Question of the Day
We've done this one before, but not for a loooooong time...
Do you collect anything?
I've never been much of a collector. I'm too random and a bit of a magpie, frankly. Very few physical things capture my attention for extended periods. I had the worst sticker-book in the fifth grade, because I just couldn't be arsed with it after awhile, even though I loved it at the start...
We used to have tumbling piles of books all over our house, and a substantial DVD collection, but we recently donated about 80% of everything to a local charity shop, keeping only the books and films we imagined we'd be likely to revisit. It doesn't do anyone any good just sitting in our house collecting dust.
The closest thing I have to a valuable collection by design is my music stuff, although a big part of what I'd collected was lost in a flood over a decade ago now. And considering all the work and energy and money I'd put into finding and collecting it all, I found it surprisingly easy to let go without much regret at its ruin.
Photo of the Day
From the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day for 15 January 2013: A female cheetah sits on the roof of a jeep in Maasai Mara, Kenya to use the Land Cruiser as a look-out post. They climb the highest point available, usually a termite mound, to spot their prey, but this clever cheetah was so determined to find food for her cubs that she thought nothing of jumping onto a moving Land Cruiser. Photographer David Lloyd was capturing wildlife in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya when he picked up the unexpected hitch-hiker. [David Lloyd / Barcroft Media]Beautiful.
Feminism 101: On Owning and Owing
You don't own me. I don't own you.
My body is mine. Your body is yours.
My physical space is mine, and your physical space is yours, unless we invite one another in and respect the boundaries while there.
The spaces we build—physical spaces like house, and conceptual spaces like home, and virtual spaces, and the spaces in which friendships and allegiances and romantic love may be forged—are our own, except where they are communally built.
I don't owe you explanations for my choices that do not affect you, and you don't owe any to me.
I don't owe you a presentation of my self, a reflection of my identity, a conformance to arbitrarily defined norms or archetypes, an emotional response, or a facial expression to make you comfortable. You do not owe me any of these things.
If you want me to smile, don't tell me to smile. Just give me something to smile about.
Uncancelled: The Killing
Good news for everyone who loves the stoic-faced antics of worst cop on the planet, Det. Sarah Linden, and her shady-notshady-shady?-notshady! partner, Det. Stephen Holder:
After months of negotiations, AMC and Fox Television Studios have closed a deal to bring back previously cancelled The Killing to AMC for a third season. Negotiations with Netflix for a second window to the series are still ongoing. As part of the new deal with AMC, Veena Sud, who developed the adaptation of the Danish series and ran the first two seasons, returns as executive producer, writer and showrunner along with stars Mireille Enos (Sarah Linden) and Joel Kinnaman (Stephen Holder).Yay! Will Detective Linden make it onto an aeroplane in Season 3? TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!
After the show received backlash from viewers for stretching the resolution of the case from the first season into Season 2, the producers are committing that the new case in Season 3 will be resolved over the course of 12 episodes. Production on Season 3 begins February 25 in Vancouver.
In The News
[Content note: Racism, war, rape, misogyny]
News:
Noted gasbag Pat Robertson said that awful-looking women are to blame for a romance-deficient marriages.
We can make a difference.
A 29-year-old woman was gang raped by seven men on Friday in Punjab after the driver and conductor of a private bus refused to let the woman off the bus.
Everything we know so far about drone strikes.
Colin Powell says the Republican Party might be intolerant.
Say hello to Star Wars: The Old Republic's gay planet.
The Tea Party’s last stand?
Also: Satanists to rally for Rick Scott.
Important Wahlburgers News
Hey, remember when I brought you the exciting news about Wahlburgers—a burger joint in Hingham, Massachusetts, owned and operated by the bro-team of actors/singers/producers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg and chef Paul Wahlberg?
I know many of you, like me, were pretty sad that you don't live anywhere near Hingham, Mass., leaving Wahlburgers so, so far away. But CHEER UP because there will soon be a Wahlbugers right in your living room! Kind of.
Filming for the pilot of a reality TV show about Wahlburgers restaurant in Hingham will begin after a private screening of Mark Wahlberg's new movie next week.It'll be good. You heard it right from the Wahlbrother's mouth!
