Alanis is getting some icies for that junk in those jeans

Edgy Women take over la ville de montreal

It's finally here. Multidisciplinary performances, concept dance and intervention art for all. By women!

Highlights include:

10 mars, 12h-15h : Sorrow Sponge (interactive installation by Alexis O'Hara at Articule, une expérience sonore interactive qui vous réconfortera... FREE SOUND INSTALLATION FOR COMFORT).

12-16 Mars: Politics of Presence (queer performers and non performers very welcome!)

17 mars: Circuit Bending (adapt toys into instruments with Mini!)

edgy and cute, DJ Mini above.


EDGYWOMEN.CA


see u there, square.

Uh Huh Her makes song debut

At first i was a little pissed that Leisha Hailey would dare deviate from her career as heartthrob for pay, going and producing tracks for her new band and all. But then i heard the way Uh Huh Her sounds. And it is a nice sound. That means she can play double duty with my heartstrings.







ps, isn't the band's name such a rip from PJ Harvey?!?! WTF.

Bad Girl is not born a Bad Girl. Rather, Bad Girl becomes one.

Let’s give it up for the Bad Girl y’all! Britney Spears is a fucking mess, isn’t she? Or is she… ? Although some may be oblivious to what’s going on with Spears (like the urgent issue of war, for example), her troubled life exposed in the media can help us situate the Bad Girl as she is: taunted, created, destroyed and, eventually, forgiven. First, a primer in Spears-ism 101. Back in November, after her failed marriage with backup dancer/aspiring rapper K-Fed, Spears went on a partying rampage. During this time, her labia was photographed as she entered a vehicle, she became best friends with notorious party-goer/heiress Paris Hilton, passed out at a party on New Years’ Eve in Las Vegas (shortly after midnight), shaved her head bald, entered and left two rehab facilities and, most recently, attacked a paparazzo’s van with an umbrella. She is now doing time in a posh rehab facility, reportedly under threats to revoke custody of her two small children. Now, if we look at the other women in the media who have been the centre of public fascination, we have very telling discourse of controlling and creating this Bad Girl. Past obsessions include Marilyn Monroe, Courtney Love, Nicole Richie, Yoko Ono, Lindsay Lohan and, how can anyone forget the fascination that ended in tragedy, Anna Nicole Smith. Every one of these ladies had a different narrative. Courtney Love was the woman who destroyed a budding rock star, and so was Yoko Ono. Nicole Richie clearly had an eating disorder—our constant monitoring of her body and eating patterns attest to this. Marilyn Monroe was called a man-eater and the public was consumed with her beauty during her short life as an actor. Anna Nicole Smith, an ex-Playboy model who married an 89 year-old billionaire at age 26, will probably soon be immortalized as Monroe has been—as a saint for all to idolize. But to what extent do we participate in the production of the Bad Girl? Yes the paparazzi are evil, “eTalk Daily” are dorks and PerezHilton.com is a douchebag. But, as a public, our fascination sells magazines; our webpage hits sell advertising space. Why is the Bad Girl such a source of intrigue? And at which point do we move from being passive observers to being active participators in her demise? Situating her within the context of media manipulation and consumer production is an informed choice. On March 8, International Women’s Day, I invite you all to problematize and question the Bad Girl.

Editorial: The Greens—ain’t no single-issue party

Aside from the major political parties—Conservative, Bloc, Liberal and NDP—there are a lot of other parties trying to gain power within the federal government. While parties like the Marijuana party are pretty cut and dry being a one-issue party, others, like the Green Party, are somewhat more ambiguous. At first glance, one might think the party is a decidedly “left” one, putting environmental issues on the table for concrete policy change. And besides, Jim Harris began the party’s leaning to the right when he introduced issues on which he was a fiscal conservative. But Elizabeth May, the leader of the illusive party, is the one that has placed herself and her party in the murky position of opposing abortion. She has been harshly criticized for her comments, made during a recorded talk to sisters at the Mount St. Joseph convent late last year. The loaded question: what was her stance on the abortion and same-sex marriage issues? May answered with the pre-packaged official position (GP is pro-choice and supports therapeutic abortion, while the same-sex marriage issue is a closed one since it is a human rights one). What the audience was privy to however, is May’s personal opinion, a rare thing in Canadian politics. May said abortion was, to her, “a moral dilemma” and expressed a wish to reopen the debate on the woman’s right to choice.
May said when she hears “a woman’s right to choice” she gets “queasy,” adding that she didn’t think that “a woman has a frivolous right to choose.” After these comments went public, Judy Rebnick, in an open letter on the online news website rabble.ca (which Rebnick founded) officially removed her support from the Green Party. Rebnick addressed her discontent with May’s insistence on reopening the debate, an issue Rebnick should no longer be up for debate after its long, sordid history. It’s not also coincidence that May is being courted by the Liberals, a fence the Canadian public might soon see her jump.

