This is the post I originally tried to send >>

It may have caught your attention that I often refer to Marion as a HERO or SUPER HERO!!!

The H-word has been part of my reportoire of Mariolatry for ages, lol.. Certainly before the WTA 'Looking For A Hero' ad came into being - This is an advertising campaign aimed at promoting the 2008 Sony Ericsson Year Ending Championships in Doha. You can watch the ad at On The Baseline, here: http://www.onthebaseline.com/2008/06/18/sony-ericsson-wta-tour-unveils-new-looking-for-a-hero-tennis-tv-commercials/

The fact that my hero predates their hero, means nothing in itself, except to cause enquiring minds to wonder why Marion wasnt one of the players featured in the full minute long advert. After all, She was at last years Sony Ericsson Champoinships in Madrid.

I think the ad, with it's Mondrian-like transitions and 60's James Bond chic, would have been a more than apt platform to parade the charms of Bondgirl Bartoli! Regrettably the powers that be opted for the blonde top 20 honey-trappers instead.

Oh, and one of the Chinese girls is in there to seduce the new the Chinese 'growth market', but that Chinese player is not as Li Na as you might expect, a player who has at least got a top 30 portfolio. No, it's Yan Zi instead. Why?

Other than this I can say that I like the way the ad has been done. Certainly the film itself more than the music and narration.

The ad thankfully doesnt go overboard on the sex-sells leit motif. Its progress when women are considered equally as credible athletes and sporting role-models as sportsmen are. It is also a sign of progress when society doesnt stereotype all fans of womens sport as being all lesbians or gayboys. admittedly, these things may be a component, I'm not naive, nor am I gonna make myself a liar.. *Blush*.. But these things should be secondary, not the primary promotional vehicle. on this account I think the Looking For A Hero ads pitch WTA product in a fair, tasteful, and focusesd manner. With a little bit of male-gladitorial irony thrown in to the poster strapline.

I prefer the gender neutral and gender equal term Hero to that of Heroine. Heroine is too sexualised and archaic male-construct for my feminist instincts to find palatable. However I wouldnt go as far to say that the word 'heroine' offends me. after all, Marion in her more modest moments could easily turn round and say she finds both hero and heroine perfectly acceptable as long as they are not applied to her! So that would be me told. lol

Lastly, nothing in tennis in my living memory epitomised the heroic more than what Marion did at Wimbledon last year. That wasnt advertising fiction. That was the real deal. She kept her inspiration in her minds eye, and she went for it.. Atlas shrugged!

Next time - Done.

Ok I haver been able to post it after completely removint the word advertising, sony ericsson, etc.

But now when I go to edit the post, the text field is blank.....

Well That problem has been taken care of, sort of.

Just the Symantec phishing filter problem remains.

OK i Will test them one by one.

I switched the phishing filter back on, but it is not blocking me anymore. Maybe Symantec support fixed the problem?

Or maybe it's not blocking me because I downloaded the latest Symantec live updates.

My OS is Vista.

I just hope no one else is being blocked from my blog, because my stats seem a bit low this week. Of course that may be because Marion Bartoli isnt playing any tournaments this week.

Thanks for your reply. It is good to know there is someone there to offer support at blog.co.uk