Four-eyed gits drink free tonight!
Belly up to the bar and name your poison!
Quote of the Day
"The NAACP is appalled that an organization like Bonner and Associates would stoop to these depths to deceive Congress. In this case Bonner and Associates are exploiting the African-American Community to achieve their misdirected goal. These tactics illustrate that discriminatory tactics normally used to deceive voters are now being used to deceive the Congress."—Hilary O. Shelton, Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Washington Bureau Director of the NAACP, on the discovery that an employee of DC-based consulting firm Bonner & Associates had forged letters purporting to be from members of the NAACP and the nonprofit Latin@ group Creciendo Juntos. The letters, sent to Congressman Tom Periello (D-VA), urged a vote against clean energy reform.
Baby's First Blog
[This post was originally published August 24, 2006, and I was put in mind of it by this post by Dodai at Jezebel today.]
Recently, Mama Shakes has, in cleaning out various parts of Parental Manor, unearthed some rather amusing stuff from my childhood, like a first- (or second-) grade essay called "My Mom is Sexey," featuring the memorable couplet: [Mama Shakes] is her name / And loving is her game. Apparently, I was suffering under the misapprehension that my mother was a prostitute.
She also found an old diary that had been a Christmas present from her and my dad, which I began on January 1, 1984. The last entry is March 19, and it had gotten pretty sporadic around February 5, but the solid month of sharing my thoughts at age 9 provided me with no small amount of amusement while re-reading it in my 30s. The funniest thing was seeing my adult personality already taking shape. Here are some of my favorite entries, in their entirety, with the original spelling and punctuation. See if you can find where I might reference "a case of the vapors" or the need for a fainting couch, if only my vocabulary had been a bit more sophisticated!
January 3, 1984: It's 7:15pm. Today was a good day. It was back to school day though. And I haven't done my homework! Oh boy. Gotta go. Get back to ya later. PS. My homework assignment was Math, p. 130.
January 11, 1984: Today was fun. Before bed we watched a show about monkeys. It was good.
January 15, 1984: Today was a good day. I found out Webster is really 12 years old. I can't believe it! He's only 40 inches tall! His older brother was 40 in. tall until he got in the middle of 9th grade! I also watched Knight Rider tonight. It was stupid, and about people getting killed (what else), and sex (between Michael & Lorin), and jewelry. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb! See ya tomorrow.
January 17, 1984: Today was a good day. As I—oops, I forgot to tell you, I quit Girl Scouts. Well anyway, David, he gets hurt every single day in school. I just about fainted when I heard the news today. HE DIDN'T GET HURT! I couldn't believe it. I think I'll talk to ya later. See ya. P.S. [My little sister's] first front tooth came out today.
January 18, 1984: Today was nice. Like yesterday, though, a miracle happened. Ha! A miracle at Central School. I never! Whoo. Well anyway, here's the other miracle. Me, Amy, Sarah, Jennie, all of us were ready. Usually (see Jan. 5) Jennie is late or both Sarah and Jennie are late. Neither of us, Amy and I, are ever late! Well, maybe once in a blue moon! But otherwise, never! I couldn't believe it today! After school, it was the talk of the day.
January 20, 1984: Today after school was fun trading stickers with Mrs. Martinsen. I got some good stickers and gave her some good ones. Today I also wrote a story so stupid, I threw it away. So as you can tell, a day is never quite perfect. In PE today, I went against Marci in Steal the Bacon. We were number 8. I smeared her. Our team won of course. Marci was a brat in gym to Jennifer today. When I find out where she lives, I'll smear her face in!
January 25, 1984: Today was a good day. I played "Star Wars." It's the darkside and the, I guess, lightside. You know, stormtroopers and Luke Skywalker's side. I was on the Darkside. I think tomorrow I might play on the Lightside.
Total Geek.
Charming
The only thing better than two white dudez sitting around making gross sexist jokes is when those two white dudez are prominent members of a major media outlet making sexist jokes about the Secretary of State:
Washington Post reporters Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza regularly do a political commentary video series called "Mouthpiece Theater." In the newest segment, Milbank and Cillizza discuss President Obama's "beer diplomacy," and what types of beer various public officials should drink. They suggest a "Happy Ending" beer for Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and a "XXX Porter" for Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC). Their suggestion for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, is considerably more offensive — a "Mad Bitch" beer.
[Jump to 2:35 if you don't want to watch the whole thing.]
I'd love to hear the Washington Post explain how they feel confident their reporters are giving balanced coverage to female public figures when they're willing to unabashedly use sexist slurs in public.
Contact the Washington Post's ombudsman.
Get Well Soon, Senator Dodd
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer:
Dodd is scheduled to undergo surgery during the Senate's August recess and said he expects to be back at work after a "brief recuperation" at home.Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Senator.
"It's something that's very common among men my age," said Dodd, who is 65 and the father of two young daughters. "In fact, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their life."
Dodd, a Democrat, said he feels fine and intends to run for re-election in November 2010. ... As the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Dodd is one of the key players in the effort to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
The Dodd abides.
More New Specs
Iain, who is taking a vacation day today, also just got new specs—and his are totally new, as he's never worn specs before. But he's gone a little far-sighted, so it was time to get some.
And they've apparently made him crazy.
I'd also like to report that he's used his day off to open a Twitter account from which his first missive was: "My first tweet! Off to take a poop, now."
Which, naturally, made me laugh, call him an idiot, and kiss him. In that order.
International Blog Against Racism Week
This week is International Blog Against Racism Week, and, as the week slips away, I'm reminded of my post on the final day of 2007's 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence leading up to International Human Rights Day, in which I first mentioned my proverbial teaspoon: "Today is the final day of the 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence, during which I suppose I have blogged exactly as often as always about violence against women, in America and abroad. Sometimes it feels like it's all I ever write about; sometimes it feels like I can't possibly write about it enough to do the issue justice; often, those feelings exist within me simultaneously. All I ever do is try to empty the sea with this teaspoon; all I can do is keep trying to empty the sea with this teaspoon."
We write about racism every week; this week was like any other, in that there were a bunch of posts, in part or whole, about racism, and in that there weren't enough, in the way that there can never be enough—no minimum, no maximum, no perfectly adequate average—because you cannot put a number on such a thing. You can't just pay your dues as an activist or ally; you can't quantify your work in measures of sufficiency. You must always, always, expect more, especially of yourself.
And, to that end, I don't find my anti-racism blogging to be the hardest (and probably not the most important) thing that I do as an ally. Frankly, it's easy to be a privileged white person who calls out other privileged white people for being racists on a blog*; what's harder is: 1. Examining my own privilege and trying to unweave the lifetime of internalized racism that accompanies it; 2. Challenging racism in my everyday life.
What I don't want to provide, ever, is a harbor for racism. I don't want to let a single racist remark, joke, stereotype, slur, or any other expression of racism go unchallenged in my presence. Nor do I want to evade or rebuff a challenge to any racism I may intentionally or unintentionally express. I want to be vigilant.
Every week.
Because not being vigilant, giving myself the permission to not care about racism, to let my attention drift or my energy wane, is the ultimate expression of my undeserved privilege. If I don't want to be part of the problem, it's got to be my problem all the time. All in.
o.oP
UPDATE: Please visit the International Blog Against Racism Week community here. Also find more here. [H/T to Anna in comments.]
