"Nobody puts baby in a binder"

If any have you have ever watched Dirty Dancing, you'll know that one of the most famous quotes from the film is "Nobody puts baby in a corner" as Johnny, the male protagonist, picks Baby up from the corner seat she has been placed in and starts to walk away with her hand in hand. You'll also know that recently the second presidential debate for the USA elections took place between President Obama and Mitt Romney. 
Romney made a remarkable statement - which has gone viral instantly and deserves applause for all the people who have the time to come up with hilarious images and videos already mocking the following statement:

“And I—and I went to my staff, and I said, ‘How come all the people for these jobs are—are all men.’ They said: ‘Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.’ And I said: ‘Well, gosh, can't we—can't we find some—some women that are also qualified?’ And—and so we—we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women's groups and said: ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.” (Voila - Now the photo makes sense!)

You should check out The Daily Beast's article - 
Mitt Romney’s ‘Binders Full of Women’ Comment Sets Internet Ablaze
The Huffington Post article - Romney 'Binders Full Of Women' Debate Remark Inspires Tumblr, Facebook Page And Twitter Account

The Twitter account for 'Romney's Binder'  which has already kept me laughing for the last 5 minutes. 

And finally the new Facebook page dedicated to this, which already has 238,324 likes.

Good job Romney! And to end with, here is another of my favourite photos that has come up -

The Bench.

Photo - Ashique Mahmood 

The bench.

A place to sit, a place to lie, to read, to reflect. To be alone and watch the landscape, the cityscape, the people passing by. To sit with friends in a park, to share a sandwich, to meet someone new, to meet your next love, to share a few wise words...

The bench invites you to join it in quiet contemplation.
I came across a website with photographs of "20 Lonely benches around the world". Some are truly beautiful and some seem are melancholy ridden left alone to their solitude until another passer by amuses them for a short while. If benches had ears and eyes, they would have stories to tell...

Please take the time to write a single phrase or word of what a 'bench' means to you below in the comments. I'd love to see what people come up with.
For me a bench is 'A breath of fresh air...'

Kumpir - The Turkish Potato Snack

I was in Istanbul a few weeks back with some of my high school friends, which was great!

What I always do when I head to Istanbul is go to Ortaköy, which is on the European side and get myself Kumpir. Örtakoy is a wonderful part of Istanbul that has many side streets, open air markets, lovely smells of all sorts of types of food, colours and most importantly a beautiful view of the Bosphorous!! I would recommend this place to anyone planning to visit Istanbul.

And I would also recommend Kumpir, which is basically a baked potato mixed with cheese and butter and topped with any ingredient of your choice. Usually the more the better! Lots of ketchup and then a good walk afterwards because you will be full!

In Örtaköy they have a line of stalls selling Kumpir or waffles. I have attached a few photos so you can get a general idea! Instead of getting them from the stalls I would recommend finding a place in the side streets that lead to terraces with great views of the sea! Divan for example is a good choice!

And all that is left to say is Bon Apetit! Or in Turkish, Afiyet Olsun! :)

"Sexy Inc. - Our Children Under the Influence"

Sexy Inc. - Our Children Under the Influence is an interesting documentary exploring the over-sexualisation of the media and advertisements, and its influence on children and their identities. A short, 30 minute piece that explores a few issues ranging from the influence of hyper-sexualisation on children as well as the reinforcing of gender stereotypes.

It is not a coincidence that marketing companies focus on selling to children, children's minds are like sponges and they will take in everything that is shown to them and they will start to become consumers at a very young age. (Remember the Baby-G phase?)

I don't know if your familiar with the very successful 'Bratz' brand, which is an alternative doll to Barbie; well, not only are they marketing 'sexy' dolls to Tweens (Preadolescence), they have started making little baby Bratz wearing make up and wearing belly showing tank tops. I'm pretty sure it's not just me thinking that things have gone too far.  I am not joking - check this out.

Of course adolescence is an even harder period where all you want to be is 'normal' or 'fit-in'. So, who do you look up to? Of course, celebrities and musicians, who bombard our TV on a daily basis. And yes, they do have a responsibility to realise that they are the role models for future children.

I remember as I was growing up these music videos had already started being the norm on MTV or any other music channel. Women dancing around in thongs, men showing off their little groupie gang of women. This is not unfortunately the norm. Turned on any music channel recently? If not I suggest you grab the remote and get a quick dose of reality. And actually it's not just music channels, it's reality programs, it's films, it's songs. It's everywhere.

I guess I was lucky to have found the 'grungy' group in my school, where we listened to rock'n'roll and were mostly listening to our parents CDs or whatever was 'alternative'. The message was : either you are sexy and beautiful or alternative and ugly. Girls getting a lot of hassle for not dressing 'girly' enough. I'm sorry - but WHO exactly decided that girls like pink and boys like blue? Oh what's that? A girl thinking for herself and standing up for an alternative? She must be ugly.  And again WHO decided girls like dolls and boys like superheroes? This little girl hits the nail on the head.

Anyway, this could be a topic we could discuss for hours and frankly write about for hours, but my point is, that having worked in a primary school this year (kids maximum 12 years old), I was actually shocked by several different things. One being a lack of being able to find a modern song without a sexual reference in it - this was for a video project we were working on.

With all this  bombardment of sexual imagery on a day to day basis of course children are going to aspire to be more sexual. Girls will think if they are not a size zero, not wearing make-up and tight-fitted clothing they are not beautiful and boys will try to be 'players' as its the cool thing to do. The responsibility obviously lies in the marketing companies - but more importantly, at home and at schools where it should be stressed to children that the media is manipulative and doesn't necessarily teach us the right values. We do have a responsibility.

Now without writing anymore, I'll just let you watch the documentary and let it speak for itself.

Peace is my Goal, Truth is my Ally, Love is my Weapon

I read a quote by Albert Einstein yesterday:

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things."

So, I thought...

"Peace is my Goal.
Truth is my Ally.
Love is my Weapon."