Uppity-Negro.com

Ok, finally went to Early to Bed this afternoon -- and the store is lovely, by the way, Michelle, remind me to take you there before the pilgrimage to Ikea when you and B. come visit -- to pick up a copy of Karen Salmansohn's The Clitourist.

What?

Anyway, no joy. Searah suggested I try Women & Children First, though, which is why the book title links to their site. They had it in stock, but I decided to wait until the next paycheck comes in before buying it.

In case you were wondering, but were afraid to hit said link, USATODAY.com: 'The Clitourist' charts unfamiliar territory:

In The Clitourist: A Guide to One of the Hottest Spots on Earth (Universe, $15.95), Salmansohn offers a funny, educational exploration of female sexuality by combining Trisha Krauss' colorful illustrations with brief bits of body wisdom.

Like any travel guide, the gift book comes complete with maps (of the female genitalia), tips for recreation and a little history of the area (for example, did you know doctors once used vibrators to treat hysteria?).

Salmansohn, who lives in New York, says inspiration for The Clitourist stemmed from her own curiosity. After doing some research, she realized she didn't know her body nearly as well as she should — a trait she shares with many other women and men.

"We tend to know so much about the male system of operations … so it's sort of interesting that we're so shy about getting to know ourselves 'down there,'" she says.

The book received a glowing review at Scarlet Letters:

There's a lot of how-to sex books out there lately, and a lot of mainstream focus on female genitals and women's sexuality right now. But I feel confident saying that there isn't anything out there that approaches this topic in the way that Salmansohn, and the magnificently talented illustrator Trisha Krauss, do in The Clitourist. What I find in a lot of the other material I see these days when it comes to sexual anatomy and women's sexuality is one of the following: either an overly clinical and completely dry approach, a salacious, woo-woo, hey-baby-let's-get-in-on sort of dealie, or the endless politicization and issue-laden address of something that shouldn't be so damn heavy all the time. When we're talking about our sexuality, we should not be bored to tears. We should not feel as if we have to be sold with bells and whistles on enjoying and understanding our own genitals. And we certainly should not feel we have to analyze the symbolism of our genitals in conjunction with feminist issues to the point that we can't even jill off anymore without quoting Angela Davis when we orgasm. Someone out there should be able to enlighten and entertain on the topic without those typical pitfalls, and that's exactly what has been managed magnificently in this book.

And there's an all-too-brief excerpt at Women.com, The Oral Approach:

Once you've taken your place upon that pillow pedestal, your partner should take his or her place facing you while on his or her stomach. He or she should then crawl closer and closer to you, like a scuba diver swimming toward a sunken treasure trove -- which of course this little precious zone of yours is.

Finally, your partner should approach your clitoris with an intentionally bad sense of direction. Just as he or she gets close to the intended destination, he or she should promptly get lost again.

More, as they say, in the link. And much more in the book, Heather's review copy of which I started reading at one point, but never finished.

Still, she never complained, so I guess I managed to pick up enou-- ahem, moving on.

Test your cliteracy:

True or false:

• The clitoris is the only organ found on either men or women that exists for pleasure alone, hence many scientists' belief that women's genitals are more highly evolved than men's.
• Vibrators were invented in the 1800s by Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville as a psychological cureall for women.

Answers: All too true!

Which bit is quoted at health humor over at The MyWebhealthCenter Bookstore.

And there would be something cruel here about women warbloggers and the obvious need for them to not just get laid, but get laid well, something which probably isn't going to happen during those 30 to 45 seconds with a male warblogger, but I'm really trying to be nicer to people lately.

Some days I try harder than others.

Update: Although I'd prefer you support a/my local independent bookseller, Amazon does allow you to Look Inside the book from their site. Plus, if you buy from them from that link, I get. . . a pittance, frankly. Better if you just kick a PayPal or BitPass donation directly to the "Teach Aaron How to Better Orally Pleasure The Ghettofabulous Jessica" Fund. And hurry, she'll be getting back from Cancun in just a few days, and I'd like to be ready and waiting. Impatienly.

Update II: When I was at Early to Bed ("a retail and web store providing people with high quality sex toys at fair prices in a women-oriented, boy-friendly atmosphere," for those of you not paying attention), I did pick up the current issue of Tuffy:

an independently published zine dedicated to exploring the diversity of life in Chicago through a feminist lens.

Specifically, the sex issue mentioned on their they-should-update-that site. Which features a piece on/by Lickity Split, "Radical Cheerleading for the queer positive, leftist, ass-kickin', feminist, anti-hate generation," another on being Intersexed, a Brief History of Burlesque from The Sissy Butch Brothers and an interview with Edith Edit of Dominatrix Waitrix fame.

(Not sure that's a typo in the link to Scarleteen at the bottom of the page; the link itself is correct, and that spelling is kind'a how it's pronounced, in certain dialects anywa-- sorry, linguisitics geekery.)

There's also a piece from Amber Miller and Coya Paz, which shares the title I Heart My Clit with their column at dykediva.com.

So, how was your weekend?

Posted by Aaron at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anyway, got about 15 minutes before I have to go to work, and I wanted to share the fact that job hunting sucks everywhere. In fact, TN guvner Phil Bredesen said something to the effect of he didn't know what Bush saw in the economy that was so positive and that he needed to visit Middle Tennessee. :) My fiance is still looking for a job and we're both geting kinda discouraged.

Anywho, hope y'all have a better day than I undoubtedly will.

by Sammie

Posted by Aaron at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently picked up Aphex Twins "Mixes for Cash" release. Two CD set. Good mixes. Good title. Good CD. Buy it or risk looking unhip.

... patiently wondering when the next coldcut disc will be out.

Also, Knights of the Old Republic appears to be entertaining. The Spence man has been playing it for days (he says the ending is a bit week). Pretty cool game (it oughta be with 12 meg save files)... blastin and sweet jedi lovin for a mere $50. Kept me occupied for a couple of days as well. Might need to head out over there after some sweat lodgin'.

In fact, if you need me, I'll be at Spence's.

Word.

Posted by Aaron at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

...which quote has almost nothing at all to do w/the topic of this entry.

Well, unless we wanted to debate whether or not that's a Gen X credo.

&, perhaps, it could be said that I'm "commandeering" this space for my own nefarious purposes.

B/c really, when all's said and done, I really just want your thoughts about Gen X & Gen Y writers, artists, musicians, whatnot.

B/c my students just rolled over and died on this exercise earlier this week, & it's left me sad. "Am I wrong," I think, "for believing that there are many of us Gen Xers out there being fabulous and talented, & Gen Y kids too?"

[&, no, I do not believe, as someone suggested to me, that they were all cleverly self-referentially enacting "slack"- I think they just couldn't think of anything, didn't do any research, and didn't take me up on my offers of help. & now their grades have suffered appropriately.]

So- plug yourself, your friend, your fav comic artist, band, performance group, whatever, but help me walk in there next week w/a list as long as my arm of workin scensters born between 1960-1980, and 1980-2000.

Cheers
Neogrammarian

Posted by Aaron at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

np: Amy Ray, Lucystoners.

Which the title, of course, is not taken from. It's early, and I've still not perfected the Big Gulp French Press.

Spent last night with Dan and The Irresistably Cute Lisa watching Gryffindor Grand Rapids stomp the Wolves into the ice, as they always do. It's their Seeker; the kid is good, as long as no Dementors come out on the. . . ok, that joke is dead.

At one point, Lisa claimed she was not aware that Smith -- which she's been accepted to, and will (probably) be attending come the fall -- was a women's college.

Did I mention that Lisa is blonde?

Thinking about something Lawrence Simon said about trust the last time I did the FFAF thang -- that's open until Sunday night, by the bye -- and also a half-remembered quote from Glenn Reynolds about how he doesn't allow comments because it's like handing someone a can of spray paint to deface your site.

I dunno, maybe I just have a different view of human behavior.

This isn't just a Chicago thing, pretty sure I saw the same thing in Minneapolis when I lived there: in winter, if you're walking and see someone whose car is stuck in the snow, most people will head over and give 'em a push to get 'em moving again.

Pretty sure that's not taught in Driver's Ed -- which isn't mandatory in schools in Minnesota, as you can tell by how the fuckers (can't) drive -- and seeing as my agnostic ass does it, it's not about hoping Saint Peter is looking down and taking notes. It's just. . . you see somebody needs help, you help 'em. Since that's normal behavior, not much point looking into it much. It's the folks who don't should be studied, to figure out what the fuck is wrong with them.

Ain't a profit motive involved either, because no one expects the person in the car to pay 'em. There's a sort-of hope that if you're in the same sitch, someone will do the same for you, but absolutely no dream that it'll be the same person you helped. You might not even get a look at the person, so you wouldn't know anyway.

And since you're not getting a look at 'em, it goes without saying that gender, race, class, orientation, religious affiliation, all those cool things that divide us up into tribes. . . make absolutely no fucking difference whatsoever.

Ok, I might pass by someone in an SUV with a Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper sticker and a Jesus fish on their ride, but only if I noticed same before stepping up to give the thing a shove.

None of which has anything to do with opening your site for guest entries, I suppose. Eh, what's the worst thing that can happen? Someone abuses your trust and uses your own site to post a vicious personal attack? Been there, done that, not really that impressed, actually. And the nice thing about having the worst thing that can happen, happen, is that afterwards there's really nothing to fear.

Unless you react to said worst thing in stereotypical, "A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged" fashion.

Which'd be silly in this instance. This place is by no stretch of the imagination high-traffic, but there's a couple hundred people coming through per day. Just because one of 'em is an asshole is no reason to treat all the rest as potential assholes. Oddly, treating people like potential assholes. . . tends to make 'em behave like actual assholes. Go figure.

Which is the pre-caffeinated explanation for why I encourage comments, and participate in Free-For-All Friday.

Or something.

Update: Probably should clarify this. Every once in while, I'll possibly write something mean about Christians. This should be taken as short for, "people who claim to be Christians, but are in for a nasty shock when they die, hopefully soon."

Tend to forget to mention this on forms asking after volunteer experience: when I lived in Shampoo-Banana, worked on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve at the Winter Emergency Shelter, a crash space for the homeless in a church basement. This was run by actual Christians, and it's really hard to find bad things to say about them. Never noticed 'em proselytizing among the guests, except maybe through setting a good example, and no one ever tried converting me. Either because my (lack of) beliefs never came up, or if they did the person I was talking to looked at me skeptically and asked, "So, you're an agnostic who just up and decided to volunteer at a homeless shelter in a church basement on Christmas Eve out of. . .?"

I take it back. There is a bad thing to say about actual Christians. Smug bastards.

Any road up, went in on those particular nights because most volunteers were students, and headed home for the holidays. There were always a zillion folks willing to come in on Thanksgiving itself, or on Christmas, but God forbid -- don't pardon the expression -- the volunteer coordinator tell them that there were more than enough people for those nights, but if the person calling could come in the previous evening, it'd be much appreciated.

Because those people calling in? That'd be the fake Christians, the ones who seem to think that even though God is omnipotent and omnipresent, that He won't notice their good works unless there's a camera crew present and He catches 'em on the local news. Wasn't nobody reporting live from the shelter the nights I was there, just a bunch of guys didn't have anywhere else to go.

I have no point. I'm just typing.

Update 2: Added a link to the actual post at Amish Tech Support about "guest-blogging." Didn't feel the need at the time to point out to him that I'd done it several times before. . .

Posted by Aaron at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Beej here, just saying hi and sorry for my late-a$$ entry...looks like a great blog here...too bad it's so late (2am in Minnesota) and I've got to get going to beddy-bye.

Will be checking out this blog again, very soon-ly. Not every day I run into one that is conserv/libert. (kinda like me) & a big slice o' fun....how refreshing, yay!

Night night

-beej

PS - My FFA is running for 24 hours so have at it, time's a-wastin'!

Posted by Aaron at 2:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

aloha there neighbors and neghiborettes. luka here from incogblogo. I wanted to get in on the FFAF action here at uppity-negro.com. I figured I would go with a theme or something. So...here it is :) movie quotes :) think you can guess this one?

It's one thing to want someone out of your life, but it's another thing to serve them a wake-up cup full of Liquid Drano.

p.s. I didn't know which category it put it in...sorry ;)

Posted by Aaron at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, it's about that time again:

Free-For-All Friday

For those of you just joining us,

Free-For-All Friday (FFAF) is a unique blogging meme - it isn't about what you post, but what others post for you. You particpate by allowing the general blogging public the ability to post on your blog via a guest account. As the blog owner, you get to set the guidelines - but it IS called Free-For-All for reason. FFAF is a tremendous opportunity to get to know your readers while they get to know you.

Free-For-All Friday takes place on the last Friday of every month. The next one is February 27, 2004.

But I turned the account on this morning, as I'm fairly confident I'd forget tomorrow.

Operating instructions:

URL: http://www.uppity-negro.com/cgi-uppity-negro/mt.cgi

• User: guest
• Password: guest

Mad HTML skills not required -- obviously, since I manage to get stuff posted -- and using Movable Type is a breeze, for the reason given above.

Other participants, who will probably be starting on Friday rather than Orthodox FFAF, include:

Which will bring up absolutely nothing if you don't have Javascript turned on, I imagine.

I'd say you should restrict yourself to the sorts of things that usually get discussed here, but since that ranges from clitoral extension in female bodybuilders to vegan cake recipes. . . well, use your best judgment.

Keeping in mind, of course, that I or one of my Filthy Assistants will remove anything we don't particularly care for. But we're quite easy to get along with. Usually.

Anyone got a working email addy for Rachel Lucas? Was going to send her a note asking if she'd like to post something, but am getting the big bupkis for her site.

Hey, didn't agree with the woman's politics, but unlike most of the folks I say that about, she seemed capable of, you know, independent thought.

Anyway, I'm Audi. The mike is yours.

Behave.

Posted by Aaron at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From HolaHoy.com

Bush: "No" a bogas gays

El presidente George W. Bush, anunció ayer que apoyará una enmienda constitucional para prohibir el matrimonio entre homosexuales, una decisión que ha sido criticada duramente por asociaciones que defienden los derechos de los gays.

"Para prevenir que el significado del matrimonio cambie para siempre, nuestra nación debe aprobar una enmienda constitucional para proteger el matrimonio en Estados Unidos", dijo Bush, en una declaración en la Casa Blanca.