---------------------------------
* Which isn't to say it has no value; I've learned more than I can say from the threads here and elsewhere started by privileged white bloggers, which is to say nothing of what I've learned from bloggers of color over the last five years, like Elle (and her co-bloggers), Shark-fu, Renee, Pam, Kevin, Matt, Resistance, Tami, The Angry Black Woman (and her co-bloggers), Chello, Veronica, Mar, Pizza Diavola, Latoya and Carmen (and guest bloggers), Reza, Ta-Nehisi, and Jay Smooth, among many more.
Please feel encouraged to leave links to other bloggers of color you like reading—and bloggers of color should, of course, feel invited to toot their own horns!
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco Productions, makers of the upcoming film Shakesville: The Movie.
Recommended Reading:
Resistance: Welcome to America
The Red Queen: Middle Class Values Don't Solve Poverty
M. LeBlanc: The Fantasy of Staying Exactly As I Am (or, This Far and No Further, This Fat and No Fatter)
Avedon: A Moldy Slice of Bread Is Not "Half a Loaf"
Danielle: All Obama All the Time
Kyle: O'Reilly to Receive "Media Courage Award" At Values Voter Summit
Leave your links in comments...
Blog Note
It's not just you. Disqus is down at the moment.
We're not sure what's up yet, but I'll update this post if/when I have more information or commenting comes back online.
My apologies for the inconvenience.
UPDATE: Looks like we're back up! Carry on, Shakers.
Apatowcalypse Now: Party Like It's 1899
Gee, let's crack open the bubbly:
On the eve of the release of his latest movie, "Funny People," Judd Apatow has signed with Universal to write and direct three films.I don't know what I find more hilarious: That Universal has identified Judd Apatow as "a cornerstone" of what they pride themselves on, or that they've identified him as a responsible filmmaker.
..."He has become a cornerstone for what this company prides itself on, which is excellence in comedies," [Universal Pictures chairman David Linde] said. While "Funny People" is a more ambitious production than Apatow's more modestly budgeted movies, Linde called the him "one of the most responsible filmmakers that this company works with. He is always on budget, he is always on time."
When I think "pride" and "responsibility," I absolutely think of the guy who had the courage to include a gratuitous "crowning" shot during a childbirth scene.
[Previously in the Apatowcalypse: Man-Child-Rising, Rise of the Dudebros, Dawn of the Dudebros, Lord of the Dudebros, When Dudebros Collide, Methinks the Dudebro Doth Protest Too Much.]
Have Another
Well, the little get-together over beer and peanuts is over. You would think that the way the cable news outlets built it up, it was the most important meeting since Nixon went to China in 1972.
Events like these are like Rorschach tests; you take away from it what you want to see. Some saw it as a cynical attempt by the president to recover from his "acting stupidly" moment at his press conference where he lifted the veil on his anger and hatred for white people (if you listen to someone like Glenn Beck); some saw it as just another photo op on the White House lawn -- like when Arafat and Rabin shook hands -- that papered over the real differences between the parties and nothing's really changed; and some saw it as one more way that Barack Obama has confounded the conventional wisdom and demonstrated that no matter how smugly convinced you are that you think you know what he will do, he goes and does something that is completely unexpected yet lands him on his feet with a gentle "ta-da!" It's a touch of grace, self-awareness, and political savvy that I haven't seen in a president since JFK. And it answers the perpetual and blindingly irrelevant question that pollsters whip out every election cycle: who would you rather have a beer with?The much-anticipated “beer summit” of President Obama, the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department in Massachusetts took place Thursday night, accompanied by minute-by-minute reporting from the White House press corps, countdown clocks from the cable news networks, and a last-minute addition by the White House in the form of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
After 10 days of near nonstop news coverage of a case that prompted a thousand news stories about race, the men sat down for less than an hour at a table across from the Oval Office under a magnolia tree.
“What you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue,” a poised and smooth Sergeant Crowley said in a 15-minute news conference after the session. “We didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the past, and we decided to look forward.”
The president tried to make it look like no big deal, which strains credulity on several levels. First, just by definition, nothing the President of the United States does is not a big deal; that's a hazard of the job Mr. Obama is ruefully finding out. Second, if it wasn't a big deal -- or at least played up by the West Wing -- we would not have had a tick-tock on everything from the location to the choices of beer brands. (You don't think the brewers whose bottles made it to the table aren't going to exploit it? Ha.) And we would not have had the instant analysis that caused MSNBC to go into "Breaking News" mode and spent hours with Chris Matthews and his pundit pals analyzing the body language of the president of his guests. (Actually, that tells you much more than you really want to know about Mr. Matthews and the thrill that runs up his leg.)
Staged events like this rarely accomplish anything in themselves, but it does set an example. Take away the hype and the artifice of the lighting, sets, props and costumes (notice that the most casually dressed people in the picture were the most powerful) and what you have is, to coin a phrase, a "teachable moment" that goes beyond the issue of race and profiling and a presidential Kinsley moment: committing a gaffe by speaking the truth. We Americans can accomplish a lot more by sitting down and actually getting to know each other than we can by relying on preconceived notions of race, class, and profession. So if this little beer bash accomplished anything -- besides boosting the market share of Bud Light, Bucklers, Sam Adams, and Blue Moon beers -- it may get the cop and the prof in other places like Toledo or Albuquerque or Miami to sit down and talk.
Crossposted.
Birthers
Steve Benen:
A new Research 2000 poll conducted for Daily Kos asked respondents a rather straightforward question: "Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?" Since the president was born in the U.S., ideally, the results would be around 100%.Heh. Naturally, they weren't, however—and, predictably, there was a partisan gap in the results. While 4% of self-identified Democrats are "birthers," and 8% of independents are, 28% of Republicans believe President Barack Obama was not born in the US, and, hence, not eligible for the presidency. Says Steve: "For a crazy, demonstrably false, racist idea, these are discouraging numbers." Indeed.
But I was especially surprised by the regional breakdowns. In the Northeast, West, and Midwest, the overwhelming majorities realize the president is a native-born American. But notice the South -- only 47% got it right and 30% are unsure.If I were the Republican leadership, I would be very worried indeed about this. Of course, it's nothing less than they deserve, given that this is precisely the base they cultivated.
Outside the South, this madness is gaining very little traction, and remains a fringe conspiracy theory. Within the South, it's practically mainstream.
[Commenting Guidelines: No nasty broad swipes at the South. Which is not to say that we can't discuss cultural differences that may explain this disparity. If you don't know into which category a comment like "The South is full of racist assholes!" falls, don't comment. If you do, as I suspect most Shakers do, carry on.]
What The Hell?
Shaker Cheezwiz, right
What the hell is the "Golden Trout Wilderness"? What the hell is with that headband?? What the hell is with that top, and that sweater around your waist??? What the hell????
(If you've a ridiculous and/or embarrassing photo of yourself from your youth, please send it to shakerwhatthehell_at_yahoo_dot_com. I'll post them up as part of our series called What The Hell? so everyone can laugh at with you.)
[See also: Deeky, Liss, evilsciencechick, katecontinued, ClumsyKisses, Mistress Sparkletoes, Liiiz, Reedme, Mama Shakes, Mustang Bobby, RedSonja, MomTFH, Portly Dyke, SteffaB, Icca, Christina, Orangelion03, Car, Siobhan, InfamousQBert, Maud, Rikibeth, MishaRN, and CLD.]
