Hosted by calculator watches.
Top Chef Open Thread
Chef Tom Colicchio will drink. your. milkshake!!!
He will also serve you up his special wienerschnitzel, if you ask nicely.
Rights Rally in Québec Tomorrow
Shaker CaitlinMac alerts us to the fact that there will be a gathering in front of the Montreal office of the Director of Civil Status of Québec tomorrow, Thursday, June 17, starting at 3:30 p.m., in support of more appropriate access to legal change of name and sex designation for trans-identified people in Québec.
The Trans Commission of PolitiQ-Queers Solidaires, along with other groups sponsoring the action, are inviting all allies in the trans, queer, feminist, lesbian, gay, bisexual, anti-racist, left, etc. communities to come and join them. This will be the first event of its kind in Québec, and they are hoping for a large turnout.
Currently, Canadian citizens in Québec who want to change the designation of sex on their birth certificate must either live five years from the time of application with the difficulties and dangers imposed by documents which do not reflect their true gender and chosen name, or they must receive a diagnosis of 'gender identity disorder' from a psychiatrist and undergo “medical treatments and surgical operations involving a structural modification of sexual organs intended to change [their] sexual characteristics”.
The changes required to meet the medical/surgical reassignment definition necessarily impose sterilization on those undergoing the procedures. This is an outrageously discriminatory process to impose on transgender and intersex people who merely wish to have their official documents accurately list their gender and name. And of course, the medical/surgical route is not even available to many because of the expense.
Activists want the following:
• Access to legal change of name without excessive delay, similar to the regulations in force in all other Canadian provinces.
• Access to legal change of sex designation without compulsory medical treatments (operations or hormone therapy), based on the recommendation of a professional (a list of professionals can be drawn up in consultation with the concerned communities), following the example of Spain and the United Kingdom.
• Access to legal change of name and sex designation for non-citizens of Canada who have lived in Québec for one year.
• Access to legal change of trans people’s sex as designated on the birth certificate of children born to them before transition.
• A clear description, published on the website of the Director of Civil Status of Québec, of the procedures for legal change of name and sex designation for trans-identified people.
The address of the office of the Director of Civil Status is 2050, De Bleury, at the corner of Président-Kennedy (metro Place-des-Arts). If you're going to be within range of that location tomorrow afternoon, consider making a little history.
H/T to CaitieCat
Question of the Day
In addition to the narrative fail I addressed in my earlier post, and other issues that I'm sure will come up in comments, The Orphan also was an insult to my intellect and taste. Even if it hadn't been ethically objectionable, it would have sucked as a thriller. It was like someone put every thriller that's been made in the last decade into a Derivative Device and spat out a big hunk of Hackneyed Hamburger.
What's the last movie you saw that was just garbage, just terribly made, regardless of its ideology?
Impossibly Beautiful
Julia Roberts is the new face of Lancôme:
Too bad they didn't bother using her actual face, which, in case you've forgotten, looks like this:
Cast member Julia Roberts attends the premiere of "Valentine's Day" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California February 8, 2010. The movie opens in the U.S. on February 12. [Reuters]Insert everything I've already said in 41 previous posts about this insidious horseshit the sole purpose of which is to make us feel shitty about ourselves so we buy more crap in a futile, unwinnable game.
She is 42 years old. She is beautiful. Lancôme, these facts are not mutually exclusive: Let her be beautiful and visibly 42.
------------------------
By way of reminder: Comments that try to suss out what changes, exactly, were made, and even comments noting that, for example, the removal of laugh lines because they are ZOMG wrinkles actually robs a face of its character or humanity, are welcome. Discussions of how "she looks handsomer/hotter/better in the candid picture" and associated commentary (which would certainly make me feel like shit if I were the person being discussed) are not. So please comment in keeping with the series' intent, implicit in which is the question: If no one can ever be beautiful enough, then to what end is the pursuit of an elusive perfection?
[Impossibly Beautiful: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41.]
Barf.
"When it comes to their health, men are the weaker sex:..."
That's the opening line for the linked article. Quite an exemplary show of FAIL there saying that on one this one issue men are the "weaker sex". So, you know, on every other issue women are the weak ones. Or something.
More FAIL:
About 57% of men have visited the doctor within the past year, compared with about 74% of women, according to surveys by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Black and Hispanic men are even less likely than white men to have routine checkups. At the same time, men are hospitalized at significantly higher rates than women for preventable conditions such as congestive heart failure and complications of diabetes and pneumonia that can be prevented with a vaccination.Right in the middle of the above paragraph, in an article that's about an ad campaign based, generally, on the premise that "men are failures at taking responsibility for their own health and won't take care of themselves!" (slight paraphrase but, really, that's rather the idea behind it), is thrown in the line about Black and Hispanic men not having routine care, without any context about why Black and Hispanic men might face (more) challenges to get routine health check-ups.