Walhberg will be joined in the endeavor by his brothers Donnie and Paul, who are co-owners of the restaurant. According to Paul, who is the chef at Wahlburgers, the show is still in the beginning stages.
"They are still piecing things together," Paul said in a phone interview. "It's a business. It will be fun, and I'll see more of my brothers, Mark and Donnie. It'll be good, and we're looking forward to it."
I am so watching the shit outta this.
[Related Reading: Wahlku.]
Culprits
[Content Note: Victim-blaming.]
So I'm reading this article in the Washington Post about the increasing number of USians who are having to dip into their retirement savings "to pay their mortgages, credit card debt or other bills," and I come to this remarkable line:
Those in their 40s have been the most likely culprits — one-third are turning to such accounts for relief.Culprit: 1. a person or other agent guilty of or responsible for an offense or fault. 2. a person arraigned for an offense.
The article then obliquely details some of the systemic failures that have conspired to create an economic crisis that necessitates people dipping into what is meant to be retirement savings in order to sustain themselves pre-retirement:
[M]illions of Americans, caught between flat wages and high expenses for everything from sending children to college to making home repairs, feel as though they have little choice [but to borrow from their 401(k)s. The withdrawals have grown substantially in the wake of the financial crisis.
"401(k)s are not being used for retirement by a large and growing share of workers because they are misaligned with the very basic financial problems most workers face and must address," said Fellowes of HelloWallet, which provides benefits advice to companies.
In theory, 401(k) accounts are better suited to an economy in which workers are changing jobs more frequently than ever because the accounts can be rolled over from previous employers. But their success depends on workers consistently contributing to them and allowing the money to stay in place throughout their careers, allowing their investment returns to compound."But only before we come to this:
Experts warn that when workers draw on their retirement accounts to pay current bills, they put themselves at greater risk of descending into poverty upon retirement, which would leave them dependent on government programs such as subsidized housing or food stamps. Nearly 6 million senior citizens were living in or near poverty in 2010, according to a Senate committee, a number expected to increase sharply over the coming decade after a long period of decline.There is no additional point underlining that these "culprits" are essentially choosing to delay inevitable poverty by "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps" and using their retirement savings to support themselves now. The alternative is not leaving the money alone and eking by in the present; the alternative is immediate impoverishment, accompanied by an ensuing financial struggle that might dig an even deeper hole for the retirement years.
And given that many people are dipping into retirement savings to pay for healthcare costs, the realistic alternative for many "culprits" would be dying, in which case saving for retirement is rather futile.
This is another example of tasking individuals with solving systemic problems.
It's no coincidence that "the most likely culprits" of borrowing from or straight-up emptying retirement accounts are people in their 40s. That's the first post-war cohort who entered a workplace where pensions were not the norm; who are likely to have a lower standard of living as their parents; who were expected to balance generational wage stagnation against the skyrocketing cost of healthcare, education, utilities, groceries, and modern informational necessities. Internet access and mobile phones are not luxury items, especially for millions and millions of workers whose employers effectively or actually require internet access and mobile phones but don't pay for them.
But it's not the corporations, the robber barons, the union-busters, the predatory lenders, and the legislators who rule in service to the former who are deemed the culprits.
It's the people stealing from themselves in order to survive.
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie, being inimitably sophish.
Olivia says if she licks this glass long enough, she can move the island.
Matilda, probably thinking about Tony.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: War; sexual violence; colonialism.]
"Skills training is really important because one of the things that women have talked to me about is that their education is cut short. So they want the opportunity to finish school. If not, they want to train as taxi drivers or hairdressers or tailors. Those are very concrete things that change people's lives. I'd also put money into national justice systems and local customary justice systems. They tend to have a much more effective deterrent impact on communities because they resonate with the local communities in a much more direct way. So long as we continue to control the agenda for 'democratising' or community 'development' or whatever our model of justice is, there is still going to be resentment. There is still not going to be ownership over the outcomes. So if I had a whole bunch of money, I'd give it away."—Annie Bunting, associate professor of law and society at Canada's York University, on the importance of funding and supporting local solutions for women who survive sexual violence as a war strategy.
