Shakesville

Here Is Something That May Be Fun for You to Watch!

Not everyone has the right to get married, which is terrible, and not everyone wants to get married, which is great for the people who live in places where that is a choice and not great for the people who live in places where it isn't, and not everyone who can and wants to get married also wants their parent(s) there, or still has parent(s) around to be there, plus don't even get me started on blood diamonds. We can probably all agree at this point that marriage is a very complicated issue and relationships with parent(s) can be pretty complicated, too, but, because the best human moments rarely happen outwith the intricate framework of cultural difficulties we have collectively built, I think maybe we can nonetheless enjoy this video of what might be the best father-daughter wedding dance of all time. Can we? Let's try!

Video Description: A black woman in a bridal gown and a black man in a tuxedo stand in the middle of a dance floor at a wedding reception. Over a speaker, an offscreen DJ says, "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we would like to invite the father of the bride to join our beautiful bride out there." There are cheers and applause as the groom leaves, and a black man in a tuxedo, sans jacket, joins the bride on the dance floor.

As "My Girl" begins to play, the father bows, then takes his daughter in his arms and they begin to dance a very traditional father-daughter dance. The music then switches to "Boogie Shoes," and they go into choreographed dance steps. The crowd cheers and laughs and applauds. The music then switches to The Jackson Five's "I Want You Back," and the father does a little MJ dance move, to cheers.

The choreographed dance steps continue through several more song segments in the medley, including Lloyd Banks' "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" (which gets a big laugh) and the Jackson Five's "Dancing Machine" (to which they do the robot). They then wind up in more traditional dance together once again, then take a bow and hug each other to cheers and applause.

And just when everyone thinks it's over, Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" begins to play, and they break into the choreography from the video. More well-deserved cheers and applause. The end.

[Via Kelly.]

Quote of the Day

"The latest consequence of extreme austerity is in Highland Park, Michigan, which has not only turned off all of its streetlights, but also ripped out the light poles—a telling sign that its darkening of the streets is permanent. With an unemployment rate at 22 percent and a city debt of $58 million, Highland Park could no longer afford to pay the electric bills."—Rebecca Leber, at Think Progress.

Well, maybe the citizens of Highland Park can just light some bootstraps on fire.

Daily Dose of Cute

Zelda the Mutt with a stuffing-less plushy toy raccoon draped across her head

Oh the humanity.
(That is, for the record, a stuffing-less plushy toy raccoon draped across Zelda's head. I was trying to engage her in a game of tug-o-war with it, but she prefers to play tug-o-war with Dudley and play RUN AROUND IN CIRCLES!!! with me, so I put it on her head.)

Film Corner!

[Trigger warning for rape culture.]

Below is the trailer for the upcoming Michael Fassbender (Team Magneto!) film Shame. It also stars Carey Mulligan and was directed by Steve McQueen, a black Englishman born in 1969 who is no relation to the white Hoosier actor of the same name who died in 1980, after starring in The Great Escape and other films. This is a very splendid picture Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender together! Anyway! Let's go the video!

Listen, I sort of know what Shame is about, because I read a description of it that gave some vague outlines, suitably cryptic for the kind of film generally considered best enjoyed if you know very little about it. Trailers for those sorts of films are often difficult, because you want to capture the mood without giving away details of the premise. Unlike, say, a Michael Bay film, in which you might as well watch the extended trailer, which is essentially a comprehensive synopsis, and save yourself $10.

But, come on, trailer for Shame! You are not telling me ANYTHING except that Michael Fassbender is adorable (no doy) and runs a lot (okay), and he has lots of sex (sure), and also has an indeterminately troubled relationship with his sister Carey Mulligan (all righty), and that New York City is filled almost exclusively with white people (which I know from all the other film trailers ever). Give me SOMETHING.

Well, in fairness, it does give me lots of accolades from reviewers, who would definitely never mistake pretentious kyriarchal garbage and recycled rape culture narratives for revolutionary film-making, so I guess I'll go ahead and trust them!

Onto the trailer description...

Mysterious, moody, brooding string music. Michael Fassbinder breathes. Sounds of the city. This film has won lots of awards. It is "from award-winning director Steve McQueen." Michael Fassbender breathes. He also jogs. He looks at ladies' asses.

Michael Fassbender is "the man." His pitch is "amazing." He clinks glasses with other men who are presumably his coworkers. According to The Guardian, this film is "mesmerizing." Michael Fassbender clinks glasses with ladies and watches them dance. Elle magazine thinks this film is "exquisite and emotive."

