The Sasquatch Journal

-There was a not-so heartwarming moment in a segment of America's Top Model (you may not believe that I was just flipping around looking for Sunday Night Baseball when I stumbled upon it, but hey, it's true) tonight. A skinny sandy blonde teen named Ginger from somewhere in Kansas was the only girl out of the 20 or so would be models who refused to pose naked in front of the camera and cried about the whole situation. Now, granted she did stand on top of a building naked with a small towel and hands artfully covering her naughty bits with a photographer taking several shots, but to little Miss Small Town Midwest, this was a victory in the name of her Strong Moral Fiber.

"It's not as important that I win something that I stick to my morals and values," she later told the camera.

This whole mentality is nothing new, Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson have made careers out of America's hypocritical stance when it comes to sex. Seductive, scantily clad girls are still OK as long they don't appear naked and claim to be virgins (or at least don't kiss and tell). Meanwhile, girls that are obvious about their sexuality are classified as whores. In this case, Ginger wasn't conflicted about appearing on a TV show where she would objectified as a sexual being and take place in a competition to be the best one, but as soon as it came down to exposing her nipples, she objected. The air of superiority she had when discussing it made it even more laughable.

Why is it that we're so focused on these shifting technicalities that determine whether we are good or bad people? To me, toeing a line society has established as wrong and refusing to cross it doesn't make you a worthwhile person. It's what you do, not what you refuse to do that defines your morals. Well, maybe.

People sometimes think it's amusing or quaint that I try to emulate and shape my life (though many times unsuccessfully) around the practices and beliefs of a community of people from thousands of years ago in the Bible, but to me, the ideas of the church can make more sense than trying to decifer the ever changing winds of our culture and figure out how to live that way. That all said, I have no problems with naked blogging.


-I'm not exactly sure how big the Anti-Zach Braff bandwagon is, but consider me fully on it. Josh Levin made a compelling argument here in this Slate article and the Hater on The Onion AV Club also has been very outspoken against Braff. And I swear it has only a little to do with the fact that he is reprising Chevy Chase's role of "Fletch", which doesn't make the least bit of sense.

Don't get me wrong, when Garden State first came out I thought its positives outweighed the negatives. Mainly, Peter Saarsgard is always great and Natalie Portman is umm...incredibly cute and charming, and I thought the story was generally interesting. BUT, the ending was openly awful and the seemed more melodramatic and cliched the second time I saw it. And like many indie movies, the humor was more quirky than actually laugh out loud funny.

But this Last Kiss movie looks like Garden State II, down to it's carefully groomed soulful indie rock soundtrack. Apparently to Braff, all twentysomething men are paralyzed with indecision and can't decide what they want in life, or more specifically if they are willing to commit to their incredibly hot girlfriends. People blame Bush for so much of the rest of the world hating America, but if I have to watch another movie about whiny, self-absorbed good looking white kids and their romance troubles, I might have to burn a flag. Or at least a Zach Braff poster.