PETA gets shown they're squirrel bait

It would be hard to imagine a more compelling new star than Jennifer Lawrence. I'm not alone in thinking she burst through magnificently during her Oscar-nominated role in "Winter's Bone". She managed to carry an otherwise lethargic "The Hunger Games" (for the record, the pacing is too methodical and Suzanne Collins' trilogy is much better on the page). Lawrence's PR/media circuit appearances are the distinct opposite of dull - David Letterman and "Rolling Stone" got the best of her most recently. So I'm especially surprised that PETA is willing to get rope-a-doped into a cleverness tussle with her. So she skinned a squirrel in "Winter's Bone" and is willing to make a joke about PETA in anticipation of their objection - that's either just smart branding or acting. And I wouldn't put it past her to actually chuckle at all the chuckleheads currently singing her praises on the gun-toting fringe. She's effectively a good Southern gal from Kentucky, no matter how she's spent her time since being discovered at 14-years-old. I suggest that anyone trying to scold her for being brassy remember what sort of persona she's currently toting around like a quiver on her back. To go for the low-hanging joke, she'll surely turn it around and shoot that self-satisfied apple right out of anyone's mouth. And - to run that over-used tagline from "The Hunger Games" even further into the ground - I suspect the odds will always be in her favor on this catfight.

A light dusting of Kardashian eventually gets on everything.

I would have preferred to never enter into a debate over the validity of the Kardashians. They have every right to do whatever it is that they do. Yet whether they (or their most exposed member - Kim) are discussed as a cultural force, a target for all sorts of the disgruntled, or as an exercise in bush league satire - they bring it on seemingly everywhere and oh so often. I'm probably not alone in being hooked by the latest story involving Kim Kardashian. I hope you somehow avoided it, but for those looking for the goods - the debate got rolling with last week's "flour bomb" delivered while Kim was walking the red carpet for her new fragrance. The nebulous point(s) evolving from this episode include: who might have targeted Kim and why, whether she'll file charges, and who might pay for that responsible individual's legal defense. Never afraid to step right in it, PETA's already lunged into the frame. That comes from their simmering beef with the Kardashians - which actually features some confusing Kardashian on Kardashian hypocrisy. Obviously, there are more than a few positions to take when it comes to the Kardashians. Prior to this I would've at least tried to claim my typical reaction was to run away from the entire Kardashian milieu at top speed. No longer - check back from all your Kardashian vs. PETA updates right here. Now if you'll excuse me, I must scan my hard drive for all the viruses newly downloaded from my latest Googling.

Daisey on the Shame Chain

Near the end of last week, I'd wanted to weigh in here on the cancellation of HBO's "Luck" - the ending of which was directly caused by accidents that led to three horses being euthanized during filming. The story leading up to the plug being pulled on "Luck" had me intrigued because it allowed for a curious peek inside the chasm between PETA and the American Humane Society. But I was also drawn to the evolving intrigue around this horsey story because I just plain love(d) the show. It seems that I'm one of the few who saw the snap once again in David Milch's writing and the conflict-heavy brilliance possible inside the world of racing. As luck would have it, we hit the road last Thursday for a long weekend in the Bay Area. A nice big chunk of which for me meant getting back to the satisfying face-to-face work of research in the field as it relates to much grander narrative ambitions. As has been the case up to now and will still be going forward until such time as having some announcements to make, I don't talk about sources. In effect, this blog parses out parts of the story of a story in progress. Things that interest me as I go along get sporadically posted here - all, hopefully, related to the broader theme. I make up my own rules, but they adhere somewhat to a basic sensibility - I'm not doing journalism, but I treat the people I speak with as if I am doing so. Then something happened over the weekend which made me do a full stop as a small storm of pseudo-journalistic inappropriateness rumbled over the horizon.