String music! Breathing! Jogging! Michael Fassbender checks out ladies on the subway. Michael Fassbender's sister is "playing downtown," and he goes to see her with some other dude. Carey Mulligan looks troubled and performs in some club in a sequin gown, looking Marilyn Monroe-ish. The Hollywood Reporter thinks this film is "scorching."

Breathing! Taxi! Computer! Carey Mulligan is maybe doing it with Michael Fassbender's boss now? Michael Fassbender's hard drive is dirty. He does it with lots of chicks. He is a sex addict, for sure. I.D. thinks this film is "daring and stylish."

Sex! Breathing! Tension with Carey Mulligan! Sex! Breathing! Tension with Carey Mulligan! The Hollywood Reporter also thinks this film is "a cinematic jolt."

Jogging! Some dude calls Michael Fassbender "Romeo" and then punches him. His sex addiction is getting him into trouble. Well, I'm sure we'll all feel very sorry for his objectification and exploitation of women when it turns out his sister coerced him into a sexual relationship at some point and is trying to do so again. Which is what this trailer is making me SUSPECT is going to be the big reveal of the film, and gross if that's true because rape reveals are cynical and revolting. (And, not so coincidentally, nearly always run counter-intuitive to everything we know about who tends to commit rape.) Time Out says this film is "courageous and distinctive."

Breathing! Jogging! Michael Fassbender is coming unglued. He won't pick up the phone. Sex! Running! Sex! Running! Sex! BREATHING!

SHAME. Carey Mulligan lies her head on Michael Fassbender's shoulder, and he wraps his arm around hers, while they watch TV.

This film has an NC-17 rating and, according to a film awards consultant, is "littered with the rawest sex you've ever seen in a non-pornographic movie." But don't worry! "The sex isn't gratuitous and is designed to show the disintegration of the character."

You know, it's just never good for female characters (if the living embodiment of a sex doll can be construed as an actual character) when sex scenes are used to "show the disintegration of" a male character.

I hope I am wrong in my impression that this film is a garbage nightmare about a kyriarchetypical sex addict who abuses women in various ways for whom we're meant to feel sympathy because of his profound struggle, which has been received as a serious and remarkable piece of film-making despite looking eerily like American Psycho without the chainsaw. (Or capitalist commentary.) I hope, because I like Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, and because I hate misogyny and the rape culture, that it is a lot better than I fear that it is.

Friday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by cement.

Recommended Reading:

Edna: [TW for racism] The Message of Occupy Wall Street: Return to Social Justice

Shark-fu: [TW for violent racist imagery; rape culture] Digital Strange Fruit Hanging from Cyber Trees?

Andy: New Jersey Judge to Hear Marriage Equality Arguments Today

Tami: [TW for transphobia] If You're a Bigot When You're Angry, You're a Bigot All the Time

Reninaj: [TW for rape culture; racism; misogyny] Black Feminist Love and Amber Cole

Meredith; [TW for racism; appropriation] Garrett Hedlund Offered Lead Role in Akira. Crap.

Jane: [TW for misogyny; objectification] Women Struggling to Drink Water

Cuppycake: [TW for misogyny; disordered eating; racism] Recommended Reading: Sexism Bingo, EDs in Geek Culture, and More

Kirby: Protect IP Act Breaks the Internet [VIDEO]

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

This is a real thing in the world.

Um. This is apparently an actual series of ads created by Ogilvy Atlanta for the Boy Scouts of America:

a series of four pictures, each featuring a young boy, three of whom are white and one of whom is black, wearing Boy Scout uniforms and sporting long bears; the pictures are each labeled 'Be One with the Wild'.

[Click to embiggen.]
Okay, there is a lot of stuff going on here—the equating of hairiness with masculinity, and a particular brand of "natural" masculinity, at that; the equating of hairiness with wildness; the substitution of "a brunette white kid, a redheaded white kid, and a blond white kid" for racial diversity; the aging of children to promote a group that has [trigger warning] an institutional problem with sex abuse—but, apart from (and in addition to) all of that, this shit is just fucking WEIRD.

[Via Copyranter.]

Film Corner!

Do we need another remake of Great Expectations, the Dickens novel which has already inspired no fewer than 17 film, television, and theatrical adaptations? No, we definitely don't.