Question of the Day
Is there any word you compulsively mispronounce, because you got it into your head it was pronounced one way, and even though you've found out it's totally not pronounced that way, the mispronunciation refuses to unstick?
Capillary. Which is correctly pronounced KAP-uh-ler-ee, but which I persistently mispronounce ka-PILL-er-ee.
Iain is famous for these. He has one of the most prodigious vocabularies of any person to whom I've ever spoken—it's genuinely impressive. It was also gleaned almost entirely from a voracious reading habit, so he's often never heard these words actually spoken by anyone but himself, and it turns out he's not the greatest pronunciation-deducer of all time. My favorite ever was you-BICK-tchoo-us, which is how ubiquitous tumbled out of his mouth.
I should note, in case it isn't obvious, that I find this habit to be one of the most charming, utterly endearing things evah about him.
Oh, Crap
Rainn Wilson conspires to make me dislike him, too.
The Model UN chicks are "wildebeests" (translation: fat) shtick is bad enough, but his anecdote about giving up on feminism because one woman didn't read his mind to figure out they were doing dutch on a first date makes me wants to smash things. (It also pegs my bullshit meter in a big way. I don't know any woman who doesn't bring money on a first date. Or any date, for that matter.) What the world doesn't need is yet another story where some dude uses a random individual woman's failure to adhere to his unspoken expectations to discredit the entirety of feminism.
Meanwhile, I really don't get Lindsay's attempt to justify Wilson's horseshit on the basis that he was telling it from a place of still feeling "like a nerdy teenager."
So his nerdy teenager brain told him that it was okay for him to call those girls wildebeests, because it's coming from him, Rainn Wilson, the harmless, ignored outcast, not from some handsome evil bully. If a handsome evil bully said it, it would be bad, but it was just little old Rainn Wilson! He can't hurt a fly. That's probably what was going through his head on a subconscious level when he [referred to unattractive/nerdy girls as wildebeests, twice].The whole reason feminism/womanism is necessary is because of the institutional inequity between the genders—which means that even guys who are relatively powerless compared to "handsome evil bullies" are privileged over women. Which is exactly why a nerdy guy picks on girls—because at least he's got a better position in the hierarchy, thanks to his undeserved male privilege, even if it is less than the quarterback's.
Point being, if he delivered that insult from a place of erstwhile nerdiness, that doesn't suggest he feels harmless; it suggests he still views girls (especially fat/ugly girls) as a target that can't hit back. That is, he's being harmful in a very specific direction.
All of which is ultimately irrelevant, anyway, because I know a nerdy teenage boy or two who knows better. And excusing or mitigating Wilson's nastiness on that basis is pretty insulting to them.
The Siren Songs of Smiths and Sweaters
Last night, Kenny Blogginz and I saw an advert for 500 Days of Summer.
The Smiths bit naturally piques me ("There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is, in fact, Iain's and my song)—but I pay attention to the hints of what's really there, and I fear the film is ultimately fodder for Dr. Sady. Heart says yes; brain says no.
I'm hanging out on the fence, when KBlogz joins me and says: "You know what sucks? When indie films are the same as mainstream films, except they've got hand-drawn titles and the main characters wear fun sweaters. It's like—I like the sweaters; that's not the problem. It's that the sweaters sometimes try to trick me into seeing some tired, sexist rom-com shit."
I LOL'ed for ten years. 'Cuz, like, yeah. Exactly.
[If you've seen 500 Days of Summer, please leave your review in comments.]
Duh of the Day
Rove Had Heavier Hand in Prosecutor Firings Than Previously Known.
I can't even imagine how many words I wrote about this shit two years ago, including post after post about the White House email and nongovernmental emails being used by White House staffers. I'm very curious to know if the newly uncovered emails are official government accounts and whether they were properly archived (unlikely) or a violation of the Presidential Records Act (likely).
Almost two and a half years ago, Sidney Blumenthal penned: "All roads lead to Rove: The White House political director was clearly at the center of the partisan plot to fire U.S. attorneys, despite the administration's clumsy attempts to pretend otherwise."
It's not that Rove's neck-deep involvement wasn't known previously; it's that the proof hadn't been handed to mainstream media outlets on a silver platter. But anyone who was paying the slightest modicum of attention knew. And we waited with bated breath for the truth to come, for the MSM to do its fucking job, for Congress to do its fucking job, for someone with some power to do the right goddamned thing with some urgency befitting a White House scandal.
That never happened.
It's outrageous the amount of time it's taken to get to this point. And even now, there's still no assurance of justice.
The outrage has faded. The energy and passion of most of the people who used to vigorously demand answers has waned. The attention span of the public is far too short to still care. All momentum has diminished.
Someone more cynical than I, ahem, might suggest that was precisely the plan all along.
Dumbest Cops on the Planet?
Two DeKalb County [Georgia] police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave after an investigation revealed they ran a background check on President Barack Obama.Gee, ya think?! What I love most about this is how these two bozos apparently thought it possible that by checking the widely-accessible NCIC, they were going to uncover some scandalous secret about a sitting United States president, who's been vetted more thoroughly than an exhaustively vetted thing with lots of little very vetted bits all over it. "Dude, check it out! He was arrested for murder in '92 and no one's noticed!"
...Officials said Obama's name was typed into a computer inside a DeKalb County police car on July 20 and ran through the National Crime Information Center.
The secret service was immediately notified and contacted the DeKalb County Police Department.
A representative said both officers have been with the department less than five years.Here's a wild guess: They're fucking morons.
...It is unclear why the officers ran a check on the president.
[Via Memeorandum.]
From the You've Got to Be Shitting Me Files
[Trigger warning.]
Shaker Kathy emailed me a heads-up about the gobsmacking story of William David Webb, a youth minister in Birmingham, Alabama, who has pleaded guilty to transporting a 15-year-old girl (yes, one of his parishioners) across state lines for the purposes of sexual activity, or, as The Birmingham News (or possibly just al.com) reports it: "Former Word of Life youth minister sentenced after pleading guilty to teen sex."
Guilty of "teen sex." As if, perhaps, he was guilty of fumblefucking in the backseat of his dad's car, as opposed to raping an underage girl. (The age of consent in both Alabama and Oklahoma is 16.)
And check this out:
The defendant's wife of nearly 13 years, Tara Webb, submitted a letter to the court saying she became aware of her husband's relationship with the victim in August 2007. "He immediately repented and asked my forgiveness," her letter said. Mrs. Webb said she went to the victim, who worked for her as a volunteer in the church audio department. "She apologized to me and I forgave her," Mrs. Webb wrote. "I encouraged her and told her to not let it hold her back but to pursue her dreams."Well. Isn't it so very Christian of the good Mrs. Webb to forgive the teenager her husband raped?
Just like Jesus taught.
Daily Kitteh
Thanks to Shaker courtneywood's suggestion, I purchased a Trimline collar for our Feather. While she might look a little pathetic in the pic, I can confidently say that she's a lot happier with the new collar. Now, she can rub her cheek on everything she passes and eating/drinking is a lot easier for her.
As of my last conversation with the vet, Feather will only have to deal with the collar for a couple more days. Then on Tuesday, the stitches will come out. Hooray!
Dexter
About a month ago, Deeky and I made a pact: If he'd give Lost a try (which he had always assumed sucked, because, duh, if it was so awesome, why wasn't he into it?), then I'd give Dexter a try (which I had always assumed sucked, because, duh, if it was so awesome, why wasn't I already watching it?).