El presidente señaló que la medida es necesaria para detener los esfuerzos "agresivos" de "jueces activistas" y de autoridades locales para "redefinir" el matrimonio de forma que se permita la unión de personas del mismo sexo.

[. . .] Previsiblemente, la reacción es totalmente contraria entre las asociaciones de defensa de los derechos de los homosexuales.

"Las enmiendas constitucionales han servido en el pasado para ampliar la libertad y la igualdad", afirmó la presidenta de la Campaña pro Derechos Humanos, Cheryl Jacques, la mayor organización política de homosexuales del país.

"Esta enmienda sería la primera en reintroducir la discriminación en nuestra Constitución", señaló.

There are lots of cognates, and you know what the story is about, so even if, like me, you don't hablas the español so well, you should be able to follow that.

Your Spanish is probably better than Bush's, but that's damning you with faint praise.

I'd address the content of the article, but do you really want to read that?

No more than I feel like writing it, I think.

Posted by Aaron at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As opposed to Scott McCloud, who just can't. Oh, and second reason to sign up for a BitPass account? Giving him twenty-five cents American (per issue) for The Right Number.

The first reason, of course, is to give me lots more.

Thinking entirely too much about creator's rights and ownership and Work for Hire recently. Which is utterly hypocritical of me, given my unauthorized reproduction of lengthy quotes from articles, poetry, song lyrics, photos and artwork, but since you lot haven't given me lots of money, I'm too small a target for anyone to bother taking legal action against. So, um, I guess I'm grateful?

Not too thrilled with (what I've read from her about) Colleen Doran's politics, but like her artwork enough that I'll even pick up an issue of a book I don't normally read if she's worked on it. And I remember being not too thrilled with how it looked in one issue of Sandman, during the A Game of You storyline. Later read, probably on the late Warren Ellis Forum, that she waren't exactly thrilled with the job the inker did either. But, you know, Work for Hire.

More or less. Don't know the exact details of Neil Gaiman's arrangement with DC, but did read (probably at his journal, or over at one of the several discussions at The Well -- yes, I have a mind like a sieve) that at one point the producers of Batman: The Aminated Series (it's not Talk Like Elmyra Day unless you want it to be) wanted to use Dream/Morpheus/Sandman in an episode, and someone at DC told them that Neil had to approve use of the character, and denied said use. Without, you know, asking Neil about it, which is a shame, because he said he'd have liked to have seen it.

I bring this up in the context of comics because that seems to be easier for people to get a handle on than music or pornography, even though the same rules should (but generally don't) apply.

That said, I'll be looking for a download of The Gray Album once I get the laptop back:

More than 300 Web sites and blogs staged a 24-hour online protest yesterday over a record company's efforts to stop them from offering downloadable copies of "The Grey Album." A popular underground collection of music, "The Grey Album" mixes tracks from the Beatles' classic White Album with raps from Jay-Z's latest release, "The Black Album."

The protesters billed the event as "Grey Tuesday," calling it "a day of coordinated civil disobedience," during which more than 150 sites offered the album for download. Recording industry lawyers saw it as 24 hours of mass copyright infringement and sent letters to the Web sites demanding that they not follow through on the protest.

"The Grey Album" is a critically praised collection of tracks created by Brian Burton, a Los Angeles D.J. who records as Danger Mouse. Mr. Burton created the album by layering Jay-Z's a cappella raps from "The Black Album," released on Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella label, over music he arranged using melodies and rhythms from "The Beatles," commonly known as the White Album.

Hypocricy is the Greatest Luxury, you know. Raise the double-standard.

Update: Actually. . .

[and I'm wondering how to word this without running into the restrictions that were in place for areas of GEnie and USENET that J. Michael Straczynski hung out in. Basically, the rule was, "No story ideas." Surprisingly, there seems to be a cottage industry of undersocialized fanboys with egos far larger than their talent, which barely rises to slush pile level, who specialize in attacking professionals for "stealing their idea!" There was an ep. of Babylon 5 that got spiked because someone on GEnie (was it Kwiker?) posted something similar. The episode later was produced after said someone sent a nice, legal-type letter stating, "I don't claim you stole my idea, I won't sue you, I'm a complete fucking idiot." Ok, maybe not that last part.]

. . . I wonder if Static (of Static Shock fame) needs to sleep. . .

Posted by Aaron at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Turn up the eight-track
I'm pulling the wig down from the shelf
Suddenly I'm this punk rock star
of stage and screen
and I ain't never
I'm never turning back

The sing-along part of Wig In a Box, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. As I'm fairly confident most of the people reading this site know perfectly well.

Was going to reply to a comment from Neo about the Suicide Girls/Playboy.com deal, since I'd thought it included just the web site, not the print edition. And, searching for confirmation instead of just spouting off as usual, managed to find out where I'd originally read about the arrangement, at Boing Boing:

Playboy online just launched a new feature, "Suicide Girl of the week." I heard about plans for the syndication launch last week from SG founder Sean in LA, and I understand this is the first time Playboy has ever syndicated another site's content nudes directly on playboy.com (thanks, Michael). An interesting development, given SG's humble, indie dot-com beginnings. BoingBoing reader matt rhodes says, "You can see the thread on the SG board here and the Playboy boards are here. From what I gather, there is some degree of bitching on the Playboy boards. They don't seem to want their nudes with tattoos and piercings."

Nope, can't possibly satirize that.

Any road up, comments from the models in the SG board link up there, and comments from some former models at sgirls: About other sites, which includes this:

And, yeah, the contracts to become Suicide Girls legally sell our photosets to SG Services, Inc. for all eternity. So if they wanted to, they could put me in Playboy or on punkteenwhores.com. It's a pretty standard modeling contract.

I find this both utterly appalling and completely unsurprising.

So it's rather a good thing that I've been awake entirely too long, sparing you a long, incoherent (more so than normal) rant about D.I.Y. and the punk ethos and how "a pretty standard modeling contract" is precisely the opposite of what alternaporn is meant to be and. . . see? Instead you get a short, incoherent rant. You're welcome.

Found the link to that thread in the comments for The Porn Post at Alexander Payne -- don't bother hitting the link, the post isn't particularly interesting.

Neither is this one, although the description of the (cropped) image as "repulsive. The opposite of attractive" speaks volumes about the author.

Was about to say that finding those indicates that Google is not your friend, but it's possibly more accurate to say that Google is your friend who tells you things you might not want to hear, but definitely should.

Or, I should try getting some sleep.

Posted by Aaron at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I'd just like to state for the record that I was not among those on Saturday who grabbed Luva's. . ., wait, TranceJen is on Diaryland. No one reads that. Never mind.

I think I met them on the back porch during the intermission at the reading. Quoting one of my first blogish sort of thingee entries from November, 1998 (I fuckin' represent the Old Skool):

Listening to Sister Soleil's first cd. Almost typed album, dating myself. I rather like it. Could not begin to explain why, even if I was capable of stringing together thoughts at the moment. Also wondering where the hell I know Stella from, or think I know her from. My brain has the wonderful habit for forgetting people I only met two days ago, but at any moment will helpfully point out that Eve Plum played Jan, and Ann B. Davis was Alice. I should have the damn thing replaced.

My syntax has not improved over the years, but I felt editing it would be wrong. Did add a link, since I wasn't very good at that sort of thing back then. Yes, Sister Soleil was fronted by Stella Soleil (or Katsoudas, if you want to be like that); saw her/them play a show with My Scarlet Life (not to be confused with Scarlet Life, which I also seemed to have killed with my uncontrollable mutant band-destroying powers) at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis with personas un-non grata Chris and Dan, um, five and change years ago, going by the date on that entry. Which I'm not linking, because it's all quite embarrasing.

This is my pre-coffee syntax, by the way. I have no idea why I'm up at four in the morning either, seeing as my new temp assignment doesn't start until 8.

My previous assignment ended last Thursday. I found this out when I arrived there Friday morning, as no one had bothered telling me that, you know, ended the previous day. That, and I hadn't checked voice messages, so there's lots of blame to spread around, but shouldn't I always be the victim/hero of my own narratives here?

No, I suppose not. Almost as boring to read as it would be to write. . .

Anyway, it wasn't all bad. I got to meet Dawn “Sam” Alden of Babes With Blades, who I realized after I left for the last time on Friday morning still had my copy of the Fray trade paperback. And there's a funny story Dwayne McDuffie could tell you, but I'll pay him quite a bit of money not to.

If I had quite a bit of money. Erm.

Any road up, everyone think Good Thoughts in Tara's direction on that whole Illinois Bar Exam thing.

Still haven't bothered writing the About Me/This Site page, because I can't type "former erotica model" without looking at the phrase, trying to think of a better way of wording it, considering not mentioning it, realizing this would make it look like I was treating the experience as a Dirty Little Secret, then deciding that what's needed is more coffee.

Now, for example. What's needed is more coffee.

Update: Um, mentioned the Good Thoughts for Tara because I'm not entirely sure she's joking about blaming me if she doesn't manage to pass on the first attempt, which according to the graph in that link 85% of first-time takers do. And I really don't need more pissed-off busty redheads in my life. Although that one shoot where Heather tied me up -- that's a member's-only link, sorry -- was really. . . you know, I should buy a larger French press, because this 12 ounces obviously isn't cutting it.

Oh, and I note that my partner in, um, smut, Elise, is listed on the Flowers for Al and Don donations page. And mentioned having done so on her LiveJournal, which clearly I should read more often.

Perhaps one of those 32 oz. jobs, you think?

A few places there where I re-wrote a sentence to break up links, rather than having two of them right next to each other. Shouldn't make a difference, as the current style sheet/design (thanks again, Michelle, and TLaKD is coming soon, I promise, and I really mean it this time) should make it clear, but it feels wrong. Could write something about form determining content, but there's that whole not quite awake thing to be dealt with first. And I'm not entirely certain I'll have 'net access at the new assignment, and probably don't want to be dropping by here posting things even if I do. It's quite a bit further from the Apple Store, so guess I won't even have the option of doing things from there over lunch. Um. Will check for nearby WiFi access locations once I get the laptop back from the shop.

Could I convert a Big Gulp cup into a French press somehow? I think that would just about do it.

Update 2: I forget these things, and probably should have mentioned this earlier in the entry; depending on where you work, some of those links may not be entirely safe.

There's also some half-formed rambling about how right-wingers aren't so much frightened of homosexuality as sexuality full stop, and open discussion of same is a better way of confronting them than just the typical 'net method of confrontation through flame war.

And also about alternaporn, dialogue between the producer and consumer (use of these words themselves an indication of how half-formed the notion is, because they're making me cringe), albeit mediated through the 'net with all the distancing that implies, and how the Playboy.com/Suicide Girls arrangement might could reduce or eliminate that dialogue between the models and the people viewing them from Playboy's site rather than their own SG page(s), but since I haven't perfected the Big Gulp press, that's going to have to wait. . .

Posted by Aaron at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Right then, after a few nights of actual sleep and probably thinking about it entirely too much, I'd like to apologize to Chris and Dan for going off on 'em a few days ago. If you guys want to post here, feel free, but please keep in mind those etiquette suggestions from a few days ago. Chris, it should go without saying that your old nickname? Not acceptable.

Which is the entire problem, really. I keep thinking some things go without saying, and folks keep proving that, no, there must be the saying.

I don't think there should have to be the saying.

Meaning, there won't be. There will just be the deleting if need be.

Not thrilled with creating an environment so exclusive that I wouldn't be allowed in if I hadn't created it. Mainly because the concept gives me a headache. And also, because I did notice that the three people I've unceremoniously kicked out -- I'm including Darren Madigan here -- were all white guys. Add that to how several of us went out of our way trying to explain to Aussie Girl why she was crossing the line, and, well, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this. But I ain't liking it.

So, short version, anyone can post here, as long as you're doing that "worthwhile contribution to the conversation" thang.

If you're wondering how to determine whether or not something represents a worthwhile contribution in my opinion, that's dead simple. Read the other comments. If, on preview, yours jumps out like a sore thumb, that's a good indication that you maybe don't want to hit the post button.

And yes, some of the regulars violate them etiquette suggestions. You're right, I am hypocritical, play favorites and am generally not a nice person. Which begs the question as to why you'd want to post on the web site of such a person. That's right, you wouldn't. Buh-bye.

Not np, because I don't have the cd with me: Nutopia, Meg Lee Chin, Piece and Love

Was that too bitchy?

Posted by Aaron at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

Which is, of course, the follow-up line to, "Not everyone believes what you believe!"

Sorry, trying to think of what I could possibly do at a blogger reading, and came up with the comments from this post. Which is probably defeating the purpose. Or something.

Anyway, so.

On the afteroon of Thursday, Feb. 19, on Boing Boing, I read about this great idea. Basically, people are generously sending flowers to random gay couples waiting in line to get married in San Francisco. This is a brilliant idea, but I immediately recognized a problem. The flower shops apparently charge about US $45 to deliver these flowers. That's probably market value, but it's a bit steep for individuals who might want to help out (particularly if they're paying in Canadian dollars or other weaker currencies) but can't spare fifty bucks.

Hence, Flowers for Al and Don. I'm using a PayPal account to collect money, with which I'll buy bouquets in bulk for the couples in line. You can donate as much or little as you please, and I pledge that every cent (minus the PayPal fees) that I receive will go to this project.

Mentioned this in passing, in an update, a few days back, but think it deserves to go front and center(ed).

And then there's this at Electrolite, regarding Da Mayor's statetment from a few days back:

As Teresa remarked when she heard this, “Are we going to have a revolution led by mayors?”

Apparently so. Aided and abetted by people sending flowers.

As far as revolutions go, I seen worse.

Spent some of yesterday afternoon at Heartland Cafe, reading Wonder Woman: The Complete History. I'd forgotten that Chip Kidd handled the design on it.

I'd also forgotten that Gloria Steinem worked -- why does using "undercover" in this sentence seem like such a bad idea? -- undercover as a cocktail waitress at the/a Playboy Club back in the day. And never knew she'd worked with Harvey Kurtzman. Odd that, feminists being all humorless and what-not.

Anyway, it's a lovely book to just flip through, including tons of artwork, but you'll not be disappointed if you actually read the text. Some of theories of her creator, Dr. William Moulton Marston, are a bit, ah, let's go with "wacky," keeping in mind that's just my belief, and leave it at that.