But we definitely do need to gaze with wonderment and delight at this still shot from Mike Newell's in-progress adaptation, of the perpetually scrumptious Helena Bonham Cartner as Miss Havisham, the "embittered spinster who sits in her mouldering mansion still wearing the wedding dress she wore when she was jilted at the altar; she has trained her adopted daughter Estella to break men's hearts just as her heart was broken."

image of Helena Bonham Carter in costume on-set as Miss Havisham

[Click to embiggen.]

Bonham Carter co-stars opposite Ralph Fiennes as escaped convict Magwitch. Producer Stephen Woolley tells me the Oscar nominee is playing Miss Havisham at the same age she is in Dickens novel – previous incarnations by Charlotte Rampling, Anne Bancroft and, most memorably, Martita Hunt in David Lean's version played her much older. New York-based Unison Films is searching for a US deal for the film, which Lionsgate UK will release in fall 2012.

I don't even like Great Expectations (I'm an A Tale of Two Cities gal myself), but I have to say I'd seriously consider seeing a version with Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.

Wank Swap: S1 E6

Wank Swap reminds you to renew your television license.

The zombie of former CNN talk show host Eliot Spitzer lectures
the Belgian people about the importance of consistent leadership.
[Zombie Spitzer remarks that "the rumors of [his]
undeath have been greatly exaggerated.]

Meanwhile:

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is unimpressed.
[Leterme (Hugh Grant, actually) stands in front of
the US Capitol noting that "you assholes have no idea who I am."]

Will French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy make his connecting flight? Find out soon on Wank Swap!

[Zarkozy asks, "What the hell is a bennigan?"]

Previously: Season Preview, S1 E1, S1 E2, S1 E3, S1 E4, S1 E5

Headline of the Day

Palin slams 'entitled' Occupy Wall Street protesters. Of course she does.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Jesse McCartney: "Beautiful Soul"

Occupy Everywhere & Economic News Round-Up

image of police in riot gear at night in Oakland

Sheriff's deputies advance on Occupy Oakland protesters early Thursday morning, Nov. 3, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. Following a mainly peaceful day-long protest by thousands of anti-Wall Street demonstrators, several hundred rallied through the night with some painting graffiti, breaking windows, and setting fires. [AP Photo]

I've seen several headlines and/or story ledes this morning that are some variation on "Oakland Protests Get Violent." Interesting framing, that. The protests, you see, only "got violent" when protesters broke shit; they weren't "violent," apparently, when police put Scott Olsen in the hospital.

Anyway.

CNN—Oakland, NYC occupiers see violence, legal action:

Two major hubs of the Occupy movement -- Oakland and New York City -- recovered Thursday from West Coast violence and East Coast court actions, with both fronts continuing their protest camps despite their encounters with the law.

In violence-torn Oakland, authorities reopened Thursday the city's port on San Francisco Bay after a night of Occupy demonstrations shut down the fifth-busiest port in the nation, a port spokesman said.

"The most current field reports confirm that in the port area there were no injuries, no property damage, and no major security problems from last night's demonstrations," port officials said. "There was a limited incursion into a private rail facility, and trespassers were escorted off peacefully."

Meanwhile, in downtown Oakland, Occupy protesters continued their encampment Thursday in the park in front of City Hall following a night of violent clashes with police.

CNN also has video of protests in Seattle greeting the CEO of JP Morgan, who was in town for some reason.

New York Daily News—More than a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested outside Goldman Sachs:

At least 15 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested Thursday after marching on Goldman Sachs to deliver an "indictment" of the financial giant.

Among the demonstrators hauled away after sitting down in front of the multinational's doors at 200 West St. was former New York Times foreign correspondent-turned-activist Chris Hedges.

...The marchers, led by four drummers, stretched a city block.

Some construction workers sitting along Church Street gave them thumbs up and a businessman on Murray Street muttered to himself, "What a bunch of idiots."

The NYPD didn't move in until about 15 protesters sat down and linked arms, blocking the lobby entrance.

As they were arrested, onlookers chanted "shame!" and "the criminals are inside!"

Here are two fun stories to read back-to-back...

New York Magazine—Jon Corzine Resigns, Won't Take More Millions From Failing Firm: "The CEO of MF Global, the securities firm that filed for bankruptcy on Monday, resigned this morning, and has opted not to accept his $12.1 million severance package, probably quite appropriately considering the role he had in the company's failing. Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs CEO, said in a statement today that he feels 'great sadness about what has transpired at MF Global and the impact it has had on the firm’s clients, employees and many others.' Employees, of course, are basically out of a job, while about $630 million in client funds is still missing, drawing the suspicious eyes of the FBI and federal regulators. To keep things extra cozy, the man leading those regulators, Gary Gensler, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, worked closely with Corzine at Goldman Sachs, and eventually even worked for him."

