Question of the Day
[For aforementioned reasons, I'm wrapping up early today. I'll be back tomorrow, if I can. If not, I'll let you know in the morning. My apologies.]
Suggested by Shaker masculine_lady: "For what do you not give yourself enough credit?"
Daily Dose of Cute
I'm working in the living room today, because my back is still so totally fubared that I can't sit upright at my desk. And this, directly across from me, is what's going on with Dudley:
LOL FOREVER. This dog.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
[Content Note: War on agency] The Supreme Court will not "review a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals protecting the right of Arizona Medicaid recipients to visit healthcare providers who also perform abortions. ...The law would have prevented doctors and clinics that perform abortions from being Medicaid-eligible providers. ...The Ninth Circuit ruled in August 2013 that the bill violates the federal Medicaid Act requirement that gives patients the freedom to choose their healthcare providers." This is good news. The Supreme Court's decision means that low-cost clinics don't need to decide between offering abortion services and providing other healthcare services to low-income patients.
[CN: Homophobia] Washington lobbyist Jack Burkman says he's "preparing legislation that would ban gay athletes from joining the National Football League." Sure, that sounds reasonable. (That does not sound reasonable.) His justification is amazing: "We are losing our decency as a nation. Imagine your son being forced to shower with a gay man. That's a horrifying prospect for every mom in the country. What in the world has this nation come to?" First of all, that is not a horrifying prospect. Secondly, among "every mom in the country" are lots of moms with gay sons. Evidently Mr. Burkman believes gay men spring fully-formed from the ground. Fuck off, bigot.
[CN: Christian supremacy] Indiana's proposed legislation "that would have allowed some state contractors to discriminate against employees based on religion" has been thrown in a dumpster after Hoosiers immediately rejected it. Get a load of this guy: "'I didn't quite understand the firestorm it would create,' Rep. Eric Turner, the provision's author, told the House Ways and Means Committee." Whoooooops!
[CN: Racism] The Reprieve Blues Band was allegedly told by the owner of Chicago pub McNally's that he didn't want them to perform their third set because "there are too many black people in here." He sounds great. Of course the owner is denying the allegation, and in a decidedly original variation on the "but I have black friends!" defense, the bar owner noted his establishment would be "hosting a party for a retired black firefighter" on Monday night. Good grief.
In other cool Chicago news, the Chicago Police Department has created "a list of the '400 most dangerous people in Chicago.' The Trib reported on one fellow, who had no criminal arrests, expressing surprise over having received a visit from the police and being told he was on this list. A 17-year-old girl was also shocked when told she was on the list." It's just like a HIGHLY DANGEROUS 17-year-old girl to pretend to be SHOCKED!
Oh dear: "California farmers brace for little or no water amid extreme drought."
Dick Cheney is (also) still the total fucking worst.
And finally: RIP Harold Ramis.
I Write (More) Letters
[Content Note: Abuse culture; misogynist slurs.]
Dear Jimmy Fallon:
Last week, I wrote you a letter, asking you to be more sensitive to issues around sexual abuse. I don't know if you ever read my letter, even though lots of people tweeted at you with the link, asking you to read it.
I'm guessing, though, that even if you did read it, it didn't have much of an impact, since last night you featured as your musical guest Rick Ross, a man who has rapped favorably about date-rape, and only apologized once Reebok dropped an endorsement deal with him.
You referred to him as "my man, Rick Ross, the boss," and then he performed his single "The Devil Is a Lie," which includes the line: "Switch my old bitch for my new bitch / Cause my new bitch something like a nympho."
Just to be clear, since you and I don't know each other, I'm not a person who believes rap is an inherently more misogynist genre of music than others. I would be hard-pressed to think of a grosser song than "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, a pop band of white dudes who also gave the world "Lady Willpower" and "Woman, Woman."
Misogyny and rape culture narratives run throughout the history of popular music.
In fact, there are people who argue that it's not even possible for a variety show to exist without musical guests who don't engage in misogyny and rape culture narratives, because they are so pervasive.
But I don't think that's true. And I certainly don't think it's true that a variety show cannot exist without featuring artists who have rapped about what a cool idea it is to spike a woman's drink and then rape her while she is unconscious.
I'm not saying that Rick Ross shouldn't be allowed to have a career. I'm not telling anyone not to like his music. I'm questioning the ethics of a national cultural institution like The Tonight Show giving its stamp of approval to artists who have endorsed rape, to artists who continue to talk about women like we're garbage. I'm wondering why it is that Rick Ross is "your man."
