dq commercial - like fish in a barrel

Here is said commercial! Watch and decide for yourself!

Much More than Lactose Intolerant!!

Was anyone else a bit creeped out by the latest Dairy Queen commercial? If you haven't had the opportunity to see it yet, it features a middle class mom visiting her local DQ along with her 10 year old daughter. (Honestly when I first saw it, I thought it was entirely possible that the young girl could be much younger!) Mom is getting ready to order two rich and decadent sundaes, when young tart spies young hunk! (remember now-maybe 10!!) Young tart tells mom to order only 1 sundae and mom expresses her surprise at daughter's change of taste, until DQ guys brings another over and states that it is compliments of the young hunk. Young tart replies, (and I quote) "It's like shooting fish in a barrel." Mom looks suitably shocked, but the message is clear. Women can get what they want by flashing their feminine wiles and sexuality. Here we are in 2008 and this is the message that we are sending to our young women and men? Now, I have not had the privilege or pleasure of raising a girl but I have attempted to raise my young men to be responsible, caring and feminist. They have been taught that girls (and by extension, women) are their equals in every conceivable way and that they should never, ever look at women as objects, but rather as people. (Now, as to reality-they are guys-young and healthy guys!! As their mother, I have no interest whatsoever in their personal lives, but I am also not stupid and I know that guys are still guys!!) That said, I believe that this commercial and others like it that display women as nothing more than sex-starved, vapid and emotionally bankrupt individuals do a tremendous disservice to the smart, sexy and brilliant generation of women that we are attempting to raise. I do not find this commercial amusing, cute or pithy! I find it sleazy, contrived and rather disturbing. How will society ever have a serious discussion on sexism if advertisers persist in these types of stereotypes? The United States is currently engaged in one of the most important elections in it's history. They are finally having a long overdue national discussion about race. But, where is the same discussion about sexism? Senator Clinton (By the way-she is rarely referred to in the mainstream media as Senator, but rather by the more familiar "Hillary", while one rarely hears Senators Obama or Mcain referred to by their first names!) has been described as "shrewish", "shrill", "mannish", "bitchy", and "difficult". She is forced to "man-up" in order to appeal to male voters. (Hence the pantsuits!) She is constantly being forced to show how tough she can be so that she might prove to be capable, yet she needs to be sensitive and caring in order to appeal to the soccer moms. Obama and Mccain are not being asked for their feminist credentials, nor are they being directed into sensitivity training, (something that should be mandatory for all candidates!) yet Mrs. Clinton is continually being asked to prove that she is as good as the guys! We do this to our girls. Dairy Queen has made a commercial that perpetuates sexual stereotypes and worse yet, it is directed at children. We can and should to better. This rant should no way diminish how much we LOVE Dairy Queen's products. The husband positively drools at the thought of a Blizzard, and there are times that I am almost willing to undertake the stomach aches and gas that will accompany a dish of soft serve. Last Saturday we drove almost 30 minutes out of our way at 11:00 pm with twin son and his better half, in search of a DQ!! Love the food not the ads!!!

Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger

Paxton is my hero!!

I have seen Tom Paxton in concert many times over the years, and every single time I think that I have seen the best. The man never fails to entertain, stimulate, entrance and provoke. He is simultaneously timely and timeless-not an easy feat! The pictures are not the best given that they were taken with a cell phone cam, but I appreciate the efforts of my friend who has bigger and brassier ones than I ever could hope to possess, in pursuit of the photos. BTW-if you are ever in the Toronto area, I urge you to visit Hugh's Room, one of the finest folk clubs around. Ladies and gentlemen-Mr Tom Paxton!!!

George W Told The Nation

Mama, Don't let Your Babies Grow up to Be.....?

Mother's Day is a true puzzlement to me. I have very mixed feelings about a holiday that forces the average person to honour on one day, the one individual in their lives that they should never question honouring every single day of the year. (Please do not flood my mail with horror stories of unfit mothers and "Mommie Dearests"! We all know that the mother/child relationship can be a very complicated dynamic, but for my purposes here, I will assume the hearts and flowers ideals that hopefully exists between children and their maternal figures. Anyway, I highly doubt if Christina Crawford looks at Mother's Day with fond reminiscences.) The modern observance of the holiday most likely stems from Civil War activist Julia Ward Howe who intended it as a call to unite women for peace and disarmament. Sort of a 19th century version of the Million Mom's March! Her ideas were influenced by a young farmer's wife named Ann Jarvis who attempted to improved sanitary conditions on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line through what she called Mother's Work Days. Her work was continued into the next century by her daughter, who lobbied congress for a memorial day strictly for women. In 1914, President Wilson declared the first national holiday honouring mothers whose sons had died in battle. Within 10 years the holiday had become so commercialized, that Jarvis' daughter railed against the very holiday she fought so hard to establish. (How we went from Gold Star mothers to Hallmark mothers is a matter for discussion!!) Today, restaurant association statistics show that the number one day for eating out is Mother's Day! Florists sell more flowers on Mother's Day than on either Valentine's Day or Christmas and it is the number three holiday for chocolate sales behind Halloween and Valentine's Day!!! My personal relationship with the holiday is rather schizophrenic. Sort of a damned if you do scenario. I hate that Madison Avenue is dictating to me a day to love my mother, but if I totally ignore the holiday the guilt is tremendous. Yesterday, younger son asked if had to buy me anything for Mother's Day. While I have made my feelings of disdain for the day abundantly clear, (when have I ever kept my feelings under wraps?) I couldn't bring myself to give him the answer that I know that he wanted to hear. The mother guilt thing works wonders and I guess I am milking it just a bit. That said, son---you do not have to buy me anything for Mother's Day this or any other year, but you do need to remember that I exist and small gestures like cute emails, phone calls and the like are always appreciated. (OY!!! I truly do sound like a Jewish mother! I have started to chack my kids as to why they don't call!!) But, I am also a daughter and while I know that my own mother shares many of the same feelings about Mother's Day that I do, I also know that she would appreciate being thought of on this day. So please indulge me while I offer my mother a small gift.