I love how he's still entitled to a $12.1 million severance for running a company into the ground. Meanwhile...

The Guardian—US poverty data: 1 in 15 people among America's poorest poor:
"The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high—1 in 15 people—and spread widely across metropolitan areas, as the US housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and reduced jobs and income. New US census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high."

In other domestic news...

Raw Story—Tea party supporter to Elizabeth Warren: 'You're a socialist whore!': Not only did a heckler at a campaign appearance call Warren a whore for being "the intellectual creator of that so-called party," referring to the Occupy Movement, but: "The Massachusetts Republican Party recently released an ad that dubbed Warren the 'Matriarch of Mayhem' for supporting the Occupy Movement protesters across the country." You know, in case anyone hadn't noticed she's a woman, or failed to understand how her womanhood makes her EXTRA HORRIBLE.

CNN Money—'I'm home!' Adult children move back in: "With job openings scarce, getting adult children to leave the nest is becoming a lot more difficult. The number of adult children who live with their parents, especially young males, has soared since the economy started heading south. Among males age 25 to 34, 19% live with their parents today, a 5% increase from 2005, according to Census data released Thursday. Meanwhile, 10% of women in that age group live at home, up from 8% six years ago. Among the college-aged set, the 18- to 24-year-olds, 59% of males and 50% of females lived with their parents, up from 53% and 46%, respectively. The fact that so many young people are unable or unwilling to flee the nest 'cuts into the formation of new households quite a lot,' said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. Zandi calculated that there are about 150,000 fewer households being formed per year than the 1.2 million that would be in a normal, well-functioning economy."

Paul Krugman in the New York Times—Oligarchy, American Style: "[E]xtreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy. Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of big money, and that the warping is getting worse as the wealth of a few grows ever larger? Some pundits are still trying to dismiss concerns about rising inequality as somehow foolish. But the truth is that the whole nature of our society is at stake."

Speaking of oligarchs...

Think Progress—Romney Campaign Memo: The Koch Brothers Are the 'Financial Engine of the Tea Party'.

New York Times—For Perry, Private Jets Have Been Key to Public Job.

In Washington...

CBS News—Boehner: Debt deal will include new tax revenues: "House Speaker John Boehner addressed one of the biggest sticking points for the 12 member Congressional 'supercommittee' today, acknowledging that any bipartisan agreement will need to include some new tax revenue. 'I think there is room for revenues, but I think there clearly is a limit to the amount of revenues that are available,' Boehner told reporters." Yeah, yeah—I'll believe it when I see it.

Reuters—Republicans block another part of Obama jobs plan: "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a $60 billion White House proposal to repair crumbling bridges, highways and other transportation systems as President Barack Obama's job creation agenda hit another obstacle in Congress. All 47 Senate Republicans, one Democrat and one independent voted against a piece of Obama's $447 billion stimulus plan that would have helped construction workers—some of the hardest hit after the housing meltdown and economic downturn. The bill needed 60 votes to advance in the 100-seat Senate. Construction workers face a jobless rate of 13.3 percent, according to the Labor Department, far above the nationwide rate of 9.1 percent. Obama's jobs plan is effectively dead in Congress, but Democrats are forcing Republicans to vote on it piece by piece as both sides dig in their heels before 2012 presidential and congressional elections in which the economy is expected to be a defining issue."

And in Eurozone news...

The Guardian—Greece may leave euro, leaders admit: "The G20 is planning to increase the crisis-fighting firepower of the International Monetary Fund after the start of its summit was dominated by the first open admission from EU leaders that it might be necessary for Greece to leave the eurozone if the single currency is to survive. George Osborne said there was a 'real sense of urgency' on a day that saw an emergency interest rate cut from the European Central Bank, backtracking from Greece over a referendum on its bailout conditions, and a recognition that the IMF may need extra resources to cope with a deteriorating global economy."

The Guardian's live coverage of Greek PM George Papandreou's confidence vote, and related news, is here.

Here Is Something Beautiful to Start Your Day

Murmuration, by Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith.
Video Description: Two young white women are out in a canoe on the River Shannon in Ireland when a murmuration of starlings comes flying overhead, swooping and swirling in amazing shapes. They laugh and exclaim with wonder. Set to music by Emmett Glynn and band.