"This American Life" ran its "Retraction" of Mike Daisey being featured on their show in January of this year (the most popular episode in their history dating back to the mid-90s). In that original airing, Daisey excerpted and repackaged parts of his stage performance "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs". I wish Daisey's mistake and the subsequent reaction didn't belong to an entire category of such trainwreck stories. James Frey and Greg Mortensen (to name just the most obvious two) have already primed the memory pump. Yet to hear Daisey being interviewed by Ira Glass about the way he outright lied and spun the truth and bent over backwards to lump together an otherwise compelling story about the supply chain for Apple products manufactured in China is to hear a man's reputation come crashing down around him in pieces. I was stunned. I was saddened. I was impressed by "This American Life" immensely yet again. I thought about my own time in China last fall "reporting" for my own book. And I'm still thinking about what it means if someone with a mission to tell a larger truth gets caught with even a few lies mixed into the work.

I can't help but think of my own work and a conversation I continually have (both with myself and others) about the way in which I am pursuing this project. I believe it is possible to write a book that is somewhere between "journalism" and "memoir" - a book that bridges bookstores categories that run from "history" to "current affairs" to the full range of indie bookseller classifications that encompass "animal rights" and "nature" and "politics and culture". In fact, I've been spending a great deal of time lately thinking about just that - if the bridge between categories is something appropriate to use when writing a book. Mike Daisey's experience (and that of Frey and Mortensen and countless others who've seemingly ambled down this same road where they feel like the rules don't apply to them) is very much on my mind today. Whatever happens to him hereafter, I think a lesson might be applicable for all sorts of writers. I think it could be summed up as follows:

If you tweak the truth, someone will follow up and find it. Period. Luck has nothing to do with it.

Dissecting images, looking for contrast

There maybe was some confusion caused by the post(s) I offered last week featuring the co-branded PETA/Lingerie Football League protest in downtown Seattle. To recap, four of the women from the LFL's Seattle Mist came out on a very rainy Wednesday a few weeks after the Holidays shopping season ended to protest the selling of fur coats. It could be noted that Nordstrom - the Seattle retailer anchoring the downtown retail district around Westlake Park where the protest occurred - doesn't carry fur garments. In the top picture here, one set of legs is from that of a player, wearing her turf shoes. Presumably made of leather. And in that same pic are the leather boots (again, presumably) of a PETA organizer standing next to her in Starbucks after the rainy show. Or maybe their footwear is synthetic, derived from petroleum. In the other picture here, you see at least one leather bag, more leather shoes, and I don't even want to get into dissecting what the lingerie uniforms are made of (I'll leave that to the real fans out there). Obviously these aren't the parts of the images anyone will look to for meaning when the central subject(s) are toned, fake-tanned (this is Seattle, after all...and one of the sponsors of the Mist is a tanning salon), let's just say sporty-clad women on the street. But if you're going to be out there making a point, I think the debate should be teed up. The protest brought to mind things I've seen Dan Matthews from PETA say for the past two decades (one particular interview with "Dateline NBC" in 1995 serves up some of his universal or holistic views on the use of animals). To paraphrase - just don't do it. Because I'll assume he's consistent, he represents the view that even honey or silk shouldn't be used (don't tell the sweet Mist players that all those silky garments that are LFL's namesake possibly came from worms or you might have a strike on your hands). One takeaway from this is that holistic beliefs are hard. And if you're casual about it, you're opened up to charges of hypocrisy. I could take it further to make a point I've always maintained about these protests. That they have very, very little to do with animals. This is about "class" and not the kind that has anything to do with whether people think it's appropriate to wear your underwear out in public (on that note, I'm a total libertarian). No, this is about targeting people for the buying decisions they make and their presumed position on some metaphorical socio-economic roster. Because if it was only about the animals, all those leather shoes and silky uniforms and downy-outerwear and honey-infused tanning products or latte sweeteners and I'm sure plenty of other stuff not even mentioned might warrant their own passel of protesters. Who'd surely look very different. And where's the fun in that?