Bunting, with her research partner, Godeliève Mukasarasi, is conducting a three-year research project on forced marriage and sex enslavement in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
I encourage you to read the entire Q&A with Bunting.
Not In Her Shoes
[Content Note: Reproductive rights. NB: Not only women need access to abortion.]
The National Women's Law Center, as part of its This Is Personal project, which seeks to reinforce the message that women's health decisions are personal and no one else's business, have launched Not In Her Shoes, a space in which women (and men!) are encouraged to submit pictures of their shoes and "tell us why no one can walk in them but you."
Everyone's life is different, especially when it comes to reproductive health. This month marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark court ruling that placed the decision whether to have an abortion with women. It sent a strong message that reproductive health is personal for everyone.Submit your own shoes here.
Don't let opponents take us backwards. It's time we take a stand and tell them they have no business in our shoes.
I submitted mine!
Go check it out!
I get so much garbage in the mail. Catalogs. Flyers. Postcards announcing that I have won FREE THIS if only I spend some money on THAT. Offers for credit cards. Adverts.
Probably three days every week, I literally carry everything that was delivered to my mailbox into the house and put the entire lot directly into the bin.
Today in Terrible Ideas
[Content Note: Guns; violence; disablism; self-harm.]
Something has to be done about gun violence! And no one has the political will and bravery to pursue meaningful reforms, but demonizing and making life more difficult for people with mental illness is always in fashion, so.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers agreed on Monday to a broad package of changes to gun laws that would expand the state's ban on assault weapons and would include new measures to keep guns away from the mentally ill.Any time people with mental illness are referred to as "the mentally ill," you know that nothing good will follow.
In an acknowledgment that many people have suggested that part of the solution to gun violence is a better government response to mental illness, the legislation includes not only new restrictions on gun ownership, but also efforts to limit access to guns by the mentally ill.Unlike people without mental illness, who never hurt themselves and never hurt other people.
The most significant new proposal would require mental health professionals to report to local mental health officials when they believe that patients are likely to harm themselves or others. Law enforcement would then be authorized to confiscate any firearm owned by a dangerous patient; therapists would not be sanctioned for a failure to report such patients if they acted "in good faith."
"People who have mental health issues should not have guns," Mr. Cuomo told reporters. "They could hurt themselves, they could hurt other people."
Partly, this is the inevitable result of axiomatically concluding that anyone who goes on a shooting spree must be mentally ill, because no "sane" person would do such a thing. Although not really anyone, because when was the last time a brown-skinned gang member who killed multiple people in a drive-by was expected or allowed to introduce an insanity defense?
And partly, this is the inevitable result of lumping mental illness into one giant, indistinguishable monolith, and pretending that everyone who has any one specific, diagnosable mental illness behaves in the same way. All depression patients are the same. All PTSD patients are the same. Never mind that individual people experience every type of illness in individual ways, even if there are common features in how the disorder manifests, and never mind the radically inconsistent treatment that individual people have, based on highly diverse access to our patchy for-profit healthcare system that regards treatment for illness as a privilege.
Again, I understand the impulse to want to keep high-powered assault weaponry out of the hands of people who are dangerously mentally ill, but that urge is predicated on assuming everyone who commits these acts is mentally ill, and that they can be correctly identified and their behavior accurately predicted. Even if that were the case (it is not), presumably that means making sure everyone psychologically disposed toward psychotically-motivated violence has access to and makes use of their access to mental healthcare. But:
But such a requirement "represents a major change in the presumption of confidentiality that has been inherent in mental health treatment," said Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, the director of the Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who said the Legislature should hold hearings on possible consequences of the proposal.This is not helpful. This is harmful.
"The prospect of being reported to the local authorities, even if they do not have weapons, may be enough to discourage patients with suicidal or homicidal thoughts from seeking treatment or from being honest about their impulses," he said.
The only sure way to keep guns out of the hands of anyone, mentally ill or not, who wants to use them to kill people is to get rid of the guns. The end.
