Monday, July 31, 2006

The Sodomobile

Michael Moore versus Fred Phelps, circa 1999. I've never actually seen Phelps live before (just read him quoted), and it's so nice to see Moore's obnoxiousness delivered to someone who really deserves it.

Dear Frank Miller,

Could you suck just a little bit harder? Or is that reserved for the TWELVE-YEAR-OLD boys you seem fucking obsessed over.

Oh, and FYI? Vicky Vale is a smart, professional woman who is observant enough to repetedly suspect the sekrit identity (OMG!) of Bats. That woman you wrote? The vicious bitch with no torso and no higher brain function? That ain't her. She may be your dream girl (all evidence I've seen suggests as much), but you're no Bruce Wayne, and good god, I hope never to see you in black rubber.

Pls to stop raping my childhood,
No love,
CJ


ETA: Holy hell, I really am capable of blogging about something other than comics! Erm... off to temp agency tomorrow, to assuage my poor bank account! There! Not comics! I have no life.

12-year-old orphaned child of Edit: Holy crap, it's everywhere. I think a support group is in order.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Art Update

So, the crazy lady whose house I live in has come home, and is a holy cleaning terror. Thus, I have fucked off to the library, which always makes me feel like I'm doing homework. So I thought to myself, "what have I been putting off blogging?" And my self replied, "well, you've been awfully quiet about the Art."

Yes. Yes I have. Mostly because I forgot my camera on the night of the opening, and all of my links were in disperate emails, etc. BUT NO MORE!

See the videos of the Threads in Space show at Sue Hensel's galery! (And photos as well. The pieces by Mike Elko, Jay Benson and Ann Corey Silverman are some of my faves, as is Lynn's, but I'll link to that seperately.)

Read a review from Lynn Herschberger, one of the other fabulous artists in the show! Then read this entry to see her amazing knitted self-portrait!

Do I sound enough like a circus announcer? Good.

Sue has assured me that I am allowed to blame her for the Art, especially since I seem to have come down with another project that will likely take another year to complete. It is nothing so big and twirly this time (my piece is the large DNA-looking thing with socks hanging from it; it's called Unfinished Business: The Yarn Ouroborous; yes, the title only makes sense to me, but I'll explain if you ask), but reqires Research, and possibly Writing (gulp), and also a fuck-ton of fiber (ok, that one's nothing new). Not sure it'll take off, but it's started shaping itself in my head and my Book of Stuff, so that's promising. And if nothing else, I blame Sue. The Art is her fault.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Gillian Anderson Is Expecting

And oh, my god, I'm linking to a People article.

My shame knows no bounds. And also, GA is still the hottest thing on two legs.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Speaking of Unemployment...

All of the applications I put in last week: rejected.

Oh, well, at least I got a response.

ETA: BUGS in my SHOWER!!!!! Good god, I'm starting to look forward to leaving my house. (NB "leavin my house" is synonymous with things that cause stress.)

Oh, To the Comics Shop I Go, or, How to Avoid Ass-Haberdashery in the Twin Cities

My favorite online enabler (not to be confused with Cousin J, the RL enabler; everyone should have a Cousin J to fill their comics and general dorkery needs) has "persuaded" me (ok, she posted more scans today, it's not just the cover art) to *gulp* go out and buy the first two issues of the present X-Men arc.

Notice the *gulp*? I do not play The Time-Honored Game of Nerd Superiority well. At all. As a youngish, cuter, redder-haired Me I once bypassed this ritual entirely by causing fanboys to drool, but I'm now in my late twenties, slightly care-worn, and blonde*. Also female (look to scoring chart for how fun THAT is). And with Kevin Smith dissing on all Geek Girls who aren't Rosario Dawson, it's probably as if god has spoken directly to some of the more rabid fanboys about their place in the nerd heirarchy. Above me. While I don't buy into it for a second, my ability to deal with self-obsessed fan-twits is just this side of violent.

Of course, I live in Minneapolis, which means I don't have to play if I don't want to. I spent a good chunk of my formative years at Dreamhaven, and while I could probably find a geek pissing contest there, I've never had one come looking for me. Shinders is another Twin Cities institution with friendly, enthusiastic staff, and they've a leg up in that they're a purveyor of collectibles, generally, which dilutes the possibilities for asshattery. I've not been there on a regular basis since I collected baseball cards, but all evidence indicates very little chage over the past eighteen years. And if a nine-year-old girl with anxiety problems can visit every week, I'm willing to recommend it.

And someday soon I will blog about somethign other than comics. It will likely be unemployment, or friends babies, or knitting, so you may WISH I were still blogging about comics, but I'm sure the day wil come.


*May I offer a tutorial on the Importance of Red Hair to geeks? Or, for simplicity, I suppose I could just point at the collage at the top of the page, as apparently I'm not immune. Bother.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

And why exactly are you NOT reading scans_daily?

This thread is comic gold.*

*Please observe standard food and beverage precautions while reading.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Dear Interwebs,

I CAN KILL YOU WITH MY MIND!

Stop with the pop-ups, already.