Fast forward to now, and Deeky has just embarked on Season Two of Lost and I've just embarked on Season Two of Dexter—which I kind of can't believe I like, given the premise. A sociopathic serial killer vigilante, who originally started dating his girlfriend, a rape and domestic violence survivor, because she was "broken," quite possibly couldn't sound less like something I'd want to watch.
And it was a good few episodes before I was sure I wanted to keep watching; after I'd gotten through Season One and encouraged Iain to watch it, he sat down to watch the pilot and said, about twenty minutes in, "You like this show?" I told him to keep watching. He did.
The thing is, it's a challenging show; it constantly urges me to consider how I feel about Dexter and his "code," which in turn demands I think about my own sense of justice, and the larger culture's sense of justice, and how those intersect and diverge. Dexter, whose aliases are frequently Bret Easton Ellis character allusions, is not a hero; he's an anti-hero—and we're not meant to like him. We're meant to root for consequences. For him to get caught, or, at minimum, for him to change, not in a simple rom-com I've-been-such-an-idiot-not-to-see-my-true-love-was-in-front-of-me-the-whole-time way, or a tidy reversal-of-fortune I-now-see-what's-really-important-in-life way, or any one of dozens of other hackneyed and uncomplicated growth arcs, but in the slow, wrenching, self-annihilating deconstruction and ash-rising of real-life fucked-up people whose lives have been permanently thrown off course by a shattering trauma, who may hurt others as a consequence.
And then there's the code. His father's code. The code he was instructed to live by ostensibly to keep the monster under control, but was really a code that gave license to that monster to thrive.
I suppose this is as good a place as any that I find Dexter to be a useful allegory about the Patriarchy.
But all of this is really neither here nor there. Because this post is about Dexter: The Video Game.
Iain sent me this link yesterday, at which there is a trailer for the new video game, based on the show. Supposedly.
Upon viewing the trailer, I emailed Iain: "Um...my first reaction is that sort of fundamentally misses the point of the show. Which is clearly written so that Dexter is an anti-hero who you're rooting will change, not identify with and want to become a vigilante serial killer."
To which Iain replied: "My thoughts exactly. Interesting insight into why most of the people who watch the show like it, though."
And I feel the same sort of chill I felt when everyone was reading American Psycho, and I overheard guys talking admiringly about Patrick Bateman as if he were someone to emulate.
I have wondered if Dexter will pull it off. I have wondered if Dexter is willing to alienate the fans who are watching because they relate to Dexter, not to Rita, or Debra, or even the troubled Sergeant James Doakes—who, Iain cleverly pointed out, is the guy the show would be about, if it were a typical show about cops, or a killer who needs catching.
This video game trailer makes me nervous about which audience will ultimately be satisfied by the show. It's possible, of course, that a video game could recreate what the show is doing, what Iain describes quite aptly as an extended examination of a utilitarian morality: Harry's code was effectively just an attempt to fill Dexter's presumed void of conscience with a morality rooted in cold reason—and when Harry saw the logical conclusion of that experiment, he was sick. A utilitarian morality shatters into pieces when it runs headlong into the human conscience.
But the game is being made available for the iPhone and iPod touch only, which, as Iain pointed out, suggests a mission-based game, likely lacking the story element that will replicate Harry's realization and communicate the message that Dexter is no hero—without which, it's just a game about a killer.
And that really would be too bad, because the show is so much more.
I hope.
[I'm not quite finished with Season Two and have seen none of Season Three yet, so if you comment about either, please give me a spoiler warning. Thanks!]
Whitewashing Avatar: The Last Airbender - Open Thread
About three months back, Shaker Seraph gave us a superb introduction to the excellent American animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, with a world based in various Asian(-ish) traditions. The names and the clothes and the kung fu styles and the architecture are Asian (well, Asian and Inuit*), all of it.
Which just makes it that much weirder that when they came to put together a live-action version of the show, they near-totally whitewashed it. Derek Kim, a superb Asian-American artist in his own right, put that post together, and I think he outlines really well the reasons why this is a problem. This was an opportunity for Hollywood to actually put together a show that would put a tiny little dent in the white stranglehold on good roles.
Spoiler warning: Below the jump, spoilers have been, spoilers are, spoilers will be. Please also watch out for sky bison droppings. Appa's not housebroken.
Instead, we get Katara and Sokka - two Inuit-based characters - played by two people who may well be fine actors, but who are, unfortunately, a lot more Scandinavian-looking than Inuit-looking. They look like they should be waving goodbye to Erik the Red, not the matriarch of their Inuit village.
We get Aang - the title role, a 12-year-old monk - played by a white kid. We do get one POC in one major role: Zuko is to be played by an English-born actor of Indian background (Dev Patel). I somehow doubt it's a coincidence that he's one of the "bad guys".
Here's the actor playing Sokka, on playing an Inuit tribesman:"I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan," he said of the transformation he'll go through to look more like Sokka. "It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit."
So...basically, playing it in yellowface.
Ô.ó
Gee, how...modern.
I don't think I can improve on that. Have at it, Shakers, but please remember the guidelines for commenting on threads here: check your privilege at the door, and recognize that people - particularly POC - have a right to be angry about this. Trolls of any stripe will be mercilessly mocked, used as cover models for encephalic enema kits, quite likely banned...and then mocked some more.
Also, please enjoy this link to a bingo card , specially made for this particular racefail.
Edit: Some excellent links from Shaker Socchan, which I thought worth bringing into the post.
Racebending on Livejournal / Racebending the website
Aang Ain't White on LJ: home of a letter-writing campaign.
* Inuit, not Eskimo, per the preferences of the Inuit themselves. Please respect their right to their own name in the comment thread.
So Totes Post-Racial
Another true story to "brighten" your day: Lucianne Goldberg's site has a theory on President Obama's and Skip Gates' choice of beverage for the day.
Just a reminder: If you don't find this funny, you can't take a joke, you're a humorless scold, it's not really racist and besides you're the real racist, and blah de blah blah blah phhhllllllllllpppphhh where's the birth certificate *fart*
Racism: It doesn't exist anymore.
(Energy Dome tip to Steve, who is sure Justin Barrett will find that to be a hoot and a half.)
80s-licious!
I'm going to devour this luscious Rubik's Cube Sandwich for lunch, and follow it with a huge chunk of Optimus Prime cake for dessert!
Behold My Love Advice
by Shaker Sady, who can be found, when not lovedoctoring at Shakesville, blogging various important ladybusiness at Tiger Beatdown.
You know, friends, being allowed to do a guest post at Shakesville is an honor. An honor of which I, specifically, plan to prove myself unworthy! How will I do this, you ask? Why, by revealing my new career to you! My new career is: DR. SADY, THE LOVE DOCTOR, WHO GIVES LOVE ADVICE, WITH HER Ph.D IN LOVE.
"But Sady," you are saying. "You do not actually have a doctorate in the Love Sciences! You are completely unqualified for this position!" This, sadly, is true. I only have a Master's! Oh, okay, that is not true either, actually. But I have watched a lot of movies.
Specifically, I have watched romantic comedies. These cinematic documents, or "texts," have unlocked to me many of the true secrets of Love. Also, they are made "for women," which I assume means they cannot be sexist! Truly, the major film studios of Hollywood always have the best interests of the ladies at heart, as we can learn from Sex and the City: The Motion Picture, and its forthcoming sequel, Sex and the City: Marriage Marriage Shopping Marriage Babies.
