What the F***?: Why we curse

Pomegranate. Somehow I’d lived my whole life never having eaten one. Now I’m hooked. I have two in my fridge now; I ate one this afternoon. I love the tiny pearls of tangy sweet juice that explode on your tongue and teeth when you chew. The fibrous little beads make it a satisfying snack. I’m slightly in love. I wish they weren’t so expensive and were easier to de-seed. Otherwise, damn near perfect food.

She doesn’t act like she knows more about music than me, but she probably does. That’s the sweet spot…I like that she’s talking about how the music makes her feel, not about how the band is on some obscure label, so you should love them.

-The Boyfriend, commenting about a Vandy station dj who was waxing poetic about a good song she’d just played

UPDATE: Wow, who knew? It was super awesome music blogger Janet Timmons who did not suck.  Neat.

I’m not sure who this Penelope Trunk chick thinks she is, but her “advice” is some of the worst I’ve ever read. She seems to be as shallow as a saucer, and I find her columns to be laughable most times. This one is extra shitty. I spoke at BarCamp Nashville just before she went on stage, and I found her to be quite unpleasant. It is an opinion many have formed.

She writes to be provocative, for its own sake, it seems. This woman is all about promoting herself by means of being outrageous. I notice the folks at Yahoo disabled the ability of readers to comment on her drivel because most of the response is so negative. No surprise. She relies heavily on stereotypes, and even encourages women to flirt with their male counterparts in the office. Her message often seems to be: “Sexism and discrimination exist. Deal with it. I did! *wink*” Why anyone takes advice from a failed executive who had to file bankruptcy is beyond me. This is a woman who used to sell advertising on her tits and ass while playing professional volleyball–an accomplishment she is quite proud of, even traveling the globe to tell eager men people all about it. She seems to rely heavily on her appearance to get ahead, since I can’t quite figure out what she’s actually done that warrants her attempt at career adviser. In the past she has viciously called out detractors as fat in a most brutal way, only to later delete said post, I assume out of embarrassment:

“This woman,” Trunk wrote, in a blog post she’s since deleted and replaced with a sorta-kinda apology, “”is walking around telling people you have to have a career while you’re raising kids in order to take care of yourself, and she is obviously not taking care of herself. Look, I wouldn’t be harping on this if she weren’t so fat…”

And this attitude seems to run rampant with her. “Flirt with bosses, don’t be fat and skip hard work in favor of social interactions at the office.” Brilliant! No wonder she failed at business and had to take her sad act on the road.

Thankfully I’ve come to the realization that Penelope Trunk is just doing what Ann Coulter does so well: outrage for the sake of her own career. If you think this woman has any concern whatsoever about your job trajectory, you are mistaken. Katherine Coble sums up best why you should ignore this incredibly superficial, yet widely read, woman:

I consider her to be a narrow-minded opportunist who doesn’t account for differing personalities and the vagaries of situations. Everything I’ve ever read or heard from her seems predicated upon the notion that her experiences are the only valid ones and her diagnosis of situations are therefore the Righteous Truth. It strikes me as odd simply because it’s the point of view one most frequently encounters in children younger than six. Yet she’s been able to parlay her bizarre sense of object impermenence into a series of paid speaking and writing gigs. … Penelope Trunk is a master provacateur. Her entire careeer is built out of marketing herself in any way possible–whether that means selling ads on her bikini, billing herself as a “career expert” or parlaying prejudice into some sick form of abusive advice. Penelope Trunk isn’t interested in helping anyone other than Penelope Trunk.

Amen to that.