Bonus FAIL:
"Most men who are young think they are immortal, and unless they've gone to war they never feel their lives are at risk," says heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, whose medical TV show and website, doctoroz.com, will promote the campaign and link to the ads. In addition to targeting men, he says, the aim is to persuade families to nudge them into getting checkups.So it goes back to someone else taking care of the men who apparently can't/won't take care of themselves. Great campaign. Or something.
Barf. Again.
Just. No.
[Spoiler warning for The Orphan. Trigger warning for sexual assault.]
So, last night, me and my broheim Jake wasted two hours of our time on this precious earth sitting in my room watching the 2009 megahit The Orphan, which, you may recall from Liss' post when it came out, is a trainwreck.
To summarize: The film is about a couple who adopt an orphan, a young girl who turns out to be a scary tormentor to her adopted siblings and mother, as well as a scary seductress who wants to revenge-murder her adopted father when he won't "sleep with" her. In the end, it is revealed that she is a 33-year-old woman with dwarfism who escaped from an Eastern European mental institution and poses as a precocious young lady in order to try to have sex with dads. For real. She's got a scrapbook of dads she's tried to fuck? has fucked? and everything.
Now, here's the thing: Basically, you spend half the movie thinking "OMG this little girl is sexually propositioning an adult man," but then there's a big reversal at the end of the film revealing she's an adult—which I guess? is supposed to make you feel better about the sexualization of a child, except then you remember the character is being portrayed by an actual child. Ugh.
I don't even know how to verbalize my rage about this movie.
What I just can't understand is how the heck a project that is basically the answer to the never-asked question "What if we made a film that's like a fantasy for men who want to be child-rapists and the only thing holding them back is the lack of people with dwarfism posing as children?" gets greenlighted in the first place.
You know, I complain a lot about Hollywood not having any original ideas, but if this is the sort of thing we can expect if they stop churning out remakes and sequels, maybe I could learn to love Beverly Hills Cop 12.
America's Got More Talent
I wasn't, as I was when Prince Poppycock made his debut, watching "America's Got Talent" when Alice Tan Ridley's audition aired last night. But I'm sure as hell glad I saw it today:
[Alice Tan Ridley, a middle-aged black woman, sings "At Last," the lyrics to which can be read here.]
Talent runs in this American family: Alice Tan Ridley is Gabby Sidibe's mum.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Faggotown Sundries: Official supplier of the finest leather harnesses to his Excellency, Mayor Gashleycrumb. Now with matching hats!
stuff white people do: quotation of the week (w.e.b. du bois)
— macon d has an excerpt from Du Bois' essay The Souls of White Folk
Body Love Wellness: A Dose of Reality: My Exclusive Interview With Biggest Loser Finalist, Kai Hibbard (Part 2 of 3)
— Golda Poretsky interviews a finalist from the reality show. TW for discussion of eating disorders, and also for fat hatred.
Last week's Part 1 of the interview is here, with Part 3 to come. Poretsky has posted both audio of the interview and a transcript.
Womanist Musings: Why I Won't Be Your Resource
— Renee explains it. Again. Book mark this one; sooner or later, you're going to want to send it to someone. And while you're there, you can check out her handsome new blog design.
FWD/Forward: Disability in Pop Culture: I know where the Black Stork Comes From
— Time for a fresh approach, Pop Culture makers 'cause, along with Anna, we're all tired of playing Disability Cliché Bingo.
Towleroad: German Court To Recognize Gay 'Partnership' But Not 'Marriage'
— Andy brings us news from Germany. Half a homoloaf — not all that tasty.
The Mongoose Chronicles: Newsclips and Quotes [Strange New Phenomena]
— Mar discovers a huge heap o' fail in a small newspaper item.
Family Inequality: Lifestyles of the 4X-poverty set
— Phil Cohen charts, by financial class, behaviors which some say are linked to character, with explanatory illustrations.
ETA: All together now, Shakers: Maud! Fer fuck's sake, remember to encourage people to drop links in comments!!!!eleventy!! (Yes, knitmeapony, this is a fine place for your info, and thanks for the inadvertent reminder :)
Perfect. Excellent Improvement on a Classic.
You know that old childhood chestnut invoked while making Very Important Promises, "Cross your heart and hope to die"...? Well, it's new and improved, bitchez!—care of an awesome new Kate Hudson vehicle about a lady who fucks her BFF's fiancé, the script for which the Jezebels got their hot little hands on:
"We'll still be best friends, right?"Awesome. A fate even worse than death!
"Of course!"
"Cross your heart, hope to get fat?"
[Related Reading: Today in Fat Hatin'.]