But this bit:

William Moulton Marston was born in 1893 and graduated from Harvard in 1915; later that same year he married Elizabeth Holloway, who had attended Mount Holyoke. In a letter written more than half a century later to comics fan Jerry Bails, she said that she had been offered a position in her alma mater's psychology deparrtment, but she had other plans: "to marry Bill Marston" and "to go to law school, which I also did a week after we were married." She couldn't attend classes with Marston at Harvard, which did not admit woman, and she dismissed the era's idea of a separate Harvard law school for women as "lovely law for ladies."

It indicates to me that maybe there were some real-life inspirations here and there.

Not looking up when Harvard started admitting wimmenandminorities, because it'll just ruin my sunny disposition.

Posted by Aaron at 5:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

And again I say, dialup sucks.

Took the extraordinarily shallow Physical Attraction Test at Match.com after seeing the link at A Small Victory. It informs me that I find busty redheads attractive. Well. Thanks so much. Never would have worked that out for myself. . .

They state/admit out front that they're working with a limited set of models, and I suppose I could write them a note about including more rainbow babies/mixed race people, or at least wider variety of people of color, but they seem to be aware of the problem. Issue. Thingee.

Apropos of nothing, that is a Spooky "The Thing That Squeaks!" tee that Tristan is wearing at WildVancouver.com - Tristan Risk - Wild Girl of the Month. This makes her officially the coolest person ever.

Spooky, of course, is from Jhonen Vasquez' I Feel Sick:

I Feel Sick is arguably the best of Vasquez's books. The art and storytelling have grown more sophisticated and streamlined without losing Vasquez's wit and sick humour. It's the story of Devi, whose date with Johnny in JTHM went horribly awry when he tried to kill her. Here, she's struggling to make a living as an artist, doing illustrations for horror novels, and trying not to lose her grip on her own work. Things are complicated by one of her unfinished paintings, which appears to have become possessed. Despite, or perhaps because of, the sheer over-the-top surreality of the story (one of Devi's failed dates, we learn, was with a zombie), I Feel Sick is really an excellent story about the sheer hell of being a creative person in a society seemingly bent on squashing creativity at every turn.

From a review at Bookslut by America's Sweetheart Karin Kross, who's planning on "one entry per song for the Magnetic Fields's 69 Love Songs" starting March 1st. Which now makes her the coolest person ever. Um. Guess there can be a separate title for different countries or something. . .

np, Perfect World, Indigo Girls, All That We Let In, the booklet for which has yet more Xaime Hernandez art, and a very lovely portrait of the Girls themselves on the back of the case.

Posted by Aaron at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

No, not for the reading, that was more than worth the cover (although I do wish I'd grabbed a copy of the set list, as now I'm not certain who was who. . . except Mimi Smartypants, because you don't forget puppets, especially after last week's episode of Angel. . . but I digress), I mean the half bottle of Two (except it's Three here) Buck Chuck and the two wine glasses I left at Uncle Fun afterwards. Er, the glasses were $1 apiece at Brown Elephant, so I can't say I'm that upset, and I guess that's only $1.50 for the half bottle, but it's the principle of the thing.

Yes, I could have tried getting 'em back, but am fairly confident I would have ended up with glass splinters and lots of merlot in the bottom of my rucksack by the end of the evening. And who wants that?

Right, going to get accusations of favoritism for not mentioning anyone else. Um. List of/links to contributors/readers in this here entry. And I think I took photos, but don't feel like installing the camera software on the iMac to download 'em. I'll just wait until I get the Gateway laptop back from the shop, and am confident I won't have to reinstall everything due to them having to wipe the drive.

Hope they don't, anyway. Oh, my beloved pornography. . .

What else? Half-formed notion (as opposed to half-cocked, as Alicia would say) about how discussions of culture/music/film/art actually involve people talking to each other instead of at each other, which is why I keep linking Michele on such things.

Canada's Sweetheart Tristan Risk is Wild Vancouver's Wild Girl of the Month for February.

Something about the current photo from her Yahoo! Group and Swashbuckling Women of Movies, TV, Theatre, etc.:

This page is dediacted to the swashbuckling women of the modern day. Some are characters in film, television and the stage, but others are real swordswomen, who like La Maupin enjoy performing and flaunting tradition.

Which includes a photo of Babe With Blade Dawn "Sam" Alden, but not Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Yes, hit Brown Elephant yesterday for the wine glasses, and also picked up Beauty and the Beast: Night of Beauty, a graphic novel based on the tv series. Which I never watched a single episode of -- any fans here? -- and only got because it was written and illustrated by Wendy Pini. And because it was only fiddy cents, yes. And I only own two issues of anything Elfquest related, the first issue of the Marvel/Epic reprint series and an issue of Elfquest: New Blood (not positive about the title there. . .) with art by Lea Hernandez.

Any Freudians out there thinking of commenting on my apparent fixation on women with swords or pencils/paintbrushes? Please don't.

Also randomly ended up at a discount bookstore type place having a 50% off sale, and picked up, among other things, the hardcover edition of Wonder Woman: The Complete History by Les Daniels, for seven bucks.

Samuel Delany's stint on the book is only mentioned in passing, alas.

But there's quite a bit of discussion of bonda--

I think I shall have more coffee.

Update: Er, I didn't drink half a bottle of wine myself, as the above might imply; I gave a glass or two to Lauriean to steady her nerves, and had a very nice conversation with her about Animaniacs, Thundercats and Peanuts, specifically a Pig Pen analogue who reeked of pot smoke rather than dust.

You had to be there.

Or at least somewhere in the very crowded room. I swear, the guy was like a pot potpourri. . .

Posted by Aaron at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Way I see it, there's two reactions to that. "Huh?" and "Auugh! Bad 80's music flashback! Get out of my mind! GET OUT OF MY MIND!!"

Obviously, I'm going for the latter.

It's Michele's fault, really. She's the one doing 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee entries. Causing me, in my not quite awake/sobered up state, to try to remember if Prince's extremely sucky, monosylabic interview back in the day was with Don Cornelius on Soul Train or Dick Clark on American Bandstand. So, hit TV Tome for a list of guests from Soul Train (not sure the official site even has such a thing), and hit season 12, 1982, featuring among others The Time performing that little ditty from the title, and Vanity 6 with "Nasty Girl." Oh, and The Dells popped up here and again, if you check the list.

I'd point to an exact link, but after the multiple references to (among others) Teena Maria, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Shalamar, DeBarge, Whodini, The Fat Boys. . . I'm kind'a in nostalgia meltdown mode right now. Sorry.

This is also preventing me from writing about the very entertaining but damn they need a bigger space Blogger Reading last night. But, oddly, I'm fairly certain someone else with a blog will do so.

Posted by Aaron at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm sure someone will catch and remove the spam comment in the Porn, Feminism and Tech entry over at misbehaving.net soon, but in context it's almost amusing. Or, as the title says, sleep deprivation.

From the actual entry part of that:

Porn is a long-standing feminist debate, full of nuanced discussions about consumption and production, objectification of women, power/empowerment and control, consent, violence, economics, and desire, etc. There are academic volumes on the topic and it's a highly contested and heated debate. Thus, i can't imagine any of us agreeing on the topic, let alone thinking that we can represent anyone else!

That said, we are quite curious to know how porn is affecting women in tech. With a hefty percentage of the web economy depending on porn, how does this affect women's participation in the tech industry? Does the exorbitant presence of porn discourage women from entering tech? What have you heard?

And there were few actual comments at the time. Don't suppose the folks at Daze Reader could/did link that?

As usual, I have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the debate, and am keeping schtum.

Mentioned a few dead-tree thingees recently, Venus (possibly still available at a finer bookstore near you, featuring Natasha Lyonne on the cover) and Utne Indie Culture 2004 (description of cover and link in previous entry). Neither posts their full contents on the web, probably to encourage people to actually buy the thing so they can continue to publish. Is this sort of thing frowned upon? Not the whole continuing to publish thing, the linking/mentioning material not available on the web?

Not that it makes a difference, as lots of people don't even bother hitting the links. For y'all's benefit, from the About Venus page:

Venus is the No. 1 source for coverage of women in music, art, film, fashion, and D.I.Y. culture.

Published quarterly and distributed internationally, Venus features interviews with edgy musicians and up-and-coming artists and fashion designers, along with reviews of CDs, films, and books. In addition to sassy reviews and interviews, each issue of Venus features such popular regulars as the "Sexy" section, "About Place," "Where You At?" "On the Road," "Retro Fetish," and a short story.

I mentioned the Emmylou Harris interview, yes?

They (well, specifically Charlotte Robinson) have/has nice things to say about Wig In a Box, too. Haven't seen it in stores, but may not be looking in the right places. Anyone actually snagged a copy?

Going to the blogger reading tonight. Doors open at 7, $5 cover, and B.Y.O.B. You will know me by my bottle of Two Buck Chuck merlot. I might even let you have some if you come up and ask nicely.

Assuming Lauriean doesn't grab the bottle and guzzle the whole thing before she goes on. . .

Update: Also via boingboing:

WN: Why do you feel that the right to anonymity -- online and offline -- is important? How does privacy relate to porn?

Flynt: Privacy is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution as freedom of speech is in the First Amendment. But the right to privacy has always been something that lawmakers and the judiciary have taken into consideration in the course of our country's 200-year history. You know we're going to be giving up more and more of it, though. But there are still a lot of people who want to be able to remain anonymous, and some lawmakers who also feel that way.

WN: What are your thoughts on the current state of civil liberties and individual rights in the United States?

Flynt: Benjamin Franklin once said that those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither. I think Bush and Ashcroft could learn a lot by taking a page from Ben Franklin's book. I just can't believe that our lawmakers actually voted for it (the Patriot Act). We basically gave away all of our civil liberties.

A lot of Americans think, "I'm not Arab, so it doesn't affect me." But the Patriot Act has no color barriers. They just used part of the Patriot Act to bust a strip club owner in Las Vegas. The law is on the books, and you don't need a judge's authority to do wiretaps, and you don't have to provide a person you arrest with an attorney, and the books you check out of a library can be placed in question, and attorney-client conversations can be monitored. Ashcroft went to Capitol Hill and intimidated lawmakers into passing this by effectively saying "Blood will be on your hands if you don't pass it."

Xeni Jardin interviews Larry Flynt for Wired News. I just thought it was best to put the quote before the attribution, so people wouldn't see Flynt's name and automatically recoil in horror.

Posted by Aaron at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Curiousity got the better of me. I had a look at what the bigots had to say.

U.S. Newswire - Mayor Daley's Reckless 'Gay Marriage' Advocacy Points to Need for Ill. Marriage Protection Amendment, IFI Says

"Mayor Daley may have lots of power in Chicago but he has no moral authority on marriage. His pandering to the city's powerful homosexual and transsexual lobby now threatens marriage itself in Illinois," [Illinois Family Institute Executive Director Peter] LaBarbera said. "No matter what he or [Cook County Clerk David] Orr says, marriage will always be between a man and a woman. Now is the time for Illinoisans of all creeds and colors to unite behind an amendment to the state constitution that will protect marriage from being redefined by activist judges and liberal politicians."

Uh, no. But thanks for asking.

Meanwhile, linked by Atrios and no doubt elsewhere, DeLay says gay unions will be 'central' issue:

"I think it will be central," [House Majority Leader Tom] DeLay, R-Texas, told reporters before addressing the Knox County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Rothchild's. "Every now and then, an issue that is central to who you are and what your world view is comes along."

Americans "have been tolerant of homosexuality for years, but now it's being stuffed down their throats and they don't like it," DeLay said. "They know it will undermine the very foundation of this society, will undermine our understanding of what families are. Polls tell us that over 70 percent of Americans believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman, no matter what you call it."

He said that a "very telling difference" between the Democratic and Republican parties is that the former "is becoming the party of gay marriages" while the latter "is becoming the party of traditional values I think it's going to carry the day in the upcoming elections."

Any Log Cabin Republicans out there care to comment on this? Come on, don't be shy. You're already incredibly fucking stupid, don't add to your flaws.

Finally, before (temporarily) getting out of the political discussion thang, Michele wrote in the post with the lovely title, i now pronounce you arrogant:

Which leads me to pose a question or two to those who oppose gay marriage and are having heart failure over the San Francisco marriages:

Did the sun rise in the east this morning? Is spring still going to follow winter? Laws of gravity still intact? Red still means stop and green means go? Is time still going forwards? The rivers still running? The mountains still standing?

If you answered yes to all of those questions then your world is still the same. The fact that two lesbians from California got married yesterday had no effect on your life whatsover. In fact, if it wasn't reported in the papers, you wouldn't have even known about it.

And then there are comments. Lots of them. I'd quote some, but really, they work better in context. That, or digging through them looking for the especially stupid ones seems like a waste of my not-that-valuable time. Either or.

Not much point asking opponents to explain their position here, I suppose. Since the ground rule is, I really don't give a fuck what your god has to say on the subject. That seems to be all they got, really.

And Laura has some nice quotes on the topic, from an article by Vaughn Roste by way of Keith Boykin. Too many good ones to quote. Go look.

And Oliver had something to say on this, too. And he, too, got some rather ignant comments. I must be doing something right.

InstaPundit, of course, has no comments, so just has the ignance right in the entries instead. On another topic altogether, he sez:

People's willingness to make donations, sometimes sizable, in support of things they can get for free is something that has surprised me about blogging, and suggests that the portrayal of human behavior I got in Econ 101 was incomplete.

Yep, gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to catch him looking in your bedroom window. . .

Margaret Cho, in the meantime, writes:

Step up your game. No matter who you are or what you feel about homosexuality. If you are gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, bi-curious, metrosexual, heterosexual, celibate, hermaphrodite, a satyr, a succubus, a fucking human being - and especially if you are a fucking human being, and really want to live in a country where all people are equal - not separate, not 'civil-unionized,' not lied to about your rights - realize that same sex marriage will not harm you. It will not make gay people more 'gay.' It will not make you gay unless you already are. It will not make your children gay, unless they are anyway. It will not change your life in the least, unless you are gay and want to marry your partner. Then it will transform your life, because it will change your status from second class citizen to first, where we should be.

