“Just add a few new cuts and you will be able to fool the audiences.” -Kaguara from Gintama
I never watch movies. And pop culture isn’t really my thing. But this series of videos, for Bitch Magazine, is fabulous.
Monthly Archive for April, 2011
This review is from @orphanani, who stepped up when another reviewer had to drop out.
After I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I started seeing people with copies of it everywhere! Of course this only contributed to my sense of superiority for having read it first. I mean I like to carry around a smug sense of superiority at all times, but it’s nice when it’s externally justified. But I digress!
I really enjoyed the book though, to be fair, I’m a sucker for all things fiction. But I promise you that this is no Twilight/Harry Potter fiction. (Not that I haven’t also read all of those…) The story is not romantic, though it involves sex. The characters are not perfect, nor young, nor beautiful. Instead, you get a variety of people who are quirky, smart, and interesting. All of the books in the series have a mystery-solving quality, but they’re not mystery or detective novels in the typical sense. Honestly, I was a little bit disappointed after all of the rave reviews that I heard before starting it, but it was definitely a quality fiction novel and well worth the time to read.
As a bit of a side note, the movies are pretty kick ass. By the end, I didn’t even notice the subtitles and I thought that I could understand Swedish.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t like fiction, and I damn sure don’t read something this popular. If it’s popular, it must suck. See: Ke$ha. But I picked up a copy left in a coffeeshop one day and got hooked. I bought all three books and devoured them. The plot is thrilling, the characters are fascinating, and I was glued to the books, trying to figure every mystery out.
I found the juxtaposition of the rabidly misogynistic male characters (Martin Vanger and Nils Bjurman) to the passively feministic male characters (Mikael Blomkvist, Henrik Vanger, Holger Palmgren) engaging. I especially found the treatment of Mikael and Erika’s relationship interesting. I enjoyed the positive depiction of an open relationship, without presenting Erika as a slut or Mikael as a user. I thought it was odd that a book originally titled “Men Who Hate Women” would manage to portray an alternative relationship in such a positive light. There doesn’t seem to be much judgment towards Mikael at all. I was impressed that an author could do such a good job with the nuances of complicated male-female interactions.
You can find the other reviews here and here. Discussion is on Facebook.
“Austria, Switzerland and parts of Belgium speak a different sort of German.” -Colum Joyce
I just got back from my trip to Vienna and Linz. The “vacation” was nice. I managed to read four books and let my Google Reader get completely swamped. I have to be honest, however, I wasn’t especially impressed with the country.
I thought I would love it. Anthony Bourdain went and he had a great time, despite not liking Austria before his visit. There’s the Vienna Circle! Popper! Wittgenstein! It’s the home of Gustav Klimt, whose artwork I like. Beethoven wrote some of his great works there.
And yet I described it as “Austria is to Germany what Canada is to the US.”
I LOVED Germany. Before traveling there, everyone said that I would hate German food. I LOVED German food. People said the cities were ugly and “Soviet looking.” I thought the architecture was fabulous, both the old and the new.
Austria, on the other hand, was kinda meh. There were some cool buildings, in particular several churches which were really neat looking. Most of the buildings were extremely bland, crammed together with very narrow sidewalks in front. The food was also meh. I ate several times at highly regarded Austrian restaurants and was rather unimpressed. The food wasn’t bad per se, just boring. The best meal I had was at an off-the-beaten-path Italian place which served some amazing gnocchi. The only Austrian “meal” I was impressed with was lunch at the Nashmarkt, which consists of dozens of little stalls where you can purchase all sorts of snacks.
I was unimpressed by the culture. The cafes were dull, with similar menus and very little atmosphere. The fashion was… well… it looked like Wal-Mart had taken over as the major supplier of clothing. (I’m attributing some of that to the endless supply of Italian tourists.) I actually saw more than one older (by which I mean 70+) woman in some sort of stretchy animal print. Tee shirts with rhinestone writing were also especially popular with the older ladies. Austrians seemed very, very pushy, especially on public transit. I actually got elbowed by an eleven-year-old girl getting onto a not very crowded train.
On some positive notes, the country landscape is beautiful. The view from the mountain top above Linz was breathtaking. The Ars Electronica museum in Linz was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend it, especially if you have kids. As I said before, the Nashmarkt in Vienna was a lot of fun as well.
The only other redeeming quality? Lots of Starbucks. I totally got my iced chai latte fix.
“People need to feel like they’re not being attacked, like they’re in a safe space where no punches are being pulled.” -Sarah Silverman
I’ve checked out the poll and the debate about the need for sex positivity in e[Lust] and it made me think about what I wanted from e[Lust] and how I felt about sex positivity. I am glad that Lilly wants to make e[Lust] a sex positive space. I think it should be. I don’t want to read Cosmo-like posts on e[Lust] about how to drive my man wild or crazy things to do in bed. I appreciate the varied perspectives that e[Lust] provides, perspectives that I can’t get from most other places on the internet. I want it to be a safe space for sex positivity.
Safe space is certainly something that I support and endorse. I understand the need for people with sensitivities to have places to go where they do not have to worry about fighting the demons they face everyday. I think this is healthy.
However, I wouldn’t consider my blog “safe space.” I don’t put trigger warnings on my posts. I wouldn’t claim that all of my posts (or opinions for that matter) are staunchly feminist, sex positive, inclusive, politically correct, or warm. (Well most of my posts aren’t warm. Or touchy-feely. Or any of that crap.) I’m okay with this.
Although I certainly have my issues with the patriarchy, with discrimination, with harassment, I don’t respond especially well to the embracing environment. I don’t like talking to therapists (even the good ones). I don’t enjoy being coddled. I don’t seek out advice from people who are inclined to tell me that “it’s all going to be okay” or offer hugs. I’m not going to offer that sort of advice (or hugs – I don’t like hugs). I know there are plenty of people like me in the world who are much happier with sarcasm and humor. I certainly am.
I’m glad communities like Shakesville exist for the people who do want a hug. And I respect the space that places like those provide. I’m not going to show up to a thread there and suggest that someone “deal with it because life isn’t fair” which is certainly advice I have offered my friends. There is a time and a place for debating the merits of feminist philosophy or the potential political motivation of the women who accuse Julian Assange of rape or the logic of the fat acceptance movement. You’re welcome to do that here. You’re not welcome to do that in other places and you shouldn’t.
I don’t submit posts to e[Lust] which I don’t consider “sex positive.” (Feel free to disagree with my definition.) I don’t pick fights on feminist blogs which ask me not to. I don’t swear on blogs which frown on that sort of thing (not that I spend a lot of time on them). It’s not hard to respect other people online. If you want to pick a fight, try reddit or your obnoxious friend from high school’s Facebook wall.
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