Dueling Quotes of the Day
"It is an example that markets, cultures are very different around the world. I've never shied away from the fact that I'm a Christian. I have my own personal beliefs, and I don't impose those on anybody else. I've been in countries where the majority of the people in the country don't believe in a deity, or they may be atheist. Or the majority of the country is Muslim. Or it may be the majority is much younger skewed. So, when you look at all these differences, it's not that I'm to be the judge or the jury relative to right or wrong. Having said that, at McDonald's, there are core values we stand for, and the world is getting much closer. So, we have a lot of conversations. We're going to make some mistakes at times. [We talk] about things that may have an implication in one part of the world and may be the cultural norm in another part of the world. And those are things that, yes, we're going to learn from. But you're right, that commercial won't show in the United States." — Don Thompson, Chief of Operations for McDonald's on the French ad featuring a young gay man, about which Misty posted here.
"Perfect. It's weird this genius isn't Operations Chief of the World!" — Gabe, on that dude's totes bullshit.
Cobbler!
About a week ago I was craving something sweet but, alas, there was nothing much in the house by way of snack food. Then I remembered we had blueberries but I didn't want just blueberries. Then, even though it was eight at night, I thought "hey, I could make a blueberry cobbler!"...but that seemed somewhat dull. So, after a bit of thought, this is what I eventually made:
It turned out really good, if I do say so myself, so I thought I'd share with you all. It's also really, really easy (and this a really easy recipe to alter to whatever fruit you want--I make it with peaches (and no zest) quite often).Blueberry-Date Cobbler
1 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1.5 tsp fresh orange zest
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates--divided
3 T sparkling sugar (optional)
--Generously butter a 9 inch pie dish. Heat oven to 350 degrees (F).
--In large mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together. Gently mix in half of the dates. Whisk in milk and both zests. Whisk in melted butter.
--Pour into prepared dish. Drop berries and other half of dates into dish, spreading them out all over. Sprinkle sparkling sugar on top, if using (makes a nice crunch on top).
--Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.
Now, for some, "cobbler" = "lots of fruit on the bottom with some sort of crunchy or crumbly topping" (and not cake-like, such as the above recipe). I haven't done it (yet!), but I figure one could take a few cups of blueberries with a cup of chopped dates, some zest, a bit of ClearJel (or cornstarch), and some sugar and put all that in a baking dish and top it with some granola that's been mixed with cinnamon, melted butter, and brown sugar (or a crumble topping of butter/brown sugar/cinnamon/flour).
Yay, Liss!
News of a Shakesville feature we all know and love is spreading! In a comment to today's edition of Conniving and Sinister, Zendegi linked to this item at Ms. magazine's blog.
I'm excited that <3ing of Shakesville's much-loved comic strip is amplifying. I am constantly amazed at the evolution of something that Liss first did as a one-time commentary on the usual cultural assumptions. It's a feature I look forward to daily, and I know an awful lot of other people do, too.
Kevin Wolf, commenting on yesterday's fine edition of the strip, "with no authority whatever" awarded Conniving and Sinister the comic world's Reuben. That may have been a strictly unofficial impulse, but it's one I think a lot of us — including Ms. blogger Kate Whittle — share.
All Kinds of Fucked Up
[Trigger warning for violence/police brutality.]
In Seattle, a white male police officer is being investigated after punching a young black woman in the face, who was intervening while he was trying to cuff another young black woman, who was resisting, and whom he was repeatedly pushing against the hood of his patrol car. The details, including video of the incident, which was shot by a bystander, is here. The video is upsetting to watch, but it's an important piece of our culture, rarely seen, caught on tape—so I think it's also important to watch, for those who are able.
There's a lot going on in the exchange. Leading up to it, the officer reportedly saw the girls, along with two others, jaywalking and asked them to step over to his patrol car. At the time, he was detaining another man he'd caught jaywalking. The girls allegedly mouthed off and tried to leave, and that's when things escalated.
The comments at the link are largely of the same tenor—empathy with the poor policeman just trying to do his job, outnumbered by snarling teen girls who refused to submit to his authority.
Suffice it to say, I disagree.
I am not axiomatically anti-police by any stretch of the imagination; I am the granddaughter of an NYPD cop, whose job was hard and dangerous and necessary. But I am also completely floored by a police officer trying to single-handedly detain five people for two separate incidents of jaywalking all at the same time and allowing the situation to escalate like it did.
Who's being "served and protected" by a cop manhandling and punching two young women whose crime was crossing the street in the wrong place? Who's the real public menace in that scenario?
As ever, there is a seemingly endless supply of people willing to condemn the two young women for "resisting," hanging the blame exclusively around their necks, as if both their race and their gender—and the cop's race and gender—are irrelevant.
They are, of course, anything but.
In broad daylight, in front of a group of onlookers, several of whom were recording the event, a white male police officer roughly handled one young black woman, throwing her against his car hood and tearing her clothes, and punched another young black woman in the face.