You're now the host and steward of that institution. It's in your hands. And I get that no one wants to be the guy who draws a line at promoting men who abuse and/or endorse the abuse of women. No one wants to be the guy who picks the safety and respect of women over the right of men to treat and talk about women in terrible ways, because there isn't much reward for men who side with women. It's easier to keep on doing what everyone else has always done.
Easy isn't good enough. Not for me.
I expect more, Jimmy Fallon. Do you?
With high expectations,
Liss
Oh Dear
[Content Note: Transphobia; body policing.]
Tim Gunn on trans people as fashion models:
The fact that fashion designers would put basically adolescent-shaped boys or men in women's clothes is head-scratching for me because, anatomically, women and men have different shapes...So, to be looking at women's fashion on a tall, skinny guy with no hips, there's no way you can project yourself into those clothes.I know that trans people criticizing cis people is the worst thing ever. I also get that queers making catty sarcastic comments about other queer people is passé.
However.
Trans people? Fashion? HIPS? Tim hon, next time I'm in the city, I promise I'll introduce you to some trans people and take you to a fashion show. You'll love it.
Question of the Day
What is your favorite part of your living space?
You may, of course, define that however you like, depending on what your living space is. A favorite room in your house, a favorite area in your apartment, a favorite part of the campus or base, etc.
This Guy
President George W. Bush is still the absolute fucking worst. The woooooooooorst.
WORST.
Rage. Seethe. Boil.
The worst.
Assvertising
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
Shaker Mod aforalpha passed this one along to me—an advert called "Would You Whip It Out at Work?" for UrgentRx Critical Care Aspirin:
Two middle-aged white men are working in a warehouse, loading (or unloading?) boxes onto a pallet. White Man #1 turns to the camera and says, "Am I ready to whip it out? You betcha. I can feel my package in my pocket right now. Having it there makes me feel better. And if old man Dan here needed it, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd whip it out and give it to him." He reaches into his pocket as White Man #2 says, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" and holds up his hands. He pulls out a package of UrgentRx Critical Care Aspirin.Ha ha DO YOU GET IT?! It's FUNNY because it's like the guy is talking about whipping out HIS DICK, which would be a sexual assault, but he's really talking about whipping out MEDICINE. Ha ha OH MY ACHING SIDES.
Cut to graphics of the product, with a male voiceover saying, "UrgentRx Critical Care Aspirin. It's the flavored fast powder you take right away—" graphic of a disembodied female mouth sticking the tongue out to receive a dose of powder "—to help improve the odds of surviving a heart attack." The camera zooms in through the open mouth and we return to the men in the warehouse.
White Man #2 says, standing with his hand on White Man #1's shoulder, "You'd whip yours out and give it to me?"
White Man #1 pokes him in the chest and replies, "That's the kind of guy I am."
White Man #2 says, "Aww, thanks, man."
Cut to graphics reading: "Whip it out. Save a life." The male voiceover says, "Learn how to save your bacon at whipitouturx.com."
If you would like to contact UrgentRx and let them know that using sexual assault as a "hilarious" double-entendre in their advertising is a real bullshit move, you can contact them here, leave a note on their Facebook page, and/or tweet at them: @urgentRx.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Dehumanization; war on agency.]
"I don't expect to be in the room or will I do anything to prevent you from obtaining a contraceptive. However, once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it."—Republican Virginia State Senator Steve Martin, "in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views."
Via @sara4realz, who notes: "Someone finally said it out loud!"
The Walking Thread
[Content Note: Violence. Spoilers are lurching around undeadly herein.]
Uh-oh! LOL!
See, here's the problem for me with The Walking Dead (okay, one of many problems, but this is a pretty big one, and this episode was a perfect example): Everything that is supposed to be tense and/or meaningful is FUCKING HILARIOUS. Grimes hiding under the bed? Comedy gold. Carl the Hat's emo angst? Lollerskates. Grimes sticking his booted feet slowly over the edge of the roof? STOP YOU'RE KILLING ME. I know this stuff isn't meant to be funny, and, when I think about that, it just makes everything even funnier.
It's not like I don't have the emotional capacity and eminent willingness to invest in dark material. I do! Have you listened to me talk about Breaking Bad for a second? And fuck if I'm not completely captivated by True Detective, during which I don't regularly find myself bursting out laughing. It's something specific to The Walking Dead, and I am pretty sure that the something specific is that it is terrible.