There's also a bit o'Cho in Utne Indie Culture 2004 -- there's a wee photo of her on the cover, and a larger one of some obscure singer-songwriter.

Update: Just kicked $5 to Flowers for Al and Don, because for some odd reason I think random strangers sending flowers to people means more than all the ranting and raving on this issue combined.

Link from boingboing.net.

Posted by Aaron at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

I quoted this before. Perhaps people will pay attention this time. Warren Ellis, on Microcasting, Message Boards And Social Networks over at Die Puny Humans:

The argument against this is usually that the net was intended to be a free conversation space, and that gating off spaces goes against its intent. Obviously, I don't agree. And further, I think the evolution of the net has outpaced early intents. There are people out there who freely admit that most of their time on the web is spent attempting to fuck up the flow of message boards. Pro trolls, would you believe. For those of us who want the net to effect cultural leverage, I think it's way past time to acknowledge that not everyone has a useful opinion and putting up a message board isn't an invitation that you want to deal with children's shit. If someone wants to sit down with you and your friends, they need to prove in some basic way that they're not going to spill their beer down their fucking shirt fronts.

I have a feeling that you can't talk about social networks without talking about social skills. I have a feeling that maintaining the net as a communications system over the next few years is neither about technology or policy -- it's about basic pub etiquette.

Right. Basic etiquette for the Uppity-Negro.com Tavern and Vegan Grill:

1. Tell people who you are.

   Not saying you have to use your real name, but at least include a link to your web site, or LiveJournal, or give some way for people to find out a bit more about you. Pseudonyms are fine, anonymity is not. If you need clarification on this point, ask. Politely.

2. Keep in mind that you're in public.

   Can't remember where I read that you shouldn't post anything on the 'net that you wouldn't want published on the front page of your daily newspaper, and the analogy doesn't hold up well under too much examination, but basically, yes. This is a public space. An archived, searchable public space. Meaning that if you say shit about someone, there is the distinct possibility that they're going to see it. And since my name is splashed all over this place, I do feel some responsibility for what's in the comments. It reflects badly on me if other folks act a fool here and I let them, you know?

3. This is a fill-in-the-blank friendly space.

   Queer-friendly, women-friendly, size-positive, whatever. I don't want anyone -- well, except maybe het white male conservatives and libertarians -- feeling uncomfortable. Obviously, this includes material in the comments. If this strikes you as so much political correctness, yes, you're absolutely right, blah blah thought police blah blah "no free speech," now fuck off.

Any questions? Comments?

Posted by Aaron at 4:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Entirely too out of it to do anything clever or interesting with these. Just take my word for it (assuming my word is worth anything), and check out venus (buy the print zine if you can find it, it's more than worth the cover price, and I'm not just saying that because of the full-page photo of Emmylou Harris. Ok, I am, but there's other cool stuff there too.) and Rachel Yamagata. Who I only heard of because of a brief write-up in said print edition of venus; mp3s available at her site, as per usual, and I'm not even a bit surprised to see I missed her back in January. She's playing Chicago again in March, at The Vic and House of Blues, opening for Liz Phair. Hope the tickets aren't too dear, and that Liz does a bit of her older stuff. . .

This entry may be heavily re-written tomorrow, when I'm actually awake.

Or not.

Let's just go with not, actually.

Posted by Aaron at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a school of thought which says that if you're not really, seriously, incredibly fucking pissed off with your friends sometimes. . . that they're not really your friends.

It only seems contradictory on the surface. Lots of the Tao Te Ching is the same way. And I'd meant to pick a representative quote, but really, the whole thing is worth a look. That link has several transations; haven't looked at all of 'em myself, but figure it's hard to screw the thing up too badly.

I been wrong before, though.

From the Indianapolis Star (but an AP wire story), First lady: Gay marriage issue 'shocking':

Laura Bush said gay marriage is "a very, very shocking issue" for some people, a subject that should be debated by Americans rather than settled by a Massachusetts court or the mayor of San Francisco.

It still being Black History Month, I'm tempted to point out that we've heard the same fucking arguments regarding slavery, desegregation, extending the franchise, interracial marriage, blah de blah de blah. Atrios touched on this yesterday, and there's just not much more to add.

This is a civil rights issue, or, if you prefer, a human rights issue.

In this instance, although this is (supposedly) a democracy, the opinion of the majority as to whether or not the humans in questions should have rights is completely irrelevant.

Again, this only seems contradictory on the surface.

And you really don't want to get the linguist going about tossing around words like "defense" and "sanctity" on this one.

Because that kind of pathetically transparent manipulative bullshit really annoys the hell out of me these days.

Posted by Aaron at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Brief piece in yesterday's Red Eye about the Suicide Girls Burlesque Tour, which is coming to Metro tonight. And was at High Dive in Champaign last night; um, guess I could'a mentioned that before it happened, huh, Jamie? Well, you can drive up here for the show, right?

Mind you, not sure I'm going. Neo, you said the one in Columbus was pretty good?

Anyone know anything about Threefold, one of the bands what'll be playing?

Let's see, what else? Must have done something horrible to the poor wee Gateway laptop, which has gone back to totally unresponsive mode when I turn it on; the hard drive spins briefly, but other than that, nada. Last time this happened, when I idiotically let it go into suspend mode, the email I got from their tech support suggested disconecting the power cord, pulling out the battery and the RAM, letting it relax for a bit, then trying it again. And although that worked then, it ain't now. Guess I can take it into the local Gateway Country store, or see if the nearest Best Buy has some in-house Geek Squad types to have a look at it.

Maybe if I hadn't deleted the swap file Windows uses for suspend mode when I was in Linux that one time, trying to free up space. . .

Nah, that's crazy talk. Must be gremlins. Or maybe the magic smoke got out somehow.

Posted by Aaron at 4:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Um, Dwayne?

You let Ellis write an episode of Justice League?

You let the guy with the funky-fresh redesign at WarrenEllis.com write an episode of Justice League?

Negro, is you tired of having a job?

In other news, big new episode of Static Shock this Saturday, and Mr. McDuffie will be a featured guest at COLOSSALCON 3 in Indy, Ohio March 26th through the 28th.

probably gonna be handing out resumes. . .

What? I ain't say nothing.

Update: While we're not on the subject, you can view a slideshow of artwork from Orbiter, the original graphic novel from Mr. Ellis and Colleen Doran, at the oddly-named ColleenDoran.com. Can't remember if she did work for Milestone that actually saw print. Dwayne? Kynn?

There's also SUPERIDOL, from the same team, at artbomb.net, as well as work from America's Sweetheart who isn't Karin Kross, Jessica Abel, and from Laurenn McCubbin. Whom I shouldn't blame for the Google hits I'm getting for XXX Live Nude Girls or some combination thereof, since I was the idjit quoted that bit about the panel she's appearing on at APE, but I will anyway since she's not here to defend herself.

And America's other other sweetheart Kris Dresen is either in transit or in SF and also unable to defend herself, so I'll blame her, too.

In fact, I'm just gonna blame Dresen.

Posted by Aaron at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Management apologizes for the lack of updates recently. Weird Stuff™ that I don't feel comfortable sharing with the great unwashed. But emails have been sent, and I'm confident my closest, dearest, most trusted friends are roaring with laughter about my pain even as you read this.

I'll fix your little red wagons, you lot.

Whatever the hell that means.

In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

I'll give you a topic.

If a woman has cats named Emily and Amy Ray, this is a very subtle hint. Of what, I leave to your imagination.

Yeah, keep laughing. Fuckers.

Posted by Aaron at 3:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Right, this one's mostly for the broadband-capable, I think:

Fiona Apple - Sullen Girl (live).mp3

I have pretty much zero grasp of music theory. Anyone who does -- yes, Laura, I'm looking at you -- mind telling me what the time signature is on that? And I'm sure there's a word or phrase to describe how Fiona carries the sung notes over. . .

And since I'm asking these questions for my and your edification, this blatant disregard for copyright might slip by under Fair Use/Educational Purposes.

I'll let you know if I get a nastygram C & D notice on it.

Posted by Aaron at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

Could have made a pun out of that. Oh well.

Went to the SPEC Chicago reading last night, which was fun. Met Tara, who does not yet have a LiveJournal or blog, and therefore cannot give her version of events, although you are free to comment here, sweetie. Picked up a copy of vegan potluck cookzine -- and that link includes listings for several other zines I somehow resisted the mighty ziney allure of. Came home and promptly passed out.

You know. The usual Friday night wacky hijinks.

Now I'm really looking forward to the blogger reading on the 21st, details available at that first link up top. I still have no intention of reading, of course.

Well, maybe this entry, since it's pretty short. And I can just go to Early to Bed today and buy some Liquid Latex to use as a prop, since the hyperlink thing doesn't really work in spoken word performance. And besides, what better way is there for a bitter single person to spend Valentine's Day than in a woman-owned sex toy shop, watching happy, probably mostly lesbian couples giggling and picking things out?

Yes, I suppose there are lots of better ways, now you mention it. . .

Apropos of nothing, anyone out there who doesn't have a land line -- yes, Nelly Min, I'm looking at you -- but does have a scanner/printer/fax thingee, and use something like Efax or CallWave? Or is there another way to achieve the same effect without actually connecting the thingee to a phone line?

Meant to work a link to Safety Pin Girl in here somehow -- the artist formerly known as Jessica Disobedience did a reading last night, as did the mentioned-in-another-entry Annie Tomlin and lots of other folk. Dru, I think you would have liked it. Punk rock chica that you are. And glad to see the phone thang worked out ok. Am emailing you my number as soon as I post this.

And then, by popular demand, guess I'll be participating in Grand Theft Indigo Girls Poster. . .

Update: One last thing. MechaGodzilla could so beat the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man.

Don't ask. Just. . . don't. Trust me, you don't want to know.

Posted by Aaron at 4:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The current(?) issue of Bitch has a nicely positive review of Wig in a Box: The Songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which I mentioned here back in October. And promptly forgot about, because I suck. The link has some mp3 samples and links to other reviews; don't think the one from Bitch is up at their site.

They do, however, have Annie Tomlin's article, Sex, Dreads, and Rock 'n' Roll:

The eventual result of these trends is a variety of subculture-specific porn sites. In the mood for Day-Glo hair? Check out Raverporn. How about a straight-edge girl? Try Friction USA. Mods playing with Star Wars dolls? Head to Supercult. Most of these sites go beyond the standard naked-picture fare, offering not just erotic writing but also scene reports and record reviews. Others offer even more, with member profiles or—in the case of Burning Angel—interviews with punk bands, exotic-dancer union organizers, and pro-porn documentary filmmakers. There’s no question that these “indie” porn sites stand out from the thousands of other salacious sites out there. Generally speaking, they’re designed better and they avoid sleazy pornspeak. Instead of showcasing peroxide, stilettos, and silicone, their main features are piercings, tattoos, and dyed hair. You’re more likely to find a self-described feminist anarchist gardener at these sites than a hot ’n’ horny, barely legal teen. But are they really challenging the old guard, or is it just the same old boobs in a punk-rock bra?

There are a few not-so-positive references to Playboy, which should be viewed with the benefit of hindsight and recent events:

Playboy.com strikes unusual alliance with SuicideGirls

Playboy.com, the Web site for adult entertainment company Playboy Enterprises Inc, on Thursday unveiled an unusual deal to pair photos and other content of Playboy's sleek models with the tattooed and pierced women of SuicideGirls.com.

Under the arrangement, fast growing Playboy.com will weekly feature pictures and merchandise from SuicideGirls in a cross promotion aimed at driving users to each site and boosting subscribers, e-commerce sales and other revenues.

"SuicideGirls is cool, and Playboy has a history of doing things that are cool. They (SuicideGirls) might be pierced and tattooed, but these girls are also natural," said John D. Thomas, editor of Playboy.com.

Saw this mentioned at. . . somewhere yesterday, but can't for the life of me remember where.

Oh, and for the Chicago types in the audience, Ms. Tomlin sez:

I will be participating in a reading on February 13 in Chicago. The topic is love. The place is MoJoe's Cafe in Roscoe Village. The other readers include Al Burian of Burn Collector and formerly of Hellbender, a band that I liked in high school. See you there.

Only without the link to Mojoe's site.

Not sure if I'm going or not. Anyone else out there planning on attending?

Posted by Aaron at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm thinking of having a t-shirt made with that on it. Just saying is all.

In Borders this afternoon, and saw several large posters with Jaime/Xaime Hernandez art, for the upcoming-next-Tuesday Indigo Girls cd, "All That We Let In."

So tempted to steal one. So very, very tempted. So very, very certain this would lead to immediate arrest.

They aren't listed on the merchandise page of the IG site, but here's hoping they decide to sell 'em.

Jaime Hernandez, for those of you playing the not-clicking-links home game, is one of the co-creators (with his brother, Gilbert/Beto) of the comic/graphic novel series Love & Rockets.

Here's what The Copacetic Comics Company has to say about the book:

Say what you want, but the whole alternative/independent comics scene and its affiliation with and connection to the alternative/independent music scene wouldn’t exist if not for the initial impetus provided by Love and Rockets. The Hernandez Bothers’ grafting of the you-can-do-it-anyway-you-want ethos and class consciousness of punk rock onto the fun-and-fantasy mythos and craft consciousness of comics was the first, best and most important contribution towards a new comics made in the 1980s; a contribution that continues to resonate to this day. Add to that their fluent and insightful expression of a contemporary Hispanic American identity alongside of a comfortable yet emotionally complex embrace of gay and bisexual characters, both delineated with breathtaking clarity by creators who are as accomplished at drawing as they are at writing and you’ve basically got a modern American masterpiece.

Try it. You'll like it.

In other Borders/comics news, they had a bunch of Elfquest graphic novels on the 50% off table, presumably because of the new deal with DC; these were standard US comics sized trade paperbacks, and the re-release is supposed to be digest/manga collection sized, right?

I know, I know, I just lost more than half the audience. Don't sweat the details.

Apropos of nothing, Nausicaä artwork from Ben Dunn, Jeff Moy and Pop Mhan. Link mentioned in a Newsarama story about DC's upcoming manga line. And I suppose I should link the story itself, huh?