That should give anyone with a rudimentary ability to reason some indication of what women and/or people of color have experienced at the hands of police alone, in the dark, with no witnesses—experiences that are shared among their community.
People resist for a reason. One of those reasons is being scared, and some of us have more to fear than others from bad police officers.
The conventional wisdom will almost certainly be that he "snapped," that he didn't have an inherently bad nature as a cop but did a bad thing because of those young women's resistance.
The suggestion that they resisted because they sensed the very nature that resulted in the violence against them will be dismissed as absurd.
And so it goes.
Men Are From Crampon, Women Are From Talon
Shaker Audrey sends from France this advertisement for Sex and the City 2:
[If you can't view the image, it's a movie poster featuring a picture of a disembodied female leg from mid-shin down, the foot clad in a stiletto heel, underneath which is being crushed a soccer ball. Above the image are the words "Talons vs. Crampons," which translates in context to "High Heels vs. Cleats."]
Audrey writes (which I am sharing with her permission):
I saw the ad enclosed on my way to work this morning. The headline reads "High heels vs Cleats".There's not a shit ton of this in the US right now, but only because soccer isn't the obsession in the States (yet) that it is pretty much everywhere else in the world.
The rhetoric of the "war of the sexes" is very strong nowadays, with the World Cup. You can't turn on the TV without either watching a match or a "comedian" explaining how he had to gag / send away / lock away his wife for a month, so that he could watch his beloved football (har har har!).
There has, however, been some pretty obnoxiously sexist commentary during the broadcasts, perhaps none so infuriating as the repeatedly intoned assertion leading up to Saturday's match between England the US that there has never been as eagerly anticipated match "in the history of US soccer." A history which includes both World Cup wins by the US women's soccer team, including their win in 1999, when the US was hosting and the entire country was going wild for that team of women, whom Sports Illustrated made their '99 Sportspeople of the Year.
And then there has been the discussion of notable US soccer players, which has not contained a single mention of any of those women, not even Mia Hamm, despite the fact that she is the most well-known US national team soccer player of all time, and probably the most popular female soccer player in the world. She is the only female athlete after whom I've ever heard a male friend actively petition to name his daughter.
She's a big fucking deal. But she doesn't warrant a mention at the Men's World Cup.
Oh, excuse me. The World Cup.
One of Iain's male friends recently had a daughter, and has been asking Iain a lot of questions about soccer during the World Cup. When Iain expressed being pleased that he was getting into soccer, his friend said (approximately), "Well, my daughter's not going to play football, and she's not going to play hockey, and she's not going to play baseball, although she might play softball, but she might play soccer. So I want to learn the game." Blub.
It's thrilling to know that there is a young generation of USian men who view soccer as a sport they can play with their daughters, in which there is institutional and organizational support for girls in the sport, from the youngest peewee leagues. That's due in no small part to the success of the US women's soccer team, which has already won two World Cups.
Something the US announcers seem to have forgotten.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
[Background.]
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Great News, Shakers!
My Email ID has been awarded £750,000.00 in the British Toyota Promo! I don't know the precise conversion rate, but that sounds like a whole lot of pounds sterling! Some other lucky folk appear to have won also, but none of them as much as I did!
The funny thing is that I only recently set up this particular email account, exclusively for correspondence to/from/about Shakesville. So, if not for Shakesville, I would be £750,000.00 poorer!
So it's drinks all round on me! Just as soon as I get that check.
Ugh
In an interesting, ahem, article about Rwanda's national health insurance system, this was certainly one of the more remarkable parentheticals:
(In another contrast with the United States, obesity and its medical complications are almost a nonissue. Visitors to Rwanda are quickly struck by how thin everyone on the street is. And it is not necessarily from malnutrition; even the president, Paul Kagame, a teetotaling ascetic, is spectral.)Wow.
One of the facts obfuscated by that interesting, ahem, observation is that some of the most dangerously malnourished people in the United States are also fat. There aren't a lot of vitamins in the boxed and canned foods that are the staples of corner stores serving grocery deserts, foods that are also the cheapest thing on grocery store shelves for poor people with low food security.
But there are a lot of calories.
While I'm sure it's accurate that "obesity and its medical complications are almost a nonissue" in Rwanda, the implication—provided by the note that even Rwanda's president isn't fat, because, despite having access to stuff to make him fat, he has the sense to reject it, unlike all those blubbery Americans!—that the "contrast" is down primarily to personal choices is incomplete at best.
In an article in which one of the central points is the irony that there are USians living in the wealthiest country in the world who nonetheless have reason to envy Rwandans because of their access to basic healthcare, one would hope to find some shred of awareness that there are malnourished USians who have reason to envy nourished Rwandans, too.
And whether the rumbling, empty bellies of those envious USians are in fat bodies is really, truly beside the point.
[H/T to Shaker Karen.]
