I took a stroll by heidiann's journal this afternoon, and got side-tracked by her reference to a Richard Roeper column about the Dove billboards.

It's not this week's column, but I've been very busy staring into space and could not keep up with Richard Roeper's fascinating updates in the Sun Times. Perhaps you already know about it, but for me, venting knows no deadline, so here's the
column.

Scouting around for other takes on the matter, I found poundy's rant, which is typically accurate and vicious. You know: in a good way.

I figure maybe some of the hoopla had died down over at the Sun Times, so I felt free to write Richard Roeper a letter (i.e., e-mail--please, I have misplaced the Three Essential Pens in my latest move, so I am strictly digital). The letter, which I neglected to spell-check, goes like this:

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Dear Mr. Roeper:

I just got around to reading your column of July 19th, and was puzzled by your take on the Dove billboards. Don't you find it a little odd that you're "unsettled" by images of women who aren't stick-thin? After all, it's not like these girls weigh 1,700 pounds--they seem like pretty normal women, which is the point of the ad, which further, you seem to have missed.

You may not appreciate it, but television and billboards are not the exclusive domains of skinny, attractive people. If they were, Dennis Franz would not have had a career in entertainment. And incidentally, I have seen you on television, and without meaning offense, you're not exactly my type. Does that mean you should be replaced by someone I find more appealing, in order not to "unsettle" me? While you're at it, you might do something about that Roger Ebert. He is decidedly unsettling, yet has appeared on television for years.

I think the most unfortunate statement you make is: "If that makes me sound superficial, shallow and sexist -- well yes, I'm a man." Am I supposed to think, "Oh, RIGHT, he's a dink because he's a MAN"? You might be sexist and superficial and male, but those qualities are not universally bundled into every man on earth.

Put shortly: If we can stand to look at you, you can buck up and look at the Dove models. It's not as though they're monstrous, and it's not as though you have to grit your teeth and muster the courage to sleep with them. It's disturbing to think that you're disgusted by any woman who doesn't give you an erection. Try to at least feign a little human kindness, OK?

Or, you know, don't. But don't expect to win any beauty contests, either way.

Love,

Violet

P.S. WBS!

P.S.!

This is the dude in question:

Now picture him jacking off over a Calvin Klein billboard. Mmmm. Unsettlicious!

Star of the day. . .Theodosia Goodman