Therefore I invite you to join me, DR. SADY, as I perform some unlicensed Loveology, using lessons from popular film.
1) FAN THE FLAMES OF LOVE... WITH STALKING! It's true: Ever since Ione Skye told John Cusack to leave her alone, and he responded by standing underneath her window at all hours and serenading her with the chart-busting hits of Phil Collins, following a lady around against her will has been one of the chief signifiers of True Love. Stalking bespeaks a passion that cannot be restrained by "rules" or "laws" or "basic respect for the person you want to date." So, should you wish to ignite the flames of love, or reconcile with someone who has shunned you, a little bit of creepily following someone around whilst she repeatedly asks you to stop it should do the trick. Failing that, of course, you will end up with Mila Kunis.
This scene is only slightly more frightening if you imagine Heath Ledger performing it as the Joker.
2) THERE ARE ONLY TWO MEN IN THE WORLD. They are, in order: The guy you want to date, who will end up being a douchebag, and the guy you think is a douchebag, who you will eventually date. Witness recent cinematic love prescription "The Ugly Truth," in which Katherine Heigl wishes to pursue a handsome doctor who likes red wine and cats. Does she end up with him? Don't be silly! He is revealed to have various unspecified flaws! She ends up with Gerard Butler, who calls her boyfriend "gay" and also engages in a little light sexual harassment when he is not complaining about women who "economically emasculate" their men by having paychecks. Yes, women invariably hate and fear the men who come to offer them True Love, probably because they are awful. This is why we need stalking! But, if you wish to find Love immediately, perhaps you might try dating the first dude who inspires you to unmitigated disgust. That guy who grabs your ass in the bar and, when you yell at him, tells you that you missed out because he has a really fancy car? That is your future husband. You will soon be Mrs. Skeevy Pervington III. Speaking of which:
3) YOU ARE A HETEROSEXUAL WHITE PERSON. THIS IS NOT TRUE OF YOUR SASSY FRIENDS! Yes, it's true: if you wish to find Love, as defined by The Movies, you will need to be a candidate for the undeniably perfect and sacred institution of White Heterosexual Monogamy. Sadly, not everybody can be a White Heterosexual. However, if you are not, I have good news: you, lucky person, get to aid the White Heterosexuals in their quest for love! Gay folks and/or people of color make fabulous accessories to the single White Heterosexual girl's lifestyle: witness Drew Barrymore, in He's Just Not That Into You, who avails herself of the aid of several homosexual gentlemen, all of whom are wildly enthused at being let in on her boy troubles. Sarah Jessica Parker, in Sex and the City, actually hires a young black lady (Jennifer Hudson, in fact!) to listen to her various complaints. Lest we think this an inequitable exchange, I must remind you that Sarah enriches this young woman's life by buying her a handbag. Truly, the White Heterosexuals are fonts of ceaseless generosity!
Gosh, boss, I'm so glad that you hired me to come to bars in the middle of the night so that you could condescend to me and make terrible puns and spout your vague aphoristic philosophies and oh my God say "boo-tay" one more time AND I SUE.
3a) OH, AND ALSO, YOU ARE VERY THIN. I refer you, once more, to the Hudson/Parker dynamic. Romance is for the slender! However, should you be not-thin, I hear that Sassy Fat Friend positions are still available.
4) YOUR JOB HAS MADE YOU A MONSTER. Sorry, ladies! I know you need to "pay rent" and "eat" and things like that. However, if you actually take a job, there is a slight chance that you will end up having a career that matters to you. And it will make you the worst person who has ever lived. The Victorians recommended against letting women read too much, lest it shrivel the womb and derange the senses; The Movies have improved on this, by demonstrating that any form of accomplishment will, in fact, render a woman a shrieking, irrational, terrifying harpy. Truly, the only vocation for a woman is Love. Preferably, love with a free spirit who can shake things up and subject her to various humiliations and rid her of her uptight job-loving ways!
Hey, job lady! Can your precious job prevent you from being tossed off a boat? NO. NO IT CAN'T.
5) HEY, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE OFF THOSE GLASSES? YEAH. AND TAKE YOUR HAIR DOWN. No, wait! Don't do that! That boy is asking you to do it for a bet! But also, once you do it, you will become sexy. Sexy to the guy who is planning to make you sexy, because of a bet! But also he will fall in love with you for real, because your ponytail and glasses magically imbued you with bonerkilling powers and he has vanquished them by making 2.5 adjustments to your appearance. I just hope that you don't have a fight when you learn about the bet! Oh, but who am I kidding? You crazy kids will make up at the end. I bet!
6) LOVE MEANS ALWAYS HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY. At least, it does if you are a woman! Because women, basically, cannot make their own choices. They are terrible at that! They cannot choose to focus on a career, for it will warp their minds and destroy their spirits. They cannot choose the men they date, which is why they must be stalked by men who repulse them in order to find love, and why their choices to pursue relationships with non-repulsive non-stalkers are inevitably doomed. They cannot choose how to dress or present themselves, which is why men have to make them over. They cannot choose to be themselves in relationships, which is why they need insufferable boy-men, frequently played by Matthew MacConaughey, to break them down. They also cannot be fat, or lesbian, or of color, none of which are "choices" so much as they are "apparently still grounds for prejudicial exclusion in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Nine AUUGGGGGHHHH." But, no worries, ladies! If you're willing to give up every last shred of that nasty "autonomy," and manage to fall within the desirable demographic of skinny white straight ladies who can be easily made over, love (as defined by the total erasure of your life and personality) is in the cards for you! I know, I know. You can thank me later.
True Story
[Trigger warning for racist language.]
A white Boston cop (not the one who arrested Henry Gates, but one who clearly sympathizes with him) was pretty unhappy with some of the coverage of the story in the Boston Globe and fired off an email to the columnist.
That email contains repeated uses of the term "jungle monkey," demands to know how Henry Gates can be a "famous expert on race" when he's done nothing "for me and my family" (including nothing to "help limit and reduce my income tax," in case you were wondering where his political alliances lie, heh), and suggests the reporter "serve a day with the infantry and get swarmed by black gnats while manning your sector."
Shockingly, the email to a journalist, on which several of his National Guard buddies were copied, does not stay private, and the officer is "placed on administrative leave and faces losing his job."
The officer, Justin Barrett, apologizes and immediately undermines his apology by insisting: "I am not a racist."
A Boston police officer who sent a racially charged e-mail protesting newspaper coverage of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. apologized Wednesday night and said "I am not a racist."For the record, his words were not being used merely to characterize behavior. The parting shot of his email is: "Your article title should read CONDUCT UNBECOMING A JUNGLE MONKEY—BACK TO ONE'S ROOTS."
…"[Jungle monkey] was a poor choice of words. I did not mean to offend anyone," Barrett told NewsCenter 5's Cheryl Fiandaca.
…"The words were being used to characterize behavior not describe anyone," said Barrett. "It was a poor choice of words. I didn't mean it in a racist way. I treat everyone with dignity and respect."
Also for the record, there's no way to use "jungle monkey" to describe a human or human behavior that isn't "in a racist way."
The Boston Police Department assures us this is just one bad apple.
Quote of the Day
"I'm on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values."—Senator David Vitter (R-LA), whose core conservative values included a business arrangement with an escort service.
