I got the new issue of BUST the other day, having recently re-subscribed after a short boycott because I was fed up with them. Actually, I'm still kind of fed up with them, and I'm not sure why I subscribed again - maybe for Ayun Halliday's column. I have a love-hate thing going with BUST because their particular brand of feminism makes me really uncomfortable. The whole ironic feminism thing is wearing thin for me. You know, "Don't tell me I'm not a feminist, just because I wear red lipstick and bake cupcakes and knit sweaters and slide up and down a stripper pole! I am such a feminist that I can buy into any form of male-dominated societal bullshit and turn it on its head! My cupcakes and lipstick are ironic!" Yeah. Okay. Whatever. I'm a feminist in spite of the fact that I wear lipstick and knit and bake cupcakes - I'm not selling them as feminist acts. So mostly, I prefer Bitch for my feminist reading, though they piss me off sometimes too.
But anyway, my point. BUST has done another "Men We Love" issue, and predictably, Ira Glass is one of the chosen. Yeesh. I am so over hearing about Ira Glass crushes (and in fact, NPR crushes in general). It reeks of desperation to portray oneself as a quirky-cool, hipster intellectual. What's more, I'll bet you a million dollars that Ira Glass is a jerk. In the BUST interview, he admits that he enjoys being the object of a thousand indie-girl crushes. "It's incredibly dear," he says, qualifying with the fact that he's "devoted to [his] wife and would never consider acting on something like that." Mmmm-hmmm. Sure. Nerdy guys who never got any action in high school, but developed a patina of cool in middle-age, are usually total players. It's like they're exacting revenge for being snubbed in their younger years, although maybe it's not that malicious. Maybe they're just making up for lost time. In any case, let's stop pumping up Ira Glass's ego. If you insist on harboring a quirky crush to bolster your hipster-cred, I nominate Ben from Lost. You'd be helpless before his unblinking stare, as that calm, hypnotic voice instructed you to - well, he could probably talk a girl into doing anything at all. Creepy=hot.
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13 comments:
HA! I do agree with you about Bust magazine, you hit the nail on the head on why I stopped reading it too.
Thanks for clarifying that for me! The whole cupcakes as a sub-culture gets on my nerves. I mean, I like cupcakes but why is everyone talking about them and opening cupcake shops and having blogs about them all of a sudden? and Ira Glass? oh puh-le-az!!!
What she said, except replace "cupcakes" with "lipstick". I don't care a hill of beans about action with Ira Glass, either, though I used to love "This American Life' when I first came back East. But BEN? From Lost? You ARE a Scorpio freak- can't wait to see you! Those thyroidal eyeballs remind me of my condescending, Free-Trade coffee drinking, wet-for-AL GORE!, baby boomer boss. Don't ask. But Ugh.
Love Caity
PS- Your Blog is happenin'! I hadn't checked in in awhile, I was looking for pics of your girls to show Sage.
PPS- I nominate Eminem.
We don't know each other, but I had to comment on this post.
I had just let my subscription to Bust lapse for the same reason. the ironic thing is very played out (and i was bored with all their Men We Love selections). plus, it seems like Bitch is getting too whiny. Gah, why isn't there a good feminist magazine out there that isn't cutesy or annoying?
I LOVE your right-on analysis about ironic feminism. Whenever you talk about stuff like that (feminism, politics), it all sounds so grounded and sensible to me. Why don't more people sound like that? *sigh*
(And I think I just figured out that our blogs can talk to each other. Woo!)
I really, *really* thought Ira Glass was gay. Really.
I'll second your opinion on Ira Glass. He sounds pompous and pretentious. Just listen to his whiny pleas during the NPR fund drives. Where'd he get the balls to guilt-trip people into donating, especially in these times? What an ass! He's the kind of jerk that gives us liberals the bad name "elitists".
Ira Glass is just an ordinary guy. Stop picking on him. If you knew a nerd from high school who miraculously had a bunch of girls drooling all over him, would you honestly expect him not to be a little pleased? Or just flattered? I mean, I have heard that he's a player, but there are plenty of players out there. Even public radio players.
I can't believe you can say such mean thing about Ira. He has inspired thousands of people, including me. Stop being mean to Ira Glass!!
Does anyway know if Ira is openly gay or definitively gay or in-the-closet gay. The point I'm trying to make is that the jury is not exactly out on the question about whether Ira Glass is gay but what "state" of gay he is in. Any light shed on this matter would be appreciated.
He's not gay. He's married. He used to date Lynda Barry. Definitely not gay.
@ Lana, I enjoy it when he calls and guilt trips people who listen to Public Radio and never contribute donations. You realize they don't have almost any commercial content, right? (thank god).
Found your comment Googling for audio clips of Ira's guilt-trips. Entertains me.
All of you women (and closet men perhaps) are acting in the manner of bitchy hipster, that was originally claim to annoy you all in the first place. This is what will forever keep me away from the 'femmies' - the bitchiness.
Did I miss it? Have you seen Lynda Barry's comic strip on Ira Glass? Worst boyfriend in the world and cruel jerk: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/01/07/comic-book-legends-revealed-242/
And here is Lynda Barry being as cool as can be on vintage Letterman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL_uvZU_-jI
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