Elizabeth May will be participating in a discussion about climate change policies under the Blueprints for Change conference at Concordia University.

pop this into your deck

M*A*C* cosmetics finally break out their master plan: Barbies all around!

MAC Cosmetics unveiled their new Spring campaign and this time, you're in it doll. With what their calling "a modern rebel attitude and fashionable indie style" it appears MAC's marketing staff got high after smoking lotsa hash and totally zoned out on kid sister's Barbie collection. But amidst the flurry of drug-induced excitement (why didn't we ever think of that!) one question remains--Where is Skipper?

D.E.B.S. director reels us in with split screen and half-naked Shane

Thanks to D.E.B.S. writer and director Angela Robinson, we got to finally laugh and nuance the characters performance sans the PBS after-school special shit they've been trying to dose us with these past 5 episodes.

The L Word was some kind of wonderful last week. I can't recap with justice, but this writer from afterellen.com can.

FREE BRITNEY

She's left her rehab centre in Antigua to come to Sherman Oaks, Calif., tattoo parlour and hair salon for shaving and tattooing. She reportedly said she is sick of people touching her, which is why she cut it all off. The hairstylist refused to shave her so she did it herself. Then she got two tattoos--a pair of lips on her wrist and a cross on her hips. Brit then went to Cedars Sinai Hospital in a brown wig where she left before being admitted.

Funny how as soon as a woman does a strange hairstyle she is deemed out of control or crazy--is identity caught up in head hair? JEEZ.

For the love of everything that is holy--when will people leave her the eff alone?

Drew Barrymore '86-ed it!

Happy singles' awareness day!!!!

I'm CRAZY ON YOU.

JUST LEAVE HER THE EFF ALONE

Brit-brit

The folks at page six posted this item about an open letter from Rabbi Boteach urging her to get her shit together. Why didn't he just send it to her? Why make a letter open? Sorry if I'm mistaken, but shouldn't open letter writers at least attempt to send the thing to the person first? I mean then you could be vindicatged in your asshole move of publising the letter, opening it to the public. I really don't know about the etiquette of snail mail, or even much about "paper things" as opposed to virtual ones; but I digress.

February 12, 2007 -- EVEN though Britney Spears forgot to put her Star of David around her neck Saturday night (inset, picking up a friend in the West Village for a night on the town), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has some advice for the pop tart. In an open letter to Spears, Shmuley said, "Allow me to share with you a teaching of the ancient Rabbis." These teachings include tips like, "Once you become a parent, Britney, life gets really serious . . . We can all pretend that life is one big party devoid of responsibility. And rarely being home, or coming home drunk, or letting your kids see you in a degraded state, will permanently scar your kids." Shmuley continues, "Soon your boys will be surfing the Internet. They'll see a lot of photos of you in poses that no son should ever see their own mother . . . Try and be home with your kids . . . Cover up . . . Limit the visits to the nightclubs." The spiritual leader ends his letter by saying, "I know you can get your life together, Britney. G - d bless you."

Do Fathers4Justice have an anti-feminist agenda?

Barbara Legault and A Babord magazine, a social and political French-language revue, is being sued by Andy Srougi for libelous claims published in the October/November issue of 2006.

He has accused Legault of uttering hateful comments in the article she wrote entitled "Men against feminism." A call for solidarity is being sent out to all leftist publications and organizations. See A Babord magazine for more detail.