(Just kidding! It's terrific!) (Just kidding!) (Or am I?) (This is at least as compelling a mystery as one you might find on The Walking Dead!) (Just kidding!) (MAYBE.)
Anyway.
We open this episode with Sgt. Abraham Ford—played by Michael Cudlitz, an actor who has been in many things, including Lost, but who will always be Sgt. Denver 'Bull' Randleman from Band of Brothers to me, but with this horrible dyed red hair, he's more like Sgt. Red Bull, amirite? Ha ha I am right! Sgt. Red Bull grins while he mows down a bunch of zombies. Tara, who knows from psychos after her fun adventure with Captain Murder, points out that he was smiling, to which he responds, "Well, I'm the luckiest guy in the world." Ha ha okay, player. He seems neat.
Tara and Glenn are the only members of Grimes Gang who ended up with Sgt. Red Bull and his crew—which consists of a live-action video game avatar in short-shorts named Rosita Espinoza and a mulleted doctor who doesn't know how to use a machine gun but does know how the zombie virus got started and is definitely going to save humanity if he can get to D.C. Which is where they keep all the good petri dishes.
The episode jumps back and forth between this bunch and Grimes, Carl the Hat, and Michonne, but, unlike the writers of The Walking Dead, I'm not going to pretend that the subplot with Sgt. Red Bull is robust enough to constitute multiple segments, and I will quickly sum up in one sentence what happened: Glenn wakes up and is pissed that he's three hours past where Maggie is likely to be, and he gets in a fist fight with Sgt. Red Bull, and while everyone's distracted with what looks like the shittiest MMA fight ever, a bunch of zombies descend, and Doctor Mulletsworth, who inexplicably does not know how to use a machine gun despite surviving the zombiepocalypse for somewhere between one and one million years, shoots a hole in the tank of the truck, thus consigning them to the fate of walking on foot. The End.
Also? Doctor Mulletsworth walks like a Clydesdale and talks like Mr. Spock. This means he's smart.
The other half of the episode can be summed up even more succinctly: Michonne and Carl the Hat look for supplies while Grimes hides under a bed from some Bad Guys, then everyone escapes. I mean, this was a real wet fart of a story arc. A bunch of (not really all that tense) tension, which ends in Grimes running across a lawn while no one's looking. Big whoop.
I can only imagine that if I were a viewer who actually felt some sort of empathy with these characters, and was real worried for Grimes for a whole hour, the resolution coming down to a Scooby-Doo sneak past a distracted Bad Guy would be a huge letdown and not just yet another occasion for me to wonder how much the writers of this shit are getting paid.
ANYWAY.
Here's how it went down: Michonne and Carl the Hat are having breakfast in their new house, yukking it up over soy milk in one of the most awkward and poorly acted scenes in this entire series, which is really saying something. Then Carl the Hat mentions Baby Zombie Whistle Grimes and gets real sad. Don't worry, CAUURHHHHHL! She's still alive! And I'm sure you'll be reunited in eleventy million episodes or less!
Having overheard Carl the Hat laughing for a moment of his grim existence, Grimes tells Michonne that he can't be Carl the Hat's dad and best friend, so he's gonna rely on Michonne to be Carl the Hat's buddy. There is literally one other adult in his immediate sphere, and Grimes is still handing out orders. This fucking guy.
Michonne and Carl the Hat take off on a supply run, telling Grimes to stay put and rest, since he's beat to shit. He climbs into a bed upstairs and falls asleep, only to awaken to the sound of a bunch of gruff dudes downstairs. He squirrels himself under the bed just in the nick of time, as two of the Bad Guys have a fight over who gets to sleep in the bed, and one strangles the other to death, dropping his body facing Grimes' hiding place, before taking over the bed and snoring away.
I don't know if these nincompoops are new to the zombiepocalypse or what, but how do you kill someone and then just leave his corpse there at the end of the bed to REANIMATE AND KILL YOU WHILE YOU ARE CATCHING A SNOOZE?! The fuck?!
Meanwhile, in another example of convenient inconsistency, the dead guy does not reanimate in like three seconds, the way other dead folks have previously, but just lies there unzombified while Grimes slowly makes his way out of the bedroom.
Also? We're definitely meant to understand these dudes are terrible because one of them kills another over a bed, but we're not supposed to think Grimes is terrible when, like two seconds later, he kills one of the dudes (who is sitting on a closed toilet with his pants up? sure.) without even stopping to try to find out if the dude would be friendly.
