In the wake of disturbing revelations from Wikileaks and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden about widespread government spying, the British public appeared to be unruffled by a controversy that sparked heated debate in the United States. Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland says “Americans are outraged to discover they are being spied on and watched. Britons give a kind of polite shrug of the shoulders and say, ‘So what?’” What accounts for this disparity of attitudes? Apparently the answer is Bond. James Bond.

To begin with, a recent article at Public Radio International argued, the British are already much more accustomed than Americans to living under perpetual government surveillance. Nick Pickles (can that really be his name?) of Big Brother Watch estimates there are as many as four million surveillance cameras focusing their unblinking eyes on a country of just over 60 million people.

Freedland points out an even bigger difference between the two…

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Jennifer Lawrence really is the “girl on fire”. In The Hunger Games, her character, Katniss, is known as the girl on fire, which is fitting for J.Law.

Jennifer Lawrence is everywhere – movies, television interviews, magazine covers, and she’s constantly filling newsfeeds everywhere.

The public doesn’t just follow Jennifer or write about her or talk about her – everybody loves her. But, why does everyone love her so much?

There’s no debating that she is a great actress. She caught the world’s attention in 2011 when she received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Actress in the indie drama Winter’s Bone. Since then, she received acclaim for literally every other role she undertook, and went on to win an Oscar for her leading role in Silver Linings Playbook earlier this year. And she is receiving awards buzz once again, this time for the upcoming American Hustle.

But…

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The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is on tonight. Which means a televised hour of lace, lingerie, stilletos, curls and pearls and pink.

It also means judgment, ridicule, insults, self-loathing, complaining, disgust and a whole lot of female frustration.

Why? Because women love to hate Victoria’s Secret. Never has over-priced underwear caused so much blood to boil.

When it comes to the push-up powerhouse, women regularly complain that the company commercializes, commodifies, exploits and objectifies women. We moan that they reduce women to sex symbols for male consumption. We whine that we can’t go to the mall without seeing ten-foot posters of mostly naked women. We then criticize those long-limbed, perfectly proportioned beauties for making average women everywhere feel bad about their bodies. Women love to point their fingers at Victoria’s Secret and declare it an anti-woman company with an anti-woman message.

Ladies, please. Victoria’s Secret would…

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As we enter the holiday season and approach a New Year, it’s important to get our perspective straight on what is truly meaningful – before it’s too late.

Recently the Huffington Post reposted an article that has made the rounds of the internet for a couple of years, “The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.” An Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware spent years assisting seriously ill patients in the last few weeks of their lives, and compiled their most common regrets in a blog post that went viral, then into a book of the same title. Below is that list and some of her comments, as well as thoughts of my own.

1) I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

The most common regret of all. Ware: “When people realize that their life is almost over and…

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Hugh Hefner has in many ways been a toxic cultural force for the past sixty years. He helped usher in the age of pornography, which is now a serious global problem that warps healthy and romantic sexual interaction. Hefner’s grandiose claims about being a revolutionary are often hyperbolic, even silly. And he’s a terrible dancer.

And yet, as Playboy’s sixtieth anniversary issue hits the stands, I can’t completely dismiss Hefner. I recently got a review copy of the multivolume set Hugh Hefner’s Playboy ; looking through it – yes, I was (mostly) focused on the articles – it became clear that Hefner made the case for a type of man who is increasingly rare these days, who in fact may be disappearing. Playboy, whose first issue was published in December 1953, defended the man who is urbane, intelligent, interested in art, literature, music, and architecture – and who loves…

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I called Mario Batali’s New York City restaurant, Babbo, 78 times for a prime reservation. I got one. I fought for the reservation because Batali is a mighty fine chef with some mighty fine restaurants. Eating at one of his other joints, Del Posto, was among the more elegant and lovely and delicious experiences of my life.

Two weeks later, he matched donations to Wendy Davis’ gubernatorial race. I cancelled.

Celebrities get involved in politics all the time. It’s super annoying but we all tolerate it. They stop wearing jeans and $200 t-shirts and wear suits and non-prescription glasses and testify about something weird or go to D.C. and do other weird things. I try to look the other way when it happens, especially because most times that it happens, it’s for some liberal pet cause.

But this time I could not look the other way. Batali is…

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Several years ago Barbie was introduced in China but failed to make a big splash. So Mattel, the maker of the iconic blonde doll is trying again, reports the Wall Street Journal, but this time by more effectively tailoring the offering to a Chinese customer base. Gone is the swank Shanghai mansion and “Fashion Design Barbie” to be replaced with “Violin Soloist Barbie” in an effort to cater to young Chinese girls and their Tiger moms.

It seems that the parents who are paying for their kids’ Barbies don’t want them to spend so much time on frivolous play. “She loves those dolls. But I had to stop buying them because they distract her from her studies,” said Ms. Luo Chongzong of her 9-year-old daughter Yang Siqi. “She’ll spend hours braiding her hair, dressing and undressing her,” she said. Instead Mattel is designing a doll that is tailored to the…

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Katy, please cover up. I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea for Katy Perry to wear such a skimpy dress on Sesame Street, but they must not have preschoolers.

This summer, my two-year-old discovered Elmo, and all she wanted to do during our rainy August afternoons on Cape Cod was watch Elmo on YouTube. Searching for Elmo videos, we stumbled upon a video of Katy Perry playing tag with Elmo and singing a kid-oriented version of “Hot N Cold”. A fan of both opposites and costumes, my daughter was instantly hooked. Clearly she’s not alone, because the three-year-old video has had over 58 million views.

Every time my daughter asks to watch the Katy Perry video, I cringe. And it seems I have company. The video never actually aired on TV because some parents complained after seeing promotional pictures.

Perhaps it was in some spirit…

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While news outlets were atwitter with this Cyber Monday’s success as the “biggest online spending day ever,” many of them may have missed one novelty item that’s making history of another kind. It’s a Christmas ornament that retails for just under $30, and it features a red cardinal on a green background: a replication of a painting by the Artist formerly known as President George W. Bush.

Ornaments and fountain pens and paperweights are standard fare in any political gift shop, but this ornament stands out from all the others. Indeed, this ornament stands out from any item associated with any former President in history: It’s the first time a retired U.S. President has ever branded himself creatively.

It’s apparent that President Bush’s endeavor into oil painting was no accident. He is a longtime admirer of another famous painter, Sir Winston Churchill.

In his…

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In the few moments I was able to catch up on news this week, I was struck by a common theme: there is a growing trend in which we measure our love for one another by outrageous, over-the-top gestures and gifts. Recently at Acculturated, Chelsea Samelson made note of how marriage proposals have taken on a life of their own and need to be reined in.   I’ve even seen it in how high school students ask one another to be their date to dances: invitations can involve anything from the delivery of a cake with the question on it to asking professional athletes or musicians to help in the process of popping the prom question.

Our need for public displays of love and affection for others by what we get them or do for them undercuts the beauty and intimacy of shared time and experiences between people.   It’s time…

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