It's kind of contradictory to sue Legault for calling Srougi an anti-feminist--a charge the claimant apparently finds hateful. How can "anti-feminist" be a hateful utterance if the group implicitly calls the judicial process the same in regards to awarding fathers time with their children? Isn't feminsim to blame for the juridical process you claim is anti-father... anti-men?

Fathers for justice caused major upheaval last summer when a man stood on top of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in a publicity move for the lobbying group. they claim that men should be awarded custody as easily as women are in the divorce fights. The groups is also thought to be behind the scaling of a wall at Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman in January 2007.

VICE'S GIRLGUIDE: MILDLY AMUSING, WRITTEN BY A FEW MINOR A-HOLES

So. yeah.


I still be lovin' that DO & DON'T shite though! Highlights include, Hen's night Out and Hip Hop's "No Girls Allowed" policy in feature format... and this drawing by Christy Karacas.



And this diatribe about ChickLit:

"In case you’ve been living on Lord of the Flies island, “Chick Lit” is book-speak for literature written by women, for women who act like girls. We try to love it but we don’t. Why? Because it’s usually written about normal girls who have normal jobs and try to get ahead in their boring, normal careers and we can’t understand why. They are filled with clichés and have stolen our lingo, like “totes” and, even more embarrassing, ancient terms like “hottie” (so ’96). Sometimes these books are about rich women who have nannies, and then maybe their nannies keep a diary and we’re supposed to care about that too. This just in: We don’t! Honorable mentions: Cats, crafternoons!!!, caring, cliques, Cookie Mueller."

Hence, without further ado, i present to you; Girls, according to the VICE Magazine dudes.

Anti-Hall#$%k valentine's day party

Be there, square.

Author of "Cunt: a declaration of independance" to speak at Concordia

Lynnee Breedlove with Inga. What's really going on here?

Remember CUNTT? Well, she's back.

*Tuesday February 13th- Inga Muscio, author of "Cunt"
6:30 pm- Hall Building H-110 1455 de Maisenneuve w.
"Connecting the Disconnect: Racism, Feminism, Environmentalism and their connections to Queer and Trans Issues"
Inga is our featured speaker and a thought provoking left wing feminist from the West Coast of the US. Come hear the author of "Cunt" and "Autobiography of a Blue Eyed Devil" speak about all the 'isms and sexuality. There is a suggested donation of $1 for students and $2 for others, but no one will be turned away!

Here's a full schedule of activites

Concordia Sexual Diversity Alliance

Presents…
SEXUAL DIVERSITY WEEK

A week celebrating sexual diversity on and off campus, giving the Concordia community a chance to educate themselves on LGBTQ/ sexuality politics and issues.
Featuring Inga Muscio, author of "Cunt" on Feb 13, 2007.

more info available here.

Lizzy dans le noir!!!

side-splitting sillyness with a dash of hilarity. miam!

Lizzy the Lezzy for the BLIND

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Montreal's Black History Month: Two chicks for the price of six dudes

Elles sont les seules femmes en honneur?!? (Left to right, Leblanc, Legagneur).

Black History Month in Montreal is like no other. Only two women, out of the eight total winners, are being honoured this year—Laurraine Leblanc and Maryse Legagneur.

Leblanc, pictured above, is a Montreal publicist who filed a complaint about Couche Tard under the Quebec human rights commission for racist candy wrappers. The wrappers depicted a spider as having the face of a black man, replete with an offensive sneer and dreadlocks for spiderlegs. She won, and the Couche-Tard was ordered to donate $18,000 to a youth group in Little Burgundy.

Don't eat this candy.

Legagneur on the other hand, is a getting-established Quebécoise documentarian. She made a doc, Au nom de la mère et du fils about "immigrant experience in Quebec. It follows the daily lives of two young men of Haitian origin in the Montreal neighbourhood of Saint-Michel," (from the NFB website). Next flick is Labsus.