There are a lot of people who don't like to hear that, but that doesn't make it not true.
[Related Reading: In Pursuit of Doing Something Meaningful. An Observation About Mental Illness.]
Downton Abbey Open Thread
Oh, Lady Edith. Sigh.
[Spoilers are telling secrets downstairs herein.]
Oh the goings-on at Downton this week! Lord Whoops and Lady Valium take the whole gang on a picnic to go look at the hovel, by which I mean SMALLER CASTLE, they will have to live in if Matthew doesn't throw his silly principles in the garbage and bail them out so they can keep Downton. It's all very depressing for everyone, especially when they realize the house is so small they'll probably only need eight staff. OH THE HUMANITY!
Luckily, Lady Mary is ON THE CASE, and she reads a letter intended for Matthew from dead Lavinia's dead father, and discovers that Lord Lavinio totes knew about how Matthew broke his dying daughter's heart, and he is definitely okay with it. Lady Mary also confirms that radical scullery sister Daisy mailed the letter for Lavinia, and tells Matthew all about it. She then tells him if he finds some other excuse not to spend his new fortune saving Downton, she will break Bates out of gaol to murder him. "He's doing the time, may as well do a crime!"
Matthew relents and they totes make out, and Matthew promises to share the good news after Lady Edith's wedding, because he doesn't want to steal her thunder.
HA HA LADY EDITH DOESN'T HAVE ANY THUNDER! Never with the thunder, that one. Of course Sir Jeff Daniels leaves Lady Edith at the altar, LITERALLY AT THE ALTAR, because if there is a worst thing to happen, it's going to happen to Lady Edith.
That said, if someone told me that they loved me because they want to make wiping my ass their "life's work," I'd leave them at the altar, too.
Meanwhile, DOWNSTAIRS, Thomas is still conniving and smirky. O'Brien will definitely be feeding him to the hounds any day now. Mrs. Hughes is cancer-free yay! and Mr. Carson totes has a crush on her no doy. Carson's in such a jolly mood, he'll even let the footmen talk shit about Sir Jeff Daniels BUT JUST THIS ONCE!
Anna interviews some mean lady who calls her a trollop. And the maid who had a baby with someone I can't even remember continues to play coy with Isobel, who only wants to help ALL THE PROSTITUTES. Who definitely do not want to learn needlepoint but would like a sandwich, thankyouverymuch.
And, back upstairs again, the Dowager Countess says something pithy. Oh snap!
Please proceed to talk about all things Downton Abbey, but only through the second episode of Season 3. Please don't share things from later in the season, even with a spoiler warning, because I've got to mod the thread, which requires reading everything. So be kind, if you're elsewhere in the world where the whole season has already aired.
So the President Gave a Press Conference Yesterday...
And he talked about deficit reduction, lifting the debt ceiling, and gun reform. The full transcript is here. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the presser: He was more conservative on the economy than I wish he'd be, and talked some more about his favorite fantasy in which "common sense prevails" so that we can come to "bipartisan solutions," but I thought this bit on gun reform was very good:
I'm confident that there are some steps that we can take that don't require legislation and that are within my authority as president. And where you get a step that has the opportunity to reduce the possibility of gun violence, then I want to go ahead and take it.I really love that the President called out the fearmongering of the gun industry and straightforwardly said that they're manufacturing paranoia because it's "good for business." Right on.
...I think, for example, how we are gathering data, for example, on guns that fall into the hands of criminals and how we track that more effectively -- there may be some steps that we can take administratively, as opposed -- through legislation.
As far as people lining up and purchasing more guns, you know, I think that we've seen for some time now that those who oppose any common-sense gun control or gun safety measures have a pretty effective way of ginning up fear on the part of gun owners that somehow the federal government's about to take all your guns away. And you know, that -- there's probably an economic element to that. It obviously is good for business.
But I think that, you know, those of us who look at this problem have repeatedly said that responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship -- they don't have anything to worry about. The issue here is not whether or not we believe in the Second Amendment.
The issue is, are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can't walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a -- in a shockingly rapid fashion? And surely we can do something about that.