[H/T to Portly Dyke.]

Open Thread

image of Darth Vader at a club called 'Empire Jazz' watching a jazz quartet of Chewbacca on piano, C-3PO on bass, a Stormtrooper on sax, and R2-D2 on drums

Hosted by Empire Jazz.

Question of the Day

What gives?

Ha Ha Good One

The Hill—Mitt Romney: 'I've been as consistent as human beings can be'.

Mitt Romney, under fire from all sides on the strength of his political convictions, said Thursday he has been as consistent as a person can be during his political career.

"I've been as consistent as human beings can be," Romney said in a meeting with the editorial board of New Hampshire's Seacoast Media Group. "I cannot state every single issue in exactly the same words every single time, and so there are some folks who, obviously, for various political and campaign purposes will try and find some change and try to draw great attention to something which looks like a change which in fact is entirely consistent."

LOL. What a card.

The Timing Is Just a Coincidence...

...but I think we have a better picture of at least some of the reasons for this today than we might have had last week: Sears marketing president to leave.

Retailer Sears Holdings Corp.'s president of marketing, Dave Friedman, will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

...The news comes at a time when the retailer, home to brands such as Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances, faces tremendous pressure to boost sales.

Sales at the company, where hedge fund manager Edward Lampert is chairman and the biggest shareholder, have fallen every year since it was formed through the merger of Sears and Kmart in 2005.

Maybe having a hedge fund manager run your company isn't a good idea. Who knew! I'm no Professor of Businessology, and I only worked in marketing for eight years, but I have noticed that, when your chairperson doesn't seem to understand the intrinsic—if not easily quantifiable in Quicken—value of investment in impeccable customer service, treating it instead as an extraneous cost that can be easily eliminated in order to maximize profit, it gets to be a hard sell to customers whose loyalty has been used as an executive toilet.

Again, I'm no Dame Businesshead PhD over here, but I do seem to recall reading something, probably in Popular Mechanics or Ranger Rick, about how it costs a lot less to retain an existing customer than win a new one—and a lost customer who must be won back is the most expensive of all.

Anyway! I wish Sears the best. Go Team Money!

Sears shares were down 2 percent to $77.80 in early Thursday afternoon trading on Nasdaq.

Whoooooooooops.

[H/T to Shaker knitmeapony, on Twitter.]

WANT

image of actress Sarah Jessica Parker wearing a large, swooping, asymmetrical black hat

Sarah Jessica Parker wearing an AMAZING Philip Treacy hat at the VRC Oaks Club Ladies Luncheon in Melbourne.

Looooooooooove.

I love hats, anyway, but OMG THIS HAT! WANT!

And if there's anyone who definitely goes to places and events where this hat would be both appropriate and appreciated, it's me. I'll be all the rage down at the corner store!

This, Too, Is Why People Occupy Wall Street

30 Major Corporations Paid No Income Taxes in The Last Three Years, While Making $160 Billion.

I believe I have observed once or twice before, ahem, that the invisible hand of the market appears to belong to a thief.

Pop Quiz!

Can you guess which actor is partnering with video artist Laurel Nakadate later this month to play the "Gentleman Caller" in a performance of "Three Artists in Search of Tennessee, a three-part commissioned piece in which the pair will lead a seance to talk to the late playwright Tennessee Williams through a Ouija board. In part two, female actresses will audition for the part of Laura in The Glass Menagerie. And for the third act, male actors will audition for the part of Tom"?

Can you guess? Can you?!

Here, let me give you a clue: It's James Franco.

Did you guess James Franco?! If you did, give yourself 1,000 points, because it's totally James Franco! OBVIOUSLY. When you think about it, he is clearly the only person who would—or could!—play Tennessee Williams' Gentleman Caller in this or any other production that involves a fricking seance to have a chat with old Tenny, I mean when you really think about it, he's the only one, because James Franco.

Just ask the dog.

Daily Dose of Cute

Dudley the Greyhound sits on the couch looking at me plaintively while Zelda the Mutt sits right next to him looking out the window

Dudley: Twooooooooo-Leeeeeeeeegs! Make her mooooooooove! I wanna lay dowwwwwwwwwn!

Zelda: Blerp blorp. Treats. Blerp blorp. Toys. Blerp blorp. Treats.

Dudley: Oh my GOD. This is the worst thing to happen in the history of America!

Zelda: Blerp blorp!