Lindalee Tracey: the 70s were "the last good time to be a stripper"

Hot Docs will award a prize to for emergent documentray filmamkers in honour of spirited lady Lindalee Tracey who died last October. The former erotic dancer was underage when she started getting naked for money and fame in 1973—and she started this charity initiative called "Tits for Tots." She actually like stripping and said the 70s were "the last good time to be a stripper." true dat!
Tracey is also remembered for her range of subjects in her documentaries. She covered her own dad—in Abby, I Hardly Knew Ya, which told about his life and his subsequent homelessness after leaving her and her mother. In Bhopal: The Search for Justice, she brought international attention to the chemical spill that killed thousands in India.

Feminist publication slated for release in March

make/shift is about to launch in North America. "We know feminism isn’t dead, and we know it’s not all about 'women.'"

Issue one from the collective in LA wil feature articles and poetry, namely a piece called "Letters from beirut." They should totally talk to my friend Maria. Also: "Revolutionary housekeepers, the shape of water, bad dads, prime-time ugly..."

It's on bitches, it's on. (the revolution I mean, let me just go grab my Labrys).


They're also seeking submissions in:

—investigative journalism
—photojournalism
—critical essays
—personal essays
—profiles of feminists activists, artists, projects, and thinkers
—fiction and poetry
—art and photography
—book, music, film, art, and event reviews
—hybrid pieces

Send pitches or full-draft submissions to info@makeshiftmag.com. Email them.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Jane Fonda was dispised by the media...

Jane Fonda

Hanoi Jane rallied some tens of thousands of peace demonstrators at National Mall in Washington this past Saturday, in support of the demand for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The media used to hate her. A lot of people still do because of a perceived betrayal in the Vietnam War in the '70s. Especially Danny Bonaduce.


Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. She is credited with publicly exposing Richard Nixon's potential strategy of bombing the dikes in Vietnam. At the time, she was called a liar by United Nations ambassador George H. W. Bush.

The word on the street is...

Um. In case you hadn't heard, Shane's back.

Pinks unite

Pink is in Montreal on Jan 31 2007, opening for JT at the B-hell centre. Wonder where she's staying at... maybe her g-friend's pad?

New York Times tries to 'Desaint-ify' Angelina Jolie

This story is ludicrous. The tracking, hunting and breeding of celebrity bad girls continues. "Let this be a lesson to you Jezebels and Mary Magdalene's out there" they seem to be saying. Funnily enough, Courtney Love is becoming a real human again, getting her nose back to its original state and deflating her collegen-pumped lips. See, if you hawk her and taunt her enough, the celebrity bad girl repents!

Little Sisters Bookstore got served

In an article from the CBC today, Little Sisters Bookstore in Vancouver will not be able to bill the Government of Canada for its $2 million-dollar debt for discriminatory, homophobic bans on its incoming merchandise. Although the Supreme Court, in 2000, ruled the actions of the customs officers to be "oppressive and dismissive," it still upheld the rights of Customs Canada guards to ban material from entering the country. The decision comes on the not-so-surprising heels of a new Conservative decision to put the axe through a special fund Pierre Trudeau had put into motion to allow minorities and marginalized groups to pay for court fees and fight for their rights.

In the late 90s, the Little Sisters Bookstore had their merchandise (like the Advocate, Pat Califia's Public Sex) stopped and held at the Canadian-American border. A couple of customs officers, arbitrarily, deemed the material offensive. Full history available here.

Aishwarya Rai saved from spinsterhood

Rai, former Miss World and reportedly the "most beautiful woman in the world," has finally been "plucked from the shelf!"

Unfortunately, Rai is not only 33 years old (i.e. "it's not cold in here you're just dying") but she has the audacity of being born under inauspicious sun/moon arrangement. Shameful!

Good luck to her, having a successfull Bollywood career and being friends with Oprah isn't enough these days... the star alignment in her chart says she runs the risk of ruining her husband's career. And that my friends, is a career-killer. Just ask Cameron and Justin. It's OK to fuck with your own life, but don't go blowing out the candles on yer man's b-day/career cake.

I majored in Cyberfeminism with a minor in American Myth

source

Photo Source

Young America's Foundation published a list of naughty courses taught at various universities and colleges in the States. Chiefly researched to chastise the underlying Liberal conspiracy they believe school are corrupted with, they pretty much did the dirty work of finding them so i didn't have to. On the offending syllabi were courses like:

11 - Duke University’s American Dreams/American Realities course seeks to unearth “such myths as ‘rags to riches,’ ‘beacon to the world,’ and the ‘frontier,’ in defining the American character.”

