sundries

[rm]

The New York Times continues to think that the trend towards dressing up is their hot new over the last couple of years. The New York Times is increasingly the last to know about anything, but I'll take what I can get. This one is very much an outgrowth of the Mad Men phenomenon, but it pretty high on my "mmmm, yes, but no" list.

Laredo, TX has 250,000 people but no bookstores. via popfiend

You've got to love a photo essay on an amazing New York City home that includes the caption, "the bedroom, with even more items marked for sale." I am so there.

Get ready for the sound of me screaming. I haven't read it yet, but nothing titled, "Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women?" is gong to result in anything but my fury.

The sultry earth.

The Wall Street Journal weighs in on how much "heavage" men should show. This may be my favorite article all week. I'm not sure why, but it is.

Today is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. via shinysayyadina

I feel like a bit of an asshole linking this one as it's unavoidably full of "look at those wacky Japanese" and "geeks are losers" tropes, but Tokyo man weds video game character.

Jude Law 'in love' with 'Sherlock Holmes' co-star Robert Downey Jr. That's the headline exactly as CNN gives it to you, and I'm interested in it both as marketing strategy in terms of sound-bites on Sherlock Holmes and also because of the whole implied giggly/awkwardness of the headline in the rest of the article. I find this shit amusing on the surface and then quaint and irritating when I think about it, to be frank. Because CNN would _never_ use that headline in reference to men who were, you know, actually romantically/sexually in love with each other. That's the problem.

Speaking of Holmes: originally the two bits of Holmes hilarity coming out in the next couple of months (the one mentioned above and the sucktacular thing GDL is in) were just going to be odd campy amusements to me. But now I'm having to read all the Holmes stuff for my Bristol paper, so hey... I might be informed on the OMGWTFBBQ factor of these projects.

This is what abstinence-only education has wrought.

An origami crane folded by Sadako Sasaki is part of 9/11 memorial. My fellow children of the 80s, were you traumatized by 1,001 Cranes along with me? I can't believe that there used to be a whole genre of children's books, both fiction and non-, about nuclear war. Ah, the Regan years.

Patty has been keeping me up to date on the epically weird demise of the Washington Times, DC's bizarreo-land Moonie-run paper. If you haven't been following it, you can catch up here.

NCIS proving to be cool and useful.

The odds of my book being in-stock again from a major e-tailer before the deadline for Christmas shipping delivery is pretty low. I'm making a post office run on Saturday. If you want one $14 to me via paypal and I'll get it out then. Books will be in stock again soon, just not in time for Christmas delivery.

I forgot to mention how much I've loved how much you all love the name Martin.

Comments

I'll give you a shortcut to screaming--

[ex-adarog.livejournal.com]

--with this 21st-century quote from the article:

...a Nancy Meyers movie, in which 55-year-old women implausibly exert charms that no 25-year-old can hold a candle to...

YOU BET THEY DO, BITCH. Those words were written by *a woman*.

Re: I'll give you a shortcut to screaming--

[rm.livejournal.com]

The real key, I think, is I need to stop thinking these articles are about me on any level whatsoever. My relationship with being female is odd/tenuous in a lot of ways, UNTIL I READ THESE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES. But seriously, since I pretty much literally play a woman on TV (well, movie screen), I suppose my level of agitation is reasonable, but NOT ABOUT ME. But it's so yucky. SO SO YUCKY.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Hey for some of us geeks, replicants are the only answer. Now sure we are a good long way from the Nexus 6 but you have to start somewhere.

Re movies : have you seen " Imagine Me & You " as yet?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Lesbian flick, right? I think I caught the end of it when Patty was watching it.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

epically weird demise of the Washington Times, DC's bizarreo-land Moonie-run paper.

I'm sad for the non-lunatic workers for that publication who are being laid off at a time like this, but, yes, I knew of the paper before its difficulties, and it's high time it cut the apron-strings and either floated or folded on its own merits, not those of the Unification Church.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I was talking with D. about games we played as kids -- how my friends and I played Cold War, while she, two years younger, barely even had nuclear annihilation on the map. The Berlin wall had already come down when she was 8 or 9 or 10. It just amazes me that so much can change in that small window. And of course I remember 1,001 Cranes and it did and does haunt me.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to figure out how to fold one, despite being good at origami and having been shown how to do it over and over. I wanted to, because of that book. I thought, if I can make 1,001 Cranes, and I can have a wish too, and maybe people will like me. But I never figured it out.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

I sent that NYT article to the hubster. He's into that trend. Actually, at his holiday party on Saturday, more than one fedora was seen (among 20-something guys).