Mom-Thank you for allowing me the freedom to be myself and not a younger version of you. While I know that you hated the torn jeans and sneakers, you never forced me into a frilly lace dress just because I was "the daughter"! You allowed me the freedom to be myself, even when that included playing hockey instead of Barbies, and talking football instead of fashion.

Mom-Thank you for instilling in me the importance of family ties. While the little bro and I still cannot fathom how we both emerged from the same womb, we were raised to understand that the sibling relationship is amongst the strongest and most enduring. You have demonstrated this time and again through the involvement with your own family (even when it wasn't always easy to do so) and have shown us that family ties truly bind! (sometimes like a noose-but we get the point!!!)

Mom-Thank you for the cookie recipes. I know that you hate the idea that you are exclusively known for your baking, (as you have mentioned many times in that I am not allowed to mention it in your eulogy!) but it needs to be shouted from the highest points on earth: "MRS. C-YOU MAKE GREAT COOKIES!!!!" I am certain that I have many friends who have maintained their relationships with me simply due to the cookies. For that, mere thanks will never be enough.

Mom-Thank you for demonstrative love. I love that you and Dad still hold hands and are affection with one another in public without care or fear of embarrassment. Your grandchildren never fail to hug and kiss whenever they see you and that is because you have shown them that public affection is one of the best signals of love. You go girl!!

Mom-Thank you for being the organizer, planner, computer doctor, TIVO fixer, glasses finder, telephone locator, trip group leader, purse GPS, airplane reservation desk and directional navigator. It always amazes me all of the things that you can do, but honestly, if Dad doesn't kiss your feet every time you have bailed him out of shit, then he really doesn't know a good thing when he has it staring him in the face.

Mom-Thank you for the inheritance of lactose intolerance, all around stomach ailments, arthritic joints, big breasts, small feet, short stature, cyclical acne, and a gag reflex that kicks in when stuff gets too syrupy. (Yanni and Khalil Gibran comes quickly to mind!!) Thank you also for the inheritance of style, design sense, a love of beauty and a need for cleanliness that is so close to God it is frightening!

Other Mom-You thought that I would forget you! Thank you for sharing her with the little bro and me. Nobody will ever be able to truly understand the bond that the two of you share and we were just happy to be able to a part of it. Thank you for being there when Mom A was unavailable and thank you for never ever believing that you only had 2 kids when we all knew that you had 4! The term Aunt is far too benign a word for what you truly are!!!

Mom-Thank you for knowing when to offer opinions and when to stay silent. (OK- so the silent part took you a bit longer to master!) You allowed me to make my own decisions and mistakes even when you wholeheartedly disagreed with my choices. As a parent myself, it is only now that I am beginning to understand how truly difficult this is.

Mom-Thank you for knowing when to be a parent and when to be a friend. You instinctively understood when the parenting ended and the friendship kicked in. You are the type of friend who tells me the truth, holds a mirror to my face and kicks me in the ass when I need it. I truly enjoy spending time with you because you are the only person in my life who will tell the truth when I ask "Does this make me look fat?"

Mom-Thank you for accepting my choice of life partner and accepting him as one of your own from the beginning. We all know that it took him a while to warm up, but after 23 years I think that he is finally beginning to understand our family with all of it's baggage, bullshit and nareshkiet. (Maybe?)

Finally, Mom-Thank you for being my number one fan. You supported me, cheered for me, sat in the front row at every service, concert and play. You supported my endeavours no matter how odd and jumped in with both feet when asked. (Are you gagging yet-because there's more!) You bragged about me and nagged me when I needed it. You are truly my best friend over the age of retirement!!! For all of this and so much more, I wish you a very Happy Women for Peace and Disarmament Day!

Love Dawn

Dinner and A Show--All in One!!

