A new Field Poll shows growing opposition to Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage. The poll of likely California voters finds 55 percent against, 38 percent in favor, and 7 percent undecided. Although the poll shows that the ballot language has a small effect, I suspect that experience is the major factor. As more and more gay weddings take place, Californians have a chance to see that, far from a parodying traditional marriage, single-sex unions honor its value. Or maybe it just doesn't seem to be a big deal.
On a lighter note, don't miss the Diaries of a Groomzilla, beginning this week on DeepGlamour.net.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 18, 2008 • Comments
Is fear of expropriation deterring the private capital infusions that might rescue failing financial firms without involving the taxpayers? This passage, buried in Eric Dash and Andrew Ross Sorkin's detailed NYT account of the scramble to save AIG, suggests that might just be the case.
By Sunday, K.K.R. and the Texas Pacific Group made it clear they would not come to the rescue, worried that A.I.G. might be taken over by the government, wiping out their investments. Goldman Sachs also balked.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 18, 2008 • Comments
An archive of the strange and strangely beautiful, courtesy of science blogger Carl Zimmer and his readers.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 15, 2008 • Comments
The WaPost's Binyamin Appelbaum, Carol D. Leonnig and David S. Hilzenrath have a very good article on how Fannie and Freddie avoided oversight, despite ample warning that they were headed for trouble. Money graf:
Blessed with the advantages of a government agency and a private company at the same time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac used their windfall profits to co-opt the politicians who were supposed to control them. The companies fought successfully against increased regulation by cultivating their friends and hounding their enemies.
Of course, anyone who's been reading the WSJ editorial page for the past decade knew this.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 14, 2008 • Comments
In 2006, Salman Rushdie gave an interview to Der Spiegel in which he was asked about the causes of terrorism. After first demurring, he suggested a few: "a misconceived sense of mission," a "herd mentality," the desire to become "a historic figure," an attraction to violence, and--shocking the interview--glamour.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 11, 2008 • Comments
"Detailing" the NYT report on how China cleaned up its Olympic image. [Via Forbes.com.]
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 08, 2008 • Comments
Diego Rodriguez explains at DeepGlamour.net.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 08, 2008 • Comments
Will Wilkinson explains why he finds her sexy and what that says about female leadership.
Ross Douthat is on fire on the subject.
And I connect her to cowgirl glamour. (But I largely agree with Megan about what I don't like.)
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 04, 2008 • Comments
Cross-posted from my new blog, DeepGlamour.net
In an astute comment on my post on horror versus humor in McCain's "The One" ad, Jens Fiederer writes, "I don't think horror diminishes glamor, horror is a glamor of its own. Watch some vampire films if you doubt that. If this ad is supposed to evoke horror..., it works WITH the glamor to paint a glamorous arch-villain and encourage those convinced to choose sides."
Jens is absolutely right to that glamour and horror often go together. The original meaning of glamour was, after all, a literal magic spell cast to deceive the viewer into seeing things that weren't there. "When devils, wizards or jugglers deceive the sight, they are said to cast glamour o'er the eyes of the spectator," explained a 1721 glossary of poetry. The word's definition has obviously evolved, but glamour is still an illusion.
He's right, too, to single out vampires as a glamorous archetype. While horror comes in different forms, some decidedly unglamorous (e.g., Alien
, Saw), a lot of horror, including vampire tales, depends on glamour: What starts out as beautiful and alluring is revealed to be terrible and life-destroying--and by then it's too late. Witness not only the vampire but the femme fatale, especially in her 19th-century form. Glamour promises escape and transformation; horror replaces escape with entrapment.
Read the rest here.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 02, 2008 • Comments
Observations from wrestling fan, and Atlantic campaign correspondent, Mark Ambinder.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 02, 2008 • Comments