Well, it mostly drew info from Drawing In the Gals in this week's Time:

Manga comics, printed as cheap, multivolume paperbacks and sold at major bookstores, have ignited graphic-novel sales around the world. In the U.S. last year Manga racked up some $100 million, almost double 2002's sales, according to ICv2, a pop-culture trade publication. The two dominant U.S. publishers of manga, Tokyopop and Viz, will ramp up their 2004 title count to more than 300 between them. Later this year DC Comics plans to launch a manga imprint called CMX.

Shojo manga, the cute-but-cool subgenre targeted at girls, are a big part of that boom. Shojo typically feature 13-to-16-year-old female protagonists and are generally written and drawn by women but have little in common with the corny romance titles of yesteryear. Shojo plots focus on love and relationships, and often include adventures in magical worlds outside the humdrum realities of school and home. Mecca Moore, 13, of Los Angeles, buys manga every week and says she spends $1,000 a year on the stuff. "[Shojo] tell a story in art that makes a person have a special connection," Moore says. "You can actually feel what the character's feeling and see what the character's thinking."

Have to admit, the amount of shelf space dedicated to the stuff in Borders surprised me. And the fact that they only had Utena volumes one (which I have. . . or have lent out, anyway) and four annoyed me.

Er, yes, Utena is technically Shojo. Your point being. . .?

Posted by Aaron at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I've heard proper bloggers assign descriptive titles to their entries.

First off, via Comic Book Resources, Queer Cartoonists Speak Out at APE:

"Queer Cartoonists," a panel of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) creators discussing issues of identity, community, and their creative work, will debut at the 2004 Alternative Press Expo (APE). This will be the very first time such a panel has been featured at APE, the country�s largest gathering of alternative and self-published comics, marking the growing visibility of queer artists and writers in the field. The panel will be a star-studded event, featuring award-winning creators of independent comic books, strips, and 'zines, with material ranging from erotica to historical fiction, from comedy to biography, published both in print and online.

The panel participants will be Alison Bechdel (DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR), Colleen Coover (SMALL FAVORS), Tristan Crane (HOW LOATHESOM), Tim Fish (CAVALCADE OF BOYS, YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE), Laurenn McCubbin (XXX LIVE NUDE GIRLS, KITCHEN SINK MAGAZINE), and Eric Shanower (AGE OF BRONZE, THE GIANT GARDEN OF OZ).

Links added here and there.

Check the article/press release for dates, times, locations, prices and other information that a kinder person would have included here.

Just because I'm trying to be a proper blogger doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to be a nice person, you know.

I will, however, refrain from making any Hooper X jokes.

Sooner and further north, there's a

Smut reading with Heather Corinna, Catherine Lundoff and Elise Matthesen

Yvelle Leora? You going?

Chris? You ain't going. No, that's not a question. Not even a request. More of a threat.

Update: Why yes, I did confuse Yvelle and Leora, as the latter lives in the Sin Cities and the former does not. I am dumb.

Posted by Aaron at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

And to think, I've been trying to come up with a way to say this for years:

The "enemy" takes on demonic proportions in any conflict. Each side may imagine the other with horns and a tail. The enemy may be imagined as engaging in terrorism and sadism most of their waking lives. In reality, the enemy are people quite like their enemies. They (We) eat, they get married, they have children and hopes for the future. They have insights and talents and foibles. They mourn the losses of loved ones. They read books and enjoy a good joke now and then. These simple truths must be brought home to all parties in any conflict through personal contacts, exchange of small talk and jokes and the trivia of life, through accounts of personal tragedies and loss, and of joys and disappointments, through working together, and eating together and relaxing together, as well as through exposure to culture and wisdom of others.

From I can relate, a posting over at Prometheus 6, itself quoting Facing "enlightened" racism over at MideastWeb Middle East Web Log.

Nothing to add to that, really.

Except mentioning that the title of this entry is from National Anthem by Sir Mix-A-Lot:

The pentagon had a plan for a rescue
They said intelligence never makes miscues
The thirty-first was a day of death
Lieutenant Colonel Higgins, you know the rest
No negotions with a terrorist force
But Iran's still buzzin' offa Oliver North
The Ayatollah's dead but the hearts not gone
The burning of the flag in Iran goes on
Anti-American, we're loved by few
We pay big money to the ones that do
The christian militia, they give us big knowledge
But the pentagon messed up and wouldn't acknowledge
Ollie took orders from the number one man
But the crap hit the fan and superiors ran
Democrats tripped, the committee said can em
Now I'm ashamed of my national anthem

A bit dated, from the references to Olliver North, but not nearly as dated as it should be.

Posted by Aaron at 6:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

. . . get a life?

Michele is running a poll, and is looking "to get a wide range of political views," so I expect some of you bomb-throwing anarchists could participate if you want.

She also mentioned a few days back that. . . well, see the entry. It's probably really not my place to say anything on this one.

Did make me curious about any long-running bad-blood feuds going on between people who have never actually met in person, but then I realized that anyone doing that sort of thing probably isn't that interesting. So I didn't do the usual research. Anyone can think of any off the top of their head, let me know.

I mean, yes, AMCGLTD will never be linked here again, but that's different.

It just is.

Shut up.

Posted by Aaron at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Went to the Wolves game with Redpac last night. . . and somehow managed to miss Lauriean and Ursula, who were there too. Most likely, I walked past them, figured black women at a hockey game were clearly figments of my imagination, and ignored them.

Well, maybe next time.

Apropos of nothing, the Chicago Freeze (of the North American Hockey League) are no longer a going concern, are they?

Posted by Aaron at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

You know, perhaps I should read the manual that came with the camera. Or use the software that came with it, rather than mucking about with ImageMagick.

Not included in the horribly framed shot, but also in the display window, is Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics:

Some books are silly. Some books are serious. Quirkyalone is both. It's the rare coffee-table (or bathroom) book that makes you smile and think. A treasure trove of fun, laughs, and endless questions to ask yourself, Quirkyalone is a bible for all who reject archaic notions of romantic relationships. The book is loaded with individual voices of people who are constructing new approaches to life and love. Don't expect to find linear narrative or cliched self-help lingo. We have made every effort to let quirkyalones speak for themselves.

I haven't taken the quiz yet, no.

In the upper left corner, we have Big Big Love: A Sourcebook on Sex for People of Size and Those Who Love Them, from Hanne Blank, while in the lower right corner, there's Zaftig: The Case for Curves by Edward St. Paige, not to be confused with Zaftig: Well Rounded Erotica, edited by Hanne Blank.

Yes, I'm trying to confuse you, to make up for the fact that I couldn't work out how to make an imagemap. I'm petty that way.

Also pictured are Another Kind of Love, by Paula Christian, Cinematherapy for Lovers: The Girl's Guide to Finding True Love One Movie at a Time by Beverly West and Nancy Peske, and several others that I might come back and list/link at some point.

Oh, and you can click the image to open a larger version in a pop-up window. Same with the others I've tossed up the last few days. I suppose I should have mentioned this at the time. . .

Posted by Aaron at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Entirely too much personal stuff stuff around here lately. Time to get back to what I do best.

. . .

. . .

. . .

I have no idea what that is.

Coming soon(ish, haven't seen any actual dates) to a theater probably nowhere near you, The Touch:

In a time of great danger, the Monks of Dun Huang hid the Sharira - a Relic with mystical power so strong; it had the ability to transform mankind for the better…or, in the wrong hands, for the worse.

Bit of the synopsis at Rotten Tomatoes there. There's more, but I'd like to go in knowing as little as possible. I mean, I already know the important thing.

Michelle Yeoh.

Oh, right, that's what I do best. List disturbing obsessions. Ok then, Morbid Outlook - Goths of Color by Lucy Furr:

One of my g pet peeves are people I meet (and for those of you who are of color, you’re about to start laughing) who feel like they have to prove how unracist they are by getting into a big “civil rights” discussion, like they have to prove to me they aren’t racist. Why does this bug me? Because without fail the very same person will say something completely ignorant within a very short time period, like “Do you use a pick for your hair?” “But I thought black people didn’t like goth stuff” Or the all-time stupid comment “But you really aren’t that black.” This nonsense completely negates their previous statement of not “being ignorant”, by which I think they mean not racist, since most people believe that ignorance is what makes racism. On a certain level, yes, but ignorance is still ignorance (i.e. not knowing what in the world you are talking about). We are all guilty of it, even my friends do it now and then, and I do the same thing. However, they are my friends for one important reason; they never bothered to try and prove anything to me. They never had the above conversation with me. A truly non-biased person doesn’t need to prove anything.

Yes, I've quoted from the article before.

The article also has a photo of Lucy Furr in a corset.

And the main page of the site features the Morbid Name Generator.

I'm not going to look. I'm just not. Because I don't want to know.

Posted by Aaron at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

Specifically, Neil Gaiman's old space on the SFRT; I gots the distinct feeling I'm getting some of the details wrong on this, and would appreciate any corrections.

What I'm getting the details wrong on, is a collection of short stories featuring characters and situations from Neil's Sandman series that AOL Time Warner put out. . . about a decade ago, at this point. Several of the contributors were regulars on GEnie, and when the contracts for the stories arrived at their doorsteps. . . hoo boy.

I think the publisher was claiming the stories were work-for-hire:

When a writer works under a work-for-hire agreement, he or she gets paid a fee but has no ownership or control over the writing.

There are several provisos regarding work for hire. The two most important are:

1. THE COPYRIGHT LAW REQUIRES A WRITTEN CONTRACT that specifically states that the work is a "work-for-hire." If that phrase is omitted in a written contract, the copyright to any work, regardless of the type, belongs to the writer.
2. ONLY CERTAIN TYPES OF WRITING BY FREELANCERS AND INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS MAY BE WORKS FOR HIRE. Examples include writing that contributes to a larger work, such as a computer manual or a section of a textbook. If the work is not one of the types specified in the Copyright Act, then it is not a work for hire, no matter what the written contract says.

Works created by full-time staff writers are also works-for-hire. In these cases, the employer owns and controls the copyright.

See the actual text about work-for-hire writing in the Copyright Act Work-For-Hire sections.

(From the National Writer's Union.)

Which possibly means nothing to you. Short version: the publisher was claiming complete and total ownership of the story, meaning the author would have to politely ask if they could include their own work in a later collection of their fiction. There was also some bit about copyright in any and all formats currently in existence and any which might one day be invented, so even though eBooks didn't exist back then, the publisher could'a gone ahead and "reprinted" the story/collection in that format without having to bother even notifying the author that they were doing so.

It waren't pretty. Think a few people pulled their stories from the book, actually.

I know, I know, why am I bringing up old stuff? Well, was reminded of that reading (the registration-required) NYT article, The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates:

THOUSANDS of Web sites are putting Playboy magazine's pictures on the Internet - free. And Randy Nicolau, the president of Playboy.com, is loving it. "It's direct marketing at its finest," he said.

Let the music industry sue those who share files, and let Hollywood push for tough laws and regulations to curb movie copying. Playboy, like many companies that provide access to virtual flesh and naughtiness, is turning online freeloaders into subscribers by giving away pictures to other sites that, in turn, drive visitors right back to Playboy.com.

When Mr. Nicolau is asked whether he thinks that the entertainment industry is making a mistake by taking a different approach, he replies: "I haven't spent much time thinking about it. It's like asking Henry Ford, 'What were the buggy-whip guys doing wrong?' ''

Ok, the copyright issues were my second concern, actually. Namely, are these really "Playboy magazine's pictures" we're talking about. Might could check their site to see if they require work-for-hire contracts on photos, but isn't that an old joke? I'm only reading it for the articles, that sort of thing?

There's really three entities (um, odd word choice there, I need more coffee) here, Playboy, the photographer and the model. Even if the unauthorized reproductions are driving people to Playboy's site, that's still leaving the latter two out in the cold. I think. As is usually the case, I really have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about, and am making it up as I go along and trying desperately to sound convincing.

A few merchants in the industry who have tried the kind of aggressive methods used by mainstream entertainment companies say they have not received much in return for their efforts. One company that tried to track down copyright infringers and demand that Internet service providers shut down their sites used BayTSP, an Internet monitoring service that also serves the music and movie industries. "It was costing us a lot of money and was producing absolutely zero results," said Humphry Knipe, who manages the business operations of Suze Randall, a photographer in the field who has her own Web site.

Mr. Knipe, who is married to Ms. Randall, said many Web sites were taken down as a result of more specific legal threats by subpoena to Internet service providers. But even then, "it was extremely doubtful that any of this activity had any effect at all in the real world of improving our sales by restricting piracy," he said.

Link to Suze.net added. Nice design, but the "GirlGirl Hardcore" image predictably has two femme-looking blondes. . . and then I realize I'm critiquing an erotica site at 8:15 on a Sunday morning, and shut the hell up.

So, anyway, yeah, quote from the husband/manager for a photographer, but basically the article (from the Business section) concentrates on the concerns of publishers/distributors.

And that's how I spent my summer vacation.

The other concern mentioned in passing above is their word choice, stuff like "virtual flesh and naughtiness," and "red-light districts," and "peddlers."

Blah. Can't even work up the enthusiasm to discuss that.

Bonus round: The Sideshow - A few hits:

Atrios has the dope on nearly everything, but he has failed to pay attention to the fact that Feminists Against Censorship really has accomplished something over the last 13 years. We changed the debate - we actually put serious anti-censorship arguments back into the public discourse in Britain, and repeatedly pointed out that there was no evidence for the purported harm of pornography.

There's a decent debate to be had -- well, has been had, and hashed over repeatedly, without resolution, like most debates -- about the effects of pornography and exploitation and stuff. Which is much more serious than the preceeding sentence makes it sound. Just wanted to acknowledge the existence of it, even if the entry sort-of takes the existence of the stuff for granted.

And again, the whole "What is alternaporn?" thing? Does me head in. It's about choice and control, really, meaning precisely nada to do with that article. . .

Update: I'm a moron, you know.

Via Google Groups, A Brief History of The Book of Dreams, from Someone Who Should Know, And In Fact Does:

Any writer owns copyright to anything he or she writes, ethically and by the law of the land. What is normally sold in the publishing world is publication rights. For an original short story, a writer expects to sell First North American Serial Rights, if it's to a magazine, or just First North American Rights to an anthology, or non-exclusive publication rights to a reprint.

