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Better Before TechnicolorBy Paisley Hibou QuailBellMagazine.com Oh, the good ol' days, when screenwriters actually wrote original scripts not based off of graphic novels and it would take an entire day to shoot a film scene. If you've memorized all the lines to “Casablanca” and wish you could fluff your hair like Bette Davis', you're probably not a huge fan of today's blockbusters. Here are 10 signs you should've been born in a black and white movie:
1. You'd choose Cary Grant over George Clooney any day. 2. Lauren Bacall is your style icon. Jennifer Aniston is not. 3. You've nailed down your Jimmy Stewart impression. 4. You regularly fantasize about driving a car older than your grandpa—especially if it looks like one Humphrey Bogart would drive. 5. You'd live inside the set of “To Kill a Mockingbird” if it weren't for the racial injustice. 6. When you're feeling self-pity, you remember your childhood as the one from “400 Blows.” 7. You don't really care that “The Wizard of Oz” was shot in Technicolor. 8. “Raging Bull” is your favorite Martin Scorsese film. 9. You're sad that the French New Wave is now...old. 10. You still and will always believe that “Breakfast at Tiffany's” was shot in black and white. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
In Defense of Young WomenDo you believe today’s teenage girls and young women are Too Stupid to Live, like the “heroines” of old-fashioned damsel-in-distress novels? Does the very mention of a high school or college girl bring to mind the image of a dummy who spends all her time texting? Apparently a lot of people, male and female, still think that way. Recently I participated in a discussion that made me realize just how little respect young women receive from both men and other women. We were talking about those old damsels in distress, and I suggested that today’s young women are more savvy and sophisticated about the dangers around them than women of the past. My statement was greeted with a chorus of “No!” One woman said, “They’re all too busy texting”—meaning, I assume, that they wouldn’t notice they were in peril until they were tied up and a rape was underway.
If they’re abducted or raped, it’s their own fault, because they’re not paying attention. Too Stupid to Live. A lot of people in the room looked old enough to have teenage or young adult daughters—or granddaughters. I felt like asking them if they held such a low opinion of their own flesh and blood, and if so, who they blamed for the girls being idiots. I didn’t get a chance to ask, which is probably just as well. I also didn’t get a chance to point out that the world is filled with teenage girls and young adult women who are smart, accomplished, and focused on achieving their goals in life. I didn’t get a chance to point out that almost 50% of both medical school and law school students are female, and nearly 80% of veterinary medicine students are female. When one of these undeniably intelligent young women is raped and/or abducted and held prisoner, does it happen because she’s “too busy texting”? Is it her own fault? The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
One Random Fact About the FluBetchya didn't know this: On this day in 1918, an outbreak of Spanish influenza hit Camp Gordon in Atlanta, Georgia. Hope that knowledge was forever stored. Now go get your flu shot.
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Revive Spring Sparkles for Gray Fall DaysBy Doe Deere QuailBellMagazine.com There's no need to weep as you relinquish your summer wardrobe for one that will keep you cozy this fall. This Easter outfit styled by the self-proclaimed Unicorn Queen, Doe Deere, shows how you can keep it light this autumn. Button up in a pastel palette. Colder days don't have to mean dreary ones! The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Just Say No to a Zombie Infested WashingtonBy Brainy Bird QuailBellMagazine.com The eeriness of a post-apocalyptic zombie attack is only appealing when confined to science fiction and horror lit. It does not make for an enviable reality. With the federal government shutdown, Washington, D.C. will soon become a ghost town unless the GOP grows up and accepts the Affordable Cafe Act. The shutdown affects every single person in the United States, from that fetus hanging out in its mother's womb to the old man about to croak “Buenas noches” from his rocking chair. If you think you're somehow spared, you're fooling yourself. Yesterday CNN.com released a list called, “Government shutdown: What's closed, what's open?” In case you're too lazy/depressed to read it, guess what? All the national monuments are closed. Even the Department of Homeland Security is partially closed. Want to go to the Smithsonian? Too bad. They're C-L-O-S-E-D. If someone decides to commit fraud in the U.S. Postal Service, that's also too bad for anyone hoping the crook gets caught. After all, the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General is closed. The rocket scientists get no special treatment, either. 97% of NASA employees are stuck at home, forbidden to work and forced to live off personal savings because they cannot collect pay checks during the shutdown. Oh, and here's a good one: the Office of Government Ethics is also—shocker!—closed.
There's a fine line between a government that serves and protects and a government that imposes. Presidents like Frankie Roosevelt and Billy Boy Clinton (and their administrations) were smart to recognize how the government can function to do the former. It's because of the federal government that we have programs like Social Security and Peace Corps and treasures like the National Gallery of Art and Yellowstone National Park. The government is not perfect and, sure, it likely throws away a lot of money every year, particularly toward war efforts, but pretty much the most un-American thing you can do right now is root for the GOP's continued temper tantrum. Get off your tail feathers and do something about it. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Food ShoppingBy Christine Stoddard QuailBellMagazine.com If eyes are the gateway to the soul, then food is the gateway to a culture. Because everyone eats, food is the simplest way to experience a culture. People develop ways of thinking based upon where they are, and where they are determines the sort of food available to them, which in turn influences customs revolving around the preparation and consumption of food.
Think the chopstick just popped out of thin air or that Kosher standards are totally arbitrary? Think again, Quail Bell(e)s. It wasn't until the Age of Enlightenment that the fork became widely used in Europe—and, no, that widespread usage was not the only culinary epiphany of the period. An epiphany nobody Western seemed to have at the time was that vegetables were actually good for you. It just goes to show that food is folklore. One of the most mundane experiences on my recent trip to Piura, Peru was a visit to a marketplace specializing in produce. It was also one of the most telling experiences I had on the trip because I learned how people treated food, assessed food, bought food, and cooked food. But instead of telling you what I observed, I'll show you. Here are a few of the photos I took at el mercado: The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
You survived your first day.By The Quail Bell Crew QuailBellMagazine.com Congratulations, you made it through September, that awkward month that's part-summer, part-fall, and thus very frustrating. But now it's October and thank all that is holy that October doesn't suffer from an identity crisis. This month knows what it's all about and it doesn't doubt its autumnal self for a second. So welcome to October. This is going to be a frightfully fun month, what with fall festivals, Oktoberfest, Halloween, and everything else that's going on. (If nothing else, think of this: PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE.) You're lucky you made it through the first day of October because chances are pretty good you'll make it through the remaining 30. Of course, it isn't midnight yet...
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