13 - UC-Berkeley’s Sex Change City: Theorizing History in Genderqueer San Francisco explores “implications of U.S. imperialism and colonization for the construction of gender in 19th-century San Francisco’s multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic” community. The course also covers “contemporary transgender, queer, genderqueer, and post-queer cultural production and politics” and “the regulation of gender-variant practices in public space by San Francisco’s Anglo-European elites.”

14 - Cornell University’s Sex, Rugs, Salt, & Coal asks students to ponder the questions: Why are “oriental” rugs collector’s items? How did we come to keep salt shakers on our dinner tables? When did coal start replacing wood as a fuel source?

15 - Hollins University’s Drag: Theories of Transgenderism and Performance analyzes historical, theoretical, and autobiographical perspectives on drag, including transgenderism and performance in non-Western cultures.

Yes I think the Liberals do have an agenda. The kind of agenda that makes snotty white Republicans realize their privilege. The kind that expands minds and makes people become critically aware of their roles as actors on the social, political and economic scene. The kind that accepts and embraces diversity, dudes.

Full list available here.

Unmarried women under attack?

Feminism is now dead, (According to some dude at the Calgary Sun).

XFM DJ calls for more chicks on British radio

"[The radio industry] needs more of us. Get Chris Moyles a womb. And if we can't have more women then we need more sex changes, an obligatory sex swap. Transgender FM?"
—Lauren Laverne, to The Guardian UK.

The morning show host and ex-member of rock band Kenickie is calling on the radio industry to make changes so that sexism doesn't prevail in stations across the country. She says not only is there a dearth of women, she adds that she is constantly being called "darling," told she doing just a super job and isn't that remarkable?! She's asked if her "breast get in the way," or even about her clothes.

MORE LADIES!

Beefeater: now with a lady face to tickle

The Washington Times is reporting that a woman named Moira Cameron will soon be a beafeater. As well as guarding the Crown Jewels, the Beefeaters guard the Tower of London and any prisoners there. You must be a retired member of the British armed forces, and to be eligible, have been retired for 22 years. The Beefeaters started in 1485—It only took 522 years for the ladies to become makeshift tour guides!

Myriam Bédard: Witchhunt?

Bédard and Mazhari leaving the Quebec City courthouse on Jan. 5 1007. Photo source

We finally have our own Canadian example! There was Martha Stewart, Courtney Love... all were very publically shamed for their "crimes." Why is Bédard getting in so much shit for taking her daughter a little bit longer than she was allowed to in her custody agreement? Is it that she testified against her bosses at Via Rail for the sponsorship scandal? Is it her husband Nima Mazhari's bizarre political affiliations? What about Michael Richards or Mel Gibson? Seems the public forgot about those guys' transgressions pretty fast...

What's more, shouldn't custody matters be private?! Thank God she's finally out. Her child abduction trial is set for this April 2.

'Thanks Oprah:' Nelson Mandela and over a hundred South African girls

photo source: columbian.com

Oprah Winfrey continued with her humanitarian quest to change the world today, as she presented the new school she spent 40-million dollars USD to build for 152 lucky South African girls.

Winfrey said this wasn't a mere accidental donation--unlike her "everybody-in-the-audience-wins... " announcements during her daily talk show.

"This is the fulfilment of a lifetime destiny for me," Winfrey said during the opening gala.

The gala was attended by anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, Mary J. Blige and Sidney Poitier, among others. All the guests were asked to bring books to contribute to the library!

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, South Africa will eventually invite 450 students to join.

She also mentioned that it was important for the young women to be surrounded by beauty, reminding the audience that the public South African schools are surrounded by gang violence and its cities and towns plagued by HIV/AIDS.

It is therefore TOTALLY befiting to have 28 building filled with laboratories, computers, a library with fireplace, a 600-seat auditorium theatre, a wellness centre and a beauty salon.

"These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire," she told Newsweek.

Oprah for (U.S.) President!

