. . . that every blog entry is the first one that someone reads at your site. Meaning I tend to leave out context. Er, which is why there's that non-functional (in some versions of IE, anyway) search button on the index page; it's not so much that I forget, as that I refuse to accept that most people are too lazy to make minimal effort.
And then I get an invasion of tourists/trolls, and am reminded. Waste of time here -- they don't seem capable of independent thought, and refrain from posting in any thread where they don't have a set of talking points to repeat, or a selection from Baby's First Book of Tiresome Right-Wing Insults -- but in case any of 'em are curious about Babes With Blades, and couldn't be arsed to look up when I've mentioned them before:
Babes With Blades was originally conceived to give women in Chicago an opportunity to showcase their training and talent in Stage Combat. Although, across the United States, women are in the majority in Stage Combat classes, their opportunities for work in the field once they receive the training are practically non-existent.
The preconception in both the theatre world, and the minds of the public at large, is that women have never truly wielded weapons, and therefore the dearth of representations of female warriors on stage and screen was excusable and justified. But merely scratching the surface of history reveals a very different picture. Women have been bearing arms, either for personal or patriotic aims, in every culture and every time period on record. In dueling societies, on pirate ships, in jousting competitions, in standing armies, and on every revolution's roster, women have an historic martial presence that is repeatedly denied and ignored.
Babes With Blades is our attempt to revive and revitalize the archetype of the Woman Warrior, the Amazon, and to show the theatrical world the wonderful resource of combat-trained women available to fill that archetype, a resource that remains regrettably untapped.
And I mentioned missing them in Xena Live! (both productions) due to my suckage; that entry was about how they were appearing in Frodo-A-Go-Go, which appearance I also missed due to suckage.
A pattern begins to emerge.
Again, the benefit, to help fund their next production, is next Wednesday at Four Moon Tavern from 6:30 to 10:00. Pretty sure Angel is a repeat, so you have no excuse. Other than not knowing how the hell to get to Roscoe Village, and I'm sure Tara would be glad to give you directions, if you ask politely. . .
Update: Apropos of nothing, one of the 1000 Styles of Rumsfeld appears in a full-colour above the fold photo in today's dead-tree Chicago Tribune.
If you consider the fucking Chicago Tribune to be theliberalmedia, as previously noted, you're insane.
And based on that, and that alone? I think you guys have already lost.
Sometimes, people tell me they're amazed at the amount of. . . well, they don't call it "stupid shit," so let's go with "abuse" that I deal with from the warblogger/right-wing contingent.
I'm not very good at taking compliments even when I feel they're deserved, and really feel that one isn't. Most of the abuse, after all, is off-the-shelf insults that have nothing to do with me, and just reinforce the notion that they're just not that bright.
I mean, yes, ok, I feel much safer now that the "no-one ever said it was imminent, no siree Bob" threat of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction related program activities has been curtailed, and clearly, any civilian casualties during the invasion or injury or death suffered in the ensuing chaos pale in comparison to the detestable behavior of those demonstrators last Saturday. They trampled an old woman! And some of had anti-Semitic slogans!
Like I said yesterday, I'll just be deleting the stupid shit from now on. If any of them evolve to a point where they actually present a rational argument, as opposed to the faith-based insanity they currently favor, I may revise this.
Not holding my breath.
"Faith-based insanity" is the only way I can describe, for example, the Statement of Fact that Iraq represented a threat to the U.S., and the marching orders handed down to people who knew better that they'd best deliver evidence supporting this Fact.
Even the warbloggers have abandoned the notion that actual Weapons of Mass Destruction are going to be found in Iraq, right? I mean, I'd look, but:
Blacklisted by Big Media? For wanting us to win the war? An appalling thought.
You know, there's that whole insanity thing to deal with. And the hate speech. And the ignorance. And how they come across as pathetic, frightened little shits intent on destroying the Earth.
Other than that, though, I'm sure they're great people to hang out with, and boy, I'd love to see any of the Chicago-based ones turn out for the benefit.