He wore a grey suit with really subtle sort of glen plaid (you have to put your face two inches from the fabric to see it), a white and gold striped shirt and a grey tie with bits of gold in. The suit is lined with gold silk. NICE.

Damn. I was looking forward to that Nancy Meyers film. I like Meryl a lot and the sets are always the other star. :D

I JUST WANT BIG HAIR TO COME BACK OK?

http://community.livejournal.com/ru_glamour/3514397.html#cutid1

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I love, love, love that home and would buy all kinds of weird stuff from there. Bejeweled lion box! Hat! Cake stand! Random framed picture on a chair!

[sykii.livejournal.com]

Not only did I read it and was I traumatized by it, but I, like many other schoolchildren of my generation, made whole flocks of them. I wonder where they all ended up.
Even reading her name gives me chills and goosebumps, which says something about how deeply early stories sink in.

[liminalia.livejournal.com]

I had repeating nightmares about being caught in a nuclear war as a kid and young adult. I thank all the gods they stopped. However, I worry that it has receded so far into the background of public consciousness while being as likely as ever or more so.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Yes. Very traumatized by that book. I could never figure out why they felt like it was appropriate reading for us kids.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Rage made me stop reading the sex education article. I am ever more certain that Mike Judge's 'Idiocracy' is our future.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Every single book we read at school was either Jane Eyre or nuclear war. Not enough, apparently, that we were all going to die, we had to know about it. Early lessons in learning to live with fear, I guess.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Re your link to abstinance only education FAIL.

Not only did it give us more unwanted pregnancies, but the notion that a girl who decides to be sexually active and is responsible enough to use birth control is categorized by her peers as a tramp; whereas if she is an idiot, says she wasn't planning on having sex and then does so without the benefit of birth control, gets pregnant and keeps the baby she is categorized as a saint.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Indeed. But the underlying message seems to be that girls/women should suffer for having sex. The "tramp" is cheating that script; the 'saint' is 'martyred' by it.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

I don't think I read The Thousand Paper Cranes until I was eleven, but when I did, I wasn't traumatized. Amazingly enough, however, it made me cry. NOTHING made me cry back then. After that, I actually delved into many of those fictional books about the bombings, though I can't remember many of them now. One of them was about the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, though, which stood out to me because all of the others seemed to be written about Hiroshima. It was pretty good. I can't remember the name for the life of me, though.

That article about Nancy Meyers ("Can Anybody Make a Movie For Women?") was not quite as bad as I expected from reading the title. True, it seems that both the director and the author of the article are fixated on the gender binary and heteronormative ways of viewing the world, but a good deal of first three pages (which was all I read) focuses on how Meyers' targeting the middle-aged female demographic has been accompanied by her efforts to turn audiences away from their tendency to think of older women as "dry," "threatening," "un-sexed," or "past their prime" and instead give the older female audience an outlet for their ideas and wishes of romance later in life while giving them a sort of self-esteem boost. At least she's trying. Unfortunately, this approach does incorporate other stereotypes about the older female crowd that may still put them under the scrutiny of other demographics.

What I disliked about the article was the tone of surprise the author used when describing Meyers' persona--how she could be dressed in subtle women's professional clothing, looking like a lawyer, and yet turn out to be one of the most meticulous film directors in the industry, or like lauding her soft command because while she doesn't bark out orders to people or treat them like crap like some directors, she's firm and she knows how to get what she wants. It's kind of like the author is congratulating her for retaining so-called femininity when authority and a sense of command are considered "unfeminine," I guess...at least by this author, or by the people the author thinks are reading the article. Like you can't really be admired as a woman if you yell at people or push people so you can get your way, even though "most men" do it all the time, or like femininity is still something all professional women should aspire to. Great for Meyers if she likes that sort of thing, but others shouldn't be judged by the same qualifiers.