Ruth Bernhard dies at age 101

Ruth Bernhard died this past December 18, 2006 at her home in San Francisco. She was 101.

Bernhard was known for her nudey photography/lesbianism. Oh Ruthy!

Classic Torso, 1952, and Two Forms, 1963 (left).

Dear old Dorthy Arzner

Dorothy Arzner, 1900-1979.

Today, film director Dorothy Arzner, would have been 107 years old. She was the Rose Troche of her time, the only openly lesbo director in the Hollywood of the 1930s-40s. It's playing with the big boys that impresses me, the 40s were a good time to be a lady if you were blonde, bouncy--usually women didn't get to have "real" professions.
Directing Kathleen Hepburn in Christopher Strong, her character started out as a self-assured single young lady pilot, but succumbed to suicide for the man she loved.

On a lighter note, this film was my favourite. Her real-life lover choreographed the dances.

Dance Girl, Dance, 1940.

Lizzy the Lezzy!!!!!

by:ruth

check out Ruth Selwyn's other Lizzy films

Good Girls VS. Bad Girls

Lindsay went to Scores (stripper joint in NYC) to be friendly with chicks, learn new tricks for a movie role she's after and of course, apologize for calling strippers "cunts" and "whores."

CTV is "reporting" on the state of the bad girl in the media.

Pathologising the bad girl was the order of the day for the commercial media giant.

OK, I'll admit that the labia-flashing trend overtaking Hollywood starlets like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears are a little outrageous, but these women are hawked at, stalked everyday by the long lenses of the paparazzi. It's very hard to get in and out of cars, boats, what have you when you have a short skirt and an effing CANNON up yours arse. And hot messes like Courtney Love and Tara Reid are constantly taunted, watched, regulated, teased and told they're ugly, disgusting messes. The only solution is to act out. How else is a girl gonna have any fun around here?

Making a passing gesture toward the bad behaviour of men this year like Mel Gibson and Michael Richards' racist tirades, CTV was gender-blinded to the bad boy aspect of the game. Kanye's diva reaction after not winning some celebrity award for his big-deal/big bling video he made with Pam Anderson.

C'Mon! Get it together CTV.

Volver: Almodóvar's latest portraiture of sisters, daughters and the ghost of mama

watch the Volver trailer

Volver, directed by the venerable Pedro Almodóvar is the latest oeuvre delivered by him and his muses. The story begins with one of the most memorable opening scenes ever seen on screen—Province-town women are at a small town’s cemetery cleaning madly the graves of their deceased relatives. Clad in smart, primary-colour ensembles and requisite kerchief perched around the dainty faces of the strong leading women. Pénelope Cruz, as Raimunda, plays mother to young teenager Paula (Yohana Cobo)--and sister to Sole, (another Almodóvar favourite Lola Dueñas), and sternly scrubs down the cemented raised coffin of their mother’s grave in the windy season of the eastern village in Spain. Buckets and scrub brushes in tow, they go on with the rest of their day, dutifully visiting their ailing grandmother and the pot-smoking neighbour who looks in on her from time to time.
Volver, Spanish for “to return,” begins to spin a yarn that speaks to women and familial obligations, with a pretty dark lens. When Raimunda comes home to discover her daughter Paula has killed her stepfather in self-defense after an attempted sexual assault, tears are spared only briefly before Raimunda does what any family woman would do at a time like this—clean the shit out of the bloody mess. Before you know it—in 1-2-3 steps—it’s back to crystal clean! Now with stronger action for a tough clean and no permanent blood stains!
We also discover that, after the death of the ailing grandmother, the ghost of Raimunda and Sole’a mother, played by the prolific Carmen Maura, has been released from her duties. She hitches a ride in Sole’s hatchback and settles in to give her daughter the old helping hand in what her mother calls “that illegal hair salon.”
Meanwhile, Raimunda, who struggles financially now that she is the sole breadwinner, illegally takes over the restaurant from her downstairs neighbour. She soon makes a success of it, taking advantage of her talents—cooking delicious meals and making a Spanish province town ambiance with music and charm. One of the most noteworthy scenes is one that fills the screen and the theatre surround sound system with resonating emotion as Raimunda interprets the title track “Volver,” by Estrella Morante.
While other filmmakers chose to tell their stories through the banalities of everyday existing, Almodóvar tells them with the truly dramatic intricacies of everyday life. For Almodóvar, every day life is full of banal crisis. Volver is bright, rich, nuanced oral and visual family history come to life.