And -- but -- you know, but -- but part of the challenge that, you know, we confront is, is that even the sight -- slightest hint of some sensible, responsible legislation in this area stands this notion that somehow here it comes and that everybody's guns are going to be taken away.
It's unfortunate, but that's the case, and if you look at -- over the first four years of my administration, we've tried to tighten up and enforce some of the laws that were already on the books. But it'd be pretty hard to argue that somehow gun owners have had their rights infringed.
Question of the Day
What is the single best episode of television you've ever seen?
There are certainly some individual episodes of Lost that blew. my. mind. and I immediately thought of the classic finale episode of Newhart, which was just all kinds of brilliant, as well as the "Get on Your Feet!" episode of Parks and Recreation.
[CN: Reference to injury.] But for sheer unrelenting wow, I've probably got to cast my vote for the episode of Homicide: Life on the Street in which Vincent D'Onofrio plays a man who gets caught between a subway train and a station platform. It was breathtaking and difficult and powerful.
Film Corner
[Content Note: NSFW; rape culture; racism; disablism; misogyny; bullying; violence.]
What in Farrelly Brothers hell is this?! Below, the trailer for a film called Movie 43, which has no apparent plot or point except to be as "hilariously" offensive as possible:
Real-life couple Anna Faris and Chris Pratt sit in a field on sunny day having a romantic picnic. Pratt has a diamond ring. He tells Faris there's something he'd like to ask her. She says there's something she'd like to ask him. They agree to ask each other at the same time. Faris blurts out, "Will you poop on me?"
UNEXPECTED, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone in a convenience store. "How's your HPV?" Stone asks Culkin. "It's your HPV, Veronica," Culkin responds. "I'm just carrying it!"
UNUSUAL, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant sitting at a table in a restaurant. "Truth or dare?" asks Merchant. "Dare," Berry replies. "See that blind kid over there?" asks Merchant, gesturing to a birthday party that's going on in a private room. "I dare you to blow out his candles before he gets a chance to." Berry looks horrified but amused, and goes and blows out the candles just before the child, wearing sunglasses, does.
UNCENSORED, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to real-life couple Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, who we're informed are homeschooling their teenage son. "It's important that Kevin has a normal and complete high school experience," explains Schreiber, followed by Watts walking past the boy on the stairs and knocks his books out of his arms, saying, "Dropped your books, fuckface!" then Schreiber looking at his naked and horrified son in the shower and yelling, "Guys! Come check out this kid's weird pubes!"
UNBELIEVABLE, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott in a basement, where a Leprechaun, being played by Gerard Butler, is tied to a chair. "Surprise!" says Knoxville. "Caught you a Leprechaun!" He rips tape off the Leprechaun's mouth, and the Leprechaun threatens to "cut off your balls and feed 'em to you!" He headbutts Knoxville, who complains, "Geez, they're so into balls." HA HA IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE THE JACKASS GUYS ARE SO INTO HITTING EACH OTHER IN THE BALLS HA HA.
UNSPEAKABLE, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to a team of young black male basketball players in a locker room with their coach, baby wipe aficionado Terrence Howard, who tells them they're definitely going to win because the other team is white and they are black. "You all go kill those Caucasians! You are black; they're white; this ain't hockey!"
JUST PLAIN WRONG, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut to a corporate board room, in which Jack McBrayer is introducing a topless Asian woman packed in a box. "The iBabe," explains Richard Gere, who is seated at the conference table, "is a high-fidelity music player." Says Kate Bosworth, "Kids are sticking their penises in the—" "Vagiport," interrupts McBrayer. "The fan then mangles their penises," concludes Bosworth. Gere asks another guy at the table if he noticed any problems during extensive testing. The guy shrugs, revealing a missing hand, and shakes his head no.
FROM SOME EXTREMELY WARPED MINDS, reads big block text onscreen.
Cut back to the homeschooled son knocking on his own front door, behind which is raging a huge party. His mother tells him he can't come in because a girl he asked out, with whom his father is currently dirty-dancing, is there and it would be "awkward."