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

Yeesh! The Casual Friday picture in the first article you linked to is scary. That's like dressing in checks and stripes or clashing plaid!

The second article is very sad, but unfortunately, you see that in some towns. My husband's great aunt used to live in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She told us that, a few years ago, there two referendums on the ballot. One was to build a new stadium. The other was to renovate the library. The stadium one got passed. The library one didn't. So sad.

[blergeatkitty.livejournal.com]

Every book I was given to read for a class up until about tenth grade involved one or more of the following:

1. Surviving in the wilderness
2. Children dying
3. Pets dying
4. Dystopian microcosms and/or future scenarios.

Lord of the Flies was, memorably, three of the four. But nothing was as scarring as Sadako. I was probably seven when I read it, and I made my parents remove it from our house because I would go ballistic if I even saw the book's cover. If I saw it now, I'd probably STILL get upset.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I guess that is what surprised me the most about reading "A Wrinkle in Time" in the fourth grade. Granted, the characters spend a big chunk of time on the Stepford Planet of Camazotz, but the the Murray kids have both parents (and they rescue Dad), save the Universe, and everybody lives.

As opposed to "Where the Red Fern Grows", "The Red Pony", "Death Be Not Proud", "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden", "One Eyed Cat", "Bridge to Terebithia", etc. And they wonder why kids get put off reading as they get older....

I love the TVTropes term Death By Newbery Medal (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMedal) though, it is so apt. While excessive sheltering is not good for kids, I never saw the point of dumping the problems of the world on people with no social leverage to do anything about it, unless they want kids to go up overwhelmed, fearful and guilt-ridden. Do they expect seven year olds to start non-profit organizations to remedy the world's ills?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Gluten free brunch and cupcake decoration in Brooklyn! I saw this on Cupcakes Take the Cake. You probably know, but it sounded delicious. Mmmm mexican brunch means migas, which are the divine's gift to mere mortals.
http://www.meetup.com/celiacs-about-town/calendar/12054590/

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the article on Meyers is pretty sucktacular, IMO. The first section is all about how the director is so humble and down to earth and underappreciated (my take: stereotypical female socialized) that she's quite willing to have her table bumped at a well known (I assume) restaurant when in the company of a reporter. The first line of description of the director includes 'blonde woman' like bad fanfic and there's several lines dedicated to what she wears and her jewelry (and how tasteful and humble it is).

The reporter seems fairly ... uninformed IMO; she discusses a scene in an upcoming movie where the female lead asks the male lead to 'look away' while she gets out of bed and races to a robe because she's clearly ashamed of how she looks and the camera lingers on '[male actor's] paunch'. The reporter seems to see that as a turn around or exposure of men to the 'female gaze' but I read that same scene (admittedly just as a description) as enforcing female shame of their normal body (which is obviously imperfect by virtue of not looking like a 20 year old porn starlet) while men are not expected to feel shame for their bodies, no matter their imperfections. As far as I can tell from the article, there is no matching sense of shame from the man regarding his own imperfect body, yet the female actor has at least two lines that reference her imperfections and her discomfort - to me that's not "shifting the burden of living up to impossible, media-derived body ideals from women to men." but reinforcing the same old, same old.

The whole article has the dancing bear feel about it - while it's clear the reporter feels the movies are quality (and that the studios agree), there's an awful lot of male/female comparison - clearly to the reporter the most important thing about Myer is that she's a woman. Except of course she's not like a woman re: "[Meyer's] said in her authoritative yet undivalike manner."

The section on her attention to detail is rife with comparisons to male directors not being singled out for the same behavior (yet it's the reporter who's constantly reiterating this) before getting quotes from multiple actors that they don't see her behavior as particularly gendered. However, with the reporter's constant presentation of Meyer's gender, it's impossible for the reader to do so. A fair amount of time is spent on the interior décor of her house (then again, this may reference the director's attention to a particular physical look to her sets).

There's one of the most mealy mouthed excuses I've seen in quite some time for the director's lack of ethnic diversity in her work – "That world is also almost pre-ethnic — with the exception of the Asian actor B. D. Wong, who appears in “Father of the Bride” and its sequel, few non-Caucasian faces appear in Meyers’s movies." WTF is 'pre-ethnic'?!?