No love,
CJ

Thursday, July 20, 2006

What the - ?

Where did Wednesday go?!?! I LOST WEDNESDAY! I have no recollection of Wednesday happening!

I've gotta get a job.

When Fangirls Attack

Geez, you make one little comment about fabulous comics snark and suddenly there's a massive influx of folk fromWhen Fangirls Attack. Hi, all! Glad I checked my stats, because that's one fantastic blog-o-links.

Thesis? What thesis? I'm busy dorking around on the internets.

ETA: See? Such an awesome blog that I'm already editing to comment on some of the links!

While discussing feminist concerns over the lack of Marvel creators with internal genitalia Toy Soldier tells us that: "Thirdly, there is a failure to acknowledge whether women generally have an interest in reading and creating comic books. If we want to have an honest discussion, then we have to address that rather valid question. For now, the answer appears to be no."

Just as I begin to think this is one fanboy who doesn't meet many women who aren't inflatable, I click to my next tab (NB: No pleasure, no rapture, no exqusite sin greater than tabbed browsing... with apologies to Kevin Smith) and find that Rosario Dawson has co-created a new title for Image. It's called O.C.T. – Occult Crimes Task Force, and while the cover art seems to lack stretchy synthetic fabrics, the premise seems a melange of known successes -- Dawson compares it to a supernatural "Law & Order" here, and her description calls up elements of Hellblazer and Buffy, to name a couple. In short, nothing too "girly" for fanboys. And hey, she even "stars" in it.

Starts to make me wonder if it's not that women aren't interested in the "materials" covered by the DC and Marvel (lycra and spandex?) but rather that they're more interested in owning their titles. Creator-ownership at the Big Two (sn't that quaint?) is a rare and precious thing, and what with a long history of men taking credit for the work of women I know where I'd be drawn as well. Sure makes more sense than implying that women aren't interested in making or reading "mainstream" comics. Women's lib has meant a lot of different things over time, but one of my favorite iterations is the ability to enjoy it when two-dimensional folk kick the snot out of the monster of the week without being thought "un-ladylike."

And speaking of ass kicking, I'll be in my bunk. Holy shit, that's hot.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Beyond Politics

You know, I think I'm beyond my political differences with GWB. Now I would really just like for him to stop being creepy in public.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Tentative

I've gone off one of the meds in favor of a PRN supplement that does the same thing without the bullshit side effects (because really? even when you're single and not interested in sex with other people, having no sex drive bites. And that's your TMI for the day), and the result is kind of staggering. I feel better. I've always been prone to anxiety and panic, but they no longer seem to dominate my life -- except when I'm trying to finish up this fucking school stuff, because grad school and disordered brain chemistry have apparently formed an inexorable link in my mind. Even this is pretty cool, though, as it doesn't seem like the end of the world anymore. It's inconvenient that I have to have someone else type my words into the computer in order to write, and talk me through the mind-numbing panic I feel when I start to think that I'm too stupid to warrant putting my thoughts on paper, but it's not my whole life and it'll be over soon, like a tooth extraction or somesuch.

I feel, tentatively, like Me. And can I just say, I'm really weird? E and M can attest to this. I've been approaching perky of late, and it's just weird. The Geek Squad went to see Pirates this weekend, and I spent much of the night bent double with laughter. I called the waiter "sugar" (he started it... ok, the cornbread started it... ok, it's a long story).

Anyway, it feels darn good.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Because I [heart] Snark

Your Designated Sidekick brings the most fantastic snarky answers to stupid fanboys and -girls. My favorite is his reply to the mind boggling comment that "A lesbian superhero is a contradiction in terms":

"*blink* Look. Buddy. That's a level of 'Isn't it ironic?' that Alanis Morrisette rejected. A contradiction in terms? If she fights crime, that's...superheroic. If she commits crimes, that's supervillanic, and if she's dating another girl, that's just super. I get the feeling i have the wrong dictionary, since I keep having to look up these words like 'lesbian' to see if they mean 'A figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon, NOT endowed with superhuman powers and/or WHO usually IS NOT portrayed as fighting evil or crime'."

That is a snark of great beauty. Read the whole entry, but not while drinking anything - it poses a severe beverage risk to monitors and keyboards.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Insomnia

This is just a little post to say that I have discovered my favorite sentence in the english language: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Rarely is this sentence not accompanied by some sort of laughter. I can hardly say it without laughing, even without context. Think of any number of situations you've been in about which this phrase is true. It's not outright regret, like "I had no other choice" or "if only I had known." It's a damn-straight, what-was-I-smoking, the-plan-seemed-so-flawless admission of fuck-up.

Examples? Wearing six inch platform heels that were a size too big to a Broadway play (in the rain!) in order to make my ex jealous when he saw me at dinner afterward. Sure, I was wet and bedraggled after falling on my ass getting out of a cab, but it was damn hilarious.

Plotting to set up two friends without realizing that the match was entirely gender-inappropriate for one of them? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Going to grad school because I wasn't making enough money at my old job? Yeah, that one seems REALLY silly now.