Saddest Thing Ever
Fully one year later now, there are gamerz still obsessed with my Fat Princess post.
In case you don't want to bother wading through the muck (and multiple repostings of this classic) for the gems over there, here are my personal favorites:
"You're fat! Nobody wants you, fattie!"Yeah, fat people—why are you so defensive?! Go eat some cake and cry, because nobody wants you! LOL.
"Fat people are so defensive. Go eat some cake and cry."
"i know people these days are such pussies the get but hurt over anything"
"SHE IS FAT UGLY SON OF A FUCKING WHORE BITCH WHO SUCK WEINERS ATTACHED TO WEINER DOGS THINKING ITS A FUCKING HOT DOG!!! she is a fucking loser"
And while I do, truly, appreciate the irony of being called a loser by someone who misspells "wiener," my favorite of them all really is: "You're fat!"
I know! Well done pointing out the obvious! By the way! That is not an insult! It is merely a fact! I am also brunette! And blue-eyed! And specs-wearing! For the record!
But I digress!
The original "Fat Princess" post is probably my most linked post of all time. It's been linked from here to Hyrule and back again in dozens and dozens of gaming communities, and each associated discussion that I've read is littered with the most vitriolic fat hatred and misogyny imaginable.
Which, literally, couldn't have more proved my point that the game plays to and on entrenched stereotypes.
Thanks for the assist, dipshits!
[If you made your way to Shakesville after the Fat Princess Debacle of 2008-9, here's the whole
What The Hell?
Shaker CLD, right
What the hell is with those highwater corduroy pants? What the hell is with those glasses?? What the hell is with that beanie??? What the hell????
[See also: Deeky, Liss, evilsciencechick, katecontinued, ClumsyKisses, Mistress Sparkletoes, Liiiz, Reedme, Mama Shakes, Mustang Bobby, RedSonja, MomTFH, Portly Dyke, SteffaB, Icca, Christina, Orangelion03, Car, Siobhan, InfamousQBert, Maud, Rikibeth, and MishaRN.]
Question of the Day
What's the worst case of miscasting you've ever seen, and who should have been cast in that actor's stead?
John Travolta in the musical film remake of Hairspray. Fail squared.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen Rikki Lake in the role, because I'm all about the full circles like that. (And I like Rikki Lake.) Or, really, pretty much anyone with a SAG card besides John Travolta would have been fine.
Oh HELL no.
Photo of the Day
WASHINGTON - JULY 27: U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive for a reception for ambassadors at the White House July 27, 2009 in Washington, D.C. [Getty Images; via.]
Healthcare Update/Open Thread
Over in the House, the Blue Dogs have worked their magic—Blue Dogs strike deal: No health vote before recess.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate, reform is getting bipartisanized into total garbage, as per usual—Senators Close to Health Accord: Panel May Vote On Bipartisan Bill Before Recess.
I am nearly beyond caring at this point. I fully expect to die in a ditch, heavily medicated on Boone's Farm.
2 steps forward, 2 steps back: China Edition (aka Human Rights: UR Doin It Wrong)
by Shaker TheDeviantE, (but we're all friends here, call me Deviant), a queer, poly, atheist genderqueer trans boy, who is: infrequently writing a blog about "normal" society, becoming a social worker, making music, and otherwise trying to muddle on through.
[Trigger warning due to violence against women.]
Today's guest post comes to you care of the Chinese government. And by "care of," I of course mean "in righteously fucking pissed response to."
Hey, did you know that China kills a lot of people? It's true. According to a New York Times article, the U.S. executed 37 people last year. We are considered (rightly) to be one of the most Death Penalty-licious countries of Europe AND the Americas (North, South, and Central). Here's a color coded map* for reference. However, compared to China… Hoo boy.
Last year (during the Olympics, while they were trying to cut back on the executions because it makes the international community cranky), China executed 1,700+ people. 2 years previously? 8,000.
(In case you're wondering, China ranked third in 2008 behind Iran and Saudi Arabia for per capita executions at a little over 1 execution per million population—keep in mind that's when they had the Olympics around. In 2006, with at least 8000 executions, their per capita executions were 5.9/million)
But, good news! They are trying to scale it back and take some of the corruption out of the system.
One of the ways they've done that is to acknowledge "mitigating factors" (such as "crimes of passion").
Now, it seems probable that people convicted of tax evasion (why yes, China does indeed execute people for that) are still pretty much up shit creek (it is rather hard to argue anything but premeditation for tax evasion after all), but it looks like murderers should have some reason to rejoice.
Especially if they decide to kill women (most especially wives, girlfriends, that sort of relationship).
For an eye opening look into the reasoning of their high court, we get the case of:a man surnamed Shao who was convicted of killing his girlfriend after learning of her affair. Mr. Zhang said the high court suspended Mr. Shao's death sentence because he showed regret and promised compensation for the woman's family.
According to Zhang Jun, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court:Other mitigating factors were that the victim's behavior may have provoked the boyfriend's violence and in the end, Mr. Zhang added, the crime did not "have a major social impact."
'Cause killing women willy nilly clearly has no social impact, women being murdered by men who get angry is totally not systemic**: Just pay the family back in lost wages or something and it's like it never even happened! Seriously. How does one even "compensate" the family monetarily??? I wonder, what did the court decided his dead girlfriend was "worth"?
In any case, I really can't help but applaud China. 'Cause if there's one thing a society needs, it's more protection for misogynist assholes. As we all know, sexists are one of the last groups of people it's ok to be bigoted towards (along with gamers*** and white men. Hah.). I mean, if you're sexist, you can't hardly get a job writing articles or being an actor or a vice president of the highest court in your country, or really anything in the public sphere at all, and people always chase you out of town with pitchforks and such. So really, I do support helping make sure that sexists aren't blamed when their victims make them cranky…and then the sexist jackasses go and…kill them?
After all, whenever someone makes ME cranky I always..... oh wait no I don't.
Yeah. Way to rock, China.****
PS: Death Penalty? Wrong. Wrong, wrongity wrong. I in no way think that Mr. Shao or others like him should get the death penalty. But, giving him a reprieve because the deaths of women have no "social impact"? ALSO WRONG.
DoublePlus PS: It is worth noting that this article TOTALLY takes a "we're just reporting the facts, questions are for suckers" approach to it all. No questioning this policy, or that it (or specifically, the example) is rooted in misogyny. Also, the juxtaposition of this anecdote with talking about how "human rights groups welcomed the announcement" totally squicks me out. If I were a researcher at Human Rights Watch, you better be damn certain that I'd find it totally problematic if a government decided that murder of women was less evil than tax evasion. I mean, women are also human.
Right?
----------------------------------
* The map was taken from here, which also seems to include graphs of per capita executions and various other death penalty related stats.
** And lest anyone get the wrong point here: The U.S.? Same systemic murders, England? Same fucking systemic disregard for women. This is not a uniquely Chinese problem. This is not a uniquely "third world" problem. This is not a problem based in the culture of "non-white" peoples. This is not a uniquely ANYBODY problem. It's everyone. It's everywhere. It's all of us.
*** Sorry, I've recently been reading that glorious "Fat Princess" thread.
**** (small print terms apply): Your results may vary, check your local listings and regulations for values of "rock."
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Open Thread
Alright, since I have now seen it in its entirety, I'm going to selfishly decide this is the day on which we start the Open Thread.