A contract may add extra fillips to this: it's not uncommon for an author to agree not to publish a story anywhere else for two years after the story sees print, say (usually with exceptions made for single-author collections or best-of-the-year anthologies). A magazine editor may buy a non-exclusive option to reprint the story in a future anthology made from the anthology, or to use it in foreign editions of the magazine; a book editor may buy non-exclusive rights to use the story in foreign editions of the anthology.

Comic books, by contrast, are traditionally work-made-for-hire (WMFH). The author is paid a lump sum for all rights to the script, and possibly to the characters and other innovations in the story. The writer may or may not be paid a royalty if the work sells well. (The writer of a regularly-sold story may or may not be paid a royalty, too. Details can always be messed with in contracts.)

A solicitation letter was sent out over Neil's signature (but he didn't write it--or, his co-editor didn't use the letter Neil wrote) based on Neil's agreement with the book publisher and DC: we were invited to submit stories for the Sandman anthology. We were granted the right to use DC-owned characters in the story. The stories would remain ours.

But DC changed the rules midstream. When we finally got publisher word about the stories Neil had accepted (it'd been maybe a year since he read and decided to buy mine), we got a letter from Neil's co-editor attached to a contract from DC. The letter said we had to sign the contract as a sort of release so we could get a contract from the book publisher, and a lot of writers just signed it without particularly reading it.

I read it. It was a WMFH contract. Imagine my surprise.

From an old (September, 1998) alt.fan.neil-gaiman post from Martha Soukup, SFRT assistant sysop and all around cool person.

Later, we'll discuss the propriety of me extensively quoting something written about copyright, from an archive which itself kind'a violates copyright, in an entry about copyright.

Or not. I'd prefer not, to be honest.

Update 2: Suze.net, not .com; have it right in the link, but spazzed on typing it. And am wondering if I really want to go over the article with a fine-tooth comb to confirm my suspicion that not only are all the people interviewed publishers/distributors, but that they're all men.

I'm in a fairly good mood this morning. I'd hate to ruin it with that sort of ignance.

BTW, link from slashdot.org; forgot to give credit earlier.

Posted by Aaron at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Realized that there are no photos of me on this site where I'm a) clothed and b) sober. Which rather limited my options for my Orkut profile as well. So, snapped some quick-like, did no editing whatsoever except rotating and resizing, and tossed them up. This sort of hasty, spur-of-the-moment production is one of the reasons I didn't go to grad school; I did most of my papers as an undergrad this way, too.

That I usually got high marks on them just convinced me that the system obviously did not reward effort very well.

Also added the image to my Technorati Profile. See, Ellis claimed, and I gotta admit it seems to bear out, that people deal with each other better online when they can connect a face to the text on the screen.

Which isn't to say that anonymity doesn't have it's place, despite my ignoring that little discussion what's raging elsewhere in blogtopia or whatever the hell people are calling it today.

It's just that this ain't that place. Usually. I'm not so good with the hard and fast rules. Making it up as I go along seems to work pretty well, actually.

This is yet another reason I didn't go to grad school.

Posted by Aaron at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, must be waking up a bit, because I just went over the previous entry making several much-needed edits and realized a better title would be, "Operation: Aaron Hawkins is a Weirdo Who Looks At Pornography Erotica Semi-Nude Photos of a Gorgeous Woman and Thinks, 'Oh, that's a unique payment method.'"

Huh. She's using Verotel to process paymen. . . never mind.

Also, Tristan talks about the economic factors a bit at her LiveJournal, the URI for which you can find by visiting her site a looking around a bit; for reasons I'm unclear on, I don't feel comfortable linking to those things even when they're publicly available on the other site of the person maintaining 'em. Except in the case of Kris Dresen, because I think I can take her.

I'm starting to think I was wrong about that whole waking up thing now.

Posted by Aaron at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Could we use your phone?
We're both in a bit of a hurry.
We'll just say where we are,
Then go back to the car.
We don't want to fuck Tim Curry.

No, coffee isn't helping. . .

Right, Tristan Risk: Pink Shoot. Rather like this image, but as usual couldn't explain why. The composition and the lines, I think. And the idea of selling a shoot/gallery rather than having a monthly subscription fee seems like a good one (which reminds me, should resub to DCBBW's BigCuties site since I'm gainfully(?) employed again); haven't seen that before, but I'm not really keeping up with economic trends in the erotica/pornography. . . perhaps another cup of coffee would be a good idea.

Put Tina back on the main page, causing some. . . issues in Mozilla, in Linux, in 800 x 600. Since pretty much everyone runs a higher resolution (and IE, but I prefer not to take that into consideration), does it work ok for you? Or does she show up at the bottom of the page, instead of aligned between the entries and links?

While I'm not on the subject of graphics and the economics of sexuality web sites, no, I didn't somehow forget that donate to Scarleteen image over there. Although, looking over the donor list, I'm starting to think you lot have. Or perhaps it just hasn't been updated. Or you specifically noted that you wished to remain anonymous.

Rambling again. Didn't sleep particularly well, although I did pass out early and miss watching a tape of the Chicago Wolves - Gryffindor game with Redpac last night, because I suck.

And the GhettoFabulous Jessica never rang me back about dinner on Sunday. Well, I don't need a house to fall on me. Or get doused with water and melt, or turn into a girl, or a boy, or a panda, or. . . wait, this isn't coffee, it's Grolsch Premium Lager. How the hell did that happen?

I kid, I kid. Coffee with a splash of Rice Dream Chocolate Enriched, with a cigarette (and remind me not to run out when I'm at work again; paid an extra $1.50 "you're buying stuff in the Loop, sucker" inconvenience charge at the inconvenience store down the street from my job yesterday), out on the back porch. We had some freezing rain, or maybe it's just the snow melting and re-freezing on the cold metal.

Did I mention that the birthday gift from The Good Twin that I'd been babbling about a while ago was a camera?

No, and I probably shouldn't in an entry where I'm currently babbling about erotica sites and suchlike. Um, no. I leave these things to the professionals. You wanna see me nekkid, subscribe to Heather's site. Which will also give you access to the archives of Scarlet Letters, recently updated with, among other things, a book(s) review by the almost but not quite as ghettofabulous as Jessica R. Gay. Er, it's a review of two books, so review singular but books plural. I think.

Huh. Maybe I'm building up a tolerance for caffeine. This couldn't have anything to do with that whole coffee-Mountain Dew-Red Bull thing I was doing for a while, ya think?

Director's commentary:

Probably should have used the line about rock and roll porn in the title, but don't particularly care for the word/abbreviation "porn" because of the connotations. Yes, I'm a freak. This can be used in "Operation: Aaron Hawkins is a Weirdo Who Doesn't Like the Word Porn". Whateva.

The camera is a Canon PowerShot A300 which I'd put on my Amazon Yeah-I-Wish List as a joke, really. This can be used in "Operation: Aaron Hawkins is a Weirdo Who Puts Things On His Wish List and is Shocked When People Buy Them"

Did I mention I watched the first DVD of Utena when I was in Columbus visiting Neo last month?

Nanami:  You have such a nice room.
Utena:  Yeah, Himemiya cleans up religiously everyday.
Miki:  Himemiya-san must really like to keep things neat, then.
Nanami:  Wow, I'm really impressed.
Nanami:  Ok, just watch.
Nanami:  Think Himemiya Anthy's a cute girl while you can.
Miki:  I envy you, Tenjou-sempai, living with such a feminine girl.
Utena:  Is that sarcasm?
Nanami:  Himemiya-sempai, may I borrow your eraser?
Nanami:  A snail, it's a snail!
Nanami:  She has a snail in her pencil case!
Utena:  Himemiya! I've misjudged you!
Miki:  My image of you is ruined!
Nanami:  This is the end for you, Himemiya Anthy!
Nanami:  That's what's going to happen.
Nanami:  Namely, Operation "Oh my gosh, Himemiya Anthy's a weirdo keeping a snail in her pencil case!"
Miki:  Did you say something?
Nanami:  No, nothing.

Oh, it doesn't work in script form. You have to see it. No, really, you have to see it, it's brill.

Was going to add some bit about how "amateur" as opposed to "professional" also has weird semantic/connotation shit with regard to pornography/erotica, but that might get into the whole "What is alternaporn?" thing, and that always does me head in. Yes, you can probably get another operation out of that. And at this point, I'd actually appreciate some personal attacks that were actually personal, as opposed to randomly selecting something from the Big Book of 'Net Flaming.

And now the commentary is getting as long and rambly as the entry. Right, obviously attempting to chemically induce coherence isn't working. Or I need a better selection of chemicals. Or I accidentally took one of the sleeping pills instead of the antidepressants again. The things are different colors, and in different packaging, you'd think anyone with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't screw that up. . .

Posted by Aaron at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

They mustn't carry out their evil deeds.

When Eddie said he didn't like his Teddy
You knew he was a no-good kid.
But when he opened your thighs with a dick this size
What a fag!
Makes you gag!
Und I did.

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Don't think anyone here in Chi is running RHPS now, and I'm suffering withdrawal. . .

For the record, I ganked the Free-For-All Friday/open posting thang from these folks:

Free-For-All Friday (FFAF) is a unique blogging meme - it isn't about what you post, but what others post for you. You participate by allowing the general blogging public the ability to post on your blog via a guest account. As the blog owner, you get to set the guidelines - but it IS called Free-For-All for reason. FFAF is a tremendous opportunity to get to know your readers while they get to know you.

Free-For-All Friday takes place on the last Friday of every month. The next one is February 27, 2004.

If you would like to participate, click here for the details.

Will make a note on the Buffy calendar over my desk at work to remind me of this, so I actually have one on the proper day next time.

Was a bit worried about putting the calendar up, since this month features a large, bare-midriff Alyson Hannigan pic, but so far the only comment has been, "Hey, cool Buffy calendar."

Have I mentioned that I actually like my job and the people I work with? Weird, I know.

From that previous link:

In July the web hosting fees for AHC cost me $tons more than usual due to bandwidth overage. How many of you can afford to run a fansite out of your pocket for a mere $200+ a month? Nope, I can't either. Putting in ads or popups is not an option because it's ugly and won't recoup the operating costs anyway.

AHC has a 100GB (giga not mega) bandwidth limit on its current hosting plan. Few web hosting plans offer more than that at any price. The cost for bandwidth over the limit is $6 per GB. AHC would have done 140GB in August. Easy math tells you that's $240 in overage charges in addition to the regular monthly fees. I can't afford to pay that every month. I prefer to pay the rent and buy food. So, I had to stop the bleeding immediately. All the content was removed and is being reuploaded slowly as the site is reorganized.

Which shows what an asshole I am for linking them, really. And ties into recent thoughts from Team Murder:

The irony, of course, is that the Slashdot story is about the destruction of an academic web server by massive linkage (by clicking on the Google logo you were taken to a results page where our victim was listed near the top) and being the freshly lobotomized 800 pound gorilla that /.is, linked the same fucking page. Heh, heh, snicker, snicker. It never ceases to irk me (and therefore I never cease to rant incoherently) that a site with actual financial backing and paid memberships is still whomping the crap out of hobbyist or otherwise underpowered servers, without warning, this many years later.

Luckily, I got nowhere near their traffic. Not sure any bloggers do, actually; anyone heard of a server getting bashed around from an unexpected link from Instapundit or one of the other majors?

Which I mention to keep things in perspective. The names Glenn Reynolds and James Lileks mean precisely nada to the overwhemling majority of people on the web, let alone the overwhelming majority of humanity, but due to that whole incestuous linkage thing. . .

Sorry, another half-formed notion. And I should choose a topic and stick to it, shouldn't I?

Um, there's a Camryn Manheim page at Les Toil Big, Beautiful Pin-Up Gallery, and her autobiography Wake Up, I'm Fat passes the "causes reader to laugh out loud on the El, making other riders perceptibly inch away" test. So that's all right.

Previous link includes an excerpt and also video and photos from the play of the same name, and is therefore also worth a visit.

And I'm afraid the chapter that provoked the laughter was the one on dating. I expect I should start doing that again at some point. And also expect that mentioning how unthrilled I am with the prospect will go over really well when potential dates look me up on Google. I shut up now.

The last time I (privately) asked for advice on this, I received all sorts of helpful suggestions (such as, "Maybe you should try hanging out with straight women," or "You should definitely mention the modeling," or "For the love of God, don't mention the modeling."), so I'll try publicly asking.

Which, again, is probably going to go over well.

Rambling. Coffee. I think I shall make some coffee.

Posted by Aaron at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Like they don't deserve contumely and ire?

Saw the category heading and just had to have fun with it.:)

No, I haven't read the other entries, I'm doing this blind. No, I'm not going to say anything about the propriety of letting 'guests' give the blog owner a bad rap. Nor am I going to shill Mythusmage Opines. What I am going to do is ask...

What's with all the boobs on tv?

No, not that kind of boob. All the boobs ranting endlessly on Janet Jackson's half a rack. You'd swear these twits have never seen a breast in their lives.

"Ooh, she showed her titty! Let's see that again!"

[utter indifference]
How exciting.
[/utter indifference]

Nice to know there's utterly nothing else going on in the world. Anybody remember when we achieved utter peace and harmony? And why wasn't I told?

I'll bet you this sort of thing wouldn't happen if the news business hired adults.

Alan Kellogg at 5:31 pm PST Feb. 6 2004

[Noticed this when I logged in this morning, and am posting it now -- The Mgt.]

Posted by Aaron at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Adjusted for inflation and CPT, that is.

Most def not from WBEZ in Chicago nor Public Radio International, it's This Uppity-Negro Life, I'm not Ira Glass. Each entry on this site, we select a different theme, and invite a variety of writers, artists and anyone else who drops by to take a whack at that theme. This entry's theme, Free-For-All Friday. Y'all should all know the drill by now:

1. Hit the link to http://www.uppity-negro.com/cgi-uppity-negro/mt.cgi
2. Log in with
   • Username: guest
   • Password: guest
3. Go nuts

Well, go nuts within reason, if that's not a total contradiction. If you've been here a while, you know the sort of thing that's fit to post. If you haven't, do the Emily Postnews Netiquette thang and lurk for a while before joining in the conversation.

Also, I gots some Bitpass cash burning a hole in my pocket, and would gladly toss some spare change at blogs/bloggers that I enjoy, but very few people seem to have signed up. Or I'm incredibly unobservant. Signup's a breeze, and it's free, so there's really no reason not to give it a go. Or none that I can come up with; if you'd like to explain why you're not willing, that might make a nice entry.

