than anything. Hilton, Spears, Lohan and, uh, Spears have worn us out. The Miley pix aren't, as she says, "skanky".

But I wasn't aware that Disney had hired Leibovitz, and she has been recreating famous Disney movie moments for the past couple of years, including one released just a few days ago.

Huh.

9 comments:

  1. You know I went on a tirade about this because she is my grand daughter’s favorite TV personality and her little friends all copy her in every way imaginable. So I was hoping that they could stay kids just a little longer ya know.

    Now usually I spout off about how some places are not for kids, like bars and blogs and other stuff that should be for adults. Conversely, some things should be for kids and adults should keep their money grubbing over sexualized hands off of it. I do agree with you that it’s the parent’s job to shield the kids from this kind of stuff and I bet you do a great job.

    A little story as an illustration. I was planting tulips in my front garden one day and a bunch of kids on the block were tossing the football around. Young kids about 7 or 8.
    So this older guy comes down the block and stops and starts looking at them. He is a greasy guy in his fifties wearing a baseball cap low over his eyes and carrying a transistor radio with an earplug of all things. He picks up an errant throw and tries to insinuate himself with these kids whose parents aren’t around. I’m watching this as I am shoving bulbs into the ground. So I call him over, “Hey pal come here for a second.” I ask this they guy what the fuck does he think he’s doing trying to talk to these kids. They don’t know him and they certainly don’t want to know him. So if he didn’t want to get planted right next to these tulips he should get the fuck off of President St and not walk down this street again. The father of one of the kids is an even bigger hot head than I am. He works for Sanitation and if he saw this crap he would have this dude in the back of garbage truck and on the way to the Staten Island land fill before you knew what hit you. A year later I see this dude walking down Court St. with two young kids. I didn’t do anything then because you see it wasn’t my street. All we can do is protect our street and our block. You can’t be responsible for the whole world. But within your little world you can make the rules and hope your kids and grand kids can stay innocent for just a little while longer.

    Just wait till the Flower is around 14. Oh boy you are in for a bumpy ride dude.

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  2. Plus I wasted a great F-troop goof on another thread. I gotta keep rolling that rock up the hill, but jeeez.

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  3. And not to let you think I really didn't do anything about this douche. I went to the precient and had a word with the guys to let them know the scoop. As I understand it, the situation was handled "off the books." Brooklyn style.

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  4. But it made me think of another problem. Nowadays every liberal has adopted a chinese baby, and sometimes you see a really scruffy dad in hang out clothes arguing and fighting with a little kid of a different race. It's hard to tell the players without a scorecard. Dad not letting her have ice cream, or creepy molestor guy? You make the call sports fans.

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  5. Actually, I don't shield the kids from too much, except the nightly news. That's really the only thing that JUMPS UP IN YOUR FACE AND SCREAMS EVERYTHING'S GOING TO HELL when you're just trying to watch "The Simpsons" or something.

    A propos of this discussion is that the Disney channel pretty much advertises Disney. It's one of the safest places on cable.

    I don't think anyone wants to see Miley go down the skank road (okay, yeah, there are a few guys who do) but I'm distressed at how this cynical play by Vanity Fair worked out so well for them.

    I guess I'm also conflicted because the pix don't seem particularly bad for me. Someone on Althouse was saying it was a "post-coital" pose but you really have to impose that on the image, and I don't think kids who didn't already have that seed planted would impose that idea. (Wyeth's paintings often seem to feature young girls in similar poses and those always struck me as the epitome of innocence.)

    At the same time, you know, why not just leave it be for another few years. Especially when girls like Miley play teens well into their 20s? So.

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  6. As for local creeps, I tend to trust the missus' instincts.

    Someone pointed me at the sex offenders database and I found one of my neighbors on there (for a sex crime against a sub-14 year old, even). (Actually, I found three neighbors, but I've never actually seen the other two.)

    Anyway, she told me got a bad vibe off the guy years ago. He does a pretty big Christmas display, puts model trains up, and invites the kids over to look at them.

    As far as figuring out parentage, that can be complicated by a smart kid knowing that they have the parent over a barrel. And kids of divorced parents? They might just be looking for revenge.

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  7. As far as The Flower goes, I don't worry about it too much. I actually feel sorry for the future guys.

    When she was an infant, a talent agent walked up to the missus and asked "Is she working?" And we frequently get comments on her beauty from complete strangers. (Talk about setting off the radar.)

    I can see her breaking hearts without even knowing it.

    It doesn't hurt that she'll be well-trained in the martial arts, and will know how to use a gun and a knife. Or that her big brother is likely to be very, very big indeed, and loves to collect all sorts of weaponry.

    Doesn't mean I won't be settin' on the stoop, cleanin' my shotgun when suitors come a callin', mind ya.

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  8. Well it's always the one's you least expect that will fool you when it comes to this stuff. That's why a rep for mindless violence is kinda good thing to have sometimes.

    But when the boys come to pick her up it is always a good idea to be sharpening a really big knife at the time. I have a Civil War cavalry saber for that when the granddaughter is big enough.

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  9. Yep. I got me one of them Rambo-style survival knifes, with a whetstone.

    It makes a great noise when you're sharpening it.

    Heh.

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