Recommended dosage for Almodóvar withdrawal:
La mala educación (Bad Education), 2004.
A wonderfully nuanced performance by Gael García Bernal as a genderqueer actor and the sexual abuse endured by two childhood friends.

Hable con ella (Talk to her), 2002.
Almodóvar 2002 film, Hable con ella, had the “leading” ladies cast as silent coma victims of almost fatal accidents.

Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), 1999.
Looking for his father, young writer Esteban’s life story to find his family roots even amidst his mother’s smothering if not genuine love.

BOOK BANNING makes its long-awaited return to public schools

The CBC is following a story about the people who would like to see J.K. Rowling's Potter books banned from public schools in the U.S.A. A mother of 3 from Georgia says the series tells kids how to make potions and spells and wave magic wands, oh My! She asked the school board officials why reading* was part of the curriculum, saying,
"The kind of stuff in these books--murder and greed and violence. Why do they have to read them in school?"


(I guess the daily news isn't full of murder, greed and violence like Potter books are, hey?)


Well to answer the lady's misguided question: academic life IS part of life. You cannot separate school and personal life when you're a wee one--it's your whole life. And if you were a bookworm like I was, you definitely don't want to take away a beautiful thing like reading for pleasure and school credit. What is this, 2001? Anybody remember this Canadian censorship scandal?

photo source

*ahem, reading these books.

The L Word actress new face of MsDewey search engine

MsDewey.com is Microsoft's pathetic attempt to gain equal footing in the bid for best search engine ever. It will lose. The interface is hosted by the newest fake lesbian/fake Latina on Showtime's L Word, Janina Gavankar, who tauntingly animates the screen in her sexy librarian black ensemble. The search results are all over the place and Gavankar's incessant babbling ("I'm going to rule the world!?") is pure missplaced enthusiasm.

It reminds me of another copycat move by Microsoft. Something called Zuma? Zume?Wasn't that a clear mystery beverage from the late 90s?

Source

2007 media forecast: Emo-ting all over your TV screen

(katie couric emoting)

Aside from emo-newscasting, what were the most memorable media moments in 2006?

A sp!ked-online.com article tells of a new current in news reporting: "Emo-News." While reporting on the Ipswich murders, where the murderer was found by British police via the killer's profile on MySpace.com, writer Mick Hume says


"[the TV report] ended with her telling the studio anchor that, whilst it had been ‘exciting’ to get there first, it had turned out to be ‘really quite emotional… a horrifying case for the police, a horrifying day for the media’. Objective news reporting is a casualty of this sort of reality TV coverage, where journalists imagine themselves taking part in the story rather than simply reporting it."

At the same time though, CBC.ca editor-in-chief Tony Burman asks, at the end of his 5 defining moments write-up, What do you think?

"A lesson from 2006 is that news is no longer a sermon,
but a conversation. And you control the information age."

You=Women?

Are women going to have a say in the control of information, or in this "exchange" these male writers are now proclaiming has taken over information production/consumption?
Granted, women are taking over the means of production à la Riot-Grrrl -Manifesto-cum-Marxism in the form of blogs and citizen journalism. It even reaches further into other subculture, like the T-Shirt Surgery circles borne of livejournal. But I'd say we're far from the tales Hume and Burman regale us with. Looking at the reaction from Katie Couric's emoting on the TV screen over the death of Ed Begley and the discreet tears of Dan Rather over the Iraq "situation."
When Time proudly announced its 2006 person of the year, did they include chicks? More importantly, did they consider the men and women who don't have have access to technology? Though the digital divide often leaves out women, it more often leaves out entire provinces of marginalized people—in tons of communities all over the world, North America and beyond.




More reading about digi-vide
Bridging the digital divide: opportunity for growth for the 21st century


digitaldivide.net


Lip Magazine article: calling for better indymedia