Or you can explain in a comment. This here's an open thread.

Oh, one last note.

Behave.

Posted by Aaron at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Which is why I haven't mentioned the gay marriage thing. My interest in reading folks' justifications for their bigotry is pretty much at zero right now.

From Gay.com, Julian Bond endorses same-sex marriage:

One of the leading voices for racial equality in the United States has pledged to support marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples, calling it a "civil rights issue."

Julian Bond, the chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and one of the pivotal figures in the 1960s fight for equality, announced he was backing the campaign for marriage rights through a statement released Monday.

"I see this as a civil rights issue," he said. "That means I support gay civil marriage."

[. . .] Bond's statement comes after a raft of popular civil rights leaders stated their support for marriage equality. These include Coretta Scott King, Carol Moseley Braun, Al Sharpton, John Lewis, Henry Louis Gates and others.

Yeah, Sharpton. You got a problem with that? Take it up with LesbianLife.About.com:

Sharpton Comments: 

• On Same-Sex Marriage: "I believe in equal human rights, before the law, for all human beings, and race, gender, disability, class or sexual orientation should not be a factor under the law. Even though we live under the law in a secular democratic society, religious groups must still be able to maintain their spiritual and moral option to either give or withhold a religious or sacred blessing to such unions. However, the government should not have that option. It must affirm the human and legal rights of everyone."
  
• On Don't Ask, Don't Tell: "The military code of conduct should allow military people to live openly in the 'truth' rather than live silently or covertly a 'lie'.
  
• On Gender Identity and Employment: "No American should be discriminated against on the job because of their gender identity or expression."

He's also in favor of extending the Family Medical Leave Act to same-sex couples, the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the Federal Hate Crimes Law, the Permanent Partners Immigration Act (H.R. 832) which would allow American citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration into the country and giving gays and lesbians the same rights to adopt children as heterosexuals. Most of which is quoted material, but it'd be a nasty string of ellipses if I tried indicating that.

Maybe all this has been mentioned in the mainstream media. I've been avoiding it, particularly regarding the Democratic primaries, for a while now.

Still haven't heard or seen the footage of the Dean scream. Tragic, tragic loss, I know.

I'd add something here about homophobia in some parts of the Black community (well, more like communities, plural) just to balance things out, but don't feel up to searching for links indicating same. Deal.

Wait, that's right, I didn't state my position on all this like the real bloggers do.

I'm with the people I quoted.

Posted by Aaron at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (2)

And she was all like, "Run A Search On This, Sucka!" and I was all like, "Ok, definitely going on the links list," and there ya go.

Want to know more? The Les Toil Big Beautiful Pin-Up Gallery.

Still a bit out of it, does it show?

If you want to know how
To fly high, then go now
To the place where all the concubines...
Meet and converse with them
Marvel at their pale skin
Wonder how they chew on their pointy...
Teeth and hair are beauty
They know it's their duty
To be countess in their hearts and their...
Minds that have to whisper
See in them a sister
Look into their eyes and you'll become

Transylvanian Concubine.
You know what flows here like wine.
Stay here with us, it's just time.
Transylvanian Concubine.

Sorrow is their master
Cackling with laughter
Now he's having just one piece of...
Cakey is their make-up
Catholics try to shake up
All the things that form their lives, but
they're...
Dead, their sighs, their songs
They know what they do is wrong.
Stay here with us, it's just time.
Transylvanian Concubine.
Candelabra's lighted
Satan has been sighted
Never has there been an evening like...
This is what they wanted
Always to feel hunted
You can never be too rich or too...
Thin. The blood has run out.
Fangs ruin any cute pout
Morning has come now they've flown
What have you learned from what has been shown?

What can I say? I mark out for Rasputina.

Posted by Aaron at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Amable Virgen de Guadalupe, madre y auxilio de todos los Christianos, las penas que me atormentan pongo en tus benditas manos. Santa Madre, jamas se oyo decir que alguno te haya implorado sin tu auxilio recibir, por eso con fe, humilde confianza y arrepentimiento lleno de amor y esperanza, te pido este favor. (Rezar un Ave Maria)

AMEN

• Sherman Alexie's Iowa Review Interview

  Sherman Alexie: Yeah I guess. I'm an important brown guy now. (Laughs). Being different helps. I'm not going to deny that it helps a lot. I mean the work has to be good, but the fact that I'm different makes it more attractive to magazines.

  Joelle Fraser: So you grant that?

  SA: Oh yeah. I'm a firm believer in affirmative action—nobody unqualified ever gets a job through affirmative action. Maybe less qualified, but not unqualified. Certainly I might get on lists or get opportunities because I'm different, because I'm Indian.

  JF: And it doesn't bother you?

  SA: No! Hell no! Reparation. (Laughs). Nobody white is getting anything because they're white. It doesn't happen in the literary world, never, never once has a white guy gotten more because he's white. But then you have that cabal of New York writers, young good-looking New York literary boys, and they have their own sense of entitlement. I'm not anywhere near that stuff.

• Tristan Risk: Littlemissrisk.com
• Valerie @ BIGCUTIES.COM - Also known as DCBBW
• Funniest damned comment I've read in a very long time

Right, got one of those from Die Puny Humans, but don't feel like opening the page and checking the entry. Find it yourself. It's a game that's fun for all ages.

Left work early today when I realized I was reading the exact same thing several times without making any sort of mental connection whatsoever. I probably should not be blogging in this condition either. Sleep now.

Title and intro text from the candle I'll not be lighting before going to sleep, since I'd rather not burn the building down, thank you very much.

Update: Added a quote from the Alexie interview, which is very, very much worth a read:

JF: You've said of writers who aren't Indian, like McMurtry, that they shouldn't write about Indians.

SA: Not exactly.

JF: Clarify that.

SA: At the beginning it was probably that but it's changed. People can write whatever they want—people accuse me of censorship when I say these things. But what I really want to say is that we should be talking about these books, written about Indians by non-lndians, honestly and accurately. I mean, they're outsider books. They're colonial books. Barbara Kingsolver's novels are colonial literature. Larry McMurtry's books are colonial literature. These are books by members of the privileged, of the powerful, writing about the culture that has been colonized. This is no different than Nadine Gordimer, who's a colonial writer, and she would call herself that.

So I think this illusion of democracy in the country—it's the best country in the world—but this illusion allows artists to believe that it isn't a colony. When it still is. The United States and South Africa: the only difference is about 50 years, not even that much. And people forget that. So when McMurtry does what he does, he thinks he's being democratic, but he's actually being colonial. I wish we could talk about the literature in those terms, beyond the quality of it, but actually talking about in terms of "hey this person doesn't know this—it's completely a work of imagination."

JF: How does this compare to, say, occupying the other gender?

SA: (Laughs). Oh that's the same thing.

See? I just quoted more of it.

Half-formed notion about how (some) women authors write better male characters than the converse (Chuck Conners All Stars), and similar with (some) people of color writing white characters -- remember trying to get through Primary Colors, and the "black" narrator's voice being so utterly jarringly wrong that it tossed me right out of the story. And the women characters didn't fare much better. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed, and wondered why so many otherwise sensible people seemed to be.

Other half-formed notion about how bloody difficult it is to write about certain topics without resorting to circumlocutions, since the words that you should be able to use have been repurposed for other shit. So, I can't say that some of those links are to adult web sites because, you know, "adult" as in "adult book store" seems to mean "for adolescent boys of all ages." And mature makes it sound like the things are for senior citizens. And intellectual is an insult in the US. And I'm still not up to the porn/pornography/erotica debate, thanks.

Like I said, all half-formed, and I still haven't managed to get to sleep, so this may not even be coherent. I'm not the best judge of that sort of thing at the moment. Hell, even on my best days, I'm not the best judge of that sort of thing.

On the plus side, my copy of Dance Dance Revolution Konamix arrived.

Perhaps soon I'll be capable of playing.

Posted by Aaron at 6:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Was going to write "your," but I'm as much a part of this as anyone. From ZNet, The US and Nepal:

Tucked into the upper stories of the Himalayas, Nepal hardy seems ground zero for the Bush Administration's next crusade against "terrorism," but an aggressive American ambassador, a strategic locale, and a flood of U.S. weaponry threatens to turn the tiny country of 25 million into a counter insurgency bloodbath.

More than 8,000 Nepalese have died since a civil war broke out in 1996, and the death rate has sharply increased with the arrival of almost 8,400 American M-16 submachine guns, accompanied by U.S. advisors, high tech night fighting equipment, and British helicopters.

[. . .] The war, like most civil wars, has been brutal. While most of the civilian deaths are attributed to government forces, Amnesty International accuses both sides of "unlawful criminal deaths." The [Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)] has assassinated government supporters and police, and occasionally bombed Kathmandu. The government has "disappeared" opponents, razed villages, and executed CPNM members and their supporters.

Over the past two years the Royal Nepal Army has beefed itself up to 72,000, but it isn't large enough to win a war against the CPNM's 4,000 core members and 15,000 or so militia supporters. In any case, most of the Army is concentrated near the capital, Kathmandu.

However, with the recent influx of U.S. M-16s, Belgium FAL submachine guns, and British helicopters, the army has grown more aggressive, and death rates have climbed. A government massacre of 19 villagers set off the latest round of fighting. In the first month following the collapse of a seven-month cease-fire, civilian deaths tripled. According to the Nepal human rights group, Informal Sector Service Centre, 800 of the 1,100 deaths since the end of the cease fire have been inflicted by government forces. A major culprit in the escalating death rate is the appearance of modern assault rifles, the real "Weapons of Mass Destruction."

I'm sure you're as thrilled about this as I am. There are some stats on gun deaths worldwide, and the US role as arms merchant to the globe, if you wanted to know more.

And while we're on the subject, Nepal politician shot dead:

Hem Narayan Yadav's body was found on Tuesday in the south-eastern district of Siraha, police say.

The authorities suspect rebel involvement, but there has been no word from the Maoists yet.

Nepal's largest communist party, the United Marxist-Leninist, which Mr Yadav represented, has called for an inquiry.

Don't worry, the Chinese are with us in supporting the Nepalese government.

Against the Maoist rebels.

Yes, that bit confuses me, too. . .

Update: Minor edits. Tossed the entry together using Safari, at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue during my lunch break. Because I'm platform agnostic like that.

Posted by Aaron at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

But I kind'a doubt it.

Ok, just posted a fairly arch comment about Pink-Triangle Prisoners at Buchenwald Concentration Camp at fucking Amish Tech Support:

Not long after the establishment of the Nazi regime homosexual men were already being sent to concentration camps. In many cases this happened as an exemplary measure of terror. Corresponding regulations were only issued some time later to give an appearance of legality. Himmler's order of 14 December 1937 and his decree of 12 July 1940 defined the target groups as sex criminals, by which he especially meant 'corrupters of youth', 'rentboys' and those with related previous convictions. Thus, not every man convicted under Section 175 had to reckon with deportation to a concentration camp after the end of his sentence. And yet, where political considerations were involved, the provisions could be interpreted in such a way that an arbitrary attribution of one of the above labels opened the way to such a harsh punishment.

Because Larry and Meryl just really piss me the hell off. But hey, humor is idiosyncratic, perhaps you'll get a giggle out of her Secret Arafat Phone Transcripts.

In which case, could you please get the fuck off my site? And not come back? Thanks ever so.

Serious discussion of het white female privilege in the US can wait until I'm safely caffeinated, or safely drunk.

Posted by Aaron at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, after whining on her site about not knowing when the cool kids were getting together, I noticed an announcement for this in the inbox given on this here site. Which I don't check very often, and should probably change. . .

All Blogger reading: Saturday, February 21st, 7:00 pm - Uncle Fun upstairs art gallery...

The Self-Publishers Event Council of Chicago (www.selfpublishers.org) and the Gapers Block web publication (www.gapersblock.com) are joining forces to co-sponsor an evening of readings featuring several of Chicago's finest bloggers. The show will take place Saturday, February 21 (at 7:00 pm) at the Uncle Fun upstairs art gallery (1338 W. Belmont, Chicago - www.unclefunchicago.com), and will be hosted by Brent Ritzel (of SPEC Chicago and Zine Guide - www.zineguide.net) and Andrew Huff (Gapers Block). So far our readers include:

• Mimi Smartypants - http://smartypants.diaryland.com
• Jason Pettus - http://geocities.com/jpettus.geo & www.jasonpettus.com
• Lacey Graves - www.lay-c.com
• Sour Bob - www.sourbob.com
• Louisa Heinrich - www. custom-deluxe.com
• Kevin S. - nadablog.com
• Alicia Dorr - http://randomlifeinprogress.blogspot.com
• Alex Golub - http://lancelot.uchicago.edu/log/index.php?p=53
• Lauriean Davis - www.shastamacnasty.com
• Jeremy P. Bushnell - www.imaginaryyear.com/raccoon
• Juliet Martinez - www.julietmartinez.com

Doors to the Uncle Fun upstairs art gallery space open at 7:00 pm (come early and peruse the Uncle Fun store, it CLOSES at 7:00 pm) Cover charge five dollars. B.Y.O.B. (there's a liquor store on the corner) A minimum of two hours of entertainment will be served. All ages are welcome.

Sounds like a fine time. They're still looking for more readers, if you're in the Chicago area, run a blog, and won't be at APE at the time -- yes, Dresen, I'm looking at you.

Hell no, I'm not reading.

I'm much too shy.

Posted by Aaron at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Nalo Hopkinson (hope your luggage makes it back to you safely, love) pointed me towards non-Korean-American comedienne Kate Rigg:

The web address of Kate's Chink-O-Rama, Slanty Eyed Mama, Birth of a nASIAN, Kate Rigg standup comedian, Kate Rigg serious Juilliard trained actor with an actual resume, Kate Rigg ex-Torontonian, ex-Melbournian, current bi coastal New Yorker, writer of plays and screenplays and bad poetry, hostess of events, fag hag drag hag pop-culture vulture multimedia friend to freaks everywhere hapa feng shui consultant writer of articles on politics and culture, comedy impresaria and fashion victim slash tacky ghetto fabulous scenester.

I have a weakness for the ghetto fabulous, you know.