(TBC because I'm teel deer)

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

I can't speak much to the movies themselves since they're totally uninteresting to me and completely not aimed at me - so the discussion about her movies as designed for white, middle-aged and older, heterosexual, rich women who want men and romance isn't something I can comment much on. They sound simplistic to me, and without the spark of the older Hepburn style movies as well as very, very whitewashed in pretty much every sense of the word. However, I can say that her movies do seem to be giving great older actors – both male and female - opportunities for work and, I guess, older white, rich, women something to fantasize about.

The reporter includes a quote from a critic of Meyer's work: "Richard Schickel condemns Meyers with faint praise, hinting that she and the studios have struck a devil’s pact of sorts. “Clearly there is an audience for sweet little middle-class romances of the kind she makes, and it pleases the studios to indulge a woman, whom they would not trust with more vigorous projects. It’s as if they’re trying to say: ‘Hey, we’re not sexists. We make Nancy Meyers movies.’ ”

This is the last line in the article and if I were the director, it wouldn't be one I was particularly happy with: "“It’s Complicated” may not be entirely believable — nor “Something’s Gotta Give” particularly persuasive — but they offer their creator and all the women who relate to her stand-in self, in the form of Keaton or Streep, a good deal of laughter to help get them through the night. And that’s no small piece of magic."

End

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

As a native of the DC area, and a liberal, witness me doing the Dance of Joy ((c) Numfar) at the Times' tanking.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

We've been doing interviews for various positions at dayjob this week and it's giving me serious sartorial lust. I wish I wasn't so reluctant to make the investment because I anticipate major body adjustments in the next two to five years. I'm too poor to be okay with a closet full of things that I'll 'grow out' of. ARGH.

Stupid indecision/limbo/whatever. I should just give in, subscribe to GQ, and submit to my baser urges.

The Law/Downey Jr. thing is...curious and frustrating. Especially since they're using that language themselves. If Law calls it flirting, that blurs so much, and while you're right about CNN (and other news outlets) never ever using that language when it could be literally true, I'm interested in the ways this has crept into the vernacular. I'm half tickled and half enraged. Hm.

And yeah, I got Sadako. I'm probably on the tail end of the generation who did. I still know how to fold cranes, and occasionally do so compulsively if I've got nothing around but paper.

Also, laugh at me. My first thought about NCIS was not independent scholars. It was "Of course it is. McGee is awesome."

[rm.livejournal.com]

There's a reason I keep posting the NCIS thing without explanation. I think it's HILARIOUS.

You and clothes -- I'd say, get sports jackets a bit slimmer than you can close comfortable now. Where your shoulders are aren't going to change. Get clothes to grow into later, and hey, no one buttons a fucking sports jacket anyway.

[sethg]

Only 2.7 times the size of Earth and 6.6 times as massive, the new planet takes 38 hours to circle a dim red star, GJ 1214, in the constellation Ophiuchus — about 40 light-years from here.

Cf. John Varley’s novel The Ophiuchi Hotline.

[unrund.livejournal.com]

Just a notice that I added you as a friend because I find you very interesting.
No need to add me back :)

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard about the end of The Washington Times, that's wonderful news indeed.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

The abstinence education article was depressing, but sadly to say, not surprising. I know anecdotes != data, but I used to work with a college age woman who thought hormonal birth control would make her permanently infertile. Not sure whether I worried about her or the teenager who told me she planned to be a virgin when she got married (mind, she planned to get married at 21)...

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

My town where I grew up had 25,000 people (which is a pretty big town for Australia) and had no bookshop or cinema. The next town over had a cinema, but no bookshop. The third town in the area had neither. In total, these towns served 150,000 people, including a university (which sold only course-related books in its bookshop). It was a depressing way to live, and lack of public transport meant that the easiest way to buy a book was catch the train for 2 hours to Melbourne and stay overnight with my grandmother!

My town now has no bookshop, either, but it's only 800 people - the next town over (11,000) also has no bookshop, but the one after that does, so it's only an hour away! And there's the internet now, which makes it all better!

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

You know, I read that article, "Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women?" and I still have no clue why they chose that as a headline for an extended biographical look at Nancy Meyers and her films...Seriously, I am stumped.