headline of the day
Ruling Favors a 10-Inch Citizen of France
Heading Into the Home Stretch
headline of the day, II
Moscow Mulls Terrorist-Proof Toilets
tweet of the day
Tabloid
Errol Morris announced the trailer for his new documentary today. I’m so excited about the film, I can’t decide whether to watch it.
Mysogyny, Labels, Isms, et cetera
Zach Weiner:
Part of my distrust of terms comes from a funny experience I had coming out of college. Allow me a brief digression: I went to a liberal west coast school. The kind of school where many of the kids manage to be oppressed and wealthy and socialist all at the same time. A frequent topic of discussion was the “inherent sexism” of the English language. There were two main lines of argument – 1) in English, the default pronoun is “he” 2) English contains a number of words, such as “bitch” and “pussy” that combine an insult with femaleness. So as not to digress too far, suffice it to say that I think these arguments are unconvincing. At the least, they require a lot of nuanced (even statistical) explanation in order to claim them as true. That said, this sort of thing was my impression of how “sexism” worked in society.
Then I moved to LA to get into the film business. In LA, it is considered acceptable to ask a potential secretary to send headshots. In LA, it is acceptable for a casting director to say “could you play that role blacker” as a way to say “act loud and dumb.” In LA, you hear people describe homosexuals who’ve died of AIDS as having “died of assfucking.” In LA, you hear even nice people say “women can’t be funny.” These aren’t exaggerations – these are things I experienced. Having seen these things, it was incredible for me to look back at the way that, in college, we’d parse the tiny details of language to try to locate some sexism. In Hollywood, it was real sexism, without doubt or hesitation. It was people holding back women (and other groups) actively and overtly.
It occurred to me what a bizarre thing it is that “sexism” blankets both the experience I had in college AND the experience I had in LA.
Dallas Bike Plan
Have any of the Dallas flockers been following the Dallas Bike Plan project? What are your thoughts on it?
Dad takes embarrassing teenage son to a new level
Oddly, it isn’t a Onion article (via):
“You don’t want to see your dad dressing up in a wedding dress, waving at you on the bus,” Rain said.
And never did his dad use the same character more than once. Several props aided interpretation as well. Like the day he hauled a porcelain toilet onto the porch. One of the days he was sick, so a cardboard cut-out of a Lord of the Rings character stood outside in his place.
Ask a law librarian
Couple enters, he like a gangsta rapper, she ghetto chic with long false eyelashes, long acrylic nails, skin-tight clothes, both with bling-bling and attitude.
Gangsta: “’Uuuuuhhhh, I been payin’ chile support but my baby mama doan woan lemme see m’kid whada I do?”
Librarian: “Do you have court orders givin’ ya visitation?”
Gangsta: “Yeah.”
Librarian: “Do ya woana enforce yer visitation?”
Gangsta: “Yeah.”
Librarian: “Here’s a motion t’ enforce an’ a order t’ enforce.”
Gangsta: “So whada I do, fill dis ‘ere out an’ take it t’ the court?”
Librarian: “Thas not a fill-in-the-blank form.”
Gangsta [shocked]: “Huh?”
Librarian: “They ain’t no blanks oan it. Ya gotta retype it.”
Gangsta: [as if jolted out of sleep]: “Huh? I doan un’erstand.”
Librarian [exactly the same as before]: “Ya gotta retype it.”
Gangsta: “Whadya mean retype?”
Librarian [air-typing on invisible typewriter]: “Re.” [air-typing] “Type.”
the lion’s choice
When is fighting a lion not a matter of life or death?
It’s up to the lion. If he chooses to withdraw, or surrender, and lets me tie him up, then I will not kill him and the fight will end. But, like I said, if it comes down to either me or him, I will have to kill him. But I don’t want to kill the lion, nor am I planning on it. I want to make that clear.
quote out of context
Ducks spill like candy from a piñata.
Opening doors for women requires their cooperation
If you get to the door before a woman, opening the door is simple. Just open the door and hold it for her. Things get awkward when you and your gal arrive at the door at the same time or she gets there before you. In these types of situations, opening doors becomes much like a dance. Each sex has a role they need to fill for the operation to successfully work. If your lady arrives at the door before you or at the same time as you, she should step slightly to one side so that you can open the door without knocking her on her tuckus. If she opens the door for herself, that’s not a problem.
headline of the day
Flying bear kills two Canadians in freak accident
Shark Pants
I must try this beer:
Citrus hops in the front of the aroma now dominate the palate with a strong pineapple like flavor. Belgian yeast comes through next with light over ripe banana and hints of muted clove. This never takes over the primary flavor of the hops at any given taste. Hints of light bready malts toward the middle with the belgian yeast standing out as well. This quickly gets crushed by another wave of citrus hops. Ending of the beer calms down a little bit with over ripe banana and bubblegum combo in the ending. Hint of hops in the very ending. Clean crisp alcohol taste in the final part of the beer.
David Byrne on William Eggleston
Musician, artist and filmmaker David Byrne has had a 25-year relationship with Memphis photographer William Eggleston. The two first collaborated during the filming of Byrne’s 1986 feature film “True Stories.”
I had no idea.
fyi
#letsmakelove is trending on Twitter.
Update: I’d like to point this one out, both for the tweet, and the background image.
from the comments
What I would want to try and convey is what I think of as the Vegas Paradox — how if you’re sensitive to the various layers, it strikes you that Las Vegas is the most honest city in America, the place where you can cut through all of the bullshit. Therein lies the Vegas Paradox.
Mr. B.’s Vegas Posse
There, on the left.
quote out of context
I think liberals, of both a libertarian, classical, liberal stripe and a more modern egalitarian stripe, see John Stuart Mill as a common ancestor, but he’s not really in the conservative pantheon. Indeed it was Mill who said, ‘While not all conservatives are stupid, all stupid people are generally conservative.’ So he was not only a liberal political theorist but a liberal Member of Parliament, and definitely not a Tory.
optical illusion of the day
headline of the day, II
Jon Stewart accidentally slashes wrist during Weiner sketch, receives stitches
image out of context
Dateline Paris
I was on temporary assignment, holding a postcard or photo of a belly dancer. Which seemed appropriate for the time and the place, somehow.
Journalists start out wanting to save the world and after a while get jaded. You write and write and write. You’re accused of having a secret agenda when really you don’t. Then, in the middle of the night you examine your motives for one that maybe you’ve hidden from yourself. At least having accusers is better than people who don’t read you at all.
Everyone is tired. Stressed. People with strong opinions aren’t likely to change them after a certain point. Back then, lots of folks would get their notions from television and it is hard to explain a complicated issue in a sound bite. Now, I’ll sometimes hear people citing as fact opinion pieces or blogs or the things coming out of talking head yelling matches. And it has gotten completely confusing, I admit.
I talk about the difference between fact and opinion. I say it is difficult to isolate a fact, but I’ve been told that statement makes no sense. Let’s see, try to isolate an actual fact from opinion or something made up or slanted or spun. How’s that.
And on and on and on it goes.
Destruction Party
97, 98, 99, 102, 109, 110 112 contributors. 4 3 days to go.