And eMusic, which I just rejoined now that I'm gainfully(?) employed again, featured Caroline Lavelle on their latest sampler:

Parallel with her solo career, in recent years Caroline has worked with a huge variety of artists; as a classically trained cellist her first professional employment was with Siouxsie and The Banshees and since then she has contributed to albums by Radiohead (The Bends), Peter Gabriel, Muse,and The Waterboys to name just a few. In the late 90s Caroline toured with the Indigo Girls and Loreena McKennitt and has also played live with (Ryuichi) Sakamoto, The Cranberries and Nigel Kennedy amongst others, while in complete contrast contributed writing and vocals to an array of dance anthems by the likes of Massive Attack, Jam Nation, Art Of Trance, BT and Chicane.

Good company, I think. And good music; if you're not a member of eMusic, you can also download some tracks and samples from her web site, if you wanted to know, or hear, more.

Oh, and Shasta MacNasty has a bit on that thing that happened during the Super Bowl halftime show that I'm ignoring, as does wait, should I be linking this site? Well, that entry, this site.

Especially given she links Another stupid white people entry over at this site.

Of course, Shasta asks A Question for White Men, so maybe I should just leave the sistas alone. They seem a mite touchy.

Posted by Aaron at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Learn something new every day. I respectfully point out Dean's World: Hey Ladies!

Aaron needs a girlfriend. Go give him some love.

Then tell him not to link me anymore unless he's going to have some respect, and drop the racist pedantry.

Didn't realize I needed a girlfriend. Good to know, that.

The comments there make for good reading, too. No worries on the reproducing thing, I did manage to learn something about safer sex from. . .

No, that would be tacky, even for me.

Any road up, joined orkut yesterday, and will try checking Friendster slightly more often than once a month. Perhaps, this way, I can fill the gaping void in my life that leads to including links when I quote material from other web sites, as was the case here.

Are they getting dumber, or does it just seem that way to me?

Am relieved that, unlike the other times someone directed their minions to drop by and troll the place, none of Dean's, um, lady readers have felt the need.

Perhaps he doesn't have many.

Perhaps he doesn't have any.

Perhaps not calling women "ladies" would help with that.

Posted by Aaron at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm just talkin' 'bout Pulp:

January 29 - March 20, 2004
Wednesday-Friday at 8:30pm
Saturdays at 5:30pm and 9pm
Victory Gardens Theatre, 2257 North Lincoln Avenue

Tough, trash-talking rebel Terry Logan takes up residency at The Well - a Chicago club for women who love women - and then the trouble really begins. This hilarious new comedy by Patricia Kane (Seven Moves) was a smash-hit during AFT's 2003 Festival of New Plays. Featuring a jazzy score, sensational nightclub acts, and a cast of celebrated actresses, Pulp is a delightful homage to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction novels in which drag kings rule and forbidden lust lurks behind every innuendo. From the company that brought you Xena Live! The musical, Pulp promises to heat up the coldest of Chicago nights!

Want to know more? See also Pulp Script at the Free Press (which link will probably break some time next week):

Kane isn't surprised that pulps are hot again. "The covers themselves are fun and have that campy, kitschy style," she said. "And pulps and the covers of pulps themselves are simply fun and sexy. But pulps are also part of our history so it's also fun to appreciate the covers and read the books and be grateful that we're not living in that time anymore."

Lesbian pulp fiction started out as masturbation stories for men and were written by men using pseudonymous female names. However, lesbians bought them, too, and soon well-known lesbians such as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Patricia Highsmith and Marijane Meaker (best known as children's author M.E. Kerr) were also writing them under assumed names, mostly for Gold Medal Books, an imprint of Fawcett Books. The books written by lesbians tended to portray lesbians as real women instead of predatory monsters, which lesbians of the era must have appreciated. Even the trashier ones at least validated the lesbian experience and they were bought by the score. In fact, lesbian pulp fiction became so popular that different sub-genres developed: There were lesbians in the military, lesbians in institutions, lesbians who seduced straight girls, lesbians saved by straight men and others.

About Face's new play isn't based on any of these books in particular. Instead, it captures the flavor of the genre, culling visuals from the most vivid covers and plotlines from the most sensational books. The language is melodramatic, Kane said, like old movies from the 1930s and 1940s. Director Thebus heightens the drama by using poses reminiscent of the original pulp covers. However, Kane is careful to say that though the play is funny it isn't mocking lesbian pulp fiction.

"It's not a send-up, so I guess it's not true camp. In any case, the genre has its own inherent camp, so you don't need to punch that up anymore. We enjoy the style of the genre but we don't make fun of it," she said.

. . . Marion Zimmer Bradley?

Right, something else I'll probably miss in my suckage. I should work on that. You might could also have a look at Pulp (non) Fiction in Windy City Times, which article features a few pulp novel covers in both the print and web editions. I rather like this one myself. . .

Update: Crossposted to ChicagoLesbiansInvadingTaverns.com, just because.

Posted by Aaron at 7:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

America's sweetheart Karin Kross asks your assistance:

If you read any webcomics, can you let me know what they are? By that I don't mean "reading the syndicated newspaper comics online" -- I want to know what web-only daily or weekly comic strips you read and enjoy.

I'm gathering information for a future Bookslut column, and so I thought I'd throw this request out to help me in my data-gathering.

Help a sista out.

And, you know, this might could present an opportunity for any folks who do do webcomics to pimp product.

Just saying is all.

I'd mention Sluggy Freelance, but just realized I haven't read the strip in ages. And I'm not sure Penny Arcade is representative, any more than Toastyfrog is.

Which I also haven't read in ages. Note to self: get out of dialup hell.

Posted by Aaron at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

What can I say? Employment makes me a spendthrift.

For a grand total of slightly over ten Yanqui dollars, I picked up:

1. Camryn Manheim's Wake Up, I'm Fat

   Wake Up, I'm Fat is as much about waiting as it is about weight. Manheim's prerecorded voice utters a litany of "ifs." "If I were thin, I'd skate out to the middle of the lake." "If I were thin, I'd jump on a trampoline." "If I were thin, I could be on top." The decision to write the play was her declaration that, at last, the waiting was over:

   When I was ten, all I wanted was to be thirteen. When I was thirteen, all I was waiting for was to be sixteen, so I could drive. Then I was waiting to be eighteen, so I could vote. Then I was waiting to be twenty-one, so I could drink . . . and drive. When I was twenty one, all I wanted was for college to be over so I could start my life. And then there was graduate school - and certainly life can't start there. And then I'm twenty-eight, thinking, Now my life can finally start. But then I'm twenty-nine, and, well, you know, I'm waiting for a boyfriend. And then I'm thirty-one, and I'm waiting for a great apartment.

   Waiting, waiting, waiting. All my life, I've been waiting for my life to begin, as if somehow my life was ahead of me, and that someday I would arrive at it.

   In fact, I have wanted to write a one-woman show for ten years now, but I've been waiting. Waiting to be thin so I could write about what it was like to be fat.

2. Three prints/publicity stills from Xena, Warrior Princess, because I am the most predictable baby dyke on the face of the earth
3. An Iomega Zip+ drive to replace my sister's, which is broke, but I just realized that her iMac doesn't have a SCSI port, and besides, the connector looks distressing proprietary. Eh, bad comes to worse I can just burn the stuff from her old disks to cd, and with luck use the drive with my ancient Mac SE. Which I'm tempted to take to my job and Northwestern and plunk on the desk just to annoy the hell out of people. Because every time I used it, I would start singing the theme to "The Flintstones."

Mind you, these items reveal entirely too much about me as a person, but I'm hoping no one will notice. . .

Anyone else read the book? Is it worth the two bucks?

I mean, yes, the cover photo alone is worth the two bucks, but I meant actually reading it.

Posted by Aaron at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

When you yell at me, it makes me nervous. When I get nervous, I get scared. And when motherfuckers get scared, that's when motherfuckers get accidentally shot.

From Pulp Fiction, natch. Still ain't seen Kill Bill Vol. 1, but I really ain't that much of a Tarantino fan, to be honest.

Quoted this before, but it always bears repeating:

There's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”

I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or is could by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin, Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

I am trying. Honest. But it's some mother fuckers too stupid to appreciate shit.

Case in point, Amish Tech Support:

Are you a gay supporter of the Palestinians?

I know, I know... it's highly unlikely any of you are mincing about this site. Probably drove you all off within the first week or so.

But if you're still here, well, take this simple quiz.

If you don't change your mind about that whole Palestinian thing, fuck off, fag. Go to Hell and hang yourself with a rainbow-colored rope for all I care.

If you do change your mind, well, it's about goddamned time. Welcome to Reality. Have some pie.

From an entry with the title, "Quiz For Gays". I'm guessing lesbians are included in that, or perhaps they don't exist again. Or only exist in the form of drunk straight girls unconvincingly acting out straight male fantasies of hot girl-on-girl action. Don't know, not feeling up to asking the dumb mother fucker what the fuck he's talking about.

(I've been told that only people with limited vocabularies use profanity. To which I ask, "Who the fuck told you that shit, asshole?")

Now, I could direct his dumb ass to GayMiddleEast.com: Palestine. Or even suggest that it's possible for a woman to be Palestinian, lesbian, Muslim and wear the hejab by choice. But that might break his little white boy brain.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, and guessing he has a brain, and just don't use it much.

"Mincing." Fucking Christ. Is it really illegal to just kill mother fuckers like that for being too stupid to live?

Can't remember if I linked the artbomb.net review of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, but it don't hurt to do it again if I did:

In this age of the "axis of evil" and epidemic demagoguery more dangerous than SARS, PERSEPOLIS is a perspective restorative, a reminder of our shared humanity. And damn fine picture books, it turns out, are a universal language, too.

Do I even want to know what the right wingers made of the book?

Posted by Aaron at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

By way of Peace Dividend, which I could'a sworn I had linked here at some point, but just added to the sprawling list since it seems I was wrong about that, as I am so very many things, NYTimes Comedy Review: Wait Till You Hear What Makes Those Doughnuts So Good:

Part of [Chris] Rock's appeal is that he is a black comedian who is willing to criticize black culture. And since he routinely performs for largely white audiences, as he did on Wednesday, that puts him in a tricky position. He seems keen to keep his audience from getting too comfortable, but he seems unwilling to do it directly: he never singles people out, and he never steps out of character to acknowledge the relationship between comedian and fan.

Instead, he kept everyone off-balance by interrupting the laughs with a tendentious middle section devoted to politics and race. There was a startling riff on abortion, in which he compared murder rates in the ghetto to murder rates in the womb. He contended that African-Americans dominated sports because of the way slaves were bred. Then he added: "You know what they did to smart slaves? They killed 'em." He wisely declined to follow this line of thought to its logical conclusion.

I'm so not going near that one.

Also added A Small Victory to the sprawl. . . just in time for an illness-fueled hiatus. Because I'm cool like that.

So that's two more Black women in a links list which is often dominated by. . . y'know, I guess I should go through those links to see who the list is dominated by at some point.

Wait, that's right. I don't care.

There's a load off my mind.

Posted by Aaron at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, everyone knows about Margaret Cho, but there's also:

• Tina Kim

  Former television news reporter and anchor Tina Kim moved to the United States when she was four years old and grew up in Seattle, Washington.  She is the youngest of four children and graduated from the University of Washington with a broadcast communications degree.  "I wanted to be on tv and the only Asian woman I saw on tv was Connie Chung."

• Amy Anderson

  Unlike her name, Amy Anderson is originally from South Korea. She was adopted and raised by Swedish people in Minnesota where her inevitable comedy career took flight. She spent six years in Minneapolis as a comedian, actor and writer before fleeing to sunny Los Angeles. Amy has an extensive background in theater, improv and sketch comedy and somehow managed to obtain a degree in classical music.

• Suzanne Park

  Suzanne Park is a Korean-American comedienne who was born and raised in the foothills of Tennessee, where cow-tipping is fun for ages 3 and up. She began her stand-up career in NYC in October 1999. After only 6 months of performing on stage, she entered in the 2000 Boston Comedy Festival Standup Competition, where she was a semi-finalist and a runner-up.

You might be wondering what this has to do with Black History Month.

Not a damn thing.

Don't like it? Make your own web site.

Bonus Round: Pen-Elayne on the Web: 'Tain't Funny, McGee.

Posted by Aaron at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

"To You"

 

To sit and dream, to sit and read,
To sit and learn about the world
Outside our world of here and now---
Our problem world---
To dream of vast horizons of the soul
Through dreams made whole,
Unfettered, free--- help me!
All you who are dreamers too,
Help me to make
Our world anew.
I reach out my dreams to you.

-- Langston Hughes, from Black History Month at (of all places) The Nonesuch Librarian/Karen L. Simonetti at Euronet.nl.

Well, it's Black History or African-American Heritage Month, depending on your tastes. And also the shortest month of the year. We pretend not to notice this.

A few links that I'll possibly be mining over the coming weeks:

• Black History Month page at Infoplease
• The Encyclopædia Britannica Guide to Black History at Cool Britannica
• Celebrate Black History Month with The History Channel
• TIME.com: Black History at AOL Time Warner

Or not.

All of which reminds me, saw a copy of Encyclopedia Africana on the remainder table at Border's across from Water Tower Place last week, for $19.99. Which only seems expensive if you don't note the original price of $100.

I'm guessing it's equally remaindered nationwide, so be on the lookout for copies. Or I can snag one for you, if you want; let me know.

If you want me to send it though, I will hit you up for shipping charges; thing weighs a friggin' ton. Considering how much ground it covers, this should come as no surprise.

Want to know more without hitting the actual dead-tree books? There's always the Africana.com web site.

Copyright 1999-2003 Africana.com Inc. Microsoft® Encarta® Africana content © Copyright 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved to media owners.

There's no getting away from those guys, is there?

Bonus round: PCWorld.com - Africana Encyclopedia Launches

An African encyclopedia, first conceived in the early twentieth century, finally comes into being on CD-ROM.

The new Encarta Africana includes 2 million words of text in more than 3000 articles and more than 2500 multimedia entries, including video clips, audio recordings, and maps. The interactive title is a joint effort led by Harvard scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and K. Anthony Appiah, who collaborated with Microsoft.

Heh. "collaborated with Microsoft." As an editor, I would'a suggested using a different word there. . .

Posted by Aaron at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)