There are spoilers below the Open Wide. Do not enter if you do not wish to read spoilers.
No really. Spoilers. Lots of 'em. Don't blink. They'll sneak up on you. Whatever you do - Just. Don't. Blink. Oh, wait, that's that other show!
So - what did you think?
I was impressed, as always, with their wonderful portrayal of non-heterosexuality, from love to lust and in-between. I liked that the heartless killer assassin happened to be a woman, and that that didn't seem to make undue difference in how horrible she was. I liked that there were POC in various positions, important and not, with no discernible pattern of $NONWHITE=EVIL (not discernible to me, anyway; I can admit that may be an artifact of privilege, and welcome being corrected if I'm mistaken).
The emotional charge of the series was huge, I felt, and though I can certainly understand how people could be peeved with RTD about it, it was still done well enough that my friends and I watched all five in a row, ending at 3am (it was broken into five instalments by Space, the Canadian sci-fi channel, and shown in 75-minute slots - yay for full eps!).
The casting was outstanding: so many enormously talented actors* in this show. Even smaller parts were well-filled, with superb actors familiar from a host of BBC productions.
I cried for Ianto (poor beautiful Ianto!), and for Clem, and for Jack and Alice, and for Steven, and even for Frobisher, and the girls and their mother...tragically mistaken right to the end. And even though it was totally telegraphed, I still jumped half out of my seat when the shots came.
So - go at it, Shakers! What did you think? What do you think the future will bring - there's been a renewal for a fourth season, though all but Gwen are now gone from the team we're used to (Owen and Tosh first, then Ianto, then Jack leaving)? Where will they set up, without the old Hub? What happened to the pterodactyl in all this?
* I use the word "actor" to refer to a person who acts, regardless of gender.
Activist, Terrorist, Potato, Potahto
CNN: "Trial set for anti-abortion activist in Kansas doctor's death."
Anti-abortion activist. Really? Wow.
I mean, it's technically accurate, but calling al-Qaeda "anti-American activists" would technically be true, too, you know? But I don't see CNN soft-pedaling that one. CNN.com feedback form.
[H/T to Shaker Debra.]
From the You've Got to Be Shitting Me Files
[Spoiler warnings for the film Orphan lurk herein.]
No transcript for the trailer, but the general gist is that a young couple adopts a girl from an orphanage...but she's got a secret! Surprise—she's a psycho!
So, when I first saw the trailer for the film Orphan, my first thought was: "Oh, yeah, that's exactly what the millions of older kids desperately in need of adoption need—a movie that depicts them as freaking murderous lunatics." (Actually, my first thought may technically have been: Peter Sarsgaard, what are you doing in this piece of crap?! But I digress.)
And the whole adoptive-child-as-psycho thing would have been bad enough, but it's actually far worse than that: Esther isn't an orphaned child at all, but
a thirty-something psycho-killer with proportional dwarfism which allows her to pose as a perpetual 9-year-old adoptee who tries to seduce her adoptive fathers, and when they refuse her, brutally kills them and burns down the house with the rest of the family in it. She's done this like, twenty times, and apparently no one has noticed a pattern. Listen, I watch this stuff so you don't have to.Awesome. So not only another film about an Unhinged Fuck-Me-or-Death Lady punishing men who won't sleep with her, but a dwarf lady who inexplicably poses as a child in order to insinuate herself into the lives of unavailable men. Ooooooookay.
Among all the other many, many reasons why this concept is brutally fucked up, let me offer this final reason: I have exactly one non-fantasy film in my vast collection that has as its central protagonist a dwarf. (That movie, btw, is The Station Agent, with the exceptionally dreamy Peter Dinklage.) And I have exactly zero films, non-fantasy or otherwise, that have as their central protagonists a woman with dwarfism.
Suffice it to say, this is not because I'm avoiding films about dwarf women.
Help a Shaker: Disability and Ally Resources
Shaker Betsy emails a request to the community:
A friend of mine has been having mobility problems for a few years due to severe pain in her ankles that has been given varying diagnoses. Last year, relocating to a new town, a new baby, and the debilitating pain conspired to leave her isolated and unable to do basic tasks or participate in activities she loves. Recently, she has had to seek medical treatment after suicidal thoughts. She is likely to get a wheelchair soon. That is the background.Please help out, if you can.
I want to offer her as much support as I can, but as someone with no experience in this arena, I was wondering if any Shakers had recommendations for support groups or websites for the newly-disabled, to help with everything from the emotional consequences to the practicalities of figuring out how to get the most out of a wheelchair and find decent health insurance/providers. I did some googling, but I have no way to evaluate what are good resources and what aren't. I would be so grateful for any sites or books or other resources that you, or a loved one with a new disability or in a wheelchair, have found to be helpful.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, your headquarters for Utter DisdainTM at how the Democrats can fuck up a great possibility since 2004.
Recommended Reading:
Igor: Dean: "What's the point of having a 60 vote majority" if you can't pass health reform?
D-Day: Same Old Song and Dance
Bill: For-Profit Medicine is a National Sickness
BAC: Rep. Maxine Waters Nails the Problem
Le Mew: The Core
Steve: Reid Talks About What to Expect
Shayera: Legislative Democrats PAY ATTENTION!
And on non-healthcare reform subjects...
Rachel: Government Women's Health Site Acknowledges That Women of Different Sizes Can Be Healthy
Renee: Meryl Streep and a Lack of Sexiness
Roxie: Pour One for the Lady
Holly: Opportunity to Vote for Your Top Ten Favourite Blogs (This is for UK blogs/bloggers. I encourage UK-based Shakers with blogs to nominate themselves in comments. And don't forget The F-Word, hint hint!)
Leave your links in comments...
Totes Post-Racial
This slow, agonizing implosion of conservatives since Obama took office due to their complete inability to handle their own racism has been really amazing for me to watch. On one hand, we've got people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, wallowing happily in their deeply embedded racism like so many hogs in slop. They're unable to keep from gleefully repeating racist talking points, like calling health care reform "reparations." Beck recently said:
This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture....without a trace of irony. And if you like that, you'll love Limbaugh blurting "I had a dream that I was a slave building a sphinx in a desert that looked like Obama."
On the flipside of this two-sided coin, you've got people like conservablogger Dan Riehl, who is so eager to prove that he's totes not racist, that he sits down at his keyboard and writes one of the most racist things I've ever read. I could throw up some blockquotes, but really, you need to just read the whole thing for yourself.
As an extra special bonus, Riehl shows how totally non-racist he is by offering up an encounter with a white woman, dripping with extra misogyny sauce. (Garbled sentences and typos intact for your pleasure.)
Anyway, I get lost in a DC suburb yesterday and need directions. I pull into a shopping mall and see this lady (white) walking to her car, I'm in mind. I'm inside the vehicle, so I power the passenger side window down and say, excuse me, I'm lost. Can you tell me how to get to so and so.Of course, the idea that this woman may not have "desired" to help him because, oh, maybe she had a good reason to not stop and give directions to a strange man that slowly pulls up behind her in an idling car never crosses his mind. Getting out of his vehicle and making it clear to this woman that he's not a threat before asking directions would obviously be too much goddamn work, so let's paint her with the bitch brush and move on, shall we? After all, Big White Man has some brown men to pat on the head for doing such a good, good job getting him to his destination!
