A petit diversion from the stress of politics

I am a shameless Top Model addict and for me there is nothing better than a Thursday evening camped out at my computer tuning into 45 minutes of ANTM. I love fashion and always have, especially the photographers. There are lots of embarrassing photos in my family albums of my fashion shoots on the stage in my bedroom back in the day. My best friend and I used to spend hours setting up these locations all over the place and spent all of our allowance money on film and processing. The most consistent shoots were done in my bedroom in this spot. That's my brother and me when later we started doing music video shoots with my parent's enormous RCA VHS camcorder. (check out my awesome Vogue poses!! and how drop dead gorgeous my brother was on the close-up at the end of the video!)

My favorite supermodel was Paulina and I had a lot of her Vogue ads on my wall. She was so physically stunning and perfect. I love that she's on ANTM now. I wish she were the host because she's a lot more intelligent than Tyra Banks, who really gets on my nerves and takes some of the pleasure out of watching the show with her abrasive personality.

This season they have a French girl competing, Marjorie and I really want her to win. I am facinated by her because she's bi-cultural. She moved to California at the age of eight and spent half her life in both the US and France (although I believe both her parents are French). Marjorie keeps bringing up how she doesn't understand the other American girls in the house who constantly keep a game face and never let on that they're insecure or worried. Marjorie, who is typically French is constantly talking about how she isn't feeling confident and she does seem to dwell completely on the negative. It is such a great lesson in cultural-leanings that every American teenage girl will hopefully now understand what a typical French teenager is like and this makes me very happy. They will also see when Marjorie wins that you don't have to have that rah-rah cheerleader mentality to get something. You just have to work hard and be talented. A little self doubt is normal, even charming in its honesty.

Living in France I see both sides, the happy-go-lucky American and the ever gloomy Frenchman, and to be honest both sides really annoy me. My mother-in-law completely lets negative thoughts rule her realm. She only ever asks me about friends who've had tragic things happen to them, "how is your friend so-and-so who lost their job and got divorced?" I think these stories feed her psyche somehow because she only tells me stories about people she knows who have problems too. Nothing is ever pleasant or happy in her world except maybe the grandchildren. It's definitely an Old World European mentality to think like this. In 'merica we aren't allowed to think negative thoughts! It's considered weak and spineless. In fact if you watch the show you'll see that all the rah-rah girls gang up on Marjorie for her "bad attitude" and one girl actually tells her "go back to your country" (which made me cringe). But it's a fascinating peek into two completely different cultures.

I'm not a imminently positive person but I'm not completely cynical either. I think there is a middle ground somewhere. I sometimes do get annoyed with Seb, especially during times like now with the financial crisis swirling around us and having just bought a house. In my American rah-rah mind I think everything will settle down and work out but my husband and most of the French I speak with are already predicting the loss of their homes and jobs and talking about what their next step will be. They are already living in that gloom and devastation and I really don't see the point.

Seb says Americans aren't realists. That people live in a bubble. This is too flippant of him in my opinion. Americans are positive by nature because we have a lot more opportunities that Europeans don't have. The American Dream concept is impossible in France. I often say that people in Europe live in a bubble too, --one with no clear view of the sun. I think they've lived through much harder times though and pessimism is clearly their dominant trait through centuries of conditioning.

But in this case, I really want Marjorie to win because of her negative attitude. I am sick and tired of that over the top, superficial "I'm so going to get this" attitude that the other girls on the show have and I think it's in certain aspects of the culture too and it really annoys me. I think it will be fun to see it get squashed. Marjorie also represents something I like in French teens, she's smarter than the other girls. I think being dumb is considered cute in the young American girl set and that always annoyed me. Apparently Marjorie was scouted out in a bookstore, ...nice. I think she's going to win. If you watch the show I think the final 3 will be Marjorie, Elina and Analeigh. And I think Marjorie and Analeigh will be the final two.