This past weekend, the husband and I did something that we haven't done for quite a while. (Minds out of the gutter people!) We went to a video rental store (the word video is so eighties isn't it?) and actually rented a DVD. It was an experience so out of the ordinary, that we actually had trouble locating the membership card and our slightly addled, middle-aged minds could not remember if the card was still valid. We dusted off the DVD player, made some popcorn and settled in for a surprisingly wonderful hidden gem entitled "The Savages" with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (I love both of these actors in that they never seem to repeat themselves and play it easy. The stretch is always there but never seen. Truly brilliant actors-both!!) I mention the uniqueness of this mundane little episode because it highlighted a different issue, in that we rarely go out to the movies anymore. It is true that other forms of technology have enabled us to bypass the Cineplex. Pay-per-view and On Demand have brought first run films into the home much faster than ever before. Regular purchasing of DVDs to own is much more commonplace. Like many others, we have far more than we will ever watch. (Why I felt it necessary to own "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" will remain one of life's enduring mysteries!) It is so much more expensive to go to out to the movies. It has become increasingly commonplace to question whether or not the film on the screen is actually worth tickets and snacks in excess of $30.00! But, after all of that, it must be said that I am a movie freak. I love the movies. I love good stories and even better acting. I love seeing something that I have never seen before. With the glaring exception of slasher films, (Can somebody please explain the appeal of some nymphette being chased around the village by a sicko in a goalie mask?) I can find redeemable entertainment in almost any film! I am a sucker for a good "chick flick", but I also really like Aaahnold and his kind. I love animation! I think Hitchcock and his modern incarnations The Coen Brothers and M. Night Shymalan are geniuses!! I think that we here in North America forget how good the foreign film market truly is and I think that Hollywood has neglected it's golden age! I truly believe that film is an art form that can provoke, entertain and energize. And, I USED TO love the feeling of sitting in a semi-comfortable chair with several hundred other movie-goers, munching on heart unhealthy popcorn, eagerly anticipating the lights dimming and waiting with bated breath to be entertained. It was a true group experience. I have never subscribed to the idea that movie going was a very alone experience. My brother and I would have this argument (among many others) constantly. It was his thesis that the movies discourage human interaction and conversation. My thoughts were that the movies stimulated these conversations. In fairness to my only sibling, he shares my affinity for film and it is one of the topics that we can discuss without it devolving into a cage match!! But, the theatre-going experience has changed. Commercials now flood the screen for a good 20 minutes before the inevitable trailers, which last another 10! I believe wholeheartedly that anything that I have shelled out 30 bucks for, should be ad free. We are actually paying to be pitched and it really sucks! The trailers are not much better. Sequels, comic books, video game remakes and those still horrible women in crisis films are prominent. (We all know that Hollywood is all about the bottom line and the true fact is, is that males 18-30 makes up the ideal movie going demographic. Hence the boobs, babes and bombs!!!) I could deal with all of this, if only my movie was an uninterrupted and enjoyable experience. HA!!! When was the last time you were in a movie theatre and at least one phone didn't ring? Worse yet, these idiots actually take the calls!!! During Christmas break, the husband and I went to a movie in Florida. (As bad as it is here in the Big Smoke, mostly geriatric North Miami is much worse!) Just as the lights were dimming, a woman sat next to the husband and proceeded to make a phone call. She gabbed through the first 15 minutes, annoying the husband to the point of smoke curls exiting his earlobes. After she had completed her business, she then asked the husband to catch her up on the plot!! It is not uncommon to watch people bring their meals to the theatre, giving a whole new meaning to dinner and a show. Plastic wrap and tinfoil unwrapping! Styrofoam containers that are crunched and salads that are munched, interrupting everyone within earshot-which is basically everyone in the entire theatre. I think that this is why the films are so loud, to drown out the chewing and slurping. How about the talkers, the kickers, the hard of hearing, (HUH???) the seemingly incontinent, the theatre jumpers (you know the type-they don't like the movie they paid for, so they sneak into yours!) the less than sparkling bathrooms, the sticky floors-all making the theatre experience a lot less fun than it should be. The husband has proclaimed that he will not go to another movie theatre in Florida and is less than enthusiastic about attending here! I, on the other hand, am not yet ready to pack in the popcorn. I want to find a way to continue the experience. I want the theatre seating and surround sound. I want the social experience of being there with my friends. I want the excitement of seeing a film on its opening weekend. How? Maybe this should be our next reno project!! Husband? What do you think?

The Shithole was FINALLY here yesterday. Fixed the deck on the same day that the pool was opened. I hope to never ever see this moron again. If I didn't think there were liability issues I would publish his name, address, phone number and company name to warn you all away from him. Caveat Emptor!!!

Check out the new blog site away from facebook!!

dawnponders.blogspot.com

This blogging thing is stimulating and creative!!

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Essay on Reverend Wright | PBS

Thoughtful, logical, so simple!