Or maybe we're supposed to take away some Important Commentary on moral relativism, and how everyone thinks zie's a Good Guy in a zombiepocalypse. Ha ha just kidding! We're definitely just supposed to think Grimes is a fucking hero at all times.
Meanwhile, Michonne and Carl the Hat wander through other houses in search of supplies, and, after Michonne fails to make Carl the Hat laugh by squirting canned cheese directly into her mouth, then says she's better at making toddlers laugh, Carl the Hat, a tween boy, picks up that totes obvious cue (this kid's quite a genius!) and presses Michonne to divulge she had a son. Her son's name was Andre Anthony, and he was her only child, and he died.
I really like Michonne.
In one house, where you go through bathrooms to get to bedrooms, Michonne finds a family who ended their lives together, and she doesn't let Carl the Hat see it.
Back at Grimes House, Grimes makes his way out a second-story window, then dangles off the roof, then drops down and hides next to the porch, where Head Bad Guy (?) is eating some shit directly out of a can. Grimes is poised to shoot him, but then Head Bad Guy gets called inside by some Bad Guy antics. So Grimes runs away, perfectly timing his escape to meet with Michonne and Carl the Hat who are returning from scavenging, and they all run away.
Later, they're walking down some train tracks when they find the sign reading: "Sanctuary for All, Community for All. Those Who Arrive Survive." Grimes says, "Let's go," and they do.
I hope it this sanctuary isn't being run by Captain Murder's long-lost twin brother Captain Redrum! That would be bad!
Welp, we'll find out in two weeks, maybe, because next week: DARYL AND BLONDE GIRL!
Daily Dose of Cute
I don't know exactly what the square footage of our house is, but it's around 1,200 sq ft. Not a huge house, but plenty of room for everyone to spread out. Still, this is why I say it wouldn't matter to the furry ones if we lived in a studio apartment:
Video Description: Sitting at my desk, I film Sophie the Cat sitting on the red tub chair beside me. Then I pan right, to find Matilda the Fuzzy Sealpoint Cat stretched out on my desk. Then I pan right and down, to find Zelda the Black and Tan Mutt sitting beside me; she turns and curls up on her bed. Then I pan right, to find Dudley the Greyhound chilling in his open-door crate. Then I complete the rotation, coming back to Sophs.
Olivia the White Farm Cat was indisposed. By which I mean eating in the kitchen, obvs.
"Whatcha doing? Can we help? Can we have a treat?
We haven't had a treat in like 5 minutes."
* * *
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by whiskers.
Recommended Reading:
Jenn: [Content Note: Class warfare; food insecurity; poverty; violent imagery] "I live in poverty. I am poor. My family is poor."
Digby: [CN: Violence] The Ineptitude of the Deep State
Jamilah: Why The Comcast-Time Warner Merger Matters
Veronica: #365FeministSelfie Inspiring Others
CeCe: Plus Size Yoga Tips + Curvy Yoga Party Video
Susana: Marvel Circling Black Widow Solo Film
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Stacey Q: "Two of Hearts"
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
[Content Note: Homophobia] Republican Senators want to replace the Defense of Marriage Act with the "State Marriage Defense Act," which "would give states the power to decide whether to give married lesbian and gay couples the same federal benefits that heterosexual married couples receive." Good grief, these bigots. They're like the Energizer bunnies of bigotry. I really wish every single member of the media would start asking Republicans who oppose marriage equality how they reconcile that position with supporting people's pursuit of happiness. Let them stammer over that shit for awhile, since they're so keen to invoke the Founding Fathers every goddamn chance they get.
Democratic Michigan Representative John Dingell, who is the longest-serving member of the US House at 58 years of service, will retire at the end of this term. "I find serving in the House to be obnoxious. It's become very hard because of the acrimony and bitterness, both in Congress and in the streets. ...This is not the Congress I know and love. It's hard for me to accept, but it's time to cash it in."
The Brooklyn Nets have signed Jason Collins to a 10-day contract, making him "the very first active, openly gay [male] player not only in the NBA but also in any major US sport." Congrats, Jason Collins!
[CN: Violence; guns] Prosecutors in the Reeva Steenkamp murder case believe that her killer, track star Oscar Pistorius, is lying about events that night and killed her following an argument. "The accused's version is not reasonably possibly true," prosecutors said in court documents. The trial begins next week.