Checking out the Seattle Mist during a steady downpour

I'm a man of my word when it comes to covering the hard news. As such, the PETA sponsored protest involving the Seattle Mist started at noon today in Westlake Park. A few members of the local press showed up prior to the appointed time - I noticed one of them pulling a serious photographer rig out of the car parked just ahead of me on 2nd Avenue. We gave each other a "wassup" nod after which I asked if he was downtown to "shoot lingerie" and he replied "I hope it's not a total bust." Scout's honor. The rain was miserably steady around that time, soaking through even the heartiest and best geared-up. I spent much of the next hour under an awning or similar building outcropping. Two of the players (#4 Riki Creger-Zier and #12 Christine Moore) showed right about on time. Two others (#8 Chelsie Jorgensen and #5 Jessica Hopkins) showed up soon after. That made 4 of the forecast 10 players. Add in two PETA handlers, maybe a few dozen passersby who stopped to snap pictures or take a flier, and a half dozen pseudo-serious media types and you've got the sum total of today's protest. The pictures I've seen out on the web thus far look pretty bleak. I've at least tried to capture the humanity seen in what until not long ago was the part of downtown where Occupy Seattle held sway. Y'all can see for yourselves a few of my own posted above. Including one from inside the Starbucks across the street where the team headed inside to order drinks and dry off. I was already there, reflecting upon what this protest means in the grander context (you'll just have to wait for that). I snapped a few pics for Chelsie (a fan favorite, given her past work in "Playboy") using her iPhone and then took a few of my own. I'm not sure if the Lingerie Football League will make it all the way through this season - last Season was cancelled after just 3 games. Whatever happens, I think they'd do just fine in an outdoor game here in the Northwest judging by how they looked after an hour in the rain.

Taking political cues from Women who play football in their underwear

For all sorts of men (or maybe just one sort), the idea of combining "lingerie" and "football" causes sensory overload. But I'd be lying if I didn't fess up to sneaking a peek at the uniformly forgettable, insulting Lingerie Bowls shown during past Super Bowls. This bastardized amalgam exists for one reason only, and it ain't the quality of the competition. I've noticed recent press for the campaign where  lingerie football players joined up with PETA to protest the wearing of fur. Which falls in line with PETA's quite extensive, overtly-sexual campaigns. Sexy vegans, mock porn meant to suggest that dairy causes impotence, just plain sexy folks from all over the cultural map being photographed for their various "I'd rather go naked..." campaigns. No matter where you fall on the argument, there should be some agreement that this approach captures attention. I'm nonetheless struck by plans for a protest tomorrow in downtown Seattle featuring members of the Seattle Mist - our very own Lingerie Football League team. Not so much by the participants - like I said, this has been done before. No, I'm more struck by the timing. Didn't the biggest shopping season of the year end just a week or so ago? Who in their right mind would be out shopping for anything right about now? I haven't seen any scouting reports and I don't know much about it. I'll be there, though. Research. Yeah, that's what the kids call it. Check back for a report on what I find. Along with links for any memorabilia I'll then put up for sale on eBay.

Next up, PETA uncovers the oppressive code hidden in "Pitfall"

PETA consistently surprises me with the absurd angles they take on animal rights issues. I'll be the first to say that their sense of the ridiculous is often clever. Even if they consistently perpetuate completely false claims. Their latest PR assault comes from a direction few could have seen coming. This time out, PETA takes on Nintendo. Whether or not anyone who grew up playing Super Mario realizes it, there's an opportunity for activism hidden in that there code. Specifically, the obscure, magic Tanooki cloak that showed up in Super Mario 3. Admittedly, I'm not well versed in the game. I'll date myself by admitting that I'm more Atari 2600 than Nintendo. Still, PETA's produced an especially lame, not at all timely web-based game to play on their website. Spoiler alert - Tanooki tries to turn the tables on Mario. I've played it. Gamers surely won't. Maybe if they go old school and stand up for the rights of those misunderstood Invaders from Space, I'll see past wrongs worth being righted. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.