We have to ask, did President Obama get page proofs to Packaging Boyhood? “I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work – that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you’re not going to be any of those things. The truth is, being successful is hard.”

This is exactly our point. Boys are constantly promised via movies and TV that the can slack off, play people, and still get ahead. They’re given the message that hard work and studying is for girls. Thanks to our President for giving the nation’s schoolchildren a one minute media critique. Now can marketers and media producers get the message and create boy characters that are modeled after, hmmmm, our President?

The ban has been lifted on reporting deaths from Afghanistan and Iraq. Today the AP published a tribute to a Marine who died recently in Afghanistan, including details of how he received his mortal injuries and a picture of his last moments on the battlefield. What do we feel and what will we [...]

GI Joe’s presence in the action figures aisle has been hardly noticeable amidst the scores of superheroes and wrestlers, but believe us, he’s every bit as muscled up and now comes with huge weaponry. Over a year ago we wrote that Joe’s only hope for survival was to star in his own TV show, [...]

R&B artist Chris Brown has apologized.  A real apology this time.  Not like his earlier protest that “the media is wrong” about their reporting of the beating he gave to his then girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, or his father’s explanation that the behavior that landed Rhianna in the hospital was just a “stumble”.  This time [...]

Just heard about a great book for kids–boys and girls.  The Sissy Duckling (Simon & Schuster, 2002, ISBN 0-689-83566) is a children’s book written by noted actor Harvey Fierstein and illustrated by Henry Cole. It is 40 pages long and intended for children ages 4-8. It follows the story of Elmer, a duck who is [...]