Netflix and Comcast have reached an agreement in which Netflix will pay to build the infrastructure to deliver unthrottled content to subscribers, and "this is where things get troubling, because Netflix and Comcast aren't violating net neutrality by setting up this new pipe; they are stepping around it entirely."
Love this: Inside Amtrak's (Absolutely Awesome) Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers.
A tiny 4.4-billion-year-old zircon has been confirmed as the oldest known fragment of Earth's crust. Looking good, Earth! You don't look a day over 4.2 billion!
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has photographed the glorious effect of Kappa Cassiopeiae, a hot supergiant star, moving at about 2.5 million mph. Neato!
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley refused to say on Face the Nation this weekend "whether he will pursue the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 if Hillary Rodham Clinton gets in the race." I am literally posting this news item only so I can share that every time I hear the name Martin O'Malley, I imagine him behind a patriotic podium during a primary debate, shouting at Hillary Clinton: "I like to kick! Streeeeeetch! And kick! I'm FIFTY!"
Hey, speaking of Molly Shannon: She's gonna be in a new show. I hope it's good, because I love her!
Say It Ain't So!
[Content Note: Guns; transphobia.]
Piers Morgan, who is also the worst, will no longer be hosting his primetime CNN show. OH NOES! Alec Baldwin and Piers Morgan IN ONE DAY?! How will we all survive this national tragedy?! I hope President Obama is planning an address to help us begin to heal this national wound!
Anyway.
Here is my executive summary of this article, delightfully headlined "Piers Morgan and CNN Plan End to His Prime-Time Show": He's totes British. Blah blah guns. People who watch CNN love America, and therefore they love guns and don't love British people. The end.
Sure.
It's definitely that. You know how Americans are. It's not like there's a sizable contingent of people living in the US who are definitely on board with questioning US gun laws, but couldn't give a squirt about Piers Morgan's show for other reasons, like the fact that he's a transphobic dipshit (for a start) with the journalistic ethics of a Fox News anchor. It's definitely that USians are too parochial to appreciate his totally trenchant show or whatever.
"Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it," he said. "That's run its course and Jeff and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me."Maybe there's an opening on the "loop Anderson Cooper giggling!" viral video team.
Good luck, Piers Morgan! CNN will definitely be less manly without you.
Our Loss, I'm Sure
[Content Note: Homophobia; transphobia; misogyny; slurs re: the preceding.]
Actor Alec Baldwin, who is the worst, has penned ("As told to Joe Hagan.") a piece for Vulture announcing that he is saying "good-bye to public life...beyond the work you are actually paid for. Letterman. Saturday Night Live. That kind of thing."
Why? Because everyone is mean to him.
Everyone is terrible for thinking he called a paparazzo a "faggot," despite the fact he pretty clearly called a paparazzo that slur on camera. Everyone is terrible for thinking he is homophobic, just because he called a paparazzo a "cocksucking motherfucker," even though "cocksucker" is a homophobic and misogynist slur. How could you terrible people think he's homophobic, when he is "awash in gay people, as colleagues and as friends," working in show business? Look, it's not his fault that he didn't know "toxic little queen" was a homophobic slur!
As if to prove his point that it's you who is terrible, in the piece he refers to a trans man as "an F-to-M tranny" and quotes his uncle referring to sex workers as "whores." He's DELIGHTFUL! How dare you think otherwise!
In addition to detailing how rotten everyone else is for thinking that he's, ahh, less than sensitive to queer issues (he doesn't even seem to care, or perhaps it just hasn't registered, that people have noted he's misogynistic, too), he goes on at length about how it's everyone else's fault that his MSNBC show wasn't successful, and that his play wasn't successful, and and and...
Everything about the piece is incredible, but perhaps none so much as this shows what kind of guy Alec Baldwin really is:
Last year began with making plans to do a play called Orphans, on Broadway. I was filled with hope. I had spent six and a half years on a television sitcom. I won every award you could win in television. I got paid well. And people loved 30 Rock. And I loved 30 Rock. I mean, sometimes you do a show that's a hit show and you hate it. As my agent used to say, you don't want to be walking down an alleyway with a flashlight in your hand for ten years, doing some police procedural.Alec Baldwin's brother Daniel Baldwin is probably best known for his role on the (highly acclaimed) police procedural Homicide: Life on the Street.
Yeah. It's probably a good idea to take a nap, Alec Baldwin.