At any rate, I can't sleep and I'm at a friends house helping with the care and feeding of a two-year-old and a newborn (me, in charge of children? Methinks I'm not the only one saying "It seemed like a good idea at the time...). Feel free to drop your ISLAGIATT moments in the comments. Because that phrase is just not getting old for me.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Oh, Good Grief

Talk about missing the point.

Dude. There is always a chance of contracting HIV during vaginal intercourse, foreskin or no foreskin. When current education projects have been unable to convince men to use condoms or to combat the myth that HIV can be cured by having sex with a virgin, does it really seem likely that "get part of your penis cut off and you'll be 60% less likely to be infected" is gonna work well?

The article linked doesn't actually go into the mechanism that lead to the claim that circumcision reduces risk of male infection (notice that no one gives a damn about the unchanged risk to women). For that you have to link to one of the previous articles, that talks of "vulnerable cells" under the foreskin. Still not a really good explaination of mechanism. This makes me really suspicious because much of the research extolling the virtues of male circumcision has shown that similar results can be attained by washing beneath the foreskin. I'd hate to see this turn into another case of arbitrarily cutting off bits of sexual organs because it's easier than teaching basic hygeine.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

In Art News...

... I appear to have made some. The opening was last night at Sue's gallery, and was both laid back and well-attended. The picture of my piece that's on the site is, alas, before it was entirely put together, but you can get the gist of it until I remember my camera on the same day that I end up at Sue's again (possibly next Sunday when I teach a class there? Who knows! I'm extremely talented at forgetting my camera). The Extended Family did not represent as well as expected, as there was high drama while I was in Seattle (in addition to the ongoing drama that's just always there).

See, there is a time-honored tradition of things blowing up when I leave town for awhile. When I went to Russia for a month, a friend got kicked out of her house, got her ass kicked by her mother, and ended up in the hospital (yes, three seperate incidents). Two years ago while I was in San Francisco, my grandmother attempted to stop breathing while at a restaurant with my Aunt, Uncle, and The Bad Children (while Grandma WAS frail, she is likely not the only one of us who has wished they were dead while in public with this particular brood). My mom being the only competant caretaker (read: woman) in the family meant that my cell phone was ringing constantly because, apparently, no one could so much as wipe Grandma's ass without consulting her. This time I was not with my mother, so she didn't favor me with The Skinny until I returned. A brief list of Shit that Happened:

1. Young cousin (with baby) beat up by boyfriend (on day before baby's first birthday party).

2. Young cousin moves back home.

3. Young cousin's boyfriend moves back home, YC moves back to apartment because lease cannot be broken and boyfriend is no good lout who will not pay rent.

4. YC's mother (Cousin T -- yes, she's my first cousin) is batshit insane (ok, this is not a recent development).

5. Cousin T gets call from her Oldest: he has a bleeding ulcer and no money to pay for treatment -- can someone help?

6. Cousin T goes on rampage, telling Oldest that he is selfish, spoiled brat for requesting money for treatment (yup).

7. Cousin T calls her Middle, convinces her that Oldest is Teh Ebilest, OMG, and is Disowned.

8. Middle, who usually takes her mother's crazy in stride, joins in the batshit by calling Oldest to allieviate his ulcer by telling him that he is NO LONGER HER BROTHER. (Note to family: could you make your silent treatment a little more silent?

9. Oldest gets hold of his grandma, my Aunt B, who helps out financially (yay, Aunt B!).

10. Aunt B joins the batshit by calling Cousin T and Middle to remonstrate &ct. (no, Aunt B, no. There is no reasoning with the batshit. That way lies madness).

11. Sure enough, Cousin T un-invites Aunt B to baby's birthday party.

12. Cousin T then includes Aunt B on email reminder of b-day party.

13. Many, many more batshit insane things ensue, though I have stopped listening at this point.

My family? Needs Valium. Truckloads of it.

While all of this was going on, I was having a very fun and relaxing week in Seattle and mountainous regions nearby. I went to visit my friend Mel, and we ran all over the city before spending two days at her (decidedly sane, thank diety of choice) Cousin's cabin in the mountains. If I weren't lazy I'd show you pictures, but I am, and I haven't slept since yesterday morning, so you'll have to wait to see how lovely it was. We went on a small (though steep) hike, wherein I learned what REAL elevation is (seriously? had there been a penis available, I could have joined the mile-high club at the pinnacle of our hike, without benefit of an airplane).

Now that I've completely skeeved you out with that thought, it's time for me to sign off. If I'm lucky, I'll get in a nap before knitting. How did I end up this busy without getting paid for anything?

Dear Russian Airlines,

You seem to be maintaining a stellar record that began over ten years ago. I remember joking during my senior year in high school Russian class that if we weren't good our teacher would make us fly Aeroflot on our upcoming trip. Now that the Russian economy's doing a bit better, here's my suggestion: start hiring pilots away from airlines with better crash records and worse salaries. Or start breathalyzing them before take-off*.

Fondly,
CJ

*Drunken hijinks were the cause of two high-profile Aeroflot crashes during my high school years. No clue about more recent incidents.