Well, she barely paused, looking at me with this almost disdainful look. As though I was ruining her day. "Well, you want to get to so and so the best way you can". ANd on she goes with really no help, or desire to help at all.
(Tip 'o the energy dome to S,N!)
In Odd Things I Stumble Across
Dollhouse miniature of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's
Via The Miniature Bookshelf, which bills itself as "the largest selection of dollhouse books online." Firstly, I had no idea there was such a thing as dollhouse books. Secondly, I love the idea that there are little dollhouses out there with fully stocked libraries. Thirdly, I am tickled to know that there is a tiny little version of my favorite book of all time available. (And even though it's not an actual book and can't be read, the idea still pleases me.)
By the way, I am so getting a copy of The Grass Harp for my Bossk action figure.
SNN Breaking News: Birther Identified as Threat-Making Shit-Stirrer
In a completely stunning revelation, Delaware Online has discovered that the woman behind the recent "birther" rant directed at Rep. Mike Castle during a townhall is a shit-stirring weirdo whose local conservative radio station has banned her for being too unhinged even for them—and possibly dangerous:
According to another WGMD host, Jared Morris, she has been banned from calling the station -- known for its conservative leanings and hosts -- on several occasions. [...]And, as Jared Morris pointed out, this is the woman that people were cheering.
She repeatedly has called Obama "the antichrist" on the airwaves, and "her phone calls have turned to faxes and threats," according to Morris.
"I have actually talked to an angel who came down in human form," she said during the Jan. 1 show. "We will have alien contact in October of this year, in the southwestern USA."
[H/T to C&L]
So…
I'm watching this clip [NSFW] of some ding-a-ling going totes apeshit on Hell's Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay trying to look all hard as if there aren't two giant bodyguards flanking him, and I wonder, once again, if the contestants gets paid per "bitch" on that show or what.
I haven't watched it this season at all, even though I only watched it to hate the sweet fuck out of it before, because I can't even bear to look at Ramsay since he acted the complete überscum toward that reporter in Australia. He's just a despicable bully.
So I'm interested, if totally unsurprised, to note that the show remains populated with contestants who use the word "bitch" like it's going out of style. I've never seen anything like it.
And I find it really curious that a nonstop stream of "bitch" is considered appropriate (i.e. unbleepable) during primetime, despite the fact that it's a slur demeaning half the population. And the way it's frequently used on Hell's Kitchen, it's a homophobic slur embedded with a rape reference.
But a brief view of Janet Jackson's tittay was a national scandal.
This country is so fucked up.
[Commenting Guidelines: Let's not play Oppression Olympics here, please. Even though it may be true that some other kinds of slurs might not be treated as unseriously in this one arena, it's not relevant, and pointing that out is just expressing a grievance that hurts the people who have earned that little bit of respect, not the people who fail to extend it to everyone. In other words: It hurts the wrong people. And we all know that one slur being beeped on telly isn't evidence that the associated bigotry is gone, anyway. On-topic comments will discuss the hypocrisy of how women and/or gay men are treated, e.g. ubiquitous slurs against them fine, but images of women's bodies or portrayals of gay male consensual sex treated as scandalous.]
Some Movies Just Aren't Sexist Enough
We've discussed The Ugly Truth before, and by all accounts it sounds like a pretty shitastic film (it's certainly marketed that way), a fairly uninteresting "romantic comedy" with a heavy dose of sexism and misogyny to presumably (what other rationale could there be?) lure in the all-important dudebro dollar.
And for some, the film just doesn't have enough sexism and misogyny.
From St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall: "The Ugly Truth is a movie telling women to loosen up a little, get in touch with your inner pig. If only the rest of [the] movie were that subversive." And by subversive the author seems to mean "reducing women to objects to serve as targets for men's lust." Yeah, that's subversive.
And while it might appear that referring to Gerard Butler's character as "an unapologetic poster boy for misogyny who wandered off the set of a Judd Apatow raunchfest" isn't a compliment, Persall assures us that Butler is, in fact, "keep[ing] things fairly real."
You see, all men, well, anyone who's "a rugged man's man" like Butler's character, really are "selfish and sexist." I guess I'm not a real man, not by his definition.
I'm okay with that.
(Now, don't get me started on his review of Sex and the City.)
LOL Okay
Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-NC): [The Republican plan] will make sure we bring down the cost of healthcare for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.I don't even know what to say anymore.
[Via.]
"Sin to Win" Snub FTW
Last Friday, I wrote about a contest being held at ComicCon by EA, in which participants were asked to be "sinful" by taking "lustful" pictures with "booth babes" at the convention in order to win dinner and a "sinful night with two hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi and a chest full of booty."
Shaker Selasphorus just emailed me a heads-up about a gay gamer, PixelPoet, who subversively submitted a cheeky pic of himself with a hot guy, blogged about it, and was "randomly selected" as a runner-up contest winner. He was offered "a $240 gift certificate to the EA Store and a limited print t-shirt for being selected," but instead of taking the winnings, he emailed them to decline.While I'm grateful for the team 'randomly' choosing me as one of the runners-up for your #Lust contest, it seems as though the internet has once again made it difficult to relay tongue-in-cheek humor to the desired recipients. I became aware of your contest through one of the many blogs decrying it. I think the contest was somewhat sexist, misogynist, and exploitive, especially since you were sending fans upon ANY booth babe at SDCC; however, as a gay man, I also saw this PR stunt as missed opportunity that resulted in what appears to be a narrow minded view as to what your game's audience can truly be. While I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, this stunt projected a view of your target demographic as lustful heterosexual males, when in reality a larger and larger portion of the gaming population are women and LGBT people.
Rock on, PixelPoet.
...I sent in my photo of me with a burly man that I took at PAX last year as a humorous portrayal of how your contest is not only misogynistic and demeaning to the women that attended the conventions, but also to anyone that doesn't follow the hetero-normative ideal. I know booth babes (and guys) get paid to man those booths and deal with gawkers, but there are also PR, production, and development people at those booths caught in the crossfire of dealing with people trying to do "acts of lust" with them to win your contest.
Again, while I am grateful that you have chosen my submission as a runner-up, I feel I must decline your free t-shirt and $240 gift certificate to the EA Store. Instead of giving that $240 away, I would prefer the money to be used in the following ways:
1) A new sexual-harassment training video/seminar
2) Another PR team to try to spin this whole debacle of a contest into a positive light
3) A direct phone line to EA's legal depart to use before you try anymore PR stunts
4) Six copies of your game when it releases, since I know you've lost at least that many fans with this stunt
5) Or the next time you go to Hooters (for the wings, of course), leave a $240 tip for your waitress in a karmic way of balancing out what has been done to the booth babes of SDCC due to this contest
...Thanks for the response though, and there is a part of me that hopes I wasn't just "randomly chosen" and that you guys wanted to include my picture to help save face. That maybe on some level all the negative press and feedback actually got back to you guys and you were trying to include more than just guys drooling over girls; however, I have to decline use of my image or name for the contest.
[Previously: Still Not Wanted: Girl Geeks (& We're Not So Hot on Gay Guy Geeks, Either), What More Could a Girl Want?, Again Let Us Contemplate Why There Are Not More Girl Gamers, Still Not Wanted: Girl Geeks, Over at Shakes Manor..., Liss Isn't the Only One Who Writes Letters, Fat Princess Greatest Hits, "Women are treated better than men online," says NerdBoobLoot-man, Rape for Sale.]
