Jenn Says Stuff: Faces Magazine Awards

Friday is my favourite day of the week for blogging!  Jenn Says Stuff is my no hold barred view on the world.  I can take on any hot political topic and just be me! I am feminist hear me roar!  Or I’ll talk about toe fungus, the point is, Friday is just my day to say whatever I want!

I spend so much time talking about my body (and the weight loss) that today I thought I’d talk about the face; Faces Magazine that is.  For those not in Ottawa, Faces Magazine is a local magazine that has pictures of people from around Ottawa and does stories of people if you pay them money. A local comic did this and everyone laughed at him. This is what I am actually going to talk about today; artists crapping on other artists, but give me a minute to get there.

This magazine puts on an annual awards show, where you can vote for your favourite comic, waitress or dentist.  No occupation is immune, I am sure they even have favourite floor washer in the men’s bathroom of the strip club! (I like Gus for that one)

Every year the list of comedians is listed and every year they get made fun of.  “It’s just a self-serving publicity stunt” they’ll say.  Duh, isn’t everything though?  What I find interesting is that other occupations get nominated (likely by their friends and colleagues) and they say “hey look I am nominated, what an honour” and everyone says “hey good job” and that is the end of it.  In comedy (and likely other artist driven vocations) the response is direct mockery.  To be fair, the comedy category this year has Tom Green and a comic who retired 7 years ago in the running. (I hope Tom wins, it will really make his career!)

So let’s break this down:  Yes, the Faces Magazine Awards is pretty much bull to get people to buy their magazine and get hype. Yes, most people nominated had their friends do it for them.  Yes, it means nothing, so then why bitch?  I don’t brag much, but I have a world’s greatest mom mug.  I bought it myself; I got tired of waiting for my kids to nominate me! I know this mug doesn’t mean much.  I know there are better moms, but by golly, I like it and no one can poo poo my fun!  Can’t faces awards be like that too?  If people like getting nominated then let them be nominated. If they like getting an award voted by their friends and community  members, what of it?

Many artists, especially comedians, can be jerks. We really can.  We perform and judge and try to be kind to each other but deep down we all want to get ahead, so when something happens to someone else, there can be jealousy, or judgement (both in that they may not be good enough or that the award is dumb).

So here today, The Jenn Hayward Show says congratulations to everyone nominated for a Faces Magazine Award.  Everyone nominated likely already knows it’s all silly, but let them have their silly fun. I bet social workers don’t get enough recognition in the world so good for them for being nominated.  Even if it was friends who nominated someone, then hey, congratulations on having friends who like you enough to nominate you for something!  That itself is an accomplishment!

So stop complaining and let’s congratulate all who have been nominated and I hope you enjoy your evening and campaign for votes. Will this make you the best in your field if you win?  Well if you think so then please call Tom Green and give him some career advice.

This has been Jenn Says Stuff.  Congrats to all, and to Faces  Magazine for a pretty kick ass marketing campaign where they get the entire city to advertise their pretty crappy magazine!

Also floss.