So thanks for the support Normalinauts! Some day my ship will come in (read: book will be published). Also, thanks to Mojo for the shout out and I think the phrase “book of complete win” may have to be the title of my second novel…

Because I am often looking for ways to “not work” while sitting at my desk all day, I have, inexplicably, joined Facebook and set up a Normality Restored group. If you are in any of my various e-mail address books, then you likely received an invitation to “be my friend.” So far, I have two friends…exsulis, because I badgered him on gchat yesterday and, oddly, Ze Frank. I guess the rest of you really don’t like me…no, that’s alright, I’m not going to cry…I mean, I did just get my novel rejected and everything…and now no one (et tu gilgrim?) wants to be my cyber-friend. Huh? That sounds a little dirty. So if you did get an invitation and haven’t replied, I want you to know you have wounded me deeply. If you haven’t received one, and you do want to be my friend, drop me the electronic style mail kilian.heap@gmail.com. As an added bonus, anyone who joins the NR facebook group will get a specially crafted, personalized, mediocre, officer title. Just ask exsulis, “Elite Dataz Haxor.”

OK, I have to bring this up because it bothers me on so many levels, but first, a bit of background.

I took three years of photography in high school. I would say, more then anything else, being in a dark room was the most important (at the time) aspect of my time in high school. For a few different reasons I did not end up majoring in photography in college. I did, however, start a photography club and was said club’s president for two years (admittedly, I did little the second year) while in college. My wife was a photo communications major, and spent six months in London studying photography beyond her degree. So let’s just say that photography is something we take pretty seriously in our house. That was part of the reason I previously brought up the Lindsey Lohan/New York Magazine “thing.”

So it should surprise no one that I am now interested in the Miley Cyrus/Vanity Fair “thing.” Long story short, Miley posed for a photo shoot for the upcoming Vanity Fair. She’s wearing a sheet. Here’s one picture from the shoot, and here’s some behind the scenes pictures. Here’s one other (very) important piece of information. The photographer was Annie Leibovitz. In case you are unfamiliar, Leibovitz is the premiere (and I mean that literally, there is no one bigger or more important) celebrity photographer in the world. There are others, of course, Mario Testino and Herb Ritts (though Ritts passed away a few years ago) come to mind. But no one else has the reputation or portfolio of Leibovitz.

This is important because, now that the “sheet” photo has appeared online, Cyrus has come out against the photos.

Here’s the thing. I get that Miley is 15. I do. I have a daughter, I get it. But how is a photo shoot, one that her family was at no less, with a world renowned photographer (Leibovitz was the photographer who last captured John Lennon, by the way) worse then, oh I don’t know, her showing her bra off?

You may disagree. I can see where someone might think that the Vanity Fair shoot was borderline child porn. I think that opinion is wrong, but I can respect it. The fact that this was a shoot with Annie f’ing Leibovitz, I think, instantly adds artistic credibility (much as I argued in regard to the Lohan shoot). So why doesn’t Miley and her family stand behind the photos? I mean, all they would really have to say is, “IT’S ANNIE LEIBOVITZ!” Sort of, god I cringe to say this, in the way that Lohan defended her photos.

My guess, and others have said this as well, is that Disney has put pressure on the clan Cyrus to distance themselves from the photos. I don’t really see why. In this context, I would say the pictures have a decidedly less sexual inclination then say, a red carpet or some other “hollywood” style event where 15 year old Cyrus is wearing an ultra revealing gown, thousands of dollars of jewelry, and is done up like it’s prom night.

Gogol Bordello - Immigrant Punk