PREPARE FOR, reads big block text onscreen. Montagery! Josh Duhamel cries. Elizabeth Banks looks aghast in a pink bathrobe. Schrieber hits his homeschooled son in the head with a basketball. A MOTION PICTURE EXPERIENCE. Chloë Grace Moretz is getting her period and doesn't know what to do! Her male friend calls 911 and screams, "My friend is bleeding out of her vagina!" THAT'S UNFORGIVABLE. Faris gasps. Justin Long, dressed as Robin, screams. Hugh Jackson NO HUGH JACKMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING gags at a restaurant. Kate Winslet looks horrified.
Cut back to the convenience store, where Culkin says to Stone, "I can't believe you sucked off that hobo for magic beans!" Indignant, Stone replies, "He was a wizard!"
Cut back to Winslet. "This is fucked up!"
Cut back to the picnic. "Poop?" asks Pratt. "On me," says Faris. J.B. Smoove tells Pratt, "You don't wanna be two-squeeze-mister-thank-you-please." WHICH MAKES SENSE.
Cut back to the boardroom. "Just when I think it couldn't get more offensive," says Bosworth.
Cut back to the picnic. "Poo," says Smoove.
Cut to some guy humping the cadaver of a beautiful woman in a morgue and then motorboating her. I can't tell who it is. Who cares. Everyone in this movie obviously thinks that is hilarious. Jesus fucking Jones.
Winslet gags. Culkin and Stone make out. Merchant thrusts his crotch at some women at the restaurant. Howard shouts at the basketball team, "How many fucking times do I have to tell you? You're black; they're white!" He holds up a game plan that simply reads "You're black!" He shouts at them, "The Lord did his part already! He made you black! He gave you a foot-and-a-half dick! Dribble with that motherfucker!"
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.
And there are so many people in this movie who aren't even in the trailer! Kristen Bell! Uma Thurman! Bobby Cannavale! Tony Shalhoub! Aasif Mandvi! John Hodgman!
There is a character listed on IMDb called "Creepy Meat Fundler," which I bet is supposed to be "Creepy Meat Fondler," but EITHER WAY I would like to inform every actor involved with this production that WHEN THERE IS A CHARACTER NAMED CREEPY MEAT FONDLER (OR FUNDLER) IN A SCRIPT, THROW THAT SCRIPT IN THE GARBAGE!
According to IMDb, this movie is "a series of interconnected short films follows three kids as they search the depths of the Internet to find the most banned movie in the world." Sure. Sounds perfect. I can't wait to not see it.
The thing about this contemptible heap of celluloid garbage, at least as it's being marketed, is that it's not even shocking. It's just the same old tired bigotry, bullying, exploitation, and mockery of marginalized people about which I write every day, dressed up in a gross-out comedy.
There couldn't be anything less unexpected, unusual, or unbelievable than this swill.
Call me when you can amass that much talent for a film that challenges the tiredest tropes in the kyriarchy playbook, and then I'll be impressed.
Fatsronauts 101
Fatsronauts 101 is a series in which I address assumptions and stereotypes about fat people that treat us as a monolith and are used to dehumanize and marginalize us. If there is a stereotype you'd like me to address, email me.
[Content Note: Fat bias; bullying.]
#16: You are helping fat people by shaming them.
No.
-------------------------
Previously:
#15: Fat people hate having their pictures taken.
#14: All fat people are unhealthy.
#13: Fat people looooooooooove Twinkies!
#12: Fat people don't like/want to see media representations of themselves.
#11: No one wants to be fat.
#10: Fat people need you to intervene in their lives.
#9: Fat people don't know how they look.
#8: Fat people don't deserve anything nice.
#7: Fat people are permission slips for thin people to eat what they want.
#6: Any fat person eating a salad or exercising is trying to lose weight.
#5: Fat is axiomatically ugly.
#4: Fat people eat enormous amounts of food.
#3: Fat people are jolly/mean, and fat people are shy/loud.
#2: I can tell how someone eats all the time, because of how they eat around me.
#1: Everyone who is fat is fat for the same reason.
